Em dashes have become a much beloved punctuation mark. But they can't be placed anywhere, though they have much more room for stylistic expression than some other punctuation marks. Learn the one rule for when they have to be used and all the times you can opt to use one and why you might or might not want to.
“Show, don’t tell” is often repeated advice. This advice can frustrate writers because they believe they are showing when, in fact, they are telling and because no story can be complete without some telling. This tutorial will focus on the first point of frustration: believing you are showing when you’re not.
Use a comma before relative clauses when they introduce a nonrestrictive phrase. Don’t use a comma when they introduce a restrictive phrase. Learn this rule with clear examples to help you punctuate like a pro.
I get that a heavily edited manuscript can look like an editor bled all over your work, but it often looks much worse than it is. Tracked changes can look overwhelming, but then when you dive in, you will see that a lot more of your original was retained. Learn how to effectively deal with a manuscript that looks like a battle zone, but really isn't because the editor is on your side.
En dashes have limited specific uses, and often people mistakenly use a hyphen instead. Learn when to turn that hyphen into an en dash.
Using these strategies, you can learn to write more concise, powerful sentences. Learn how to get rid of unnecessary wordiness through a variety of strategies.
A great stylistic choice is to use a colon between two independent clauses in specific instances. Learn in what situation this works and why it can help your work read better.
Action beats reveal a character’s movement, emotions, and motivations; affect the rhythm and tension of the scene; and can establish the setting. Learn how to write effective action beats and use them purposefully.
A colon is used to introduce lists. Learn how to use them and test your knowledge with a practice and answer key.
If you can afford full editing services, you should do so. With that said, the more thoroughly you do self-editing, the less your full service editing services will cost you. This blog outlines five self-editing tasks you can do to reduce your editing costs.
