Song lyrics can give a scene a particular mood or evoke a particular memory or time. They can set the tone when used as a quote at the start of a chapter. But song lyrics are copyrighted, raising the question: can you use them in your book?
Category Archives: Blog
How to write (great) sex scenes
Picture the scene: your characters have been pining over each other for months and they’ve finally had their first kiss. They’re ready for more. They want to, no, need to have sex, right now.
How to use apostrophes
In this article I will show you how to use apostrophes to indicate missing letters and possession, and how they are used with years, time, Māori words, and abbreviations.
How to punctuate dialogue
Using the right punctuation in dialogue helps your readers enjoy your story without getting distracted. Good punctuation naturally guides readers, letting them focus on what people said.
What are style guides and style sheets? (And do I need one?)
Style guides are tools editors use to help ensure consistency throughout your novel, thesis, or document.
Style sheets are tailored to a specific project. They condense the most important parts of a style guide into a user friendly document.
How to proofread your own work
You don’t always have the time or luxury to pay for a proofreader so here are two tips to help you proofread your own work: listening and checklists.
How to delete multiple spaces
File clean-up is an important part of the editing process. Before I get into the nuts and bolts of editing a document, I run a handful of global checks. One of these is searching for and deleting multiple spaces. To save your editor time, and you money, try and delete these extra spaces before you send your file to them.
Great books about writing and self-editing
My favourite books about writing and self-editing
How to keep headings and body text together
If you’re already using Word Styles to format your documents, great! Here’s a trick that will help you get more out of Styles and improve the look and layout of your work. By modifying Word styles, you can avoid leaving your headings hanging at the bottom of a page, like this: Note, I’m using WordContinue reading “How to keep headings and body text together”
What kind of editing do I need?
There are, broadly, three types of editing: developmental editing (also called content editing), copy editing, and proofreading. Developmental Editing Developmental editing looks at the structure of the whole book. Suggestions are made to improve the clarity, flow, and style of the overall work. While this can be time consuming, it is great to have anotherContinue reading “What kind of editing do I need?”
Deborah Shaw Adventure Editing 