by Pernickety Kate | May 8, 2022 | Proofreading, Writing skills
As you’d expect, much of a proofreader’s job is checking spelling, punctuation and grammar. But a large part is spent spotting inconsistencies. There are more ways of being inconsistent than you might imagine; this post focuses on the importance of consistent heading... by Pernickety Kate | Mar 7, 2022 | Editing, Words, Writing skills
In earlier posts, I covered dialogue punctuation and layout in fiction and memoir. But what about the things the characters actually say? Sounding natural A mistake often made by fiction writers is to think that ‘natural dialogue’ means including everything a speaker... by Pernickety Kate | Jun 2, 2021 | Editing, Proofreading, Writing skills
Here, I continue my series on writing dialogue. In How to write dialogue: 1, I explained how to punctuate written speech. (The fact that it took a whole blog is a measure of how complex it can be.) You should be comfortable with most of those ideas before reading this... by Pernickety Kate | Sep 28, 2018 | Editing, Words, Writing skills
Everybody’s different. We can see people’s uniqueness in their clothes, their hairstyle, their accent, their hobbies or pets. And that individuality extends to their writing. I currently have an editing job involving lots of technical documents, destined to be part of... by Pernickety Kate | Sep 6, 2018 | Editing, Words, Writing skills
If you’re writing for your business – on your website, flyers, or other promotional material – there’s a harsh truth you need to know about your readers: they’re selfish. So are you; so am I. What we’re all thinking when reading business blurb is: “What’s in it for... by Pernickety Kate | Jul 7, 2018 | Numbers, Proofreading, Writing skills
Many people find numbers confusing. But if numbers are an essential part of your writing, there are ways to avoid bamboozling your readers (because you don’t want that, do you?). By ‘numbers’, I mean prices, percentages, or anything that needs counting, whether...