When is a typo not a typo?
What exactly is a typo? We all know they’re sneaky, and they happen to the best of us. But we can’t blame our keyboards for everything… Technically, a typo is a mistake occurring through misuse (or failure) of the machinery used for typing. It is short for...
How to write dialogue: 3 – character and viewpoint
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...
Confusing words, part 2: Faze, Fewer, Flaunt
Continuing my series unpicking some of the most commonly confused words in the English language... Faze / Phase Faze is a weird word in meaning and usage as well as spelling. To faze means to disturb, worry or confuse. Examples: When asked to give an example, he was...
Fronted adverbials – do you need them in your life?
I realise I’m late to the party when it comes to fronted adverbials. That’s because I couldn’t decide which hat to wear. As a former Primary School teacher, I know that my brothers and sisters at the chalkface of education have to teach this stuff, whether they want...
Confusing words, part 1: Accept, Advice, Affect
Beginning a series de-mystifying the most common confusing words in English. The words are covered in alphabetical order – you can find other tricky words in other blog posts, as follows: faze, fewer & flaunt, imply & its, and literally, loose & lot. ...
How to write dialogue: 2 – layout
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...