Mr. Andy FaceSometimes, when I'm sifting through music libraries and not finding anything that I like, I think "It would be faster to just write it myself."
This is always wrong.
Protip: you don't *have* to fade out a lower third if you're going to cut to another shot right away. Just leave it up until the cut.
Rookwood Editing"His voice dropped an octave" —> "His pitch dropped."
I see this a lot in romance, and as a singer, I'm here to tell you that an octave is a lot. Unless someone's voice is starting pretty high, it's unlikely that their tone is falling an entire octave. If someone is speaking normally, dropping an octave would put them in the rumbly basement of a musical staff.
Same goes for jumping an octave: If I'm speaking normally, jumping an octave would put me up into a squeak!
We're coming up on the end of the year, and as we reflect on the year past and the year upcoming, we think about our goals—both big and small.
As writers and editors, we think a lot about goals. Our characters have internal and external goals that drive their actions and make their stories stronger; so do we!
What are your characters' internal goals? Are their external goals helping them achieve the things they want most?
Are yours?
#Writing #Goals #EditingProTips
https://www.rookwoodediting.com/2022/02/something-to-prove-internal-and-external-goals/
"took her hand in his" —> "took her hand"
"in his" is redundant in most scenarios, unless you mean "took her hand away from her by removing it from her arm," in which case, that should be made clear.
"whilst" —> "while"
"Whilst" and "while" are not interchangeable words, and "whilst" shouldn't be used to make text sound fancier. The author that I'm working with uses intentionally flowery (her words) language, and she does it really well! But "whilst" is a word that I've been changing more often than not.
If you're writing in stylistically ornate language, make sure the words you're using are functioning correctly.
(Or hire an editor to double check for you!)
Beginning the revisions process on a finished draft can feel overwhelming. But there are ways to make it easier!
When editors begin work on developmental edits (the first stage in the editorial process), we make what we call a story map. This is also often called "reverse outlining," and you can do it too! It's a fantastic way to get some distance from your story and see what the story needs most.
#AmEditing #EditingProTips #WritingCommunity #Writing
https://www.rookwoodediting.com/2022/07/using-story-maps-for-self-revision/
On speech tags:
"bit out" —> "said sharply"
"ground out" —> "said angrily"
"murmured"/"breathed" —> "said softly"
This can feel counterintuitive; don't we want to reduce adverbs and use specific language?
Not when it comes to speech tags.
Simplifying speech tags makes dialogue stronger. Your characters' emotion should come from the dialogue itself, and dramatic speech tags distract from your writing rather than adding to it.
#AmEditing #EditingProTips #Writing
https://www.rookwoodediting.com/2021/01/just-use-said-on-speech-tags/
@ivan In this situation, "me" is functioning as the object of the sentence, and therefore we use "lay" instead of "lie." Grammatically, it works the same as "Now I lay [you] down to sleep." If we omitted the "me," however, we'd be left with "Now I lie down to sleep."
Confused about lay/lie?
I lie [myself] down.
I lay something else down.
I lay [myself] down yesterday.
I laid something else down yesterday.
For more information on lay/lie, check out the Writer’s Digest link below!
#AmEditing #EditingProTips #WritingCommunity #Grammar
https://www.writersdigest.com/.amp/write-better-fiction/lay-vs-lie