How to Punctuate Dialogue

Is it a struggle for you knowing how to punctuate dialogue? How to punctuate dialogue correctly eludes a lot of writers. Yet once you know the rules, it is straightforward. Quotation marks, speech marks and quotes Quotation marks are also referred to as ‘speech marks’ or ‘quotes’. I’ll use the term ‘quotation marks’ here so

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Is your Book Character-Driven or Plot-Driven?

Do you know, is your book character-driven or plot-driven? The first question should be, what does character-driven and plot-driven mean?! Plot-driven In a plot-driven story, the action is the focus of the writing, not the character. The character tends to be static; there is little character development. Plot-driven stories are often genres like horror, action,

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The Incorrigible Optimists Club

A Book Review I had never heard of The Incorrigible Optimists Club or the Algerian-born writer Jean-Michel Guenassia. I came across it in the library when I was selecting books for my Christmas holiday reading. The original is written in French and I read the English translation by Euan Cameron. It is quite untrue that

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A PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION FOR EDITORS

Is there a Professional Qualification for Editors? In Australia since 2008, yes, there is a professional qualification for editors. The name of the qualification is ‘Accredited Editor’. What does it mean to be an Accredited Editor? Editors who have passed the accreditation exam and become certified may use the pronominal ‘AE’ – e.g. Gail Tagarro,

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ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES and other words

While Charles Darwin gave us the theory of evolution in his ground-breaking work On the Origin of Species, the subject of this blog is etymology: the origin of words and how their meanings have changed over time. This blog is not intended as an academic treatise on etymology. It does not give every single meaning

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Options for Publishing Your Book

Whenever I’m approaching the end of a book edit, most of my clients begin thinking about the next step. So, what are the options for publishing your book? All that hard work… That precious manuscript of yours that took you months, maybe years, to write, has now been professionally edited. You’re ready to look into

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TESTIMONIAL “Her nurturing style helped me to learn a great deal about the writing process as we created the book I had always envisaged”

I have recently completed my first fiction novel, The Empyrean Quest, and after much research, I chose Gail Tagarro to do the editing. Following a very helpful and focused first contact over the phone, I knew Gail was the right person to guide me as a first-time author. My expectations were far exceeded over the

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Reader Reviews

Greg Kater’s Warramunga Trilogy The Warramunga’s War, The Warramunga’s Aftermath of War, Skills of the Warramunga Congratulations to my client, Australian author Greg Kater, whose historical fiction books are attracting excellent reader reviews. The Warramunga trilogy is set in and after World War II. Greg Kater writes the books from a uniquely Australian perspective. The Warramunga’s War. Reviewer

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How to Make Readers Care about your Story’s Characters

Writers’ Resources Next-level Thesaurus You’ve no doubt heard of, and you possibly use Roget’s International Thesaurus. It has been a loyal companion guide to me over the years, whether I’m wearing my editor’s or my writer’s hat! It’s so useful to be able to look up both synonyms and antonyms. A more recent addition to

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book cover the emotion thesaurus
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