Comments on: Fred’s Distilled Writing Wisdom, Part 1

By: Rimmerstern

Rimmerstern — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:43:50 +0000

You would think that I points 1-4 goes without saying. But they don\’t, I guess. Stephen King lists them also in his \"On writing\".. He also says something that I then will dare add here, that if you truely wants to write and get paid for writing, you need to go about it as you would any other job. Which means you should schedule your writing, at least 2-4 hours a day, and this even if you haven\’t got anyting to write about. For training purposes and for getting into the habit, sitting and staring at a blank piece of paper for hours straight is absolutely priceless.

@Gary Farber - you\’re right, I would go for a human proofreader over a spellchecker, anytime. Also, if a story is otherwise good, the spelling needs to be really, really bad for it to get ejected on that account.

By: Gary Farber

Gary Farber — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:45:15 +0000

“And if you can figure out how to number the manuscript pages then you’re probably also smart enough to find and use the spell checker.”

Which if you rely on it, will lead to homophone errors; you need to proof by eye to avoid all the errors a spell-checker will leave you with anyway, or which the spell-checker will even helpfully generate for you if you follow its suggestions, and you’re better off practicing your proofing by eye so as to increase your practice.

People who are dyslexic, or with sight problems, of course, don’t fall in the category of people who might benefit from this advice.

Spell-checkers are an example of techonology that frequently cause far more problems than they solve. Train your own brain and eye to proofread, and if that’s not sufficient — most folks aren’t at all consistently up to professional level — and seriously wish to avoid errors, find a fellow human who is.

If you want to be almost sure to have errors, just use a spell-checker, and skip using a competent human proofreader.

By: Tina Black

Tina Black — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:26:27 +0000

“If you are a good-looking woman, do not include pictures of yourself in a bikini. Make it as brief as you can.”

Less, eh? I have to get rid of that visual.

By: John Murphy

John Murphy — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 19:22:36 +0000

I wish I had read this yesterday — I just sent off my first story to a magazine this very morning and it never occurred to me to paperclip the stamp on the SASE. I will have to remember this in the future, because that does seem like a very considerate thing to do!
(Thankfully, I did indeed remember to number the damn pages, but I have to admit that I only thought of it just before printing the final copy)

By: EdS

EdS — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:10:53 +0000

And if you can figure out how to number the manuscript pages then you’re probably also smart enough to find and use the spell checker.

By: Phoenix

Phoenix — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:58:04 +0000

“If you are a good-looking woman, do not include pictures of yourself in a bikini.”

I’m afraid to ask this, but is there a story behind this bit? And wouldn’t bikini pictures of people who aren’t good-looking women be worse?

I haven’t commented here before, so as long as I’m doing so I’d like to mention that I discovered your work last year or so and became an immediate fan. Still haven’t read very many of your books, but I’m remedying that as fast as I can and love the ones I have read. I also very much enjoy this blog and am always happy to see it updated. Thanks for helping make my world a better place.

-Phoenix, who’s stuck trying to master part I. 2.