The Editing Podcast

Denise and Louise chat with guest Tim Storm about the concept of unearned writing, and how to craft prose that's authentic and plausible.

• The writer’s responsibility to the reader and the story
• Story events and character reactions in relation to plausibility and authenticity
• Salvation events
• Unnatural character realizations
• Contrived plot turns
• Thematic insertions or digressions
• Turning unearned writing into earned prose
• Idea flow in non-fiction

• Title Case Converter
• The Allusionist podcast
• Storm Writing School
• Free course from Tim: The Gold Standard Scene: Analyses of Near-Perfect Scenes in Prose Fiction
• Storm Writing School on Twitter
• Storm Writing School on Facebook
• Storm Writing School on Pinterest

The easiest way to ping us a question is via Facebook Messenger: Visit the podcast's Facebook page and click on the SEND MESSAGE button.

• Denise Cowle Editorial Services
• Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor

‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Denise and Louise chat about 4 features of written language that are often thought to be Americanisms but aren’t. 

• -iz- spellings
• serial commas
• em dashes
• which/that in restrictive relative clauses

• Lexico/Oxford: ‘The Differences Between British and American Terms’
• Lynne Murphy on British and American English (video)
• Free PDF booklet: Verbs ending in -ize, -ise, -yze and -yse

The easiest way to ping us a question is via Facebook Messenger: Visit the podcast's Facebook page and click on the SEND MESSAGE button.

Denise Cowle Editorial Services

Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor

‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Denise and Louise talk with linguist Rob Drummond about grammar pedantry, peevery, youth language, and non-standard language in context.

• Correct or conventional – a linguist’s perspective
• Better versus standard
• Zombie rules, and what we can ditch
• Youth language – dumbing down English or enriching it?
• Young people's language in relation to identity and language change
• Varieties of English in written communication: globalization, national and cultural identities
• The internet’s impact on pedantry and peevery
• The relationship between knowledge and pedantry
• The difference between preferences and judgements
• Recognizing our own pedantry and respecting contextually appropriate style
• Stepping outside our linguistic comfort zones

• Radical Copyeditor blog
• 'The Business of Being a Writer, with Jane Friedman’
• Rob Drummond Linguistics
• TED Talk: John McWhorter: Txtng is killing language. JK!!!
• Rob's graph: Linguistic knowledge versus linguistic pedantry

The easiest way to ping us a question is via Facebook Messenger: Visit the podcast's Facebook page and click on the SEND MESSAGE button.

• Denise Cowle Editorial Services
• Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor

‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Denise and Louise talk about how to use question marks in fiction and non-fiction according to convention.

1. Direct questions
2. Indirect questions
3. How-to statements
4. Idiomatic phrases and question marks
5. Double punctuation
6. Uncertain dates and date ranges
7. Indicating uncertainty

• But Can I Start A Sentence With “But”? by Carol Saller
• Making a Point: The Pernickety Story of English Punctuation by David Crystal

The easiest way to ping us a question is via Facebook Messenger: Visit the podcast's Facebook page and click on the SEND MESSAGE button.

• Denise Cowle Editorial Services
• Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor

‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Denise and Louise talk about 10 things writers need to tell an editor when they get in touch for the first time to discuss a project.

1. Word count
2. File format
3. Genre or subject
4. Other rounds of editing
5. The type of editing required
6. Intended audience and where you’re publishing
7. Time frame
8. What else you’ve written
9. Whether you can send a sample
10. How you found your editor

• The Editing Podcast, Point of view: On editing erotica. With editor Maya Berger
• The Editing Podcast, S1E1: The different levels of editing
• The Editing Podcast, S1E6: What is a sample edit?
• The Editing Podcast, S2E9: Writing and editing for the web. With Erin Brenner

The links above take you to The Editing Podcast website but you can catch up with any of the episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Podchaser, or your preferred app.

The easiest way to ping us a question is via Facebook Messenger: Visit the podcast's Facebook page and click on the SEND MESSAGE button

• Denise Cowle Editorial Services
• Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor

‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Denise and Louise talk to Jenny Slater, an in-house editor with Newgen Publishing UK. Newgen is a project management agency offering editing, proofreading, typesetting and indexing for publishers.

Note: Denise and Louise have no affiliation with this organization. Newgen exhibited at the 2019 SfEP conference at Aston University, and it was the perfect opportunity to find out more about how they operate!

• About Out of House Publishing and the Newgen family
• The Newgen freelance database
• Assessing freelance editors and proofreaders
• Team specialisms and continuity: academic and education
• Matching editor subject experience with book projects
• How the sample tests are evaluated according to publishing standards
• The feedback process
• House styles

• How to apply for freelance editing and proofreading work with Newgen: https://newgenpublishing.co.uk/work-with-us/

• Denise Cowle Editorial Services (non-fiction)
• Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor (fiction)

‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Denise and Louise talk to Laura Poole, a professional copyeditor who specializes in working with university presses on scholarly non-fiction, mainly in the humanities. Laura discusses the importance of fact checking.

Listen to find out more about:

• What a copyediting service includes
• When fact checking takes place in the editorial process
• Fiction: place names, historical accuracy, idiom, dates, etymology
• Non-fiction: people names, obscure terms, place names, dates, protecting author reputation
• Differences between spot checking and fact checking
• Fact checking for consistency across series
• Print versus digital: preventing reputational damage in the long term
• Tools for fact checking
• Who’s responsible for fact checking?
• Effective and sensitive querying of facts in non-fiction
• Artistic licence with facts in fiction

Mentioned in the show:

• Laura Poole, Archer Editorial: https://www.sfep.org.uk/directory/laura-poole and https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurapoole/
• Tool: Internet Movie Database (IMDb): https://www.imdb.com/
• Tool: The Historical Thesaurus of English: https://ht.ac.uk/
• Tool: Google Ngram Viewer: https://books.google.com/ngrams
• Tool: CIA – The World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
• Tool: The New Food Lover's Companion (Barron's Cooking Guide)
• Tool: The Art of Firearms in Fiction: https://www.louiseharnbyproofreader.com/the-art-of-firearms-in-fiction.html

Denise and Louise

• Denise Cowle Editorial Services (non-fiction)
• Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor (fiction)

Music credit

‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Denise and Louise talk to Maya Berger, a professional editor who works with Young Adult and children’s fiction, speculative and science fiction, and romance and adult fiction. In this episode, we focus on writing and editing erotica.

Listen to find out more about:

• Why authors shouldn’t fear approaching an editor
• Why erotica deserves the same editorial rigour as any other genre
• The rise of romance and erotica in mainstream publishing
• How to find an editor who specializes in erotic fiction
• Subgenres and the benefits of specialist editing: LGBTQ, kink and taboo (BDSM and powerplay dynamics)
• Sensitivity reading: representing voice and identity

Mentioned in the show:

• Maya Berger: What I Mean To Say: https://www.whatimeantosay.com/
• Maya Berger (SfEP): https://www.sfep.org.uk/directory/what-i-mean-to-say-clear-and-professional-copy-editing-and-proofreading
• SfEP Directory of Editorial Services: https://www.sfep.org.uk/directory
• Finding an editor (blog): https://www.louiseharnbyproofreader.com/blog/how-do-i-find-a-proofreader-copyeditor-or-developmental-editor
• Finding an editor (podcast): The Editing Podcast, S1E10, How to Find an Editor

Denise and Louise

• Denise Cowle Editorial Services (non-fiction)
• Louise Harnby | Proofreader & Copyeditor (fiction)

Music credit

‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Denise and Louise talk to Beth Hamer, a professional proofreader and the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading's conference director. Beth chats about how to organize a successful editorial conference.

Listen to find out more about:

• Responding to feedback
• Refining the delegate experience 
• Benefits of attending the annual SfEP conference
• Choosing a venue
• Choosing speakers 
• Programming sessions

Mentioned in the show:

• Beth Hamer Freelance Proofreader: http://beth-hamer.co.uk/
• Society for Editors and Proofreaders: https://www.sfep.org.uk
• SfEP annual conference: https://www.sfep.org.uk/networking/conferences/
• SfEP 2019 speaker: Chris Brookmyre – crime/thriller author, speaker: https://www.brookmyre.co.uk/
• SfEP 2019 speaker: Rob Drummond – linguist, writer, lecturer: https://www.robdrummond.co.uk/
• SfEP 2019 speaker: David Crystal – linguist, writer, editor, lecturer and broadcaster: http://www.davidcrystal.com/

Denise and Louise

• Denise Cowle Editorial Services (non-fiction)
• Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor and Proofreader (fiction)

Music credit

‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Denise and Louise discuss how to use quote marks (or speech marks) in writing ... and when not to use them. 

• What are quote marks for?
• Should I use straight or curly quote marks?
• Should I use single or double quote marks?
• Where does the closing quote mark go in relation to other punctuation?​
• When not to use quote marks

• ‘How to punctuate dialogue in a novel’: (blog) http://bit.ly/2vYflIf
• ‘How to punctuate dialogue in a novel’: (video playlist): http://bit.ly/2ZzUCXG
• ‘Worry-free Writing: how to use quote marks’: http://bit.ly/2ZyTzag

• Chicago Manual of Style
• Penguin Guide to Punctuation
• New Hart’s Rules

The easiest way to ping us a question is via Facebook Messenger: Visit the podcast's Facebook page and click on the SEND MESSAGE button: http://bit.ly/EditPodFB

• Denise Cowle Editorial Services: bit.ly/CowleEditing
• Louise Harnby | Fiction Editor: bit.ly/HarnbyEditing

‘Vivacity’ Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/