Jon-Wood

A lot of writers - including me - misuse the words "idly" and "absently". Don't be one of them. Absently "Absently" means "not paying attention". Lots of people use it to tell the reader that someone is not paying attention. "What's wrong with that?" you say. It's lazy. It's telling, not showing. It means you don't have to describe what's going on. You're going "They're not paying attention! Take my word for it!" Lady Sybil: I'll tell Willikins to pack winter clothes. It'll be pretty cold up there at this time of year. Sam Vimes: Yes. That's a good idea. Lady Sybil: We'll have to host a party ourselves, I expect, so we ought to take a ca

Pop quiz, rhetorical substitute for the reader; why do you think feelings are called "feelings"? I dunno. Why? Because you feel them. Yeah, I kinda figured. No - I mean you physically feel them. How did you feel the last time you were upset? Upset. Ha-ha. You know what I mean. ...Sick? Like I ate bad food, or something. Good. How about angry. Hot. I wanted to break something. Someone. Where was the heat? Mostly in my neck and face. Ever hear about someone going red when they got angry? Or seen a picture or drawing of it? Yeah, of course I have-wait, that's what the hot feeling is? Yep. Blame it on a rush of blood to the head. N

A lot of people use "X verbed as Y happened" wrong, in my opinion. Y happened is usually happening first, so it should be at the start of the sentence. But it's usually shoved to the second clause. If you think about doing this, try changing it to "As Y happened, X verbed." or It's especially a good idea when X's verbing is a reaction to whatever Y is doing. "Well, we know that cry for help came from somewhere in here," my partner mused as he lowered his .38. "We need to thoroughly investigate. Just in case," I agreed as I followed his reasoning. Okay, the justification was a little shaky, but I was pretty sure the ADA would look the othe

Glancing behind my raptor, I saw yet another Titan, as well as a veritable tidal wave of Y'dldihay fliers rapidly approach us, apparently recognizing the threat we represented. There's a lot of words nobody uses but writers. And sometimes, characters who are supposed to be normal people. Your readers might not even consciously notice, but on some level, they'll know something is off. So, when was the last time you heard someone in real life use "veritable"? Not exactly common, is it? You know how some people use "literally" to mean "figuratively"? Veritable is used in the exact same way. For emphasis. And also, wrong. Or it would be wron

"We've gathered you here to tell you that there's something in the lake," Gloria said.The campers stirred. "Yeah, fish," someone said."Something else. People have been attacked, and as best as we can tell, whatever it was-some kind of animal, came from the water. So we're going to shut you in your cabins for the night, with food, and we'll leave in the morning.""Any questions? Susan.""Do you know what it is?""No. No, we don't, but we've called the Sheriff's department. They're coming to take you home, tomorrow morning. KJ?""Why aren't we going now?""Because the camp vans have two blown tires. Sheriff said to sit tight. Robin?""Can thi

Disclaimer: The opinions prepresented below are, in fact, opinions. Not facts, not ironclad grammar rules. "But made sure I closed the tap!" Gayle exclaimed, and hummed. "I don't think it's even physically possible for this much tapioca to leak out!" "Hmm" is onomatopoeia for a brief sound someone makes when thinking. Humming is making a low, steady, continuous sound, like a bee. They are, clearly, two different things. So why do so many writers say "hum" when they mean to say "Character goes "hmm"," hmm? Can anyone tell me that? I don't know when people started getting it wrong, but it's mostly been in the past decade, I've seen it exclu