Red Pens 101 comes out THIS WEDNESDAY! 😱🥳

Have a bit of a sneak peek at one of the brand new topics I cover in it, determiners! They're words we hardly think about, but they do so much important work.

#Writing #Grammar #GrammarTalk #WritingAdvice

They're fun to write and hard to do right... what's the secret to flashbacks and flashforwards?

(Also, it's fittingly thunderstormy here tonight... 🌩️)
#GrammarTalk #WritingTechniques #WritingAdvice

a set of black commas on a white background . ALT: a set of black commas on a white background .

“Punctuation Gotchas” via GrammarPhile Blog #amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #grammartalk www.proofreadnow.com/blog/bid/834...

Today's #GrammarTalk is tautology, a technique you're almost certainly familiar with already...

#Writing #WritingCommunity #WritingAdvice

Uhhh, time for something less stressful I guess?

Vignettes are a very cool form of writing; let's explore what they can do!

#GrammarTalk #Writing #WritingAdvice #WritingTechniques

We've got a new #GrammarTalk this week! Any guesses for what it's about?

#Writing #WritingCommunity #WritingAdvice

Time for a #GrammarTalk! This week's post is all about plot twists: oh so appealing, but hard to do right.

What's the secret? Let's discuss! I won't ask you to share your favourite twists, though... Spoilers! 😉

#Writing #WritingCommunity #WritingAdvice

The last few weeks have been a bit hellish for me, so this week's #GrammarTalk has been postponed in favour of a throwback to my very first post about semicolons.

100th post! 🎉 To commemorate this milestone, I thought I'd smush together a few common technical problems people face when writing. What are your most frequent points of difficulty?

#GrammarTalk #Writing #WritingCommunity #WritingAdvice #Grammar #Punctuation

#amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #grammartalk

Readers' Expectations | Florida Writers Association We’re always told (and it’s good advice) to “write the story that is in you.” But since we’re also concerned with selling that story to others, readers’ expectations are something to keep in mind. The...

“Readers' Expectations” by NL Holmes via FloridaWriters #amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #grammartalk floridawriters.blog/readers-expe...

Every story is narrated in some way, and the way we decide to implement narration can be crucial to the way readers interact with our writing. So what is your favourite type of narration saying about your work?

#Writing #WritingCommunity #GrammarTalk #WritingAdvice #WritingTechniques

The latest #GrammarTalk post is out, and we're talking about anastrophe!

#Writing #WritingTechniques #WritingAdvice #Poetry

In Praise of Those Pesky Past Participles | Florida Writers Association If you’re old enough, you’ll remember from your elementary school days (which used to be called grammar school, remember?) that the participle is a verb form used as an adjective. The past passive par...

"In Praise of Those Pesky Past Participles" by NL Holmes via FloridaWriters #amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #grammartalk floridawriters.blog/in-praise-of...

We have a new #GrammarTalk this week, and today's topic is motif! They're used in pretty much every creative endeavour, but how do they work in writing, specifically?

#Writing #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice #WritingCommunity

Top 10 Writing and Grammar Mistakes That Even Published Authors Make Macmillan Publishers' editors ranked the most common errors they see, and shared some of their advice for writers - Quick and Dirty Tips.

GrammarGirl podcast: "Top 10 Writing and Grammar Mistakes That Even Published Authors Make" by Mignon Fogarty via GrammarGirl #amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #grammartalk mvnt.us/m1201912

New #GrammarTalk post on Red Pens and Playwriting this week! This time, things are getting tense... Past, present, and future tense, to be precise.

#WritingCommunity #WritingAdvice

a man in a white shirt and suspenders is holding a pair of scissors in front of a tree . ALT: a man in a white shirt and suspenders is holding a pair of scissors in front of a tree .

“Cut Unnecessary Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases” by Shutta Crum via FloridaWriters #amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #grammartalk floridawriters.blog/cut-unnecess...

Isn't it ironic? Ah, irony. A technique we all love to invoke, but that is so very often misapplied. We call lots of things ironic—a surfeit of spoons when you need a knife, a downpour on the one single day you needed...

There's a new #GrammarTalk post up on Red Pens and Playwriting this week, and it's all about irony. Oft invoked but more rarely understood, irony is one of those techniques it's always good to brush up on.

red-pens-and-playwriting.ghost.io/isnt-it-iron...
#Writing #WritingCommunity #WritingAdvice

a set of black commas on a white background . ALT: a set of black commas on a white background .

“Punctuation Gotchas” via GrammarPhile Blog #amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #grammartalk www.proofreadnow.com/blog/bid/834...

All about apostrophes Apostrophes are not a mysterious or enigmatic piece of punctuation—not like our friend the semicolon—yet their misuse is both frequent and flagrant. Oftentimes they are discarded, abandoned as seeming...

This week on Red Pens and Playwriting, we have a new #GrammarTalk post discussing apostrophes: when to use 'em, when to not, and how to tell an its from an it's.

red-pens-and-playwriting.ghost.io/all-about-ap...

#Writing #WritingCommunity #Punctuation #Grammar

Catching phrases I have already mentioned phrases in previous Grammar Talk posts, such as a brief differentiation from clauses. But now I think it is time for them to have a post of their own. As you may or may not a...

New #GrammarTalk out now! This time, we're looking at phrases (very complex, hopefully made sort of simple).

red-pens-and-playwriting.ghost.io/catching-phr...

#Writing #Writers #WritingCommunity #Grammar #Syntax

Readers' Expectations | Florida Writers Association We’re always told (and it’s good advice) to “write the story that is in you.” But since we’re also concerned with selling that story to others, readers’ expectations are something to keep in mind. The...

“Readers' Expectations” by NL Holmes via FloridaWriters #amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #grammartalk floridawriters.blog/readers-expe...

In Praise of Those Pesky Past Participles | Florida Writers Association If you’re old enough, you’ll remember from your elementary school days (which used to be called grammar school, remember?) that the participle is a verb form used as an adjective. The past passive par...

"In Praise of Those Pesky Past Participles" by NL Holmes via FloridaWriters #amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #grammartalk floridawriters.blog/in-praise-of...

Top 10 Writing and Grammar Mistakes That Even Published Authors Make Macmillan Publishers' editors ranked the most common errors they see, and shared some of their advice for writers - Quick and Dirty Tips.

GrammarGirl podcast: "Top 10 Writing and Grammar Mistakes That Even Published Authors Make" by Mignon Fogarty via GrammarGirl #amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #grammartalk mvnt.us/m1201912

Cut Unnecessary Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases | Florida Writers Association We all want to write elegantly. That calls for tightening lines. One way to rid excess verbiage is to cut all unnecessary prepositions and prepositional phrases. I say unnecessary because, as writers,...

“Cut Unnecessary Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases” by Shutta Crum via FloridaWriters #amwriting #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writingadvice #writingtips #grammartalk floridawriters.blog/cut-unnecess...

Conjunction Junction A bit of Grammar Talk

I've published a new #GrammarTalk post about one of the English language's least celebrated workhorses: the conjunction. Help me give these words and phrases the love they deserve! #Writing #WritingAdvice #Grammar
redpensandplaywriting.substack.com/p/conjunctio...

He said, she said A bit of Grammar Talk

I've got a new #GrammarTalk post out for the #Writing peeps out here, and this time we're discussing dialogue tags, including the much-maligned "said". How dead is it, really?
redpensandplaywriting.substack.com/p/he-said-sh...

Time to get active! A bit of grammar talk

There's a new #GrammarTalk post out today for you #Writers today, this time about using active and passive language. How do you, members of the #WritingCommunity, use active and passive statements in your writing, and with what effect?

redpensandplaywriting.substack.com/p/time-to-ge...

Hey there #WritingCommunity and #Writers of all walks! I have a series of #GrammarTalk posts on my blog that discuss various aspects of grammar, punctuation, syntax, and writing techniques.

Posts are accessible for newer and non-formally-trained writers, but engaging for everyone. See below...