Blog
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Surprising Connections Between Horror and Romance
At first blush, horror and romance might seem as far apart as two genres can be. But on closer inspection, the genres exhibit many similarities. Beyond the story-level connections, the readerships of these two genres share a protectiveness born from the feeling others look down on their genre of choice as being of low merit, […]
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Beyond Spell-Check: Ten Catches Copy Editors Make
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Spell-check will fail to catch an almost unlimited number of writing miscues. In addition to spelling, copy editors address grammar, punctuation, style (hello, Chicago Manual), clarity, and consistency. The following ten items will give you some idea of what spell-check won’t catch. (Also note that I’m not addressing punctuation here and that while Word’s […]
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My Webinar on Editing Horror
The recording of my webinar on editing horror is now available for purchase at Club Ed at the following link: Editing Horror with James Gallagher This one-hour webinar is for people interested in learning how to edit the horror genre. The class covers the following: What is horror? Brief history of the genre Subgenres Horror […]
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Continuity, Part 1: Continuity Issues and Why They Pose Problems
“Only by thoughtful concentration on details can fiction be satisfactorily edited.” —Words into Type [On April 4, 2025, I presented “The Case of Ever-Changing Eye Color: Tracking Continuity in Manuscripts” to a live audience at ACES 2025 in Salt Lake City. This series of posts is largely based on that presentation.] What Are Continuity Issues? […]
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Castle Walls Update: New Edition of the Chicago Manual & Other News
This fall is full of exciting happenings in my editing world! Style alert! CMOS 18 hits the streets My appearance on Club Ed Discussions My upcoming course on editing horror My upcoming presentation for ACES VCON24 The Chicago Manual of Style releases a new edition While the Associated Press frequently updates its style guide to accommodate the fast pace […]
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Scene It First with Nikki Davenport
On November 15, 2023, romance author Nikki Davenport joined me for a fascinating episode of the Scene It First series, sponsored by Fictionary. In this series, I speak with bestselling, award-winning authors to talk about first scenes, share secrets of writing craft, and celebrate the stories that thrill and inspire us all. In this episode, […]
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Scene It First with Carol Fisher Saller
On January 24, 2024, writer and editor Carol Fisher Saller joined me for a lively, information-packed episode of the Scene It First series, sponsored by Fictionary. In this series, I speak with bestselling, award-winning authors to talk about first scenes, share secrets of writing craft, and celebrate the stories that thrill and inspire us all. […]
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Scene It First with L. Marie Wood (Ep. 8)
On August 23, 2023, award-winning psychological horror author L. Marie Wood joined me for the eighth episode of the Scene It First series, sponsored by Fictionary. In this series, I speak with bestselling, award-winning authors to talk about first scenes, share secrets of writing craft, and celebrate the stories that thrill and inspire us all. […]
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My Presentation on Copyediting for the Fictionary Loves Writers Conference
On February 12, 2023, I was honored to present this session on copyediting at the three-day Fictionary Loves Writers Conference. In this session, I addressed the following questions: What are the levels of editing? How do you prepare for a copyedit? What is the editor’s process? What do you do after the edit? Enjoy, and […]
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Scene It First with Delancey Stewart, Marika Ray, Melanie Summers and Kelly Collins (Ep. 7)
On July 19, 2023, acclaimed romance authors Delancey Stewart, Marika Ray, Melanie Summers, and Kelly Collins joined me for the seventh episode of the Scene It First series, sponsored by Fictionary. In this series, I speak with bestselling, award-winning authors to talk about first scenes, share secrets of writing craft, and celebrate the stories that […]