Posted in: 2023

219. Editing Essentials 4: Editing and the Author’s Voice

My co-host for the series on Editing Essentials, the great Jennia D’Lima, is back for another episode. Our topic is the author’s voice and we talk about the care and attention that an editor has to devote in order to recognize it and (mostly) not interfere with it. In both fiction and non-fiction.

Jennia's Website
https://jenniaedits.com/

Posted in: 2023

211. Editing Essentials 3: I’m Sorry, I’ll Need to See Some Proofs First

Welcome to Writing & Editing, the podcast about words and language, for people who write, edit, read, or listen. This is the third episode of the series called “Editing Essentials” that I’m doing with my co-host, Jennia D’Lima. Hi, I’m Jennia, a freelance editor based in Maryland. Wayne and I will be having open conversations about a whole range of editing topics that a writer at any level should know about editors and the editing process. Our plan is to do two of these per month, and ultimately combine them into a website and webinar that we would offer to listeners. Today’s topic is “I’m Sorry, I’ll Need to See Some Proofs First,” episode 211 of the podcast.

My guest on the next episode is Tyler Schwanke, who’s a recruiter in health care by day, and a writer even earlier in the day. He has a great novel out called Breaking In, and we talk about that, writing in general, and the influence of film on his style and content. That’s on Monday. Please join me.

Proofreading Summary Guide
https://tinyurl.com/wae211

Jennia's Website
https://jenniaedits.com/

Posted in: 2023

197. Is It the Story or the Words That Really Count?

My guest today is Fernanda Barajas. She’s a copywriter who does work for several different companies. She also hosts a podcast, and writes a blog, called My Impression Of, where she reviews and discusses books, movies, series, authors, and songwriters. She mentions in her profile the importance of stories, and I asked her to be a guest on the podcast to talk about the importance of words—instead of or in addition to. It was a fun and informative chat.
◘◘◘
Blog
https://myimpressionof.com.mx/

Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/7mewBmfT9XtGFWRd3nMh1V

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/myimpressionof/

Linktree
https://linktr.ee/myimpressionof

Posted in: 2023

186. This Is What I Mean by Literary Fiction

I’m solo today and this episode is a kind of prequel. I’m going to be interviewing the great American writer Lorrie Moore in a few weeks about her new novel, I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, due to be published later this month. I’ve been a lifelong fan of her work, and in this episode I will give an overview of her past works, and my views on what it is about her books and her style that makes her exceptional. The title of this episode is “This Is What I Mean by Literary Fiction,” number 186 of the podcast.

Loorie Moore’s Amazon Author Page
 https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lorrie-Moore/author/B000APWFEY

Lorrie Moore’s First Published Story in “Seventeen” Magazine (1977)
 https://archive.org/details/sim_seventeen_1977-01_36_1/mode/2up
(scroll to page 92) 

Posted in: 2023

174. Avoid Verbal and Narrative Clichés in Your Writing

I talk about these two types of clichés to avoid. I use "verbal cliché" to mean hackneyed phrases and worn-out imagery that may have been imaginative and fresh at some time in the history of the language now, but has since gone stale. I use "narrative cliché" to mean the use of familiar tropes and situations in the story you are telling. This episode mostly is about fiction and film.

Garner's Modern English Usage
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/garners-modern-english-usage-9780197599020

Imagining and Knowing: The Shape of Fiction, by Gregory Currie
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199656615.001.0001