tips for writers
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Sidebars, Sideboxes, Boxouts, Fact Files and Further Information Panels These are all names given to additional information in an article. You’ll often see them in a box at the end of an article or down the side of an article. Travel articles, in particular, use them to provide extra details such as prices, places to
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Word Counts: Editors have specific spaces to fill in their magazines so it’s useful to state your word count whether you’re sending in an article, short story or filler. Always round your word count to the nearest 25 (this is generally accepted by most publications and it looks more professional to write say, 1500 words
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Check, check, check! With readers’ letters, busy editorial staff don’t often have the time to let you know if they’re going to use your letter. It’s great if they do as it saves time standing at the newsagents every week checking to see if your letter has been published. But if you don’t check, you
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It’s Or Its? We’re taught that an apostrophe should be used to indicate ownership e.g. ‘Sarah’s handbag’ tells us that the handbag belongs to Sarah. So surely the same applies the ‘it’s’? The answer is no (I know, our crazy English language!). So, the rule is, when using ‘its’, no apostrophe is necessary for ownership.
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Out with the old and in with the new – ish At the beginning of a new year, the adage, ‘out with the old and in with the new’ comes to mind. Does that also apply to writing? Should stories, novels, articles etc that have been lovingly constructed but sadly rejected be consigned to the
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Windy walks and bubble baths I’m sure you’ll know what I mean when I say that some days your writing just seems to flow effortlessly and before you know it you’ve reached that goal of 1000 words. On other days, holding a tarantula in your hand for ten minutes (or a snake, rat, cockroach etc
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Homophone Headache! Yesterday in my writing exercise for you, I asked you to spot ten deliberate mistakes in a page of text. One of the mistakes was a homophone (aloud/allowed) where the words sound the same but have a different meaning. It’s so easy to type the wrong word but always look at the context
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Crafty Commas! A lot of new writers are unsure where commas should be placed when writing dialogue. Here’s a guide to help you: If you lead into a passage of speech with ownership, a comma should be placed before the words of speech e.g.: Sarah said, “Would you like a cup of tea?” Alternatively, if
Esther Chilton 