On Wakeful Editing : How to bring a fresh eye to your work
(Reference: Editing Fact and Fiction, Leslie T. Sharpe 1997, Cambridge Press)
A creative writer is not "a language autocrat".
The desire to be right should never inhibit the development of voice, flow of usage, sensitivity to sound and simple common sense.
Graduates of the "I have learned a rule and will apply it" school, run the risk of "ignoring the niceties of stylistic variation and also changing the meaning of some sentences by shifting the emphasis."
Mastery of standard usage are not to be dispensed with, but unique style and original flavor arise from the kind of flexibility that writers and editors risk when they appreciate that language is not cast in stone and is a living, changing organism.
Above All,
Happy Writing,
JJ
(Reference: Editing Fact and Fiction, Leslie T. Sharpe 1997, Cambridge Press)
A creative writer is not "a language autocrat".
The desire to be right should never inhibit the development of voice, flow of usage, sensitivity to sound and simple common sense.
Graduates of the "I have learned a rule and will apply it" school, run the risk of "ignoring the niceties of stylistic variation and also changing the meaning of some sentences by shifting the emphasis."
Mastery of standard usage are not to be dispensed with, but unique style and original flavor arise from the kind of flexibility that writers and editors risk when they appreciate that language is not cast in stone and is a living, changing organism.
Above All,
Happy Writing,
JJ
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