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The Apostrophe (Mistake #26)

Few will think badly of you if you don’t know, say, whether it’s St James’s Park or St James’ Park, but if you write something like “its important to get word’s right” you’re inviting derision. Apostrophe howlers like this will make any decent editor wince. Granted, perhaps she’ll think “Oh, it’s all right – we’ve …

Not reading (Mistake #25)

If one more new writer tells me he has twenty hours a week to spare to write but “I don’t have the time to read!” I may ask to be shut away somewhere dark for a bit to wail until rescued. Any naughty middle-aged ladies out there want to stroke me, pick me up – …

Margin of error (Mistake #24)

Over time I’ve come to realise that when new writers study a market, and its regular slots and sections, with a view to perhaps coming up with an idea to propose or writing a piece speculatively, they are naturally drawn to potential openings which look, well, a bit ‘easy’ to fill. There’s nothing wrong with …

One word or two? (Mistake #23)

I doubt there are many editors who would reject work featuring one or more of the following minor bloopers. But I see them a lot. Curiously, I also see inconsistency in close proximity – “every day I get up and everyday I have breakfast” – which always makes me wonder whether the writers must have …

“These markets just aren’t me!” (Mistake #22)

Know the magazine I’d like to write for? Pick’n’Mix Magazine – the monthly for lovers of all forms of confectionary, sweets and chocolate bars. It has 100-odd pages of editorial and the editor actively seeks contributors to write about their favourite candy and review the latest launches from Lindt. Pick’n’Mix pays above NUJ recommended rates, …

Writing to demonstrate knowledge (Mistake #21)

This is an interesting one, which I tend to see in younger writers, perhaps just out of school or college or uni, and therefore maybe fresh from writing essays. Articles are not essays, clearly. One of the key differences – there are many – is that in an essay you are typically writing to show …

Numbers with character (Mistake #20)

It’s summer. Everybody’s been talking about hot temperatures. Here’s the Press Association, here’s Sky, here’s the Daily Record, and here’s the Daily Express, all insisting that a temperature can be hot. But it can’t. Temperature is a number. A number can be high. A number can be low. A number can be average. What a …

“Oh $&#£ off!” (Mistake #19)

A couple of months ago I read a BMJ editorial by Rhona Flin, Professor of Applied Psychology at the University of Aberdeen, in which she argued that experiencing or witnessing rudeness at work makes you more likely to make mistakes. This would seem to be common sense, although it’s not something to which I’d previously …

‘What do you think of this?’ (Mistake #18)

When you’re a writer – especially when you’re also a tutor or you offer advice or criticism to new and budding writers – you get a lot of people showing you their work. Some comes from acquaintances, or acquaintances of acquaintances, and some is from strangers. Sometimes I’m happy and have time to help and …

Book review: The Writer’s Handbook 2011

‘The complete guide for all writers, publishers, editors, agents and broadcasters’ is back with a new edition – almost 800 dense pages of contacts, resources and advice. It’s for novelists, of course, and short-story writers too; poets, as well, and playwrights. But it’s what it has to offer non-fiction writers that concerns me for the …