Artist By Mashiro Andy

Favourite Designs: Marchesa Fall 2018 Ready-to-Wear Collection

One very common mistake among beginning writers is to write “Verbing, she verbed” when it would be better to write “She verbed and verbed.”

For instance, take this sentence:

Unlocking the door, she got into the car.

Taken at face value, this sentence tells you that she got into the car even though she was still in the process of unlocking it. That’s impossible. You need to unlock the door first, and only then can you get in the car  Here’s how that sentence should look instead:

She unlocked the door and got in the car.

Somebody said that this is nitpicking. You can see it that way, I suppose. But you can also see it as a choice between writing something else than what you meant to, or simply saying what you mean. And isn’t that choice fairly easy?

Common Phrases Correctly

Body Language Cheat Sheet for Writers

As described by Selnick’s article:

Author and doctor of clinical psychology Carolyn Kaufman has released a one-page body language cheat sheet of psychological “tells” (PDF link) fiction writers can use to dress their characters.

Duo: Goodnight, kiddo!

Mariemaia: Goodnight.

Duo: Goodnight, monster under the bed that eats children in their sleep!

Heero, through a walkie-talkie taped under the bed: Goodnight.

[aboard Peacemillion]

Wufei: What the hell are you doing?!

Duo, not looking up: I’m building a bomb.

Wufei: On the ship?!

Duo: I was gonna put it in a box.

Wufei: What’s a box gonna do?!

Wufei: I truly believe water can solve all of our problems.

Wufei: Weight loss? Drink water.

Wufei: Clear skin? Drink water.

Wufei: Tired of someone? Drown them.

Preventer Agent: Agent Barton is so cool. I saw him backflip off a moving car once.

Another agent: yeah, well I saw him take out 9 guys with his bare hands.

Duo: he also forgot how to spell his own last name yesterday. So keep that in mind.

With credit to @afro-elf

OZ Judge: For your crimes, we sentence you to 68 years in prison.

Duo: Can you…

Duo: Can you add one more year?

Trowa, in the background, undercover: [sighs]