Denise M Taylor

Writers often contact me with concerns about their writing projects – some only have a blueprint and others have almost finished writing their book. But most admit they are time poor and need someone who understands the writing process to help them finalise their project and develop a timetable with deadlines. Many writers are plagued with doubts — usually about […]

Proofreading is a quality control exercise with a fresh pair of eyes to spot mistakes in the writing that were overlooked in the copyediting process. So, the proofreader has a huge responsibility because errors are fewer and this requires increased concentration. In many ways, proofreading is the last line of defence to ensure the writing satisfies expected standards yet maintains […]

You’ve worked hard to pull your writing project into shape. You’ve drafted and redrafted it until you know it inside out. You want to submit your manuscript to a publisher or agent in the hope it will be the next bestseller. But before you do, consider the advantage of handing it over to a manuscript assessor for an objective critique. […]

There is a lot to be learned about the art of creating fictional characters from Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales’. When I assess a narrative, I often comment that I don’t have a clear visual of a character. Or a character doesn’t have a distinctive voice. Or the voice doesn’t match the character. I recently went through my home library […]

It may seem strange to think of a sentence as having a pulse — even a personality. In fiction, a sentence may reflect what’s bubbling away beneath the surface, or may shock with something unexpected. You can create a rhythmic flow of sentences by writing a combination of short, medium and long sentences. In contrast, academic writing tends to be […]

A distraught author once came to me tail between her legs admitting she’d used AI to edit her novel. What came back at her was robotic content that a random person would write. Her creativity and style had been lost. I am noticing a turning point in writers’ and publishers’ attitudes to using an AI tool to edit or proofread. […]

Maybe you are reading this article because the final draft of your thesis or academic book/research paper is ready for submission. You have read, researched, written, reviewed, revised, rewritten and carefully edited every sentence, checking that your arguments and research really get you, logically and clearly, from the aims to the conclusions. Now’s the time to hand it over to […]

I read a lot of historical fiction and I have my favourite authors of the genre: Peter Carey, Geraldine Brooks, Tracy Chevalier, Barbara Kingsolver, Hilary Mantel, Kate Grenville and Markus Zusak. I have also been blown away by so many emerging historical fiction authors whose unpublished novels are sent to me for assessments. I love being able to immerse myself […]

Superfluous words are the enemy of good writing. I often come across writing that includes adjectives and adverbs that are either wrongly chosen to ‘qualify’ another word or are lazy choices (written without thinking whether they are necessary or appropriate). One of the best ways to avoid these inconsequential (lazy) qualifiers is to read back every sentence you write and […]

This is my second article about words that have been used in the wrong context by writers whose manuscripts I have assessed, edited or proofread. Was it a historic or historical event? Was it a continual or continuous noise? Is someone illusive or elusive? The confusion can occur because these words are spelt similarly or sound similar, or both, so it’s understandable […]