G’day and welcome to Forever Young Autobiographies – Ask Nicola.
Regularly I get questions about creating life stories for family and friends.
Today’s Ask Nicola question is:
Why is theme important when editing?
So let’s jump into a few key points about themes to keep in mind when polishing your work …
Continue reading Why is theme important: Use themes to create and edit life stories
Welcome to Forever Young Autobiographies – Ask Nicola.
Each week I get queries about creating life stories for family and friends.
Today’s Ask Nicola question is:
How do you know when you are finished a life-story project?
So let’s dive into a few key considerations to finish a life story …
Continue reading Finish a life story: How to know when your project is finished
Welcome to Forever Young Autobiographies – Ask Nicola.
I get lots of questions about creating life stories for family and friends.
Today’s Ask Nicola answers the following query:
What things shouldn’t I include in a story about my life? What needs revising and editing?
Firstly great question! So let’s explore how we can quickly boil an entire life down to its essence …
Continue reading Revising and editing: How to take the headache out of editing a life story
Often on morning beach walks I see primary students surfing for school sport.
First their coaches begin with a quick lesson on the sand and then everyone hits the water.
Similarly, a writing and editing life-story coach gets ‘in the water’ to help improve your confidence and skills.
And they are usually keeping an eye on three things …
Continue reading Writing and editing: 3 insider coaching call tips
First published May 31, 2018: This article has been updated and improved.
I’ve panelbeaten countless stories into shape working as a newspaper subeditor in Australia and England.
Indeed, reading and correcting acres of copy is all part of the job!
But pruning and tightening is also an essential step for those who have written a first draft of an autobiography, memoir, biography or other life-story project.
A small amount of time spent ‘polishing’ a manuscript is a wonderful investment.
Firstly, it will help you become a better writer and secondly, you will be a reader crowd-pleaser.
So here are my top editing suggestions to make your writing shine so it is ‘all killer and no filler’!
Continue reading Editing: Don’t try self editing before reading this!
During quarantine periods many of my friends and family have been doing puzzles.
This has included small puzzles and huge ‘take-over-the-kitchen-table’ style jigsaws.
Indeed, for some, puzzles have become a source of daily addiction!
When we write an autobiography, memoir, biography or other life-story project we ‘piece together’ a story just like doing a puzzle.
Certainly, as we move through the planning, writing, polishing and publishing phases chapters become the puzzle pieces that connect to reveal our greater life story.
So before you sit down to write again discover the importance of chapters for you and your reader …
Continue reading Chapters: 3 questions answered about book chapters
Hi and welcome to Forever Young Autobiographies – Ask Nicola.
As a print editor, I get many queries about planning, writing, polishing and publishing life stories for family and friends.
And in this series I aim to give you a peek into how I help fellow writers.
Today’s Ask Nicola answers the following question:
I have finished the first draft of my book. What are the different types of editors? And which one is most important?
Continue reading Ask Nicola Q&A: Your most burning book questions about types of editors
Writing dialogue can scare some people.
They feel like they are off the beaten track in the punctuation wilderness.
But the truth is great quotes really lift an autobiography, memoir, biography or life-story project.
And learning to use speech marks is nowhere near as strenuous as hiking cross country.
As a newspaper print editor I’ve helped many reporters easily understand how to use quotes in writing.
And I can help you too no matter if you are just starting to write or polishing a manuscript.
So get comfy in your fave writing spot and get set to write dialogue like a pro…
Continue reading Dialogue like a pro: See how easily you can use speech marks and quotes in writing
Hi and welcome to Forever Young Autobiographies – Ask Nicola.
I get lots of questions about writing life stories for family and friends.
And in this series I aim to pull out some of the queries I receive and give you a peek into how I help writers just like you.
Today’s Ask Nicola answers the following question:
I’ve finished a rough draft of my book. What do I need to focus on when I polish and revise my writing?
Continue reading Ask Nicola Q&A: How to copy edit + CPR for revising and editing
First published October 5 2017: This article has been updated and improved.
I’ll be the first to admit I was a woeful speller at school.
In fact I almost repeated because I was so bad!
But over the years as a print editor I’ve read a lot of copy and seen the same mistakes crop up time and again.
The good thing is these common writing pitfalls are not hard to fix when you are polishing your autobiography, memoir, biography or life-story manuscript.
Here are five proofreading tips to clean up your writing today…
Continue reading Proofreading tips for revising and editing your writing