Writing and Editing

Send us Fan Mail Wayne uses examples from fiction and from film to talk about the 4 (or 5) different ways in which sex scenes are done: Clinical Euphemistic Vernacular Literary (Evasive)

Send us Fan Mail Wayne interviews and chats with his friend Mel Simoneau, who's written and published both poetry and non-fiction, about the similarities and differences between the mindsets and methods in writing them both.

Send us Fan Mail Wayne analyzes the writing in the speech that Vladimir Putin gave on Russian television before the invasion of Ukraine. There are similarities in the rhetoric to speeches given in the past by Western leaders. Along the way, George Carlin and Jonathan Swift are invoked to bring some sense to everything.

Send us Fan Mail Wayne discusses why and how editors keep all aspects of their clients' work consistent. One of the main tools in this effort is the "style sheet."

Send us Fan Mail Wayne talks about his valuing the style and the how of fiction (and film), and along the way has some comments on non-fiction, editing, the Talking Heads, and figure skating.

Send us Fan Mail Wayne talks about the various things you need to do in order to self-publish your book, and also identifies a new player in the overall publishing business: the company specifically designed to provide full service for self-publishing authors.

Send us Fan Mail Wayne discusses his own practices and those of others in handling "hard material." He goes on to talk about freedom of expression generally in the woke cancel culture that we are unfortunately living in now. (Note: he makes a reference to and also discusses briefly an episode of Bari Weiss's podcast Honestly . You can find that episode here .)

Send us Fan Mail Wayne discusses mixed metaphors and makes a case for why they should be categorically avoided in your writing. Along the way, he has some comments also about metaphors generally and about clichés.

Send us Fan Mail Wayne interviews Dr. Kirby Conrod, who is a lecturer in linguistics at the University of Washington. Dr. Conrod’s commentary, especially on what is called “the singular they ,” has appeared in many other publications, in print, on the web, and in podcasts.

Send us Fan Mail Wayne goes through his list of the most important things you should keep in mind when you are choosing an editor.

Send us Fan Mail Wayne talks about the origin of the semi-colon and makes a case for why it may become extinct on its own, or perhaps should be eliminated anyway;

Send us Fan Mail Wayne talks about the care that an editor must take when working with the particular writing style of a client. All are different. Hear a little about the Beatles and J. D. Salinger, and Northrop Frye and Neil Young. Something for everyone ...

Send us Fan Mail Wayne discusses the two opposite poles of editing: attention to minutiae and attention to overall structure.

Send us Fan Mail Wayne discusses reviews of fiction in the broad sense, focusing on things that reviewers ask that are irrelevant—and suggesting things they could ask about that would be more revelatory about the author and their book.

Send us Fan Mail Wayne discusses the importance of a type of spareness in writing fiction, and cites a short story by Raymond Carver, novels by Vladimir Nabokov, a song by Leonard Cohen, and two movies ( Unforgiveable and Glengarry Glen Ross )—to illustrate his points.

Send us Fan Mail Wayne discusses some changes that have happened in traditional publishing in the last decade or more, and speculates on how these changes may expand and other changes may come.

Send us Fan Mail Wayne chooses examples from four works to illustrate good and bad writing: What Strange Paradise , the Giller Prize–winning novel by Omar El Akkad, published in 2021 ◘ Hominids , by Robert J. Sawyer, the multi–award winning Canadian science fiction writer, published in 2003 ◘ A Tale of a Tub, a satire and parody in prose by Jonathan Swift, the 18th-century English writer, publishe...

Send us Fan Mail Wayne discusses the four types of editing and the "deliverables" that an editor owes to their client.