Wayne Jones

Writing & Editing

Arts EN ↓ 237 episodes

– A podcast about books and language, for people who write, edit, read, or listen – – Music: Ambient Electronic Minimal (Coma-Media/Pixabay) – – The podcast was founded by Wayne Jones on January 7, 2022; was co-hosted by Wayne and Jennia D’Lima from October 9 to December 15, 2023; and since then is hosted by Jennia as a separate podcast, "Writing and Editing." – © 2026 by Wayne Jones | All rights reserved –

Author

Wayne Jones

Episodes

12. Editing Controversial Subject Matter 14.02.2022 17:37

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.)

11. Mixed Metaphors: What's Wrong with This Picture? 10.02.2022 24:00

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.

10. The Singular They: An Interview with Linguist Dr. Kirby Conrod 07.02.2022 38:15

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.

9. How to Pick an Editor 03.02.2022 38:58

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

8. The Semi-colon: Punctuation's Most Endangered Species 01.02.2022 23:17

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;

7. Editing and Not Editing a Writer's Style 28.01.2022 35:04

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 …

6. An Editor's Eye for Minute Details and for the Whole Structure 24.01.2022 39:28

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

5. Things in Fiction Reviews That Are Irrelevant 21.01.2022 32:20

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.

4. Good Writing Means Leaving Things Out 17.01.2022 38:59

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.

3. Changes in the Publishing Business 14.01.2022 33:17

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.

2. Four Examples of Good and Bad Writing 10.01.2022 31:17

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

1. How an Editor Makes Your Writing Better 07.01.2022 33:34

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