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Frances Reid Rowland

Frances Reid Rowland

About Frances Reid Rowland

Frances is a ballet dancing wildlife enthusiast, writer and avid book reader. When not prancing around in Lycra, reading or writing her deathless novel, she can be found editing books, hugging other people's dogs or, though not nearly enough, somewhere in the wilds of Africa watching elephants.

Why Your Editor Should Be Multifaceted

October 28, 2014 by Frances Reid Rowland 2 Comments

Why Your Editor Should Be Multifaceted

I often get asked how I go about editing a manuscript. Where do I start? How do I know what needs more focus or improvement? These are all good questions that need to be answered. An editor needs to adopt many different roles all at once when editing a book. By being multifaceted and filling these different roles, your editor is able to draw on a mixture of knowledge and experience that will help …

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A Quick Note About The Different Types Of Editing

October 14, 2014 by Frances Reid Rowland 5 Comments

A Quick Note About The Different Types Of Editing

It occurred to me recently that if you're new to this writing adventure, you may not really know what us editors do and why we're actually quite a helpful bunch. So, in an effort to be extra helpful, I’m going to break it down into two parts: Part I, a description of the different types of editing, and Part II, the general guide lines by which we editors work. My intention is that through …

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Writing Avoidance Behavior: Here’s How To Overcome It

May 19, 2014 by Frances Reid Rowland 1 Comment

Writing Avoidance Behavior: Here’s How To Overcome It

At university, we used to call it “WABing”—Work Avoidance Behavior—all the random excuses we would think of to avoid studying. Let’s see, there was washing the dishes before they were removed by cleaning staff in haz-mat suits, cooking up gourmet meals with a packet of rice, a lemon and some cheese and, best of all, removing the gherkins from Big Macs and throwing them onto the ceiling to see if …

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What Is Story Filler And How Much Is Necessary?

February 3, 2014 by Frances Reid Rowland 7 Comments

What Is Story Filler And How Much Is Necessary?

Story filler is unnecessary text that might come between two scenes that move the plot forward. It can take the form of a sentence, a paragraph, dialogue (both internal and external) or even a whole chapter.  Now, when I say “unnecessary” I mean that if you were to take out that piece of writing, the story would not lose continuity and the reader wouldn’t be confused. Whilst there mostly seems …

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9 Timeless Grammar Lessons From A Strait-laced Editor

December 11, 2013 by Frances Reid Rowland 1 Comment

9 Timeless Grammar Lessons From A Strait-laced Editor

I suppose you could argue that these minor grammar transgressions are the sorts of things that ought to be identified and ironed out by us strait-laced editors. In some ways, yes—we all make mistakes and a second pair of eyes will pick up something the first pair of eyes will not. But it’s when some of the minor transgressions listed below become repeated offenses that us editors really start …

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5 Essential Story Elements You Mustn’t Forget

November 25, 2013 by Frances Reid Rowland 7 Comments

5 Essential Story Elements You Mustn’t Forget

As this article is aimed at newly budding writers, hello and welcome to a scary but exciting expedition, probably into regions of your imagination you had no idea existed. The fact that you want to know what these 5 essential story elements are shows that you are on the right track. There are all manner of reasons you started on this journey—perhaps you were inspired by how your grandparents …

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