Welcome to home of The Fine Line Editorial Consultancy
Starting Out
Starting out, a good place to begin is to decide where you want to write. Find a place – and attire, if necessary – that inspires or just gives you a little space to think. Think about how you want to write. Places and practices vary. Here are some recommendations for finding yours.
The Zeal and Softness Becoming to the Sex: the Origins of the Agony Aunt
In 1693, the first British women’s magazine, The Ladies’ Mercury, was published. It ran for only four issues before folding. Quite why its run was so brief is unclear, particularly given the fact that its male counterpart, The Athenian Mercury, ran for over seven years. Presumably the concerns of the fairer sex weren’t considered sufficient [...]
Your Weekly Writing Prompt
One Would you live forever if you could? Two In France it is forbidden to call a pig Napoleon; in England it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls of York, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow; in San Salvador, drunk drivers can be executed by firing [...]
The Fabrication of Fiction
My novel, The Master’s Ruse, is set in a future time when the sea is biologically dead. It unfolds in a country ruled by a military junta. Literature and freedom of speech have been banned and the holdings of all libraries burnt. The narrative voice belongs to an aging authoress who lives on a vast [...]
Semicolon Usage
What is the correct way in which to use semicolons? Despite being an arguably nonessential form of punctuation, the semicolon is prone to overuse, appearing scattered over paragraphs like confetti. In correct usage, it can serve two purposes. The first is between sentences as a pause that is longer than a comma and shorter than [...]
