George Orwell published his famous essay “Politics and the English Language” in 1946 while he was working on his dystopian novel 1984. Both deal with the way bureaucracies hide their agendas with convoluted grammar, pretentious word choice and intentional ambiguity. In this way, they conceal the fact that “pacification of the population” actually means “defenseless …
I recently asked my editing, writer, and reader friends, “What do you most wish editors would tell writers (and that writers would take to heart) about writing?” I thought the answers were worthwhile and illuminating. Here are some of the responses I received:
“Give someone a book, they’ll read for a day. Teach someone how to write a book, they’ll experience a lifetime of paralyzing self doubt,” Lauren DeStefano tells us. The psychological, spiritual, emotional pitfalls of writing a book are so numerous and varied it is amazing a word is ever written. And if you do finish …
Here are two final questions in my series (see here and here and here) of questions that scholars should be asking about publishing. What about self-publishing?
I’ve been writing (here and here) about questions scholars should be asking about publishing, but often aren’t. Here are a few more. What about academics writing for a general readership?
In my last post I offered a few questions academic authors should be asking before they start thinking about a manuscript. Here are some more. Aren’t simultaneous submissions taboo?
Sometimes academic authors come to me as an editor with questions about book publishing. Too often they do not. They simply have their proposed manuscript to present. As a result, they sometimes make missteps on the road to publication. As we approach the season of academic conferences where I will be meeting dozens of prospective …
William Zinsser, author of the classic book On Writing Well, died this week. I have recommended his book more often and sold more copies of it than any other of many excellent options. The first hundred pages are a must for anyone writing non-fiction of any kind.
With so much bad academic writing, we cry, “Paragraphs, paragraphs everywhere, and not a word to read.” Yet much academic writing is refreshing and worth savoring. Take Kevin Vanhoozer in Jesus, Paul and the People of God:
On November 15, 2012, I presented a paper at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society entitled “John Stott’s Influence Through Publishing.” I offer it here in five installments. The first installment can be found here. Second, in addition to promoting constructive engagement with culture, he also (in contrast to much American evangelicalism) promoted …