#editortips for 07.25.12

@smoulderingsea: Most overuse "found him/herself doing X." It's rarely necessary, often makes no sense, and can diminish the POV and impact.  #editortips

@smoulderingsea: Eyes: not globes, not orbs, not multifaceted jewels. You can find tons of ways to describe them, but please retire those. #editortips

@smoulderingsea: The difference between adult and YA is more than character ages. It's about what they care about, the choices they make. #editortips

@smoulderingsea: Led and lead can sound the same, but homonym version of lead is a metal. The one that rhymes with tweed is present tense of led. #editortips

@smoulderingsea: Supposably isn't a word. The correct word is supposedly. Supposably came from mispronunciation and phonetic spelling. #editortips

@smoulderingsea: Role(n): one's place in a group, play etc. Roll(v): end-over-end motion. Roll(n): the act of rolling. Don't mix them. #editortips

@smoulderingsea: Palette: a spectrum of colors. Palate: a sense of taste or flavor, or the soft palate of the mouth. You don't tease a palette. #editortips

@smoulderingsea: You don't pour over something unless you're pouring liquid over it, which might ruin it. You pore over things you think about. #editortips

@smoulderingsea: "Whet your appetite" came from a whetstone, which is used to sharpen edges. Whet=sharpen. A wet appetite would be unappealing. #editortips

@smoulderingsea: Toe the line is a military term that came from precisely aligning one's feet for an inspection. Not sure where you'd tow a line. #editortips

@smoulderingsea: Don't worry if your book isn't like X bestseller. If all books were alike, life would be as dull as if all people were alike. #editortips

About #editortips:
#editortips is a daily rash of tweets from an only partially crazy editor, chock full of random chocolatey morsels about writing, editing, and querying vaguely disguised as helpful pointers and/or really bad humor. I tweet as @smoulderingsea, and try to post with some consistency every weekday at 6PM CST. Weekends optional, depending on if I’m spending yet another Saturday night editing because my social life consists of Netflix and reenacting A Midsummer Night's Dream in nothing but squeaks and pantomime.