1. Don’t confuse “your” and “you’re.” “Your” is a possessive pronoun: your books, your wand, your power. “You’re” is a contraction for “you are.”
If you aren’t sure which one to use, try reading your “you’re/your” as “you are.” If it doesn’t make sense, chances are the word you want is “your.”
The error I see most often is the use of the possessive in place of the contraction: “Your going to the store.” That is an incomplete sentence without a verb, and the “your” is referring to the going—it’s a going which belongs to you.
Try “You’re going to the store.” That has everything you need--you are going to the store. Or consider, “You’re going to your school.” That might help you discern between the two.
While Omnific Publishing does not wish to limit its future possibilities, in its initial formulation, it will focus on works of fiction in the genres of romance, fantasy, science fiction, urban fantasy, paranormal, chick lit, and erotica.
Omnific Publishing staff are professionally trained in the fields of editing, graphic art, and audio production, and combined, hold years of experience as writers, editors, graphic artists, and audio producers in a quality-focused publication environment.
Omnific Publishing welcomes queries for novel length pieces in the above mentioned genres. Please submit your query letter and synopsis to: submissions@omnificpublishing.com
Note: Remember, kids, it is usually legit for contests to charge an entry or reading fee. That's how they get the money for all those prizes. And this particular agency is called H.O.W., or Helping Orphans Worldwide, and is doing their story contest to raise funds and awareness.
Short Story Contest Judged by Susan Minot
H.O.W. Journal is hosting its first short story contest to be judged by acclaimed author Susan Minot.
Guidelines:
Awards:
Reading Fee per story
Send your submissions and reading fee (a check payable to H.O.W. Journal) to:
H.O.W. Journal
Short Story Contest
12 Desbrosses Street
New York, NY, 10013
Submissions must be received in the H.O.W. offices by May 15th, 2010.
Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure you or your sentence couldn't mean anything else
Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don't implement promises, but keep them.
Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don't say “Mortality rose.”
Don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was “terrible,” describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was “delightful”; make us us say “delightful” when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers “Please will you do my job for me.”
Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
