#trulycertain

Voidwalker

...what an odd coincidence, but now I can't not think of Tom Hardy as a faceclaim for Kurt.

Thank you so much for the ask! I have been thinking about Geralt’s hair all day now because of it. You inspired the longest Witcher-related comic I’ve ever drawn (link), but the original idea was pretty short. Here it is:

A very beautiful surprise of Aiden from @trulycertain, I'm so in love with this

Okay, I know this is coughmumblecough two months old. Better late than never??

For UK English, I recommend the New Oxford Style Manual, which includes New Hart’s Rules and the New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors in one big fat shiny volume. Dreyer’s English is also worthwhile reading.  For US English, the Chicago Manual of Style is used fairly frequently (or adapted fairly frequently) in fiction writing. AP (Associated Press) is the most common style guide used in journalism—though, given my personal love of serial commas, I am leery of them. Merriam-Webster is the most common dictionary I see used among my editorial peers (and it’s what I use when editing US English, unless someone specifies otherwise).

When I’m editing Canadian English, I use the Canadian Oxford Dictionary and Guide to Canadian English Usage. I know CP (Canadian Press) is also used fairly often, but again ... serial commas.

This is a great resource for comparing the spelling between Canadian, UK, and US Spellings!!

(If an author asks me to edit without using serial commas, I’ll do it. But I will cry on the inside a bit.)

This is a great list of diversity-related resources.

I haven’t read it yet, but apparently The Best Punctuation Book, Period: A Comprehensive Guide for Every Writer, Editor, Student, and Businessperson by June Casagrande is excellent.

Louise Harnby’s website is an absolute font of excellent information for writers and authors. She’s British, but frequently notes the differences between US/UK usage when it's relevant. Also take a look at some of the major professional editorial associations: CIEP, Editors Canada, ACES, EFA. They often have a mix of free and paid information/webinars/etc. that can be very helpful. (I’m taking an Editors Canada webinar tomorrow! It’s called “Oops! Finding and Fixing Blunders in Fiction.” I’m looking forward to it.)

A super fun rabbit hole to fall down: google “zombie rules of grammar.” So many of the things people assume are Thou Shalt Not rules are actually Hey Some Old White Dudes Tried To Make English Like Latin Even Though It’s Not Latin rules. Like splitting infinitives. Or ending sentences with prepositions. 

Oh, and I love this article on redundancies. (Note: the number of these we all see and use on the daily is shocking.)

@errantgoat​ What he’s been through doesn’t make some of the way he acts OK, but to me, I do understand why he did it. He still needs to grow past it and apologise. (See also: some of the terrible things Anders and Fenris say, but it often seems like people give that a pass, but not Carver. And I say that as someone who likes all three characters.) Genuinely curious: was I getting that banter wrong? Why did Av refuse to recruit him for the guard?

hi hi, sorry to bother you; I’m kind of used to ops not really reading the tags too much. Aveline talks about Carver not being good at following orders, and that it would endanger him and the people he would be working with...that’s why she didn’t recommend him for the job.

other than that, I wasn’t really thinking about his attitude towards mages tbh, I’m usually more interested in character flaws and negative tendencies than this kind of discussions. :’) like for example I think Carver could very easily end up like Gamlen, because they share similar traits - I feel like a lot of issues Carver complains about are kind of self inflicted - like for example living in their older sibling’s shadow. He may have been shoehorned in that position by circumstances, but in the end nothing keeps him in the status quo, if he hates it that much, other than himself.  (And he does change it, if he decides to join the templars - he cuts the umbilical cord so to speak. And even when he’s forced to join the Wardens - it does him good to be way from Hawke, and he doesn’t have to make excuses anymore.)