About Flintword
A small independent publication about writing that gets read at work.
Most people who write for a living do not think of themselves as writers. They write minutes, proposals, complaint replies, handover notes and reports with a deadline attached. Flintword is for them. We take one question at a time and answer it with an example you can see being edited.
The name comes from flint, which gives a spark when it strikes something hard. A good edit works in a similar way, and we use one spark of colour on these pages to mark it.
Who is behind it
Flintword is written by its editors and published under the site’s name. It is not attached to a university, a training company or a professional body.
How we check things
When an article relies on outside guidance, we read the source and link to it in a ‘Checked against’ list at the end. We prefer public guidance from bodies such as GOV.UK, university study services and professional bodies. Where usage is a matter of opinion, including ours, we say so.
The example sentences, names and figures in our before-and-after edits are invented to show a technique, and we say so where it might not be obvious. If you find a mistake, and a site like this one should expect them to be pointed out, write to [email protected] and we will correct it.
Advice, and its limits
Our articles are general guidance about writing. For a contract, a formal complaint or anything with legal consequences, ask someone qualified to advise on it. Your employer’s style guide outranks ours inside your organisation.
Guest pieces
We publish articles by outside contributors as well as our own. Our guidelines for contributors set out how that works, including what we expect contributors to disclose.
Credits
The images and diagrams on this site were made for Flintword, using our own text, so no third-party image credits are needed. Type is set in Newsreader and Kalam, both served through Google Fonts.