For a handy and helpful online resource visit this glossary on Thought.co.com. I’ve got it bookmarked for quick reference.
Polishing your prose one keystroke at a time
For a handy and helpful online resource visit this glossary on Thought.co.com. I’ve got it bookmarked for quick reference.
As a member of quite a number of writing groups, I frequently see people asking what their next step should be once they’ve finished their manuscript. Again and again, the reply from successful, published authors is to hire an editor. They tell the original poster that no matter how great their grammar is, no matter their degrees and experience in the writing world, having a professional read and edit their work is of the utmost importance.
And they’re right. It’s nearly impossible to distance yourself enough from your work to look at it with an unbiased eye. The strong, dynamic characters and exciting, attention-holding plot that formed in your head, may not have come across for any reader other than you. The rhythm and flow of your dialogue may not be so enthralling to your reader. There are more than likely a good amount of spelling errors, incorrect grammar usage, and inconsistencies that you gloss over on your fiftieth read through. There is nothing to be ashamed of here. It’s for all of these reasons and more that publishing houses and self-publishing authors alike all hire editors before putting their books on the market.
So, how do you go about finding the right editor? More important, how do you make the most of your time with one?
Finding an editor that is a good fit may take some, but it will be well worth the effort.
You’ve likely seen one of the various memes addressing comma confusion. A popular example demonstrates the difference between eating eggs, toast, and orange juice versus eating eggs, toast and orange juice which could conjure images of orange juice-covered toast. The former version uses the Oxford, or serial, comma for clarity, but doing so is not a rule; it is a style choice.
As in the example above, the Oxford comma comes before the conjunction in a series of three or more elements. The Chicago Manual of Style strongly advocates for using this style, while the AP Stylebook does not require it unless omitting it would reasonably cause confusion. For example, writing “I put a book, pencil and pen in my bag” is clear without placing a comma before “and.”
I personally prefer to use the Oxford comma unless a client prescribes to a style guide that says otherwise. For me, always using it is a simple way to ensure that readers will not stumble over the sentence or be confused. Others prefer to cut commas wherever they can without changing meaning. This is also an acceptable choice. Whichever style you choose, the most important thing is to maintain consistency throughout the work in question.
How to format dialogue is a topic I encounter again and again in the editing and writing community. Questions about where to put the quotation marks, how to indicate interruptions, when to use capitalization, etc., abound.
Here is a quick tip sheet to refer to whenever you are writing. I’ve provided a downloadable version below.
Dialogue Formatting Tips for Fiction
Direct Dialogue
Examples:
“It’s so hot today,” said Jane. “Did you bring the beach umbrella?”
“Yes,” Michael replied, “it’s here.”
Long Dialogue by One Speaker
A speech that spans multiple paragraphs requires an opening quotation mark at the beginning of each new paragraph, but a closing quotation mark is only placed at the end of the final sentence of the final paragraph.
Interrupted or Faltering Speech
Examples:
“I . . . I mean . . . it’s fine. It will all be fine.”
“Are you sure? Yesterday you—”
“I said it will all be fine. Just drop it!”
Unspoken Discourse
Examples:
“Why,” I wondered, “did I choose this book?”
Why, I wondered, did I choose this book?
She wondered, Why did I choose this book?
Numbers in Dialogue
Examples:
“I have two hundred thousand dollars to invest in this business.”
“Please call me at 555-302-5588.”
Click the link below to download and save this document for future reference.
Dialogue Formatting Tips
I hope you find these tips helpful. Happy Writing!