{"id":165,"date":"2013-10-01T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2013\/10\/01\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing-9\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:22:17","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:22:17","slug":"tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/tactical-tuesday-advice-for-self-editing-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Tactical Tuesday: Advice for Self-Editing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\nWould you
\nlike to make an editor\u2019s heart sing? One way to do it is to pay attention to
\nthe little things: commas, periods, question marks, em-dashes, ellipses,
\nsemicolons, colons, and another punctuation mark called the paragraph.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI know
\nwhat you\u2019re thinking. I\u2019m going to spend an entire post explaining why proper
\npunctuation is important.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nProper
\npunctuation is important.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nYou\u2019ve
\nseen the cute little pins on Pinterest that say something like this: \u201cI love
\neating my children and my home. Yes, punctuation really is important.\u201d If an
\nauthor sends an editor a sentence like that without the proper punctuation, he
\nmight get another sentence or two to prove that he\u2019s serious about the craft,
\nbecause after all, it\u2019s a big manuscript and mistakes are bound to be made. A
\nfew more mistakes like that one, though, and the editor might question the
\nauthor\u2019s seriousness about the craft of storytelling.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nYes,
\ncommas have rules, em-dashes and ellipses have their own purposes. Likewise,
\nsemicolons and colons are proud marks of punctuation, and without the
\nparagraph, we\u2019d have just one long block of text. And everyone knows that large
\nblocks of text are skimmed, right?<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nI\u2019m not
\nmuch of a musician. I\u2019ve learned to read just enough music to plunk out a basic
\nhymn on the piano, but for me, punctuation marks are like musical chords. They speed
\nup or slow down the rhythm of prose. Punctuation makes the words ring for the
\nreader, and when used to their utmost, an editor can almost see the writer
\norchestrating the flow of the words.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIf the
\nbook is a thriller, an author will take off, pushing toward a crescendo with
\nshort, uneven sentences that show the urgency of each moment for the reader. The
\nperiod is an important tool for the thriller author. He uses it often and
\nquickly. However, if the story is literary, the sentences might weave and flow
\nabout, creating a world in which the reader can sit and savor. For that reason,
\na knowledge of comma placement is important to this author.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhat
\nabout the lesser used punctuation marks? There\u2019s a rumor out there started by
\nsomeone who obviously hates or misunderstands the semicolon, but this wonderful
\nmark of punctuation is the difference in a soft pause and a blunt stop.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFor
\nexample: Jimmy decided to go to the store. Susan would be there.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThese
\nare two completely different sentences, and Susan\u2019s being at the store may or
\nmay not hold importance for Jimmy\u2019s reason for going there so long as the
\nperiod is the punctuation of choice.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nLet\u2019s
\nchange it up, though, and replace the period with a semicolon: Jimmy
\ndecided to go to the store; Susan would be there.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nNow the
\nauthor has indicated that these sentences are bound to one another. Jimmy
\ndecided to go to the store because<\/u> Susan would be there.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThat
\nattention to detail is sweet music to an editor\u2019s ear, and they envision the
\nauthor as the conductor of the melody.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhat
\nabout a paragraph? I find that some authors have never mastered the art of this
\npunctuation mark. They haven\u2019t learned that a paragraph consists of a main idea
\nand sentences that support that idea. In fiction, a character\u2019s action and
\ndialogue should be kept together. This makes it easy for the reader to see who
\nis doing what. Yet a craftily placed paragraph can call attention to something
\nthe author wants to provide particular emphasis for.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHere\u2019s
\nan example: A heavy footfall on the pier made her skid to a stop. She closed
\nher eyes as fear shivered through her. She was alone. And vulnerable. Stupid.
\nStupid. Stupid.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nNow for
\nthe change up:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nA heavy
\nfootfall on the pier made her skid to a stop. She closed her eyes as fear
\nshivered through her. She was alone. And vulnerable.<\/div>\n
\nStupid.<\/div>\n
\nStupid.<\/div>\n
\nStupid.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nGiving
\neach \u201cstupid\u201d its own paragraph slows the action and gives the reader reason to
\nsay, \u201cUh-oh, our heroine has done something\u2026really stupid, and in this
\nparagraph apparently life-threatening stupid.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOne
\nlast word of advice: never overuse a punctuation technique. That will make the literary
\nmusic sound to the reader like a needle scrawling across an old album (kudos to
\nyou who are old enough to understand the sound I\u2019m describing). In order to use
\na punctuation mark incorrectly but to great effect, one must know first how to
\nuse it correctly. Then break it sparingly to make beautiful music for your
\nreader\u2014and editor.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHappy
\nediting.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Would you like to make an editor\u2019s heart sing? One way to do it is to pay attention to the little things: commas, periods, question marks, em-dashes, ellipses, semicolons, colons, and another punctuation mark called the paragraph. I know what you\u2019re thinking. I\u2019m going to spend an entire post explaining why proper punctuation is important. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[67,21,73,115],"class_list":["post-165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-editing","tag-editing-advice","tag-punctuation","tag-style"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}