A popular post from April 2008
by Annette Lyon
To some people, they're an outdated form of punctuation. To others, they're one more valuable tool in guiding a reader through their work so they hear the correct tempo and beat of the words.
The semicolon is a unique animal. It has a pause length longer than comma but shorter than a period. It's similar in length to the em dash, but it has a different feel to it.
The trick is knowing how to use it properly.
First off, what a semicolon isn't:
A semicolon is NOT a replacement for a regular colon. While it does connect two similar thoughts, it does so in a different way. Quite often (but not always), what comes after a plain old colon cannot stand by itself and still make sense. On the other hand, what comes after a semi colon is fully capable of standing alone as a complete sentence.
In other words, don't do this:
Laura peeked through the curtains and gasped at what she saw; at least a dozen cats walking around, cat food tins and cat poop everywhere, and in the middle of it all, Mrs. Porter sleeping on a lop-sided couch with a cat on her chest.
Replace that semicoon with a colon, and you're good to go.
Why? Reread it. While the portion after where the colon belongs is longer than the part before, it's still not a complete sentence. Yes, we need a pause there, but what comes next is just a series of visual details without the handy-dandy subject and verb that make a real sentence.
Another common mistake is using semicolons in place of em dashes. I am a fan of em dashes and use them all the time. Few rules apply to how you use them (quite possibly why they're so popular; they're hard to use wrong). But you can't take a spot where an em dash (and its lovely pause) would go and necessarily replace it with a semicolon.
Remember the rule of thumb: Both sides of a semicolon must be able to stand on their own.
Another wrong example:
The door burst open, revealing Steve's boss holding a clipboard and looking distraught; lay-off time.
Use an em dash there or add more to make it a full sentence: "lay-off time had arrived," or, "it was lay-off time."
One area of semicolon use is often debated: Can you use it in dialogue?
Many people say to forget about it, that semicolons are outdated nowadays and belong only in non-fiction. Instead, they argue, you should use em dashes in dialogue.
It's all well and good if that's your position. But I personally use semicolons in my fiction all the time, and I've been known to do it in dialogue as well. There are just moments where the pause length, the "breath" for the reader, and the feel I'm looking for can be achieved only with a semicolon.
There are other uses for the semicolon (splitting up items in a series that already have commas, for example), which we may cover another time, but for now, keep in mind the basic rule: Both sides of a semicolon have to made sense by themselves.
Think of the semicolon almost like a "yield" sign between two sentences that makes you look both ways before proceeding. You'll find connections and subtleties in the writing that couldn't be there any other way.
Showing posts with label punctuation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label punctuation. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Monday, March 27, 2017
Resolutions Writing Style
A popular post from January 2008
by Annette Lyon
As you begin a new year of writing, you might want to make making some writing-related resolutions.
First, take stock of what worked for you in 2007 and what didn't. Do daily word count goals fit your lifestyle? What about weekly ones? Do you work better by tracking chapters or pages rather than words? What system works best for you?
Second, set goals for yourself--goals that, while reachable do require you to stretch a little.
Last, decide on rewards for each goal you meet. It's amazing how a little incentive can help yourself plant your behind in the chair and your hands on the keyboard. Your inner writer is a child. Bribe it! (I find chocolate works well. And pedicures.)
Consider adding some of the following when making your list:
by Annette Lyon
As you begin a new year of writing, you might want to make making some writing-related resolutions.
First, take stock of what worked for you in 2007 and what didn't. Do daily word count goals fit your lifestyle? What about weekly ones? Do you work better by tracking chapters or pages rather than words? What system works best for you?
Second, set goals for yourself--goals that, while reachable do require you to stretch a little.
Last, decide on rewards for each goal you meet. It's amazing how a little incentive can help yourself plant your behind in the chair and your hands on the keyboard. Your inner writer is a child. Bribe it! (I find chocolate works well. And pedicures.)
Consider adding some of the following when making your list:
- Read. A lot. It helps me to keep a running log of all the books I've read in the year. I've done this every year for over a decade, and I try to at least match if not beat the number of titles from one year to the next. A good writer is a good reader. Be sure to include writing books in your list. And don't forget to read works in the genre you write in. Add one or two books that stretch you.
- Take regular outings to places that bring something new to your senses: try new foods, visit a museum, take long a walk through a strange neighborhood, go on vacation to a place you've never been before. Stimulation to the senses does marvels for creativity.
- Proof every query, cover letter, and manuscript you send out. Many times.
- To help you send out the cleanest material possible, learn your punctuation and grammar rules. (A funny and great place to start: Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, by Lynne Truss.)
- Get up the guts to show your work to someone other than family and friends . . . someone who will give you the honest truth. Consider hiring a professional. It's worth the cost.
- Make at least one big goal for yourself: I'll finally finish this book/I'll query 20 agents/I'll attend 2 writing conferences. And attach deadlines to each goal.
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Grammar = No Tears
A popular post from May 2009
Have you ever shed tears over grammar? Or maybe you've been in denial that you need help . . . You'll find relief with Annette Lyon's newest book: There, Their, They're: A No-Tears Grammar Guide From the Word Nerd.
Only Annette could pull this off! Congrats!
And if you're interested in this easy-to-follow grammar guide, you can find it here.
Monday, November 14, 2016
Splicing and Dicing
A popular post from November 2008
by Annette Lyon
I'm veering into line-edit territory today in hopes of doing my part in eliminating the literary world of a serious pet peeve: The comma splice.
Yes, we're talking punctuation. I'm not nearly as funny as Lynne Truss, but stick with me. After today's post, you'll never commit the egregious error of splicing with commas again! (And I will celebrate!)
English has a number of punctuation marks, and each has its own job and strengths.
For example, a period is strong enough to end an entire sentence. In fact, a period is so strong that you can't use it mid-sentence to indicate a pause between phrases or clauses.
This doesn't work:
Because she had no date. She didn't go to the prom.
Huh? The period makes it confusing. We need a less powerful pause, and a comma is just the thing.
Bring on the comma!
The little comma, while a trusty little trooper, is one of the weakest of punctuation marks. It's also one of the most abused. People assume that any time a pause is warranted, a comma fits just fine.
Not so. The poor comma isn't strong enough to do all we ask of it, and that's how we end up with the dreaded comma splice.
Drill this into your head:
A comma isn't strong enough to hold two sentences together.
It's a lowly comma! It's just a little jot! It doesn't have such power.
Take these two regular (correct) sentences:
He bought his wife flowers.
She sneezed when she smelled them.
All well and good. But what if you want longer sentence so you work doesn't read choppy? They're related, so you can combine them, right?
Well, yes, but not like this:
He bought his wife flowers, she sneezed when she smelled them.
Remember the weak little comma? It's groaning under the weight of two complete sentences. It can't take it!
If both sides of the new, longer sentence can stand by themselves, you have a comma splice.
To fix comma splices, you have a couple of options:
1) Turn the sentence back into two with a period:
He bought his wife flowers. She sneezed when she smelled them.
2) Replace the weak little comma with a semicolon. The semicolon is like a comma and a period put together, right? It's definitely strong enough to hold two sentences together:
He bought his wife flowers; she sneezed when she smelled them.
3) Use an em dash. They're fun. Almost like a freebie punctuation mark because they're hard to use wrong:
He bought his wife flowers—she sneezed when she smelled them.
4) Leave the comma but add a conjunction after it:
He bought his wife flowers, but she sneezed when she smelled them.
He bought his wife flowers, and she sneezed when she smelled them.
Conjunctions hook up "words and phrases and clauses." (Remember the Schoolhouse Rock song? "Conjunction Junction, what your function . . .") When you're connecting two sentences, you're hooking up "clauses."
Here's a trusty list of the SEVEN conjunctions to pick from:
He bought his wife flowers, then she sneezed when she smelled them.
Also note that you can't have only a conjunction. You need the comma paired with it. So this is also incorrect:
He bought his wife flowers and she sneezed when she smelled them.
That's a run-on sentence, like a cross-street without a stop sign.
One last time, a correct version:
He bought his wife flowers, and she sneezed when she smelled them.
In summary:
2) Or a semicolon
3) Or an em dash
4) Or keep the comma and add a conjunction (and, yet, for, nor, yet, but so)
Eliminate a few comma splices from your work, and I'll thank you from the bottom of my heart.
by Annette Lyon
I'm veering into line-edit territory today in hopes of doing my part in eliminating the literary world of a serious pet peeve: The comma splice.
Yes, we're talking punctuation. I'm not nearly as funny as Lynne Truss, but stick with me. After today's post, you'll never commit the egregious error of splicing with commas again! (And I will celebrate!)
English has a number of punctuation marks, and each has its own job and strengths.
For example, a period is strong enough to end an entire sentence. In fact, a period is so strong that you can't use it mid-sentence to indicate a pause between phrases or clauses.
This doesn't work:
Because she had no date. She didn't go to the prom.
Huh? The period makes it confusing. We need a less powerful pause, and a comma is just the thing.
Bring on the comma!
The little comma, while a trusty little trooper, is one of the weakest of punctuation marks. It's also one of the most abused. People assume that any time a pause is warranted, a comma fits just fine.
Not so. The poor comma isn't strong enough to do all we ask of it, and that's how we end up with the dreaded comma splice.
Drill this into your head:
A comma isn't strong enough to hold two sentences together.
It's a lowly comma! It's just a little jot! It doesn't have such power.
Take these two regular (correct) sentences:
He bought his wife flowers.
She sneezed when she smelled them.
All well and good. But what if you want longer sentence so you work doesn't read choppy? They're related, so you can combine them, right?
Well, yes, but not like this:
He bought his wife flowers, she sneezed when she smelled them.
Remember the weak little comma? It's groaning under the weight of two complete sentences. It can't take it!
If both sides of the new, longer sentence can stand by themselves, you have a comma splice.
To fix comma splices, you have a couple of options:
1) Turn the sentence back into two with a period:
He bought his wife flowers. She sneezed when she smelled them.
2) Replace the weak little comma with a semicolon. The semicolon is like a comma and a period put together, right? It's definitely strong enough to hold two sentences together:
He bought his wife flowers; she sneezed when she smelled them.
3) Use an em dash. They're fun. Almost like a freebie punctuation mark because they're hard to use wrong:
He bought his wife flowers—she sneezed when she smelled them.
4) Leave the comma but add a conjunction after it:
He bought his wife flowers, but she sneezed when she smelled them.
He bought his wife flowers, and she sneezed when she smelled them.
Conjunctions hook up "words and phrases and clauses." (Remember the Schoolhouse Rock song? "Conjunction Junction, what your function . . .") When you're connecting two sentences, you're hooking up "clauses."
Here's a trusty list of the SEVEN conjunctions to pick from:
- AND
- OR
- FOR
- NOR
- YET
- BUT
- SO
He bought his wife flowers, then she sneezed when she smelled them.
Also note that you can't have only a conjunction. You need the comma paired with it. So this is also incorrect:
He bought his wife flowers and she sneezed when she smelled them.
That's a run-on sentence, like a cross-street without a stop sign.
One last time, a correct version:
He bought his wife flowers, and she sneezed when she smelled them.
In summary:
- A comma is too weak to connect full sentences by itself. (Ask: can each side of the sentence stand alone as a sentence?)
- To fix a comma splice:
2) Or a semicolon
3) Or an em dash
4) Or keep the comma and add a conjunction (and, yet, for, nor, yet, but so)
Eliminate a few comma splices from your work, and I'll thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Power of Punctuation in Pacing
By Josi S. Kilpack
The pace of a novel essentially means the rate at which your story unfolds. For the reader, it's about how quickly the action builds in your story. For the writer, it's manipulating time so that you show and tell in the appropriate places and hold the reader's attention perfectly from one scene to another. A book that moves too slowly will lose reader interst, a book that moves to fast will overwhelm them.
Complex, compound, and complex-compound sentences slow down the pace of your writing and offers you the chance to develop your character, describe a scene, give sensory details, and allow your character (and reader) time to reflect, consider, plan, and prepare. Regardless of genre, some slower paced portions are necessary in every novel. Longer sentences give way to longer paragraphs, softer verb usage, and other things that keep things moving, but not so fast there there isn't time to contemplate.
Short, simple, punchier sentences, on the other hand, speed things up and keep the reader reading so fast that there isn't time to think so much. A fast pace is essential in action scenes and to create an emotional reaction from your reader. Shorter sentences give way to shorter paragraphs and crisp verbs that keep the impact high when you want to keep your reader glued to the page.
What pace is the right pace for your novel is determined by several factors: genre, market, character vs. plot driven, etc. How you manipulate the time, and subconsciously cue the reader as to how fast they should be reading, is often controlled by punctuation. Think of it in regard to driving, and how we are 'cued' by signs, signals, and other elements of the American roadways. Punctuation does the exact same thing for your reader:
Period = stop (full brake)
Comma = pause (slow brake before speeding back up)
Ellipsis . . . = pause during continuation (rubbernecking)
Semicolon = longer pause (rolling through a stop sign)
Exclamation point = stop (yelled stop from the passenger--think about how many of those you can take before you smack someone upside the head :-)
Question mark = pause + prod (sharp turn--not a stop because the need for an answer creates a continuum)
Em-dash = pause + aside (slowing down to read a billboard)
Understanding how a reader interprets these 'signals' allows you to better manipulate the time elements within your story and have it received the way you want it to be. For example:
Example #1:
The coldness of his body convinced her that he was dead and she waited to feel regret. Instead she only felt a long lost sense of freedom.
Vs.
He was dead. Cold. She was free
*Both versions say the same thing, but in a different way and at a different rate. Neither is wrong, just different. they make a different kind of impact.
Example #2:
He watched his mother go about her morning routine and wondered how she would react to what he knew he had to tell her. Would she freak out? Would she calmly think it through? Or would she ignore it and pretend it hadn't happened at all. She made the coffee and her toast, offering both to him, but he couldn't eat. Not yet. Not until he finally came clean and changed her life forever.
Vs.
"Do you want coffee?" Mom asked, looking over her shoulder with her eyebrows raised.
"No thanks," he said.
"Toast?" she continued.
"No," he said again. He didn't dare eat until this was over with.
"No," he said again. He didn't dare eat until this was over with.
Would she go through her usual routine tomorrow, he wondered? Or would she stay in bed, still trying to come to grips with everything. Would things ever be the same between them? It was impossible to know. He'd never had the power to hurt her this much.
"Mom?" he said.
"Yeah sweetie?"
"There's something I need to tell you."
*Again there is no right or wrong here, but dialogue naturally lends itself to a faster pace due to the short sentences and simple structures. Both examples still communicate pretty much the same thing, but the style is different and the punch is different. In the second one we feel a little more of an emotional reaction, in the first one we get a little more character development and longer processing time.
As I said, there are many things that influence pacing, punctuation is simply one of those tools. Play with it. Experiment. Create.
Friday, March 4, 2016
Quotes & Italics Revisited
A popular post from March 2011
by Annette Lyon
by Annette Lyon
My original post about when to use italics and quotation marks was nearly four years ago, but it still gets hits and comments. Those comments are often new questions that the post didn't cover. A reader e-mail with another question pushed the topic over the edge.
It's time for another edition to answer additional questions about quotation marks and italics! (Cue the celebration music . . .)
1. Series
First off, since that post, I've learned a rule that somehow never made it onto my radar before:
Series don't get italics or quote marks.
A series is considered to be a name, not a title (so the Harry Potter series is plain Roman text, but The Half-blood Prince gets italics). When I first learned the rule, I thought it meant just books, but it looks like some editors prefer to leave television series as names alone (so Star Trek instead of Star Trek, which is the form I used in the old post).
I don't know that there's a lot of consensus on television series yet, but book series for sure are simply capped.
2. Places Get Roman Text
I mentioned this briefly in the last post, and #1 above hints at it, but it bears repeating: names don't get italics or quotation marks, just capped Roman text.
Names include houses (Tara or Green Gables) as well as stores (Sears) and museums (the Metropolitan Museum of Art).
A special exhibit at a museum, however, may have a title that you'd use italics with, but only in a situation when you're referring to the exhibit, such as in a school report, not on fliers or signs at the exhibit. In those situations, the title would be acting as a title. Just like you wouldn't italicize a novel's title on the cover of the book, you wouldn't italicize the title of an exhibit on a sign.
3. Short Magazines Are still Magazines
Magazine titles get italics, and the articles inside get quotation marks. This is true even if the magazine (or newsletter) isn't a big one. You could have a small periodical, and it would still get italics, regardless of length.
4. In the US, Use Double Quotation Marks
When quoting something or setting off a word, always use double quote marks. Single quote marks are used in the UK, not in the US. The only time you'd use single quote marks is if you had a quote within a quote, such as:
Julie asked, "Did you hear Pete? He just asked, 'Who still needs a ticket?'"
Note the single + double quote marks at the end, which close both Pete's quotation and Julie's. It looks weird with what looks like three marks there, but it's correct.
When in doubt, use double quotes.
5. Prayer Names Are Names, Not Titles
So you'd write: Hail Mary, The Lord's Prayer, etc.
6. Large Quotations Can Get Italics
If you're writing a non-fiction piece and using long (more than a sentence) quotes, you can set the quotation off by indenting it in a block and italicizing the whole thing. That's a visual cue to the reader that they're reading someone else's words.
Since you already have that cue, don't add quotation marks to the block quote. They're redundant.
7. Foreign Words
It's common for foreign words in both fiction and non-fiction to be set apart for clarity, sort of a sign post to the reader that says, "Hey, this is a foreign word, in case you weren't sure."
It's usually done with italics. Some style guides may choose quotation marks instead, but italics are more common because of the potential for ambiguity with the use of ironic quotation marks. (See #9, below.)
If you're using foreign words in a novel, I'd suggest italicizing them throughout. Some writers choose to italicize foreign words just the first time they're used and then use Roman text after that.
Which direction you go will likely depend ultimately on your publisher's style guide. For sure, the one thing you don't want to do is switch back and forth between Roman and italics. Be consistent.
8. Quoting a Definition
If I want to write a word and then define it, putting quotation marks around first the word and then the definition would look odd:
"Myriad," "a great number."
Usually the word being defined gets italics (like with #7. Foreign Words). Then I'd add a colon and write out the definition. To clarify that the definition came from a specific dictionary, I could add quotation marks around the whole thing, or indent the section like this (see #6):
Quotation marks, not indented:
"Myriad: a great number" (Merriam-Webster online)
Indented, without quotation marks:
myriad: a great number (Merriam-Webster online)
9. Don't Pull a Joey
Quotation marks often mean you're being ironic, that you don't really mean what's in them.
The correct use of ironic quotation marks would be to say I'm eating a "beef" patty, when it's really soy protein. The quotation marks make it clear that the patty really isn't beef.
On the other hand, a burger from Carl's Jr. would never have quote marks around it. It's really a beef patty.
A YouTube clip of Joey incorrectly using air quotes (a physical form of ironic quotes) has the embedding disabled, so I can't post it.
So be sure to check it out HERE. I crack up whenever I see it. It's worth 44 seconds of your time.
For more on incorrect quotation marks, check out the "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks (misuse in the name absolutely intentional). SO funny!
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Give me a Break!
A popular post from September 2011
By Josi Kilpack
Just like in real life, a "break" in a manuscript is a pause, a format-spoken note to your reader's subconscious telling them what to expect next. Using them correctly will give the right signal, and knowing the terms they are called by will help you better communicate to other industry people.
There are actually two types of Line Breaks, or at least two ways I have found them to be used. The definition I'm most familiar with is basically the hard return at the end of a line that starts a new paragraph. This type of break is used all the time in fiction, if we didn't use it we'd have one very long and confusing paragraph. The correct way to use a line break is to signal the end of a paragraph and to signal a new speaker in dialogue. For instance, you wouldn't format dialogue this way:
"But what about the dog? What are we going to do about that @#!*% dog?" her voice was rising in direct proportion to her frustration. "We'll sell it, or give it away. We can do it while the kids are at school and tell them it ran off." "Do you really think they'll fall for it?" "Trust me. I'll take them to ice cream and buy them a new Wii game. I doubt they'll even notice."
Without line breaks we have a hard time following the discussion which should read:
"But what about the dog? What are we going to do about that @#!*% dog?" her voice was rising in direct proportion to her frustration.
"We'll sell it, or give it away. We can do it while the kids are at school and tell them it ran off."
"Do you really think they'll fall for it?"
"Trust me. I'll take them to ice cream and buy them a new Wii game. I doubt they'll even notice."
The other way that the term line break is used is when you have a significant change but not a new chapter--I call these Hard Breaks to keep it clearer in my own head. A significant change is usually point of view or setting and it should be signaled to the reader by centering three asterisks *** between the last line of the previous text and the first line of "change". It is very important that you use three asterisks, not two and not four, and that it's centered. The typesetter uses this as a signal for their formatting so use it correctly in your manuscript. The important part to remember is that hard breaks should only be used for a significant change, which invites the question of whether or not the change should be the start of a new chapter instead of a hard break. I, personally, dislike hard breaks very much. I use them on occasion, but only if the significant change results in too short a chapter. I dislike reading books with lots of *** because though I'm being warned of the change, I question if it was really necessary. Specifically, when you are in one scene and the *** signals jumping between POV characters still in that scene I find it usually wasn't the best choice. I prefer that each scene belong to one POV character, usually the character who has the most to lose in that scene--but that is only my opinion and not an element of craft. Any time you use a hard break, ask yourself if it should be a new chapter. If the answer is no, make sure you really need to make the significant change. If the answer is yes, then be sure to format it correctly with three centered asterisks.
Sometimes, you'll see an extra line between paragraphs. This is typically referred to as a Soft Break but is sometimes called a Section Break as well. Often, the use of soft breaks is a style issue with individual writers and is used to signal a less-significant change. That means that you're in the same POV character, same setting, and the 'focus' of that portion of the plot is also the same. Most often, soft breaks work well to show that time has passed. Whenever it is used, you should question yourself to make sure it's necessary. Because it is such a strong visual cue to the reader, you want to make sure that you use it correctly.
The final break is a Page Break. A page break should only ever be used to start a new chapter, AND even that is questionable. Many editors and agents want the Chapters to be continuous and not break at the end of a page. If you do want to make a page break, don't simply hit the return key until you get to a new page. If you should add anything above those empty returns, they will push those returns down as well, throwing off your alignment. Instead, if using Word on a PC go to the end of the text in that chapter and then push the ctrl key and the enter key at the same time. On a Mac, press the apple key and the enter key located next to the apple key on the right side of the keyboard, not the return key. This will take you to the first line of the next page. You can also add breaks through the 'insert' drop down of the menu, but it's much easier to use the shortcut. Be sure to check submission guidelines to make sure that page breaks for new chapters are acceptable. If they don't say anything, then you can assume it's allowed.
Proper formatting is a cue to your editor that you know what you're doing and anything that increases their confidence in you is a very good thing. Happy Writing!
By Josi Kilpack
Just like in real life, a "break" in a manuscript is a pause, a format-spoken note to your reader's subconscious telling them what to expect next. Using them correctly will give the right signal, and knowing the terms they are called by will help you better communicate to other industry people.
There are actually two types of Line Breaks, or at least two ways I have found them to be used. The definition I'm most familiar with is basically the hard return at the end of a line that starts a new paragraph. This type of break is used all the time in fiction, if we didn't use it we'd have one very long and confusing paragraph. The correct way to use a line break is to signal the end of a paragraph and to signal a new speaker in dialogue. For instance, you wouldn't format dialogue this way:
"But what about the dog? What are we going to do about that @#!*% dog?" her voice was rising in direct proportion to her frustration. "We'll sell it, or give it away. We can do it while the kids are at school and tell them it ran off." "Do you really think they'll fall for it?" "Trust me. I'll take them to ice cream and buy them a new Wii game. I doubt they'll even notice."
Without line breaks we have a hard time following the discussion which should read:
"But what about the dog? What are we going to do about that @#!*% dog?" her voice was rising in direct proportion to her frustration.
"We'll sell it, or give it away. We can do it while the kids are at school and tell them it ran off."
"Do you really think they'll fall for it?"
"Trust me. I'll take them to ice cream and buy them a new Wii game. I doubt they'll even notice."
The other way that the term line break is used is when you have a significant change but not a new chapter--I call these Hard Breaks to keep it clearer in my own head. A significant change is usually point of view or setting and it should be signaled to the reader by centering three asterisks *** between the last line of the previous text and the first line of "change". It is very important that you use three asterisks, not two and not four, and that it's centered. The typesetter uses this as a signal for their formatting so use it correctly in your manuscript. The important part to remember is that hard breaks should only be used for a significant change, which invites the question of whether or not the change should be the start of a new chapter instead of a hard break. I, personally, dislike hard breaks very much. I use them on occasion, but only if the significant change results in too short a chapter. I dislike reading books with lots of *** because though I'm being warned of the change, I question if it was really necessary. Specifically, when you are in one scene and the *** signals jumping between POV characters still in that scene I find it usually wasn't the best choice. I prefer that each scene belong to one POV character, usually the character who has the most to lose in that scene--but that is only my opinion and not an element of craft. Any time you use a hard break, ask yourself if it should be a new chapter. If the answer is no, make sure you really need to make the significant change. If the answer is yes, then be sure to format it correctly with three centered asterisks.
Sometimes, you'll see an extra line between paragraphs. This is typically referred to as a Soft Break but is sometimes called a Section Break as well. Often, the use of soft breaks is a style issue with individual writers and is used to signal a less-significant change. That means that you're in the same POV character, same setting, and the 'focus' of that portion of the plot is also the same. Most often, soft breaks work well to show that time has passed. Whenever it is used, you should question yourself to make sure it's necessary. Because it is such a strong visual cue to the reader, you want to make sure that you use it correctly.
The final break is a Page Break. A page break should only ever be used to start a new chapter, AND even that is questionable. Many editors and agents want the Chapters to be continuous and not break at the end of a page. If you do want to make a page break, don't simply hit the return key until you get to a new page. If you should add anything above those empty returns, they will push those returns down as well, throwing off your alignment. Instead, if using Word on a PC go to the end of the text in that chapter and then push the ctrl key and the enter key at the same time. On a Mac, press the apple key and the enter key located next to the apple key on the right side of the keyboard, not the return key. This will take you to the first line of the next page. You can also add breaks through the 'insert' drop down of the menu, but it's much easier to use the shortcut. Be sure to check submission guidelines to make sure that page breaks for new chapters are acceptable. If they don't say anything, then you can assume it's allowed.
Proper formatting is a cue to your editor that you know what you're doing and anything that increases their confidence in you is a very good thing. Happy Writing!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Language Links and Helps
by Annette Lyon
A comment by Angela Michelle on one of my recent posts inspired me to post links to some great blogs that help with punctuation, grammar, and other English-language questions.
First off is the one I looked up after she pointed me toward it: Apostrophe Catastrophes (Great minds think alike; that was my post title!) After seeing enough funny wrong examples, you'll get more confident in using apostrophes correctly in your work.
Same goes with this humorous blog. It pokes good fun at misused quotation marks. I got plenty of laughs seeing signs where something very different than what is meant is implied by rogue quotation marks. The blog is appropriately called The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.
Now for a great resource: If you're unsure about a grammar, punctuation, or usage issue, consult Grammar Girl. She covers just about everything. (Her latest topic: misuse of the phrase, "begs the question." Bet you didn't even know that was an issue!) Subscribe to her newsletter, listen to her podcasts, and take her online challenge (a brief quiz). She's even got a new book out.
Not long ago, I stumbled upon another site that was not only educational, but it was great fun for word nerds like yours truly: Common Errors in English. I could spend all day surfing that site. Bookmark it; you'll want to go back to look things up when you're unsure. The man behind the site, Paul Brians, now has a book out by the same name.
If you're a total word nerd (celebrate with me!), you'll want to look into buying the Oxford English Dictionary (known as the OED) either on CD or by subscribing to it online. It's the most comprehensive dictionary in the English language and a boon to any writer's arsenal.
(Read about how it came to be in this book. The dictionary, a couple dozen volumes in length, is a truly remarkable feat.)
I rely on the OED to verify when words came into use (especially helpful with historical writing) by checking the printed quotes in a citation, which include the earliest known published usage of each word. You can also discover the history behind words, which has been loads of fun. The CD version gives you a word of the day whenever you start it up. (Mine today: familiarism.)
And remember, you can always e-mail a question to the editors here, and we'll post an answer. Find the address at the top right.
A comment by Angela Michelle on one of my recent posts inspired me to post links to some great blogs that help with punctuation, grammar, and other English-language questions.
First off is the one I looked up after she pointed me toward it: Apostrophe Catastrophes (Great minds think alike; that was my post title!) After seeing enough funny wrong examples, you'll get more confident in using apostrophes correctly in your work.
Same goes with this humorous blog. It pokes good fun at misused quotation marks. I got plenty of laughs seeing signs where something very different than what is meant is implied by rogue quotation marks. The blog is appropriately called The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.
Now for a great resource: If you're unsure about a grammar, punctuation, or usage issue, consult Grammar Girl. She covers just about everything. (Her latest topic: misuse of the phrase, "begs the question." Bet you didn't even know that was an issue!) Subscribe to her newsletter, listen to her podcasts, and take her online challenge (a brief quiz). She's even got a new book out.
Not long ago, I stumbled upon another site that was not only educational, but it was great fun for word nerds like yours truly: Common Errors in English. I could spend all day surfing that site. Bookmark it; you'll want to go back to look things up when you're unsure. The man behind the site, Paul Brians, now has a book out by the same name.
If you're a total word nerd (celebrate with me!), you'll want to look into buying the Oxford English Dictionary (known as the OED) either on CD or by subscribing to it online. It's the most comprehensive dictionary in the English language and a boon to any writer's arsenal.
(Read about how it came to be in this book. The dictionary, a couple dozen volumes in length, is a truly remarkable feat.)
I rely on the OED to verify when words came into use (especially helpful with historical writing) by checking the printed quotes in a citation, which include the earliest known published usage of each word. You can also discover the history behind words, which has been loads of fun. The CD version gives you a word of the day whenever you start it up. (Mine today: familiarism.)
And remember, you can always e-mail a question to the editors here, and we'll post an answer. Find the address at the top right.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Apostrophe Catastrophes
by Annette Lyon
My latest editorial peeve: possessives that . . . aren't.
You know the kind of thing I'm talking about:
"Banana's were on sale."
"We visited the Smith's."
"How many book's have you read?"
ACK! Each of those are trying to be plural, meaning more than one. Try again:
Bananas
Smiths
Books
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Why no apostrophe? Because the bananas don't own anything. Neither do the group of people with Smith as their the last name. And what exactly do the books own? Nothing, at least, not in that sentence.
A lot of writers should have their apostrophe allotment removed, the way they abuse them. Plain old plural doesn't take one of those curly marks. You just add an S.
Instead, use apostrophes to show ownership:
Heather's
Josi's
Lu Ann's
If you want to discuss something the book possesses, then you'd say:
The book's cover is blue.
Or if the Smiths (there are several of them, so no apostrophe) own something, you could say:
The Smiths' car broke down.
Note that in this case, it's both plural (several people named Smith, such as an entire family) and possessive (they own the car). So you add the S and then the apostrophe.
Don't let possessive pronouns trip you up. Even though they're possessive, you never add an apostrophe. Of course, the only pronoun that ever really causes trouble in this area is ITS (being mistaken for its friend, IT'S, which means IT IS).
But you wouldn't say M'Y or HE'R or THEI'R, so you wouldn't say IT'S when you mean the thing owns something, as in, "the book and ITS ugly cover."
To keep it simple, I won't go into the debate about whether to add "es" to names for plurals when they already end with "s" (Dickens/Dickenses) or how you deal with possessives there (Dickens'/Dickenses'). That's another post.
For now, have mercy on your reader.
Ask yourself:
Do I mean more than one thing?
If yes, use JUST an S:
Do you mean the thing owns something else?
If yes, use an apostrophe and an S:
My latest editorial peeve: possessives that . . . aren't.
You know the kind of thing I'm talking about:
"Banana's were on sale."
"We visited the Smith's."
"How many book's have you read?"
ACK! Each of those are trying to be plural, meaning more than one. Try again:
Bananas
Smiths
Books
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Why no apostrophe? Because the bananas don't own anything. Neither do the group of people with Smith as their the last name. And what exactly do the books own? Nothing, at least, not in that sentence.
A lot of writers should have their apostrophe allotment removed, the way they abuse them. Plain old plural doesn't take one of those curly marks. You just add an S.
Instead, use apostrophes to show ownership:
Heather's
Josi's
Lu Ann's
If you want to discuss something the book possesses, then you'd say:
The book's cover is blue.
Or if the Smiths (there are several of them, so no apostrophe) own something, you could say:
The Smiths' car broke down.
Note that in this case, it's both plural (several people named Smith, such as an entire family) and possessive (they own the car). So you add the S and then the apostrophe.
Don't let possessive pronouns trip you up. Even though they're possessive, you never add an apostrophe. Of course, the only pronoun that ever really causes trouble in this area is ITS (being mistaken for its friend, IT'S, which means IT IS).
But you wouldn't say M'Y or HE'R or THEI'R, so you wouldn't say IT'S when you mean the thing owns something, as in, "the book and ITS ugly cover."
To keep it simple, I won't go into the debate about whether to add "es" to names for plurals when they already end with "s" (Dickens/Dickenses) or how you deal with possessives there (Dickens'/Dickenses'). That's another post.
For now, have mercy on your reader.
Ask yourself:
Do I mean more than one thing?
If yes, use JUST an S:
- the books were stacked
- the houses along the street
- the Smiths came to the party
- the tables were round
Do you mean the thing owns something else?
If yes, use an apostrophe and an S:
- the book's publisher
- the house's front yard
- the Smiths' baby
- the table's shape
Easy as pie. Or pies. Or as yummy as the pie's filling. Or something.
Just keep those apostrophes in check. Don't let them out of their cage unless they behave.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Adjectives Demystified
by Annette Lyon
Following up on my post about overusing adjectives, we received a reader question:
Ages and weights? To hyphenate or not to hyphenate, that is the question.
For example: nineteen year old eighty pound girl
Hyphens? Comma? Help!
Here's a relatively simple rule of thumb for compound adjectives:
1) Groups that belong together need hyphens.
2) Connect groups with a comma.
3) Other adjectives need only a space.
Let's discuss #1:
If two or more words function as a single image, it's almost as if they're one word, so they need to be connected with a hyphen for clarity.
In the example above, it's pretty simple to distinguish which words are working together, so here are the groupings:
nineteen year old
eighty pound
girl
Obviously you wouldn't be lumping "old and "eighty" in the same grouping, because they aren't describing the same thing. "Old" is part of explaining "nineteen" and "eighty" clearly belongs with "pound."
Remember that not all groupings will have multiple words. You could split a phrase up this way:
tall
ugly
dude
"Tall" and "ugly" belong in separate groups because the two adjectives are functioning alone, with equal weight. You could describe the guy as the "tall dude" or as the "ugly dude," and both make sense.
Putting "tall" and "ugly" into the same group would mean he's some funky, tall version of ugly.
If your final groupings have more than one word, connect them with hyphens:
nineteen-year-old
eighty-pound
girl
Note that "girl" still stands alone. It's the thing we're doing all the describing about, so she doesn't have anything to connect to.
In our second example, we have no hyphens at all. It's still:
tall
ugly
dude
Now, if we were trying to say that tall is ugly (or there really is a kind of ugly unique to being tall), we could use a hyphen and make it:
tall-ugly
dude
That would be an awfully weird image . . .
One exception to this rule: you don't hyphenate after an -ly adjective, so this would be correct, without any hyphen even though the two adjectives are working together:
The slightly overgrown grass needed mowing.
On to #2:
Connect groups with a comma. Each "group" (whether it's one word or several) describes the object equally. Test the sentence by flipping the order of the adjectives around. Or throw in "and" between them. If you can do either, then a comma is correct.
nineteen-year-old, eighty-pound girl
(You could also say: eighty-pound, nineteen-year-old girl)
tall, ugly dude
(You could also say: ugly, tall dude OR tall and ugly dude)
#3: Other adjectives need only a space.
Say that the first adjective isn't part of the same group as the second one (so you wouldn't use a hyphen).
It's also not describing the object with equal weight, so you can't use a comma.
Instead the first adjective is separate, and the second one is already attached the noun. In this case, you don't connect them with anything besides a space:
The cute little baby.
See? We're calling the little baby "cute."
You can't flip the two adjectives (or throw in "and") or you come up with something completely different:
the little, cute baby
the cute and little baby
(Yes, the baby is little and cute, but that's not what we meant.)
Likewise, "cute" isn't acting as a way to explain "little," so you would NOT say:
cute-little baby
(There's no such thing as "cute-little.")
Now for a review. Ask:
Are all the adjectives describing the final object with equal weight? (Can you flip them around or add "and" between them?)
IF YES, USE A COMMA: The big, red car was parked out front.
(Or: The red, big car . . . OR The big and red car . . .)
Is the adjective part of a bigger group?
IF YES, USE A HYPHEN: The cherry-red car was parked out front.
(It doesn't work to say, "The cherry car," since "cherry" needs to be attached to "red" to make sense.)
Is the first adjective describing the next adjective and noun as a separate group?
IF YES, USE A SPACE: The cute little baby laughed.
Adjectives can be a powerful tool. Be aware that punctuating them incorrectly can mean things you never intended.
Take this example, where leaving out a comma changes the implication:
The lazy freckled writer didn't want to proof his manuscript.
(In other words, there are lots of other freckled writers, but we're discussing only the lazy one.)
Add the comma, and suddenly it's one writer we're discussing, a person both lazy and freckled:
The lazy, freckled writer didn't want to proof his manuscript.
Either one works, but you need to know which one you mean.
Punctuation is like magic; you can create nuances of meaning by adding these little marks into your work. Knowing how to use them well is almost an art, guiding your reader like a conductor leads a symphony: where to pause, where the emphasis should be, where to stop.
Learning how to wield the baton is well worth the effort.
Read here for more about using hyphens with compound adjectives and using commas with adjectives.
Following up on my post about overusing adjectives, we received a reader question:
Ages and weights? To hyphenate or not to hyphenate, that is the question.
For example: nineteen year old eighty pound girl
Hyphens? Comma? Help!
Here's a relatively simple rule of thumb for compound adjectives:
1) Groups that belong together need hyphens.
2) Connect groups with a comma.
3) Other adjectives need only a space.
Let's discuss #1:
If two or more words function as a single image, it's almost as if they're one word, so they need to be connected with a hyphen for clarity.
In the example above, it's pretty simple to distinguish which words are working together, so here are the groupings:
nineteen year old
eighty pound
girl
Obviously you wouldn't be lumping "old and "eighty" in the same grouping, because they aren't describing the same thing. "Old" is part of explaining "nineteen" and "eighty" clearly belongs with "pound."
Remember that not all groupings will have multiple words. You could split a phrase up this way:
tall
ugly
dude
"Tall" and "ugly" belong in separate groups because the two adjectives are functioning alone, with equal weight. You could describe the guy as the "tall dude" or as the "ugly dude," and both make sense.
Putting "tall" and "ugly" into the same group would mean he's some funky, tall version of ugly.
If your final groupings have more than one word, connect them with hyphens:
nineteen-year-old
eighty-pound
girl
Note that "girl" still stands alone. It's the thing we're doing all the describing about, so she doesn't have anything to connect to.
In our second example, we have no hyphens at all. It's still:
tall
ugly
dude
Now, if we were trying to say that tall is ugly (or there really is a kind of ugly unique to being tall), we could use a hyphen and make it:
tall-ugly
dude
That would be an awfully weird image . . .
One exception to this rule: you don't hyphenate after an -ly adjective, so this would be correct, without any hyphen even though the two adjectives are working together:
The slightly overgrown grass needed mowing.
On to #2:
Connect groups with a comma. Each "group" (whether it's one word or several) describes the object equally. Test the sentence by flipping the order of the adjectives around. Or throw in "and" between them. If you can do either, then a comma is correct.
nineteen-year-old, eighty-pound girl
(You could also say: eighty-pound, nineteen-year-old girl)
tall, ugly dude
(You could also say: ugly, tall dude OR tall and ugly dude)
#3: Other adjectives need only a space.
Say that the first adjective isn't part of the same group as the second one (so you wouldn't use a hyphen).
It's also not describing the object with equal weight, so you can't use a comma.
Instead the first adjective is separate, and the second one is already attached the noun. In this case, you don't connect them with anything besides a space:
The cute little baby.
See? We're calling the little baby "cute."
You can't flip the two adjectives (or throw in "and") or you come up with something completely different:
the little, cute baby
the cute and little baby
(Yes, the baby is little and cute, but that's not what we meant.)
Likewise, "cute" isn't acting as a way to explain "little," so you would NOT say:
cute-little baby
(There's no such thing as "cute-little.")
Now for a review. Ask:
Are all the adjectives describing the final object with equal weight? (Can you flip them around or add "and" between them?)
IF YES, USE A COMMA: The big, red car was parked out front.
(Or: The red, big car . . . OR The big and red car . . .)
Is the adjective part of a bigger group?
IF YES, USE A HYPHEN: The cherry-red car was parked out front.
(It doesn't work to say, "The cherry car," since "cherry" needs to be attached to "red" to make sense.)
Is the first adjective describing the next adjective and noun as a separate group?
IF YES, USE A SPACE: The cute little baby laughed.
Adjectives can be a powerful tool. Be aware that punctuating them incorrectly can mean things you never intended.
Take this example, where leaving out a comma changes the implication:
The lazy freckled writer didn't want to proof his manuscript.
(In other words, there are lots of other freckled writers, but we're discussing only the lazy one.)
Add the comma, and suddenly it's one writer we're discussing, a person both lazy and freckled:
The lazy, freckled writer didn't want to proof his manuscript.
Either one works, but you need to know which one you mean.
Punctuation is like magic; you can create nuances of meaning by adding these little marks into your work. Knowing how to use them well is almost an art, guiding your reader like a conductor leads a symphony: where to pause, where the emphasis should be, where to stop.
Learning how to wield the baton is well worth the effort.
Read here for more about using hyphens with compound adjectives and using commas with adjectives.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Fantastic, Cool, Totally-Awesome Adjectives
by Annette Lyon
Of late, my post topics have been drawn from recent reading or editing projects. Today is no different.
Today's topic: adjective abuse.
First, a background issue: Most writers are aware of the need to pull back on using -ly adverbs too much. For example, if a character yells, "You idiot!" you can assume he said so "angrily," but saying as much dilutes the effect. Adverbs tend to be the easy way out, because instead of finding a great way to show what's going on, the writer tells you.
Search through your document for adverbs and find better ways to show what's happening. But please, when you do that, for the love of Pete, don't start throwing in large doses of adjectives in the adverbs' places.
If someone is tired, you could describe their "red-rimmed eyes," but don't make it, "teary, stinging, red-rimmed eyes." Additional details do not always make a sentence stronger, and quite often they just detract. It's easy to get so caught up in the sensory stimuli that you're peppering every sentence with several adjectives. Trust me here: Your readers won't be nearly as enamored with your descriptive prowess as you are.
A recent manuscript I worked on is like that. Great writing overall. (Few adverbs, even . . .) But I don't think I ever came across an adjective riding solo. It was always a compound adjective (two adjectives working together) and at times three or even four adjectives in a string. Worse, sometimes the same sentence would describe two or three different things, and each one had two or three different descriptors, yielding a sentence with half a dozen (or more) adjectives!
Something along the lines of this (I made this sentence up, but it's demonstrative of the kind of thing I saw over and over again):
He looked up at the dark, gray, roiling clouds and stroked his short, brown beard with his long, slender, bony fingers.
Heaven help me.
The image gets so cluttered up with adjectives that we can't see the scene for what it is. Keep only the most relevant and powerful adjectives.
In the example above, you can probably take out dark and gray, since roiling clouds are probably not going to be white and fluffy, and roiling is far more powerful than the other two anyway. With the beard, decide which part is more important: that it's short or brown? Or can you show that it's short by how he strokes the brown beard (if the beard is long, he could tug it, but if it's short, he can rub the whiskers, perhaps). And the fingers? Any one of the adjectives (long, slender, or bony) would work (they provide similar images anyway), but all three are overkill.
Every single adjective should show something fresh and interesting. Any word not pulling its weight should be cut.
For the more technical side of things, here's how you should punctuate adjectives:
Compound adjectives (adjectives working together for one image) need to be hyphenated. Take this sentence:
She used a green based color scheme.
The two words acting together are "green" and "based," so the hyphen belongs there:
She used a green-based color scheme.
It's not a green, based-color scheme. That makes no sense.
The punctuation may sound like no big deal, but not putting the hyphen in there (and in the right place) can be confusing.
Take this sentence:
Her relaxed fit boot cut jeans stretched over the tops of her cowboy boots.
At first reading, that sentence can be monumentally confusing (Her fit boots? Cut jeans? What?). But add the hyphens in the correct places, and suddenly it's crystal clear:
Her relaxed-fit, boot-cut jeans fit over the tops of her cowboy boots.
On the flip side, if you're not using a compound adjective (which needs a hyphen) and instead have a series of adjectives (and please, don't do this often), combine them with a simple comma:
He parked his red, mid-size convertible out front.
Pare down your use of adjectives. Make the images you use powerful. And when you do drop in the occasional adjective, punctuate it correctly.
Your readers (and editor) will thank you.
Of late, my post topics have been drawn from recent reading or editing projects. Today is no different.
Today's topic: adjective abuse.
First, a background issue: Most writers are aware of the need to pull back on using -ly adverbs too much. For example, if a character yells, "You idiot!" you can assume he said so "angrily," but saying as much dilutes the effect. Adverbs tend to be the easy way out, because instead of finding a great way to show what's going on, the writer tells you.
Search through your document for adverbs and find better ways to show what's happening. But please, when you do that, for the love of Pete, don't start throwing in large doses of adjectives in the adverbs' places.
If someone is tired, you could describe their "red-rimmed eyes," but don't make it, "teary, stinging, red-rimmed eyes." Additional details do not always make a sentence stronger, and quite often they just detract. It's easy to get so caught up in the sensory stimuli that you're peppering every sentence with several adjectives. Trust me here: Your readers won't be nearly as enamored with your descriptive prowess as you are.
A recent manuscript I worked on is like that. Great writing overall. (Few adverbs, even . . .) But I don't think I ever came across an adjective riding solo. It was always a compound adjective (two adjectives working together) and at times three or even four adjectives in a string. Worse, sometimes the same sentence would describe two or three different things, and each one had two or three different descriptors, yielding a sentence with half a dozen (or more) adjectives!
Something along the lines of this (I made this sentence up, but it's demonstrative of the kind of thing I saw over and over again):
He looked up at the dark, gray, roiling clouds and stroked his short, brown beard with his long, slender, bony fingers.
Heaven help me.
The image gets so cluttered up with adjectives that we can't see the scene for what it is. Keep only the most relevant and powerful adjectives.
In the example above, you can probably take out dark and gray, since roiling clouds are probably not going to be white and fluffy, and roiling is far more powerful than the other two anyway. With the beard, decide which part is more important: that it's short or brown? Or can you show that it's short by how he strokes the brown beard (if the beard is long, he could tug it, but if it's short, he can rub the whiskers, perhaps). And the fingers? Any one of the adjectives (long, slender, or bony) would work (they provide similar images anyway), but all three are overkill.
Every single adjective should show something fresh and interesting. Any word not pulling its weight should be cut.
For the more technical side of things, here's how you should punctuate adjectives:
Compound adjectives (adjectives working together for one image) need to be hyphenated. Take this sentence:
She used a green based color scheme.
The two words acting together are "green" and "based," so the hyphen belongs there:
She used a green-based color scheme.
It's not a green, based-color scheme. That makes no sense.
The punctuation may sound like no big deal, but not putting the hyphen in there (and in the right place) can be confusing.
Take this sentence:
Her relaxed fit boot cut jeans stretched over the tops of her cowboy boots.
At first reading, that sentence can be monumentally confusing (Her fit boots? Cut jeans? What?). But add the hyphens in the correct places, and suddenly it's crystal clear:
Her relaxed-fit, boot-cut jeans fit over the tops of her cowboy boots.
On the flip side, if you're not using a compound adjective (which needs a hyphen) and instead have a series of adjectives (and please, don't do this often), combine them with a simple comma:
He parked his red, mid-size convertible out front.
Pare down your use of adjectives. Make the images you use powerful. And when you do drop in the occasional adjective, punctuate it correctly.
Your readers (and editor) will thank you.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
When No Criticism Is Bad News
by Annette Lyon
As I judged a writing contest this last week, several commonalities struck me about the entries.
A few things cropped up over and over again:
As I judged a writing contest this last week, several commonalities struck me about the entries.
A few things cropped up over and over again:
- Point of View issues: No point of view. Or poor execution of point of view. Or some funky version of an omniscient narrator. None of which worked.
- Telling instead of showing, which is especially weak when it’s during moments that should be tense or emotional.
- Punctuation mistakes. Not only were sentences punctuated incorrectly (which editors hate), but a lot of the time the wrong punctuation made the text plain old hard to decipher. Good punctuation acts as sign posts so the reader knows what belongs where, who’s doing what, and where the pauses belong. It’s worth learning how to do it right.
- Awkward or stilted dialogue.
- “It was all a dream” cop-out endings.
- Starting in a boring place—often way too early—and including lots of extra back story and other elements that didn’t belong to the core story.
- Padding sentences with extra baggage, like the piece that used the term, “a forest of trees.” (As opposed to what, a forest of pretzels?)
As I made my way through the entries and jotted notes in the margins, I found a pattern: The worst entries had very little red ink, while best ones were covered with my scribbles.
At first that made no sense.
After a little reflection, the reason dawned on me: The best entries were ready for polishing. I could indicate redundancies, awkward sentences, or motivation issues. I could make concrete suggestions for improving a paragraph or a description. These authors knew enough to take such suggestions and run with them. They have the basics down and just need someone to point the way down the path and give them a nudge to get going.
What I’ll call the “non-winning” entries were on a different level altogether, and not in a good way. The majority had major problems—problems that went beyond what I could suggest or help with in a quick margin note. With these writers,“Show this,” “Begin with the moment of change,” or, “Be sure to keep a consistent point of view,” would be like speaking a foreign language to them.
So I had to sit and stare at those stories to figure out what to say to their creators. Where do you begin to point out a path to someone when they aren’t even on the map? To use a different metaphor, I can’t suggest how to decorate a house when the foundation isn’t even in place.
I tried to give some kind of constructive suggestions to everyone, but it was tough. The non-winning folks got a lot of “fun image”-type comments and have large sections with no red ink at all, while the winning entries almost look like I bled on them.
I feel bad about that; I hope the winners don’t get discouraged but instead see the feedback as a chance to grow and improve as writers.
Next time you enter a contest or get feedback from an agent or editor, keep this in mind: The more specific the criticism, chances are, the better writer you are. If you stunk, there would be no way to point out every weakness; the judge/editor/agent on the other end wouldn’t know where to start.
The moral of today’s post: Never look at feedback as merely cutting you down. Instead, open your arms and let it in. It only goes to show that you’re already good, and weighing the suggestions carefully will only make you better.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Chicken or the Egg?
Recently I read a blog by Maria Zannini in which she interviewed Maya Reynolds, author of Bad Girl.
You can read part of the interview below. Many times I've heard other writers say that they don't worry about grammar and punctuation when they're preparing a manuscript for submission because "that's what an editor is for." Poor editor, I say. If we submit sloppy work their time investment is that much greater, and in this highly competitive market, the sloppy writer with a great story will always lose out to the fastidious writer with an equally great story.
Maya gives us an excellent explanation of why the business of writing includes perfecting the craft:
Maria: You blog a great deal on the business of publishing at www.mayareynoldswriter.blogspot.com . How important is it for writers to understand the nuts and bolts of the industry? Isn't that what agents and publishers are for?
Maya: This is one of those chicken-and-egg questions. It’s vitally important that writers understand publishing is a business. Agents and publishers invest a great deal of time and money in authors. If the agent doesn’t get a contract, s/he makes NO money. It’s a form of sales except that the agent may spend months trying to make that sale. By the same token, a publisher invests a huge amount of capital in editing, printing, distributing and marketing a manuscript. Given that, if you were the agent or editor, which kind of client would you want to have? One as ignorant as an egg, or one who understood how the cow ate the cabbage?
I always cringe when I hear a newbie writer say, “I don’t worry about punctuation or spelling. That’s for my agent or editor to deal with.” Well, if an agent has to spend two months cleaning up a manuscript, that’s two months of overhead without any revenue coming in. Which manuscript do you think s/he will be most interested in: the clean ready-to-market one or the sloppy need-to-edit one? It’s simple economics.
Well said, Maya. We need to pay attention to the little things. Spell check is not enough. Pass your manuscripts to readers before submitting. Read the submission guidelines. Which font should you use? Double-spacing? Sample chapters or query only? When I submit my manuscripts to my publisher, I continually edit and correct until the publisher's editing process is about to begin (you might have several months between acceptance and the start of the editing process). Then I tell my editor that I've made some additional corrections and forward the most updated manuscript to her.
You can read part of the interview below. Many times I've heard other writers say that they don't worry about grammar and punctuation when they're preparing a manuscript for submission because "that's what an editor is for." Poor editor, I say. If we submit sloppy work their time investment is that much greater, and in this highly competitive market, the sloppy writer with a great story will always lose out to the fastidious writer with an equally great story.
Maya gives us an excellent explanation of why the business of writing includes perfecting the craft:
Maria: You blog a great deal on the business of publishing at www.mayareynoldswriter.blogspot.com . How important is it for writers to understand the nuts and bolts of the industry? Isn't that what agents and publishers are for?
Maya: This is one of those chicken-and-egg questions. It’s vitally important that writers understand publishing is a business. Agents and publishers invest a great deal of time and money in authors. If the agent doesn’t get a contract, s/he makes NO money. It’s a form of sales except that the agent may spend months trying to make that sale. By the same token, a publisher invests a huge amount of capital in editing, printing, distributing and marketing a manuscript. Given that, if you were the agent or editor, which kind of client would you want to have? One as ignorant as an egg, or one who understood how the cow ate the cabbage?
I always cringe when I hear a newbie writer say, “I don’t worry about punctuation or spelling. That’s for my agent or editor to deal with.” Well, if an agent has to spend two months cleaning up a manuscript, that’s two months of overhead without any revenue coming in. Which manuscript do you think s/he will be most interested in: the clean ready-to-market one or the sloppy need-to-edit one? It’s simple economics.
Well said, Maya. We need to pay attention to the little things. Spell check is not enough. Pass your manuscripts to readers before submitting. Read the submission guidelines. Which font should you use? Double-spacing? Sample chapters or query only? When I submit my manuscripts to my publisher, I continually edit and correct until the publisher's editing process is about to begin (you might have several months between acceptance and the start of the editing process). Then I tell my editor that I've made some additional corrections and forward the most updated manuscript to her.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Take Pause
by Annette Lyon
Below are five sentences missing the punctuation marks that add pauses in the sentence. (They do other things as well, of course.)
Each sentence is missing at least one (often several) of the following: commas, semicolons, colons, and em dashes. See if you can figure out which punctuation marks go where.
1. It’s almost six there’s no way we’ll make it before dinner.
2. The guys at work Tom Joe and Alan play golf each Thursday.
3. Today Karen had to do all of the following pick up the beef, potatoes, and onions for the stew drop off the dry cleaning videos and UPS package and mow the lawn.
4. She was born on March 27 1963 in Las Vegas Nevada.
5. To be honest that haircut is atrocious Julie.
The answers:
1. It’s almost six there’s no way we’ll make it before dinner.
What we have here is two sentences stuck together without any punctuation. The most common (wrong) way writers try to fix this is by tucking a comma between the two thoughts. Don't. Unless you can add a conjunction (like but or and, which you can't, because we're just adding punctuation), you need a semicolon:
Correct version:
It’s almost six; there’s no way we’ll make it before dinner.
2. The guys at work Tom Joe and Alan play golf each Thursday.
Technically there are two correct answers here, depending on the preference and style guide of who you're talking to or writing for. Obviously we need commas. The question is whether you need one before the and. I prefer using it, but it's optional. In addition, we need em dashes to set apart the guys' names. We've already identified them as the "guys as work," so the em dashes help to break it up and clarify that we're getting even more specific.
Correct version:
The guys at work—Tom, Joe, and Alan—play golf each Thursday.
3. Today Karen had to do all of the following pick up the beef potatoes and onions for the stew drop off the dry cleaning videos and UPS package and mow the lawn.
In most series (such as #2) you need only commas to separate the items. But here we have entire items that need commas, so you need something else to separate the individual pieces of the series: a semicolon. In this case, we also need a colon before the list:
Correct version:
Today Karen had to do all of the following: pick up the beef, potatoes, and onions for the stew; drop off the dry cleaning, videos, and UPS package; and mow the lawn.
4. She was born on March 27 1963 in Las Vegas Nevada.
Dates need to be separated by a comma between the day and the year. If the date is mid-sentence, you need a comma after it as well. Cities and states also need a comma:
Correct version:
She was born on March 27, 1963, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
5. To be honest that haircut is atrocious Julie.
Add a comma after introductory phrases where there is a natural pause ("to be honest") and before a name when you're addressing the person. (Without the comma before "Julie," this sentence implies that the hair cut might be termed an "atrocious Julie." Interesting name for a cut, but most likely not what the writer is going for!)
Correct version:
To be honest, that haircut is atrocious, Julie.
How did you do? If you missed several, dust off your punctuation rules and review them. Punctuation marks—especially ones that add a pause, like the ones above—are like signposts for your readers. With them, readers glide through your work. Without them, readers bump and jolt their way through your sentences.
Below are five sentences missing the punctuation marks that add pauses in the sentence. (They do other things as well, of course.)
Each sentence is missing at least one (often several) of the following: commas, semicolons, colons, and em dashes. See if you can figure out which punctuation marks go where.
1. It’s almost six there’s no way we’ll make it before dinner.
2. The guys at work Tom Joe and Alan play golf each Thursday.
3. Today Karen had to do all of the following pick up the beef, potatoes, and onions for the stew drop off the dry cleaning videos and UPS package and mow the lawn.
4. She was born on March 27 1963 in Las Vegas Nevada.
5. To be honest that haircut is atrocious Julie.
The answers:
1. It’s almost six there’s no way we’ll make it before dinner.
What we have here is two sentences stuck together without any punctuation. The most common (wrong) way writers try to fix this is by tucking a comma between the two thoughts. Don't. Unless you can add a conjunction (like but or and, which you can't, because we're just adding punctuation), you need a semicolon:
Correct version:
It’s almost six; there’s no way we’ll make it before dinner.
2. The guys at work Tom Joe and Alan play golf each Thursday.
Technically there are two correct answers here, depending on the preference and style guide of who you're talking to or writing for. Obviously we need commas. The question is whether you need one before the and. I prefer using it, but it's optional. In addition, we need em dashes to set apart the guys' names. We've already identified them as the "guys as work," so the em dashes help to break it up and clarify that we're getting even more specific.
Correct version:
The guys at work—Tom, Joe, and Alan—play golf each Thursday.
3. Today Karen had to do all of the following pick up the beef potatoes and onions for the stew drop off the dry cleaning videos and UPS package and mow the lawn.
In most series (such as #2) you need only commas to separate the items. But here we have entire items that need commas, so you need something else to separate the individual pieces of the series: a semicolon. In this case, we also need a colon before the list:
Correct version:
Today Karen had to do all of the following: pick up the beef, potatoes, and onions for the stew; drop off the dry cleaning, videos, and UPS package; and mow the lawn.
4. She was born on March 27 1963 in Las Vegas Nevada.
Dates need to be separated by a comma between the day and the year. If the date is mid-sentence, you need a comma after it as well. Cities and states also need a comma:
Correct version:
She was born on March 27, 1963, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
5. To be honest that haircut is atrocious Julie.
Add a comma after introductory phrases where there is a natural pause ("to be honest") and before a name when you're addressing the person. (Without the comma before "Julie," this sentence implies that the hair cut might be termed an "atrocious Julie." Interesting name for a cut, but most likely not what the writer is going for!)
Correct version:
To be honest, that haircut is atrocious, Julie.
How did you do? If you missed several, dust off your punctuation rules and review them. Punctuation marks—especially ones that add a pause, like the ones above—are like signposts for your readers. With them, readers glide through your work. Without them, readers bump and jolt their way through your sentences.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Quotes or Italics?
by Annette Lyon
It's the simple things that shoot you in the foot, knock you off the slush pile, and get a rejection flying to your mail box.
It's also the simple things that make you look more polished and professional: things like knowing when to italicize a title versus when to put quote marks around it.
Here is a basic primer on the quote marks vs. italics rules:
First and foremost, never ever use quote marks or italics when a title is ACTING as a title. In other words, on your own title page or at the top of your manuscript, DON'T italicize or put quote marks on your own title.
(Have you EVER seen a title ON a book italicized? Ever seen a magazine article with quotes around it? Don't think so.)
On the other hand, when you're referring to your own work, THEN you'll either italicize or quote mark it, such as in a cover letter or query. (Enclosed is my fantasy short story, "Please Publish Me.")
The basic rule of thumb:
Use QUOTE MARKS for things that are SHORT.
Use ITALICS for things that are LONG.
I had an editor once suggest a way to remember this by going back to the days of typewriters, when they used the underline key for the italics. A long line reminded her of a bookshelf, or something LONG, while quote marks looked like nails or hooks, something that would hold up something little.
Okay, so what constitutes SHORT and LONG?
Quote marks go around short works such as:
Poems: "Prometheus" by Lord Byron
Songs: "The Star Spangled Banner," by Francis Scott Key
Magazine Articles: "Learning from Lincoln's Wisdom" by William Kristol
Short Stories: "A Rose for Emily," by William Faulkner
Episodes within a TV series: "The Trouble with Tribbles" in Star Trek
Chapters within a book: "The Boy Who Lived" in Harry Potter
Italics set apart larger works such as:
Novels: Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling
Magazines: Time Magazine
Television Series: Star Trek
Movies: Shrek
Ships: The Monitor
Another hint: If something can be broken down further, the smaller piece goes into quote marks, and the larger work will be in italics (ie, the magazine will be italics, while the articles inside it will be in quote marks. The TV series will be italics and the individual episodes will be quote marks).
And I have no clue why ships are in italics. That's just the rule. :)
Other items that aren't listed above, such as a brand of soda or jeans, a big mansion (think Tara in Gone with the Wind) or a store, are just names, not titles, and therefore don't need to have quotes or italics. Simply capitalize them.
These things may seem nit-picky, but they're the types of things editors do watch out for. Yes, editors try to overlook little mistakes, but why give them one more thing against you?
Tuck one more thing into your arsenal and be prepared, because the writer who comes out ahead is the one who is forearmed.
Edited to add: I've added a new post (find it HERE) with updated italics and quotations mark rules, as well as answers to questions I've received since this post first went live.
It's the simple things that shoot you in the foot, knock you off the slush pile, and get a rejection flying to your mail box.
It's also the simple things that make you look more polished and professional: things like knowing when to italicize a title versus when to put quote marks around it.
Here is a basic primer on the quote marks vs. italics rules:
First and foremost, never ever use quote marks or italics when a title is ACTING as a title. In other words, on your own title page or at the top of your manuscript, DON'T italicize or put quote marks on your own title.
(Have you EVER seen a title ON a book italicized? Ever seen a magazine article with quotes around it? Don't think so.)
On the other hand, when you're referring to your own work, THEN you'll either italicize or quote mark it, such as in a cover letter or query. (Enclosed is my fantasy short story, "Please Publish Me.")
The basic rule of thumb:
Use QUOTE MARKS for things that are SHORT.
Use ITALICS for things that are LONG.
I had an editor once suggest a way to remember this by going back to the days of typewriters, when they used the underline key for the italics. A long line reminded her of a bookshelf, or something LONG, while quote marks looked like nails or hooks, something that would hold up something little.
Okay, so what constitutes SHORT and LONG?
Quote marks go around short works such as:
Poems: "Prometheus" by Lord Byron
Songs: "The Star Spangled Banner," by Francis Scott Key
Magazine Articles: "Learning from Lincoln's Wisdom" by William Kristol
Short Stories: "A Rose for Emily," by William Faulkner
Episodes within a TV series: "The Trouble with Tribbles" in Star Trek
Chapters within a book: "The Boy Who Lived" in Harry Potter
Italics set apart larger works such as:
Novels: Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling
Magazines: Time Magazine
Television Series: Star Trek
Movies: Shrek
Ships: The Monitor
Another hint: If something can be broken down further, the smaller piece goes into quote marks, and the larger work will be in italics (ie, the magazine will be italics, while the articles inside it will be in quote marks. The TV series will be italics and the individual episodes will be quote marks).
And I have no clue why ships are in italics. That's just the rule. :)
Other items that aren't listed above, such as a brand of soda or jeans, a big mansion (think Tara in Gone with the Wind) or a store, are just names, not titles, and therefore don't need to have quotes or italics. Simply capitalize them.
These things may seem nit-picky, but they're the types of things editors do watch out for. Yes, editors try to overlook little mistakes, but why give them one more thing against you?
Tuck one more thing into your arsenal and be prepared, because the writer who comes out ahead is the one who is forearmed.
Edited to add: I've added a new post (find it HERE) with updated italics and quotations mark rules, as well as answers to questions I've received since this post first went live.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
When a Period is More Than a Dot
by Lu Ann Staheli
We live in a dot.com world, and the punctuation mark that was once known simply as a period is now more important than ever.
Unfortunately, many writers still don’t understand the importance of this little punctuation mark, often forgetting to use it at all, or misusing it like crazy in its other forms.
Here’s a simple review of the period and how to use it.
Without a doubt, the most common use of the period is to end a sentence that makes a statement.
Example: This is a statement.
Periods may also be used as an end mark for an imperative sentence, one that has a sense of urgency.
Example: Read this short story for tomorrow.
Use the period when using initials.
Example: George W. Bush
The period is also essential to the abbreviation, letting readers know that the series of letters actually refers to additional letters which help them pronounce the abbreviation.
Example: Dr. actually stands for doctor.
Without a doubt, the biggest misuse of the period from novice writers is in the ellipsis, a way to indicate you are omitting words during a quote. The ellipsis consists of three evenly spaced periods with spaces between the ellipsis and surrounding letters or other marks.
Example: “We the people . . . , in order to form a more perfect union . . .”
An ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in the flow of a sentence and is especially useful in dialogue.
Example: Abraham Lincoln, in his Gettysburg address, said, “. . . our fathers brought forth . . . a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that 'all men are created equal.'”
In math, Americans use the period as a decimal point for partial amounts of a whole, such as in money.
Example: 3.14159 or $100.00
In computing, the period—called a dot in this case—is often used as a boundary indicator when looking up domain names and file names.
Example: www.WritingontheWallblog.com
The next time you use a period, give the mark the respect it deserves because that little spot of ink can make all the difference when it comes to understanding text, math, and code.
We live in a dot.com world, and the punctuation mark that was once known simply as a period is now more important than ever.
Unfortunately, many writers still don’t understand the importance of this little punctuation mark, often forgetting to use it at all, or misusing it like crazy in its other forms.
Here’s a simple review of the period and how to use it.
Without a doubt, the most common use of the period is to end a sentence that makes a statement.
Example: This is a statement.
Periods may also be used as an end mark for an imperative sentence, one that has a sense of urgency.
Example: Read this short story for tomorrow.
Use the period when using initials.
Example: George W. Bush
The period is also essential to the abbreviation, letting readers know that the series of letters actually refers to additional letters which help them pronounce the abbreviation.
Example: Dr. actually stands for doctor.
Without a doubt, the biggest misuse of the period from novice writers is in the ellipsis, a way to indicate you are omitting words during a quote. The ellipsis consists of three evenly spaced periods with spaces between the ellipsis and surrounding letters or other marks.
Example: “We the people . . . , in order to form a more perfect union . . .”
An ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in the flow of a sentence and is especially useful in dialogue.
Example: Abraham Lincoln, in his Gettysburg address, said, “. . . our fathers brought forth . . . a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that 'all men are created equal.'”
In math, Americans use the period as a decimal point for partial amounts of a whole, such as in money.
Example: 3.14159 or $100.00
In computing, the period—called a dot in this case—is often used as a boundary indicator when looking up domain names and file names.
Example: www.WritingontheWallblog.com
The next time you use a period, give the mark the respect it deserves because that little spot of ink can make all the difference when it comes to understanding text, math, and code.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Dash it All!
by Annette Lyon
Question: What’s the difference between a hyphen, an en dash, and an em dash? How do I use them and (more importantly) how do I make each of them with my word processor?
Good question! I’ve heard it many times—often from writers who are in a near panic state.
The answer is actually pretty simple, and while I had a lengthy way of explaining it at a class I taught at a conference a couple of months ago, another editor gave me a simpler way of explaining it that I’ll use now. (Thanks, Lisa!)
Here we go:
Each of these is a dash that gets progressively longer and connects progressively more important pieces of information.
Hyphens connect words.
En dashes connect numbers.
Em dashes connect thoughts.
That's pretty much it.
But I'll explain a bit further:
Hyphens connect words.
For example, compound adjectives.
"That was the best chocolate-dipped strawberry ever!"
Hyphens are easy to make, since they have a key all their own, right next to the zero on your keyboard.
En dashes connect numbers:
"I’ve been a chocoholic all my life, but had a really bad bout from 2004–2006 when I wandered Hershey, Pennsylvania in a theobromine drunken blur."
The dash you see between the years is an EN dash.
How to create in en dash:
In Word: Type a space, then one hyphen. Continue typing another word, then a space.
The hyphen will turn into an en dash.
A caveat: You’ll need to delete the first space. You should never have a space on either side of an en dash.
In Word Perfect: Type two hyphens and then a space. The hyphens turn into an en dash.
Em dashes connect thoughts. In fiction, em dashes can also act as parenthetical interrupters.
"Hand over the chocolate—even the white chocolate crap—and no one gets hurt."
I love using em dashes—they allow for pauses not quite as long as a period, but longer than a comma. (See? I just used another one!)
One trick, however, is to make sure that if you use an em dash as a parenthetical that you don’t open with an em dash and close with a comma or vice versa, such as:
"Hand over the chocolate—even the white chocolate crap, and no one gets hurt."
You could use commas or em dashes for both interrupters. It’s really the length of pause you like. But be consistent whichever you choose.
As for how you make the em dash:
In Word: Type two hyphens, another word, then a space. The hyphens turn into an em dash.
This usually works just fine. If you have something unusual in your sentence (like you need the em dash to be followed by quotation marks when a character is being interrupted), you may have to trick the program by just typing a regular word and then a space to get the em dash, then deleting whatever you need to and typing the quote marks. (If you use Word, you’re used to having to trick it periodically, right?)
In Word Perfect: Type three hyphens, then a space or the next word.
In Word and Word Perfect, en and em dashes are also part of the IBM character sets. You can search for them if you want to just insert the right character.
And just as with en dashes, you never, ever, want a space on either side of an em dash.
By and large, if you're a fiction writer, you can likely ignore the EN dash completely, since you're unlikely to be quoting statistics and page numbers. You may need the hyphen here and there for compound adjectives.
And the em dash is definitely your friend.
If you have further questions on any of these dashes, send them in!
Question: What’s the difference between a hyphen, an en dash, and an em dash? How do I use them and (more importantly) how do I make each of them with my word processor?
Good question! I’ve heard it many times—often from writers who are in a near panic state.
The answer is actually pretty simple, and while I had a lengthy way of explaining it at a class I taught at a conference a couple of months ago, another editor gave me a simpler way of explaining it that I’ll use now. (Thanks, Lisa!)
Here we go:
Each of these is a dash that gets progressively longer and connects progressively more important pieces of information.
Hyphens connect words.
En dashes connect numbers.
Em dashes connect thoughts.
That's pretty much it.
But I'll explain a bit further:
Hyphens connect words.
For example, compound adjectives.
"That was the best chocolate-dipped strawberry ever!"
Hyphens are easy to make, since they have a key all their own, right next to the zero on your keyboard.
En dashes connect numbers:
"I’ve been a chocoholic all my life, but had a really bad bout from 2004–2006 when I wandered Hershey, Pennsylvania in a theobromine drunken blur."
The dash you see between the years is an EN dash.
How to create in en dash:
In Word: Type a space, then one hyphen. Continue typing another word, then a space.
The hyphen will turn into an en dash.
A caveat: You’ll need to delete the first space. You should never have a space on either side of an en dash.
In Word Perfect: Type two hyphens and then a space. The hyphens turn into an en dash.
Em dashes connect thoughts. In fiction, em dashes can also act as parenthetical interrupters.
"Hand over the chocolate—even the white chocolate crap—and no one gets hurt."
I love using em dashes—they allow for pauses not quite as long as a period, but longer than a comma. (See? I just used another one!)
One trick, however, is to make sure that if you use an em dash as a parenthetical that you don’t open with an em dash and close with a comma or vice versa, such as:
"Hand over the chocolate—even the white chocolate crap, and no one gets hurt."
You could use commas or em dashes for both interrupters. It’s really the length of pause you like. But be consistent whichever you choose.
As for how you make the em dash:
In Word: Type two hyphens, another word, then a space. The hyphens turn into an em dash.
This usually works just fine. If you have something unusual in your sentence (like you need the em dash to be followed by quotation marks when a character is being interrupted), you may have to trick the program by just typing a regular word and then a space to get the em dash, then deleting whatever you need to and typing the quote marks. (If you use Word, you’re used to having to trick it periodically, right?)
In Word Perfect: Type three hyphens, then a space or the next word.
In Word and Word Perfect, en and em dashes are also part of the IBM character sets. You can search for them if you want to just insert the right character.
And just as with en dashes, you never, ever, want a space on either side of an em dash.
By and large, if you're a fiction writer, you can likely ignore the EN dash completely, since you're unlikely to be quoting statistics and page numbers. You may need the hyphen here and there for compound adjectives.
And the em dash is definitely your friend.
If you have further questions on any of these dashes, send them in!
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