Writer's Toolbox: The Semicolon

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To some people, they're an outdated form of punctuation.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Many people say to forget about it, that semicolons are outdated nowadays and belong only in non-fiction.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.

Format: A Refresher Course

A popular post from March 2008

by Annette Lyon

Several years ago I sat at a general session of a writers conference during a Q&A. I was surprised at the kinds of questions asked, things that were, I thought, obvious.

Then it dawned on me that four years prior, I hadn’t known the answers to those very same questions. Of course not. I had to learn them just like everyone else. I had really learned a lot over the last few years.

In the same vein, I’ve been surprised recently at some manuscripts that have crossed my path, or rather, I've been surprised at the format of some of them. They’ve had some really basic problems, and I finally clued in why. The writers just hadn't learned yet. It's not like there's a writer fairy that bestows knowledge about things like formatting the moment you declare you're a writer.

So in light of that, I thought I’d do a refresher on some basics about manuscript formatting. It’s something I think we often overlook, focusing instead of the craft of writing. But really, how your work looks will be the first thing the agent or editor ever sees.

If it’s wrong, you’ll look like an amateur, and that’s not a the best way to make a good impression.

While publishers and specific types of manuscripts vary (screenplays, etc. are very different), in your average novel, you’re pretty safe using all of the following:

• One-inch margins. That means all around: top, bottom, left, and right. A bigger margin (say 1.25 inches—1.5 at the most) is fine, but never go smaller than one inch.
• Twelve-point font. Don’t go bigger, and don’t go smaller in an attempt to fit stuff onto the page.
• A standard font, like Courier or Times New Roman. In the past, Courier was the standard, but that was in the days of typewriters, when editors needed a good way to estimate word counts. Courier was good for that, since every letter takes up the exact same amount of space, whether it’s an I or an M. Nowadays, Courier is still fine, but Times New Roman is also popular and accepted—and for some editors and agents, preferred, since it's a bit easier on the eyes. Just don’t use some funky script or cutesy font.
• A header at the top of each and every page. On the left side, it needs to have your title (or an abbreviated version of it) and your last name, such as: SPIRES OF STONE/Lyon. This way, if manuscript pages get separated from the whole, the editor will still know which work—and which author—it belongs to.
• Page numbers, beginning with 1, on every single page, preferably top right.
• Basic contact information on the first page, top left. Including your name, address, phone number, and email address. You can also include a fax number. Single space this part.
• Approximate word count. Either immediately under your contact information or flush right at the top of the first page.
• Indent the first line of every paragraph by tabbing over once. Don’t use the space bar.
• Create a new page for the beginning of each chapter.
• Use italics instead of underlining, which is another fossil from the typewriter age.
• Don’t use all caps or bold. Leave those for blogs, e-mail, and non-fiction.
• Do ellipses properly. Always be sure there are only 3 dots, and each one has a space before and after it, like this . . . (Sometimes Word will try to smash them all together. Undo it.)
• Know how to create an em dash, and use it properly. Don’t use a hyphen (or two hyphens) in its place.
• Use plain white paper.
• Print on only one side.
• Double space throughout (except for your contact information on the first page).
• Don’t include a copyright notice. That makes you look paranoid and unprofessional. Editors and agents know the copyright laws and that the moment you set your work into a tangible form, it’s already under protection by law.

You want the editor to notice your story, not your formatting. If you follow these basic guidelines, the formatting becomes invisible, and you’ll look polished and professional for that very first impression.

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.

Misplaced, Dangling Fun

A popular post from October 2008

by Annette Lyon

Time for another post with self-editing fun. No, really. This time it is fun. Today's topic is one that's easy to giggle over, at least when you find the mistake in someone else's work (or before yours gets in front of an editor).

Let's laugh with some misplaced modifiers and dangling participles!

So what is a misplaced modifier? It's a noun (or pronoun) or phrase—basically any descriptor—that's in the wrong place for what it's supposed to be describing. Often that means it's too far away from it, or at least that something else is in the way.

Don't let the terminology scare you. Dangling participles are just a specific type of misplaced modifier. I won't go into the differences between the two. Instead, I'll lump them together.

Try this sentence on for size:

Joe went on the ride with my sister called The Raging Flame of Death.

Hmm. That's not a sister I'd like to hang out with. Oh, wait! The ride has that name. In that case:

He went on the The Raging Flame of Death ride [or the ride called The Raging Flame of Death] with my sister.

Other funny examples:
Two computers were reported stolen by the high school principal.
(That's one unethical principal . . .)
The anchor reported a coming lightning storm on the television.
(Get AWAY from that television!)
Please look through the contents of the package with your wife.
(Must be one huge package if she fits in it.)
James hadn’t meant to let it slip that he wasn’t married, at least to his boss.
(Wait. His boss is Mrs. James?)
Quiet and patient, her dress was simple, yet stylish.
(Let's hope her dress wasn't loud and impatient.)
At the age of five, her mother remarried.
(Um . . . doubt that's legal in any state. And she certainly wasn't a mother then.)
These little nasties are painfully easy to drop into your work without you even knowing it. Basically they happen when you've used an action and then the subject that belongs to the action is put into the wrong place.
The result is most definitely a meaning you didn't intend.
One of the most common forms is relatively easy to spot: look for sentences that open with an "ing" phrase. (These are the most common dangling participles, if you care about that sort of thing.)
Turning the corner on a bike, a huge dog startled him.
(Apparently that's a dog with serious coordination skills.)
Driving through town, the grocery store appeared on the right.
(Freaky store. And just how big is that car?!)
And here's one of my favorite dangling participles (which I found in a New York Times bestseller that shall remain nameless, even though it was just too funny):
Being my father, I thought he'd be more upset.
(Now THAT is one amazing genetic trick . . .)
You get the idea.
Misplaced modifiers and dangling participles can sound scary and intimidating, but in reality, they're easy to fix. Just make sure the action in your sentence is really attached to the person or thing doing it.
This is one of the many things you don't need to worry too much about in the drafting stage. It IS, however, one of those things you should try to catch in the revision stage. One great way is to read your draft aloud. The stresses and pauses will make you recognize when something doesn't quite sound right. Pick some trusted readers to ferret out these kinds of bloopers as well.
Your future lack of embarrassment is most definitely worth the effort.

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:

• AND
• OR
• FOR
• NOR
• YET
• BUT
• SO

Note that then isn't a conjunction, so this is wrong:
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:

1) Replace the comma with a period
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.

Quotes & Italics Revisited

A popular post from March 2011

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!

Making It to "The End"

A popular post from November 2011

by Annette Lyon

Earlier this week, I had the chance to speak to a high school creative writing class. One question I got:

What to do when you have several partial books, but keep running into road blocks, so you abandon the story and start another one?

This young woman had several partial books, but not one finished one. What to do?

Here's the advice I gave, plus a bit more (since I have more time here):

Two pieces of advice:

1) Read up on plot structure.

Chances are, the plot ran into a ditch because you don't know where it was supposed to go or how to steer it. That doesn't mean you have to outline everything, but it does mean understanding how plots work: their structure.

Some writing books I recommend:

Scene and Structure, by Jack Bickham

This book pretty much blew my mind back when I first read it in about 2004. It's a great resource for teaching structure on a scene/sequel level. (If you don't know what a sequel is, you need this book.) It goes into scene questions and the possible answers, how to fix wrong turns, and how to find the crux of the story. Fantastic.

The Writer's Journey, by Christopher Vogler

Another book that had my head spinning. But when I finally got my bearings, it proved immensely useful. It's actually a screenwriting book that uses the classic Hero's Journey as a model. Many people think the archetypal Hero's Journey belongs solidly in fantasy and science fiction, but not so.

The first book I drafted after reading this book (a historical romance) was the easiest book I've ever drafted. I often looked at the plot and pondered what was missing or how I could improve this or that based on archetypal characters and Hero's Journey elements. And I always found a solution.

Story, by Robert McKee

A couple of years ago at a writing conference I attended, I heard this book referred to over and over again, so I finally jotted down the title and author and ordered it.

Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks

I've heard mixed reviews here, some people saying it's their new writing bible, while others say it's stuff they've already heard (the latter is generally from writer veterans).

Save the Cat, by Blake Snyder

Yet another screenwriting book. I've found that learning about story structure through film is easier to grasp than on a book level: you can watch a movie in a couple of hours and watch the elements unfold. It's also easier for writers to refer to movies and have a good chance that the readers have seen many of them and therefore understand the concepts. Another writing bible here.

Read Industry Blogs

When I first started writing in 1994, most people didn't have e-mail addresses, let alone access to the massive amounts of information available on the Internet today. Now, you can consult Dr. Google to learn just about anything.

Need to know how to craft a query letter? How advances and royalties work? The difference between genres and markets? The answers are a search away.

A few great blogs to get you started (be sure to check the archives for questions that may have already been answered):

• Janet Reid
• Query Shark (A query critique blog run by Janet Reid)
• Rachelle Gardner
• BookEnds
• Nathan Bransford
• Steven Pressfield

Podcasts

Sometimes hearing it from the horse's mouth (from people already successful in the field) is more helpful than anything. Podcasts are typically short (15 to 30 minutes). I'll download several episodes to my iPod and listen as I clean house or drive.

Some particularly useful podcasts:

• The Appendix (About to take a hiatus, but it's got a great archive. Also: I've been a guest a few times!)
• Writing Excuses (With big-time writers like Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Taylor, and Mary Robinette Kowal)
• Word Play (Especially for MG and YA writers, with Nathan Bransford, James Dashner, and J. Scott Savage)

2) My other piece of advice is to plant your behind in the chair and write.

There's nothing like actually finishing a manuscript, even if it's not the best. Coming to the end of a story is an accomplishment unlike any other, and it gives you the vision that yes, you can succeed. And do it again.

If you need a kick in the pants to keep yourself writing, order, read, highlight, and keep at your fingertips for further reading Steven Pressfield's The War of Art.

You'll thank me on that one.

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.

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:

• 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.

Capping Revisited

by Annette Lyon

Last week's post about capitalizing (and capping incorrectly) sparked a few reader questions, so today I'll address those.


North/north
Generally speaking, compass directions are not capitalized. If I give someone directions to my house, I tell them to turn north at this street and west on that one, all lowercase.

But there are (rare) times when you do capitalize those words, and that's when they're being used as a name for specific, a large area that is known by that name.

For example, in the mid-1800s, there was a huge chunk of the country in North America (capping "north" here because it's part of the name of a continent) known as "the West."

If someone was heading out to seek their fortune, they were heading out West or to the West. It's a bit tricky in these cases, because grammatically, you could still use the term as you would a compass direction at the same time you're using it as a name.

But even in 1843, if someone gave directions on how to reach their cabin in the woods, they'd say, "Go west, past the two big oaks," not, "Go West."

When in doubt on this one, it's pretty safe to use lowercase. The exceptions are pretty rare.


Human/human and Alien/alien
The usage in your work will determine which you use.

By and large, if you're just referring to regular people on this planet and the idea of Martians, you'd use lowercase: human and alien.

However, if you're writing a science fiction piece and there are two distinct factions working together or fighting one another, you'd probably distinguish the groups by capping them: the Humans and the Aliens.

You could also be more creative and call your two groups something else altogether, and you'd cap whatever name you came up with, just like you cap American and Soviet.


Little People/little people
I wasn't sure on this one, so I did a little digging. It appears that either could be considered correct.

In my mind, it depends on what you mean by the term. Are you describing someone who has dwarfism, or are you describing them as one of a group of people who have dwarfism?

I know that's a thin line of distinction, but in my case, I'd err on the side of capitalizing this one, which would acknowledge the group and individual identity more than just a condition.

This one is much like the cultural and linguistic group of Deaf people, who prefer to have the term capitalized because it acknowledges their cultural identity rather than defining them solely by their lack of hearing, as "deaf" (lowercase) does.


Irish Folk Tales/Irish folk tales
This one is pretty straight-forward. Folk tales are simple nouns, so you don't capitalize them. You wouldn't capitalize Irish Beer or Irish Books.

"Irish," however, is obviously capitalized as a nationality.

You'd put it like this: Irish folk tales

The only exception is if you were to find a book on the shelf with that title, in which case capitalization rules with titles would come into play: Irish Folk Tales.


Daisies/daisies, Lily/lily, Oak/oak
Types of plants aren't considered names, per se. Use lowercase. Sometimes species or varieties might have a capitalized term in them because the extra term might be a name, such as with Japanese maple.


As for Emily M's question:
How do you feel about deliberate flaunting of the capitalization rules in order to Make a Point or maybe Be Sarcastic? It's also got a kind of nineteenth-century, Emily Dickinson sort of appeal to it, when it's done deliberately and well. I'm not talking about not knowing the rules; I'm talking about knowing them and choosing to manipulate them for effect . . . does that bug you too?


My opinion:
If done with obvious intent, not haphazardly, and it's clear that the writer knows the rules, then no, it doesn't bother me at all. As you said, the result can be very effective when done well.

But I don't recommend trying this kind of thing unless you really do know the rules and you're doing it with a definite purpose in mind, because it's painfully obvious when a writer stumbles because they don't know the rules in the first place. That's not effective; it's sloppy.

English is a fun language to play with. Shakespeare is known for the way he toyed with it, broke rules, and made up new words. He was a master.

If you're a beginning writer, I suggest having an apprenticeship period where you write straight, learning the skills you need.

Then, when you've learned the ropes, go ahead and have fun braiding, fraying, and tying knots into the ropes to see what you can do. Just don't go overboard with breaking rules. That can get annoying.

To Cap or Not to Cap

by Annette Lyon

The longer I'm working at this editing thing, the more I see the same problems in manuscripts. They're so common, so pervasive, that I'll be blogging about them for the next little while. Then maybe I'll get to stop fixing them in future jobs (one can always hope . . .).

I'm not talking about plot, characterization, or conflict. I'm talking about the little things that clutter up the manuscript and make you look less professional. It's time to pick up the old feather duster and clean-up your manuscript.

Today's topic:

Don't capitalize unless you're supposed to.

In English, we capitalize proper nouns (names) such as John, Seattle, or Yellowstone Park.

We do not capitalize other nouns, no matter how important we think the noun is.

In other words, even though you may adore your parents, don't write, "my Mother and Father." They may be fantastic people, but they're still your mother and father—lowercase.

If you take a cruise, you're on a ship, not a Ship. I've seen writers capitalize random nouns like Leader, Car, and Room. (No, no, and no.)

If the word isn't at the beginning of a sentence or an actual name of something, use lowercase.

So when do you capitalize?
When a word is acting as a title in the sentence. That means the word you're capping must come immediately before the person's name:

During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln was in office.

You capitalize "president" here because it's attached to Lincoln's name. It's acting as a title, as if it's part of his name.

When "president" appears elsewhere in the sentence, just describing Lincoln, (and no matter how important the role of president is to the nation or the world), you don't capitalize it:

Abraham Lincoln was the president of the United States during the Civil War.

Now back to the mother/father thing. If you refer to your parents using "mother" and "father" as names, then you do capitalize them:

"Hey, Mom, look! He's hitting me!"

Hint: Do you have "my" in front of "mom" or "dad"? If so, use lowercase:

"I told my mom that he was hitting me."

In this case, you're describing/modifying your parent. So "mom" or "dad" aren't acting as names or titles, but as regular nouns, like "my book" or "my computer."

(And remember, we don't capitalize regular nouns!)


Most writers I've worked with err on the side of capitalizing too much, so when in doubt, you're probably safe making it lowercase.

If you adored the truck you drove in college, sorry; it's still just a (lowercase) truck.

Unless it's a (capitalized) Dodge Ram. And unless you named it (yes, cap it!) Bruno.

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.

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.

When Homophones Attack

by Annette Lyon

One of the banes of the computer age is the usually wonderful invention of the spell checker on your word processor.

The problem occurs when you type something that is wrong but that is technically a word—just not the one you meant.

One of my personal demons is the word, "from." I tend to type it as "form." Spell check will never catch that, so I have to be vigilant on that as well as other words.

But one major problem is that sometimes we aren’t sure ourselves which word we mean, or our fingers pick the wrong one.

Two common sets of mistakes involve pronouns: it and they. A quick review of the issues involved can help clarify:

It’s vs. Its
This one is so prevalent it’s almost epidemic.

It’s is a contraction of two words, IT and IS, and they’re connected with the apostrophe, in exactly the same way that DO and NOT are connected with one in the word, don’t.

Somehow because we add an apostrophe to people’s names when making them possessive (such as Bob’s cat/Mary’s car), people assume we do the same with pronouns.

Not so. Think of other possessive pronouns.

You wouldn't ever consider writing hi’s or he’r or who’se or thei’r.

Likewise, we don’t write it’s tire when referring to the car’s flat. The pronoun should be ITS.

Some examples of correct usage:

It’s going to be a hot day. (IT IS going to be a hot day.)
It’s a golden retriever. (IT IS a golden retriever.)

The tree has shed its leaves.
The truck was rear-ended, so its bed needs to be replaced.


Their/There/They’re
The triple threat. But if you take just a second to think about which one you need, making the right choice is really very simple.

Their
This is simply the possessive form of they.

Examples:
Their house has a beautiful maple out front.
For the second year in a row, their business ranked #2 in sales.


There
Add the word "over" to this one, and you’ll never get meaning wrong. There (or over there) refers to a location.

Examples:
Put your coat down there.
I’ve been to Paris and hope to visit there again.


They’re
We’re back to the wonderful world of contractions. How do you know that? By the trusty apostrophe hanging around. This time the two words it’s shoving together are THEY and ARE.

Examples:
They’re such a great couple.
I love home-grown tomatoes; they’re much more flavorful than store-bought.


Always, always print out and reread your work to make sure your fingers didn’t type a mistake that your spell checker won’t catch. It only takes a few extra seconds, but the time is well spent if it makes you look professional.

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.

Charting Your Course

by Lu Ann Staheli

If you are serious about becoming published, then you are following my previous advice and sending lots of submissions. Keeping track of what you send, where you send it, and the response you receive is important, but there are more ways to track your history and chart a course for success.

Before I share my charts, let me give you an idea how to set up a workable format. First, create a computer file where you will keep these charts together. Next, as you begin each chart, set up the page layout to landscape instead of portrait. Each file will use a table, but the number of columns depends on your personal preferences. I’ll offer suggestions, but the choice is yours.

Currently, I am using five different charts, each with their own importance to me. I’ll share my ideas with you, and I hope you’ll find some of them useful as you develop your own charts that will keep you on course with your writing career.

1. Submissions Log: The main headings I use on this chart are Submission Date, Project Title, Publisher, Editor, Response/Date, but I also record specific notes such as e-mail or snail mail submission, SASE, query, cover letter, synopsis, or sample chapters, how long before a response is expected, and notes from the editor upon return response. This helps me know what my next step needs to be with this piece and the editor.

2. Idea Chart: If you’re anything like me, you have more ideas than you’ll ever be able to write about in a lifetime. I got tired of having sticky notes, scraps of paper, entries in notebooks and all sorts of other places with writing ideas scratched onto them, so I set up a three columned chart where I record the project idea, the format I think it will take, and some notes about a fleshed out idea, if I know that at this stage. This gives me a quick place to go when I want to record and idea or when I need a topic to write about.

3. Markets Chart: I read several publications that I would like to write for. I also subscribe to professional publications that announce markets. Although I have a current edition of Writer’s Market, this chart allows me to keep track of some very specific places I might send my own work. My columns are labeled Markets, Details, and Payment. Keeping this information helps me know which market to target for a particular idea or manuscript without having to research each time.

4. Agents/Editors: This chart is a quick place for me to check what agents and editors are out there, currently working and waiting to hear from me. I keep their house and mailing addresses here too, and update the listings when Publisher’s Weekly, SCBWI, or Children’s Writer list a move for an agent or editor.

5. Reading Log: As a teacher I require my students to keep track of what they read. I keep track of my own reading as well, and I’ve found this to be not only revealing about my habits as a reader, but it points me toward becoming a better writer, too. This chart records the date I finished the book, title, author, number of pages, and genre. As I review this list, I recognize which authors draw me in more than once. What books I read quickly. Which were agonizingly long to get through. Were there books that I abandoned? Answers to these questions cause me to focus on my own writing. What would someone else discover about themselves if they were reading my book?

Whatever charts you decide to keep, make sure you use them to help you not only see where you have been, but as a place to chart the course where you intend to go to as a writer.

Confusing Word Pairs

by Annette Lyon

I'm putting on my grammar police hat today in hopes of clarifying some commonly confused word pairs.

imply/infer
Hearing this word pair used incorrectly is one of my personal pet peeves, and it's happening more and more often in casual conversation. But that doesn't mean you have to slip into laziness and do it wrong. Most mistakes use the two words interchangeably, as if both mean imply.

Incorrect example: "I couldn't believe she inferred such rude things when she was talking to me."

Why it's wrong:
Imply and infer are at opposite ends of the same relationship (sort of how a tenant/landlord are in the same relationship, or speaker/listener, but not doing the same thing).

In this case, the speaker IMPLIES something:
"Check out this pair of jeans. They're HUGE on me, so I'm sure they'd fit you."

The listener hears the implication and deduces from it (or infers) the meaning.
"Oh, she thinks I'm fat."


compliment/complement
When you tell someone that you love their shoes or that their new glasses sure look great, you're giving them a compliment.

On the other hand, if something completes or enhances an experience, it complements it, such as having just the right chocolate dessert after your favorite meal, a perfect complement to the feast.

This one's easy to remember: something that "completes" has the E in it, hence complement goes with it.


affect/effect
Almost always, one of these words is a VERB and the other is a NOUN.

Affect is the verb form, such as:
"The commerical affected me so deeply I cried."

Effect is the final result of something, such as:
"The commercial had a profound effect on me. I cried."

(An exception applies here, but it's rare, and chances are you'll never use "effect" as a verb. Don't worry about it.)


then/than
Easy to mix up, but easy to fix as well.

Then refers to a sequence of events: "I went to the bank and then to the movie."

Than compares two items: "I enjoyed this book much more than the last one I read."


ensure/insure/assure
A triple threat! No problem, though; they're still pretty easy.

Ensure: There's a good chance this is the word you're looking for. It means to make sure something will happen. When it doubt, use this one. Example: "To ensure the children's safety, the parents always buckled them in their car seats."

Insure: This is the common mistake form. Avoid using it unless you're referring to protecting your car or home. Only insurance companies insure: "How much would it cost to insure my old heap of a car?"

Assure: Less-often confused than the othe two. This one is used to denote giving confidence over an issue, such as: "She assured her son that she'd be at the concert."


eminent/imminent
A rising star or talent that stands out from the others would be considered eminent.
"The eminent dancer received a standing ovation for her solo."

Something about to happen at any moment would be imminent:
"I just knew my latest rejection was imminent."


allude/elude
If you refer to something, such as how Shakespeare often dropped in references to mythology into his work, you allude to that reference:

"Steinbeck frequently alludes to portions of the Bible in East of Eden."

If, on the other hand, you're running away from something or trying to avoid an issue, you need the other word: elude:

"The solution to the problem eluded me." OR
"The bank robber eluded the police."


fewer/less
Another pet peeve of mine. This one constantly is messed-up on network commercials.

Fewer belongs to COUNT NOUNS, or things you can actually count, such cars or calories:
"She enjoys the chocolate cake, even though the chocolate mousse has fewer calories."

Less belongs to NON-COUNT NOUNS, or things you cannot count but instead refer to in general quantities, such as flour or time:

"Be sure to use less flour in the cake than you did last time."

"He said it happened three weeks ago, but she was sure less time had passed than that."

If you're saying "cups of flour," you're now using "cups" as the noun, and you can count cups, so you'd use FEWER: "This recipe calls for fewer cups of flour than the other one."

With time, if you're discussing minutes or hours, you're again into count nouns and can use fewer. "It takes fewer hours to drive to Grandma's than to Aunt Marge's." But time by itself is generic and immeasureable, so you'd use less, as in the example above.

Please, please, don't make this mistake, which is how the two are usually messed up:

"Diet Coke has less calories than regular Coke."

NO!!! Diet Coke has fewer calories and is less fattening as a result.

I admit it; I'm a little neurotic when it comes to some of these things. I almost get an eye twitch when I hear "less calories" on TV. But that's because I'm an editor. I've trained myself to know the rules.

And here's the clincher: any editor you submit to will likely know the rules inside and out—and know full well if you've broken them. Don't give editors eye twitches. Make your writing smooth, clean, and seamless.