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Author Topic: I need some advice about my book.  (Read 1624 times)

palsch

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Re: I need some advice about my book.
« Reply #15 on: July 16, 2013, 11:18:21 am »

Read back anything you write. Out loud or in your head, doesn't matter. When it sounds like Shatner reading Queen go back and delete commas until it flows better.

Nearly every writer on the planet uses more commas than they need. You can probably get away with just one in that whole previous post.
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Scionwoods

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Re: I need some advice about my book.
« Reply #16 on: July 16, 2013, 12:19:05 pm »

Sure it does not sound right to me but grammatically speaking. Am I not suppose to add a comma for everything extra in the sentence?
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Willfor

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Re: I need some advice about my book.
« Reply #17 on: July 16, 2013, 12:44:42 pm »

My edit:
**
Thank you guys/girls for all your helpful advice, and I am sorry for not replying earlier. It is just that I have been working too much on another book, and taking lessons from http://englishgrammar101.com/ . I also like the bit about writing objectively, so thanks again for the suggestion, Loud Whispers. Lastly, to anyone who cares, I am currently working on a story about a sixteen year old trying to survive the zombie apocalypse while keeping both himself, and his eleven year old sister alive.
**

I switched around some awkward phrasings -- I am used to editing awkward phrasing, I consistently do this myself on first drafts -- and I switched some positions of the commas.

I am, like, completely opposed to what palsch just said if you're writing dialogue. The comma is just like -- it's what the modern writer has agreed best represents a short pause that doesn't justify a period, the kind of thing that shows up all the time in the way some people talk. While it's the most important thing you need to learn to get right it's also the one you have the most flexibility on. We have a culture right now where people are fast talking, skipping through their mind lines like dogs let off the leash, rolling right past the limits we used to have, and the comma lets you emulate that if you're willing to play with it. It can give your writing a completely different tone.

Of course, if you're writing something with a more detached voice palsch's advice is excellent.
« Last Edit: July 16, 2013, 12:47:08 pm by Willfor »
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In the wells of livestock vans with shells and garden sands /
Iron mixed with oxygen as per the laws of chemistry and chance /
A shape was roughly human, it was only roughly human /
Apparition eyes / Apparition eyes / Knock, apparition, knock / Eyes, apparition eyes /

palsch

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Re: I need some advice about my book.
« Reply #18 on: July 16, 2013, 01:12:07 pm »

Constructing distinctive voices is something you can only do if your own writing can also be neutral. Otherwise you are limited to only variations on your own writing. The most exciting, most experimental and wild writers are those who have the best grip on the fundamentals of writing, including grammar and punctuation. They flaunt those rules, but in a manner that builds on their understanding of them.

Unless you can construct and recognise a standard, neutral, 'detached' voice then you can't identify and construct any voice reliably.

Not to mention it makes writing for communication - a critical life skill as well as story telling skill - a lot clearer and easier to understand. "Clever" writing has an unpleasant failure mode. Lots of people fail that way when they are trying to impress - or just make an impression - while communicating.


As far as comma usage, there are 18 lessons in that link you gave. I'd recommend taking those as a start.
« Last Edit: July 16, 2013, 01:13:49 pm by palsch »
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Willfor

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Re: I need some advice about my book.
« Reply #19 on: July 16, 2013, 01:16:17 pm »

I suppose this is true.
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In the wells of livestock vans with shells and garden sands /
Iron mixed with oxygen as per the laws of chemistry and chance /
A shape was roughly human, it was only roughly human /
Apparition eyes / Apparition eyes / Knock, apparition, knock / Eyes, apparition eyes /

Scionwoods

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Re: I need some advice about my book.
« Reply #20 on: July 16, 2013, 01:18:13 pm »

Okay, thanks. I will take them lessons now and no, I was not trying to "cleverly" use commas I just don't know what I am doing.
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Willfor

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Re: I need some advice about my book.
« Reply #21 on: July 16, 2013, 01:20:16 pm »

I was not trying to "cleverly" use commas I just don't know what I am doing.
I think he was responding to me on that particular point.
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In the wells of livestock vans with shells and garden sands /
Iron mixed with oxygen as per the laws of chemistry and chance /
A shape was roughly human, it was only roughly human /
Apparition eyes / Apparition eyes / Knock, apparition, knock / Eyes, apparition eyes /

Scionwoods

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Re: I need some advice about my book.
« Reply #22 on: July 16, 2013, 02:42:31 pm »

oh... :-[ Embarrassing.
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Scoops Novel

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Re: I need some advice about my book.
« Reply #23 on: July 16, 2013, 03:42:59 pm »

oh... :-[ Embarrassing.

Fret not. Trust me, this is the right tack to take ;).
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Reading a thinner book

Arcjolt (useful) Chilly The Endoplasm Jiggles

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