The Journal: Punctuation for Writers

In today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* Punctuation for Writers
* Of Interest

Quote of the Day

“There’s many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.” Flannery O’Connor

Punctuation for Writers

In today’s KillZone blog (see “Of Interest”), James Scott Bell points out a major problem—confusion over the use of punctuation—and what might easily be considered the number one rule of writing: Don’t confuse the reader.

I should mention that ehe use of each mark of punctuation in the paragraph above is “correct,” not because it follows some arbitrary rules, but because it’s the best use to achieve my intent as a writer and to avoid confusing the reader.

Every time you confuse your readers with a wrong word (waste for waist), an inconsistency (blue eyes in one scene, brown in another), or even an inappropriate use of punctuation, you momentarily interrupt their journey through your fictional world.

And every time you interrupt that journey, you risk them putting down your book and finding something else to do.

Typos—Notice I didn’t include typos on the short list of problems that confuse the reader. Most often, if you’ve grounded your readers and they’re engaged in the story, they either won’t notice typos or they’ll quickly correct them mentally and go on reading.

Yet writers will spend hours going over and over a manuscript looking for and correcting typos. In my own practice, if my first reader happens to notice a typo, I correct it. If he doesn’t, and if I notice one after a book is published, what I do depends on the location of the typo.

If it’s in the first several pages, more than likely I’ll update the file and re-upload it to my aggregator to correct both the ebook and the POD paper book file (if there is a paper edition). But if “teh” has replaced “the” on page 58, more than likely I won’t bother with it. The reader has had time to become invested in the story, and a typo won’t detract from that.

Note: It takes all kinds, and if you haven’t noticed, they definitely exist. A woman told me pointedly one time that if she noticed even one typo anywhere in a book, she would immediately stop reading and never buy more books by that author.

I told her that’s fine and that she probably shouldn’t buy any of my fiction. Not because they’re dipped in typos at publication—they aren’t—but because she won’t enjoy the story anyway. She’ll be too busy consciously hunting typos to have even a clue what’s going on in the story.

But I digress. In my comment on Bell’s post I talked a little about my book, Punctuation for Writers. I mentioned that it’s available for sale at all the usual venues, but that for a limited time I’d be happy to send a free copy to anyone who asks.

Here’s the spiel about PFW on Amazon: “No mere regurgitation of the rules, PFW teaches writers how each mark of punctuation directly affects the reader and the reading experience. This book renders punctuation a valuable tool the writer can use intelligently rather than a series of rules to be [looked up].”

So if you don’t already have a copy and you’d like one, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. Be sure to let me know whether you want the file in .epub, .mobi, or printable .pdf.

Talk with you again later.

Of Interest

See “Regular Monthly Workshop Sales” at https://deanwesleysmith.com/regular-monthly-workshop-sales/.

See “Dialogue, Dashes, and Details” at https://killzoneblog.com/2022/07/dialogue-dashes-and-details.html.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 600 words

Writing of Blackwell Ops 8 (tentative title, novel)

Day 19… 2117 words. Total words to date…… 41729

Total fiction words for July……… 0
Total fiction words for the year………… 45405
Total nonfiction words for July… 8400
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 102530
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 147935

Calendar Year 2022 Novels to Date…………………… 0
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 66
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

Disclaimer: I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. I’ve never said WITD is “the only way” to write, nor will I ever. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among other topics.