A Simple Guide To Simple Editing... Patricia style.

A simple guide to simple editing.

 

1.    In dialogue, when one character directly addresses another, put a comma before their name. Ex. “Hello, Grace. How are you?” This enables your reader to detect that the character is talking to another character, rather than about. Here is an example where the rule applies, but not in a direct address. “My friend, Grace, likes the color blue. It might be her favorite.”

2.    End-mark punctuation. Periods, exclamation points, and question marks always cause some confusion. Generally, and usually, the end mark goes on the inside of the quotation marks. Ex. He looked up from his lunch, and saw a flock of birds flying overhead. “My, my,” he mused. “It is getting late in the year.”

In that example, I showed you two commonly confused methods. The first one, the end mark was outside the quotes. And that’s because I interrupted the quote to describe who, how, and what about was speaking. The second set was just finishing the first. Since it is the second part, we already know who, how, and what about the person is talking.

 

3.    Commas. Commas are very helpful tools that help us add meaning to our writing. They are also used to imply voice inflection. A comma signifies a pause. A break in thought, and slight tone change, or an interruption. Ex. “Well,” she paused. “I don’t know,” she said slowly.

Commas are used for items in a series. Ex. “That is a lot of expensive art supplies for a third grader,” Mrs. Morris mused. “Crayons, colored pencils, a pastel set, markers, drawing pencils, and shading tools.”

Commas are supposed to be used when using multiple words to describe something. Ex. “Helen was the most beautiful, prized, loved, and adored woman in the world. And the Spartans were willing to do anything, and everything to get her back safely.”

 

4.    Outlining your plot.

Now, this is probably the most VITAL thing to do, if you want to remain happy in your editing. I started out writing without a plot, or writing out who my characters were. Bad. Idea. That editing experience was almost enough to make me stop writing. For good. Aren’t we thankful that it didn’t? I had to trash, basically, my whole idea, for lack of plotting my story line. And it wasn’t because my ideas weren’t good. Heckles, no. It was a great idea. It was very creative, and quite easy to work with… (till Mr. Editing came along). The problem was this: Me, not plotting, or planning anything, resulted in hundreds of writing errors. Like, I would say that something was going to happen, and then it never did. When I finished the first draft… (it was really, really short, and not worth publishing, even after editing.) And read back through it. I was so disappointed.

So. Life lesson, and moral of the story? Plot. Your. Whole. Story. I. Don’t. Care. How. Long. It. Takes. What is Nike’s motto? JUST DO IT.  

 

Keep Writing!

<3

Patricia Rane