fiction editing

How to Punctuate Dialogue

October 8, 2016 by Marcy Kennedy • Grammar and Punctuation, Marcy's Blog, Writing • Tags: Chris Saylor, fiction editing, Grammar for Fiction Writers, how to punctuate dialogue, Marcy Kennedy • 8 Comments

By Chris Saylor

It’s easy for fiction writers to get tripped up on when to use a period, where that comma should go, and how to even use all the other forms of punctuation correctly. The truth is, you don’t need to know what every piece of punctuation does when you’re writing fiction. But you do need to know a few important aspects (your proofreader or copy editor can handle the rest).

(If you’re curious about why you should even hire a proofreader or copy editor, stay tuned—I’ll be writing about that soon.)

Today I’ll be walking you through the basics of how to punctuate your dialogue correctly.

Although it might seem nitpicky, incorrect punctuation in dialogue can have a significant negative effect on your writing. Choosing the correct form of punctuation for your dialogue will make your writing smoother, more professional-looking, and easier to understand.

First up is dialogue ending with a tag.

When writing a snippet of dialogue that ends with a tag (a word such as said or shouted), you should end the dialogue with a comma. For example:

“I love watching football,” Chris said.

When writing a question or exclamation, use a question mark or exclamation mark without a comma. For example:

“Do you like watching football?” Chris asked.

(Note that I could have swapped “asked” for “said” and still been correct.)

Next up is dialogue split by a tag.

When writing a sentence that is divided by a tag, use a comma after the snippet of dialogue (even if a comma wouldn’t naturally go there without the tag in place) and after the tag. For example:

“I almost hate being a Redskins fan,” Chris said, “because they haven’t been good in a long time.”

If the first segment of dialogue is a complete sentence, use a period after the tag and start the subsequent sentence with a capital letter. For example:

“I love the Redskins,” Chris said. “I’ve been a fan since I was five years old.”

Next up is ending a piece of dialogue with an em dash.

You should use an em dash for dialogue that is cut off. Make sure that you don’t use any other punctuation with the em dash. (An em dash is the longest of dashes: – is a regular dash, – is an en dash, and — is an em dash. If you want to know when–and how–to use all these different dashes, let me know in the comments.) For example:

“I love—”

“We don’t talk about Dallas in this household, and you know it.”

Next up is dialogue that trails off. You should use ellipses ( … ) in these situations.

“But I don’t…” He averted his eyes. “I know you hate Dallas. You don’t have to keep reminding me about it.”

What punctuation do you struggle with the most? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll address it in the future.

Every Saturday for the foreseeable future, I’ll be here in the Editor’s Corner, simplifying some of these grammar concepts for you and showing you how they specifically apply to your fiction. Coming up next week is my Homophone of the Month (complement vs. compliment).

Want to hire Chris for a proofread or copy edit? You can find out more about him at https://saylorediting.wordpress.com, or you can email him to talk about rates and availability at christopher.saylor21 [at] gmail.com. You might also want to check out the book he co-wrote with Marcy, Grammar for Fiction Writers, available at Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, or Apple iBooks.

Image Credit: Dave Di Biase/www.freeimages.com

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Q & A: What Type of Editing Does Your Book Need?

September 3, 2015 by Marcy Kennedy • Marcy's Blog, Writing • Tags: content editing, copy editing, developmental editing, fiction editing, line editing, macro editing, Marcy Kennedy, proofreading • 5 Comments

Image Credit: Willemijn Simonis (www.freeimages.com)

By Marcy Kennedy (@MarcyKennedy)

I’m starting a new monthly feature here on my blog where I answer your questions. If you’d like to submit a question for a future episode, head over to my contact form to send me an email.

To inaugurate this new venture, I’ve decided to answer a question I receive a lot.

This one comes from Rachel Funk Heller:

What’s the difference between a developmental edit and proofreading?

Writing doesn’t have standardized terms like some other industries, and this leads to a lot of confusion among writers. (This actually came up in the comments on the guest post I wrote last week for Jami Gold about internal dialogue.)

So to answer Rachel’s question, I’m going to explain the different levels of editing. And remember, if you’re not sure what’s included in the type of editing an editor is offering, ask. You have the right to know what you’ll receive in your edit before you agree to hire the editor.

I’m putting these edits in order from big picture to small details. The order is important. If the foundation of your house isn’t solid, it won’t matter how pretty your living room drapes are.

Developmental Edit

You might have also heard this called a comprehensive critique, a substantive edit, a structural edit, a content edit, or a macro edit. (No wonder everyone is confused, right?)

This doesn’t involve correcting your punctuation and grammar or smoothing out awkward sentences. It’s about story issues—characterization (including likeability), setting, plot, too much/not enough backstory, showing vs. telling, dialogue, point-of-view problems, pacing, and goals, stakes, and motivation.

Most writers on a budget skip this step, but this is usually the type of edit we need the most. We might be able to copy edit or proofread our own work, but we’re not objective enough to developmentally edit our own book. And a fantastic story can cover over a multitude of other writing sins.

Line Edit

A line edit will cover things like word choice, paragraph flow, smoothing out awkward or wordy sentences, eliminating repetition, catching clichés, and other style issues. During a line edit, your editor will also point out areas where you need to clarify what you’ve written and suggest spots where your transitions are weak.

Many editors will flag POV errors or small scale showing vs. telling during a line edit, but they will not do it to the degree that a developmental edit does.

Good line editors are rare because they need to be mimics. They need to enhance our voice rather than stamping their own voice on our writing.

Copy Edit

A copy edit is about making your manuscript follow the rules of grammar and punctuation such as comma placement and homonyms. Editors will also trim unnecessary words, change passive sentences to active ones, and catch typos or missing words. Usually they’ll correct your formatting.

For fiction, a copy edit includes catching continuity errors as well—for example, your hero has blue eyes on page 10 but green eyes by page 100. For non-fiction, your copy edit might check and flag potential factual errors. (Be sure to ask if continuity checking is included.)

If you have big issues still in your book at this point, your copy editor is going to leave them there. It’s not their job to fix them. A good copy editor might brave your wrath to suggest you should have a developmental edit or a line edit done first.

Proofread

A proofread corrects typos and overlooked errors in grammar, punctuation, capitalization, etc. No big changes are made at this stage. It’s your last minute check because no edit ever catches everything.

Do you need to go through every level of editing?

In a perfect world, we would. But we don’t live in a perfect world. Few of us have the money to pay for all the levels of editing.

Take an honest assessment of where your natural skills lie. Focus your money on bolstering your weaker areas.

I’ve also written a post for Janice Hardy about How to Save Money on Editing Your Book, and Jami Gold has a great post on her site about how to find beta readers.

If you don’t remember anything else from this post, remember these things:

The lines between each type of edit are blurry rather than clean. That’s why you need to be certain what the editor you’re talking to will include in that type of edit. Don’t assume.

Friends don’t let friends send their babies out into the world without some sort of editing. Poorly edited books make us all look bad. I know you’re worried about hurting their feelings, but it’s better to be honest than let them be eaten alive by the reviewer sharks or to let a book with great potential fall short.

A man (or woman) who is his own editor has a fool for a client. Even though I edit as part of my job, I still need a fresh set of eyes before my book goes out. Do something to get your book looked at by eyes other than your own.

Any other questions about editing? What forms of editing have you had done?

If you have a question you’d like me to answer here, make sure to send me an email!

Interested in more ways to improve your writing? Internal Dialogue is now available. (You might also want to check out Description or Showing and Telling in Fiction.)

I’d love to have you sign up to receive my posts by email. All you need to do is enter your email address below and hit the “Follow” botton.

What Type of Edit Does Your Book Need?

November 14, 2012 by Marcy Kennedy • Marcy's Blog, Writing • Tags: copy edit, developmental edit, fiction editing, line edit, Marcy Kennedy, proofread • 23 Comments

By MarcyKennedy (@MarcyKennedy)

I’ve noticed a lot of confusion lately about the types of edits your manuscript might need to go through before you send it out into the world. It’s understandable since often terms that aren’t interchangeable are used like synonyms.

So if you’ll forgive the geekery of this post, I want to help set things straight. If you don’t know what each type of edit should include, you won’t know what your book needs and you won’t know if what a specific editor offers will include what you need.

Developmental Edit

You might have also heard this called a comprehensive critique, a substantive edit, or a macro edit. (No wonder everyone is confused, right?)

This doesn’t involve correcting your punctuation and grammar or smoothing out awkward sentences. It’s about big picture issues—for example, characterization, setting, plot, too much/not enough backstory, showing vs. telling, dialogue, POV problems, and making sure each scene has a clear goal and enough tension.

Sometimes a developmental edit will come back to you as an editorial letter of anywhere from 10 to 30 pages for an average novel.

Sometimes along with the editorial letter you’ll also receive a copy of your manuscript with comments added to flag issues.

Neither way is right or wrong, but the second way will cost more because it points out right in the manuscript, in detail, where you need to make changes. For example, when you only get an editorial letter, your developmental edit probably won’t flag individual POV errors or showing vs. telling. It will tell you that you have those problems, but then it’s up to you to find them and fix them.

If you’re pricing a freelance editor, make sure you don’t just compare prices. Compare what you’re getting for the price.

Line Edit

Many editors will flag POV errors or small scale showing vs. telling during a line edit, but they will not do it to the degree that a developmental edit does. Because it’s difficult to do a line edit without also doing a copy edit, the two are often combined.

Good line editors are worth their price because they have to not only do all this but do it in a way that doesn’t tamper with your voice.

Copy Edit

This is about making your manuscript follow the rules of grammar and punctuation. Editors will also trim unnecessary words and change passive sentences to active ones. Usually they’ll correct your formatting.

For fiction, a copy edit may include catching continuity errors as well—for example, your hero has blue eyes on page 10 but green eyes by page 100. For non-fiction, your copy edit might check and flag potential factual errors.

If you have big issues still in your book at this point, your copy editor is going to leave them there. It’s not their job to fix them. A good copy editor will brave your wrath to suggest you should have a developmental edit or a line edit done first. Some of them, if they have the skills, will fudge a little and give you a line edit even though you only paid for a copy edit if they see you need it and they have enough time in their schedule. Don’t count on this. They may not have the time, and you’ll only get what you paid for. (Plus, is it really fair to expect them to do more than you paid for?)

Proofread

As you’ve probably guessed, the lines between each type of edit are blurry rather than clean. That’s why you need to be certain what the editor you’re talking to will include in that type of edit. Don’t assume.

Is the order of the edits really that important?

In an ideal world, you’d have a developmental edit, then a line edit, then a copy edit, then a proofread. Few of us have the time or money to do it that way.

On shorter pieces, it’s not uncommon for an editor to do a developmental edit, line edit, and copy edit all at the same time. If you get a “critique” by me, on a short story, for example, I give it the works.

For a novel, however, you need to keep things in order. It doesn’t make any sense to have a copy edit done before a developmental edit if the developmental edit turns up huge structural flaws that require rewriting multiple scenes.

Do you absolutely need to go through every level of editing?

Yes.

Do you have to hire someone to do every level of editing?

No.

Skilled beta readers can often fill the role of a developmental editor. If you have a solid grasp on grammar and punctuation and a great eye for details, you might be able to do your own copy edit and proofread.

If you don’t remember anything else from this post, remember these two things:

A man (or woman) who is his own editor has a fool for a client. Even though I edit as part of my job, I still need a fresh set of eyes before my book goes out. If you can’t afford to pay for an edit, swap with a friend. Do something to get your book looked at by eyes other than your own.

Any other questions about editing? What forms of editing have you had done?

If you’d like to know about my editing services, you can email me at marcykennedy [at] gmail.com with “Editing” in the subject line (in case my spam folder eats your email).

I hope you’ll check out the newly released mini-books in my Busy Writer’s Guides series–Strong Female Characters and How to Write Faster–both currently available for 99 cents.

Wrath of the Titans

March 24, 2012 by Marcy Kennedy • Vlogs • Tags: Clash of the Titans, fantasy author, fiction editing, Marcy Kennedy, movie trailer, Wrath of the Titans • 7 Comments

Set to release next Friday, March 30, Wrath of the Titans is the sequel to Clash of the Titans (2010) starring Sam Worthington and Liam Neeson.

Ten years after he defeated the Kraken, Perseus is trying to live in peace with his young son. Unfortunately, the gods have been so weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion that they’ve lost control of the imprisoned Titans. Perseus’ grandfather, Kronos, one of the Titans, plots to capture Zeus (Perseus’ father). Perseus must go on a quest to rescue Zeus, defeat the Titans, and save the world.

Does anyone plan to see Wrath of the Titans when it comes out next weekend? Do you think it will live up to Clash of the Titans?

One Thing Magneto Got Right

March 19, 2012 by Marcy Kennedy • Life at Warp 10, Marcy's Blog, Mythical Creatures • Tags: comic book characters, fantasy author, fiction editing, Jessica O'Neal, Life at Warp 10, Magneto, Marcy Kennedy, Mystique, Professor X, X-Men • 21 Comments

I’m very excited to have Jessica O’Neal visiting today. Jess’ blog, The Sexy Little Nerd, is one of my absolute favorites. From her Harry Potter series, to her more recent posts on Robin Hood, fantasy book reviews, and vlogs on everything from The Hunger Games to Game of Thrones, visiting her site is like going to a friend’s house. Please help me welcome Jess…..

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I want to give a huge thank you to Marcy for having me over today. As a sister nerd, her blog has always been one of my favorites to visit. She leaves some pretty big shoes to fill and I hope that I am able to do them justice.

One Thing Magneto Got Right

When most people first meet me, they’re surprised to learn what a gargantuan nerd I am. Whether it is my obsession with Harry Potter, my affinity for all things fantasy, or my new found obsession with archery (which started from a desire to live out some of my favorite stories), people are always left gaping. For whatever reason, I am an unexpected nerd. Recently, attention has been called to another one of my nerd proclivities: comic book movies.

I’m a HUGE comic book movie fan. I am convinced that if I had been born a boy rather than a girl someone would have introduced me earlier to the wonder that is comic books, but alas that never happened. Instead, I was left ignorant of these fabulous stories until they started to take over the cinema. One of these movie franchises that I have particularly enjoyed is Marvel’s X-Men.

When these movies started to come out, I knew very little about the X-Men. I had, of course, heard of some of them before, such as Wolverine, but I didn’t really know much about the story. After the first movie, I was in love. As movie after movie began to come out, that love did nothing but grow. I was enraptured by these characters and the relationships they had with one another as they struggled to come to terms with who they were, what they could do, and what they should do. There were so many lessons that could be taken out of the lives of these mutants.

My favorite of the series is, without a doubt, X-Men: First Class. The history between Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto had always fascinated me, so getting to see that history unfold with the brilliant acting of James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender was very nearly a cathartic experience. I am not ashamed to admit that the break between them brought me to tears. And not just a few tears. When I tell people that one of the most heartbreaking movies I have ever seen is a comic book movie, they look at me like I’m crazy. That’s okay. The understanding of others is not a necessary component to my enjoyment.

But there was the development of another relationship in X-Men: First Class that really struck a chord within me. I am referring to Magneto and Mystique.

Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence who is also starring in the upcoming The Hunger Games movie) is different than a lot of the other mutants in that the evidence of her mutation, her true self, does not allow her to blend in with *normal* society. Mystique has the ability to change her appearance at will to look like any other human, but when she is in her natural form, she has blue skin and yellow eyes. In order to feel accepted she, therefore, chooses to spend the majority of her time in a different skin.

This is something that I think a lot of us do – I know I do. We are afraid to show our true selves to others for fear that they won’t like who we are, so we morph into the person we think they want us to be, the person we think they will accept. This is an exhausting task that will gradually wear us down.

There is a scene in the movie when Mystique, in her more *normal* human form, is lifting weights. Magneto startles her by manipulating the weights to float in the air above her. He says to her, “If you are using half of your concentration to look normal, then you’re only half paying attention to whatever else you are doing. Just pointing out something that could save your life.” He then releases the weights and, in order to catch them before they fall on her, Mystique has to release her shifted form. Magneto then says, “You want society to accept you, but you can’t even accept yourself.”

This brief scene really resonated with me. When we figuratively put on whatever skin we think certain people want to see in order to accept us, we are actually achieving the opposite. We can not be truly accepted by someone when we prevent them from seeing who we really are. Yes, when we do reveal the real us, flaws and all, there will be some people who judge us, but are those really the people we want to be close to anyway? Wouldn’t we rather be surrounded by people who know and accept the real us?

The really amazing thing is, when we learn to love ourselves for who we actually are, people can sense that and are drawn to it. People can sense when they’re being shown a false or incomplete version of someone and are turned off by it, whether they consciously realize it or not. So by accepting ourselves, we make it easier for others to accept us as well.

In spite of the path that Magneto and Mystique eventually choose, I believe in this moment Magneto has the right idea. Self-acceptance may not be easy, but the best things never are.

Do you agree with the lesson Magneto gives Mystique? Does one need to first accept herself before she can expect others to?

Jessica O’Neal is a fantasy writer with a BA in Psychology with a minor in English. Alongside her writing, she co-hosts Glee Chat and Smash Chat. She currently lives in Florida with her husband and crazy Jack Russell named Moses. Check out her blog The Sexy Little Nerd, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

Snow White Reboots

March 17, 2012 by Marcy Kennedy • Vlogs • Tags: Charlize Theron, fairytale reboots, fairytales, fantasy movies, fiction editing, Julia Roberts, Kristen Stewart, Marcy Kennedy, Mirror Mirror, Snow White, Snow White and the Huntsman • 12 Comments

Two reboots of the Snow White fairytale are set to release this year. And if the trailers are any indication, they couldn’t be more different.

Mirror Mirror (starring Julia Roberts) released yesterday, and while it’s a light-hearted comedic romp, Snow White and the Huntsman (starring Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart) has a darker, more epic feel to it.

Check out both trailers below. Which one would you rather see? Although Mirror Mirror looks fun, Snow White and the Huntsman is more my taste when it comes to bringing a fairytale to life. I like to see it as it might have been if the fairytale truly could play out in our world.

The Most Underestimated Key to Success from The Matrix

March 8, 2012 by Marcy Kennedy • Life at Warp 10 • Tags: fantasy writer, fiction editing, freelance editor, Keanu Reeves, key to success, Life at Warp 10, Marcy Kennedy, Neo, overcoming mental blocks, science fiction movies, The Matrix. There Is No Spoon • 27 Comments

Of all the cool parts in The Matrix, the one that many people remember is the “there is no spoon” scene.

Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) takes Neo (Keanu Reeves) to meet the Oracle, whose purpose is to help The One who will finally bring down the Matrix. While waiting for the Oracle to see him, Neo sits with a boy who seems to be bending and warping a spoon. It looked like the boy was doing something magical, something Neo could never do.

“Do not try and bend the spoon,” the boy says to Neo. “That’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.”

“What truth?” Neo asks.

“There is no spoon.”

All that stood in the way of Neo being able to do what the boy did…was Neo. When Neo changed his way of looking at things, he succeeded in seeing the spoon bend in his hand. Sometimes the key to success is simply looking at things differently.

While we can’t bend spoons with our minds, the same principle works in both the big and small areas of life.

I love creative cooking, and once sold an article including recipes like my apple-jalapeño coffee cake. My husband is one of the least adventurous eaters I know (he hadn’t even tried banana bread before we met). You’d be surprised how much frustration it created when he refused to try something because he’d decided in advance he wasn’t going to like it.

When what’s standing in your way is a mental block, sometimes the best thing you can do is trick yourself into taking that first step, that first bite. If Neo let himself be convinced by what his eyes saw–a spoon–he never would have been able to bend the spoon.

My husband refuses to eat squash, which means he turned his nose up at zucchini bread. I love zucchini bread. I decided the only way to get him around his mental block was to be a little sneaky. I made a batch of chocolate zucchini bread, and when he asked what it was, I simply said “chocolate bread.” Once he tried it and liked it, I told him it had zucchini in it, and he continues to eat it, despite the squash inside, because he tried it without the mental block of I can’t or I won’t.

If that doesn’t work, you can always look for similarities in things you know you can succeed at. Notice how Neo tilted his head to the side in the clip above. It’s almost like he’s trying to move his head because he knows he can’t try to move the spoon.

Because my husband loves pumpkin pie, I also focused on finding new ways to use those same flavors—pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pancakes.

If there’s something you think you can’t do, break it down into the basic skills it would take for you to succeed. Then find other tasks you know you can do that require those same skills. When you twist the way you look at it and see that you actually have the skills you need (or can learn them), the insurmountable task doesn’t look so insurmountable anymore.

Has there been a time when a mental block turned out to be all that was standing in your way? What other tips do you have for getting past seemingly impossible obstacles?