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This week: That Comma Edited by: Leger~  
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The purpose of this newsletter is to help the Writing.com short story author hone their craft and improve their skills. Along with that I would like to inform, advocate, and create new, fresh ideas for the short story author. Write to me if you have an idea you would like presented.
This week's Short Story Editor
Leger~
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That Comma
I love commas. Reviewers and editors feel I like commas too much. I'm quite happy sprinkling commas all over my writing like croutons on a salad. This makes people frown. I'm never sure why.
In an effort to de-comma my work and learn a little more about punctuation, I searched around the internet for some comma help. It's about as bad as looking up your aches and pains on the web, you start to feel like you have some incurable jungle disease rather than a simple itch. When I go to the doctor and point to the itchy spot while mumbling something about jungle diseases, he tells me to stop Googling. I open my mouth to argue and he says, "Who's the doctor here?" Oh, right. Oops.
While surfing for jungle diseases comma help, I stumbled onto the Oxford Dictionary ▼ website. While they had no explanations for words I like to use such as "floopy" or "schlump", they do have some grammar help. This includes help for stuff like commas in direct speech. I'll share it here:
"When a writer quotes a speaker’s words exactly as they were spoken, this is known as direct speech. If the piece of direct speech comes after the information about who is speaking, you need to use a comma to introduce the direct speech. The comma comes before the first quotation mark. Note that the final quotation mark follows the full stop at the end of the direct speech:
Steve replied, ‘No problem.’
You also need to use a comma at the end of a piece of direct speech, if the speech comes before the information about who is speaking. In this case, the comma goes inside the quotation mark:
‘I don’t agree,’ I replied.
‘Here we are,' they said.
There are two exceptions to this rule. If a piece of direct speech takes the form of a question or an exclamation, you should end it with a question mark or an exclamation mark, rather than a comma:
‘Stop him!’ she shouted.
‘Did you see that?’ he asked.
Direct speech is often broken up by the information about who is speaking. In these cases, you need a comma to end the first piece of speech (inside the quotation mark) and another comma before the second piece (before the quotation mark):
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘and I always keep my promises.’
‘Thinking back,’ she added, ‘I didn’t expect to win.’
I'm still learning and I hope you are too. I expect I'll still be sprinkling punctuation around, but I now know where to go when someone tells me I have too many comma-croutons. I'll "write on!" and I hope you will too.
This month's question: What's your favorite grammar resource? Share the link (or book title) and I'll post it in my next newsletter.
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#1981001 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: “I come here to see my wife.”
“Oh, is she sailing out there?”
Lenny smiled and shook his head, “no, she’s sailing up there,” and he pointed heavenwar
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#1981161 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Almost a year ago, their space ship crashed on Gemistal one thousand years in the past. Their struggle to stay alive was one of overcoming whatever daily obstacles stood in their way.
Excerpt: That incident changed his life. After that James’ only sojourns outside, were confined to the limits of Rolling Wood’s gardens, in the company of dear sweet Rosalie. She was the only person he can ever remember, who looked directly into his face when she talked to him. Sometimes when he was with her he felt like a real person and not a hideous freak.
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Excerpt: Life is fluid—at times a lazy, meandering brook or a violent, rushing river. Even in winter, when Life seems frozen solid in deadly silence, a force moves the core of it, pushing it ever forward. No beginning, no end. Just troughs and peaks. My grandmother once told me that we are made of wavelengths, some shallow, some deep, all of us rippling along with Life as it sweeps us toward our destinies—other waves with harmonizing frequencies.
I always heard the buzzing of my destiny in spring.
Excerpt: Suddenly one of those rare but unforgettable moments begins inspiring this old man’s life. My fingers find my flute and a song that seems to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, emerges from my flute. It fills the entire underground spreading its blessing on all present.
Excerpt: "I hardly ever drank, before I met you. You used alcohol like a necessary evil, to lure me in with promises of raises and the job opportunity of a lifetime, to work long hours and get paid nothing more than the same chump change every week. You held that promotion over my head like a carrot with that amused look on your face. You made me fight it out for the store manager position with that flunky, beer swillin' friend of yours. I had to socialize with your beer brood to get your attention. You put my life, my world in danger, and then you took it all away. Now, your world is in my hands."
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Excerpt: "See Mommy, I told you." she whispered.
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This month's question: What's your favorite grammar resource? Share the link (or book title) and I'll post it in my next newsletter.
Last month's question: Send some examples of items on Writing.com that show great human character!
brom21  replied: Making your story believable, in my opinion, is one of the cardinal rules of writing along with show don’t tell. Giving real emotions and thoughts to fantasy and sci-fi fits with fleshing out your character and giving them depth. One way of doing this, is using the first person POV. It inclines you to input how real individual would react. For me however, this concept is a little tedious to work with. Thanks for the insight and I hope we all take something from this principal.
Doug Rainbow  answered: I know what you mean about "Make 'Em Believe It" -- I think. It is a wonderful thing to step over the line of plausibility and get transported. Few stories could hold up to rigorous cross-examination, but they are still wonderful pieces of fiction. That's why we call it "fiction." But, yes, the successful author must weave his falsehoods without rubbing them in the readers' faces.
Quick-Quill  sent: For new writers here is an easy check and its one I use when reviewing. What is the goal of the MC? What is the motivating factor and what conflicts are standing in their way from reaching that goal. This is not always found in short stories but; "What is at stake if the MC doesn't reach the goal?" If these are all in your story long or short you have a good foundation for an excellent story.
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Short Stories: March 12, 2014 Issue [#6209]
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