Rules of Punctuation - Writing a Romance Novel Once you've chosen the right verbs and nouns, trimmed the unneeded adverbs and adjectives from your sentences, and made sure your pronouns match their antecedents, you'll need to check for punctuation missteps. Most sentences end with one of the following three basic forms of punctuation: 1. Periods: Used at the end of declarative sentences, as well as at the end of sentences that ask indirect questions; no additional period is required if the last word in the sentence already has a period (as in an abbreviation). a. b. c. 2. 3. Limit your use of exclamation points. Quotation marks are used to identify direct quotations. When placing a second quotation inside a quote — e.g., — use a single quotation mark for the second quote. Dialogue tags, such as or identify who is speaking. Some punctuation marks can show a break in action or offer an aside comment to the reader. Semicolons and colons are rarely used in fiction. Commas serve a variety of functions in fiction. 1. 2. 3. 4. b. .
Rules for Comma Usage Use a comma to separate the elements in a series (three or more things), including the last two. "He hit the ball, dropped the bat, and ran to first base." You may have learned that the comma before the "and" is unnecessary, which is fine if you're in control of things. However, there are situations in which, if you don't use this comma (especially when the list is complex or lengthy), these last two items in the list will try to glom together (like macaroni and cheese). Use a comma + a little conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so) to connect two independent clauses, as in "He hit the ball well, but he ran toward third base." Contending that the coordinating conjunction is adequate separation, some writers will leave out the comma in a sentence with short, balanced independent clauses (such as we see in the example just given). One of the most frequent errors in comma usage is the placement of a comma after a coordinating conjunction. Use a comma to set off quoted elements.
How to Punctuate Dialogue Correctly in Fiction Updated November 19, 2017 Nothing marks a beginning fiction writer faster than improperly punctuated dialogue. Because most academic papers do not use dialogue, many students don't learn the proper dialogue punctuation and grammar until taking a fiction writing class. The Dialogue Punctuation Rules Get ahead of the game! Use a comma between the dialogue and the tag line (the words used to identify the speaker: "he said/she said"):"I would like to go to the beach this weekend," she told him as they left the apartment.Periods and commas go inside the quotation marks in American writing (the Brits have slightly different rules); other punctuation -- semicolons, question marks, dashes, and exclamation points -- goes outside unless it directly pertains to the material within the quotes, as in this example from Raymond Carver's short story "Where I'm Calling From":"I don't want any stupid cake," says the guy who goes to Europe and the Middle East. Common Punctuation Dialogue Mistakes Incorrect:
How to Use Detail in Fiction November 23, 2010 by Fiction Editor Beth Hill last modified November 23, 2010 Detail done well is one of the keys to good fiction. The right mix of details can be the difference between a memorable scene and one that could be found in any of hundreds of books—bland, vague, forgettable. Details ground the reader in the scene—in the era, the locale, the tone. In a character’s personality. Details give readers a sense of place and mood. One or two well chosen words of detail can do more for a scene than long phrases of description or one more exchange of dialogue. Of course, they do need to be the right words. Details can be overdone. An example of detail that fits… Consider Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” (written by Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear). Took a Louisville slugger to both headlightsDabbing on three dollars worth of that bathroom PoloWhite-trash version of Shania karaoke In the second line, we see an instant picture of the guy, cheap and cheesy. Don’t overload.
Passive Voice What this handout is about This handout will help you understand what the passive voice is, why many professors and writing instructors frown upon it, and how you can revise your paper to achieve greater clarity. Some things here may surprise you. We hope this handout will help you to understand the passive voice and allow you to make more informed choices as you write. Myths So what is the passive voice? 1. Use of the passive voice is not a grammatical error. 2. The passive voice entails more than just using a being verb. 3. On the contrary, you can very easily use the passive voice in the first person. 4. While the passive voice can weaken the clarity of your writing, there are times when the passive voice is OK and even preferable. 5. See Myth #1. Do any of these misunderstandings sound familiar? Defining the passive voice A passive construction occurs when you make the object of an action into the subject of a sentence. Why was the road crossed by the chicken? For example: becomes 1. 2.
Narrative mode The narrative mode (also known as the mode of narration) is the set of methods the author of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical story uses to convey the plot to the audience. Narration, the process of presenting the narrative, occurs because of the narrative mode. It encompasses several overlapping areas, most importantly narrative point-of-view, which determines through whose perspective the story is viewed and narrative voice, which determines a set of consistent features regarding the way through which the story is communicated to the audience. Narrative mode is a literary element. The narrator may be either a fictive person devised by the author as a stand-alone entity, the author himself, and/or a character in the story. The narrator is considered participant as an actual character in the story, and nonparticipant if only an implied character, or a sort of omniscient or semi-omniscient being who does not take part in the story but only relates it to the audience.
How to Punctuate Quotations in Statements To write proper English, you need to follow all the punctuation rules, even the illogical ones. Punctuation with quotations gives many people problems. Here you look at the proper punctuation for statements in quotations with and without speaker tags. Quotations with speaker tags Dumb rule 1: When the speaker tag comes first, put a comma after the speaker tag. The gang remarked, “Lola’s candidate is a sure bet.” Lola replied, “He's not my candidate.” Dumb rule 2: When the speaker tag comes last, put a comma inside the quotation marks and a period at the end of the sentence. “Lola’s candidate isn’t a sure bet now,” the gang continued. “I support a different candidate,” screamed Lola. Now you know the first two (of far too many) quotation rules. Sometimes a speaker tag lands in the middle of a sentence. “I think I’ll sue,” Betsy explained, “for emotional distress.” “You can’t imagine,” she added, “what I felt.” In each of these sample sentences, the speaker tag interrupts the quotation.
Punctuation in direct speech | Oxford Dictionaries In reports and stories, a writer often wants to tell the reader what someone has said. There are two ways of doing this. The speaker’s words can either be reported (in a style known as reported speech), or they can be quoted directly in what’s called direct speech. Reported speech In reported speech, the actual words are not usually quoted directly. The 180 respondents said that the main reason for setting up in business was to be their own boss. Trade union representatives expressed their satisfaction at the news that there would be no job losses. Direct speech In direct speech, various punctuation conventions are used to separate the quoted words from the rest of the text: this allows a reader to follow what’s going on. The words that are actually spoken should be enclosed in inverted commas: ‘He’s very clever, you know.’ In British English, the usual style is to use single inverted commas but it is not wrong to use double ones: “He’s very clever, you know.” ‘I don’t agree,’ I replied. ‘No!’