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Grammar and Punctuation: Questions, Answers, and Resources

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David Hankins
(@lost_bard)
Posts: 448
Gold Star Member
Topic starter
 

This is a thread for posting questions, answers, and resources about grammar and punctuation. Digging through the forum, I found a lot of great discussions about these building blocks of our craft, but no consolidated place to consult when a question strikes, so I decided to build it! Below are some of the discussions I found on the forum. Please add more!

Onomatopoeia (Sound Effects) in Writing

The Hyphen, En Dash, and Em Dash

Accents, Diacritics, and Pinyin

Italics for Emphasis

Commas in Dialogue

Formatting Internal Dialogue

Commonly Misspelled Words

Death and the Taxman, my WotF V39 winning story is now a novel! (Click Here >).
Death and the Dragon launches on Kickstarter August 27th. (Click Here >)
Subscribe to The Lost Bard's Letter at www.davidhankins.com and receive an exclusive novelette!

New Releases:
"The Missing Music in Milo Piper's Head" in Third Flatiron's Offshoots: Humanity Twigged
"To Catch a Foo Fighter" in DreamForge Magazine
"Milo Piper's Breakout Single that Ended the Rat War" in LTUE's Troubadours and Space Princesses anthology
"The Rise and Fall of Frankie's Patisserie" in Murderbugs anthology
"Felix and the Flamingo" in Escape Pod
"The Devil's Foot Locker" in Amazing Stories

 
Posted : November 10, 2021 3:24 pm
David Hankins
(@lost_bard)
Posts: 448
Gold Star Member
Topic starter
 

Here’s a resource that changed my writing by showing me how to interrupt text with various dashes.

https://www.touchstone-editing.com/2017/10/mini-lesson-punctuating-interrupted.html

Death and the Taxman, my WotF V39 winning story is now a novel! (Click Here >).
Death and the Dragon launches on Kickstarter August 27th. (Click Here >)
Subscribe to The Lost Bard's Letter at www.davidhankins.com and receive an exclusive novelette!

New Releases:
"The Missing Music in Milo Piper's Head" in Third Flatiron's Offshoots: Humanity Twigged
"To Catch a Foo Fighter" in DreamForge Magazine
"Milo Piper's Breakout Single that Ended the Rat War" in LTUE's Troubadours and Space Princesses anthology
"The Rise and Fall of Frankie's Patisserie" in Murderbugs anthology
"Felix and the Flamingo" in Escape Pod
"The Devil's Foot Locker" in Amazing Stories

 
Posted : November 10, 2021 3:25 pm
(@morgan-broadhead)
Posts: 467
Gold Star Member
 
Posted by: @lost_bard

This is a thread for posting questions, answers, and resources about grammar and punctuation. Digging through the forum, I found a lot of great discussions about these building blocks of our craft, but no consolidated place to consult when a question strikes, so I decided to build it! Below are some of the discussions I found on the forum. Please add more!

Onomatopoeia (Sound Effects) in Writing

The Hyphen, En Dash, and Em Dash

Accents, Diacritics, and Pinyin

Italics for Emphasis

Commas in Dialogue

Formatting Internal Dialogue

Commonly Misspelled Words

This is awesome, because em dashes and I — we have a thang.

 

"You can either sit here and write, or you can sit here and do nothing. But you can’t sit here and do anything else."
— Neil Gaiman, Masterclass

Drop me a line at https://morganbroadhead.com
SFx1
HMx5
R/RWCx5

 
Posted : November 11, 2021 5:27 am
AliciaCay, David Hankins, czing and 1 people reacted
RETreasure
(@rschibler)
Posts: 962
Platinum Member
 

@morgan-broadhead Stay away—She’s mine! All mine!

V34: R,HM,R
V35: HM,R,R,HM
V36: R,HM,HM,SHM
V37: HM,SF,SHM,SHM
V38: (P)F, SHM, F, F
V39: SHM, SHM, HM, SHM
Published Finalist Volume 38
Pro’d out Q4V39
www.rebeccaetreasure.com

Managing Editor, Apex Magazine

 
Posted : November 11, 2021 6:07 am
AliciaCay, David Hankins, czing and 1 people reacted
AliciaCay
(@aliciacay)
Posts: 145
Silver Member
 

Omgosh, you guys. I may have just found my happy place in this thread! ?

Ask me all the questions, please! Then, I can learn also when looking them up.

Now--takes out pencil, licks the lead--who needs to know what about em-dashes? (I love them!)

This came in my mail today. Yes, I am a huge word nerd. (I consider this fun reading!) hehe

20211117 192153~2

~A.

V32: HM (Q4)
V33: HM, HM, SHM, HM
V34: R, R, HM, HM
V35: HM, HM, R, HM
V36: R, R, SHM, R
V37: SHM, FINALIST, HM, SHM
V38: SF, X, SHM, SHM
V39: SHM, tbd, tbd
https://aliciacay.com

 
Posted : November 17, 2021 6:25 pm
Morgan and David Hankins reacted
AliciaCay
(@aliciacay)
Posts: 145
Silver Member
 

Omgosh, you guys. I may have just found my happy place in this thread! ?

Ask me all the questions, please! Then, I can learn also when looking them up.

Now--takes out pencil, licks the lead--who needs to know what about em-dashes? (I love them!)

This came in my mail today. Yes, I am a huge word nerd. (I consider this fun reading!) hehe

20211117 192153~2

~A.

V32: HM (Q4)
V33: HM, HM, SHM, HM
V34: R, R, HM, HM
V35: HM, HM, R, HM
V36: R, R, SHM, R
V37: SHM, FINALIST, HM, SHM
V38: SF, X, SHM, SHM
V39: SHM, tbd, tbd
https://aliciacay.com

 
Posted : November 17, 2021 6:29 pm
storysinger reacted
czing
(@czing)
Posts: 287
Silver Member
 

I am currently reading A Dash of Style and really like the way it talks not just about the rules but about how they get stretched/broken and discusses overuse and underuse. Plus it has a bunch of exercises.

My plan is to read it again about a month after this first read through - after having used some of what I learned for a while. I think that will help me to finally get my brain around all the punctuation stuff that stumbles me now.

v36 Q1, Q3 - HM; Q4 - R
v37 Q1 - R; Q2 - SHM; Q4 - HM
v38 Q1 - HM; Q2 - SHM; Q3 - HM; Q4 - HM
v39 Q1 - SHM; Q3 - HM; Q4 -RWC
v40 Q1, Q2 - HM; Q3 - Pending

 
Posted : November 19, 2021 6:53 pm
David Hankins
(@lost_bard)
Posts: 448
Gold Star Member
Topic starter
 

@czing 

Hmmm, just added that to my book list. Thanks!

Death and the Taxman, my WotF V39 winning story is now a novel! (Click Here >).
Death and the Dragon launches on Kickstarter August 27th. (Click Here >)
Subscribe to The Lost Bard's Letter at www.davidhankins.com and receive an exclusive novelette!

New Releases:
"The Missing Music in Milo Piper's Head" in Third Flatiron's Offshoots: Humanity Twigged
"To Catch a Foo Fighter" in DreamForge Magazine
"Milo Piper's Breakout Single that Ended the Rat War" in LTUE's Troubadours and Space Princesses anthology
"The Rise and Fall of Frankie's Patisserie" in Murderbugs anthology
"Felix and the Flamingo" in Escape Pod
"The Devil's Foot Locker" in Amazing Stories

 
Posted : November 20, 2021 7:58 am
czing reacted
czing
(@czing)
Posts: 287
Silver Member
 

You know one of my favourite things about reading A Dash of Style right now is that the novel I'm drafting features three different timelines for the same character. One when she is the equivalent of early teens, another where she is late teens and after some very huge life altering events, and the third where she is the equivalent of her late twenties (after even more huge life altering events). 

The book is giving me great ideas about how I can bring out the difference in her as a person in these different stages of her life though the considered use of punctuation. Of course most of that will be done during editing after I have more time to let the book's concepts percolate (and probably after a second reading).

Knowing this has helped me keep going with the drafting of new content (which I have found hard over the last couple years). So maybe after I finish A Dash of Style I need to find another craft book to keep me chugging along. Maybe one on structure since that is something I know I need to spend more active mental effort on at some point.

v36 Q1, Q3 - HM; Q4 - R
v37 Q1 - R; Q2 - SHM; Q4 - HM
v38 Q1 - HM; Q2 - SHM; Q3 - HM; Q4 - HM
v39 Q1 - SHM; Q3 - HM; Q4 -RWC
v40 Q1, Q2 - HM; Q3 - Pending

 
Posted : November 21, 2021 12:06 pm
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