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How to Revise & Edit Your Writing

Part 2: Polishing Your Story

Amber Lea Starfire

Starfire Publishing

Amber Lea Starfire ©2010, all rights reserved

How to Revise and Edit Your Writing, Part 2: Polishing Your Story Page 1 ©2009-2010, Amber Lea Starfire

Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 2 The Golden Rules of Effective Feedback .................................................................................................................. 3

UNIT ONE

Put Your Writing on a Diet ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Passive Verb Construction ................................................................................................................................... 5 Useless Adverbs ................................................................................................................................................... 7 Unwarranted Adjectives .................................................................................................................................... 10 Extras and Wannabe’s ....................................................................................................................................... 10 Questions to answer when giving feedback to others. ....................................................................................... 14

UNIT TWO

Consistency ................................................................................................................................................................ 15 Set Up and Use a Style Sheet ............................................................................................................................ 16 Spelling and Grammar ....................................................................................................................................... 17 Parallel Structure ............................................................................................................................................... 20 Subject-Verb Agreement ................................................................................................................................... 21 Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement ....................................................................................................................... 21 Punctuation and Other Details ........................................................................................................................... 23 Questions to answer when giving feedback to others. ....................................................................................... 28

UNIT THREE

Tricking the Typo Demon & Formatting for Publication ..................................................................................... 29 Tricking the Demon of All Print Errors ............................................................................................................. 29 Steps to Flummox the Typo Demon .................................................................................................................. 31 Formatting for Submission & Publication ......................................................................................................... 32 Sample Formatting for First Page of Article ..................................................................................................... 35 Sample Formatting for Subsequent Pages of Article ......................................................................................... 36 Sample Formatting for Chapter Page ................................................................................................................ 38 Questions to answer when giving feedback to others. ....................................................................................... 39 Books about Editing .......................................................................................................................................... 40 Reference Books ................................................................................................................................................ 40

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ............................................................................................................................................. 43


Introduction Whether you’re writing for yourself, your family, or a wider audience, you want your writing to be the best it can be. This is as true of query letters and proposals as essays, short vignettes, and books—particularly if you intend to get your work past the gatekeepers in the publishing industry. But, revising and editing one’s own work can seem daunting, partly due to the emotional attachment a writer has to her story. It can seem even more challenging if she lacks confidence in punctuation and grammar. Yet, after the creative act of writing, revising and editing your work is crucial.

I designed this two-part course to help you hone your revision and editing skills, especially if you write memoir, autobiography, and biography (also known as lifewriting). It is you, after all, who are responsible for the final printed product. If your work will be edited by a professional (strongly recommended), you will save money and time and prevent headaches by learning the techniques in “Part 1: The Big Picture” and “Part 2: Polishing Your Story.”

In Part 1 you:

• Gain clarity about the purpose of your writing and its audience,

• Improve the structure and organization of your stories, and

• Create strong paragraphs that will keep your reader’s attention. In Part 2 you learn to:

• Cut the unnecessary,

• Ensure consistency of style, grammar, and punctuation, and

• Format your work for publication, learn proofreading tools, and catch otherwise elusive mistakes.

Definitions

Revision includes the processes of reviewing and rewriting your work to improve meaning and structure. The purpose of the first draft is to discover what it is you are writing about. The purpose of the second draft (rewriting) is to structure and build upon the foundation created in the first draft, while letting go of the irrelevant. “The Big Picture” is about revision. Editing includes the processes of line-by-line, word-by-word modifications for sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and style. It’s the fine-tuning and polishing part of the writing process, which can be compared to fixing cosmetic flaws, painting, and decorating a house after the main construction has been completed. “Polishing Your Story” is about editing.


The Golden Rules of Effective Feedback

Ø Give honest and constructive feedback. The purpose of feedback is to illuminate and instruct. It’s important to identify strengths and weaknesses in the passage so the author can further strengthen her writing. It doesn’t serve anyone to avoid telling the honest truth. When you make an effort to identify both strengths and weaknesses (or parts that could be made stronger), it’s not about pointing out faults, but about learning from each other.

Ø Be specific. Avoid global statements, such as “nicely done,” or “enjoyed this.” Effective feedback points out a specific passage and says what’s strong or weak about it: “vivid description,” or “redundant wording.” When giving writing feedback, it’s okay to talk about how you felt after reading a specific passage, but you need to identify what about that passage moved you emotionally (or not).

Ø Don’t make it or take it personal. Rather than responding, “Your writing is …” it’s more effective to respond, “The writing in this paragraph is ….” It’s not about the author, but about the writing. On the receiving end, take all comments under consideration, but don’t buy them wholesale. If you feel strongly about a particular wording, tone, or just plain disagree with someone else’s opinion, that’s fine. Just be sure you know why you disagree.

Ø Remember to be courteous, especially when giving and responding to feedback via email. In the rush of daily life and our abbreviated email writing styles, it’s easy to forget that there’s a person on the receiving end of our communication who has put her heart, soul, and voice into her work. Be honest, constructive, and gentle.


Unit One

Put Your Writing on a Diet Once you’ve figured out what you want to say and have revised your piece for improved structure and clarity, it is time to put it on a diet. It’s time to trim the fat and strengthen the writing so that each word, each phrase, and each sentence performs flawlessly. Fortunately for us, it’s much easier to strengthen and trim our writing, than our bodies!

You’ll need to examine each sentence with a critical eye, ensuring that it says what you want it to say, without superfluous nouns, verbs, prepositions, and modifiers. And each phrase needs to be in its proper context for clarity and intended voice.

When we speak to each other, we punctuate our speech with grunts and “ums” and sighs, add unnecessary words and phrases, and talk about things out of context. These normal aspects of speech are overlooked because they are important parts of nonverbal communication. We also—usually—have an opportunity to clarify our meaning if not immediately understood by our listeners. However, nonverbal communication does not exist in writing, and we don’t have a live opportunity to explain what we mean, so every word has to carry its weight. Otherwise, we risk confusing—or worse, boring—our readers.

In this unit, we’ll examine the most common kinds of unnecessary or weak words and phrases, and learn how to identify and eliminate or replace them with precise language. This process requires revisiting that dreaded topic of grammar-school English—parts of a sentence—but don’t worry, we’ll advance quickly from blackboard lessons to actions that will improve the strength of your writing.

Your goal is to cut the number of words in your piece by at least 10% while, at the same time, strengthening its clarity and impact. This work, though sometimes tedious, is wonderfully rewarding. And, thanks to computing technology, we’ll use your word processor’s tools to speed up the process.


Passive Verb Construction

Teachers and workshop leaders warn us against using passive verbs, and with good reason. Using strong, active verbs is one of the most potent ways to strengthen your writing. And, since the passive voice requires more words, you’ll automatically cut unnecessary words in the process.

What is this nefarious passive verb construction (also called passive voice)? It is where the subject of the sentence is having the action done to him, her, or it. In contrast, in an active verb construction (active voice), the subject of the sentence is doing the action. Verbs indicating passive voice include is, are, was, were, and had been.

Examples of passive verb construction: • Improvements were made to the public transportation system by the Director.

Rewrite: The Director improved the transportation system. (Cut 5 words.) • The papers were kept in a large purple box by Sheila.

Rewrite: Sheila kept the papers in a large purple box. (Cut 2 words.) • She was given a dozen red roses for Valentine’s Day by her husband.

Rewrite: Her husband gave her a dozen red roses for Valentine’s Day. (Cut 2 words) Or, you could change it to, “On Valentine’s Day, she received a dozen red roses from her husband. (Cut 1 word). Even though received might seem passive it’s not, because the subject of the sentence (She) is actively doing the receiving.

• The lawn was covered by leaves. Rewrite: Leaves covered the lawn. (Cut 2 words)

Note that the verb (is, are, was, were) is followed by a past participle (made, improved, kept, given, covered).

Exercise 1 Using your word processor’s Find function (in Microsoft Word, it is under the Edit menu), perform a search for the word “was.” (Check the “Find Whole Words Only” option in the expanded Find dialog box.)

For each instance, ask the following questions:

1. Is the verb used passively?

2. If so, who is doing the acting and who or what is acted upon? (In the final example, above, the the lawn is being acted upon.) Is a passive voice appropriate in this situation? For example, you might want to write, “the walls were painted,” vs. “the landlord painted the walls,” depending on context.

3. If appropriate, change the passive verb construction to an active one.


4. Are you using the best, most precise verb for the job? In the final example sentence about the leaves, I could write, “Leaves blanketed the lawn,” or “Leaves smothered the lawn,” depending on what I want to communicate.

5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 with the words is, are, were, have been, and had been.

Write notes here about the types of passive constructions you used most:


Useless Adverbs

By now, you’ve also been warned about those pesky adverbs. You know the ones—they slink like snakes into your writing when you’re not looking, wind themselves around parts of your sentence, and look so at home that you don’t even notice them. What are they?

Adverbs are words that modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, or phrases. Adverbs indicate manner, and answer questions such as “how,” “when,” “where,” and “how much.”

Examples: • The airline steward walked briskly down the isle (briskly tells us how she walked). • The woman impatiently tapped her foot (impatiently modifies the verb tapped). • The lightly worn book was open to the first page (lightly modifies the adjective worn,

which describes the book). • Adverbs more often end in “ly” than not (more modifies the adverb often, which

modifies the verb end). • Fortunately for us, it’s much easier to strengthen and trim our writing, than our

bodies! (In this sentence, the adverb fortunately modifies the entire sentence.

If you look for them, adverbs are easy to spot, because they usually end with ly, as in … well … usually. Adverbs are useful tools, but they can distract and annoy your readers if used without mindful intention. They may be redundant, as in “He walked slowly.” The adverb slowly is repetitive, because walking is slow. The easiest solution is to eliminate the adverb: “He walked.”

Adverbs may also indicate the use of imprecise or weak verbs. In my previous example, if I feel the need to say that my subject walked “slowly,” it is because the verb “walked” doesn’t mean what I want it to say. Better choices include strolled, ambled, or sauntered, depending on context. (A thesaurus is an adverb eliminator’s friend.)

Adverbs that don’t end in “ly” include: often, most, always, even, too, soon, seldom, less, more, sometimes, maybe, very, then, well, tomorrow, yesterday, today, never, better, and worse. (These are examples, not an exhaustive list.)

Exercise 2 1. Using your word processor’s Find function, perform a find for “ly ” without the quotes.

Note that this is “l,” “y,” and a “space”. For each adverb you find, examine its context and ask yourself the following questions. a. Can I eliminate this adverb without changing the essential meaning of the word that it

is modifying? Is the adverb redundant? (If so, remove it!) b. If it’s modifying a verb, is there a stronger verb that I could use in its place (stroll,

saunter)? (If so, use the stronger verb!)


c. Do I use this adverb too often? (2 times in a paragraph is too often.) If you don’t want to eliminate the adverb, then use an alternate adverb that will convey what you’d like to communicate to your reader.

d. Instead of an adverb, consider using a simile or metaphor. “He walked slowly down the street” becomes “He sauntered down the street” becomes “He sauntered down the street like a man without a care,” or “He ambled down the street, like a dog on a hot day.” (Although adding similes or metaphors may add words to your piece, you will have cut so many words by the end of the editing process, that you will still end up meeting your 10% goal.)

e. Finally, if you decide to keep this adverb (or a replacement), what is its position in the sentence? Does the adverb modify the word that it’s intended to modify? The normal position for an adverb is between the subject and the verb, except where that position sounds or feels awkward. “Susan walked gracefully down the isle,” when read aloud, seems less stilted than “Susan gracefully walked down the isle.” If you’re using a two-word infinitive (to have, to be) followed by a past participle (interrupted, accepted, given), the adverb normally appears between the infinitive and the word that you intend to modify (to have rudely interrupted, to be lovingly accepted, to have happily given). If you’re using a two-word infinitive (to interrupt, to accept, to give), the adverb should be placed after the verb (to interrupt rudely, to accept thankfully, to give happily). There are exceptions to every rule, of course. The only thing you must do is make sure that your meaning is clear. Consider the following: “To safely negotiate the river, steer clear of the rocks.” The adverb safely, in this case, splits the infinitive, to negotiate. But to write, “To negotiate safely the river …” sounds absurd to a native English speaker when read aloud. You can improve the sentence by moving safely after river: “To negotiate the river safely, steer clear of the rocks.” (Note that the comma placement makes the adverb unambiguous. If the sentence didn’t contain the comma (“To negotiate the river safely steer clear of the rocks.”), the reader wouldn’t know whether safely modifies to negotiate or steer.

2. Repeat the find and examination process (1, a–f) for each of the following words: very, really, often, frequently, almost, always, never, sometimes, soon, even, seldom, well, better, worse, and any other adverb that you use on a regular basis. Write your ten most-used adverbs here and on the following page:

1.

2.

3.


4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Write notes and questions about the way you use adverbs here:


Unwarranted Adjectives

In the same way that we use adverbs to shore up weak verbs (or weak adverbs), we use adjectives to shore up weak nouns. When we write our first—and second—drafts, we don’t always consider our choice of nouns.

Specific vocabulary is more powerful than general. Consider: Ferrari vs. sleek car; office building vs. facility; three vs. a few; Black-eyed Susan vs. flower. When we use general instead of specific terms, we tend to enhance what we’ve written with adjectives. We’ll write nine words to describe a flower (“delicate, pink, ruffled petals spreading from its yellow center”) when three might do (“delicate, pink peony). Exercise 3

1. Read through your piece again, this time with an eye to adjectives. (Sorry, we don’t have a find function for this one!) a. Have you used more than two adjectives to modify any one noun? If so, chances are

that you’ve used an imprecise adjective or noun. What brand, title, or species might be a better choice? Replace the adjective, noun, or both.

b. Use a dictionary, thesaurus, magazine advertisements, and/or Internet searches to help find the right word for your sentence.

Extras and Wannabe’s

There are a number of other things to look out for when trimming your writing. These include excessive prepositional phrases, sentences beginning with It and There, and unnecessary dependent clauses.

Excessive prepositional phrases: Prepositional phrases often announce the presence of nonessential nouns and verbs. Before discussing what to look out for, let’s define the terms preposition and prepositional phrase.

A preposition is a word that links nouns, pronouns, or phrases to other words in the same sentence. The most common prepositions include of, for, over, under, beneath, against, across, in, without, throughout, about, after, among, around, at, before, between, into, except, during, until, up, upon, with, within, toward, until, past, since, off, onto, out, and like.

Examples: • The pen sits on the desk (on connects sits and desk). • The store is across the street (across connects is with street). • The light slivered between the curtains (between connects slivered and curtains). • He didn’t want to go without his coat (without connects to go with coat).


Compound prepositions have the same function, however they are made up of more than one word: next to, together with, in addition to, providing that.

A prepositional phrase modifies a noun or a verb, acting as an adjective or adverb.

Examples: • Some of the women from my writing circle are going to see a movie tonight (the

phrase from my writing circle functions as an adjective by describing the women). • They planned this outing a long time ago. (A long time ago is a prepositional phrase

that acts as an adverb, modifying the verb planned.)

Without prepositions, our writing would read like a kindergarten primer (“See Dick run!”). However, when used excessively, prepositional phrases weaken our writing.

Look out for the words of, with, and in. Such useful little words feed fatty writing.

Examples: • The field of education (why not just say education)? • The level of water rose (why not just say the water rose)? • The amount of • The area of • The way of • The process of • In (with) regards to

• With respect to

Exercise 4

1. Using your word processor’s Find function, look for the words of, with, and in. Are they part of a phrase that could be eliminated or reduced to a simple word or two? Write down the most common offenders:


Sentences that begin with It and There: Avoid sentences that begin with It is …, It was…, It will be…, There is…, or There are….

Examples: • It was my daughter who woke me. Rewrite: My daughter woke me. • It is my passion to write. Rewrite: Writing is my passion. • It is evident that the boys should have worked harder. Rewrite: The boys should have

worked harder. • There are some people who work harder than others. Rewrite: Some people work

harder than others. • There is one vice I despise above all others—sloth. Rewrite: I despise sloth above all

other vices.

Exercise 5

1. Perform a find for sentences beginning with It and There. If these sentences fall under the categories in the above examples, revise them.

What did you notice while doing this exercise?


Unnecessary dependent clauses: In an attempt to clarify our meaning, we may add dependent clauses to our sentences. But are they necessary? A dependent clause is an incomplete clause that depends on the rest of the sentence for its meaning.

Examples: • My daughter, who was born in July, had a sunny disposition. • The rain poured off the roof into the flowerbed, which I had just planted that

morning. • Greg’s chili recipe, which won first prize at the county fair, is made with three kinds

of chili peppers.

In the above examples, the meat of each sentence is: “My daughter had a sunny disposition”; “The rain poured off the roof into the flower bed;” and, “Greg’s chili recipe is made with three kinds of chili peppers.” The reader may or may not need to know that my daughter was born in July, that the flowerbed had just been planted, or that Greg’s recipe won first prize. If that information is necessary to the heart of the story, can it be included more efficiently?

Exercise 6 1. Use the Find function of your word processor to look for clauses beginning with which,

who, whom, and that. Also, read your piece through to identify other dependent clauses. Examine each dependent clause with the following questions in mind: a. Does the reader need (or want) to know this information? b. Is this information an important part of the story? c. If so, is there a better way to say it? “Greg’s prize-winning chili is made with three

kinds of chili peppers.” (Cut 8 words.)

Exercise 7 1. Print your piece and read it aloud from beginning to end, noting any awkward phrases

and/or any information or words that do not seem necessary. 2. Make corrections, save, and share your revised piece with the group.


Feedback Questions to answer when giving feedback to others.

1. What do you think of the changes the author made to her work? What do you like? What works best about the changes? Is the piece clearer? Stronger? Does it feel more natural?

2. What doesn’t work? What could the author do, if anything, to further cut unnecessary words from her piece? What could she do to strengthen specific verbs, nouns, or phrases?


Unit Two

Consistency Using style and punctuation guidelines gives your writing consistency. Consistency improves clarity and gives your readers a smoother reading experience. You won’t distract them from your story with confusion-causing punctuation errors, disagreements between verbs and their subjects, or ambiguous wording.

In addition, consistency communicates professionalism to editors and publishers. It saves money and time, reduces headaches for you and your editors, and contributes to easier working relationships.

In this unit, I give you several tools to facilitate this task of ensuring consistency. I also lay out a number of rules. While reading and applying the ideas in this unit, think of these rules as gentle guidelines rather than rigid laws. Language, like everything else, changes and evolves over time. What we considered improper at one time we now consider archaic. And not even the “experts” agree about all of the rules.

The most important point to walk away with is that consistency helps you communicate your message to your readers. And, after all, what could be more important than that?

Although the term style includes appearance—margins, font styles, and sizes—for the purposes of this unit, we will examine grammar and punctuation only. Formatting styles will be covered in Unit 3, along with final editing and proofreading tips.


Set Up and Use a Style Sheet

It’s important to keep track of decisions that you make along the way, especially when working on a longer project, such as a book. For example, both web site and website are acceptable. Which do you prefer to use? If you decide at the beginning of your piece to use website, record it in your style sheet. If you give a fictional name to someone in your memoir, you need to be able to remember what that name was. Record it in your style sheet. Your style sheet should contain rules of grammar that you have trouble remembering, the list of adverbs you tend to use too often, and style preferences. Your style sheet is your personal writing reference.

About a year ago, I had an email discussion with an editor friend of mine about the use of the em dash (—). She thought the em dash should be used without spaces on either side of it—like so. I preferred the look of the em dash with spaces — like so. Both are acceptable, and there is another version that uses micro-spaces on both sides of the dash. (Since then, I’ve reversed my stance, and now use the em dash without the bordering spaces.) There are many such punctuation disputes among publishers and editors, and publishing fashions tend to shift over time. These days, for example, you are likely to see em dashes used in place of parentheses, and semicolons in some circumstances.

You can organize your style sheet any way that works for you. List everything in alphabetical order, or arrange your items by topic. Use a spiral bound notebook or a Word document. It’s up to you. I recommend having two sections: 1) the general rules and styles you adopt for all of your writing, and 2) decisions for a specific work, such as a particular formatting or the fictional name you chose.

Things to include in your style sheet: • Spelling choices, where there is more than one accepted spelling or usage. (Email/e-

mail, web site/website, recognize/recognise). • Punctuation preferences and rules that you want to remember. • Name choices. • Lists of adverbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases that you would like to avoid

(or use sparingly). • Fonts, font sizes, and paragraph formatting for each heading, text, and list style.

(We’ll discuss this in greater detail when we get to the section on formatting for publication in Unit 3.)

• Anything else you think you might need to remember!

Because language and grammatical rules change over time, it’s important to pay attention and observe language and punctuation use as you read. When your writing style is consistent and conforms to established practice, your work demonstrates professionalism and has a better chance of getting published.


Exercise 1 Create a Style Sheet.

6. Use a spiral bound notebook or create a Word document dedicated to this purpose.

7. Decide how you want to organize it. If you’re using a Word document, you will have greater flexibility if you decide to change the style sheet’s organization later. If you’re using a notebook, you might want to organize it alphabetically, labeling the top of each sheet with the letters A, B, C, and so on.

8. Add the adverb list you created in Unit 1.

Spelling and Grammar

Use your word processor’s spelling and grammar checker, frequently and often. (Intentional use of redundant adverbs.) Word’s grammar and spelling checker isn’t perfect; it may miss things you wish it would catch (its instead of it’s, or their instead of there) and it may flag things you disagree with. However, it will catch problems caused by cutting and pasting errors, misspellings, and it will flag grammar issues you didn’t notice in previous passes.

Don’t rely on the spelling and grammar checker. This statement may seem to be in direct opposition to that of the previous paragraph, but it’s not. The two statements live side-by-side. Use the tools of technology, but don’t count on them to do the work for you. They’re just functions of dumb computers, following binary rules set up by computer programmers. They do an amazing job, considering, but there’s nothing that works as well as your eyes and your brain.

Exercise 2 Set Word’s preferences for a more efficient work flow.

3. Select Preferences… from the Word dropdown menu. 4. Select Spelling and Grammar. (See the screen capture below. My version of Word and

my window might be slightly different than yours, but the concepts are the same.) 5. Check the following boxes: Check spelling as you type, Always suggest corrections,

Check grammar as you type, check grammar with spelling, and Show readability statistics. Make sure to check the last two.

6. You can use Word’s features to remember some of your personal grammatical and punctuation preferences, using the Writing Style drop down menu in the Preferences dialog. I recommend exploring the options and settings of the writing styles Word uses when checking grammar and punctuation: Casual, Standard, Formal, Technical, and Custom.


7. Check spelling and grammar for your piece by selecting Spelling and Grammar… from the Tools menu. Don’t go through the process quickly, but take time to read the grammar tips. Some of them won’t be appropriate, but others will. When you click the “Ignore” button, Word remembers your preference for that document.

Recommended Spelling and Grammar Preferences. Notice the Writing style options.


8. When the spelling and grammar check is finished, you will see the Readability Statistics dialog box.

Make notes about this process. Did you find out anything new about your writing?

Look at all the great information this dialog box gives you, particularly the passive sentence percentage, and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. (Shorter sentences usually mean easier readability and lower grade level score.)


Parallel Structure

For clarity, rhythm, and ease of reading, write sentences using parallel structure. This means grouping words that have the same function using the same construction.

To know whether words have the same function, look for commas that separate a list of items or actions, coordinating conjunctions, such as and, but, for, or and nor, and correlative conjunctions, such as either—or and whether—or. The words and phrases that follow these conjunctions should be parallel in construction.

Examples: • I spoke with the editor about reorganizing the chapter and the elimination of

unnecessary adverbs. Change to: I spoke with the editor about reorganizing the chapter and eliminating unnecessary adverbs.

• I write creatively, he with deliberate intention. Change to: I write creatively, he deliberately.

• He exercises, meditates, and does his journaling every day. Change to: Every day, he exercises, meditates, and journals.

• She gave him the following ultimatum: “Either you shape up or you need to leave!” Change to: She gave him the following ultimatum: “Either you shape up or leave!”

Exercise 3

1. Using your word processor’s Find function, perform searches for common coordinating and correlative conjunctions as listed above. If necessary, change the wording of the sentences to ensure parallel structure.

2. Scan your piece for lists that are separated by commas. If the list separates actions, make sure that the verbs are conjugated similarly: running, jumping, and laughing; ran, jumped, and laughed; runs, jumps and laughs. If the list separates phrases, they should also be constructed similarly: the writer’s pen, the musician’s trumpet, and the dancer’s costume, instead of the writer’s pen, the musician’s trumpet, and the costume of the dancer.


Subject-Verb Agreement

Problems with subject-verb agreement may occur when two or more subjects are joined by and. Also, be careful when using either, neither, and each; in these cases, the verb should be singular.

Examples: • Her background and experience gives her an edge up on the competition. Change to:

Her background and experience give her an edge up on the competition. • My father and my mother is focused on saving enough for retirement. Change to: My

father and my mother are focused on saving enough for retirement. • Does rejection and acceptance affect your feelings about writing? Change to: Do

rejection and acceptance affect your feelings about writing? • Each of the men and women were wearing their best outfits. Change to: Each of the

men and women was wearing his or her best outfit. (With the use of each, the correct verb is singular (was), their must be changed to his or her, and outfit must also be singular. Or better, get rid of the word each and change it from passive to active voice: The men and women wore their best outfits.)

• Neither the sun nor the moon shine on that dark corner of the garden. Neither the sun nor the moon shines on that dark corner of the garden. (Neither shines, not neither shine.)

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Antecedent? Isn’t that some kind of insect? Not exactly. An antecedent is the word that a pronoun replaces. The word they replaces the students; she replaces Sharon; any replaces candy in: They didn’t give her any.

Pronouns must match their antecedents in person, gender, and number. Let’s look at a couple of common ways that mistakes can be made.

Gender Example: When a writer eliminates redundant adverbs, he improves his writing. The problem in the previous sentence is that a writer is of unspecified gender. For many years, it was common practice to use he to represent any one person and man to represent any human, but we are more aware now of the subtle biases such writing encourages. If we use either he or she, or both he or she, it can feel awkward to the readers. If an author writes for an audience of a particular sex, then the author may use either pronoun with impunity. For example, because I teach lifewriting, journaling, and editing primarily to women, I feel comfortable using the pronoun she to replace a person of unknown gender. However, if your audience is of mixed gender, it’s best to avoid this circumstance when possible.

One way to avoid the problem is by using a plural subject: When writers eliminate redundant adverbs, they improve their writing.


Another possibility is to revise your sentence: Eliminating redundant adverbs improves writing quality. Or turn it into instruction: To improve your writing, eliminate redundant adverbs.

Person Be on the lookout for point of view (POV) shifts when writing. First person uses I and we, second person uses you (singular or plural), and third person uses he, she, it, and they. It’s easy to begin writing in one POV and shift accidentally to another.

Consider the following sentence: If a writer wants to be published, you’ll need to hire a good agent. The writer shifted from 3rd person to 2nd person. Change to: If writers want to be published, they have to hire good agents. Or: If you want to be published, you’ll need to hire a good agent.

Another example: If we want to get published, you’ll need a good agent. In the previous sentence, the author shifted from 1st person to 2nd. Change to: If we want to get published, we’ll need a good agent (or, we’ll need good agents, depending upon whether the work is a collaboration or not).

Number One of my personal pet peeves is the tendency for writers to use a plural pronoun to replace a singular subject in order to avoid the he-or-she conundrum: When a writer eliminates redundant adverbs, they improve their writing. Ugh! Please, do not fall prey to this common error!

Change, The current styles were designed to appeal to a consumer’s sense of individual expression, to The current styles were designed to appeal to consumers’ individual expressions. (Note that styles appeal to consumers, not one consumer, and consumers have expressions, not one expression.) Or, even better, use the revision as an opportunity to change passive to active voice: Designers created new styles to appeal to consumers’ individual expressions.

Change, Many writers are under the assumption that if they don’t become a successful writer by the time they are forty… to, Many writers assume that if they don’t become successful writers by age forty…. (Note that I’ve used the revision opportunity to tighten up the phrase wording, changing two prepositional phrases: under the assumption to assume; and by the time they are to by age.

Exercise 4 3. Read your piece aloud to yourself or to someone else with a special focus on subject-verb

agreement and pronoun-antecedent agreement. I have found that reading aloud helps me catch these kinds of errors better than reading silently. Mistakes like these create a dissonance in the music of language that our ears hear, but our eyes don’t see.


Punctuation and Other Details

Just thinking about the rules of punctuation may cause your eyes to glaze over. Rules, rules, rules, not all so hard and fast. However, when you take the time to consider each of the topics listed below, you’ll realize that you already know most of them. And what you didn’t know can be added to your style sheet for future reference.

This section is not meant to be a complete discussion of punctuation; that would take up much more time and space than this class schedule could accommodate, and there are comprehensive style and grammar books on the market (Unit 3 includes a list of references). However, I have attempted to cover the most common style and punctuation problems.

Titles • Use capitals for the first letter of every word except the articles (the, a, an) and short

prepositions (in, out, of): The Power of Punctuation.

• Editors disagree about capitalizing subtitles; some prefer that the first letter of every word be capitalized, while others believe that only the first letter of the first word should be capitalized. Both styles are acceptable. Whatever you decide, be consistent throughout your book, chapter, or story.

• Use quotations around the titles of short stories, chapters, and excerpts: “Unit 2: Consistency.”

• Underline or italicize titles of books, plays, movies, names of newspapers and journals: Gone with the Wind or Gone with the Wind.

Abbreviations and Acronyms • In most cases, avoid abbreviations and symbols, except symbols for currency and

measurements placed with numerals ($10.50, 10%, 65˚). When spelling numbers, also spell out the corresponding measurements: Ten dollars and fifty cents, sixty-five degrees. Numerals are used when expressing percentage (9 percent).

• Instead of sq. ft., use square feet. Instead of U.S., use United States.

• It’s accepted practice to use acronyms for the names of organizations, but the first time you introduce the organization, spell it its name and place the acronym between parentheses. For example: The United Nations (UN) made a resolution today that…

Numbers • Here in the United States, there are two accepted rules. The first (my preference) is to spell

out single-digit numbers and use numerals for all others (eight, nine, 10, 11, 12). The other is to spell out all single and double-digit numbers and use numerals for all others (ninety-eight, nine-nine, 100). The exception to these rules is when expressing percentage; a numeral should be used (8 percent).


You’ll find that different editors hold different views on this subject. If you are working with, or already have, a publisher, it’s a good idea to find out what the preferred style is and use that. Alternately, be open-minded, and understand that an editor may want to change your usage. The important thing is to be consistent. Whatever you decide, write it in your style sheet.

Apostrophes We could not have a discussion about punctuation without discussing the use and misuse of apostrophes. Guidelines on the use of apostrophes are more fixed than for some of the other punctuation topics, and consistent misuse of apostrophes marks your writing as amateurish, so it’s important to have a good grasp on this subject.

• Use apostrophes to show possession: o If a singular noun doesn’t end in s, then add ’s to show possession: the cat’s fur,

the man’s beard, the boy’s shirt, the apple’s color. o Do not use apostrophes with possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours,

theirs. o If a plural noun ends in s, place the apostrophe at the end of the word, after the s:

the cats’ whiskers, the girls’ conversations. o If a plural noun does not end in s, add ’s to the end of the word: women’s rights,

children’s playground, men’s coats. o If a singular word or name ends in s, add ’s to the end of the word: the Jones’s

house; the atlas’s cover. Ancient names are exceptions to this rule; add the apostrophe at the end of the word: Jesus’ robe, Moses’ staff, Zeus’ lightning bolt.

• Use apostrophes to show time or quantity: o One year’s work, two dollars’ worth, five months’ old.

• Use apostrophes for contractions and to indicate that letters are missing (usually in dialog):

o “He’p me up. I s’pose I’m gettin’ old.” o Use It’s for it is (not for possession) o Other common contractions: there’s for there is, here’s for here is, you’re for you

are (not your), can’t for cannot.

• Use apostrophes to show letters as plural: o Two S’s, five F’s and seven G’s. o Don’t use apostrophes for decades: 1970s. o In the past, it was customary to place an apostrophe before a shortened decade:

‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, etc. However, that custom is changing and currently, either ‘70s or 70s is acceptable.


Dialog and Quotation Marks • Every time you change speakers, start a new paragraph. You can include descriptive details

before or after the speaker’s words.

• Dialog punctuation always goes inside the quotation marks: John said, “Don’t do it that way.” If the dialog is in the middle of a sentence, use a comma instead of a period: As Mary began to use the drill, John said, “Don’t do it that way,” and grabbed it out of her hands. If you’re using an exclamation or question mark, also place it inside the quotation marks: As Mary began to use the drill, John said, “Don’t do it that way!” and grabbed it out of her hands.

• When a speaker quotes someone else, use a single quotation mark: John said proudly, “My professor told me, ‘John, you have a lot of potential.’” (Note that double quotation marks are placed outside the single, or internal, quotation at the end of the sentence.

• If you’re quoting more than one paragraph, such as an excerpt of a book, use quotation marks at the beginning of the first paragraph and at the end of the last paragraph.

• There are two schools of thought about placement of punctuation and quotation marks, when the words within quotations are titles, or the punctuation pertains to the whole sentence and not just the quoted material. And writers and editors often have strong personal preferences about the subject.

The first, and perhaps more conventional, school of thought says that periods and commas should always be placed inside closing single or double quotation marks, and all other punctuation marks (question marks, exclamation points, semi-colons) should only be placed inside the closing quotation marks if they are part of the quoted material. For example: What did he mean when he said, “to hell with that”? The question mark is outside the closing quotation mark because it applies to the entire sentence and is not part of the speaker’s quote. Another: The title of his essay is “Seasons of Our Lives.” In this example, the period is inside the closing quotations marks.

The second school of thought says that periods and commas should only be placed inside closing single or double quotation marks if they are part of the quoted material. For example: What did he mean when he said, “to hell with that”? As in the previous example, the question mark is outside the closing quotation mark because it applies to the entire sentence and is not part of the speaker’s quote. However: The title of his essay is “Seasons of Our Lives”. In this example, the period is placed outside the closing quotations marks because, again, it applies to the entire sentence.

Write your preferred style in your style sheet. Then make sure you use it consistently throughout your writing.


• Don’t use quotation marks, but underline or italicize words that are outside their normal use: Instead of: What does “word” mean in that context? write, What does word mean in that context? And instead of: My mother didn’t know what I meant by the term “grok,” write My mother didn’t know what I meant by the term grok.

Excessive Exclamations As a general rule, exclamation points should be used—sparingly—in dialog, or when you are expressing a strong, personal opinion. Examples: Mary said, “How could you do such a thing!” or, in a letter to the editor, Our government is wrong!

To Hyphenate or Not to Hyphenate • Sometimes it’s difficult to know whether or not to hyphenate a compound noun. Which is

correct: tooth paste, tooth-paste, or toothpaste? Follow up, follow-up? End-run or end run? It’s best to consult a dictionary. In many cases, you may find that both versions of a word are acceptable. (Once you find out or make a decision, write it in your style sheet.)

• Compound adjectives are hyphenated if they appear before the noun and communicate one idea. To test whether compound adjectives should be hyphenated, try placing and between the two words. If the result makes sense, then you have two adjectives, not a compound adjective.

“The bluish-white clouds…” Bluish tells us about the white and should be hyphenated. You wouldn’t say, “the clouds were bluish and white,” (well, you could, but that is not what this author intends). You would say, “The clouds were bluish white.” (Note that when placed after the noun, the words are not hyphenated.)

“The puffy, white clouds…” Puffy and white both modify clouds. This is not a compound adjective, but two adjectives modifying the word clouds. You can say, “The clouds were puffy and white,” or “the puffy and white clouds.” In this case, a comma should be placed between the two adjectives.

• Do not use a hyphen after a word that ends with ly. Examples: the fully loaded car; the carefully planned event.

• Do not use a hyphen in a compound adjective that contains a comparative or superlative adjective. Examples: the best laid plans; the highest graded event.

Commas in Series The current trend is to not place a comma before the last item in a series: Rachel bought apples, bananas and cherries. However, I prefer using the comma: Rachel bought apples, bananas, and cherries. I believe the final comma improves clarity, especially when the series includes compound subjects or subjects with compound adjectives: Rachel bought cookies n’ cream ice cream, three kinds of sauce, and whipped cream and chocolate-sprinkle toppings. Without the comma between sauce and the categories (whipped cream and chocolate) of the final subject (toppings), the sentence would be cumbersome to understand.


Semicolon Use There are only two correct ways to use the semicolon.

4. To connect two complete thoughts or independent clauses not linked by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or). The semicolon has the same strength as a period, but links the two ideas more closely.

Examples: • The semicolon is an important punctuation element; however, it’s important to

understand its correct use. (Two independent clauses connected by a transitional word.)

• My son is in a rebellious phase; of course, that is normal at his age. (Two independent clauses connected by a transitional phrase.)

• Some writers outline their book before writing it; others prefer to let the book “write itself.” (Two related independent clauses, without a coordinating conjunction.)

5. To separate coordinate elements, which are long or already include commas.

Example: • This chapter contains several sections of interest, including the advantages,

disadvantages, and uses for spelling and grammar checking; punctuation rules, which are important to achieving consistency of writing style; and noun-verb agreement.

Do not use semicolons to connect parts of unequal weight or for lists (this is a common error). For example, do not write, Rachel picked up several things at the store; apples, oranges, lemons, and bananas. Instead, use a colon. Rachel picked up several things at the store: apples, oranges, lemons, and bananas.

Exercise 5 6. Scan each topic and note items that you did not already have integrated into the core of

your being (I am serious). Add these items to your style sheet. 7. As you scan each topic, think about whether that topic might apply to your piece. For

example, do you use numbers? Do you wonder about your use of hyphens? What about the way you use quotation marks? If something seems to apply, check to make sure that your piece is consistent in style and punctuation.

8. After you finish making changes, share your revised piece with the group.



3. What do you think of the changes the author made to her work? 4. What do you like?

5. What works best about the changes? 6. Is the piece clearer? Stronger? Does it feel more natural? Does it seem more consistent?


Unit Three

Tricking the Typo Demon & Formatting for Publication

This unit is divided into two parts: skills to outsmart the Demon of All Print Errors (I tell you more about this unsavory being in the introduction to the first part of the unit) and how to professionally format your manuscript or article for submission to a publisher.

Tricking the Demon of All Print Errors

Legend has it that the source of errors, typos, and omissions in the printed word is an evil spirit. Sometimes called a demon, sometimes a sprite, and sometimes a fairy, humans have tried for centuries to eradicate this mischievous being and his evil work. In the age of scribes—those poor souls who had to painstakingly hand copy every letter of every book—this demon had a name: Titivillus. (Interestingly, Titivillus also has a reputation as the Demon of Gossip.) Since the invention of the printing press, there has been some variation of this irksome error-loving creature reported in every European country.

With the purpose of mollifying or tricking the demon, some typesetters customarily introduced intentional errors into their copy. They thought that perhaps, if they did his work for him, they could get the malevolent scoundrel to back off. Who’s to know if it actually worked?

In these days of word processors, spelling and grammar checkers, fact checkers, dictionaries, search engines, and multiple layers of editors, Titivillus is still vigilant to do his dirty work. Some believe that he lives in our keyboards. And, while I don’t make the mistake of believing we can eradicate him or his ancient cousins entirely, I do advocate that we must be ever mindful, ever watchful, ever on the offensive.

In this unit, I show you ways to foil—or at least, frustrate—the little guy.

Cut and paste or spelling errors Watch out for errors caused by the editing process. The ability to cut and paste sections of text is a wonderful boon to writers (If you’re over 40, you probably remember the days of white-out, or worse, having to retype entire pages). However, it has its downsides. Minimally, you may have a few stray commas, extra periods, or doubled prepositions. At its worst, you’ll lose or duplicate entire phrases, sentences, or sections of text.


After what you consider to be your “final” edit, and before you submit anything to anyone, do two things: 1) run the spelling and grammar checker again, and 2) Print out and read your entire piece aloud, from beginning to end.

Additional spelling errors Remember that even though you ran the spelling checker, you must also watch out for spelling errors due to homonyms (two words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings), such as their and there, hear and here, wear and where.

Other spelling errors that Word won’t catch may occur when a letter is added to or dropped at the beginning or end of a word: of/off, to/too/, an/and, I/it/in, she/he, etc., and common errors, such as your instead of you’re in place of you are. (Just this morning, I found this very error in a book that I am sure was edited multiple times by reputable editors). When you read your piece aloud, be on the lookout for these problems.

It is helpful to perform searches for its, it’s, your, you’re, their, there, and they’re and make sure that each word is used properly.

Quotation marks (curly or not) Another problem that is sometimes introduced by cutting and pasting, but which can also be introduced in other ways, is a mix of curly (smart) quotes and straight quotes. To solve this potential problem, select Replace from the Edit menu. In the resulting dialog box, enter one double-quote in the Find What box, and one double-quote in the Replace with box. Click the Replace All button, and Word will automatically replace all quotation marks with the type of mark (straight or curly) that you have set in Word’s preferences. (Word’s default setting is for curly quotes, but if you want to change it to straight quotes, select Autocorrect from the Tools menu, click on the Autoformat As You Type tab, and deselect the Straight Quotes with Smart Quotes check box.)

Caution: If your piece includes quotation marks that are used in unconventional ways—for example, you want a closing curly quote (”) to appear where an opening quotation mark (“) would normally appear, Word will not read your mind and will replace the mark the way it thinks it should appear. After running the Replace All function, you’ll need to proofread your document and correct these instances.

Read the text backwards. Yes, that’s right. backwards. text the Read You’ve probably heard this tip before and thought it was a wonderful idea, but have you ever actually tried it? Reading backwards tricks your mind into releasing assumptions about how things should appear and allows you to see them as they actually appear.

This is where you catch those quotation marks heading in the wrong direction, extra periods, forgotten ellipses, one-sided parentheses, extra spaces, and so on, that you were absolutely certain did not exist.


Punctuation clean up As you read your text aloud and, later, backwards, be on the alert for punctuation problems, such as commas and periods outside quotation marks, missing punctuation in dialog, and improper use of semicolons and colons.

Don’t proofread when you’re tired. You may be tempted to proofread immediately following a long session of writing and editing. Don’t! Take a break. Proofreading is tedious, detail-oriented work that requires you to be fresh, well rested, and ready. If you find your mind wandering or your eyes glazing over, it’s time to stop and rest or work on something less demanding. Make a mark on the page where you stopped, and come back to the proofreading tasks when you are refreshed.

Steps to Flummox the Typo Demon

Remember to save your document as you perform each of the following steps. If you feel unsure about the results, save the document with a new version number (example: MyDocument_ver2.doc). That way, you can always revert to a previous version.

9. Run the spelling and grammar checker and make any needed corrections. 10. If you’ve copied any text into your piece from other documents, such as quotes off the

Internet or sections from another Word document—in other words, if you’ve brought text in from anywhere else and haven’t typed all of it into this document, use the procedure outlined above to replace all quotation marks in your document.

11. Repeat the same procedure to replace all apostrophes and single quotation marks (‘). 12. Print your piece (or a section of it at a time) and read aloud, watching for spelling,

homonym, contraction, and punctuation errors as outlined above. Using a brightly colored pen or pencil, make a note in the margin for each correction that needs to be made.

13. Make the corrections, and print it out again. I know, it seems like a lot of paper, but you’ll more accurately perform the next step if you’re not reading it onscreen.

14. Read the piece backwards. Make additional notes in the margin if you find errors. 15. Correct any errors you found in step 6 and save your document. 16. Repeat step 1, one last time and save your document. You’re done. Phew!


Formatting for Submission & Publication

Formatting according to publishers’ guidelines is critically important—perhaps as important as the writing itself. Many publishers won’t even look at something that is not formatted according to their specifications. A poorly formatted manuscript tells them (or their gatekeepers) several things: the author has not read the guidelines, the author is not professional, and/or the author will be difficult to work with. Obviously, good formatting will not get a piece published that is not also well written, but it is what gets your piece through the door.

Each magazine or publishing house has its own set of formatting guidelines. However, these guidelines tend to be consistent across agencies. In this unit, I focus on formatting commonly used for works of nonfiction and memoir, as well as give you information you need to research and conform to specific publisher guidelines.

Formatting your manuscript can be done at any time, while writing or editing your piece. That said, I prefer to follow the basic manuscript formatting guidelines (below) while writing. Then, if I need to make changes to the formatting based on a specific publisher’s guidelines, those changes can be made easily.

Create Styles in Word For each heading, numbered or bulleted list, and text format within your document, create a Word style to match. Later, if you need to change anything, you can simply change the style format, click Apply, and every part of your document that has that style’s formatting attached to it will change. Also, you will be able to create a table of contents automatically. When used effectively, Word’s styles work like magic.

To create a style in Word:

17. Pull down the Format menu and select Style… The “Style” dialog box will appear. 18. Click New (or, if modifying an existing style, click the Modify… button).


19. In the resulting “New Style” dialog box, format the text the way you want it. For example: a. Give your new style a name, such as “Body Text.” b. Pull down the Format menu and select Font. Then select 12 pt Times New Roman

and click OK. c. Pull down the Format menu and select Paragraph. Apply double spacing with a .5”

first line indent and click OK. d. You can also apply tabs, borders, automatic numbering, bullets, etc. When you are

done applying formatting specifications to your style, click OK.

20. In the “Style” dialog box, click Apply. That’s all there is to it. In the future, when you

want to make a minor change to a style, say you decide to change the first line indent to .25 inch, simply modify the “Body Text” style you created, click Apply, and it will apply your changes to every place in your document where the “Body Text” style has been used. Pretty cool, huh?


Basic Manuscript Formatting Create a style called “Basic Manuscript,” which has the following characteristics:

• Double-spaced lines of text.

• A 12-point serif typeface (Times New Roman is most commonly used).

• A first line indent of .5 inch. Do not add any extra space (paragraph return) before or after the paragraph.

Create a style called “Title,” which has the following characteristics:

• Single spaced lines.

• The same 12-point typeface you used for “Basic Manuscript.”

• All Capitals.

Format the document:

• Use 1” margins all around.

• Except for the first page, number all pages in the upper right corner of the header.

• Include your name and title of piece in the upper left side of the header on every page.

• Place the article or chapter title approximately 1/3 down the page.

• Use all caps OR boldface for the title (not both) and, if the article or chapter has a subtitle, place the underlined or italicized subtitle one line beneath the title.

• Use one space between sentences. (If you were taught to type on a typewriter, you probably learned to enter two spaces between sentences. Use Word’s Find and Replace feature to replace all double spaces with one.)

• Don’t use spaces for paragraph indentations—specify a first line indent of .5 inch in the Format Paragraph dialog box.

Article Formatting • Include rights offered and word count in the header on the upper right corner of the first

page.

• Put your name and contact information in the upper left header on the first page.

• Begin the article four lines beneath the title and author byline. (Remember to place the title 1/3 of the way down the page.)

• Number pages (from the second page on) in the top right corner of the header.

• Don’t include a copyright notice (it’s automatically copyrighted when you write it. If you prefer additional protection, register your manuscript.)


Sample Formatting for First Page of Article


Sample Formatting for Subsequent Pages of Article


Book Manuscripts • Use a cover page. The cover page should also have 1” margins. In the top right corner,

include the approximate word count for the book. Center the book’s title, in all capitals, in the middle of the page. If you have a subtitle, place that one line beneath the title, in regular 12-point type. The author’s byline goes two lines below the title or subtitle. Your name and contact information goes in the lower right hand corner of the cover page.

• Begin numbering with the first page of the text of the book (the introduction or chapter one). The page number goes in the upper right corner.

• Start each chapter on a new page. Put the chapter number and title on the same line, in all caps, separated by two hyphens or em dash. Example: CHAPTER ONE -- HOW IT BEGAN.

• Use a header with your last name and the title of the book on all pages, except the cover page.

• As with articles, don’t include a copyright notice.

Front Matter Front matter includes your table of contents, dedication, forward, preface, prologue, and acknowledgments. In general, don’t number front matter pages. Do include your last name and book title in the upper left header, and center the headings for each element, 1/3 down the page as for chapter titles.

• Give your table of content extra wide, 1.5-inch margins, and double space the text.

• Epigraphs, inscriptions, and dedications don’t need headings (i.e. “Inscription”).

• If you’re including a foreword, the formatting is the same as for the book manuscript, except the page is not numbered and the author’s name and title are placed flush right at the bottom of the text. Also, center the underlined heading (Foreword) 1/3 down the page. Begin the text of the foreword four lines below the heading (one extra paragraph return when double spaced).

• The acknowledgement and preface pages are formatted the same as the foreword.


Sample Formatting for Chapter Page


Publishers’ Guidelines and How to Get Them Research the specific magazines or publications you plan to submit to and tailor your formatting to meet their requirements. These days, magazine publishers post their guidelines on their websites. If you don’t know a publisher’s website, you may be able to find it by checking among the following resources.

• Writer’s Market

• Bookstores

• Libraries

If the publisher’s guidelines are not posted on its website, request writer’s guidelines via email or letter.

Most book publishers do not accept unrequested manuscript submissions. Assuming that you’ve written a query letter, and the publisher is interested in seeing your manuscript, the guidelines given in this unit should be acceptable. However, it doesn’t hurt to ask the publisher if the organization has any specific formatting guidelines you should follow.

Submitting manuscripts electronically If you’re planning to submit your manuscript electronically (form/email/CD), ask the publisher how she or he wants to receive it. In most cases, you will be sending your manuscript as a Word attachment to an email or uploading it to a website. The publisher may have a specific file naming convention. If not, use your last name, and manuscript title (abbreviated, if the title is long) for the file name. Example: Starfire_MyTitle. Use underscores or dashes instead of spaces in filenames.


21. Did the writer adhere to the basic manuscript formatting as outlined in this unit? 22. Help the writer by proofreading her work. How did she do? Did she miss anything? 23. Congratulate the author on the culmination of her hard work!


Resources

Books about Editing

Edit Yourself: A manual for everyone who works with words by Bruce Ross-Larson

Line by Line by Claire Kehrwald Cook

The Everything Grammar and Style Book, 2nd ed. By Susan Thurman

The Frugal Editor, by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Reference Books

AP Stylebook by Associated Press

Chicago Manual of Style by the University of Chicago Press Staff

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The zero tolerance approach to punctuation, Lynne Truss, Gotham Books, 2003

Far From the Madding Gerund, by geoffrey K. Pullum et al

Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript by Chuck Sambuchino and the editors of Writer’s Digest books

The Elements of Style, fourth edition by William Strunk and E.B. White

The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage by Fowler and Burchfield


Self-Assessment

As a final exercise, review the topics in this study guide, along with your notes and writing responses, and respond to the following questions and statements.

List the two most impactful things you‘ve learned about editing and formatting your writing: 1) _________________________________________________________________________________

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2) _________________________________________________________________________________

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What happened when you cut the overall word count while simultaneously substituting precise verbs and nouns for imprecise ones? Did you feel your writing was stronger? What was this process like for you?

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How did your story change as you completed the editing process? What was the most valuable proofreading skill that you learned?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Amber Lea Starfire earned a B.S. in Organizational Behavior at the University of San Francisco and an M.S. in Education at Stanford University. A freelance writer, editor, and photographer, she is also Publisher and Editor of “The Writer’s Eye Magazine,” an online magazine devoted to the integration of the visual and written arts.

Amber has taught classes for nearly twenty years, following the subjects of her interest, including desktop publishing, graphic design, computer applications, ballroom dancing, and most recently, writing, and journaling.

She is the author of Finding Your Voice, XPress It: A Step-by-Step Guide to QuarkXpress, as well as numerous nonfiction articles and stories. You can find out more about Ms. Starfire’s accomplishments, writing, and current course offerings by visiting her web sites:

http://www.writingthroughlife.com http://www.thewriterseye.com

Connect with her on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/amber.starfire

Follow her on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/writingthrulife

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