Common Writing Mistakes

Written by Michael LaRocca


Continued from page 1

* Should of, would of, could of. This one can make me throw things. It's wrong! What you mean is should have, would have, could have. Or maybe you meanrepparttar contractions. Should've, would've, could've. And maybe 've sounds a bit like of. But it's not! Of is not a verb. Not now, not ever.

* More, shorter sentences are better. Always. Don't ask a single sentence to do too much work or advancerepparttar 129055 action too much, because then you've got lots of words scattered about like "that" and "however" and "because" and "or" and "as" and "and" and "while," much like this rather pathetic excuse for a sentence right here.

* On a similar (exaggerated) note: "He laughed a wicked laugh as he kicked Ralphie inrepparttar 129056 face while he aimedrepparttar 129057 gun at Lerod and pulledrepparttar 129058 trigger and then laughed maniacally as Lerod twisted in agony because ofrepparttar 129059 bullet that burned through his face and splattered his brains againstrepparttar 129060 wall and maderepparttar 129061 wall look like an overcooked lasagne or an abstract painting." Now tell me this sentence isn't trying to do too much.

* Too means also, two is a number, to is a preposition.

* He said/she said. Use those only when necessary to establish who's speaking. They distractrepparttar 129062 reader, pulling him out ofrepparttar 129063 story and saying, "Hey look, you're reading a book." Ideally, withinrepparttar 129064 context ofrepparttar 129065 dialogue, we know who's talking just byrepparttar 129066 style orrepparttar 129067 ideas. When a new speaker arrives onrepparttar 129068 scene, identify him or her immediately. Beyond that, keep it to a minimum. Oh yeah, and give every speaker his/her own paragraph.

* Billy-Bob smiled his most winning smile and said, "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" I don't like this. Use two shorter sentences inrepparttar 129069 same paragraph. Billy-Bob smiled his most winning smile. "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" Same effect, fewer words, no dialogue tag (he said).

* Inrepparttar 129070 previous example, I don't like "smiled his most winning smile," because it's redundant and also cliched. Please, if you find yourself writing something like that, try to find a better way to express it before you just give up and leave it like it is. Duringrepparttar 129071 self-edit, I mean, not duringrepparttar 129072 initial writing.

* "The glow-in-the-dark poster of Jesus glowed inrepparttar 129073 dark." This editor won't let that one go. Much too redundant, and it appeared in a published novel.

* Lie is what you do when you lie down onrepparttar 129074 bed, lay is what you do to another object that you lay onrepparttar 129075 table. Just to confuse matters,repparttar 129076 past tense of lie is lay. Whenever I hit a lay/lie word in reading, I stop and think. Do that when you self-edit. (Note: Don't fix this one in dialogue unless your character is quite well-educated, because most people say it wrong. I do.)

* Beware ofrepparttar 129077 dangling modifier. "Rushing intorepparttar 129078 room,repparttar 129079 exploding bombs dropped seven ofrepparttar 129080 soldiers." Wait a minute! The bombs didn't rush intorepparttar 129081 room. The soldiers did. To get all technical about it,repparttar 129082 first part isrepparttar 129083 "dependent clause," and it must haverepparttar 129084 same subject asrepparttar 129085 "independent clause" which follows. Otherwise it's amateur, distracting, and a real pain for your poor overworked editor.

* If you are able (many readers are not), keep an eye out for missing periods, weird commas, closing quotes, opening quotes, etc. When I read a book, be it an ebook or a printed book, I can't help but spot every single one that's missing. They slap me upsiderepparttar 129086 head, which makes me a great editor but a lousy reader. If you're like me, use that to your advantage. If not, that's what editors are for!

Michael LaRocca's website at http://freereads.topcities.com was chosen by WRITER'S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. He published two novels in 2002 and has two more scheduled for publication in 2004. He also works as an editor for an e-publisher. He teaches English at a university in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishesrepparttar 129087 free weekly newsletter Mad About Books.

Michael LaRocca’s website at http://freereads.topcities.com was chosen by WRITER’S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. He published two novels in 2002 and has two more scheduled for publication in 2004. He also works as an editor for an e-publisher. He teaches English at a university in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishes the free weekly newsletter Mad About Books.


Apostrophe Usage Explained

Written by Michael LaRocca


Continued from page 1

I once met an editor who said thatrepparttar spelling has something to do withrepparttar 129053 pronunciation. She's an idiot. Spelling isn't 100% pronunciation. It's history. I'll say LaRoccas-zz whether it's LaRoccas' or LaRoccas's. So will you.

Jump up five paragraphs and readrepparttar 129054 seventh word. Noun. Note that I didn't write pronoun. Just for fun,repparttar 129055 rule for pronouns and apostrophes is completely different, as I noted in my Common Writing Mistakes article. I still get email praising that one, so let me repeat a little bit of it.

It's is a contraction for "it is" and its is possessive. Who's is a contraction for "who is" and whose is possessive. You're is a contraction for "you are" and your is possessive. They're is a contraction for "they are," there is a place, their is possessive. There's is a contraction for "there is" and theirs is possessive.

If you've been paying attention torepparttar 129056 above examples, you've noticed that possessive pronouns never use apostrophes. Its, whose, your, yours, their, theirs...

And there you have it. Apostrophe usage explained.

Michael LaRocca's website at http://freereads.topcities.com was chosen by WRITER'S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. He published four novels in 2002 and has two more scheduled for publication in 2004. He also works as an editor for an e-publisher. He teaches English at a university in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishesrepparttar 129057 free weekly newsletter Mad About Books.



Michael LaRocca’s website at http://freereads.topcities.com was chosen by WRITER’S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. He published two novels in 2002 and has two more scheduled for publication in 2004. He also works as an editor for an e-publisher. He teaches English at a university in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishes the free weekly newsletter Mad About Books.


    <Back to Page 1
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use