Great fairies of fiction II, the Punctuation Pixies, Part A

A long time ago I wrote the first in what was going to be a regular series of posts looking at all the magical little bits that come together to make a good piece of writing. I had intended the delay before the next installment to be less than 10 months, but you've all met me and my inability to remember to finish things.

SO, punctuation marks: the footsoldiers of communication. I've called them pixies because they are a tricksy little bunch. They look all friendly and sweet, but if not treated with respect, they can reveal their gnashy little teeth and go you.

That said, the rules of punctuation are not difficult. There is some room for flexibility and personal style, and some degree of interpretation on the basis of nationality and formality of communication. I'm going to give a basic introduction and rule set below, but with a slant towards fiction. And while 20 years ago I would have given a long description of the differences between English and American standards, the internet has seen those differences start to crumble. In addition, some styles that are rigidly adhered to in books are not used at all in newspapers or magazines. I'll mention a few, but for the most part I am using the styles most commonly used in publishing.

There are two levels of 'rules' for punctuation. The first level consists of actual rules, the second level is a matter of style. While most of the below are rules that should be followed, I have mentioned some style points beyond just the national styles, each is marked as such.

Learn the rules and use punctuation clearly and your beta will be happier, your writing smoother, and the mods at certain archives will have nothing to whine about.

Now I am writing from my position as a professional writer and editor of over 20 years' experience, but the one thing that experience has taught me as a certainty is that whenever one makes declarations on this topic, there will be others who disagree passionately. If you have a serious disagreement with any of the following that you would like to discuss at more length that the comments allow, feel free to get in touch via blamebrampton at gmail dot com and yes, there are almost certainly typos in this entry, my typing is rubbish. Feel free to mention them and I'll edit.

( The full stop, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation mark, question mark and ellipsis )

Part B will be written shortly (er, probably) and will look at the apostrophe, the quotation mark, the dash, the hyphen, the parenthesis, the square bracket and anything else that I can remember I've forgotten between now and then.

Great fairies of fiction II, the Punctuation Pixies, Part A

A long time ago I wrote the first in what was going to be a regular series of posts looking at all the magical little bits that come together to make a good piece of writing. I had intended the delay before the next installment to be less than 10 months, but you've all met me and my inability to remember to finish things.

SO, punctuation marks: the footsoldiers of communication. I've called them pixies because they are a tricksy little bunch. They look all friendly and sweet, but if not treated with respect, they can reveal their gnashy little teeth and go you.

That said, the rules of punctuation are not difficult. There is some room for flexibility and personal style, and some degree of interpretation on the basis of nationality and formality of communication. I'm going to give a basic introduction and rule set below, but with a slant towards fiction. And while 20 years ago I would have given a long description of the differences between English and American standards, the internet has seen those differences start to crumble. In addition, some styles that are rigidly adhered to in books are not used at all in newspapers or magazines. I'll mention a few, but for the most part I am using the styles most commonly used in publishing.

There are two levels of 'rules' for punctuation. The first level consists of actual rules, the second level is a matter of style. While most of the below are rules that should be followed, I have mentioned some style points beyond just the national styles, each is marked as such.

Learn the rules and use punctuation clearly and your beta will be happier, your writing smoother, and the mods at certain archives will have nothing to whine about.

Now I am writing from my position as a professional writer and editor of over 20 years' experience, but the one thing that experience has taught me as a certainty is that whenever one makes declarations on this topic, there will be others who disagree passionately. If you have a serious disagreement with any of the following that you would like to discuss at more length that the comments allow, feel free to get in touch via blamebrampton at gmail dot com and yes, there are almost certainly typos in this entry, my typing is rubbish. Feel free to mention them and I'll edit.

( The full stop, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation mark, question mark and ellipsis )

Part B will be written shortly (er, probably) and will look at the apostrophe, the quotation mark, the dash, the hyphen, the parenthesis, the square bracket and anything else that I can remember I've forgotten between now and then.