Periods for Clarity

This is another copyediting/grammar issue that has come up of late. Periods.

If you are familiar with the 16CMS, you know that this US reference manual puts an emphasis on adding clarity, whether through commas (particularly via the "clarity comma" portion of the 16CMS 6.18 rule, which I've discussed recently in prior posts) or periods (see 16CMS 10.20).

Here's one example alone that should convince you of the importance of periods: "LA" versus "L.A."

Of course "LA" stands for the US postal code for the state of Louisiana.

And also equally apparent is how "L.A." stands for the city of Los Angeles in California.

However, like any misused homonyms, it doesn't hurt to make sure you have noted the proper term.

Need more? Well, how about "DJ" standing for "disc jockey" (see Web11) versus "D.J." as a person's given name, whether Danielle Josephine [Smith] or Daniel Joseph [Smith] (per 16CMS 10.12).

Another example is "AC" which initials stand in for "air-conditioning" (see Web11). Yet again it could be someone's initials, when used with periods, like how the given name Asher Clay [Smith] becomes "A.C."

Surely usage helps clarify these elements as well as the presence or absence of periods. But you'd be surprised how many people (readers and authors alike) scan sentences instead of paying adequate attention. So, to make doubly sure that your reader gets your intended message with his/her first read-through of your line of text, I'd suggest checking (1) your context as well as (2) your clarity.

Signing off for now and sending up prayers today for the people of Florida plus possibly another seven states in the projected path of Tropical Storm Hermine (which may be upgraded to hurricane status at landfall). Take care, everyone.

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

Cover Reveal for Upcoming Book on Common Manuscript Errors I See When Copyediting

Look for my next book to be available soon on Amazon, this being my second book on grammar issues to watch for when cleaning up your first, second, third draft. Here's my cover:

This book is a compilation of the same grammar issues I address over and over in 99 percent of the books I copyedit, whether written by a newbie or a seasoned professional, whether a "clean" manuscript (in really good shape from this copy editor's perspective) or where a massive rework is needed.

So these are universal errors.

Coming soon! Really soon ...

#copyeditor+

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

Denise Barker, Freelance Copy Editor, Calling All Self-Published Indie Authors

UPDATED JUNE 2018.

I'm a copy editor, which means I'm the spelling and grammar police, using Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (Web11) and The Chicago Manual of Style, Seventeenth Edition (17CMS) as my guidelines for US publications for fiction and nonfiction.

But I am so much more. I've expanded my list of writing criteria to become the Nine Cs of Effective Writing, listed below:

1. Continuity
2. Clarity
3. Conciseness
4. Communication
5. Consistency
6. Coherence
7. Correctness
8. Chronology
9. Credibility

I'll address each in my next post, as I'm looking at those nine elements in every manuscript I copyedit. But here, let me get into the details of why I am so good at what I do.

First, I am an Indie author too, so I know this biz basically from soups to nuts.

Second, I worked for patent and trademark attorneys in my first career, which knowledge is as helpful here in my second career as are my skills.

Third, I believe in teaching authors to become better authors. So my work serves as my platform to educate, to share. This makes for a more professional presentation of each book, even at the copy edit level and most assuredly after I've worked my magic and the book becomes ready to upload.

Remember, even when submitting in the trad-pub world, manuscripts are returned in the blink of an eye based on any one of these snafus: poor knowledge of punctuation and grammar, messy presentation, incoherent writing, etc. Don't think that Indie authors aren't held to the same high writing standards that trad-pubbed authors are. In a way we are held to higher standards, thinking we have to prove ourselves. It follows that a pristine draft with a coherent communication style was most likely done by an articulate author. Make sure you are making the proper presentation to represent you too.

Fourth, as authors, we all have our blind spots. When I copyedit a manuscript, most authors are surprised to find that their 50K WC baby needed 5K edits. And that's in what I consider a "clean" and well-written document. My authors tell me that they didn't know they were even doing "that" in their writing.

Fifth, I'm like the cleanup batter on a baseball diamond. I catch the errors (including plot holes) missed earlier, by the author himself/herself, by the beta readers, by the developmental editor.

Sixth, I look at every jot and tittle that makes up your MS (that means, all spaces, periods or semicolons or colons or commas or other punctuation marks), as well as watching on the individual word level, and graduating up to full sentences, paragraphs, scenes, chapters, and the overall book itself. It's daunting. I'm not daydreaming while I do this. I don't have any background noise to disrupt me from my process, not even music playing.

Seventh, I have a real heart to make each Indie-pubbed book the best it can be. After all, each of you Indie authors represents me on my Indie trek as well.

Eighth, I have worked in both traditional publishing and Indie publishing, freelancing 5.5 years for Harlequin, then spending 2.5 years freelancing for an Indie-author clearinghouse. Ever since I've been independently working directly with authors. So I've seen the inside of both arenas. And the same thing rings true in both worlds: be a great writer to become a great author and write from your heart.

But remember to have fun while you are doing that too.

Two important things to share here: (1) I do two complete read-throughs for each manuscript to catch as many errors as humanly possible. (2) I reserve the right to refuse any project (and will return any money prepaid) if the dialogue punctuation is so massively wrong that it would entail a third read-through by me to fix it. I worked a project like this once, and just to fix the mangled dialogue punctuation alone took fifteen hours. I'm not doing that again. Not even if paid $1 million. Whether in cash or gold or bearer bonds. Ha!

My new, improved June 2018 copyediting rate is $0.012/word. So a 50K WC manuscript (MS) would run $600, prepaid via PayPal before any work commences on my part. I work within Microsoft Word, using Track Changes. I'm not able to work on Mac docs. I'll share my special business PayPal address once we agree upon terms and your project is accepted. I can do a free 250 WC sample edit for you, if you like, as my schedule allows.

At that time I can give you my estimated deadline for the return of my Track Changes document. I build in a few days' leeway for unexpected interruptions (like the Internet being out, getting sick, etc.). But I always prefer to turn in my work early, with only about four documents in the last eight years being turned in on the actual due date. And I do two complete read-throughs. That's just how I roll.

Also, if you wish for me to work on one book from an already on-going series (where I did not work on all previous books published in said series), please provide me with a series bible for same.

I am efficient and reliable. I've never missed an MS deadline since I've been a copy editor beginning in 2007/2008. Whether you use me or another copy editor, I wish you all the best.

NOTE: I reserve the right to reject any submission, due to the nature of the topic being written about, my work schedule, etc.

NOTE: I also reserve the right to charge more (yes, more than $0.012/word) for a particular project where I'd be wearing at least three hats to work that document, where I'd serve as the developmental editor, a copy editor, and as an English schoolteacher, implementing basic writing rules. Or I may not accept such MS at all.

#copyeditor+

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

Dialogue Punctuation Examples

It boggles my mind the way I see dialogue punctuated in some of my copy editing projects. Since I've never seen dialogue "done wrong" in any of the thousands of published books (trad or Indie) I've ever read (not that I've read every book in existence), still any novel within your home library would be a good place for a confused author to check. Note that this is not about US versus UK punctuation rules (where I understand that UK dialogue has the period outside the single-quote mark as versus our US version has the period within the double-quote mark).

No, I'm talking about where every line of dialogue has more than one thing wrong with it. Like spaces after the opening quote mark and/or before the ending quote mark. Like the tag at the end of the dialogue being an initial capped pronoun: "He said." Other weird stuff, like not ending a sentence with a period or not starting a sentence with an initial-capped word, plus all the incorrect variations on how to handle the dialogue tag when placed in front of the line of dialogue or after or in the middle.

So this post is to set the record straight on how to use a dialogue tag, and then next I'll show how to handle an action tag.

First, let's define those two terms. "Dialogue tag" is "he said," "she said," "he asked," "she asked." You really shouldn't be using anything else (the "he replied" or the "she gushed" usages, especially the "she gushed excitedly" types, are marks of a newbie author. You want to avoid giving that impression). Dialogue tags usually involve commas, as they are part of the same sentence, just sharing that sentence with words in quote marks.

Second, an "action tag" is a stand-alone sentence (meaning, it ends in a period usually) that, like dialogue tags, can come before a line of dialogue or after it or in the middle. As the name explains, you have a character doing something: standing, sneezing, tapping his fingers on the table, throwing the lamp into the wall, etc.

So here goes with the generic examples, all per 16CMS rules:

DIALOGUE TAG FIRST (before the spoken words in quotes):

1. Dan said, "I'm hungry. Let's get Mexican."
2. He said, "I'm hungry. Let's get Mexican."

DIALOGUE TAG LAST (after the spoken words in quotes):

3. "I'm hungry. Let's get Mexican," Dan said.
4. "I'm hungry. Let's get Mexican," he said.

DIALOGUE TAG IN THE MIDDLE OF TWO COMPLETE SENTENCES OF DIALOGUE:

5. "I'm hungry," Dan said. "Let's get Mexican."
6. "I'm hungry," he said. "Let's get Mexican."

DIALOGUE TAG BREAKING UP ONE COMPLETE SENTENCE OF DIALOGUE:

7. "I'm hungry," Dan said, "but my car's in the shop. Can we take yours?"
8. "I'm hungry," he said, "but my car's in the shop. Can we take yours?"

ACTION TAG FIRST:

9. Dan stood up. "I'm hungry. Let's get Mexican."
10. He stood up. "I'm hungry. Let's get Mexican."

ACTION TAG LAST:

11. "I'm hungry. Let's get Mexican." Dan stood up and pulled his keys from his pocket.
12. "I'm hungry. Let's get Mexican." He stood up and pulled his keys from his pocket.

ACTION TAG IN THE MIDDLE OF TWO DIALOGUE SENTENCES:

13. "I'm hungry." Dan stood up. "Let's get Mexican."
14. "I'm hungry." He stood up. "Let's get Mexican."

ACTION TAG BREAKING UP ONE COMPLETE SENTENCE (this one is the odd duck of the bunch; NOTE: there are no spaces around the M-dashes used here; NOTE ALSO that the usual punctuation within the first closing quote mark is omitted):

15. "I'm hungry"—Dan stood up—"but my car's in the shop. Can we take yours?"
16. "I'm hungry"—he stood up—"but my car's in the shop. Can we take yours?"

WHEN USING A QUESTION MARK:

DIALOGUE TAG FIRST (before the spoken words in quotes):

17. Dan asked, "Want to get some Mexican food?"
18. He asked, "Want to get some Mexican food?"

DIALOGUE TAG LAST (after the spoken words in quotes):

19. "Want to get some Mexican food?" Dan asked.
20. "Want to get some Mexican food?" he asked.

DIALOGUE TAG IN THE MIDDLE OF TWO COMPLETE SENTENCES OF DIALOGUE:

21. "Are you hungry?" Dan asked. "Let's get Mexican."
22. "Are you hungry?" he asked. "Let's get Mexican."

DIALOGUE TAG BREAKING UP ONE COMPLETE SENTENCE OF DIALOGUE:

23. "I'm hungry," Dan said, "but my car's in the shop. Can we take yours?"
24. "I'm hungry," he said, "but my car's in the shop. Can we take yours?"

25. "But," Dan said, "what about the house?"

26. "But," he said, "what about the house?"

I'm on a mission to stop this recent wave of butchering dialogue presentations. If you have a sentence that doesn't fall in one of the categories above, please submit it. I'll add it to our examples here. Many thanks!

#copyeditor+

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

Prefix and Suffix Hyphenation Tip

As a professional copy editor of more than seven years now, I see lots of manuscripts. As a longtime lover of reading, I read a lot of books. And hyphenation problems abound in both (yes, traditionally published as well as Indie pubbed).

For instance, I'm reading a 2003 nonfiction paperback right now, a how-to guide directed at authors, by a well-known traditional publisher (which I will not name here) and already have multiple marginalia concerning misspellings (dealing with unneeded hyphens), and I'm only on page 34 of 241 total pages. Sad but true. And this publisher should be using the same American book guidelines as I do (16CMS and Web11, defined below). I usually contact the publisher with these finds for correction in the next reprint, as I will for this one.

Anyway ...

So here's your quick overall tip regarding hyphenation when affixing prefixes and suffixes to a word:

DON'T.

DO NOT.

DO NOT. DO NOT. DO NOT.

Yes. You read that right. And you will be correct more times than not if you DO NOT hyphenate when adding prefixes and suffixes to other words. There are exceptions of course, but for general purposes DO NOT hyphenate when adding prefixes/suffixes.

Want examples?

Here are some: prenuptial agreement, postpartum depression, preschool, antebellum, midday, nonfiction (this one is a particular pet peeve of mine, especially when misspelled as "non-fiction" by authors, authors of nonfiction!), etc.

I don't know if a quick glance at the dictionary is causing this problem or not. After all, there is a "post-" prefix entry and a "post" as a noun entry and a "post" entry as a verb, adverb, etc. The hyphen in the initial prefix entry just differentiates the bald, stand-alone prefix from the noun/verb/adverb entries.

NOTE: Just because there is a prefix entry (like "anti-") or a suffix entry (like "-ward") that INITIALLY shows the hyphen to connote its "fixability" (affixing to another word) DOES NOT MEAN THE HYPHEN STAYS WHEN JOINING IT TO A WORD. Read further in the dictionary's entries to see the actual uses of the prefix or suffix. You will most likely not see the hyphen in use there with the examples.

If you want to delve further into this, then look up each compound word in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (Web11) to confirm.

However, beware, because sometimes 16CMS 7.85 (The Chicago Manual of Style, Sixteenth Edition, rule 7.85) will override Web11, meaning 16CMS allows more hyphenless prefix/suffix combinations than Web11 shows, in keeping with 16CMS's "spare hyphenation" rule.

For a further level into this madness called the English language, I could tell you about the exceptions, then about the exceptions to the exceptions. I kid you not.

The basic hyphenation exception is that, if two of the same vowels end up together (like "anti-inflammatory" with its two Is), then you need the hyphen for added clarity. BUT that doesn't always work with two Es. For example, "pre-engineered" is hyphenated per Web11. Yet "preenrollment" is not, also per Web11. Go figure.

Hence my earlier statement regarding "exceptions to the exceptions."

So I suggest everyone wanting the easiest fix to just go with the basic rule discussed above: DON'T HYPHENATE WHEN AFFIXING PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES TO WORDS.

As a copy editor, I thank you. You authors who end up using my copyediting services have made my job so much easier and have made your manuscript so much "cleaner."

As a reader, I thank you. You authors not using me as a copy editor have made my reading pleasure so much more enjoyable as my copy editor side didn't kick in during my reading-for-fun time.

In case you are interested, I'll be doing more of these copyediting tip posts as my work allows. In other words, if I'm busy copyediting projects, you won't see many of these. If I'm not busy earning a living, then you'll see more posts like these.

Here's to happily reading more good books. There will never be a shortage of good books, so, authors, both traditionally and Indie published, keep on writing!

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley

The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

A US Copy Editor's Perspective: Frequently Misspelled Words

As an author, blogger and copy editor, I have a close and continuing interaction with Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (Web11), as my US spelling guide and The Chicago Manual of Style, Sixteenth Edition (16CMS), as my US grammar reference.

Should 16CMS and Web11 ever contradict, 16CMS rules—particularly 16CMS 7.85 which overrides some Web11 spellings. Also Microsoft Word (MSWord) does not strictly follow Web11 (except for maybe its 2013 update, which I understand allows you to select Web11 as your default dictionary). Just because MSWord's spell-check program accepts a word as valid doesn't make it necessarily so.

Note that the first Web11 entry is the preferred spelling.

Our English language is full of exceptions and surprises, even when comparing the UK standard to our usage in the States. Here are just a few of the words I find most often misspelled:

toward [Web11's preferred spelling is without a terminal S]
backward
forward
downward
upward
backyard (n/adj)
seat belt (n)
rib cage (n)
mind-set (n)
hardworking (adj)

knelt [preferred over “kneeled”]

lit [preferred over “lighted”]

by-product (n)

side-by-side (adj)

side by side (adv)

naive [the unaccented version is preferred by Web11]

formfitting (adj)

halfhearted (adj)

heavyset (adj)

facade [the unaccented version is preferred by Web11]

oversize (adj) [note the absence of a terminal D]

heads-up (n)

T-shirt (n/adj) [note the initial cap T]

teenage (adj) [note the absence of a terminal D]

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://denisebarkerauthor.blogspot.com/

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

A US Copy Editor's Perspective: US or United States not U.S.

In the earlier edition, 15CMS, it was deemed standard usage to denote the United States as U.S. However, that has been changed within 16CMS.

So the U.K. is now UK; the U.S. is now US, when using two-letter designations. 16CMS 10.32.

However, in 16CMS 10.33, there is a distinction made. It is okay to use US for adjectival forms, like in my title to this post. Chicago prefers the full name, United States, for the noun usage.

This is just another example of the dynamic nature of our grammar, and our spelling, rules. So even if you learned it once, it's bound to change later. Or have thirty exceptions. So keep on studying...

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

A US Copy Editor's Perspective: Reference and Style Guides

Here in the States, if you are writing fiction and nonfiction alike for readers here, then The Chicago Manual of Style, Sixteenth Edition (16CMS), is the preferred grammar and reference guide, while Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition (Web11), is the preferred US spelling reference.

However, if you are publishing to newspapers, the Associated Press Stylebook (AP) is preferred for that medium—not to be confused with the APA style used for the American Psychological Association. There is also the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, which is self-explanatory, and the Christian Writer's Manual of Style based on these particular subject matters and intended audiences. Just naming these specialized alternatives shows you the pool of reference materials you have to choose from.

So pick one. Use it. Refer to it. Study it. Confirm, and defend, your style choices made.

If your home base is not America, then your country of residence has its own particular guides. Or even if you are within the United States but want one edition of your book specifically targeting your readers in Britain, then accommodate that readership by embracing the rules of that land. Hence for England, I believe the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) seems to be the spelling reference book while the companion New Oxford Style Manual appears to be the UK's grammar guide.

Best wishes all!

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

amazon.com/author/denisebarker

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

Fifty-Three Ways to Strengthen Your Writing

I found a similar article of fifty-two ways to change your life, torn from a 1996 magazine and, although all but one had already been incorporated into my years, I kept that single page on my desk.  Tempting me.  Calling me.

So this post is where it led me. At first, while only at item twentyish, I was wondering if I would make a full list of fifty-two points so that my readers could take one to focus on weekly--even out of order or repeating a beloved one for several weeks.  But, being the novelist that I am and not a flash-fiction author, I made it one beyond, to number fifty-three.  Enjoy!

53 Ways to Strengthen Your Writing

1. Study poetry, Rumi, Mother Goose, Psalms, song lyrics, whatever your predilection. It teaches tight writing.
2. Study Shakespeare.  He understood human failings. Great for plots, drama, conflict. Plus he had humor and fantasy woven in, to remind us about the lighter things in life.
3. Study the Bible. I maintain all the plot variations are found therein. On the flip side, don't feel you have to steal from a soap opera and have every malady and mishap known to man happen to your poor heroine.  Look at Nora Roberts.  She writes about everyday people, living everyday lives, for the most part. Unless you ARE writing a soap opera.  Or a spoof of a soap opera.  Then go right ahead.
4. Study the masters. Get out your old high-school recommended reading list and set out to read at least ten this year. Better yet, read one every week.
5. Study your mentors, your heroes.  Nora Roberts aka J.D. Robb is one of mine. It is so very hard for me to disconnect from her storytelling long enough to study her art of writing behind it. I found two short stories of hers for free on her website and, since they are only four or five pages long, maybe I can be objective enough with them. For now, I'm just assigning emotions to each paragraph. How I feel when I read her words, and specifically which ones evoked which reaction.
6. Study another language. Nothing gets your understanding of root words so well . . . rooted (sorry!) than a look at Latin.
7. Subscribe to receive a word-of-the-day email.  Or just read a new one in the dictionary. It helps us authors with our fresh writing to find that unique word and implement it.  Gets us away from the stale and hackneyed.  The cliché.
8. Study the thesaurus as well.  Granted those wonderful words I find other authors using are never found within synonyms in the dictionary or the thesaurus. 
9. Keep a list of these great words.  Study them.  Are they nouns made into verbs?  Are they a great updated twist on an old phrase? Do you prefer similes and metaphors to other rhetorical devices? Find those literary tricks and locate your particular faves.
10. Study rhetorical devices. I still do not know their names, but I know one when I see one. It adds a certain literary depth to the work.
11. Take writing classes.  Online. At your local community college.  At FunEd.  Or just via reading one of the many good writing books (I've recommended several on this blog in earlier posts). Take good notes. Type them up.  Distill them to the Top 10. Keep them handy on your writing desk.
12. Like Tony Robbins said, he tries to find one good thing from every seminar he attends, and I presume book he reads and people he meets.  Do the same.  Keep track of that one great thing you learned. Add it to your Best of the Best notebook.
13. People-watch.  Wherever. The mall. The coffee shop.  In line at the market. I've overheard some great conversations that are stockpiled to be scenes in future books.  Plus you get exposed to the rhythm of different speakers.
14. Speaking of rhythm, play one of your all-time favorite songs.  Close your eyes.  Without retyping the lyrics, write what you feel.  Define the emotions that song ignites.
15. While your eyes are closed, sit, evaluate.  What do you smell? What do you hear? Underneath those layers, what else is there to smell and hear that you are so accustomed to that you overwrite those images as "old" and "already noted"? Touch the items on your desk. Note the feel of familiar items. Taste your coffee.  Really taste your water. Take notes.
16. Change locations.  Maybe sit outside.  Note the main thing you see, hear, feel, taste, touch. What emotion pulls at you as you focus on these five things?  I'm a true believer of intuition. So be sure to add this sixth sense to your writing where needed, too.
17. Make a list of foods that evoke "home" to you.
18. Make a similar list of smells.  Like cinnamon on the peach cobbler in the oven.  Or the smell of potpourri simmering on the stove. Or maybe just a chicken roasting, or steaks on the grill. It could be the wonderful smells of coffee and bacon being cooked outside on a campfire.
19. From memories or old pictures or magazine pages or Pinterest boards (yours and others), gather a selection of homes that immediately bring a story to your mind--one you feel compelled to share.
20. Repeat the preceding item but focused on people--characters you want to live in your future books. They can be actors or famous people of old or that conglomeration in your mind.  Find pictures that best match your mental image. Name them. Set them up on a Pinterest board.
21. Do nonwriting things you enjoy.  Gotta fill your reservoir with a variety of data to pull from as you write. Plus gives your life balance.
22. Take a day trip.  Get out of your normal environment.  Mix things up.  Especially if you are butt-in-chair hours upon hours for days upon days.
23. Enjoy other art forms.  Go to a museum. If you find a particular painting speaking to you, whispering a secret to be shared, go home, print it out to remind you.  Set it by your computer.
24. Take a painting class. It gives you insight into how an artist would see a place, a person, a thing. Should help you, the author, in expressing same on the white page.
25. Attend to the comfort of your workspace.  If you are at all like me, comfort does not rate high on your daily radar either.  Yet, again, if you are at all like me, and tied for hours to your computer, then we should address that matter.  I particularly like my keyboard tilted via the little prongs at the back and placed squarely in front of my screen.  Do y'all remember that cute scene in Crazy, Stupid, Love. where the son is at work with the mother and she's typing at a ninety-degree position away from her monitor?  Who does that?  Just seems weird to me.  But if it works for you, set up your station that way.  I'm just saying, pay attention.  Fix it.  You're the boss now. Don't do it the way it was always done back there at those corporate 9-to-5 jobs.  Do it better.  Do it personally.
26. Do what you love. Write the genre you read on your days off or at night to unwind.
27. I cannot work in a cluttered environment.  Or let me reword that:  I prefer not to work in a cluttered environment.  (I am tending to all that, just in fifteen-minute increments.) Make your office a haven, a place you feel relaxed and yet encouraged.  Soothed and still suffused.
28. Research. Doesn't need to entail actual travel for those of us still money-challenged. This can be via books alone or simply the internet (just carefully choose the more authorized site to cull your intel from). Select topics that interest you.  Make a list.  Keep one by your computer.  Add a subject matter that smiles at your heart as you are reading through blogs during the day or your emails or from whatever source.
29. Keep lists. Aside from Pinterest boards or dream boards or white boards or spreadsheets or software programs, I like hard-copy lists. A backup for when the internet is down or the electricity is off. Make one for people--list archetypes you prefer to write about. Further characterize them.  These adjectives will help you not only describe them in your next book, but can be used like pepper on white sauce to further enhance your story, to perpetuate your theme of the bad-boy-gone-good hero or the wrong-side-of-the-tracks misunderstood rebel.
30. Still within the People subject, make a list of careers.  I am particularly bored with the lawyer and doctor themes still found in romances even today.  Since I'm a Nora fan, I love her use of unusual careers for her main characters in  her books.  Like in Chasing Fire, there is this one scene that is branded into my memory about "shake and bake." It will never be about hamburger anymore to me.
31. While still on the career angle, add an array of adjectives that describe the job.  The good.  The bad. The minute. You can use those descriptors to not only define the main character's workspace, but him and his life. Like Nora Roberts did with one of her books about a magician.  I detected the "magic" theme coloring a lot of her choices in adjectives.
32. Character sheets.  I'm not into all that history-taking-notes mind-set about where they went to high school and their hobbies.  Unless this IS a story about them attending high school and their after-school hobbies further the plot. I'm more into emotions and themes, so I gravitate toward the mind-mapping exercise, labeling our characters with four/five words as to what archetype they represent, what major emotion they portray within this particular story, etc.  (See previous posting about Mind Mapping--it's just great.)
33. Places.  Again, make a list of spots you'd love to see first-hand. Search the Net. Gather info, tidbits, details. Attach some wonderful scenes to a Pinterest board for handy reference. On your written sheet, maybe add in what words come to mind when you think of each place.  Like Paris may evoke love. Italy, food. France, wines, farmers' markets.  Whatever it is, spell it out.  Use it to add color and depth to your tale.
34. Concrete nouns. Yes, use "Corvette" instead of "car" to seat the correct vision into your reader's mind.  If you use "car" but are thinking "Corvette" and your fan is thinking "sedan," miscommunications will follow.  Like for instance, why the hero cannot give a lift to two buddies.  It is not that he is rude or insensitive or uncaring or selfish.  There is simply no room for three grown men in a hardtop Vette. 
35. Active verbs.  Make yourself a note to watch for is, was, and other forms of To Be verbs. Rework the sentence to delete them whenever possible.
36. Watch for useless words.  Example: he strolled leisurely . . . 
37. Watch for repetitive words.  You know what yours are.  (Two of mine are so, just.)
38. Listen to your CP group.  Find your weak area and particularly watch for it.  Now this does NOT mean incorporating every change they suggest into your writing.  It is still YOUR writing and should reflect that.  Like me, for instance. I write conversationally. Therefore, a lot of my "sentences" are not fully formed but are truly phrases.  I'm not changing that.  Now I will change it when I start too many with "And" or "But." 
39. Know when to break the rules--but not so that you lose your reader. With each story, you are in effect writing a term paper, selling your reader on following--and agreeing--with each progressive step. You make an illogical leap and your readers are no longer "your readers" but "your debaters" having put down your book to go consult an encyclopedia on a point or to rant to their spouse. Not that you cannot propose an alternate viewpoint.  You just better make dang sure that your point is both valid and believable, or you knock your reader so far out of  your story that they don't come back.  Have no desire to. Ever.
40. KISS.  Yes.  Keep it simple, sweetie.  Make your sentences clear.  I'm not talking about writing to an eighth-grade level either.  I don't care what the statistics may show on that front.  Look at the J.K. Rowling fanatics.  In a news spot showing her readers waiting for one of her final releases in the Harry Potter saga, I saw three-year-olds reading her book.  So don't tell me to dumb-down my writing. You can use big words and even rarely used ones in such a way that, in context, you will effectively communicate with your reader.
41. As both an author and a freelance copy editor, I know the difference between infer and imply.  As an author, you should too.  You are called a "wordsmith" for a reason.  Words are your tools.  Use them wisely.
42. Grammar rules help your reader to fully receive the vision in your mind.  Follow them.  I find that most blog errors (yes, posted by authors) fail to properly communicate because the bloggers do not understand the why and how of punctuation marks. Each one serves a much-needed purpose.
43. List of themes (like "love conquers all" and "good wins out over evil" or just standing up for the underdog or being honest, etc.). Decide on yours for each novel and as you create each scene. Again, go with what interests you.  You aren't out to make every person on the planet your reader.  I firmly believe that each author has their own following.  It's just a matter of waiting long enough for the two to connect.
44. List of great first lines. Find them--at the library, at the bookstore, in your own personal collection. Write them down.  Study them.  See if there is a pattern to them that calls out to you.  Then take that pattern and tweak it for your use.  In your books.
45. List of great hooks that ended chapters. Study them. See what would work in your particular chapter.  NO PLAGIARISM WHATSOEVER ALLOWED!
46. List of taglines/loglines that move you.  This is my newest focus in the marketing arena.  It's free.  Surely us creative types can come up with a twenty-five-words-or-less slogan to describe our tome.
47. List of all-time favorite movies.  Find out what they share in common.  That's your writing niche.
48. Study favorite movies and make a list of the 120 beats, or 90 or however long corresponds with the length of the movie.  I find some movies are more cohesive than the books they started with.  Plus I'm a NaNoWriMo winner and I begin my process by basically writing down dialogue and actions--the mainstay of a screenplay.  With later versions, I add in a little description.  (I'm not a description fan.  In J.D. Robb's futuristic police series--where it is necessary that she detail this made-up world for us--she doesn't use a whole paragraph to describe her NYC of 2058.  I don't think she uses a whole sentence without adding in some activity. Atlas Shrugged, which has got to be my number one favorite novel of all time, has that forty-page-or-so monologue toward the end of the book.  With my ten readings or more, I have never read that portion completely. Never will. Now if you want to summarize it for me, giving me the highlights on one page or in one paragraph, I may read that.)
49. Make a list of your favorite people.  Break them down into a series of qualities about them that you love.  Incorporate some into your hero/heroine.
50. Conversely, make a list of the people who repeatedly push your hot buttons.  Jot down the qualities that irritate you endlessly, forever, without fail. Use a little of this for your contagonist.  Use a lot for your villain.
51. Study archetypes. They can help you label your characters so each one has representation.  I read somewhere that we humans are all the eight archetypes combined in our various and unique ways.  Which explains why in some things/areas we'll take the lead, while in others we procrastinate.
52. Study Campbell's twelve-step hero's journey.  I'm not a plotter.  But as my most recent CPs have convinced me, I may be a hybrid.  I have nothing written down, but yet I already have a scene in mind for probably six or seven of the main plot points.  Now, they may change as I begin to write.  But you gotta start somewhere, you know?  
53. START.  I feel I write better today than in my twenties.  It is like anything.  You cook more, you are bound to become a better cook.  So . . . write.  Keep on writing.  Even J.K. Rowling's world-famous series is said to show a progression in her writing skills from book one to book seven.  You do the best you can at that moment.  Tell the story of your heart.  Write for you.  THAT you can control.  You cannot control your readers.  The people who don't like your stuff are not your intended audience.

As always, take what resonates, toss the rest and keep on writing! Love you, guys!

Denise Barker, author + blogger +

Freelance Copy Editor, http://bit.ly/freelanceCE

Good Ole Boys, a love story at http://amzn.to/GoodOleBoys

http://bit.ly/BNGoodOleBoys

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/168444 (Good Ole Boys)

http://amzn.to/CopyeditingChecklist

http://amzn.to/WordsRuleTheWorldQuotes

http://amzn.to/BeforeYouIndiePublish

http://amzn.to/QuitYourCurrentDayJob
http://amzn.to/HowToIndiePublish

http://bit.ly/DownSouthaShortStory

Two More Grammar Lessons

Again, these are basics addressed here, yet I see misused too often in print.  So, today's grammar lessons are on (1) double versus single quotes and (2) hyphenated words versus compound words.

Double versus Single Quotes

Double quotes surround any dialogue.  That's the easiest-to-remember rule.  Example:  "I'm going to the grocery store.  Y'all want anything?" she asked. 

Just remember to use them in pairs.  UNLESS you have a multiple-paragraph monologue spoken by a single speaker, then start each paragraph with an opening quote for paragraph one, paragraph two, on to the ending paragraph.  Which is the only paragraph that ends with a closing quote (see CMS 11.36).

Double quotes can also surround text that is not dialogue.  Example:  She didn't consider herself a "real" author because she had not yet sold anything. 

In the above context, the quotations around the word real were used to show emphasis, just as my italicized font of the same word produces its own emphasis.  Whether you use quotes or italics probably depends on what other quotes and italics are nearby, in my opinion.  Keep 'em varied yet concise and clear is my mantra.

Single quotes are ONLY used within double quotes.  Example:  "Do you know what he said to me?" she yelled.  "He said, 'You are no longer pretty to me anymore.' He told me that to my face.  Can you believe it?" she railed, then fell into the chair exhausted. 

That is the ONLY time you use single quotes.  If I can later think of any exception to this rule, I'll let you know.

Hyphenated Words versus Compound Words

A compound word is just that:  two words, equally usable alone, one word here and another word there, but with a third existence as a compound word.  Examples:  paperwork, homework, silverware, stemware, lovemaking. No hyphens are found within these compound words.  They are not compound words if a hyphen rightfully belongs between.

I find a lot of improperly hyphenated words in my reading.  It may boil down to something as simple as not being able to interpret Webster's correctly.  Anyway, that is my assumption here as it can be misleading when you look up any prefix or suffix.  Examples:  pre-, post-, anti-, mid- for prefixes and -ful and -less for suffixes.

Even though "pre-" has its own entry within Webster's, that DOES NOT MEAN all words that start with this prefix must have the hyphen next.  Wrong.  The hyphenated entry highlights the prefix nature of this combination of letters.  The hyphen denotes the need for this prefix to be joined with other words.  The hyphen at the END of this prefix demands that any conjoining of a word must be at the back end.

Just like a suffix such as "-less" and "-ful" only allow for mating with a word at the front end.  You do NOT retain the hyphen.  Examples:  mindless and roomful.

These prefixes and suffices are NOT WORDS.  Not in their standalone hyphenated forms found in Webster's.  These are simply letter groupings awaiting a word to complete them.

I have Webster's uploaded to my laptop so I can see a listing of all words combined with "pre-" that are deemed hyphenless by Webster's.  If a particular word is not on that list, then, yes, it should be written to include the hyphen.

Within its many incarnations, whether online, digital or hardcopy, Webster's uses a raised dot to separate its syllables.  For a TRUE hyphenated usage, there is a longer hyphen shown.  I presume that is to differentiate it from the shorter hyphenlike dividers used within its pronunciation guide falling directly below or behind the syllable view of the word.  To avoid confusion.  Which we should all keep in mind.

As with most English grammar rules, there are exceptions.  In the preceding paragraph, I used the word hyphenlike.  It is not found in Webster's whether I look up "hyphenlike" or "hyphen-like" or under just "-like."  Therefore I have chosen to conjoin the noun with the suffix.  You will note though that Webster's separates any occurrence of three Ls in a row by inserting a hyphen.  Example:  bell-like (per Webster's).  That's a good rule to follow as three Ls in a row makes a red flag pop up in my mind with a misspelling alert.

Believe me, you do not want your readers stopping midsentence to question you on your spelling or grammar.  You do not want confused readers either.  So keep these structural basics in mind especially as we authors create our novels.  However, it is just as useful in the business world or when writing a complaint letter or a love letter, for that matter.

Communication is critical.  How many problems have erupted from a sheer miscommunication?  So let's try to avoid all that and get our thoughts and desires eloquently and succinctly shared with our intended audience.

P.S.  As I end this blog, I am reminded that some people will misinterpret what we are saying, no matter how painstakingly well said, based on their own experiences or mind-set.  We have no control over that.  A man who thinks all women love shopping for clothes in a mall is the victim of a generalization and, while I cannot change that oversimplification, I can choose to not be around him as his personification would irk me to no end.  I hate being lumped into a grouping where I do not belong.  My uniqueness is smothered, suffocated.  For all my commonalities with the female sex, I am an individual and like being seen for my own attributes.

Just like the credo for authors (every reader is not your intended audience), there is a similar axiom for people (everyone will not like you or see you for who you are).  That is why those rare few who see me as I see me are so precious to me.

Seek those in your life.  You will be richly rewarded.

Two More Things

Since I already have a post entitled "Two Things," I deemed it necessary to call this one "Two More Things" just for clarity's sake. 

First, one of my pet peeves is when authors do not take enough care with simple things like spelling and basic grammar rules.  I'm not talking about in an email between one friend to another or in a dashed-off birthday card or in your diary of secrets or in your grocery lists.  I'm talking about anything uploaded to the web.  A book excerpt, an article, a blog, a complaint letter, an e-book or whatever is put up for general consumption by the public. 

Note my deliberate use of the word "authors."  I don't hold every Tom, Dick or Harry to this ideal.  But authors?  Most definitely YES.  We are the standard-bearers of the (English) language, using our skills to accurately communicate our thoughts into words on paper (or computer) that are then received by our educated readers just as we expect them to be. 

And I'm not talking about a stray error or two within such internet publications.  We are all human.  We have all had the unfortunate incident of finding ourselves in a position to explain an incomprehensible error.  Which we find unexplainable and would never have committed knowingly.  But by some strange "brain blip," we did.  Although when I find one within my uploads, I hurry to change it immediately.  So far, I've changed mine before any reader comments made me aware of them.  Which is my preference.

But when I read things that have multiple spelling errors coupled with multiple grammatical errors, I cringe in embarrassment for both its creator and myself, as an Indie-published author.  I'm holding myself to a higher standard of excellence and professionalism, so no barbs can be pointed directly at me alleging any level of substandard work in my e-books. 

For all my individual attempts at professional excellence, I really hate to be generically lumped into any grouping that disparages me and my work.  Those overall remarks made about the low quality of e-books being self-published stab at my soul.  I am trying so hard to elevate that perception with each and every e-publication of mine, first to meet my own benchmark, but second also to overcome the negative stereotypes.

I love words.  I love reading.  I love creating both nonfiction and fiction. I love my freelance copyediting work.  That was my first dream-come-true.  I love Indie-publishing my e-books.  That was my second dream-come-true.  [BTW, while "dream-come-true" may not appear in Web11, I'm creating this multiple-word noun based on CMS 7.90.]

So when I see cluttered and clouded communication--caused by simple words being mutilated by misspelling and basic homophones any third-grade student has been taught (there, they're, their for one example and two, too, to for a second) being misused by an adult author--I wonder about the quality of education in America, where the minimum requirements should be fairly high.  As a communicator, as an author, as a copy editor, as a bibliophile, as a lover of words, I find that so very sad.

Plus, when a book containing those errors lands in the hands of youngsters with no formal training or at least not adequate schooling, they are then being mistaught by the very use of these mangled words and incorrect grammar.  We are just passing on these bad English lessons to yet another generation.

Parents want better things for their children.  As authors, we should remember we are surrogate parents to an unseen group of readers who are surrogate children and influenced by our writing to some degree.  We have a great responsibility to them.  I take mine seriously.

Second, on a happier note, I want to say a great big I AM PROUD OF YOU! to all the 2011 NaNoWriMo participants.  I've blogged about this before--probably one of the most repeated dreams is to write a book.  I would posit that almost every single person has had the thought "I could do that" and maybe fifty percent of them have spoken that wish out loud.  Yet, again, my best guesstimate here, I would theorize that maybe two percent do any actual writing.  I'm even broadening the catch of my proverbial net by counting simply writing down a title that's been floating in your head for decades.  Or a paragraph of notes, ideas.  Or an actual outline of your plot.  Just one sentence, one page, one list of bullet points--to me that makes you a newbie wannabe author.

BUT, to finish your creation makes you truly an author in earnest.  Whether published or not, by whoever's definitions.  And we all have been privy to myriad ones.  There is the RWA's definition of "published" which discounted my CP's short stories found in anthologies.  There is of course the snobbery abounding as to whether an Indie-published author (like me) is truly published.  To those snobs, the only definition of "published" is to go the traditional publishing route.  Which we all must agree is "published."  I just happen to think it is not the ONLY way to be "published."  As is my right as a U.S. citizen.

Nevertheless, to complete my thought from the above paragraph, I maintain you are a "published" novelist simply by putting words to paper regarding one story and writing until The End.  You have finished!  What is procrastination but simply NOT finishing?  So you are to be complimented.  Of course, there are other forms of publication--short stories, articles, blogs, poems, flash fiction, novellas, etc., etc.

Plus the Copyright Office agrees with me about the mere writing down of your creation makes you the author and the document deemed published at its inception, whether a copyright application is formally filed with its office or not.  Granted, from my layman's understanding, you cannot use this general pronouncement in a court of law to fight someone who may have infringed your copyright.  For litigation, you do need written approval of your copyright application considered by the Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 

Still, I hear you may be eligible for a minimal fine to be collected from an infringer even without a copyright on file with the government.  Check with your Patent & Trademark attorney or Entertainment lawyer or online for more information.  Links follow:  http://www.uspto.gov/ and http://www.copyright.gov/.  Boy, am I off target here.

Back to my main thoughts on this second topic.  I'm equally as proud of the NaNo-ers whose WC stands at 100 as I am of those with 60,000 and beyond already.  I'm equally as proud of the NaNo-ers who signed up and wrote one day as I am of those who have written on each of the twenty-one days in November so far.  I'm equally as proud of the NaNo-ers who decided to write in November and fell below that magical 50K number as I am of those who make and/or exceed the winner status.

For any action, any step, any decision, any thought that leads you to your dream, you are to be congratulated.  For the dreamers who take physical movement toward those ethereal hopes are rare in this world.  Probably less than one percent of all humankind.  Again, just numbers I've grabbed off the top of my head. 

But you see that same one-digit percentage re the world's finances--three percent have the bulk while the remaining ninety-seven percent live in want.  Same with goal-setting.  I've heard that the three percent who write down their goals are more likely to achieve them than the other ninety-seven percent who didn't and consequently never reached their desired destination.  So, it is not far-fetched for me to make such related claims. 

Just my opinions here.  But concerning two very important topics that are directly linked to my creed for living.

Write on, fellow 2011 NaNoWriMo participants!  I wish you well.  #nanowrimo

Two Things

Being a copy editor (grammar and spelling and clarity and chronology and fact-checking, etc.) and having been a legal assistant (details, details, details, plus grammar and spelling and clarity and chronology and fact-checking), I'm very sensitive to word choices and their exactness and fit within the context of phrases and sentences and overall story structure.  And I can point to a reference book or two which backs me up.

First, I use "pantster" not "pantser" to describe us plot-challenged novelists.  Say it out loud and you hear the second T.  It is a word built like "teamster" or "gangster" or "youngster" with the "ster" suffix.

Second, I am an author, not a writer.  It is a fine distinction but here is my argument for using same.  I create, therefore I am an author (the "au" is a truncated prefix for "author" and/or "to hear/listen" and/or "self" which my mind combines to mean "self-generated words, spoken or written" and the "thor" meaning "God/Creator" further emphasizing the creation part).

The writers, I maintain, are directed to bring to life someone else's idea.  Thus the term "screenwriter" is usually an independent freelancer who takes an author's book and adapts it into a screenplay for either a movie or a live theater production.

A copywriter is just that, someone who writes copy (think advertisements, whether for print or for radio/TV, etc.).  That writing assignment, job if you will, is at the urging of the person who hired them.

A ghost writer is, again, one hired to do a task at the prompting of the employer, the author, who needs help with his vision, his idea, his plot, his story.  I've never heard of a ghost author.

Web11 defines "author" as one who originates or creates.  While I may write, I am not a writer.  Not in the strictest sense of the word.  Not that you can't be a writer AND an author.  But there is a difference.

Quick Grammar Lesson Number Three: Proper Nouns/Names

To cap or not to cap, that is the question here for our Indie-publishing authors.

This one is easy.  If you can find the name on a map (for an actual geographic place/landmark) or on a birth certificate (for real people such as factual details for a biographical work), each are proper nouns/names and should be initial capped (each word starts with a capital letter).  Same thing holds true for your fictional towns and made-up characters because your readers expect a character's name as well as that character's town/city and state to take that format.

Of course, shortening Elizabeth to Liz is commonplace and both require a capital letter at the beginning, because even though Elizabeth may be one lady's given name and thus shown on her birth certificate, so can Liz be someone else's actual given name and also typed that way on her particular birth certificate.  A shortening of a name does not make it a nickname per se.

However, true nicknames, pet names, not a derivative of a first name, such as sugar, sweetheart, dumpling, honey, baby, sweet pea, etc., would all be as shown here with no initial caps.  Just to be clear, I am only using italics for emphasis.  When you use a nickname in your manuscript, no italics are necessary, unless you are being snide or snarky and want to show that to your readers.

Look up within Webster's "nickname" and then "proper name" which bounces immediately to "proper noun" for the distinctions discussed here.  Your chosen style manual should confirm as well.

There are accepted exceptions to every rule, but just keep in mind what makes it clear to your reader.  Like if your heroine's name actually is Sugar . . .

Two Down and Dirty (and Easy to Remember) English Grammar Tips

I need to know this stuff to make for clean, concise communication when I copy edit another author's work, as well as for my own use when I am writing my novels and in my nonfiction How-To books.  So I'll share my insights with you, distilling down a select pair here to its essence--what it does, how it works in our sentences.  If you understand the "why," then it is easier to replicate later.

This post has to do with commas and apostrophes.  Before you change screens, answer me this:  Do you know how to make "you all" into the proper contraction?  It ain't "ya'll" if that was your first response.

APOSTROPHES

Just remember that ONE of the ways to use an apostrophe is to show A MISSING LETTER OR TWO.  So, you all would properly become y'all.  Do not becomes don't.  Cannot (yes, run together, not two separate words--check out Webster's for yourself) becomes can't.  Whenever you have a missing letter or two, that is where you place the apostrophe.  So "because" would become "she said so just 'cause."

Another usage of apostrophes is to show possession, but that gets involved, what with plural possessive alone, so we'll just skip that until I have the time for another grammar lesson.

COMMAS

There is some debate about the serial comma--for example:  She carried her books, lunch and coat in her arms versus She carried her books, lunch, and coat in her arms.  I happen to think the first version is the way to go.  And for a couple reasons.  Number one, it's less messy, less cluttered.  But, number two,  mainly because of this tip:  When using a comma to separate individual adjacent words (apart from the clause-based comma as shown outside of the closing parenthesis here), only use a comma where there is not already an "and" (avoid duplication) or where "and" would still work (ensure clarity).  A comma CAN mean "and."  You don't need both, in my opinion.  Therefore, if you already have an "and" there, don't use the comma.

Plus there are some cases where an adverb modifies an adjective or another adjective modifies an adjective and you don't need a comma because you don't need an "and" there.  Here's a sentence to illustrate:  They were having pretty cold weather.  In this instance, "pretty"--which can be an adjective, noun, adverb or verb--is working as an adverb.  "Cold" is acting as an adjective modifying the noun "weather."  But you don't even have to have a working knowledge of adverbs vs. adjectives vs. nouns.  All you need to know is that you do not need a comma between serial words if "and" would not work there in its place.

Again back to our sample sentence:  They were having pretty cold weather.  If you believe this sentence needs two commas, insert an "and" where you think the commas should go.  Try reading this and maintaining the intent of the original sentence:  They were having pretty and cold and weather.  Not good.

What if you decide it just needs one comma?  Then you end up with a sentence (under the "and" construction) that would read:  They were having pretty and cold weather.  Still not the meaning intended.  Therefore, I contend this sentence needs no commas because "and" does not work in its stead.

Does that help?  I hope so.  Whether we are authors or bloggers or have need to write something for general consumption, we should communicate clearly.  Commas, of course, can have other usages--like setting off an introductory phrase as I already pointed out above or it can set off a phrase within a sentence in such a way that if you took out the opening comma and the closing comma and all the words in between, then the sentence would still make sense when read (like taking out ", of course," near the beginning of this sentence).

The English language is replete with grammar and spelling rules.  Some make sense, some don't.  But regardless of whether you are writing for a literary audience or a reading-for-fun audience, whether you are writing dialect (y'all) or colloquialisms (soft drink vs. pop) or slang (gonna) or jargon (send the RFA and RFP ASAP to the DA), you now know if you need commas and also where to place the apostrophe when you cut out some letters from the Webster-based spelling of a word.

Even Webster's will give you a short grammar lesson when you look up the word "apostrophe."

Oh, and you should have your favorite reference books from which you can state, "This is why I do this."  Be it Webster's 11th Edition and the Chicago Manual of Style 15th/16th Editions (for fiction and nonfiction)--which happen to be my two go-to volumes--or the Associated Press Stylebook (aka AP Stylebook for newspapers), at least have a standard to follow.  There are various style manuals out there.  Search the web for the medical-related version and others for the one you most need.

While you are searching the internet, Webster's has an online dictionary that now has a tab entitled "New Words & Slang" which may be of help to you.   Look for it at http://nws.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/ or check out http://urbandictionary.com.

A final note.  There is such a thing as a "style sheet" within the traditional publishing houses.  It is called a "sheet" and not a "manual" because it is just that--pages, not a bound book for sale.  For the house where I freelance, they have chosen to override certain Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) rules.  The "style sheet" DOES NOT replace the 956-page CMS "style manual."  That would be like saying the list of the twenty words that the local third-grade students need to learn to spell by next week will now replace ANY dictionary.  No.  Of course not.

I hope this sheds a little light on a very complex subject.  For us authors, we need to be some order of grammarians to communicate well with our readers.  When I was young and devouring books, I sat with a dictionary by my side, looking up words that I did not understand.  Now that I am an adult and an author, I really don't want my educated readers pulling out Webster's like a challenge in Scrabble to prove whether or not my word was misspelled.  I don't want my novels interrupted by anything--for I want my readers to finish my books in one sitting.  To be that engrossed in my creation is my goal.  Thus, I plan on removing any such distractions from within my tales.

So turn on spell check and grammar check within your word processing system for your commercial writings, as well as clicking the spell check icon provided for within your blog or your email program or even on the Kindle Boards.  Utilizing this simple tool will stop your reader from taking an unplanned detour from your words to consult a dictionary instead.