Before you BREAK THE RULES of grammar and punctuation, you should KNOW THE RULES of grammar and punctuation.
Let’s look at a few examples of why that’s true.
Homophones
Homophones are simply words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have completely different meanings, such as “deer” and “dear.” One of the most horrendous misuses of homophones (to me) is “your” vs. “you’re.” Your shows possession, and you’re is a contraction of “you are.”
Please don’t say: “Your the apple of my eye.”
Please don’t say: “You’re dog is so cute!”
If you don’t know why you can’t use those words in that manner, as well as “there, their, and they’re,” or “to, too, and two,” I’m fainting, uh, I mean… I’m suggesting that you take a crash course in simple grammar or find a profession other than writing.
If you think you can always rely on your spellchecker, think again. It can and will let you down because Artificial Intelligence on your laptop and phone often isn’t so smart after all. It cannot always guess in which way you are conveying meanings at any particular time. Result? You might mess up in ways that cause readers to lose trust in your writing.
You, as a writer, are responsible for knowing the rules of the language you are choosing to write in.
Subject-Verb Agreement
Do you fully understand the use of subject-verb agreement and the tenses they are to be used in? Say yes, or jump into the nearest English textbook right now. Don’t embarrass yourself by using, as the worst examples, she don’t or they was, or I seen, etc.
Here’s one that’s a little more tricky and easier to mess up: The clown, along with his fellow circus performers, were finding it hard to fill the tent seats during the evening performances.
See that? The clown is singular, but the verb were is plural and modifies “his fellow circus performers” instead of “the clown,” which is singular and is the subject of the sentence. It’s a case of subject-verb DISAGREEMENT.
As a writer, you simply must know the basics of proper grammar, capiche?
Other writing grammar and punctuation topics that deserve mentioning are understanding the difference in expressing stuttering vs. stammering, the wonderful world of ellipses (that’s an “ellipsis” in plural), simple comma rules, and much more.
*[Click here to view fun, funny YouTube videos sharing grammar and punctuation tips in less than two minutes]
Submitting a Manuscript
I’ve seen fledglings ask other beginning writers what font they should use when submitting a manuscript to an agent or publisher.
Really?
First of all, read and reread the SUBMISSION GUIDELINES very carefully. You will find you are usually asked to use 12-point Times Roman font, double-spacing, and to use one-inch margins all around. Avoid entertaining the idea of being “artful” or “creative” with your submission. Don’t use colored backgrounds or fonts.
Black on white. Standard copy. Read their rules.
Rules I Break Continually, aka Rebelling With Style
Spelling rules when it serves my purpose in my fiction novels.
Why? I have a myriad of reasons “why” I do this, so you might have to read one of my novels to see “how” I do it (heh heh), but it usually involves dialogue.
Writing every sentence with a subject, verb, blah blah blah. No fragments. I mostly do that, but I often don’t.
Why? Because when I break that rule, it serves a better purpose in my story.
Why? Because it’s realistic. Dialogue should be real and not sound like an English textbook.
This is an example in which a writer can choose to either follow the unbending rules of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style or follow Arthur Plotnik’s Spunk & Bite, a classic and humorous guide to a bold and radiant language style. I suggest you keep both of these stylebooks in your home office for reference purposes.
It’s up to writers to immerse themselves in the correct way to write and, sometimes, the incorrect way to write.
Bottom line: If you want to write, you will. If you want to write beyond an elementary school level, you will learn the basic rules of the writing world so you know when… and if… you can break those rules.
Further, when you know the rules well enough to break them, you will never be a writing-rebel WITHOUT a cause. You will be a writing-rebel WITH a cause.
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Jodi Lea Stewart is a multi-award-winning fiction author who believes in and writes about the triumph of the human spirit via grit, humor, and stubborn tenacity. Her lifetime friendships with all nationalities, different social strata, cowpunchers, the Southern gentry, the California crazies (she was once one, too… well, sort of, lol!), not to mention outliers, allow Jodi to write comfortably about, oh… practically anything.
Novel #8, The Bulls of Bashan is debuting now.
I must warn you —this Book Trailer consumes ONE MINUTE and ONE SECOND of your life. View carefully… HERE!
