Tag: copy edit

Drive-Thru Edit: like, as, and such as

maryraebel

Like is a word that pops up in conversation so often, even when it’s wrong, it sounds so right. Here we go anyway.

  • Lucy checked her manuscript for spelling mistakes like as she should.

(As is a conjunction used to combine two independent clauses.)

  • Lucy combed through the manuscript like a grammar granny.

(Like is a preposition that compares nouns or pronouns. Lucy is compared to a grammar granny. Note: There is no verb after grammar granny. If you did add a verb: Lucy combed through the manuscript as a grammar granny would do it.)

  • I like big furry animals such as bears, lions, and woolly mammoths.

(Use such as when giving examples.)

  • I would like to find more fruit such as kiwi.

(In this sentence, kiwi is an example of the fruit you’d like to find. Kiwi is on your shopping list!)

  • I would like to find more fruit like kiwi.

(In this sentence, you don’t want to find kiwi. You already have kiwi at home, but you like it so much, you want to find fruit similar to kiwi.)

Honestly? These rules may be important in formal writing, but when writing a novel? Your characters talk as they do. Or would they say like they do? They shouldn’t, but … ain’t nothin’ you can do about it.

Write on.

Drive-Thru Edit: fewer or less?

maryraebel

Use the word fewer if you can count something:

  • She said her apartment was infested, but the exterminators counted fewer than seven ants in the entire complex.
  • I got fewer cookies than you did.
  • You are drinking fewer glasses of wine at dinner than you used to.

Use less if you cannot count something:

  • You are drinking less wine than usual.
  • It looks like there’s less snow on the mountain this year.

However, nothing is ever that simple. So …

Even though you can count up all the money, coins and bills, in my purse, the $5 total is considered a bulk amount in this sentence:

  • I have less than $5 in my purse.

Unlike:

  • I think I have fewer than five quarters in my purse for the parking meter. (I’m talking about each individual quarter.)

When indicating a span of time rather than the individual number of years or individual minutes, use less:

  • I graduated college in less than four years.
  • She completed the exam in less than 30 minutes.

Same with distance:

  • The office is less than five miles away.

And weight:

  • The lamb weighs less than 100 pounds.

Write on.

Drive-Thru Edit: I was or I were?

maryraebel

Is it: If I were a rich man, Or if I was a rich man?

Well, as the song goes in the musical Fiddler on the Roof, Teyve, the poor milkman, sings:

“If I were a rich man, Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum. All day long I’d biddy biddy bum. If I were a wealthy man.”

Why were and not was? Because Teyve is so not a rich man. If Teyve might have been a rich guy, and there was a possibility he was scamming us all, he would sing: If I was a rich man.

But, alas, he is not.

So,

If I were the Queen of France (which I am so not), I would have you all eat cake.

If I was to attend tomorrow’s meeting (which I may or may not), I would bring cake.

If I were a mermaid (Oh, I wish!), I’d sit on a rock and eat crab cakes.

If Estelle was at her house all day (probably or possibly), the neighbor would have seen her and brought over a cake. Let’s talk to that neighbor and see if Estelle was home.  

Got it? Write on. Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum. I need cake.

Drive-Thru Edit: When h isn’t an h

maryraebel

Words that start with h sometimes need an and sometimes need a

Both these words start with the letter h:

  • History
  • Honor

When you say history, you hear the h. So, you would write:

  • I am writing a history about the lumberjacks in my state.

The letter h is silent in the word honor. And that is why you write:

  • It is an honor to be here.

Typically, an is written before words that begin with a vowel or begin with a vowel sound.

But be careful of words that begin with u or o, such as: unicorn and one. Both words begin with a vowel, but the u sounds like you, and one sounds like it begins with w. So, you would write:

  • A unicorn
  • A one-time thing

Unlike:

  • An uninformed man
  • An on-and-off relationship

Write on.

One word or two?

maryraebel

The English language can make your head spin sometimes. Or is it some times? There are a lot of words that make writers go hmmm.

headspin

Is it onto or on to? Awhile or a while? Everyday or every day? Maybe these words are no brainers to you; or you may be fooling yourself.

If you can replace maybe with the word perhaps in your sentence, then it’s one word.

Back to the word sometimes. It means now and then.

  • Sometimes, I just want to throw up my hands and forget it all.

Sometime means some unspecified time.

  • Sometime maybe can get together and talk about life.

Some time means a while. You can replace some time with phrases such as a little while or a long time.

  • It took some time before he realized he was driving the wrong way.

How about onto versus on to?

Use on to when on acts as an adverb, and to acts as a preposition.

  • Estele grabbed on to his arm as if afraid she’d fall.
  • Harold logs on to his computer, hoping there’s free wi-fi.

Onto is a preposition meaning upon or on top of or in position of. If you can put the word up before on in the sentence and it makes sense, onto is correct.

  • He jumped onto the rock in the middle of the creek.

Onto is also used to mean in a state of awareness:

  • I’m onto your evil plans for world domination.

Everyday or every day?

Everyday is an adjective:

  • Irvin used his everyday dishes when his boss came over.

Every day:

  • Are you going to nag me every day about this?

Awhile or a while?

Use awhile as an adverb:

  • I hope you can stay awhile.

But if you add the preposition for or in, then while becomes a noun:

  • I hope you can stay for a while.
  • My father hadn’t been home in a while.

Then there’s a lot. That one is easy because there is no such thing as alot. It lives out there among the unicorns and leprechauns.

We could go on, but … If you see a word and you’ve got a funny feeling about it, look it up. Or you can contact me at I Spy Edits.

Read to better writing

maryraebel

Graphic

And for us writers, the best is waiting for us at the library and the bookstore.

books2

Stephen King says, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or tools) to write.”

It’s not just about reading books that teach you how to improve your craft. It’s about reading books you love and immersing yourself in the kind of books you want to write.

In The Magic Words, editor Cheryl B. Klein writes, “If you want to write well, you must get good prose and story structures into your brain so they flow naturally onto the page. You can only do that through massive amounts of reading.”

Klein shares Newbery Medal-winning author Linda Sue Park’s suggestion that aspiring children’s writers need to read at least 500 books in the age range they hope to write for before they begin.

Read, love, learn

Study the books you love. Why do you love them? What is it about the writing, the plot, the characters that make you want to turn the page and keep reading?

One writing exercise is to rewrite a chapter of a book or an entire picture book to study and absorb the prose of a well-written story.

“Massive amounts of reading” may sound like a daunting task, but if we look back on our reading history, I bet most can honestly say, “Yes, I’ve already read a massive, walloping, humongous amount of books. And it was my pleasure.”

Now all we have to do is add purpose to that pleasure.

So, treat yourself, dear writer. Turn off the TV and delete that Solitaire app on your cellphone. Linger instead among the stacks of great books—a writer’s best friends and teachers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do writers need a muse?

maryraebel

Merriam-Webster defines muse (noun) this way: a source of inspiration; especially: a guiding genius.

Meet my guiding genius:

troll2

Since I write children’s fiction, I always considered my own kids—or sometimes that random kid on the playground—my primary source of inspiration. They still are, but this green-haired troll has become a fixture next to my keyboard.

Inspiration

Trolls were popular when I was a kid and I had several. When I saw this tiny troll at my kids’ school book fair a number of years ago, I had to have it. He reminded me of my childhood—a time when the chasm between the kid and adult worlds seemed wider and deeper. No helicopter parenting then. If you were a kid on a bike, you were free … for hours … until the streetlights came on. When you sat down to dinner and your mom asked you what you did all day, the answer was always, “Nothing.”

Nothing, but you did everything. You explored, you navigated, got dirty, skinned your knees, made your own rules, maybe caused a little trouble or fled from it. You got lost in your own little world or in a herd of other kids. You did so much, but to recount it … to a grownup? They would think it was nothing.

But it was never nothing to a kid, and that’s what my little troll reminds me.

Dreamy thoughts

Another definition of muse (noun): a state of deep thought or dreamy abstraction. Dreamy abstraction. I like that. Preoccupied with thoughts—dreamy thoughts. What a nice way to think about writing. What a wonderful state of being.

So, whatever it takes to transport you to that dreamy abstraction … why not?

Writers write. Period.

maryraebel

I’m an emotional eater. Something goes wrong in life, and the next thing I know, my head is buried in a bag of chips. I don’t even bother scooping the ice cream into the bowl. I just eat the whole thing right out of the bucket.

ice cream 2

You, too? When things go wrong in life, do you feed your face but let your writing starve?Do you tell yourself: “I’m just not up to it now” … “How can I write a funny scene or an inspiring story when I’m feeling gloomy?” … “I’m too stressed to write”?

Whatever our mood, it shouldn’t determine whether we write or not. Writers write.

Writing can be the escape, the refuge, or even better, the cathartic release for whatever ails us. Instead of drowning our emotions with food, we should be releasing them through writing.

Admit it, writing gives you a sense of accomplishment, doesn’t it? More than that, writing can be euphoric. Writing is a happy pill. So, open wide and swallow it.

Think of writing as a sensible diet plan: A fat and happy writing life means you’re less likely to bury your head in a bucket of ice cream.

 

Writing when you’re not

maryraebel

Here is a writing tip I found: Set a timer for 45 minutes. Write. Even if you stumble and go blank, write about anything until the timer goes off. Then get up and do something else for 15 minutes: unload the dishwasher, walk around the block, watch the colors change in a sunset. Do something mindless.

brain wander

It works. Research has shown taking a little break can help you figure things out, maybe even get an aha! moment.

I have found that I do some of my best writing when I’m not hovering over my keyboard and staring at the computer screen. I’m usually watching my daughter’s softball game, driving, hiking, vacuuming the carpet, mowing the lawn. A story idea, a line in a dialogue, a scene, a character, a plot fix can suddenly pop up.

Creative stuff happens when I allow my brain to wander aimlessly. That’s why when a famous author insists her mega-hit series came to her in a dream, I kind of believe it.

Cracking the whip and demanding my brain perform on the computer screen does work, too—up to a point. Setting the timer, and then getting up to wander, that seems to be the work/play balance my writer’s brain needs.

Writing sound words

maryraebel

Can you hear what’s happening, dear reader?

ear2

Sound words can draw your readers into a scene.

Quick tip: Italicize sound words in your stories. 

Whomp, whomp, whomp. The helicopter hovered over the crime scene like a giant vulture.

The pitcher fired the ball toward Casey. Crrraaack! The crowd watched the ball sail over the fence. 

Plop … Plop … Plop. If the apartment manager didn’t fix that dripping faucet soon, Marge knew she’d go mad. Plop … Plop … Plop. All day. All night. Plop … Plop … Plop.