When I first joined the L Perkins Agency as an intern, Lori Perkins gave me an invaluable piece of advice: dust off and re-read your old copy of Strunk and White. No, really read it, even if you think that you’ve got that punctuation thing down.
So now, I pass that advice along to you, dear reader. Read Strunk and White. Love it. Hold it close to your heart. And actually use the lessons you find there.
My blog is an S&W nightmare, but don’t let your manuscript be one. You’d be amazed how many partials I read where the author seems to have no clue what to do with quotation marks, and if you’re writing dialogue that can be a fatal flaw. The meaning and art behind your prose can be completely sabotaged by horrible formatting. You don’t want a potential agent cringing and reaching for a red pen as they read your partial. Or worse yet, completely missing your intention.
Good thing is that this is one of the easiest writing weaknesses to fix. Less than $10, S&W is cute, easily fits in your purse and can exponentially increase your odds of getting an agent.
February 6, 2009 at 10:44 am
It is absolutely amazing to me how many “writers” have never read Strunk & White, and don’t see a reason to. Any writer worth her salt should be able to quote S&W chapter and verse. I keep it on my shelf and re-read it at least once a year.
February 6, 2009 at 11:10 pm
It’s the “don’t see a reason to” that concerns me. One can be a writer without S&W, or another resource, but it’s hard to do well in any discipline if you’re not concerned about honing your craft.
February 6, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I have S&W, but I happen to prefer “The Deluxe Transitive Vampire” and “The Well-Tempered Comma” as manuals of style. They’re laugh-out-loud funny and have neat pictures, too!
February 6, 2009 at 11:07 pm
True, S&W is not the only source for good info. Thanks for the reminder.
Eats, Shoots and Leaves is also a nice alternative.
February 7, 2009 at 11:44 am
I remember that when the Ravenous folks put up a Tweet on Twitter saying that all aspiring erotica authors should read their Strunk & White, there was a bunch of snobby blogging about that comment among several erotica/romance “authors” and commentators about how unnecessary that was, and how “arrogant” Ravenous supposedly was for making such a comment. That absolutely floored me. Seems to show why a lot of those bloggers/commentators are unpublished outside their blogs.
Any good writer considers S&W (or books like it) more important than the Bible.
I love Eats, Shoots and Leaves. A great style manual and funny, too.
February 7, 2009 at 11:45 am
The Elements of Style is also a great resource. I also recommend Self-Editing for Fiction Writers and Writing Down The Bones.
February 7, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Nice Post