Romantic Reading

Good dialogue can make a book really stand out.  But badly punctuated dialogue in a manuscript can really make an editor tear her hair out.  And I’m amazed at how often it comes up.

So for all writers out there–published and unpublished–a quick guide to getting it right:

When using a dialogue tag such as said, noted, replied, etc., a comma is used in place of a period before the closing quote.  Ex: “Let’s get busy,” she said.  In cases of questions or exclamations, the ? or ! goes inside the quotes and attribution is followed by a period.  Ex: “Can we please get busy now?” she asked.

When the dialogue is followed by a complete sentence without a tag, a period goes within the quotes. Ex: “Let’s get busy.” She gave him a lingering kiss.

When you have action without a tag interrupting dialogue, dashes are used outside the quotes.  Ex: “I really want to”–she nipped his lower lip–”get busy.”  

If the dialogue is interrupted with a tag, you just use regular ol’ commas.  Ex: “I really want to,” she said, “get busy.”

And this kind of dialogue is precisely why I edit and don’t write.

So you dangled the bait at the end of book one, perfectly set up that secondary character or the next scenario.  Now it’s time for book two.  And suddenly you realize–writing a sequel is hard. 

The best sequels tease the reader with hints of a possible previous story, but don’t make it feel as though you had to have read that first book to enjoy the second.  The characters are naturally developed without a lot of explanation.

The worst sequels start with info dump on everything you missed–kind of a “let me catch you up” chapter at the beginning of the book.  Not only do you feel as though you’re starting in the middle, but now you also know how the first book ends, so what’s the sense in going back to read it?

Every book in a series needs to stand on its own.  Authors have to assume that each book is the reader’s introduction to these characters.  It doesn’t mean you need every single background detail, but it is good to remind readers who the major players are and how they’re related.  

Each book also has to represent its intended genre.  If you’re proposing a romance series, there should be a development of the relationship in each book; you can’t wait until book three to get the romance going.  If you’re writing a Western about a continuing character, he needs to be in the West in book one.

Once readers fall in love with certain characters, it’s hard to let them go.  That’s why series are so popular.  But finding that balance between attracting new readers and keeping the old is not an easy job.

I hope you’ll excuse a little rant for a moment.  I wrote it months ago–as in, it’s not about the book I’m currently editing, for all those worryworts out there.

Writers, please learn the very basics of your craft.

I so appreciate the authors who strive to improve with every book, who incorporate what they learned from edits in Book 1 into Book 2, authors who seek to learn more–from workshops, further reading within the genre, informal info from other writers, etc–and then apply that knowledge. It not only makes my job easier, but I feel that you’re as invested in your career as I am.  And that in turn makes me want to do more for you.

On the flip side, I find it incredibly frustrating when I still repeatedly have to correct such basic things as dialogue punctuation, capitalization, plural vs. possessive, and other fundamental grammar on Book 4.  It gets very tedious and becomes distracting from big-picture editing like plot structure and character development–which should be my main focus so I can help bring out the best book possible.

There was recently a post at DearAuthor that now of course I can’t find, talking about how some editors have become strictly focused on acquisitions and they don’t do much line editing at all, and therefore more than ever authors need to have an absolutely clean manuscript.  I do still line edit, and I’m happy to clean up typos here and there.  The more I catch, the more the copyeditor will be able to focus on other things (do ages match up, eye color stay consistent, etc.).  And it’s also true that I’m not expecting everything to be who-vs-whom grammar perfect; sometimes there’s no faster way to kill an author’s voice. 

But I need the author to be invested too.  Having a contract does not suddenly make you immune to knowing the very basic craft of writing.  Please, review your edits and learn from them.

When I was first starting to learn about publishing, one of the most helpful publications was a book called EDITORS ON EDITING: What Writers Need to Know About What Editors Do.  It’s been revised several times and even the current edition(1994)  isn’t at all up to speed on ebooks and online marketing and such, but it’s a great basic primer for learning how the business works and what editors of different genres need to look for. 

It also explains the editing process and the different types of editors:

• Acquisitions editor – An editor whose primary job is to evaluate, negotiate and buy.  He would then pass off the project to a different editor.  Occasionally, you still hear about this – usually only if the author is really big and it’s an editorial director or publisher handling the buy.  But generally, most projects stay with the person who buys the book.
• Developmental editor – This is primarily seen in nonfiction and educational publishers.  Or if a publisher is trying to package a house-owned series.  Basically, the editor comes up with most of the ideas for the book and gets someone else (or assembles a team) of other people to write it.
• Line editor – The most common editing that we editors do – fix the plot, sentence structure, pacing, and all that good stuff.  We’re looking at the overall picture–does this book make sense? are the characters complex and likable? will this be satisfying to the reader?–as well as the more nitty-gritty–does this sentence make sense? is this paragraph necessary?
• Copyeditor – This person gets the book after the line edit and is primarily checking for consistency–making sure ages and eye color and things stay the same–clarity and basic grammar/style issues. 
• Proofreader – The proofreader catches any consistency or grammar issues missed by the line editor and copy editor and looks for any typos that may have been created when typesetting the manuscript.

A lot of houses blend a number of these.  At Dorchester, our editors acquire and do the line edit.  In certain cases, they’ve also developed series.  We also write cover copy, consult on cover art, write marketing information and do sales analysis.  The books then go into the copyediting and proofreading stages.  But every house works a bit differently.