Marja's Mystery Blog: Recent Comments

Comment on Breaking the Rules

marta chausee — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:59:10 GMT

Fie on anyone who would EVER dare to call you ditzy! You are just about the most organized professional I have ever seen in action!

Marta

Comment on Breaking the Rules

Marja McGraw — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:36:45 GMT

Very true. I guess publishers have their rules, too, and it can be frustrating. Thank you for commenting, Lesley, and I hope someone in your career shows some consistency. We could all use a little of that.

Comment on Breaking the Rules

Lesley A. Diehl — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:34:33 GMT

My agent had me go through my mauscript and removed most of the tags. I just got the editing copy back from my publisher and most of the tags have been reinserted. Huh? My agent explained that publishers have their own style with tags. Even the rules aren't the same from place to place, much less breaking them

Comment on Breaking the Rules

Marja McGraw — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:04:31 GMT

Excellent, Sunny! I'm afraid I'm guilty of using the double dashes. You're absolutely right about the one word sentences and incomplete sentences. Great way to hype up the action. Thank you so much for commenting!

Comment on Breaking the Rules

Sunny Frazier — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:22:31 GMT

I think mystery writers have more lead-way on breaking rules than other genres. I throw in one word paragraphs, incomplete sentences, whatever it takes to heighten the tension. HOWEVER, there are some punctuation "rules" I wish authors would scrub. Enough with exclamation points! How many question marks do you need to use???? Quit with the dashes--you know what I'm talking about. And, (to beat a dead horse)stop doing side-bars with parenthesis. "Quotation" marks, other than in dialog, no thank you. Think carefully before putting things in italics. NEVER PUT WORDS IN ALL CAPS.

Let your writing speak eloquently for itself.

Comment on Breaking the Rules

Marja McGraw — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:34:18 GMT

LOL Thanks for my morning chuckle, Madeline. And thank you so much for commenting!

Comment on Breaking the Rules

Marja McGraw — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:32:58 GMT

Great comments, Marilyn! I especially like what you said about making it easy for the reader. Thank you for commenting!

Comment on Breaking the Rules

M.M. Gornell — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:30:55 GMT

Yes, yes!! ((and rebel (ha, ha)that I am, refuse to not use that last comma in a sentence. Writer's jail awaits me!))

Great post, Marja--as usual!

Madeline

Comment on Breaking the Rules

Marilyn Meredtih — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:27:07 GMT

POV is the biggest problem new authors seem to have. Only one scene per POV and it should be the POV of the person with the most at stake. Yes, you can use 1st and 3rd in the same book, but certainly not the same scene. The key with all the rules is making it easy for the reader. You must know the rules before you break them.

Comment on Breaking the Rules

Marja McGraw — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:35:28 GMT

Love the title, Chris! It sounds like you had your hands full but overcame. Can't wait to read it. Thank you for commenting!