Mark Coker's 2020 Predictions (House of Indie on Fire?)

[TimothyEllis]

I get accused of putting too many in, but where I put them, is exactly where if the sentence was spoken, the pauses would be. And that's how it should be.

So, in, other, words, if, I, talk, like, a, west, Texan, I, should, write, something, like, this?

And what if I talk like a New York Jew should I just omit the punctuation altogether since it all gets swallowed up anyway as I cram in all the words I can possibly speak?

BetteryetshouldIomitspacestoshowthatI'mtalkingsoquickly?

If the character talks that way, then yes. Be true to your character. Or better yet, don't have a character talk that way. 

I'm in comma purgatory. Been accused by readers of having too many freaking commas. I try to put them in where they should be in speech, but it ends up being too much. Editor agrees with readers. So I don't know what the right answer is, but I'm trying to be more picky about commas.

I've been accused of having too many commas, not enough commas, and commas in the wrong place, all for the same book.

As I say in my author notes, I comma as I read aloud. If I pause while reading, it gets a comma. And how I read it, is how I expect it to be read.

Texans may have an issue with not enough. Noted. NYJ's may have an issue with too many. Noted.

But my characters are mainly Australian, so that's how they're written. And yes, I do talk this way, for real.

[dgcasey]

BetteryetshouldIomitspacestoshowthatI'mtalkingsoquickly?

That's gonna play hell with your word count, though.   

[dgcasey]

I'm in comma purgatory. Been accused by readers of having too many freaking commas. I try to put them in where they should be in speech, but it ends up being too much. Editor agrees with readers. So I don't know what the right answer is, but I'm trying to be more picky about commas.

My editor goes through a couple of red pens every time she looks at one of my books. I'd say she crosses out at least a third of the commas I put in.

[Joe Vasicek]

There are grammatical rules for comma usage, which are well documented and not too difficult to learn. Then there's dialect, in which all the rules for spelling, grammar, and punctuation are thrown out in favor of mimicking human speech.

Except in very rare cases, I hate reading dialect and avoid writing it.

[elleoco]

There are grammatical rules for comma usage, which are well documented and not too difficult to learn. Then there's dialect, in which all the rules for spelling, grammar, and punctuation are thrown out in favor of mimicking human speech.

Except in very rare cases, I hate reading dialect and avoid writing it.

Me too on both. I have noticed in the last years, though, that traditional books have fewer and fewer commas in places where following usage rules would require them. It's as if they're going out of style - along with irregular past tenses and some other things.

The sun shined so brightly here yesterday, I leaped off a cliff. I'm sure Jesus weeped.

[Lynn]

The sun shined so brightly here yesterday, I leaped off a cliff. I'm sure Jesus weeped.

Dear God. Save me.

:D

[Simon Haynes]

Avoid long sentences. No commas required.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Avoid long sentences. No commas required.

Ernest Hemingway and Calvin Coolidge approve of this post.   

[Simon Haynes]

To be honest, sentences with too many commas bother me more than sentences with too few. I notice the former, not so much the latter.

[TimothyEllis]

To be honest, sentences with too many commas bother me more than sentences with too few. I notice the former, not so much the latter.

To be honest, sentences with too many commas, bother me, more than sentences, with too few. I notice the former, not so much, the latter.

May the bothering begin.   

[notthatamanda]

Avoid long sentences. No commas required.

When I started I definitely had a lot of run on sentences. I have tightened that up, which has helped.

I don't write dialect, but sometimes pauses are important for emphasis in dialogue. And I like my commas where I was taught they belong. But when people tell me they are distracting and taking them out of the story, I feel like I should listen.

[sliderule]

The whole point of the comma is to indicate to the reader there is a pause in the speech there.

Not the whole point, no.

[VisitasKeat]

Oopsie, seems this thread has gone off the rails; so let's decelerate by adding a period over the comma and get it back on the track with another period. 

[DCRWrites]

I'm in comma purgatory. Been accused by readers of having too many freaking commas. I try to put them in where they should be in speech, but it ends up being too much. Editor agrees with readers. So I don't know what the right answer is, but I'm trying to be more picky about commas.

For what it's worth I think part of the problem is that even though dialogue represents speech it doesn't ever quite work if it actually duplicates speech. It's as if it has to reflect what the reader thinks speech should look like, not what it is.