I’ve got my novel all written and many, many times revised. I’m looking for a good book on revision and grammar rules for writers to make sure I’m bringing my A-game. My brain is struggling with commas; I’m realizing I don’t need as many as I thought. Any resources that have helped you?
Sarah J. Carlson 
Ouch, six errors in the one sentence (in the picture)… 😀
Not to sound vain, but my main resource for grammar is my inner grammar Nazi, who grew up reading way too much and soaked it all up like a sponge. Probably not entirely foolproof, but I’ll trust my judgement over the red or green squiggles any word processor can come up with any day. As for resources, I find ELU (English Language & Usage at http://english.stackexchange.com) to be great and usually very accurate when it comes to the finer points of grammar.
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That’s my writing before my critique group gets it ;). No I generally consider myself to be a grammar nazi as well but lately I’m worried that my inner ummm critic we’ll say is off about things. Especially comma usage and I don’t know parts of speech that I don’t know the names for haha. That’s for the website. I’ll check it out!
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Commas! They’re like small mysterious dots to me. I can’t seem to get the balance right. Sometimes I’m overindulging, and other times I just skip them altogether. I’m in desperate need of the same book and will buy a copy of whatever your readers recommend. And maybe one on semi-colons as well.
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Yeah… One time I’ll read through and take out a bunch of commas then the next time I feel like I put at least a quarter back in. I’ll share once I get an answer.
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I found “Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies” by Roy Peter Clark to be useful. It takes a more positive stance, instead of “don’t do that.”
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Hey great, thanks! Will check that out.
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That picture made me chuckle 😀 Will keep checking back to see any books and resources people suggest as I am looking for some too!
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Haha thanks glad u enjoyed! Geoffrey made a suggestion above and if I find anything else I’ll post it.
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I have the same problem. I’m currently read “Sin and Syntax” by Constance Hale. It’s informative but not boring.
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Good to know it’s not boring. I’ll have to check that out! Thanks for the tip. Fellow writers are so awesome 🙂
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Missed periods and other grammar scars. Pretty good
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Did my best haha
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Ugh.. commas and I… we have this understanding you see. I put them where I think they belong, and they don’t complain. And then, when someone else quietly removes them (or, not so quietly tells me they must be removed), I try to pretend I understand the reason why. But I like commas, and I like to put them in where I want my reader to pause. And I like to put them in where I think they look nice.
Yeah, my grammatical education did not stick, did not work, and my creative spelling and punctuation will probably be the death of me.
I also like to mix is up by playing with colons and semi-colons 🙂
Seriously, though, when I really do care about the punctuation and want to get it “proper” I tend to go back to Strunk and White “Elements of Style” or “Elements of Editing.”
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Oh, commas, such a little thing but so complicated! Thanks for the suggestion!
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