Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Long and Winded Writer.

Remember how I said I will be going through my punctuation flubbles with you? Well let me lay one on you.

Has anyone ever seen or heard Miley Cyrus(Hannah Montana)talk? No?

Okay let me describe it for you, she basically talks and talks till she runs out of breath, then she continues again. Now you realize she is a talented* singer, and is trained to hold her breath longer than the average human. So yes she does talk in very long, rambling sentences.

Is today bash an 18yr old Millionaire day? No, it's my first step in becoming a punctuation guru (I can do it).

I write like Miley Cyrus talks. I can write a paragraph or a conversation of ten lines or even more without a comma. When my computer green lines me then I put a comma or a semi colon.

Why do I do this? When I'm writing I get so excited the words rush to my mind and I become a rambling thinker. Periods only show up at the end of my chapters or scene changes. I tell myself I'll fix this during edits.

Then comes the time to edit and I get so excited I have finished a project, I can't wait to send it out. Those are my lame excuses.

The truth is I distinctly remember being bored to tears when someone taught punctuation, so this is really my fault.

Remedy 1

The Period is your friend. Having periods does not mean the sentences will sound stilted. Independent phrases can have their own periods and next blog post we'll talk about commas or maybe something fun like my recent addiction to Degrassi (someone help me! I can't be addicted to Degrassi).


 

Xoxo and TGIF

Joanna

21 comments:

  1. I can follow this - I'm sure it'll do my writing some good. Thanks Joanna!

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  2. LOL! I had grammar and punctuation drummed into me by my Mum. She shudda been an English teacher.
    Where I come from a period is called a fullstop. No idea what Degrassi is, though :O)

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  3. Hey you're back! Where've you been. I've missed your posts. Loved your comment on Grandpa's blog, really made me laugh.

    I am a bit nervous about when to use commas, luckily I don't write novels! I am dabbling in a YA in verse, but I find it easier to know where to put them in a poem somehow.

    I can't imagine how hard it is to go back and put commas in. How do you have the patience?
    Catherine

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  4. I had an English teacher in high school (many of us probably had some version of her) who beat many, many rules of grammar, punctuation, and appropriate word useage, into our heads. I know when to use there, their, or they're. I know that I feel nauseated, not nauseous (except when I'm grossing someone else out), and I know that a prepositonal phrase, of four words or more, is offset by commas (see? I even did it, right back there!).

    I hated that woman back in the day, but I sure am grateful for her now. I just wish I hadn't slept through half the classes!

    Fortunately, my crit partners were awake for the ones I missed.

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  5. Is today bash an 18yr old Millionaire day --> ha! ha!

    Sometimes I find myself doing the same thing. You know, for your first draft, getting the words out is enough (punctuation be damned).

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  6. Punctuations are fun!!! I'm still learning the value of commas!!! LOL!!!

    Take care
    x

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  7. I love learning about punctuation of all kinds.

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  8. I'm trying to keep it simple. Commas, periods. Fuck that semi-colon bullshit. Commas can get confusion when you use more than one in a sentence, but they are your friends!

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  9. Unfortunately, I’ve heard Miley Cyrus talk as my stepdaughter is her biggest fan. Sadly, I know someone who’s worse. Me! If I’m very excited about something, I will talk without breathing until the tone of my voice turns squeaky and my face turns red. In writing, however, I use a lot of commas and periods. I’m. The. Queen. Of. One. Word. Sentences.

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  10. I'll say it again - I'm so happy you're back. Punctuation is a necessary evil. Sadly (perhaps) I've had it drilled into my brain for years, so I'm pretty much on top of the 80% used most often. Yell if you need help.

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  11. I love long sentences--which isn't a good thing, most of the time! :P I'm starting to use the period more often, though, now that I know I have the problem.

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  12. My daughter is a Hannah Montana fan so yes, I've heard Miley Cyrus talk!

    Thanks for sharing, Joanna, it's going to be great help.

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  13. I love Hannah Montana, still do which kinda makes me weird, doesn't it, LOL...

    The period is indeed your friend. The commas are worse. I had to use a paid editing service for ALR before the editor could start, and I was so confused, lol..

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  14. You're going to be in trouble with Embrace (or any other publisher) if you write like Hannah Montana (or the Glee people et al) so I guess you have to slow down. Hard for you!

    Yeah, it can be boring to learn. I teach it all the time to my ESL students and it takes them so long to know when to finish a sentence and start a new one. It's a mystery to we perfectly punctuated types, hee hee, but I'm with Clarissa, I'm addicted to grammar and punctuation (amongst other less creepy things.)

    Denise<3

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  15. Ha! Jo, I can honestly put my hand up and say, nope - I've never heard Miley speak...I think that's a good thing. ;-)

    Punctuation, I've a devil of a time trying to just get the words out on the page sometimes. Am pretty sure I break the rules.

    PS: I've been swamped at work lately so not been able to focus on my synopsis! I will do and will check in with again. Thanks Sweet! x

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  16. I like the sound of you writing like that, it sounds so breathless and exciting. It must make typing so much quicker when you don't have to stop to insert quotation marks and things [g] I love editing for that sort of thing!

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  17. I haven't heard Miley talk but I can certainly relate to getting excited and rushing to finish things! Story of my life. :)

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  18. I think we've all been there. My problem, I think, it's the opposite. I put too many commas or extra punctuation when it's not needed ;) LOL!

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  19. See what happens: we get excited, we forget to take precautions and we end up missing our periods.

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  20. LOL! Yes, I've heard her speak. Sometimes I can't understand what she's saying because she talks so fast and long. :-)

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  21. Miley, like so many teens, forgets to breathe as she barrels along. I am too comma happy, so we all have our issues!

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