I judged a few entries this year for the Colorado Gold Literary Awards.
I have one takeaway.
It’s this:
Chill with the punctuation.
Too much makes readers tired.
Well, makes me tired.
It’s also unappealing on the page. It looks cluttered. Our brains are already busy putting your words into images in our heads. Don’t make us decipher a confusing road map.
Think declarative.
Declarative equals confident.
I used to be big into dashes. I am pleading guilty to that fact.
You can’t see it, but my palm is now placed on a stack of The Elements of Style by E.B. White and William Strunk Jr.
Guilty, guilty, guilty.
That was then. This is now.
I am over dashes.
And I’m over anything that makes the reader park a thought while the writer tries to insert another. There was one entry in the contest that had three straight sentences in a row with dashes setting off separate thoughts.
To me, that’s the writer not knowing what’s important. Or knowing what order to reveal information to us innocent readers.
I do believe in clauses. I don’t hate commas.
It’s all a matter of rhythm.
But think clean. Trust your readers to put it all together.
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CREDIT: Photo by Sunil Ray on Unsplash
Parenthethicals are tricky. It’s the way my mind works to connect thoughts
But I have to go back in second drafts to catch them.
*hands out for the cuffs* I can’t even write a text without em dashes.
Well said, Mark. I’m growing weary of too many commas. I’ve become a comma minimalist, yet members of my critique group keep telling me to add them back in. This comma battle among us amuses me, but doesn’t change my mind.
Stand your ground!
Well said. Period.