We normally cite by page and line number, thus: 2:14. Unfortunately Josh’s ‘Word” and my really bare-bones Word weren’t conceiving a page in the same way. So I had to re-do with snatches of actual text so he can search it.
One over-arching problem: the Chicago Book of Style, may it rot in hell, does not recognize my within-paragraph punctuation of period-space-em-dash ( . —) when a speaker changes addressee to, eg, give an order to a servant in mid conversation. This is admittedly an ‘old’ punctuation form. But do you know why I use it?
“I have no idea,” Bren said as the crashes and thumps went on outside, “what the man intends. —Jago-ji, is there any word from Banichi?”
This replaces: “I have no idea,” Bren said as the crashes and thumps went on outside, “what the man intends.” He looked at Jago. “Jago-ji, is there any word from Banichi?”
And it replaces it right in a sequence where you want the sentence to hitch up its petticoats and run, not schlep along with traffic directions left, right, up, down….if, for instance, he directs himself to Tano, next.
I’ve fought my publishers for that exception to standard for precisely that reason. It’s the difference between first-grade clunky address and (once readers know who is in the room) an address that flows rapidly.
Unfortunately c/e’s with their precious Book of Style can’t grok that, and they then start trying to punctuate what I write according to the Book of Style. Can’t be done. That means they start tinkering with my sentence structure or worse, my paragraphing. This c/e spawned as many as 4 successive paragraphs with only the absence of a terminal quote mark as a clue to what was going on, as she tried to make it follow the ‘rules.’
If she and I can reach an understanding about that one punctuation item, life will be good, because she’s smart and she’s good at tracking for common sense as well as grammar. I hope we can work that out.
Isn’t the point of punctuation to make the writing intelligible to the reader? Or is it to conform to someone’s rule book?
You mentioned the em dash, CJ. I use them to indicate the speaker has paused. The “timing” (same idea as comic timing) of speech is one thing that is difficult to convey in writing. Example:
“English is a very exceptional language. In English, even the exceptions to the exceptions have exceptions — except when they don’t.”
Your editors would probably have a conniption fit with my copy. I not only use em dashes, I use elipses, too.
They wouldn’t have put them in the Unicode set, and in the font coverage,—_and_ made them ‘named entities’ if they weren’t supposed to be used… grumble, grumble, grumble.
Actually, the way you wrote it is clearer than the way the c/e thinks it should be done. The CMS can be stuck back on its shelf to gather some well-deserved dust.
It’s the difference between doing and critiquing: a lot of times critics think a thing should be some other way—but when you get down to the nitty gritty there was a reason the writer discarded that notion…or never even considered it.
Let me guess: The currently fashionable standard is to omit the period and use only the em-dash. Then only grudgingly, one is permitted to use a space on one side or the other to indicate a sentence change. This omits mention of the religious fervor of typographers over whether to use spaces around an em-dash, nigh unto heresy in one camp, but required in the other camp. Both sides have been too near the liquid paper.
The period and space to make plain the end of sentence, then the dash to indicate a shift in focus of mind, or to another character, makes solid sense. It’s defensible with a practical reason, as any good grammar/punctuation rule should be. I wouldn’t fuss over it if I were the copy editor. I’d hope your current C/E thinks about it and sees the logic involved.
Hahaha, and I fully agree with Pholy. I got exactly what he meant there.
I tend to take a more relaxed view, because I’ve seen a lot of amateur writing, either as a volunteer or professionally. I had to unlearn the tendency to be persnickety about the rules. I now think I treat the rules mostly as a set of guidelines. A writer and editor need to know when to go by the rules and when and how to bend or break the rules for best effect, because yes, sometimes breaking a rule makes for a stronger impression in the piece, or better comprehension.
Writing’s a strange thing. A fiction writer has to be a good storyteller and a good wordsmith. A good editor has to know how to sit *beside* or *behind* the author and edit, rather than to sit in front or try to wrest the keyboard away and write the thing him-/herself. A good editor works *with* the author to make the story the best it can be, instead of a contest of wills, which cannot work, ever. — That is just a general philosophical statement, of course, not aimed at anyone.
Best Wishes with the current copy edits and upcoming galleys!
Note: The absolute best part about being a story editor is, you get to read a story as it develops, and before anyone else gets ahold of it! ;D It’s fun to see both.