fbpx
Boho Press
romance on the fringe
Editing Resources

Compound Sentences and FANBOYS!

A compound sentence is made up of two independent clauses joined together with a coordinating conjunction. There are seven coordination conjunctions, and an easy way to remember them is the acronym FANBOYS. Let’s break this down a little further and talk about commas, fanboys, and indie clauses and how they all work together to help you influence your readers. An independent clause is a sentence that can stand on its own. At the very least, it has a subject and a verb. Jack was a great kisser. Steve really knew how to dance. Let’s combine those to make a few compound sentences. Jack was a great kisser, but Steve really knew how…

Share:
Edit

Serial Comma Logic

I ran across this video today and felt it would be a good thing to share with you. When preparing your manuscript for an editor, the serial comma is one of those things you’re going to want to keep an eye out for. Why? It’s an easy fix, first of all. Secondly, if your editor isn’t having to stop every few sentences to deal with commacide, they’re going to have more time to focus on the meat and heartbeat of your story. This is your mission if you choose to accept it.

Share:
Edit

Manuscript Prep

I edit using MS Word and utilize Track Changes, inline edits, and comment boxes. To make the process easy on both of us, please send me your doc or docx file formatted like this: Body of the text – Times New Roman font, 12 pt. 1.5 inch line spacing No cushion between paragraphs Left aligned or justified. No tabs or double returns between paragraphs. Use the first line indent feature in Word. Use Curly Quotes. If your document has straight quotes in it, do an Advanced Find and Replace in Word using Wild Cards to seek out and replace those straight quotes. Remove double spaces between sentences and stray spaces before…

Share:
Edit

Before you hit Send

Run a final spelling and grammar check. Make sure your character names are spelled correctly. Cut junk words. Here are 43 to delete. Cut adverbs. Cut even more. Instead, use stronger verbs. Remove unnecessary dialogue tags. Purposeful actions or emotion beats are more powerful and still show readers who is speaking. Do a search in your writing for was or any other verb form of to be (am, are, is, were, was, being, been, and be). This is a hint that you may have slipped into passive voice. Is a person doing an action or is an inanimate object acting upon something or itself? If you’re unsure how to identify passive voice, using the Hemmingway…

Share:

Looking for Something?