On Commas
New blog, new habits. Maybe. I’ll try to post somewhat often here. Shorter posts, maybe, than what I did back on the Porch.
That being said, here’s a very short one for you: For the 3,296 words currently in my third book, I have six commas*. I’m pretty proud of that. For you non-writers, take a look at the number of commas in this post, then count the words. I am a comma wasteland.
In other news, here’s fodder for another day: the role authors must play in selling their own work, and the role they play as a commodity of their own. That dynamic is and has been changing from the dynamic we’re used to–the one of the writer-as-recluse. Now we have to be connected. For now I leave you with more learned and experienced folk’s opinions on the matter. Nathan Bransford and Sonya Chung each consider this topic.
* comma count only valid for prose, dialogue not included.
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“Comma wasteland,” hehe. I don’t remember thinking there were too many commas in The Long Way Home, but I think it’s always good to be aware of your tics as a writer and try not to let them overwhelm you. The difference between style and laziness, you know?
PS: I can’t get over how classy/awesome your new site is! The theme/design rocks.
6 commas in the first 4K of ther novel, but 10 commas in 170-ish words of the post? Why the disconnect?
I strew commas about the page like dandelions on a summer lawn. Bad habit, that.
Nice move!
Art and artist is a rapidly changing relationship, and something that I definitely like to read about so thanks for the links.
Also reminds me of the Mark Amerika article I so often cite (here, for reference: http://www.altx.com/manifestos/avant.pop.manifesto.html).
I made it over! Nice digs here. I look forward to reading.
Kristan: Probably there were more commas in Long Way Home than there are in this new one. My voice is becoming stronger. More dry. I think. Thank you–I’m digging the place, too.
Clowncar: My voice online is conversational. It’s exactly what would come out of my mouth if confronted with a topic and asked by a friend to give my opinion on it. Pauses, even a few ums, sos, etc. My writing voice is the voice I would use if confronted by God.
Nico: Thanks! I’ll read up.
Brad: Glad to see you over here. Hopefully I’ll get some good discussions going that you can participate in. I’m about to purchase Butcher’s Crossing thanks in part to your post on Williams.
If anything I hope that knowing me will someday bring a better love for commas. Such a fantastic punctuation mark. Maybe a tattoo shall follow?
You make it so hard, sometimes.
Oh! You’ve actually moved! Welcome to the land of Wordpress and self-hosted blogs!
I’ve also started to strip out most of my commas. And I’m hyphenating things more often — stretching the English language! It’s a lot of fun…
But really, just 6? I know you keep your sentence structure short and clipped but that sounds pretty drastic