Punctuation the Music of Language? The ART of PUNCTUATION or A DASH of STYLE by Noah Lukeman

This post was first published March 9th, 2009.
Punctuation is not my strong point. I often hesitate before placing a comma in a sentence.

No, I mean ...

Punctuation is not my strong point and I often hesitate before inserting a comma into a sentence.

Or, maybe I mean ...

Punctuation isn't my strong point; I often hesitate before reaching for a comma.

I think you get my drift.

Here, Noah Lukeman writes almost lovingly about that set of signs and symbols, those indispensable marks, which, when inserted into a text, elucidate or obfuscate meaning and expression.

There are hundreds of books dealing with punctuation. What sets this volume apart is that it is aimed squarely at writers; as is set out in the introduction:

'This is not a book for grammarians ... This book is for the audience
that needs it the most and yet for whom, ironically, a punctuation book
has yet to be written: creative writers.'

When I read a (usually unpublished) writer declaring, 'Punctuation? No dealbreaker. The line-editor will correct it,' I often bring to mind a macho type, pointing Percy at the porcelain, missing the pot and saying, 'No worries, I'll have the missus clean it up.'

Laziness? Arrogance? Ineptitude? Or an uncouth mix of all three?

Setting aside apostrophes and slashes, Lukeman ably, and entertainingly, takes us through the most important marks, illustrating his points with telling examples, pointing up underuse and overuse, and setting us end-of-chapter exercises.

There's a lot of food for thought here:

'Why did Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Carver lean heavily on the full stop? Why did William Faulkner eschew it? Why did Edgar Allen Poe and Herman Melville rely on the semicolon? Did Emily Dickinson embrace the dash, Gertrude Stein avoid the comma? How could the punctuation differ so radically between these great authors? What did punctuation add that language itself could not?'

Such is tempered with practical, no-nonsense suggestions for improving one's work.

• Ever wondered what your use of paragraph and section breaks reveals about you?

• Do you want to know what F. Scott Fitzgerald said about the exclamation mark?

• Ever thought why Cormac McCarthy avoids commas?
  

Excellent stuff. Every writer of English and American English should keep a copy within easy reach of the desk.

The U.S. edition is titled:  A Dash of Style and is published by W.W. Norton & Co.
The U.K. edition is titled: The  Art of Punctuation and is published by Oxford University Press.

If you're curious to learn what Lukeman writes about the period (or full-stop) go here for Part One, here for Part Two, here for Part Three and, finally, here for Part Four of  an extract drawn from the U.S. paperback edition, posted on the very informative Writers Store website.

SUNDAY RE-WIND: The FIRST FIVE PAGES by Noah Lukeman

Aware you may not have read popular posts from 2009 I'll be re-posting stuff every Sunday. Here's the first - my thoughts on Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages.

The author of this handbook, Noah Lukeman, is a literary agent, writer and editor. As an agent he's sold over 200 titles to publishers. His client list includes Pulitzer Prize winners, and his clients' titles feature regularly on the New York Times bestseller lists. Interestingly, one of his fiction clients is Gene Hackman, the well-regarded Hollywood actor.

You can find out more at his agency's website . But don't get too excited -- he's not currently accepting queries. But it's well worth checking out the site because you'll find two very useful downloads: How to Write a Great Query Letter and How to Land a Literary Agent, both of which I strongly recommend you read.

After you've written, and re-written, your novel, put it up on a crit site for feedback, and re-edited, re-structured, and re-written accordingly, there will come a time when you'll want to start shopping it around agents. STOP. Read this book first.

The First Five Pages -- A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile is an excellent handbook for all writers, not only novelists, at all stages of development.

In two words this book is focussed on word economy; every single word in those first five pages (or first five sentences) has to really work to earn its presence.

Lukeman methodically (yea, forensically) dissects and examines, giving examples of enfeebling prose, every aspect of the writing-reading experience. Reading the book is akin to having a sharp editor sat aside you at your desk, talking you through the process of skimming a slush pile.

Each chapter is topped with a quote from a known writer and tailed with a practical exercise.

I enjoy Lukeman's prose; it's clear, cogent, eloquent, precise and sincere.

There's a lot of information and opinion here, and Lukeman manages to get it across in digestible style. One could say his tone is a bit humourless -- but, hey, do you still need sugar with your medicine?

The only advice in this book which I would advise writers to seek more specific advice is on the method used to consign work to a targeted agent. Here, Lukeman advocates using FedEx, or other guaranteed-signature delivery method. This will have some agents, such as the legendary Miss Snark, climbing walls.

I'm aware some writers find Lukeman's tone to be superior, or condescending. For others he's overly precious. What do you think?

Next Sunday: Noah Lukeman's The Art of Punctuation.

UPDATES: 487 LITERARY AGENTS

Been fiddling about in the sidebar this past week.

Weeded out a few suspect looking agents from the list of U.S. literary agents and added 84 more, bringing the total to 365.

Added 12 more UK literary agents, bringing the total to 122.

So, altogether you now have a total of 487 literary agents to check out before you start sending off queries.





As ever, though I do what I can to check agents' bona fides before posting links, if in doubt check 'em out - go to: Writer Beware, Preditors & Editors, AAR and Agent Research & Evaluation etc.

I've also added a couple of editors' blogs and a couple of agents' blogs and a couple of potentially useful organisations.

Hope you find the information useful.

391 LITERARY AGENTS

I've added another 7 UK literary agents' websites to the sidebar here - bringing the total to 110.
There are probably more out there - I'll add the links as and when I come across them.

So, altogether there are now a total of 391 literary agents' websites listed on this blog.


It's as well to keep in mind that there are dozens of agents in the UK who do not have a public web presence.

When looking for UK agents' not listed here the best place to start is at the Association of Authors' Agents, where you'll find a comprehensive list of members.
You could also try Writers Services which maintains a list of agents' contact details.

Do you really need a literary agent?

Do you?
Have you really considered the options?

It's perhaps too easy for would-be published writers to follow the herd and accept the false maxim that you have to have an agent to land a deal.

It is good practice to occasionally re-evaluate your goals and devise fresh approaches and strategies. Part of that re-evaluation should include challenging perceived common wisdom.

So, do you really need an agent?


You could try submitting your work directly to any of these UK publishers, and you could try Macmillan New Writing, or Quartet, or Solidus, and, if you write crime, you could try Crème De La Crime.
And you could try submitting work to these U.S. publishers.

In Chapter Eight of his How To Write Damn Good Fiction, which tackles the subject of a writer's timidity, James N. Frey holds forth, in robust fashion, on how to circumvent agents.
I quote the passage at length here:

Writers run away not only from conflict. They aso run away from editors and agents. ... Go to the bookstore. Find some books similar to yours. Jot down the publishers of these books. Go home and the call the publishers and ask for the editorial department. Tell them you want to speak to the editors of the books similar to yours. When the editor comes on the line, tell her or him how much you admire the book. Say that you have written one like it and ask whether they would take a look. Nine times out of ten they'll say yes. I was horrified. What -- call the Olympian gods? on the telephone? Me? James N. -- for nobody -- Frey?

It was only later, after having attended a slew of writers' conferences and having met a lot of New York agents and editors, that it began to dawn on me that the reason editors are editors and agents are agents is that most of them are failed writers who haven't the guts to face the blank page and the rejection slip.
They do not have any magic ability. In fact, most of them are work-by-numbers kinds of people. They put on their pants or pantyhose one leg at a time. If you call them, they will not send hot lightning bolts over the phone lines to turn you into cinders.

In fact, they will your respect your boldness. They know if a writer believes in himself or herself, chances are the writer is at least a sure-footed one.

While you're at the bookstore, by the way, it might be a good idea to look through the stacks of new arrivals for the bad books that got past the Olympian gods. You'll be amazed to find that half the books are not only bad, but almost unreadable.

Are you brave enough to try the above tactic?

To be fair to UK based writers the opportunities for meeting editors and agents are very much more limited than they are in the States.

When researching the recent update on U.S. literary agents I came across a few articles discussing the value, or not, of having a literary agent.

The articles are penned by two writers, an agent, and a publisher.
Interesting if you're looking for a rounded take on the question - do you really need a literary agent?

Haven't yet come across anything by an editor discussing this question - when I do I'll post a link.

First up a thoughtful blog post by writer Dean Wesley Smith.
Second, an article by Russell Galen, agent at Scovil Galen Ghosh.
Third, a post from The Bookseller by Naim Attalah, head of independent U.K. publishers Quartet.
And, finally, a blog post from the always very readable David Isaak, author of Shock & Awe.

Something to be thinking about.

SYNOPSES or Four Free Downloads and a Book

If we're serious about selling a novel to an editor or agent there comes a point when we have to buckle down and write the damn synopsis.


What is a synopsis? Is it an outline?


"No." According to the UK Crime Writers' Association. "A synopsis gives a narrative overview of the story's progression from beginning to end..."

Whereas:

"An outline gives a breakdown of the story scene by scene, chapter by chapter, character interplay by character interplay from beginning to end. It is a blueprint constructed by the writer for their own use before they actually begin to write the book."

Not so, according to well-known New York literary agent Donald Maass, "...in publishing terms outline really means synopsis." So he says in his The Career Novelist - A Literary Agent Offers Strategies for Success (available as a FREE download - click here).

According to Maass, "...the best outlines are more than plot summaries. They are novels in miniature." Maass also suggests five pages is too short and fifty pages too long.

Back in the days before I had access to the web - and too much, often conflicting, information on synopses - I bought a copy of André Jute's Writing Proposals & Synopses That Sell.

It's an entertaining and useful read. Jute writes in chatty, knowledgeable, punchy style - covering synopses for novels, telivision [sic. p.177], film and radio, as well as non-fiction proposals. Jute supplies an extensive and varied range of working examples to amply illustrate his advice and strategies. Interestingly Jute advocates using snatches of dialogue from your work within the synopsis - other guides I've read are resolutely set against this idea.

Much of the front end of the book - Position and Power in Publishing - usefully discusses how and by whom our synopses will likely be received. Well worth a look at. You can buy the book via the Clueless, Ink UK Amazon store here.

In his How to Write a Great Query Letter - Insider Tips & Techniques for Success (available as a FREE download - click here then click on 'query' in the title bar) Noah Lukeman (SEE this post and this post) advises having ready two one-page synopses, one single-spaced the other double-spaced, an extended synopsis, between 2 and 5 pages in length, and, just in case, a chapter outline - essential for a non-fiction proposal.

So, who should we trust? Lukeman or Maas? A single page? 2-5 pages? Or somewhere between 5 and 50 pages?

Setting aside the predilections of New York agents two sources I have found to be very useful when it comes to the nuts'n'bolts of drafting a synopsis are:

• The Synopsis - Don't Sweat It - put together for the U.K. Crime Writers' Association by Mike Jecks, Kay Mitchell and Edwin Thomas to help entrants to the C.W.A.'s Debut Dagger award. Go here and scroll down the page.

• Writing the Tight Synopsis by Chicago crime writer Beth Anderson. (click here) Originally given as a talk at writers' conferences, pages 4-6 of this 6 page document constitute the most useful, practical step-by-step guide to the dreaded task of drafting a convincing synopsis I've yet come across.

Should you need to refer to the above at some point in the future I've put links to the downloads in a new sidebar category: Useful Downloads.

How do you set about the task of drafting a synopsis? Do you do it before you start drafting the work, or afterwards? Any tips? Any links to useful resources on this, the slipperiest of topics?

Punctuation - the music of language? The ART of PUNCTUATION or A DASH of STYLE by Noah Lukeman

Punctuation is not my strong point. I often hesitate before placing a comma in a sentence.

No, I mean ...

Punctuation is not my strong point and I often hesitate before inserting a comma into a sentence.

Or, maybe I mean ...

Punctuation isn't my strong point; I often hesitate before reaching for a comma.

I think you get my drift.

Here, Noah Lukeman writes almost lovingly about that set of signs and symbols, those indispensable marks, which, when inserted into a text, can elucidate or obfuscate meaning and expression.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of books dealing with punctuation. What sets this volume apart is that it is aimed squarely at writers; as is set out in the introduction:

'This is not a book for grammarians ... This book is for the audience
that needs it the most and yet for whom, ironically, a punctuation book
has yet to be written: creative writers.'

When I read a (usually unpublished) writer declaring, 'Punctuation? No dealbreaker. The line-editor will correct it,' I often bring to mind a macho type, pointing Percy at the porcelain, missing the pot and saying, 'No worries, I'll have the missus clean it up.'

Laziness? Arrogance? Ineptitude? Or an uncouth mix of all three?

Setting aside apostrophes and slashes, Lukeman ably, and entertainingly, takes us through the most important marks, illustrating his points with telling examples, pointing up underuse and overuse, and setting us end-of-chapter exercises.

There's a lot of food for thought here:

'Why did Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Carver lean heavily on the full stop? Why did William Faulkner eschew it? Why did Edgar Allen Poe and Herman Melville rely on the semicolon? Did Emily Dickinson embrace the dash, Gertrude Stein avoid the comma? How could the punctuation differ so radically between these great authors? What did punctuation add that language itself could not?'

Such is tempered with practical, no-nonsense suggestions for improving one's work.

• Ever wondered what your use of paragraph and section breaks reveals about you?

• Do you want to know what F. Scott Fitzgerald said about the exclamation mark?

• Ever thought why Cormac McCarthy avoids commas?
  

Excellent stuff. Every writer of English and American English should keep a copy within easy reach of the desk.

FROM PITCH TO PUBLICATION - Everything You Need to Know to Get Your Novel Published - by Carole Blake

I think we all have a bit of a twinge, bit of a cringe, when we recall our first efforts of getting our work onto a publisher's editor's desk.
Yes, publisher's editor, not literary agent. Because, before we knew any different, we didn't even query -- just composed a confident covering letter bundled it with our typescript (or handwritten ms) and winged it off to a publisher.*

Yes, we had the Writer's and Artist's Yearbook (first published in 1906), but it didn't offer many clues about prevailing markets.

Today, apart from publishers such as: Alma, Canongate, Constable & Robinson, Monday Books, Myrmidon, Macmillan New Writing, Snowbooks, and Two Ravens Press, we all know, personal connections notwithstanding, we need a literary agent to broker our introductions to commissioning editors.**

And, today, we can call on the generous advice of J.A. Konrath, Miss Snark, the Query Shark, the Frugal Editor, and the Evil Editor, and consult Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages and How to Write a Great Query Letter, to help us craft a killer query. They are all useful, reliable and recommended sources. However, their expertise is in helping you with specific, technical aspects of the query process.

From Pitch to Publication by Carole Blake is a good, solid source of advice and information which discusses the query hurdle within the context of the whole process, from deciding what to write, through to deciphering royalty statements. It should be considered the standard work for U.K. based commercial fiction writers. And I'm sure a good many U.S. based writers will find it very useful. The index is excellent.

Carole Blake, co-proprietor of Blake, Friedmann Literary, TV & Film agency, (where singer-songwriter Dido once worked as an assistant) knows what she's writing about, and she's a popular speaker at several writers' get-togethers.

I know some writers cavil at some of her advice, such as: "You shouldn't send manuscripts [to prospective agents] that smell (As a life-long non-smoker I have sometimes reeled at the smoky smell given off as a manuscript is unwrapped from its envelope. I could never take a cigarette-smelling manuscript to my home to read, I would find it too unpleasant.)." But I regard that as useful information.

I will stress that Carole Blake's formula (p.31 in the 1999 edition) for an ideal submission (query) package is very much her own, designed to meet her needs when considering material -- you should always format and package your queries according to the wishes of the specific agent you are approaching. Always check -- even individual agents within the same agency have their own preferences.

* I did exactly this with a collection of short-stories way back in 1973 - and it worked - prompting dialogue with an editor at Macmillan which lasted several months.

** Browsing around I turned up quite a few (so far U.K. based only) publishers who will accept submissions from writers - so I'll research this, and post a list of links to publishers who will accept submissions from writers.

SIDEBAR ALERT: UK LITERARY AGENTS

A few notes concerning the list of more than 90 UK agents over in the sidebar here.

The list is NOT definitive. There are still numerous UK agents without a presence on the web.
As far as I am aware none of the agents listed are scammers. Aside from those with whom I've had contact* I cannot vouch for any of them.

• Not all the agents listed are members of the Association of Authors' Agents. (For U.S. readers the near equivalent of the Association of Authors' Representatives.)

• Not all the agents listed handle fiction.

• Not all the agents listed handle children's and teen fiction. A couple of the agencies listed only handle children's and teen fiction. (I'm not promising, but if I get time I may create a discrete list of agents which specialise in children's and teen/young adult fiction.)

• A few of the agents listed only handle theatre, film and TV scripts.

• A few of the agencies listed are talent management agencies; as such they represent actors, after-dinner speakers, motivational speakers, theatre and film directors etc etc etc as well as writers.

• As ever DO YOUR HOMEWORK before making contact with the agents listed. And by homework I don't mean making sure you've spelled the particular agent's name correctly; make sure as best you can that they will be interested in your area of work.

• Use this information wisely. Where you can, back it up with what you've gleaned from the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook and/or the Writer's Handbook.

I've tested all the links and have not encountered problems. (I haven't listed sites that require downloading apps before allowing access.) I'll maintain and update the list as best I can, but if you do encounter problems then do please let me know. Thanks.

Keeping the list together is an interesting, if laborious, exercise; years of browsing notwithstanding, I still turn up agencies I've never heard of before. And I've 'scoped out one or two that looked a good fit for my novel - I'll let you know how I get on.

When maintaining the list I've been surprised by the growing number of agents based in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other English speaking territories. At present I only have lists of UK and US agents. Would it be helpful to you if I created a list of agents in other English speaking territories? Please let me know. If I get a few positive responses I'll set to.

Happy querying y'all, and keep the faith.

*Blake Friedmann, Mic Cheetham, Rogers, Coleridge & White, Gregory & Company, Caroline Davidson, Futerman, Rose & Associates and David Higham.

The FIRST FIVE PAGES

The author of this handbook, Noah Lukeman, is a literary agent, writer and editor. As an agent he's sold over 200 titles to publishers. His client list includes Pulitzer Prize winners, and his clients' titles feature regularly on the New York Times bestseller lists. Interestingly, one of his fiction clients is Gene Hackman, the well-regarded Hollywood actor.

You can find out more at his agency's website . But don't get too excited -- he's not currently accepting queries. But it's well worth checking out the site because you'll find two very useful downloads: How to Write a Great Query Letter and How to Land a Literary Agent, both of which I strongly recommend you read.

After you've written, and re-written, your novel, put it up on a crit site for feedback, and re-edited, re-structured, and re-written accordingly, there will come a time when you'll want to start shopping it around agents. STOP. Read this book first.

The First Five Pages -- A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile is an excellent handbook for all writers, not only novelists, at all stages of development.

In two words this book is focussed on word economy; every single word in those first five pages (or first five sentences) has to really work to earn its presence.

Lukeman methodically (yea, forensically) dissects and examines, giving examples of enfeebling prose, every aspect of the writing-reading experience. Reading the book is akin to having a very sharp editor sat aside you at your desk, talking you through the process of skimming a slush pile.

Each chapter is topped with a quote from a known writer and tailed with a practical exercise.

I enjoy Lukeman's prose; it's clear, precise, cogent, eloquent and sincere. There's a lot of information and opinion here, and Lukeman manages to get it across in digestible style. One could say his tone is a bit humourless -- but, hey, do you still need sugar with your medicine?

The only advice in this book which I would advise writers to seek more specific advice is on the method used to consign work to a targetted agent. Here, Lukeman advocates using FedEx, or other guaranteed-signature delivery method. This will have some agents, such as the legendary Miss Snark, climbing walls.

I'm aware some writers find Lukeman's tone to be superior, or condescending. For others he's overly precious. But what do you think?