Kathy’s Rules for Commas

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here, today taking issue with style sheets.

One advantage of self-publishing in e-book and POD formats is that I am no longer bound by “house” styles, the choices on spelling, grammar, and punctuation issues that publishers used to set up, and probably still do, for their copy editors to enforce. When I was being published by traditional publishers, every one of them had preferred rules for punctuation, capitalization, and so on. If your usage in a manuscript differed, the copy editor would change it.

I prefer to play by the rules. The only problem was that I’d just get the hang of the way one publisher wanted commas done and another publisher would hit me with a different set of guidelines. I finally gave up trying to get it right in advance and just punctuated the text the way it made sense to me. I didn’t argue with a copy editor’s changes unless they altered the meaning of my sentence.

no, this isn’t real, but it’s not that far off either

 

Things are different now. I don’t answer to an editor or a publisher and I go by only two rules when it comes to commas. I use the Oxford comma in lists, for clarity, and I put a comma where there needs to be one to indicate a pause. This is especially important in writing dialogue.

I could stop here, but that would make a very short post, so I will go on to add that I also arbitrarily use lower case for titles like the duke of Norfolk and the queen, but tend to capitalize titles like Her Majesty and Principal Secretary. When I was writing contemporary novels I was in a constant battle over whether or not to capitalize Sheriff’s Department. Yes, I know there are style manuals, but the rules have changed over time and I’d just as soon stick with what I remember being taught back in the dark ages when I was in school. Altering those habits just seems wrong.

Spelling comes into this discussion, too. Sometimes alright really needs to be two words. I have a back yard, not a backyard, to go with my front yard. On the other hand, the area our driveway leads into is a dooryard. Maybe I’m just too lazy or too stupid to learn the “rules,” but it seems to me that when those rules keep changing, no one can keep up.

how I sometimes felt when trying to figure out comma rules

All this makes me wonder if readers care about, or even notice, a writer’s choices in spelling, grammar, or punctuation, as long as they aren’t pulled out of the story by them. That’s a serious question. I’d love to hear what MCW readers think. Please feel free to chime in in the comments section.

Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett has had sixty-four books traditionally published and has self published others. She won the Agatha Award and was an Anthony and Macavity finalist for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category. In 2023 she won the Lea Wait Award for “excellence and achievement” from the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. She was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor in 2014. She is currently working on creating new editions of her backlist titles. Her website is www.KathyLynnEmerson.com.