December 24, 2006 Sharing with Writers:
From the Desks
Of Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Authors' Coalition Friends
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"Sharing with Writers" is the official newsletter of Authors' Coalition,

http://authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com

an organization of writers who help writers.

To read this newsletter at Authors Den go to:

http://www.AuthorsDen.com/adstorage/1713/Sharingwithwriters_Dec_Christmas_2006.doc

My Dear and Faithful Subscribers:

This is just a little holiday gift from me to you faithful subscribers, no more, no less. It is an excerpt from The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success to be released the early part of 2007 by Red Engine Press (www.redenginepress.com).
Thank you and love to you all. Hope this helps with your efforts to get your work by the gatekeepers who have the power to say, "Yea" or "Nay" in 2007.

Because this book is full of sidebars, this one might be easier to read in the HTML code listed above; no telling how this will come though in plain text.

If any of you have any trouble with it, let me know and I'll send it to you by attachment.

Best,
Carolyn



You're a Writer: You Get to Make Up Words ©
(An excerpt from The Frugal Book Editor by Carolyn Howard Johnson (Red Engine Press.)
Sometimes we make up words that sound like something we've heard (someone made up tick-tock a long time ago). Sometimes we form new words by connecting two as if they were one or by attaching prefixes or suffixes. Those don't cause us too many problems. It's when we start fooling with hyphens that we run into trouble. If you have a good reason for doing so have at it. A "good reason" is generally one that can be articulated but should, in most case, be backed with reasons better than one I hear from my students. Reasons like "I just like it better that way, or, "I want to be different."

It's your prerogative to change even words that are clearly spelled out for you in a good dictionary. Here are two examples that confuse not only my spelling checker in Word but also the one in my e-mail program:

This is an example of an intentionally hyphenated word that would normally not be hyphenated. It's from "Earliest Remembered Sound" in my chapbook of poetry, Tracings:

Father wears a military cap,
grosgrain ribbons
across his heart;
smells of gabardine
and good-byes.

My reason for hyphenating good-byes was that I wanted the careful reader to see the poignant and positive quality in even a painful goodbye--without explaining the concept.

Here's an example of putting two words together without the hyphen from "Everywhere My Dream" from the same book:

I followed my childman
beyond a young girl’s borders
calling nowhere home…

If you're not in your creative mode (or in the mood to confound editors or gremlins) see the sidebar "Quick Test for Hyphenating Double Adjectives" for some guidelines. When in doubt research like crazy, because guidelines are not always clear and hyphens are used (and not used) in so many ways. Beyond that, you may need to be brave.


Playing Peek-a-Boo with Hyphens

 You may occasionally ignore hyphens to make whole new words.
 Use hyphens to separate syllables at the ends of printed lines. These aren't often problems because Word and other programs wrap lines for you--usually, if not always, accurately.
 Use hyphens to separate some prefixes from root words.
 Do not use hyphens to separate suffixes from root words. (Just to make the subject more confusing, there may be a time when using a hyphen with suffixes will clarify your meaning.) Business-ese, as an example, seems better with the hyphen than without, perhaps because of the two s sounds on the end of the word. For this book, I chose to go with my own assessment for clarity over the rulebook. An editor may indeed be watching but I already have a publisher.
 Use hyphens to aid understanding when more than one word is used to modify a noun. Only sometimes. Only when they come before the noun, not after. Example: well-known author or The author is well known.
 This site shows how using a hyphen (or not) can change your meaning: http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/lhyphen.htm



Because the rules of hyphenating are so intricate and because even the experts disagree, the hyphen gremlin (one of the most spiteful of his species) knows that he can have a field day with them. Caution. If you researched a particular use for a hyphen, thought about it and see your decision changed repeatedly because gremlins and editors have been at work, you may want to fight for what you think, rather than what's right.


Hyphens and Prefixes Are in Cahoots with the Gremlins

 Some say when you attach a prefix to a word that's not listed in the dictionary with that prefix, there is no need to use a hyphen.
 Many grammarians also say that when a common prefix--the key word here is common--is attached to a word there is no need for a hyphen. That includes prefixes like co or post.
 Others say if a word is not listed in the dictionary with the prefix, use a hyphen.
 Because there are so few firm rules governing using prefixes with root words, I say if the word you invented looks funny either together or separated, put in a hyphen to see how it looks that way. Go for the one that feels right or makes the meaning clearer.

Here are some less flexible rules:

 Use a hyphen when attaching a prefix to a number or capitalized word Examples: Pre-1920s. Pre-Thanksgiving.
 Use a hyphen when attaching a prefix to a word that is already hyphenated. June Casagrande, author of Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies, gives the example non-self-serving.
 When your hyphenated word shoves two vowels together, separate them with a hyphen. Exceptions are commonly used words like cooperate.
 When adding a prefix to multiword compounds, use a longer punctuation called an en-dash (a longer dash, sort of two dashes connected. You can set your Word program to do that for you automatically when you type two hyphens.) World War II would become pos (hyphen hyphen)World War II. En-dashes are also used for designating period of years: 1980(en-dash)1990. They are also used to indicate opposition. An example: urban(en-dash)agrarian.
 Unless you attach the prefix nonto a proper noun, don't using a hyphen. It's nonsequitur, nonfiction
 Avoid the hyphen when you feel inclined to connect an adverb that ends in ly to another word. Casagrande uses happily married couple as an example. The idea is that ly already lets you know it is married (as it were) to the word married.


Note: For a more rigid take on hyphens read Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves, The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. Keep in mind, however, that she is a Brit and the British publishers follow different grammar, spelling and style rules from ours. The Harry Potter books even had their own American editions.




Your Spelling Checker Does Know the Difference Between One Word and Two

Here's how to force your spelling checker to give you better direction than it otherwise would. Push together two words that look as if they might be one word. Watch for that angry little red squiggle. Oldfashioned gets the red alert; foolproof doesn't. Yet both register as correct when left as two words.

Now try the same pairs using a hyphen. Both old-fashioned and fool-proof come out with no notifier. The spelling checker helped in the first case but not in the second. You see, even Word doesn't want to get into the to-hyphenate-or-not-to-hyphenate fray.

Hyphens (as well as the passive voice) can cause more arguments among otherwise tolerant people than they are worth. Therefore, don't write to me to tell me I'm wrong. You are free to disagree. My only firm rule is to research the subject and the individual occurrence before using a hyphen and to be open to a different opinion (but not necessarily submissive to that opinion). On some things--even when we are trying to impress gatekeepers--there is no such thing as a zero-tolerance rule in spite of what Truss would have us believe.

Use your Find Function but not your spelling checker to do a final check on hyphens just before you send your work off to where it will be perused by a critical (and professional) pair of eyes. Where hyphens are concerned, your checker is as confused as a copyeditor with a hangover. FF will find your hyphenated words, but from there you are on your own.

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Watch for my new website where I will publish extensive lists of resources for writers. It's a horror-in-progress right now but soon it will become a portal for writers.
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Essential Book and Record Keeping:

This letter is an entity of Authors' Coalition http://authorscoalitionandredenginepress.com

Edited and distributed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson,

http://carolynhoward-johnson.com

author of This Is the Place, Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, Tracings, and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't, this is a place to share with others and learn from others.

Though I do attempt to verify information used within this newsletter's pages, Sharing with Writers does not guarantee entities or information. Subscribers should research resources

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Order the Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't
at stores like UCLA, Dayton University and San Diego State University's bookstores. Order it as an e-book at http://starpublish.com/carolyn_howard-johnson.htm

or paperback at Amazon where it is discounted:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/193299310X/qid=1149015406/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-4692447-2218401?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

Tracings, a chapbook of poetry, published by Finishing Line Press may be ordered at www.amazon.com/gp/product/1599240173/qid=1139084827/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7824821-4156653?s=books&v=glance&n=283155