Two of my beta-readers have very dry senses of humor. Now, this works out well for me because I have the same sense of humor. Invariably, whenever I read their in-line comments for a chapter of mine, there will be some giggles in there.

The giggles have also pointed at certain trends I have—oddly enough, I can be wordy. Olivia has to use the word “snip” a lot, while Robin gets to use the word “omit” just as much. Right now, I believe Robin has the edge on leading the word-snipping-omitting race. But only because Robin’s been tackling beta-ing Awaken the Sleeping Gods since Spring, while Olivia’s been helping polish up the first few chapters of Monster Rules.

Highlights of my current trend:

Olivia

Nice vocabulary. Cut it, egghead.

Snip! Wordy McWordton

I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, OMG so many modifiers, two of them synonyms!

Robin

This is a run-on sentence b/c it joins two separate ideas. The comma should be replaced by either a period or a semi-colon. (Somewhere, at this very moment, my former grammar teachers are very proud of me, lol.)

You like run-on sentences, don’t you? Make this a period.

Replace with either a period or a semicolon. This is a run-on.

See above.

Another run-on. Replace the comma with a semicolon. Do not be afraid of short sentences, though. They are not the earmark of a bad writer. They help shake paragraphs up once in a while. They are your friends.

This is a run-on. Replace with period.

Dear Beta Readers,

I will endeavor try to keep my run-on sentences and gratuitous extra smarty-wordy words to a minimum.

Sincerely,
Jamie

P.S. You guys are teh awesome.

Categories: writing