Gems: You Want the Ruby, Not the Garnet. Homophones.

While we are on the subject of new writer mistakes, let me embarrass myself and admit that I had a problem with homophones. Homophones are a group of words that have the same pronunciation but are often spelled different and have different meanings. You can think of it as the difference between a ruby and a garnet. Rubies and garnets look the same, but one is a harder stone, often more clear and more rare. If you paid the price of a ruby for a garnet, you would not be too happy. The correct homophone is the ruby while the other is a garnet, which is not quite good enough.

The wrong homophones can be found in the work of novice writers, can slip past more advanced writers and can often irritate editors. The best way to avoid the mistake is to gather a list of homophones, adding more and more as time goes by, and to study them.

Below, I have listed four of the most common sets of homophones that I was guilty of confusing and that I encounter when proofreading for newer authors. The great thing about these four sets is that after you have studied the differences and the more you write and proofread your own work, these will no long be a problem for you.

Your, you're

Your is the possessive form of the word you.
Example for your: Is that your dog?

You're is the contraction of you are.
Example for you're: I think you're going to be late.

It's, its

Its is the possessive form of the word it. And like the word your above, it does not need an apostrophe.
Example for its: The dog wagged its tail.

It's is the contraction of either it is or it has. It is a contraction, therefore it needs the apostrophe.
Example for it's: It's cold outside.

There, their, and they're

Examples:
There: I don't want to go there.
Their: Their house is up for sale.
They're: They're going to have to move soon. (They're: contraction of they are.)

To, two, and two

To: They want to go to the store.
Two: She has two children.
Too: That is way too much ketchup for one hot dog. OR He likes candy too.

With the first three sets, I believe there is confusion because in most cases an apostrophe is used with a possessive.
Examples: The cat's eyes glow in the dark. I put Mark's jacket in the closet. I went into the restaurant's kitchen.

Naturally, we want to put an apostrophe on all possessives. I found it helpful to lump all the possessive pronouns together to look at. Mine, yours, his, hers, theirs, ours, its. Then I found it helpful when editing to stop at words like it's, you're, they're and asked myself if they still read correctly as it is, you are, and they are.

There are many homophones and I still mix some of them up. I have reduced the amount of mistakes by simply studying a list of homophones found at this website.

When I write a word that I know is a homophone and I am in doubt about which one to use, I simply google the word and read the definition.
What are some of the homophones that you mix up? Do you have any tricks, tips or websites on how to beat the homophone trap?

Next up, dialogue.

Gems: A Strand of Shiny Grammar Pearls of Wisdom

Not being a daring person, I was nervous about the idea of sharing my stories with family, much less strangers. My desire to improve finally outweighed my bashful nature and I sent a story to a new internet friend. I was not worried about being critiqued as much as I was just nervous about whether they would like the story or not. I am so glad that I took that first step.

The day I got my story back with comments and red marks is a day I will never forget. I learned a few things about myself that I think have helped me get to a point where I had a complete manuscript that I felt was worthy of submitting. I learned that I had a thick skin and that I could take constructive criticism, I found out that I am very teachable, and I rediscovered my love of research.

My beta started her critique off with kind words and praise for my story ideas, but she pointed out some basic and common errors that many new writers make. She did not spend a lot of time educating me on the mistakes, but she put me on the right path by describing what the error was and giving me a quick example of how I could fix it.

I had some interesting grammar mistakes, and I am still learning to master many of them. For some reason, I overuse commas or put them in strange places. I had some fragmented sentences, I over used adverbs and did not know the correct order for adjectives or the rules about when commas should be used with them.d

Determined to get these things right, I searched online and found some great grammar resources.

Guide to Grammar and Writing: A great place to learn grammar and take quizzes.
The Perdue Online Writing Lab
Grammar Girl: I recommend subscribing to the daily emails.
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: Plenty of quizzes to take after you learn something new.

Some aspiring writers who are reading these articles might be asking themselves why I am starting my series by discussing the technical side of writing. My answer to that is simple. If you want to be a carpenter, you need to get familiar with the tools. If you want to be a baker, you need to know how to measure. If you want to be a writer -- one that has a chance of getting published -- you need to know the tools of your trade. Grammar is one of those tools. If you try to submit something with poor spelling, grammar, or formatting, be prepared to get rejection letters.

If you have some pearls of wisdom, comments or questions, please leave a comment to this post. I would really love to add to my list of grammar sites to recommend, so if you have a favorite, please comment and tell me what it is. I would love to know what your common grammar mistakes were when you first started writing.

In my next installment for this series, we will explore dialogue punctuation and homophones.

Introduction to My Hunting Gems Series

In September of 1982, my parents gave me a diary for my tenth birthday. I started writing in it nightly. To this day, I can’t make out some of the words, but it was filled with the goings on of my young life. Every year after, while I was in school, someone gave me a diary for my birthday. Looking at my last diary from when I was seventeen, I am ashamed to say that I still can’t read some of the words. Of the ones I can read, many of them are spelled wrong and it takes a bit of thinking to figure out what I was trying to write about.

In August of 1985, I opened a spiral notebook, meant to be used as school supplies, and wrote my first poem. Over the years, the pile of poetry-filled notebooks would grow to number about twenty. Scattered amongst the angst-ridden poems were short stories or the beginnings of ideas for longer novels.

In the summer of 1985, my mother noticed and read the beginnings of my first novel attempt. It was handwritten on loose lined paper. As always, it was hard to read because of my poor penmanship and lack of good grammar skills, but she saw potential there and brought home a manual typewriter from work. I was so glad that I had taken typing in school.

In the fall of 1987, my parents bought me a word processor, complete with a printer. I painstakingly typed in my novel and then finished it. The freedom to cut, copy, and paste was so great that I spent much time trying to make it better. Unfortunately, the disks that I had kept the novel on got lost when I moved out of the house, but that first attempt gave me the writing bug.

In May of 2007, I sat down in front of my computer, opened a blank notepad file and started to type. As I wrote the story, I realized a few things.

1.) My grammar had not improved.
2.) My punctuation for dialogue was all wrong.
3.) My storytelling abilities were lacking.

I made the decision to stop writing and learn as much as I could about writing before I started the novel again, though I did continue to write practice stories.

I started my search by using the internet. What I found was scattered bits and pieces. It was like treasure hunting, finding gems amongst the sand and debris that litter the web.

While I Wait

I did get my proof copy and it was so exciting to hold the glossy covered paperback in my hands. It made it more real for me. It was such a thrill to show it off to a few of my good friends and I even left it with some one that I admire greatly. She read it and gave me some really positive feedback. I don't know what I was expecting, but her words of encouragement really blew me away.

My YA novel is now in the hands of the last person who I feel needs to see it and give me their opinion before I submit to a publisher.

While I wait I am doing a few things.

1. I'm jotting down notes and putting together character sketches for the next book in the series.

2. I'm doing research on the right way to put a submission package together.

3. I'm going over some grammar and writing style things that I have learned over the last year and a half.

Today, I concentrated on the adverb. Mainly those -ly words that often sneak into my prose to modify my verbs. Slowly walking could be strolled. Quickly drinking could be gulped, etc.

I'll Take an Editor Seriously

Not too long ago, I gave a recommendation for the Edittorrent Blog . If you are an aspiring writer, I highly recommend it still.

I've been a busy girl and haven't had a chance to read it lately. Tonight, I took a moment to glance at it and what did I find on the first page? A question and answer section.

One of the questions asked was: Do you ever reject because of bad grammar and other writer mistakes.

The editor's answer was a resounding YES! She remarked that she is always surprised at how often this is asked or even that it's asked at all. If our job is words, we should be able to know words and how to effectively put them together to communicate.

So, I don't feel bad about putting my novel on hold. In fact, I feel more inspired that I have been. Anyone reading this blog can clearly see that I still need help in the area of grammar and even more help with style. I'm not ashamed of that fact. I write in this blog to practice my skills. One day, I'll look back at these early posts and cringe at how poorly they were written, but at the same time, I'll be very happy to know I have improved.