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2 Comments September 15th, 2009

My use of the comma

Tagged: authorship, punctuation, writing

I have been reflecting on self-deceptions in my writing. A fine analysis can be found in Noah Lukeman’s excellent A Dash of Style: The art and mastery of punctuation under the subheading “What your use of the comma reveals about you”:

The writer who overuses commas tends to also overuse adjectives and adverbs. He tends to be repetitive, won’t be subtle, and often gives too much information. He grasps for multiple word choices instead of one strong choice, and thus the choices he makes won’t be strong. His langugae won’t be unique. Commas are also used to qualify, offset, or pase, and the writer who frequently resorts to this tends to be reluctant to take a definitive stance. He will be hesitant. His characters, too, might not take a stand; is plot might be ambiguous. It will be harder for him to deliver dramatic punches when need be, and indeed he is less likely to be dramatic. He is interested in fine distinctions, more so than pacing, and is likely to write an overly long book. He writes with critics in mind, with the fear of being criticized for omission, and is more likely to have a scholarly background (or at least be well read) and to consider too many angles. This writer will need to simplify, to take a stronger stance, and to understand that less is more.

In my defense, an Amazon reviewer says these sections are “presumptuous and insulting”.

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2 Responses to “My use of the comma”

Cheryl on September 15th, 2009

how much is too much?

ben on September 15th, 2009

Noah Lukeman uses driving metaphors (period is a stop sign, comma speed bump, etc.) with the idea that you will pace your writing for the reader (he is talking to fiction writers).

For me, using commas is more of a warning-sign that I’m being weasily: usually when I’m trying to avoid saying something that could be contentious, or when I’m trying to heavily parse a concept. If I’m aware of this, I’ll usually take a moment to:

1. figure out what the core message is that I want to tell the reader. I usually notice I’m taking a really long time to write something as simple as “This is dumb and I don’t care.”

2. decide if this is even something I really want to say (if not, I’ll delete what I have and just not write anything)

3. commit myself to saying just that core idea (and jettisoning the rest)

Or, I’ll just continue to be weasily and substitute colons, parentheses and em-dashes in the place of commas.