Say What? The Fiction Writer's Handy Guide to Grammar, Punctuation, and Word Usage

by C.S. Lakin

Finally! A grammar guide specifically designed for fiction writers! Introducing the second edition, with more than fifty new entries!

WRITING CORRECTLY DOESN’T HAVE TO BE HARD OR TEDIOUS

Great writers write well. Grammatical errors mark a manuscript as unprofessional and the author as sloppy or an amateur. But you don’t have to memorize the myriad of grammar, punctuation, and usage rules to have a well-written book. If you’re a novelist or write creative nonfiction, this handy guide is essential—giving you the most common and applicable rules and tips to make your book shine—minus the pain!

Inside you’ll find

Short, concise, and often humorous explanations of important grammar, punctuation, and word usage rules as featured on the award-winning blog Live Write Thrive.
Bonus fiction-writing tips to help you tighten your prose and say what you mean in fewer, more appropriate words.
Easy-to-navigate sections and a comprehensive index so you can find the answer to your grammar question right away.

Whether you’re a novice or experienced writer, you’ll benefit from these clear and helpful explanations of grammar and usage based on The Chicago Manual of Style—the US book publishing industry’s authoritative reference guide. You no longer need to search the web or thumb through a stack of grammar books to find simple answers to your grammar questions. With Say What? at your fingertips, you’ll spend less time fretting over grammar and more time writing. And you’ll become a better writer in the process!

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2014

Reviews

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

CS Lakin is an excellent "how to" author for writers. Say What? is no exception. It's a grammar primer, but with much more, including tips for writers and rules for fiction writers. She is very thorough, and the aim is to help the author do at least part of the copy editing process. In other words, do your own copy editing first, and then hand it over so someone else to finish it off. The upside is that this is a handy reference book as well. The downside, reading it all at once is tiresome, because grammar and word usage can be very dry and when there is too much information packed in, the reader gets overwhelmed and tired. My advice - take it in small doses, and remember that you can always use it as a hands-on reference guide later on. Lakin does try to make this seemingly dry topic interesting through humor and quotes from famous authors. Excellent for aspiring and seasoned writers alike, as the process of copy editing is never finished!

[Bruce Hunter]

I would have liked to give this book a glowing recommendation, but alas this book was not only astonishingly poorly formatted, it was done so by a "professional copyeditor", no less! Is this a joke? I would be ashamed to put out a book in this state. For shame!

[Helia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book back in 2018 and now I know why I never finished it. How often do you use the words "reing", "appraised", "borne"," efficient", etc to warrant to buy a whole book about them? I trust my editor will catch those little words I mispelled while on the rush of writing, why do I have to bother with any of this?

On top of that, each little section containing a word that you'll probably never use ends with a quote from an author giving "writting advice" such as the importance of plotting your story to death before writing, or write for your audience and not for yourself or other cliches. What does that have do with the topic at hand, which is, you know, GRAMMAR?

DNF for a second time. If I ever have a spelling question, I much rather google it than referring back to this book.

[Angela Bee Bee]

in progress
As columnist and editor Doug Larson said: “If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur."

"You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.” ~ Arthur Polotnik

I have a lovely spelling check
That came with my PC,
Witch plainly marks, four my revue,
Miss takes I can not sea.
I've run this poem threw the thing.
I'm sure your please too no.
It's latter perfect in every weigh.
My checker tolled me sew

[Phyllis A. Still · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent,easy to use guide for quick, professional self-editing. I'm a first time novelist working through the revision process using this book along with the 'Find/Replace' feature in Word to make corrections. Thank you C.S. Lakin. :)

[Peggy Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must have!

Susanne has given us a wonderful detailed reference grammar guide for any kind of writing. She provides the information to you with tips, data and sample that are easy to understand and you can apply it to you your projects quickly.

[W. Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick guide book to have next to your writing desk. Handy way to avoid those common pitfalls.

[Michele Rice Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference book for any grammar related question. This book belongs on every writer's reference library.

[Ann Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This will be constantly on hand for reference purposes but I'm marking it read because I've had a good look through it and read a substantial part of it. It's not intended to be read through, but I learned some things I didn't know or had forgotten, especially the difference between 'lay' and 'lie' which catches me every time.

Very friendly, very detailed, and a great resource. Highly recommended.