Author Guide

An author guide is now available. Click on the About button, and from there select author guide. It seeks to explain everything you need to know about submitting written works to the library and contains our recommendations.


It's organised into seven key sections, including Grammar and Punctuation (yawn - I know it's boring but we've tried to make it interesting) and it provides various examples of punctuating dialogue
http://www.spankinglibrary.tk/index.php?func=about&view=aut&pg=gp#punc


Hopefully the guide will be informative and helpful, especially to new and prospective authors.

flopsy

Very interesting.

I strongly recommend The Spanking Library as required reading for all undergraduates hoping to graduate with an English credit, although students may find themselves distracted by the content.

I will certainly be recommending the author's notes pages, particularly the hot examples you cite to demonstrate correct punctuation of dialogue (such as example 4. More please.)

I think it will be hard to drag them away from their studies.

Another great feature for the Library. I guess now that, as an author, I have no excuses.

Quite interesting addition to already awesome site. Thanks.

I have a comment about apostrophe. I have seen it used and I adopted this usage in my writing as an indication of thought to differentiate it from speech:

"You will get a spanking," said Phil.
'You think so,' thought Mel saying, "Why?"

Used like this, they're not apostrophes; they are single quotation marks. I have also used them to differentiate speech from an unspoken thought, though I prefer to use italics for thoughts.

Blasphemy! Grammar and punctuation boring? Never! They're the most fascinating subjects in the world.

Can I recommend a little book by Lynne Truss called 'Eats Shoots & Leaves'? I got mine for two pounds from a charity shop. Everything you need to know about punctuation and easy to read but a mine of information.

There's too much thought going on around here, I'm thinking. Hey it works!

The single quotation marks are originally meant to be used, when another quotation appears inside a quotation. That way the final quotation mark shows, which quotation has ended.
I hope, this makes sense.

I don't have a problem with inverted commas, whether doubled for dialogue or single for quotations (although I think KJM's convention of using them for unvoiced thought is dangerous, because it is quite easy not to notice that only one inverted comma has been typed, and interpret a thought as voiced).

But I have problems with most of the commas in the examples on the Punctuating Dialogue page. The best rule is, if a comma can be left out do so. Legal documents don't use them because they introduce ambiguity. Rewrite the sentence if it is not obvious where the pauses are.

In at least two instances a comma has been used to end a sentence. Just because the sentence is in inverted commas that doesn't change the rule: sentences end with full stops.

By the way in example 4 Jane deserves an extra six strokes for not knowing how to spell cigarettes.