Tutor Tuesday - Commas and Appositives

Figuring out where and when to use a comma can be tricky. They're pesky little buggers, aren't they? One situation when you sometimes use one (and sometimes not) is with appositives and appositive phrases.

An appositive is a noun that describes another noun, such as:

My father, Mike, is retired.

Or

When the movie was over I called my mom, Laurie, to pick me up.

An appositive phrase would be:

Stephen King, a New York Times bestselling author, has millions of fans.

Or

Being a huge supporter of the cause, Rachel donated thousands of dollars.

So, when do you use commas in these situations?

When the information is necessary for the meaning of the sentence you do NOT need to separate it with a comma. If the information is extra and nonessential, you DO separate it with commas.

For example:

My friend Sarah just got married.

I presumably have more than one friend, so her name (Sarah) is essential information and therefore is NOT separated by commas.

Example of when you do use commas:

At our high school, the principal, Mr. Torreli, has a very strict policy on tardiness.

There is only one principal at the school, so the extra information (his name) is nonessential and therefore set apart with commas.

In a situation where you have both, it might look like this:

My uncle David brought his wife, Shannon, to my graduation.

I have more than one uncle so his name is essential (not set apart) but he only has one wife, so her name isn't necessary and IS set apart.

What are some punctuation rules that confuse (or just plain irritate) you? :)

Tutor Tuesday - Settings

Whether you are creating your own settings while writing fiction or analyzing settings while writing non-fiction, this story element is an extremely important part of the equation.

Let's look at non-fiction first. You have to analyze a story for an essay and you decide to look at the settings of your piece. Some stories have more pronounced settings than others. In some books, the setting is more of a subtle background, the stage on which the actors play, while in others, the setting is almost a character in and of itself.

Say you are asked to write a literary analysis of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Some questions you may want to consider when analyzing the setting of this book are:

* What is the time period? Would this story have worked better set in a different time?
* What is the location? Would the story have worked better elsewhere? Are several locations used in the story? Do they work? Would a specific scene have worked better in another setting? If all the scenes are set in the same location, would the story have worked better set in several different locations?
* What season is the story set in? If it is set in winter, would it be better set in summer? Does the season echo what is happening in the story? (example: Do the love scenes occur in the summer while the trial occurs in the winter, or vice versa?)
* What time of day is it when important events in the story take place? Do the sinister things happen at night while the happy things happen during the day? Why do you think this is?

While the setting may seem like a simple part of the story, it can actually have a huge impact on what is going on. The events detailed in The Scarlet Letter either wouldn't have happened or would have happened in a very different way with a very different outcome if the story had been set someplace like the farthest frontier outpost or an indian village or in the southern states...even during the same time period.

The setting of a story, not just the physical location but everything about it (time of day, season, outside (forest or beach) or inside (and what type of building if inside)) can greatly impact the success of a story. Thoroughly exploring this literary tool can be a great start to your literary analysis.

For fiction, you can ask yourself these same questions as you are creating your settings. Are you creating the best setting for your story? Would it work better somewhere or some time else? Are you giving enough detail for the reader to see the setting without going overboard?

This one can be important. In the first draft of my first novel I described my character pulling up to her home and spent 4 PAGES describing in minute detail every nook and cranny of the house. And I did that several times throughout the book. I was convinced if I didn't give the reader all that description, they wouldn't be able to see the location.

But you know, readers have great imaginations. Give them enough to get them grounded, to let them know what your world looks like, without drowning them in pages of description that they'll never read. I generally start skimming if there is more than a paragraph of description, no matter how beautifully written. Chances are, your readers will too :)

What is your opinion on settings? Do you like long, descriptive passages that describe every detail, or do you like to set things up in your own imagination? What is your favorite literary setting?

Tutor Tuesday - Looking at Characters

First of all, happy 7th birthday to my little boy!!!! Can't believe how old he's getting :) 

Second, welcome to Tutor Tuesdays :D With the release of my non-fiction book fast approaching, (and since I closed down my other blog) I decided I'd devote one day a week to non-fiction matters, including writing tips for essays, papers and other NF things (memoirs, narratives, and anything else you can think of). Just a little non-fiction info to spice up the place :D

Our recent awesome Blogging Experiment topic (on Writing Compelling Characters) reminded me of a post I did on my other blog about focusing on characters when writing analysis essays.

If you have to write a book report or an essay analyzing a work of literature (or even a film), looking at the characters in the piece is an excellent way to start.

Characters are one of the most important, if not THE most important, element in any work of literature. Without a character, there is no story. Even if the story is about a frog...that frog is your main character. So, characters are a great element to look at when analyzing a work of literature for a paper or essay. Here are some questions you could ask about the characters in the story:

• Who are the characters?
• Who is the main character?
• Who is the main villain?
• What qualities/vices/characteristics/quirks/mannerisms do these characters have?
• What do these characteristics do for a particular character?
• What is the author trying to show with a certain character? For example, is the extreme evilness of the main villain supposed to symbolize the evil side of mankind? Does it work? Why or why not? 
• Do the characters personify anything? Qualities/characteristics/feelings? For example, if you were analyzing a story about a girl named Hope who went up against a villain named Dr. Evil, do these characters exhibit the qualities of hope and evil? Is Hope an optimistic person, etc?
• What flaws do the characters have? Or are they too perfect?
• Are the characters believable? Can you relate to them? Are they likable, intriguing, mysterious? How do these qualities affect the story?

Look at the characters from every possible angle and analyze what each character brings to the story. Think about why they are a part of the story, what their presence does, or does not, do for the story.

This also applies to fiction - take a look at your own stories and ask yourself the questions above. Analyzing your characters the way an English student writing an essay would is a great way to make sure they are fleshed out, well-rounded, unique, and doing the job you need them to do.

Have you ever given your characters a good analysis?