Let's start with the basics, Comma 101. So, for those who don't know, there are about seven major uses for a comma. In order of commonality, they are: 1. Separator Comma: Used to separate distinct items in a list of more than two items, or adjectives.
i.e. Every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
2. Clausal Commas: Used to separate dependent clauses in a sentence.
i.e. I have written several horror stories, all in short story anthologies.
3. Adjectival Comma: Used to separate coordinate adjectives for a single noun.
i.e. I prefer to read a story with a three-dimensional, believable, understandable protagonist.
4. Parenthetical Comma: Used for parenthetical clauses or "non-restrictive clauses".
i.e. I enjoy hand-writing, even though I'm writing this on a keyboard, because it helps me to remember.
5. Elliptical Comma: Used to indicate an omission (similar to the way an ellipsis does).
i.e. I sorted my bookshelf so that reference books were organized by height and fiction books, by colour.
6. Vocative Comma: Used to offset a noun, or pronoun, when addressing them in particular.
i.e. If you've gotten this far, Reader, then I thank you for your patience.
7. Adverbial Comma: Used to offset certain adverbs from the introduction, or interruption, of a sentence.
i.e. Furthermore, every story has an antagonist, however, they may not be a physical person.
There are also several minor uses, which have their place but I don't want to dwell on here, including separating quotations within a sentence; separating distinct numbers in dates, addresses and formal titles; & separating orders of magnitude in large numbers. [Also, yes, I prefer the "serial" comma in my lists. I have changed my mind over the years, as I have found more than one occasion where it is easier to read. If you disagree that's your prerogative.]
So, those are the main uses for a comma, in my eyes. You'll see a fair few in this very blog post.
My issue is that when I write stories I have a lot to say and a lot of my ideas are interconnected. For this reason, I tend to write long, run-on sentences. I'll give you an example:
So, when writing, because I have several ideas in my head, but one idea is related tangentially but not specifically to another idea, I will often write out that first idea as thoroughly as possible; however, I won't then end the sentence, because I wanted to tack on a little bit at the end which, although it can add some extra information, it can also stretch out the sentence to a ridiculous length.
Just look at that thing. That is a monster, and it took me no effort to write because it's the way my brain tends to work, stretching and connecting ideas whilst also trying to flesh them out. There's nothing wrong with a long sentence in and of itself, but I am often inflating these sentences beyond belief through the use of sequential parenthetical commas, and clausal commas. It can make sentences a lot harder to comprehend, because there's a lot more information to digest at once. But brains aren't really good at handling indigestion so they just spit the information back out and fail to remember it.
I only noticed that I was doing it because of the em dash. In my reading, I have noticed that a lot of writers will use an em dash (i.e. this thing "—")in the same way as a parenthesis, or a parenthetical comma. I thought this was a great stylistic choice, it looked nice and was easy to read, because rather than interrupt the line with a bracket to separate an idea, it was literally leading into a related idea. So, I decided to use it more often in my writing, especially once I learned the shortcut for it [Alt+0151, if you're curious]. But, because the em dash is so big, when I started using it to replace my parenthetical commas it became clear to me just how often I do this. Which is to say, all the damn time. The em dash looks nice when used sparingly, but I was using it so often that it was turning paragraphs into Morse Code.
If you've noticed this, I apologize. It's only recently that I realized this mistake.
But once my attention was drawn to the parenthetical/clausal comma I realized a second common error that I do. I kept using commas to denote a pause. I'll give you another example to illustrate what I mean:
So, when reading a sentence aloud, it is common to pause on the commas, to take a breath. It can make it easier to understand the meaning of the sentence, since it can help to denote those clauses, all that stuff I mentioned above. But I would use commas, where I didn't need them, to let readers know where I would have paused, if I were reading the sentences aloud. This meant I was dropping in commas, where there was no grammatical meaning attached. It was just me saying, hey, I paused here, so you should read it as though I paused for effect. But when you use a meaningless comma like that, whilst it can help people read the sentence in the way I would have read it, it makes the meaning less clear, and it can seem like a sentence is littered with parenthetical phrases, omissions, or just plain, old mistakes.
That was a little harder to write since I am trying harder to get better at avoiding unnecessary commas. But, I guarantee that a lot of my older blog posts are littered with commas just like that. Again, if you've noticed this a long time ago, I'm sorry. I hope it didn't affect my writing too negatively.
And yes, I have had an editor who removed more than half of my commas in a story before publication because they were completely unnecessary. Unfortunately, I didn't notice because they also removed all the exclamation points (even when characters were shouting, which was just confusing), and adjusted my grammar to be more American. I thought they were just hoovering up all kinds of punctuation and that teachable moment didn't penetrate my skull.
So, what can I do about it? I comprehend what the issue is, however, it's a reflex. I like to put in commas whenever I pause, mentally. So, what's the solution? Well, I've come up with an effective tool.
PAIN.
Well, not really "pain", moreso just a physical, tangible reminder. I have sticky-taped a small bolt to the comma key of my keyboard, facing "pointy-bit" up. It's not sharp per se, but when I press that key it jabs my finger slightly, depressing my fingertip. The idea is that when I press the comma key I can't do so mindlessly. It's impossible to ignore it because there is a physical, undeniable, blunt-force reminder that I have added another comma to my writing. I won't remove it unless and until I get into the habit of pressing it less frequently.
It's a brutalist solution, but it's actually worked really well. My writing over the past few weeks has improved. I don't know when, if at all, I'll ever remove the bolt from my keyboard. But, I have started to actually consider the way that I use commas. In fact, the keyboard I use to write these blog posts is on a different computer, so can you see a difference? Did you even notice my excessive commas in the first place?
In any case, it's a simple (but effective) solution to improving my writing in a small, but meaningful way.
Now all I need to do is maintain a strict schedule, and I'll actually finish writing this novel!
Until Next Time, I'm the Absurd Word Nerd, and I wonder, what was the last thing you've done to improve yourself lately? I hope it's less barbaric than mine was...
