The Run-on Sentence: From Here To Eternity


If you find your sentences filled with commas, and they wend from one topic to another, then you, like many people, may be guilty of writing run-on sentences.

The run-on sentence is annoying. The run-on is boring. Most important, utilizing run-ons in your work is a sure-fire way of losing your reader.

The run-on works in one instance - if it is part of one of your character's personality. For instance, if you are writing dialogue spoken by a typical teenage girl, run-ons would be acceptable ("Well, we went, you know, to the mall, and, like, we tried on some clothes and makeup, and then Sheila saw this really cute guy in The Gap, so we went over and like, started talking, and ..." you get the picture.)

Curing a mania for run-ons may be a simple as implementing an outline for your work. Break each topic down into logical, organized subtopics and details. Relegate each thought to a single sentence. When a topic or subtopic requires further discussion, create unique sentences containing each of these details (or group related details) after your lead-in sentence.

If your topic ultimately branches out to other major topics, reference those topics in your initial paragraph, but address them in other paragraphs (or chapters.) This acts as a "teaser" to your audience, leaves them wanting more, and motivates them to read on.

These instructions sound like high school stuff, but I recently edited a college-level text written by a Ph D that was fraught with run-ons. The subject matter was economics. The combination was deadly from the standpoint of maintaining consciousness. So for the sake of your readers, form a working relationship with semicolons and periods, and leave run-ons to the Valley Girls.

About The Author

Jean Fritz is the owner and chief editor for JMT Publications (http://jmtpubs.tripod.com), a company specializing in helping self-publishing authors get into print. For more information on self-publication or to subscribe to her free newsletter, Writers' Notes, visit the JMT Publications website.

jeantype@excite.com

MORE RESOURCES:
RELATED ARTICLES
The Hard Facts About Editing
Whether you're interviewing for a new job, trying to woo a love interest on a first date, selling your work on the Internet, or submitting a query to an editor, you can never make a second first impression. It's true.
Balance Your Life
Balance your life   -----------------------   Writing is a solitary task. Writing needs concentration and quiet.
Top 10 Tips to Complete a Creative Writing Project Without Losing Your Creativity
Have you ever started a creative writing project with great excitement, only to have your interest dwindle as the process, itself, interfere with your creativity? How do you keep the momentum going and continue to enjoy the creative process? Follow these tips for high creativity, fun and success!1. Create a writing environment that inspires you.
Gut Check: Quitting Your Full-time Job for Your Freelance Career
It's 6:00 p.m.
Blank Mind, Blank Screen: Need Ideas!
Q. I'm staring at a blank screen with an equally blank mind.
The Struggle
Sometime one must coax the words out.Each day is a struggle to sit before the computer and produce-produce words that are appropriate, produce sentences that are logical, produce paragraphs that are focused, and produce a page that is relevant to the project-whether it is a poem, a short story, an article, an essay, or part of a novel.
New Authors Publishing Options
All your publishing options are as follows:--Conventional publishing--Vanity or subsidy publishing--Print-on-demand publishing--Self-publish yourself--Get help with self-publishingLet's compare the publishing options.How to get in the publishing process and how long will it take to see your book printed?Conventional publishing optionIt is a very long and difficult process to get a publisher even if it is at all possible for a new author.
Write For Yourself First
It would be very selfless or noble of me to tell you that I have created my web site only to help you and the rest of humanity. The reason for me spending so much time and energy into my writing and this site is selfish.
Writing Query Letters that Count -- Close the Deal with Your First Letter!
Your query letter can be a deal maker or a deal breaker. So, if your query letter just lies there, you've killed the sale immediately or your story or novel immediately.
Dreading the Writing Assignment? Outlines to the Rescue
Writing technical articles is a challenge. There you sit, surrounded by reams of research, notes and interviews.
Ferreting Out Work
FERRETING OUT WORK You keep hearing that there's work out there, but so far you haven't found any. Well, where is it? That depends on what you're looking for.
The Blank Mind
Many writers stare at the blank page or clean computer screen and wait for inspiration with a feeling of hopelessness. That white page or screen is always a struggle to fill, and it probably will always be for most writers.
To Write Successful Business & Academic Communications, Learn the Architecture of a Story
Human beings seem to be born with a gene for telling stories. Stories from our families, our communities, and the media form our worldview and shape our lives.
How to Have an Effective Reading Group
Writing leads to reading. Therefore, it's only fair to supply my readers with sufficient information on creating an effective reading group, since the last article was based on writing groups.
What Can Go Into A Plot?
Creative Writing Tips -We all tackle plotting differently. How you plot will be individual to you, as it is with every writer.
Call Yourself a Writer? Where Are Your Notes?
Writers are notorious collectors of slips of paper. They tear articles from magazines in the doctor's waiting room; they rip corners off newspapers in friend's houses because they need to write down something witty; and they stuff their bags and pockets with serviettes, cigarette packs, and discarded train tickets just because note making's second nature to them.
A Writers Tools
If you are like most writers, you're constantly searching for tips on technique that will help you to increase your chances of publication. You eagerly pounce on articles that tell you how to plot better, write better and sell better.
Make Your Readers Cry
You know, I really hate it when someone catches me crying over a book.I surreptitiously dab at the corners of my eyes with a finger.
Is The Theme Running Throughout The Story?
Creative Writing Tips -It's no use coming up with a theme and not using it. Short stories are about a character or characters and about one situation or happening in those characters' lives.
Want to start a publishing revolution?
Calling all publishers, editors, journalists and freelance writers. It's time to breathe more life into your copy.