Fic help.

[SF_and_Coffee]

My google chrome says the link doesn't work. I know I've cannibalized several onomastkons for my own personal use, though.

Works fine in the Chrome loaded on my laptop...

That was not a bad site, but I noticed some things missing. I do like how it's divied up by male/female/surnames and also by country. Usually, I just Google the nationality + names and that tends to work pretty well.

What I like about this site is that it isn't just modern names, but rather it uses historical names.

[Starfist]

All this talk of names...
It got me searching for my Dictionary of First Names.
Which is now near my PC.

[Sealurk]

I got a dictionary of baby names from a charity shop and a dictionary of British surnames from a bookshop. Both have been invaluable, but the film credits thing is always a lifesaver.

[WraithRichard]

Works fine in the Chrome loaded on my laptop...
.

I can try it again. I wanted to know it it screwed up for anyone else that way.

[fems]

Doesn't work for me either, tried it earlier today and now that I'm home (different computers) and GC said it didn't work both times.

[SF_and_Coffee]

That's completely weird, because it works for me in all three browsers that I have (Firefox, Chrome and IE).

Try this?

[fems]

That one works.

[The Flyattractor]

A ghost writer is someone who does the work for you while you get the credit.

Seaboe

Ohhh I definatly like that idea better then the other one.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Ohhh I definatly like that idea better then the other one.

Unfortunately, the ghost writer gets money. You'd just get publicity.

Seaboe

[Sealurk]

I'm reading a copy of my latest fic that has been edited and returned by a beta, and I've run into a bit of an issue.

The bulk of my knowledge regarding proper English comes from just reading a lot and slowly developing a sense of what is correct or incorrect rather than from formal education. Admittedly, this isn't ideal for a writer and has led to me being a little ignorant of some rules and developing a few bad habits.

The problem is that with this edited fic, I'm having a little difficulty picking apart what is genuinely grammatically incorrect and what is simply personal style or preference. For example, I've always started dialogue in a new paragraph:

O'Neill leaned forward and cleared his throat.

"I've always thought there was something wrong with that."

...whereas the beta repeatedly corrects it to:

O'Neill leaned forward and cleared his throat. "I've always thought there was something wrong with that."

Is either one of us actually incorrect or is it just a matter of personal preference?

[fems]

I actually don't know if there are rules about that, but there certainly should be I also prefer your beta's suggestion. It keeps it clearer who's saying/thinking what if you keep it together in one paragraph. It also makes it easier to follow when you have two/more people of the same sex and you use he/she instead of continuously using their names, if you know what I mean. Plus it prevents about every line being in its own paragraph.

I think it's comparable to the following:

"I've always thought there was something wrong with that."

O'Neill said (as he leaned forward and cleared his throat).

vs.

"I've always thought there was something wrong with that," O'Neill said (as he leaned forward and cleared his throat).

Or do you use the former as well in your writing?

[Sealurk]

No, I use the latter. I've always put dialogue on a new paragraph, never starting in the middle of an existing one, but if there is following text that is attached to that dialogue, it stays on the same paragraph, exactly like your second example.

It doesn't always help that English is flexible enough to accommodate a considerable degree of personal preference, but in other areas there are rather inflexible rules, making it harder to determine whether any given text is correct or not.

[fems]

Then would you write the following?

"Ah yes..." O'Neill leaned forward and cleared his throat.

"I've always thought there was something wrong with that."

Because I always find such things very confusing since I interpret it as someone else saying something if it's on a new paragraph (unless it's continued dialogue from the previous paragraph that hadn't been closed with quotation marks).

I would write:

"Ah yes..." O'Neill leaned forward and cleared his throat. "I've always thought there was something wrong with that."

It doesn't help that when 'publishing' fic online it's easier to have more paragraphs or at least white/spaces because that reads better on a screen.

[mathpiglet]

I learned that when you switch to a new speaker you start a new paragraph. So, even if a speaker speaks after the first sentence, it stays in that paragraph.

My source.

[Sealurk]

Fems: I would write the second example (can't seem to quote the quoted text at the moment). I start new dialogue on a new paragraph, but I don't break it into separate paragraphs just because there is a line of non-dialogue in the middle, as long as it remains the same speaker.

Like Mathpiglet said, I was always taught new speaker, new paragraph. However, reading that source, I'm still possibly in the wrong as the following would appear to be correct.

O'Neill leaned forward and cleared his throat. "I've always thought there was something wrong with that."

For some reason, I've always seen this as looking clumsy and wrong, but apparently not. I must just be reading the wrong sort of books!