Lord of Grammar Part II - Moron Returns

[BookBint]

See my previous thread for the moron in question...

He rang up my boss today (Uberboss) and complained I had changed too much and had added lots of grammatical errors. I had already shown Uberboss the letter he sent me, so he was prepared. I had the joy of listening in on the other line...

SC: I really think we should go back to the original text. Clearly your editor is VERY inexperienced.
UB: from what I've seen all she did was correct errors and remove a few paragraphs from chapter five, since you were over the word count. We don't have time for another edit and the one she did looks good to me.
SC: this is ridiculous! She put errors in!
UB: no, she took them out. The original manuscript was riddled with them.
SC: my previous publisher never had any problem with my work!
UB: that was [x] I believe. They went under a year ago... [probably because they published crap from men like you] we are not going to consciously reintroduce mistakes.
SC: wha???? (gargle grump grrrrr)

uberboss doth not suffer fools.

[C. Cecil Ivanish]

uberboss doth not suffer fools.

Kudos to the Uberboss, and well done to you

[EvilEmpryss]

Sounds like someone needs to be smacked with the Holt Handbook... or whatever the British equivalent is.

[jjc927]

I wonder if this idiot fought his English/Grammar teachers over corrections they made to his writings in school.

[Sarcastica]

I wonder if this idiot fought his English/Grammar teachers over corrections they made to his writings in school.

Or maybe his Mom did. "How dare you give my precious baby boy a D!?!"

[Tama]

The Holt Handbook?

Is this something I need to read as a prospective author?

[meghann]

I want to work for your uberboss...

[JustaCashier]

Uberboss pwneth!


Mike

[EvilEmpryss]

The Holt Handbook?

Is this something I need to read as a prospective author?

The Holt Handbook of Style is a primer on the proper use of the English language (okay, American English; I think the British have a different primer). I had to use it in my college English courses. You can now find the the important parts online for free at http://go.hrw.com/hhb/.

If you ever wondered when a semicolon should be used, what closed punctuation is, or how to write in the MLA style, this book will tell you.

Do you *need* it as a prospective author? IMHO, you should at least review it. Polishing the technical aspects of your writing will allow the creative aspects to shine through unimpeded. You can have a brilliant plot, but if the reader is constantly distracted by poor grammar and punctuation it will never be appreciated.