Writing Tips

Tip 2

Commas! Such a lovely piece of work for pauses and the like. Once you figure out how to use them you'll be pretty successful.

But sometimes we think the only items we can use are commas. How is this? For one, we always assume a comma is a perfect way to make our character's speech pause:

"And my mother, she is a lovely woman, bless her heart, is here with us tonight!"

Three words,
Too. Many. Commas.
Let's try a different approach:

"And my mother (she is a lovely woman; bless her heart) is here with us tonight!"

That sounds much better and reads easier to your audience. Keep in mind that you don't always need sentences in brackets. "She is a lovely woman" is a perfectly safe sentence to omit from the story. Leaving us with:

"And my mother, bless her heart, is here with us tonight!"

This is much easier to read and flows easily. Always remember, commas can be your best friend or your worst nightmare.