You may have found places in your story where perfect grammar doesn’t necessarily sound right, but choosing exactly where to use good grammar and when to drop into “conversational” style can be a tricky skill to develop.

Knowing when your work will be more effective with a modification of your grammar depends on how well you understand good grammar to begin with. If grammar is a weak point for you, you will improve your ability to make good writing judgements if you invest some time in working through a grammar study guide.

Check anything you’re not sure of, especially as you edit a draft of your manuscript, but also while you’re reading any other book.

Fragments and run-on sentences

Although fragments and run-on sentences are opposites, they can be used to create similar effects in fiction. They must be used sparingly, because, as with any “special effect”, overuse kills the impact when you most want it.

Fragments

A fragment is an incomplete sentence. Fragments are most commonly found in dialogue, which helps it sound more realistic. In the narrative, fragments can be used either to speed up the text, or to slow it down, depending on how you use them and the context of their placement.

Fragments can balance run-on sentences in action scenes, helping to draw attention to specific points in the scene while the rest of the action becomes a blur of activity.

Run-on sentences

Run-on sentences can slip into a piece of writing when the writer tries to include several concepts in one sentence. This can work well when used as a properly constructed complex sentence, in action sequences, and fight scenes especially, because of the need to convey speed in changing actions. Unfortunately, it is very easy to make run-on sentences a habit.

Some writers slip into the habit of conveying too much in one sentence as a way of avoiding overusing the characters’ names or “he/she”.

The following is a run-on sentence containing six concepts and possibly five different locations:

“She woke and had a shower she threw on her blue dress as she rushed out the door and boarded the train, arriving at work just in time for the meeting.”

To check for inappropriate run-on sentences, try to visualise each action you present as you read your manuscript. If you find your character attempting to do a shopping list of actions in one sentence, you need to slow down and separate that sentence. Break the list of actions up with dialogue or thoughts, and delete anything that simply drags the story rather than provides information about character or plot.

In the sentence above, the writer would have to decide whether it is important to show the character waking, showering, dressing, or whether to simply start the scene with the character barely making it into work on time.

Unintended problem sentences like these often give you a clue that what you’ve written is filler material that can be tightened up. Save the complex sentences for important choreographed action that needs to flow.

---

Download my free grammar guide to the 10 Most Frustrating Grammar Rules and How to Remember Them.

If you need a grammar guide to help you keep on top of the rules, try The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation : An Easy-to-Use Guide with Clear Rules, Real-World Examples, and Reproducible Quizzes by Jane Straus