Mechanics

Significant detail, the active voice and prose rhythm help the reader “sink into the dream” of the story. Yet no technique is of much use if the reader’s eye is wrenched back to the surface by misspellings or grammatical errors, for once the reader (editor) has been startled out of the story’s “vivid and continuous dream,” the reader may not return. Spelling, grammar, paragraphing, and punctuation are a kind of magic; their purpose is to be invisible. When the mechanics are incorrectly used, the trick is revealed and the magic fails; the reader’s focus is shifted from the story to its surface. The reader is irritated at the author, and of all the emotions the reader is willing to experience, irritation at the author is not one. Poor mechanics signal amateurism to an editor and suggest that the story itself may be flawed.

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