Lay vs. Lie (vs. Laid)

My Critique Group the other day got into quite the discussion about when to use Lay vs. Lie. One of the group members came across this blog that does a great job of explaining the differences but I warn you, you may need to lay or is it lie down. Just read on you’ll see.

From Writers Digest Blog Questions and Quandaries

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Lay vs. Lie (vs. Laid)
Q: Lay, lie, laid—when do you use each?
—Annemarie Valian

A: Don’t forget about “lain,” my friend! All these verbs have two things in common: They begin with the letter “L” and confuse the bejeezus out of many people.

Let’s give this a shot. Lay and lie are both present-tense verbs, but they don’t mean quite the same thing. Lay means to put or set something down, so if the subject is acting on an object, it’s “lay.” For example, I lay down the book. You, the subject, set down the book, the object.

Lie, on the other hand, is defined as, “to be, to stay or to assume rest in a horizontal position,” so the subject is the one doing the lying—I lie down to sleep or When I pick up a copy of my favorite magazine, Writer’s Digest, I lie down to take in all its great information. In both these cases, you, the subject, are setting yourself down. Are you with me so far?

In the past tense, “lay” becomes “laid” (I laid down the law and told her it was inappropriate for her to pick her nose) and “lie” becomes “lay” (She lay down for a nap that afternoon and picked her nose anyway). Yes, “lay” is also the past tense of “lie.” And the confusion doesn’t end there.

To throw you for another loop, “laid” is also the past participle form of “lay.” So, when helping verbs are involved, “lay” becomes “laid” and “lie” becomes “lain.” Grandma had laid the chicken in the oven earlier this morning. The chicken had lain there all day until it was cooked all the way through and ready for us to eat.

Remember: Lay and laid both mean to set something down, while lie, lay and lain all mean the subject is setting itself down.

And now, I lay this question to rest.
________________________________________
Infinitive Definition Present Past Past Participle Present Participle
________________________________________
to lay to put or place lay(s) laid laid laying
something down

to lie to rest or recline lie(s) lay lain lying

Grammar Tip: Hyphenation
By Charity Heller-Hogge The Mighty Pen Editing

When should words be hyphenated?

If the adjective comes before the word it modifies, it's usually hyphenated:
a well-behaved spaniel
a sweater-buying aunt

If the adjective comes after the word it modifies, it is not generally hyphenated:
the asparagus was well cooked
the question was open ended

Age terms are treated according to adjective rules above:
a thirty-three-year-old man
the banyan tree was twelve years old

Adverbs ending in -ly are not hyphenated, whether before or after the verb they modify:
lovingly polished shoes
easily understood instructions

Punctuation in dialog by Lisa Nowak

One issue writers often have with dialog is how to punctuated it. Here are examples of proper punctuation.

If a bit of dialog ends with a tag (he said, ect.) then the dialog itself should end with a comma (where there would normally be a period) and the tag should begin with a lowercase letter.

Example: “I’m going to the zoo,” said Tommy.

If the dialog forms a question it’s end with a question mark, but the tag begins with a lowercase letter:

Example: “Are we going to the zoo?” asked Tommy.

If it’s an exclamation, use an exclamation point and begin the tag with a lowercase letter:

Example: “We’re going to the zoo!” said Tommy.

The exception to using a lower case letter for the tag is when you start the tag with the character’s name, which must be capitalized:

Example: “I’m going to the zoo,” Tommy said.

If a bit of dialog is not followed with a “said/asked” tag, but rather with an action tag, then the dialog should end with a period, question mark, or exclamation point, and the action should begin with a capital letter.

Example: “I’m going to the zoo.” The boy snatched up his coat.

When the dialog is broken by action, end the action with a period if it’s a full sentence. Begin the second sentence of dialog with a capital letter.

Example: “I’m going to the zoo,” said Tommy, snatching up his coat. “Do you want to come along?”

When the dialog is broken by action, end the action with a comma if the dialog and action together form a fragment. Begin the second part of the dialog with a lowercase letter.

Example: “Today,” said Tommy, “I am going to the zoo.”

When in doubt, pick up your favorite novel and take a look how the professionals did it. By studying various examples you will soon be able to see the patterns.

“What Does an Editor Do?”
By Charity Heller Hogge, Lead Editor
The Mighty Pen www.MightyPenEditing.com

Authors often think of editing as a single, distinctive thing. However, edits come in many different varieties.

Editing is generally broken down into three broad catagories.

Proofreading: A proofreader checks for typos and inconsistent formatting only. This is only done after the author has put down the pen.

Copy Editing: This is sometimes referred to as “line editing” or “mechanical editing.” During a copy edit, editors ensure that the manuscript follows the five C’s: it is clear, correct, concise, comprehensible, and consistent. Editors usually read over a manuscript twice during a copy edit to ensure accuracy.

Substantive or “Developmental” Editing: This is a fun edit! A substantive edit addresses the overall structure and organization of a manuscript. Character and plot development, pace, organization, introduction of subplots, examination of characters’ motives, and tone are all elements of a substantive edit. My editing company, the Mighty Pen (www.MightyPenEditing.com), encourages a very hands-on relationship with the author during this process.

Editors don’t fix everything all at once. Rather, editing is done in stages. The type of edit that an editor performs is based largely on how polished the work is and the budget of the author.

If the author has difficulty organizing a memior, for example, an editor would work with the author at a developmental level to organize the memior. It is not possible to consistently catch grammatic errors while editing for plot development. In addition, whenever text is added or changed by the author—as developmental and copy edits often require—errors are introduced, which would make additional proofreading necessary. You can see why we keep these different edits distinct!

What type of edit does your manuscript need?

If your manuscript is complete and and you’ve polished it as much as possible yourself, a copy edit may do the trick. If you’re a seasoned writer and have already worked with editors in the past who might have alerted you to stylistic quirks and usage issues, a proofread may be all the polish your project requires.

It’s always a good idea to give the editor a sample of your work and get his or her opinion on what type of edit would most benefit your project. Most editors offer sample edits at no charge.

Author/ Agent Relationship – Workshop Notes
Elana Roth Agent, Karen Johnson Literary Agency

There is no one way to find an agent but here are what the top agents are looking for in their relationships with authors.

First you need to have a manuscript to present to an agent. The manuscript should have gone through at least one or two revisions and edits before being submitted. This is what you are selling and you want it to be as close to perfect as you can get it.

Do your homework. What are you looking for in an agent? Who is selling books in your genre? Visit www.agentquery.com . Make a list of agents you would like to work with. Once your homework is complete now it’s time to contact the agent.

The query has three simple issues you need to address. The book, the hook and the cook. You will need to address all three of these areas in your query. The first two are obvious. The book and the hook is physical what the agent will be selling but they want to know about you as well. Agents use the query letter to see how well you can use words outside of your manuscript.

When you get an interview with an agent come prepared with questions. That probably won’t be a problem since you’ll have tons. Here are a few to help you focus.
1. What is your communication style? How much do you need and how do you prefer it?
2. What is the agent’s vision for your career?
3. Who would you submit to?
4. What type of editorial shape do you want the manuscript? Needs help, perfect?
5. Do you support film?
6. What is your passion?

Some red flags to be aware of from both perspectives. From the agents stand point, Are your books lacking focus? Lots of manuscripts you want to sell and you want the agent to sell them all? Personality, are you crazy. Remember to be professional. From the writers stand point. Does the agent have a shady history? What is there back ground? Are there issues with money showing up on time? Is there a large number of client turn over? Check there list.

A thing to remember is the writer is the client but there needs to be a partnership between the agent and author. Here is a list of considerations when thinking about the relationship with your agent. How are you sharing information? How or when do you want to see offers from publishers? How much legal/ business information do you need to know? Balance of Power, who is in control? Remember it is your career. Author is supplying product which is our creativity and the agent is the guide to sell that product. You want to be clear with each other about process. Above all you need to trust your agent and they need to trust you.

Of course not all relationships are perfect. Problems or conflicts will come up so find out how the agent wants to handle issues and how you would like to handle them. Remember be professional.

Finding an agent that you want to build a career with is hard work like any relationship in life. But if you take your time and do your research you can have a long and prosperous relationship with your agent.

Speech Tags
By Charity Heller-Hogge
Lead Editor The Mighty Pen Editing

I’ve written a few times about the use of speech and action tags, but today, I want to look at ways to use speech tags–or rather, the lack thereof–to create a sense of immediacy and speed up the opening of a story.
Speech tags (he said, she said) are generally used every second or third line in dialog to let the reader know who’s talking.

I’ve recently seen a lot of writers start their books with a page or two of dialog, often not using speech tags at all for the first ten or twenty lines of dialog. However, writers need to be skilled at crafting unique dialog styles for different characters to make the lack-of-speech-tags technique work.
This is an effective way of pulling you, the reader, into the story immediately: you’re right there, in the action, listening to everyone talking. You’ve got to be on your toes. You’re turning pages, trying to keep up . . .
. . . you’re hooked!

Mission accomplished. Tossing someone into the middle of a conversation is a nice way of getting a reader invested in the story from the get-go.

Speech tags will be necessary eventually, of course. Readers may become confused after a page or so of not knowing who’s talking and may quickly lose interest.

Writers using this technique need characters who have very distinct voices; if you listen to a crowded room, you’ll hear one guy who says “like” all the time, another lady who uses big words and almost no one knows what they mean, and there in the corner is a man who speaks rarely and is monosyllabic, but when he speaks, everyone listens.

If all your characters speak using similar diction, sentence structure, and vocabulary, skimping on speech tags probably won’t work for you.

Learn more about editing from Charity on her website www.mightypenediting.com

Making Time to Write
By Laura K Marshall

If you’re lucky enough to be a full time writer, then finding time to write probably isn’t much of an issue. But for the rest of us who are juggling full time jobs, families, kids and are trying to have some semblance of a social life, it’s a bit more difficult.

Discovering when you are most productive or creative is one of the first tasks in finding time to write. You don’t want to carve out time when you are the least productive. That will only frustrate you and you may not write. Unfortunately there is a lot of trial and error involved in find this out. When I was writing at different times of day and reflecting on the body of work that I was creating, I noticed my writing was the most effortless early in the morning. As the day progressed writing became harder, then late afternoon my brain had checked out. I was trying to squeeze creativity out of my tired brain and it wasn’t having it. So I found my optimal writing time, but I needed to make the time.

Finding time to write has to be a priority to you, or you won’t hold that time sacred and you’ll start doing other things. Then, poof, your writing time is over and you haven’t gotten any writing done. Also others won’t respect your writing time if you do not.

I’ve heard writers say they only write when they are inspired. Peter De Vries once said, “I only write when I am inspired, luckily that is everyday by 9am.”

Once you have scheduled your writing time, not only you but those around you must understand that this is your time. That unless the house is burning down you are not to be disturbed. Have an area in your house where you can write, or a place to go where you can be the most productive. Some people find that they need the quietness of the library, while others need the hustle and bustle of a coffee shop. We all work differently, so experiment. It may take some time, but it will be well worth it. Remember to turn off your phone or anything that may distract you.

I always carry something I’m working on to edit. You will be amazed how many times in your day you can grab 5-10 minutes to work on something. However you can only work on something if you have it handy.

With a full time job and a family I can’t always create a schedule where I have an hour of uninterrupted time early in the morning but I can get some type of writing done even if its only 20 – 30 minutes while on a break. I wrote the first draft of this article on my lunch break at work.

What does your work area look like? Are you working on a dining room table or do you have an office area, or something in between? Do you work out of a computer bag at a coffee house? What is important is that you have an area to write that has all your supplies handy. I wrote for a year and a half on my dining room table. I was very productive, but once I decided to take my writing to the next level the table didn’t work for me any more. I spent too much time setting up and putting my supplies away. I lost valuable writing time.

Writing is fun and exciting but when you’re trying to write for a living you have to treat your writing like a job-best job ever, but still a job. You have deadlines that have to be met, edits, new stories or novels to start, marketing of yourself and your writing. Your writing to do list only seems to be getting longer. When you find the time that you are the most productive your list will melt away and you won’t be as stressed. You will be better able to get your writing done.

Finding Your Writing Rhythm
By Laura K Marshall

When I first started writing as a profession I didn’t know when my best time to write was. I just grabbed time anywhere I could. Then wondered why some of my writing was good and other pieces were not. I tortured myself like this for some time. I knew there was a better way, but I didn’t know what to do.

Discovering when you’re the most productive or creative is one of the first tasks in finding your rhythm. Unfortunately there is a lot of trial and error to finding this. I wrote at different times of day and reflected on the body of work that I created. I noticed my writing was the most effortlessness in the early morning. Later in the day my creative juices dried out, but I could edit and do basic revisions in the evening as well as data entry. Knowing when I’m most creatively productive helps me schedule what I’m going to work on and when. I can schedule myself more effectively to get the most accomplished. When is your writing the most effortless?

Before I begin to write I go through a few things to get in to the zone. I wake up and get completely ready for the day. I have that all so important cup of coffee. I check my emails and organize my materials, and then I get down to the business of writing. What do you do to get ready to write?

When I’m done writing either because of time limitations or my creative juices have dried out, I make sure that everything is saved. I print out whatever I want to edit later that day. Either what I have just been working on or another piece I have. Side bar I usually take something other than what I was just working on to edit later in the day. I find that working on something I had put away for a short time is more productive. I organize my desk, turn the computer off and head off to wherever the rest of my day will take me. What do you do to wind down?

With a full time job and family I can’t always get my schedule to where I have an uninterrupted hour during my early morning prime time, but I do make sure I get some type of writing done during that time, no matter what.