Guest Blog by Patience Smith

I'm not an aspiring author, but I do have a question about editing for grammar. I'd like to know if anyone does in the first place and/or how that process works.

I've enjoyed reading SRS for some time now, have favourite authors who are auto-buys for me, but almost invariably I stumble across poor grammar such as my all-time pet peeve, "the reason is because" -- which is redundant. No one would write "the reason is the reason" or "it's because it's because", but that, essentially, is what is being penned and being overlooked in any proof reading. And recently I read an SRS with the sentence, "A hundred feet in front of them a large rock lied." That is so appalling I don't even have words.

I understand that the sheer volume of novels being churned out every month must make quality control difficult, hence the reason for asking if there is a team of proof readers checking for grammar. I've wondered if there is less attention paid to that level of detail simply because of the genre. Frankly, if all novels are proof read before being published, that means there is something severely lacking in the North American educational system with respect to good grammar and sentence construction.

I truly don't mean to cause offense in any regard. I will continue to buy and read my favourite SRS authors. But I do admit that poor grammar is a sticking point with me and I find it in almost all of the novels I read, across various romance sub-genres, and certainly not only those novels Harlequin/Silhouette publishes.

Thanks kindly and best regards,

Kim

Dear Kim,

You raise a great point.  Wouldn't you say grammar has fallen by the wayside these last few years?  As editors, we try to avoid awkward and poorly structured phrases but we also strive for "readability."  Sometimes who and whom is ignored in dialogue because we know a character wouldn't say "whom."  Or there's the rampant misuse of "hopefully," which even my grammar-Nazi father now uses incorrectly. My own pet peeve is ending a sentence with a preposition, but sometimes it's less awkward than the alternative.  It still makes me mad!  You should breathe through the frustration, as I do.  Sometimes the mistakes are on purpose, sometimes not.  Even with the editor, copyeditor, and proofreaders, mistakes slip through.  I find at least one mistake in every book I read--even the Classics. We don't "let things through" because of the genre. If anything, it's the opposite.  Our process takes six months at the very least and sometimes more.  Other publishing companies don't always have this much time.  Each book has at least five different sets of eyes.

I feel your pain but urge you to keep reading! P.

Re what you're saying about covers, Patience, I just popped over to Amazon and saw my October cover. Must say I do LOVE the 'movie poster' look !! I think it captures the romance of SRS, yet conveys a sense of 'something' looming ..... Thanks to the art dept for a great job!!

I just checked the other October covers -- ALL wonderful!!

:-)  With the popularity of some of the other lines' short reads (Spice Briefs and Nocturne Bites, both 10K - 15K words) is there any plan to offer the same kind of thing for SRS?  Thanks!

Patience -- I saw your name and had to stop in -- For the record, I like the 'bite' idea for all of the lines -- people are busy and it's a great way to just have a little.  Sort of like the short stories that we don't see so much of any more.  Also, do you know if the short bites sell more electronically than regular books?

Good to see you, Patience! 

SRS are the only line I buy all the books every month and they never fail to deliver.  Doing away with the paranormal aspects of ghosts, vampires and werewolves has made it an even better line.  Looking forward to the improvements you mentioned coming our way.  I do hope someday the line gets back to 6 books a month because I really do still miss those extra 2 stories every month.

Heaven knows I don't always use perfect grammar, and I don't think anyone who knows me thinks I sound "stuffy" or pretentious.  Still, there are certain errors that I see repeatedly in some stories that just drive me up a wall.  My pet peeve is to see the past tense used in place of a past participle, as in "had drank" or "had swam" instead of "had drunk" and "had swum".  I cringe every time I see that in a story.  Many grammar errors -- mostly the ones that are used because, conversationally, the correct form sounds overly pretentious -- don't bother me at all in stories, but I do like to see the proper use of who/whom and then/than.  Certain types of errors and errors that occur repeatedly in a story do bring me out of it, even when I'm really "into" the plot, due to the "ugh" factor.  I've been known to mutter, "Where on earth was the editor?" when I encounter them.

Obviously, grammatical errors in dialogue that are in character with the person speaking don't bother me at all.  In fact, it would be wrong to have some characters speaking too perfectly.

Kat, I have heard that Churchill quote, too.  Ending in prepositions is one of those things I can tolerate, especially in conversation, because, as Churchill so eloquently illustrated, proper form sounds a bit unwieldy and pretentious.  I also heard another person (character) take on the same criticism on the show Designing Women, which I used to love.  To set up the scene, Julia Duffy was a rather snooty, out-of-town client of the design firm.  Charlene (playing a sweet, Southern character who never had a harsh word to say about anyone) asked, "Where y'all from?"  Julia Duffy replied, "I'm from a place where we don't end our sentences in prepositions."  Charlene thought that over for a moment and then came back with:  "Oh, I see.  Then, where y'all from, B*tch?"   One of my all-time favorite comebacks!