Proofreading Tip: Ensure Consistency in Little Things

When writing, it’s important to be consistent… especially when it comes to details – and particularly with regard to punctuation.

One issue I encounter in working with authors concerns style consistency. A project I recently worked on contains hundreds of Bible quotes. For most of these quotes, citation follows the quote, in parentheses, with punctuation after the citation. Like this:

Remind the people [believers] to be subject to rulers and
authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is
good (Titus 3:1).

In some places, however, the author placed the punctuation before the citation. Like this:

Remind the people [believers] to be subject to rulers and
authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is
good. (Titus 3:1)

Sometimes clients will provide me a mini personal style sheet so I don’t, for instance, delete all their Oxford commas when they prefer them, or change their British spellings of neighbour and colour in favor of the American spellings (neighbor and color). That’s really helpful information to have prior to embarking on a project; it prevents frustration on both our parts, not to mention time needlessly spent “correcting” things the author intended.

In this case, since the author didn’t specify a preference as to where the punctuation should go (with regard to citations after Bible quotes), I defaulted to the “majority rules” theory and stuck with punctuation after citation, which he used more often.

Bottom line: Whatever you do – whether it’s punctuation, spelling or tense – do it consistently throughout your manuscript. If it’s a quirky style or preference you want preserved throughout the work, please let your editor know before you send the manuscript. In the long run, it’ll save him/her time (and save you money). And that’s good for everyone.

About the Author:
Rita M. Reali is a two-time international award-winning author and longtime editor who most enjoys editing memoir, general fiction and romance, along with inspirational writing. She’s self-published five novels: Glimpse of Emerald, Diagnosis: Love, The Unintended Hero, Second Chances and Tender Mercies – the first five in the seven-volume Sheldon Family Saga. The sixth novel in the series, Brothers by Betrayal, is scheduled for an early 2024 release. Her first children’s book, The Purringest Kitty Finds His Home, was released at the end of February. As a former disc jockey in her native Connecticut, Rita used to spend her days “talking to people who weren’t there” – a skill which transferred perfectly to her being an author. Now she talks to characters who aren’t there on “a little chunk of heaven in rural Tennessee.” Contact Rita. To purchase your own personally inscribed copy of any of Rita’s books, download this order form at her website.