Proper copy editing is something that not every reader will notice. I do. One mistake I’ve noticed quite a bit in that department is the punctuation of dialog. Most people seem to know they need to use quotation marks. Amazingly, a few seem to miss that, but gratefully, it’s relatively rare. However, there are a couple goofs I’ve seen enough times to recognize that how to do it correctly is not common knowledge. After all, some of the best writers out there aren’t English majors.

Here’s one thing to watch for. When the same speaker continues speaking into the next paragraph, leave off the close quote. However, the next paragraph begins with a quote, so don’t forget that. This tells the reader that the same person is still speaking. Otherwise, they’ll expect someone else to pick up the dialog in the new paragraph.

Another thing I’ve seen quite a bit is using a period after a statement instead of a comma, when “he said” or “she said” is included. For example:

“I’m going to go to that Mexican place for lunch.” She said.  WRONG

“I’m going to go to that Mexican place for lunch,” she said. CORRECT

Another is using a common or period when in reality the character asked a question. A question is indicated with a question mark, n’est-ce pas?

Little things like this drive alert readers well-versed in proper English and writing skills up the proverbial wall and are what can earn your story less than 5-stars.