Book Doctor advice

Ask the Book Doctor about Single Quotation Marks, Thoughts, Farther/Further, Editors' Preferences, and Different From/Than
By Bobbie Christmas
Q: Sam’s right hand was at 'twelve o'clock' on the steering wheel. Should there be quotation marks on the twelve o'clock? If so, should they be single or double?
A: The sample sentence does not need any quotation marks. In addition, for books published in America, single quotation marks should appear only within double quotation marks, for example, to show someone quoting someone else: John declared, "I heard her say, 'Help me,' but I thought she was kidding."
Q: In my writer's group, one person has written a couple of stories in third person and puts the lead character's thoughts in italics. I don't have a problem with that; however, she changes from third person to first person with the thoughts. The shift feels strange to me. The other members of the group are fine with it. What do you think?
A: Direct thoughts should indeed be in first person, present tense. Indirect thoughts, however, normally appear in third person, past tense. Here's a direct thought: I can't tell him I love him; what am I going to do? Here's an indirect thought: She couldn’t tell him she loved him; what was she going to do? I recommend italicizing direct thoughts, to distinguish them from dialogue spoken aloud, but indirect thoughts should be in roman (standard) type.
Q: Should I use farther or further in the following sentence setting a philosophical ideal? We never get any f*rther by finding fault.
A: "Further" is the correct word choice in the sample sentence: We never get any further by finding fault. "Farther" refers to measurable distances: We walked farther into the woods.
Q: Can you tell me if manuscript editors need to like books from all genres? Is that something that major publishers look for in potential editors?
A: I cannot speak for all publishers, especially because as an independent editor, I work for independent (smaller) publishers, rather than major ones. I will say this, though, most of the publishers prefer that I work on the genres with which I am familiar. They don't ask me to be an expert in every genre. Occasionally a publisher will ask me to work on a type of book that is outside my expertise, and I have the flexibility to accept or turn down those projects. As a result, I have expanded my capabilities by taking projects that stretch my skills into new areas. For example, I had never read or edited a paranormal romance, but when one publisher asked me to edit a romance novel that included werewolves and shape shifters, I found myself fascinated with the genre. When I finished, the representative from the publisher told me I did an excellent job. Eventually she assigned me an entire series of books in that genre.
Q: On TV and in newspaper and magazine articles lately, I've noticed some people use a comparative description of something as "different than." I always thought the word "than" was quantitative, as in "more than," while a contrasting comparison would be "different from." The incorrect usage has become so pervasive that I fear it will become the accepted way. Do you have any thoughts on it?
A: I sure do have thoughts on the subject, but they aren't my opinion; they are fact. "Different from" is usually the correct usage, rather than "different than," although it is not a hard-and-fast rule; it depends on usage. For examples, "The restaurant spaghetti sauce is different from what your mother used to serve," but "The twins are more different than alike."
Q: Radio pirates have two for-fun radio stations that everyone knows do not exist. When the pirates use the made-up call letters in dialogue, should they be together, as in KTRU and BULL, or separated, as in K-T-R-U and B-U-L-L? How about when they are referenced in the narrative? My feeling is there should be consistency, but I'm not sure.
A: As you suspect, consistency throughout a manuscript is important. I could not find a specific answer in The Chicago Manual of Style, which means the usage is left up to the author, as long as it is consistent. That said, I used to write commercials for a radio station, and it never used hyphens in its name. In all its internal and external forms and printed advertisements, it was always WHYZ. I suggest you do the same. Use KTRU and BULL, in both dialogue and narrative.
To read more questions and answers, order the book Ask the Book Doctor: How to Beat the Competition and Sell Your Writing at http://zebraeditor.com/book_ask_the_book_doctor.shtml.
Bobbie Christmas, book editor and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more “Ask the Book Doctor” questions and answers at www.zebraeditor.com.