Here's your opportunity to ask questions of a professional editor. Just write, call, or e-mail. And check back often for updates. Note that questions may be edited for length and clarity.

Adrian M. asks, How do you get emotions onto the page? I've resisted the urge to explain and instead allowed my characters to act and speak as their emotions dictate. In my mind, they are quite vivid, but my readers don't agree.

In addition to the techniques mentioned in the new edition of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers -- word choice in dialogue and description, interior monologue, selective attention to detail -- you can get your character emotion across through the reactions of other characters. When you write, "He said cheerfully," you are breaking into your story with the author's description of a character's mood. Keep the focus on the story by having another character either comment or react to your main character's emotion.

John M's question shows one of the difficulties of writing fiction in the first person. I am embarking on a young adult mystery novel told in the first person. My question is this: How do you describe scenes in which the protagonist is not present? These would be events critical to the story, but ones that the main character would learn about later. Basically, in a first person account, how do you impart facts that the protagonist is not privy to?

First, make sure that you really do have to impart those facts. Letting your readers learn things at the same time as your main character strengthens the emotional bond between them, and you shouldn't undermine that bond unless you absolutely have to. If you do have to, then you can include short passages either in another point of view (perhaps in the third person) or even in omniscient narrator. I'd also suggest you do it at least once early in the story so your readers know you'll be using the technique.

Richard S. writes, "I bought your book, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, and I'm in a quandary about one aspect of my writing. . . . A referee for a writing contest raked me for what I call "he echoes." In action scenes, too many sentences start with "he." On the other hand, I see the same thing in Michael Connolly's first couple of Harry Bosch novels (award winners). Also, in the "sex scene" passage from Gone With the Wind quoted as an example in your book, I see he (and she) echoes. How disturbing is this?"

One of my guiding editing principles is, "your mileage may vary." In other words, the answer to your question depends on the specific details of the passage.

For instance, "he or she echoes" are sometimes an advantage. A string of pronoun-verb-object sentences can keep the pace moving in an action scene. Part of what gives the Gone With the Wind example its tension is that more than half the sentences have this structure.

If you've simply fallen into the habit of using the pronoun-verb structure, you can vary it by, say, moving a dependent clause to the beginning of the sentence. "She knew she was finally home when the cat jumped into her lap," could become, "When the cat jumped into her lap, she knew she was finally home." Or you can eliminate pronouns through interior monologue, so that "He didn't know how much more he could take," becomes, "How much more could he take?"

John M. has this question about how to paragraph dialogue: It would be easy to follow the rule: begin a new paragraph whenever a new person speaks. But I notice that this is not always the case. If you begin a new paragraph with a beat or some narrative, followed by some dialogue, how much narrative are you allowed before placing the dialogue in its own paragraph? I'm never quite sure.

It's fine to throw in a beat (or passage of narrative or interior monologue) before the actual line of dialogue, but its length depends on the scene you're writing. If you're trying to maintain a brisk pace, then you might want to give even a short beat its own paragraph. If the beat is much longer or less important than the line of dialogue, then you might consider giving it its own paragraph in order to highlight the dialogue. If the beat and the dialogue work together to create a sense of your character's reaction, then keep them in the same paragraph. In any case, reading the passage out loud and listening for the pauses could give you the clue you need to find the right spot for the paragraph break.

Jon J. asks: I know serious fiction ought to have villains with as much character development as anyone else. But I'm writing sci-fi and really enjoy making the bad guys thoroughly bad. Is that okay?

It's not wrong, but even in science fiction thoroughly bad villains rob you of drama. Bad characters are usually bad for what they feel are good reasons. A through-and-through villain seems like a cartoon rather than a person. Readers need villains they can recognize as people, even if the people are seven-tentacled methane breathers. Besides, when you're creating an alien psychology, you can have a lot of fun coming up with original reasons to be bad -- C. J. Cherryh's Kif come to mind.

Celia writes: When I use the grammar checker on my word processor for fiction, it really tears apart everything I write, especially the dialogue. But when I do what it says, my writing just sounds all wrong. I don't understand this at all. Any suggestions?

The quickest way to deal with an objectionable grammar checker is to turn it off. I'm all in favor of good grammar, but when you're writing dialogue, authenticity and character voice are far more important than strict correctness. Put simply, people don't always talk good, and neither should your characters.

Spelling checkers have their problems as well, though eye ewes mine.