Lynne Stringer's Blog, page 13

Writing – different countries, different styles

When I wrote my debut novel I was surprised to discover how different the styling of Australian novels was from that used in other countries, such as America.

What do I mean by ‘styling’? I’m talking about things like spelling and punctuation, such as whether or not the full stop (period) goes before or after quotation marks, or whether there’s a space before and after an ellipsis (the three little dots), and whether double or single quotation marks are used for dialogue.

When I was doing journalism, I knew there was a particular style (usually leaning towards the American style) I was supposed to use. I’d assumed that styling for novels would be the same. It isn’t. Australian novels have their own specific style, which has most in common with the British style.

These differences can sometimes take the unsuspecting reader by surprise. I recently read a review of an Australian novel by someone who, I think, was American, who marked the novel down because it used ‘apostrophes’ for the dialogue, instead of quotation marks. It was clear that the reviewer had no idea that single quotation marks, rather than doubles, are used in both British and Australian styling, and it had obviously affected her enjoyment of the book.

These differences also pose challenges for professional editors, like me. I always try and find out where the author is planning to market their book so I can do it in the styling appropriate for that particular audience. I’ve learned a great deal about many different styles in the past few years. Of course, something that makes it even more tricky is the fact that sometimes certain publishers have their own take on what is appropriate styling, not to mention the many self-published books that have been written by authors who don’t know the differences between styles, which can create even more confusion.

Why can’t all books have the same style, I hear you ask? Good question. The answer is probably the same as the answer to why people spell words differently between countries – whose style do we use? Do we use the American style because America is such a big portion of the market? I used American styling for the Verindon trilogy. But then, some people favour elements of other styles. There are certainly aspects of the US style that I don’t agree with. Do we pick the British style? Who decides? Why should we let them decide?

Are you an author? Do you find it challenging to work out which style you’re supposed to use? Have you had to change to a different style because of your audience?

Are you a reader? Have you noticed differences between styles? Does it bother you? Let me know in the comments section below.

Why do we have rules for writing?

When I wrote my debut novel I could already write pretty well. However, I was oblivious to the fact that, when it comes to writing a novel (or even a work of non-fiction, for that matter) there are rules I had to follow.

Rules for writing? I thought I already knew about those – use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation; don’t make your paragraphs too long; have plenty of action. What I didn’t know was that there were a myriad of other ones that publishers demand today – show don’t tell; strict rules about point of view; not too many words that end in ‘ly'; favouring the word ‘said’ when carrying dialogue.

Even more confusing was the discovery that every country has a different way of styling a book. Sure, I knew that in the US people spell a number of words differently from the way they’re spelled in Australia, but I didn’t know that we used single quotation marks for dialogue instead of doubles, spaces both sides of ellipsis, and a number of others as well. Even more confusing was the discovery of just how often the little details can vary from publisher to publisher, not to mention that, since there are so many self-published books out there, there can be any number of variations there as well.

At first I scoffed at this. Who makes these rules? Who says we need to obey them? My writing communicates what I want to say. That’s all that mattered! Sure, I can write in whatever way I choose. Unfortunately, that won’t make a publisher agree to publish me. I discovered quickly that not following these rules can be the difference between being considered by a traditional publisher and being rejected.

Being hired as a profession editor, first for non-fiction, and then to edit fiction as well, I had to learn all these rules in detail, and since my trilogy was done in US styling, since the first book was set in America, I had to learn American styling quickly too. I don’t think I got it all right (and in one case it was deliberate) but I learned a lot along the way, also learning just how much more readable books are when they follow a lot of these rules. For instance, I like it when point of view doesn’t dart all over the place, and show don’t tell does make a novel easier to read.

Are you an author? What do you think about following these rules? Do you follow them? Are you a reader? Do you notice any of these things? Leave a comment below and let me know.

Self-publishing – a wonderful thing and a terrible thing

It is becoming more and more difficult for authors to get their books to a traditional publisher, especially if they don’t have an agent. And even if they do submit to a traditional publisher, so few are taking risks on them.

So it’s not surprising that many authors are turning to self-publishing, especially as costs, particularly when only producing an e-book, are so low and the return on an author’s hard work can be immediate and gratifying.

That’s the wonderful thing about the self-publishing phenomenon. Not only do you retain full control over your product, but you can get it to the public in the blink of an eye, it seems. And everything comes back to you – all the profits, all the accolades and all the good reviews.

However, this has had an unfortunate side effect. For the terrible thing about self-publishing is that people are often in such a hurry to get their book to consumers they don’t take the proper care to get it right before it’s published.

The first year I was involved in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) I remember clearly a girl who I encountered there. Having finished her draft of 50,000 words, she said, ‘Great! Now to upload it to Smashwords!’

Wait a minute,  it’s only the first draft! The story might not work properly yet. What about all the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors that you probably didn’t even realise you were typing? She was so quick at getting it up there I wondered if she’d even read it through once herself.

This is one of the most frustrating things for me when reading a self-published book, especially as I’m a professional editor. I encounter a huge number of books that have clearly not even been proofread properly, much less had their stories checked for inconsistencies and plot problems.

This is why there are still numerous doors shut to self-publishers. They have developed a reputation for being cheap, and it’s such a shame for those self-publishers who do take the care to get it right but are still tarred with the same brush.

However, there are signs that things are changing, with some reviewers, events and even bookstores welcoming self-published books, but there are still a lot that resist them because of the regularly poor quality that is seen on their pages.

It is equally frustrating for me because I know a good professional editor could sweep away most, if not all, of these problems. Of course, as with anything else, there are professional editors who haven’t the faintest idea what they’re doing and are happy to take you for a ride and hand you a poor quality edit, but there are also plenty out there, often reasonably priced, who could make the difference between your book crashing and burning, and being admired and well received by a public forever looking for the next Big Thing.

So if you are thinking of self-publishing, please don’t race into it. Take your time. Find a good professional editor and a good proofreader. Hire a graphic designer to help you with the cover. Check over their work when you receive it to look for problems. Take every step you can to ensure your book is as good as it can be. Although many readers will take the chance on a new author, not many will come back and try you again if your first book let them down. Don’t make that mistake. Get it right the first time.

To find out more about my editing service visit my editing page here.

Are you an author? Have you had a bad experience with one of your books when self-publishing? Are you a reader? Have you read a book which left you shaking your head because it was riddled with mistakes? Let me know in the comments.

 

Pseudonyms

The Writer’s Circle recently posted an article on some famous authors and their pseudonyms. It made for interesting reading. The article is if you’d like to read it.

I think the only one I’d heard of in a significant way was JK Rowling’s, especially seeing as it happened since I became a published author. But the others weren’t that familiar to me, and in spite of enjoying his books, I never knew what Dr Seuss’ full name was. It was nice to discover that ‘Seuss’ was actually part of his name. It would have seemed odd if he was really Fred Smith, or something like that. Although, if it was Fred Smith, I can understand why he thought a name like Seuss would be more memorable!

When my debut novel was accepted for publication, I gave serious consideration to writing under a pseudonym, but decided against it. While it can be useful for reasons of anonymity, I wanted to see my real name on my books. Another driving force was the fact that I already had my real name ‘out there’ in the writing world. As Lynne Stringer, or Lynne Bennett (my maiden name), as I was for one of them, I won two journalistic awards from my days as a journalist and editor. I’d also written a screenplay under my real name, so there didn’t seem to be much point in inventing a nom de plume for my fiction. It seemed a better idea to link them all.

Amongst all my author friends, as far as I know, only one writes under a pseudonym. I don’t know her reasons for doing it, and I sometimes wonder what they are. Was it for reasons of anonymity? That’s definitely one that I think most likely; to keep your personal self and your public persona separate. I’m not sure what other reasons authors might have these days. I know that Mary Ann Evans (aka George Eliot) chose her name because she believed she would not be taken seriously as a writer if people knew she was a woman. This was also one of the reasons why Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte chose Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell as their pseudonyms (although they were also motivated by the desire for privacy). I hope that’s not required by female authors these days, although perhaps it is in certain genres.

Are you an author? Do you write under your real name or a pseudonym? Why did you choose to do that? Are you a reader? What do you think of authors using pseudonyms? Leave a comment in the comment section below and let me know.

Internet woes

Last Monday was not a good day.

Most of you will be aware that (until recently) I had two websites. One is my lynnestringer.com site (where you’re reading this right now). The other was verindon.com, a page dedicated to my trilogy, which linked to the individual pages for all three of the books in the Verindon trilogy.

I had it set up nicely and the website address was printed on my bookmarks and t-shirts, providing a wonderful way for people to find out about the Verindon trilogy.

But the internet can be a pain in the neck. And because of that, the verindon.com site is no longer mine.

Admittedly, it was my fault that all this happened. You see, when we set up the verindon site, we linked it to an old email address attached to a business that we sold recently. So we don’t get those emails anymore. When we sold the business, I didn’t think of changing it on the verindon site, as I didn’t go into it regularly. So when the domain expired, the renewal was sent to the old email address and we never saw it.

Someone told me when my site was down. We contacted the domain name hoster, and they told us it was in the redemption phase. I could get it back, but I had to pay $150 for it, and I didn’t have the money at the time.

‘Don’t worry about it,’ said my internet savvy husband. ‘It’ll be back in the general pile in a couple of weeks. Then you can pick it up for much less than that.’

‘Yes, but so can anyone else,’ I said, ever the worrier.

‘Yes, but who apart from you is going to want a site called verindon.com?’

On the surface, his logic seems sound. Unfortunately, he failed to take into account that there are people out there who shop around for sites that have had a good number of hits in the past and buy them as soon as they become available. And one of them got to the verindon.com site before I did.

There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth when this was discovered.

So this means that, for at least a year, I can’t use verindon.com. It also means my t-shirts are useless. It also means I have to put a sticky label with my lynnestringer.com site address over the verindon.com website address on all about 500 of my bookmarks. It’s not fun, I can tell you, and will probably wind up costing me as much as the redemption payment would have cost, if not more.

At least I can learn from this experience. If this happens to one of my sites in the future, I will know to find the money somewhere and redeem it straight away. The alternative is simply too painful and too much work.

Blog Tour

I’ve been tagged by Jeanette O’Hagan at jeanetteohagan.com to participate in a blog tour. Here goes!

1. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?

I’ve just finished writing a novella to go with my Verindon Trilogy. It’s set early in Sarah’s days at Enterprise Academy, and although much of it is still from Sarah’s point of view, it also features some scenes from Jillian’s point of view. I’m hopeful this will be published next year by Wombat Books/Rhiza Press. We’ll see how it reads when I edit it.

2. HOW DOES YOUR WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN YOUR GENRE?

I think the air of mystery that surrounds the first half of The Heir is not common in sci-fi. Usually that genre is pretty upfront about what the story is about. However, with The Heir, you don’t discover the truth until about halfway through. This made writing the novella a challenge, as I want to intrigue the reader who has purchased the novella as their introduction to the trilogy without giving the game away.

3. WHY DO YOU WRITE OR CREATE WHAT YOU DO?

I mainly favour sci-fi/fantasy because it interests me. However, any work with intriguing characters will do. I’ve written a contemporary manuscript which I hope will be released next year. I’m definitely a character-driven writer.

4. HOW DOES YOUR WRITING/CREATIVE PROCESS WORK?

I get an idea, usually starting with just one scene. It may not be at the beginning of the story (the first scene I created for The Heir was the scene in the gardener’s shed in the park) but it is usually the place where I start building everything else. The main parts of the story are created in my head and the story is usually knocking on the inside of my skull, demanding to be released, by the time I sit down and write.

I’m passing the baton to Charis Joy Jackson, who will be continuing the tour next Monday on her blog

The Ups and Downs

I was at a planning meeting today for Wombat Books (my publisher) and had the opportunity to meet a new team player for the first time.

Emily has been working for Wombat for the past few months. She’s already been a great help to the team, and as we were commenting at the meeting, she brings something special to the table – enthusiasm.

I’ve always had trouble keeping my enthusiasm going. It’s especially hard with the ups and downs that are part and parcel of the author’s life. Hearing a new idea for promoting my books will see a spike in my enthusiasm. If it works, my enthusiasm rises and I have all the energy I need for the next endeavour.

However, if it fails, I take a hit and the next opportunity is usually met with some skepticism. If it succeeds, enthusiasm usually makes a return visit, but if it results in another body blow, it can be difficult to keep going.

The most important thing I’ve learned as an author is that you need to keep going even when nothing seems to be working. I keep reminding myself that some things might be working, even though I might not be able to see it. And even if they aren’t, I still need to keep plugging away until something else clicks. If I want my books to sell, I can’t give up on them.

Are you an author? How do you make it through the ups and downs? Are you a reader? Are there areas in your life where you face similar challenges? Let me know in the comments section below.

The Trials of an Editor

Sometimes it’s hard to be both an author and an editor. And just because an author is also an editor doesn’t mean their manuscripts don’t need editing, a fact that often comes as a surprise to people.

For those of you who don’t know, in addition to being an author, I am also a professional editor. (To find out more go here.) This can be a challenge when it comes to enjoying books I read for fun, as my professional brain never turns off. When I read someone else’s work I usually start editing it in my head without even thinking about it. I regularly catch myself grumbling, ‘Well, that bit should have been cut!’ or ‘Plothole!’ or something equally critical. Fortunately, in most cases, this doesn’t spoil my enjoyment of the book, as most books I read in my leisure time have had a good edit somewhere along the line and the things I would have changed within their pages are largely the result of a difference of opinion, rather than any real problems.

Of course, in the world of the self-published book, there are exceptions to this rule. One book I read a few months ago was so bad I couldn’t even finish it. There were mistakes galore and plotholes everywhere. I always feel sad when I read books like that, because the premise that usually brings me to the book in the first place is a good one, and it’s a shame the author didn’t get the help they needed. It might have made all the difference.

And regardless of what anyone says, EVERY book needs a professional edit by someone other than the author. That’s because, even if you’re a professional editor, when it comes to your own work, you are simply too close to it to see any problems with it. I’ve found this myself and I’ve seen it in others as well. No matter how good their own personal editing might be, every author needs another industry professional to cast their objective eyes over their manuscript to make sure everything is correct.

Sometimes that can be difficult to deal with, both for newcomers and authors who are veterans of many years. Surely we’re the best at seeing problems in our own work, aren’t we? No. If you are an aspiring author, make sure you get a professional edit before you start sending your work around to publishers. You’ve no idea the difference it will make.

Are you an author? What have you learned from your editors along the way? Are you a reader? Do you have any horror stories of reading a book that obviously needed a good editor? Let me know in the comments at the bottom of the page.

A Family Affair

My family seems to have a talent for writing. I’m not sure exactly where it came from, as prior to my father’s generation, no one in the family seems to have had an interest in it, but it certainly appeared with him. He’s been an author for thirty years now. Then there’s my books, of course, and my brother also writes album and movie reviews. My son is also starting to get in on the act, although I think, like my father, he’ll stick to non-fiction.

My father, David Malcolm Bennett, launched his latest book on Saturday. It’s called John Wesley: The Man, his Mission and his Message. John Wesley founded the Methodist denomination and a book like that is right up my father’s alley. He enjoys biographies, especially about Christians who were significant in the development of Great Britain, where he was born.

Because we have a large room downstairs at our house, we held the book launch at our place. We had a good crowd there; including family, there were about thirty. My father did well too. The people who attended showed a lot of interest, and not just in his latest book, either, but also in the ones that came before it. There’s no doubt he was happy with the result.

But much to my surprise, so was I. When my father asked me (and a couple of other authors) to display our books as well, I thought I might manage to sell one copy. After all, a number of the people who attended had also been at the joint book launch I’d had with my father when The Reign was released, so I thought that if any of them were interested in my books, they would have picked them up then. Boy, was I wrong! I sold three full sets of my trilogy, something I have not done at any single event yet.

So I was happy, not just that I was able to support my father, but that people were interested in his daughter’s writing as well. It was a great day.

The Perks of the Job

Since becoming a published author there have been a lot of ups and downs. Some things about this business are fun and inspiring and make me feel like I’m achieving something. Others can be a bit more challenging. But for a bookworm like me, especially one who doesn’t have much of a disposable income, there has been an additional perk.

Since becoming a published author, I’ve become involved in a book reviewing scheme, which means I am regularly given books (not ones my publisher produces) to read and review. At the moment I have five books on my bedside table, all of which I have now read and reviewed.

Of course, not all the books I’ve received are ones I would have picked up myself. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like those ones when I read them, although sometimes they can be hard to get through. However, for every difficult one, there are plenty I’ve enjoyed immensely, some of which I’d already considered buying myself but the funds wouldn’t allow it.

Also, I know how much those reviews can benefit authors. As a published author, I like nothing more when someone who loves my books puts a review up at Amazon or Goodreads or another, similar site. You might not be aware of just how beneficial it is to an author to receive a good review. We love it. If you’re a reader, and you love a book, please go to one of these sites and write a review. The author will love you for it.

If you’re interested in reading any of my reviews, you can check them out on my Goodreads page here. Also, if you review books yourself regularly on a blog or a similar site, feel free to post a link in the comments section below.