Space Mystery Solved!

 Not that kind of space. (But a sensational title, right?)

No, I'm talking about the space after the period (or ? or !) at the end of a sentence-- one space or two? 

I typed my way through endless college papers, my own and my husband's, as well as my MA thesis and I always put two spaces after the period. Just like I learned at my mother's knee (actually, just like I learned in typing class -- back in the Fifties.

So, imagine my surprise when my first manuscript came back to me with enigmatic little red marks all over it, indicating that I was taking up too much space -- that one space after the . or ? or ! was all that I was allowed.

Well, okay, then. I shook my head and tried to unlearn the two space habit of a lifetime, muttering to myself about the inscrutable ways of publishers but never asking why? 

Now the mystery is solved! I stumbled upon this article in SLATE (which I visit everyday to read DOONESBURY) and learned that it all has to do with the difference between typewriters (remember them?) and computers.

The article says  that typographers have always agreed that one space between sentences is preferable for ease of reading. But (and I quote --) 

" The problem with typewriters was that they used monospaced type—that is, every character occupied an equal amount of horizontal space. This bucked a long tradition of proportional typesetting, in which skinny characters (like I or 1) were given less space than fat ones (like W or M). Monospaced type gives you text that looks "loose" and uneven; there's a lot of white space between characters and words, so it's more difficult to spot the spaces between sentences immediately. Hence the adoption of the two-space rule—on a typewriter, an extra space after a sentence makes text easier to read. 

Here's the thing, though: Monospaced fonts went out in the 1970s. First electric typewriters and then computers began to offer people ways to create text using proportional fonts. Today nearly every font on your PC is proportional. (Courier is the one major exception.) Because we've all switched to modern fonts, adding two spaces after a period no longer enhances readability, typographers say. It diminishes it."

I think maybe you have to be a typographer to get real worked up over this. But I really liked learning the reason for the new rule.  Plus it's a funny, funny article.

Is This the End? - FAQ

In response to some questions/comments on my past two posts, I feel I need to say that it's not actually my decision as to whether there'll be another Elizabeth Goodweather book after the one coming out next year.  It will be the publisher's decision and they'll make that call based on sales. 


Sad but true -- it's a business.  If a series isn't continuing to sell more with each new release, the publisher will often drop the series.  And when a series hasn't done that well, it's unlikely that another publisher will want it. 

So what's an author of a dropped series to do? Often the author will come up with an idea for another series --  under a different pen name.  


Why a different name?  To entice booksellers and readers to take a chance on this 'new' author.  If Glamora Tynnsdale's (made up name)  books about a amateur sleuth who is also a professional tuba player haven't done well in the past, evidently booksellers will be reluctant to order her new series about a psychic CPA who solves murders -- unless that new series is written under a different name -- say, Tynnsdale G. LaMore.


Silly games.  But the reality of publishing is this -- it's all about the bottom line.

I still have good ideas for more Elizabeth books though . . . and conventional wisdom says that it often takes five or six books to really establish a series.


We'll see. I feel good about Under the Skin which is coming next October. But only time and sales will tell if the numbers are good enough to warrant more Elizabeth books. It will be probably be 2012 before it's clear one way or another. More waiting . . .

And, yes, I'm still waiting  to hear if my new characters find favor with Herself.  Maybe if I changed my name as well  . . . Victoria Elan . . . Victory Lane . . .

Elizabeth's View

"The three big windows framed what could have been a delicate Japanese ink drawing -- all muted colors and simple lines, with hazy mountaintops poking through the low-lying fog like islands in a pale gray sea of mist." (from Art's Blood, p.411)

Our eastern view -- always changing, always gorgeous. In the morning the mist rises up from the river to produce lovely ephemeral scenes.

Being fortunate enough to live where I do, how could I not write about it? Elizabeth's house and farm are based on our house and farm -- 'write what you know,' they often say. And I have enough to remember already, with all these characters and pasts I've created; it's comforting to have to remember only (so far) that Elizabeth's house differs from ours in just two particulars. For one thing, Elizabeth has a mirror by her kitchen door (Signs in the Blood, p. 11).

Hey, it was my first book and I hadn't known that it's considered cliched and amateurish to describe a character by having him or her look in a mirror. Sorry. The other difference is that Elizabeth's sofas are still denim-covered whereas our denim-covered sofas were trashed by the dogs and have been replaced by leather. But then we have six dogs while Elizabeth, a saner woman than I, has only three.

This is a re-post from January 7, 2008.  Alas, I have only three dogs now. 

My Not-So-Midlife Crisis

I just discovered Gene Simmon's Family Jewels, 

which is a great reality show following the Kiss rock star and his family.

I admire his business acumen 

(did I use that word correctly? It just came out! so I'm going to leave it there).

Ironically, it inspires me to follow my dreams.

I'm not satisfied with the career path I've found myself blundering along. 

I need to be writing. 

I spend more time thinking about writing than actually writing.

And I want a small farm. 

Or just a little house with a little bit of land to have chickens, a dairy cow and some donkeys. 

A garden to grow vegetables.

an apple tree?

Maybe I've been playing too much We Farm on my iPhone?

I have a strong need to live more "country" and write about it.

Have I lost my mind?!

Hurrah for Editors!

The edited manuscript of Under the Skin (the fifth Elizabeth Goodweather  book, tentatively scheduled for an October 2011 release) showed up Friday. My editor's comments and suggestions are in pencil; the copy editor's marks are in green.(I get to use red this time.)

The copy editor also keeps track of continuity -- making sure that my dates agree, that I don't have Gloria call Elizabeth 'Lizzy' on one page and 'Lizzie' on another. My editor (Herself) is reading, I think, with an eye to writing style and to building tension, as well as making sure that what I say makes sense.

When I'm writing, I already know quite a lot about these characters and their background and motivations and if I'm not careful, I may forget that the reader doesn't have all that same information. Herself and the copy editor bring their fresh eyes to the work.

They catch me when I repeat myself; Herself pushes me to add more tension to a flat scene and suggests a better word or phrasing now and then.

It's truly a suggestion. I'm free to write 'stet' by their changes -- which means 'leave it the way I wrote it.'

I don't often disagree. This time though I've stetted my use of the lower case g when a speaker who isn't a believer says something like 'Oh my god.'  I like to save the capital G for someone actually invoking the Deity.

I love reading through these pages and polishing the words one last time. It's been months since I sent it in and it's fun to read it again.  And oh, how I love seeing which parts Herself liked -- and where the copy editor agreed!

FAQ -- Will You Read My WIP?

Q: Would you read/take a look at/ critique/edit my work in progress?

A: No.

Unless you're in one of the classes I teach, I really have to decline. And here's why.

I'm overwhelmed with stuff to do already -- just now, tomatoes, garden, house, the reading I'm doing for the Edgars -- all these are consuming most of my time. In a week, my writing class starts: in a few more weeks my new book is out and the month of October is full of visits to book stores, libraries, and other groups -- and I'm not even working on a book now. As soon as I begin my next book, there is no such thing as extra time.

There's another reason I'm reluctant to read your work. There are many kinds of writing -- and  some just leave me cold -- not my cup of tea is one of the politest ways of saying it. And not my cup of tea includes many a blockbuster New York Times bestseller. 

So I really wouldn't want to discourage a writer by responding negatively. Who know, you may be the next Mary Higgins Clark or Dan Brown!

 That said, here's a few quick thoughts for you would-be novelists -- stuff I would tell you if you were in one of my classes.

If you're writing a novel you need a sense of where it's going, an initial problem that sets things in motion -- leading, after many twists and turns, achievements and setbacks, to a resolution.

You need a protagonist readers will care about. This is why readers keep  reading -- to find out what happened to this person who has captured their attention.
   
And you need to catch your reader's attention at once -- on the first page. (It's a constant battle to keep the reader's attention with all the distractions available in modern life.)

Show, don't tell. Get comfortable with dialogue. Learn how to skip over tedious bits that don't contribute to the story. Put in the weather. Give  your characters something to do while they talk to each other (and don't overdo the drinking coffee, eating meals thing.)


Read your stuff aloud. You'd be amazed at how this helps you to avoid stilted language.


You should have an idea of what sort of book you're writing (what would you compare it too?) and who your protagonist is and what she/he wants. What stands in his/her way and how will she/he overcome it?

If you're serious, you'll keep going.

FAQ - Distractions and Submissions

Q: How do you deal with distractions when you're writing?

A: Oh, boy, I'm not sure I've got a good answer for this. I'm surrounded by distractions and to some extent they feed my creativity. In summertime, the distractions are many and pressing and it's hard to get a lot done when the garden is demanding my attention.  I don't have the luxury of someone to cook and clean (though my husband helps out here) so that I can do nothing but write.  And, frankly, I'm not sure I'd want to spend all my waking hours writing.


The best I can say is that I attempt to find some chunks of time -- usually late at night because I am not good at getting up before daybreak -- and make the most of that time.  Generally, once I'm well into my story, I don't want to stop.


The  internet, of course, is another distraction, right there at your fingertips, even late at night.  One could and probably should, turn off email and stay away from Facebook, Mr. Google, and blogging.  This is a whole separate class of distractions which I think I'll talk about in another post.

 Q: How are manuscripts submitted anymore? Surely not on paper?
A: If you are submitting to an agent, you find out what their preference is. Ditto, an editor or publisher.

My first 3 or 4 books were submitted as printed out manuscripts and a disk copy.  Recently I've emailed the whole thing as an attachment and the publisher has printed it out for my editor and then the copy editor to make their marks on.

I think a lot of people still prefer the hard copy -- it's up to you to make sure you're doing your submission in the preferred form.

FAQ - Reading While Writing

Q:.  Could you talk a bit about what you read during the time you are writing your novel. (Assuming you do read!)    If so, do you read fiction or non-fiction or both?   

A:  Oh, yes, I read, even when I'm in the midst of writing a novel.  Mostly while I'm drinking coffee after lunch or just before going to sleep. But I'm careful not to read authors whose style or subject matter is similar to mine for fear of unconscious plagiarism.

This means that I have to avoid two of my favorite authors -- Lee Smith and Sharyn McCrumb, along with any number of Southern and Appalachian writers.

And I almost never start a new novel  for fear of not being able to put it down and get back to my own work.  So I reread old favorites -- ones that I almost know by heart -- Elizabeth Goudge, P.G. Wodehouse, Angela Thirkell -- all Brits and all set in the first half of the last century.

A book of Caribbean short stories would work too. 

Q: HOW do you read? (analytically, critically, or merely for relaxation)?  

A:  I almost never read critically or analytically (except for my own stuff or students' work in my writing classes.)  I read very, very fast and for fun. But I have
noticed that when I listen to a book, I pay closer attention to its structure -- particularly  if it's one I've listened to before. 

All the  Aubrey/Maturin books ( by Patrick O'Brian and read by Patrick Tull) are wonderful examples of the sort of writing I'd like to do. Though I'm listening while driving . . . or ironing or working in the kitchen, I'm always learning something new about good writing.

Q:What about books on technique?  Any titles you'd particularly recommend?

Chris Roerden's book is the textbook I use in my writing classes and as a check list for my own work. I think it's the most helpful book I've encountered for a nuts and bolts approach to fiction. I don't always agree with Chris -- she hate prologues and I like them -- but I skim through this little book at least once a year.

Stephen King's On Writing and Elizabeth George's  Write Away! come to mind as writing books I've read and enjoyed. Bird by Bird  by Anne Lamott and Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg are especially good for inspiration.  

But I haven't found the book that can substitute for just sitting down and writing, day after day.  That's how you learn, in the end.

 

FAQ -Moving Forward in Your Writing

Q: How do you keep yourself moving AHEAD, rather than "backing and filling" --editing--rather than creating?  

A: I tend to write in a pretty linear fashion -- start at chapter one and keep going. Sometimes I have an inspiration for a scene pretty far ahead -- or even the ending -- and I'll write it down and file it away till time to use it.  

I edit as I go -- reading what I wrote the day before and fixing what needs fixing before beginning the next bit. This has the virtue of getting me well back int the story before I write something new.

If, as sometimes happens, events prevent me from writing for a week or more, I may go back and skim through everything before continuing on. And I always make some changes. But I try to keep moving forward.

If I'm stuck or out of steam for the main story, I can always go to the secondary, historical subplot -- which also proceeds along in a linear motion. Here too, I read and edit the previous work in this story before laying down new stuff.

Some people swear by writing a first extremely rough draft very, very quickly and only after  reaching the end do they go back and flesh it out with description and such. It sounds good but I don't think it would work for me as my ideas are developed at a leisurely pace.  I may be fifty pages from the end and still not be sure who the villain is.

Q: Do you have a daily page/word count goal?  

A: Around 1,500 words or around five pages (double-spaced, of course) is what I shoot for. That's about half a chapter -- at least in the first two-thirds of the book (the chapters get shorter toward the end in an attempt at picking up the pace.) And it's pretty polished.

Sometimes I do better than this; I have done 5 thousand words in a day (once or twice)  -- sometimes it's a struggle to get 200 words down. The muse is fickle.

And sometimes there are days when Life interferes with my plans for writing. Stephen King famously writes every day of the year.  I can't even imagine that kind of dedication. But then, I'm not Stephen King.

FAQ - Where Does VOICE Come From?

An aspiring author recently asked me about the thing writers call Voice.  "What is it?" she asked.   "You mentioned 'finding your voice and being solidly in it.' How did you 'find' yours?  Is it consistent in your novels? "

Ahh.  That's what I get for tossing about terms, the meaning of which I have only a hazy idea. My initial reaction was to say that I had no more idea where my 'voice' comes from than I can account for those tiny circles like planets round the sun in the picture above.

That's not entirely true. I suspect the circles are reflections -- and I know what I mean by voice. But I went looking round the web for a more official definition.

About.com  had this to say:

• Voice is the author's style, the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author's attitude, personality, and character; or
• Voice is the characteristic speech and thought patterns of a first-person narrator; a persona. Because voice has so much to do with the reader's experience of a work of literature, it is one of the most important elements of a piece of writing.

Okay. Keeping those definitions in mind, where does voice come from?

The first sort of voice -- the style of the author -- I believe comes from the experiences of the author. In my case, that experience includes years of reading all sorts of things from Jane Austen and Thackery to Mark Twain and Wodehouse -- with a hefty dose of Douglas Adams, Lee Smith, Rumer Goden and, as they say, many, many more.

My style includes a slight tendency to be pedantic (yes, I was an English major and a teacher and I love big words,) as well as a touch of playfulness. There's also a Southern childhood, my particular generation (will I ever get beyond saying that things are 'neat' or 'cool'?) and my thirty-plus years absorbing the culture of rural Appalachia.  All of these things contribute to a multi-layered effect. (I suspect that this blog is a fair example of my natural voice. )

The second definition -- the voice of a first person character -- is what I was talking about when I spoke of 'finding my voice.' What I really meant was finding Elizabeth's voice.

My protagonist Elizabeth not only lives on a farm that is very much like where I live, she also shares my Southern past and the English major thing. She's ten years younger than I and she doesn't (or shouldn't) say 'neat' and 'cool.' In fact, she shares so much of my world view that for the first four books, I chose to write her in third person point of view -- not wanting to have her quite so identified with me.

But by the time I got to the fifth Elizabeth book, my protagonist had become a fully-realized character -- a bit like me still, but with a whole set of experiences that were uniquely her own.  So at last I began to write Elizabeth in first person. And her voice as a character is substantially different from my own -- at least, I think it is.

When I write my novels, the overall style is pretty much similar to my natural voice but I try to suppress or let free various elements as seems appropriate.  The pedantic voice had a field day with the character of The Professor in In a Dark Season. The Appalachian culture is, of course, the basis for many of my characters -- Miss Birdie, of course, and Cletus and Bib and quite a few others.

Very often I have an idea for a character and I think to myself -- this person is going to be a  lot like ____. Sometimes I fill in the blank with the name of a friend or acquaintance; sometimes it's a character in a book.  And as I write this character, I'm always thinking, What would ___ do in this situation? What would they say? How would they say it?

 I keep a file on my computer of interesting scraps of conversation or descriptions.  And I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting characters

 As for that last question --Is the voice consistent in my novels? -- I think so -- but one day I may surprise myself and write something very different.

This post will be added to the FAQ page over at my Day of Small Things blog.

FAQ - How Do You Get Published?

There are a lot of folks out there who've written or are writing novels and wonder how to get published. Now and then I hear from some of them. I set up a FAQ page over on my DAY OF SMALL THINGS blog/site but I think I'll go on and tackle this question here as well. (For a fuller discussion, follow the link above to the FAQ.)

Only yesterday I received an email, part of which went as follows:  

 . . . This is my first novel, and I really want this book published.  I have had my novel line edited . . . and I am in the process of some rewrites.  

Do you have any suggestions on how to get the dang thing published?  It seems like it is next to impossible to break into the literary world if you have never been published or do not have the right connections.

Is the publishing company that published your book a self publishing company?

I would appreciate any guidance that you could provide.

Okay, how to get this dang thing published.

(I'm talking about novels, here - the rules are different for non-fiction, poetry, and children's fiction.)Well, if your goal is to be published by a big, mainstream publisher, then you're going to need an agent.  And you don't 'hire' an agent -- instead you send out queries (email or snail mail) telling them about your novel and hoping that you've piqued their interest sufficiently to want to read more and, eventually, offer to represent you. The really big publishers do not accept unagented submissions. (There are smaller legitimate publishing houses that will deal directly with the author.)

Impossible to break into the literary world if you have never been published or do not have the right connections? 

I am proof that it's possible -- I had NO connections and the only publication to my credit was the book on quilting that a friend and I had co-authored. (This sort of publication credit means less than nothing to agents and publishers of novels.)

I sent out over sixty query letters in the space of three months before fining an agent who wanted to represent me. It's not a quick and easy process for most.

Is the publishing company that published your book a self publishing company?

No. A self-publishing company is one in which the writer pays to have his work printed. 

Self-publishing works well for people who have written a work that is probably going to have a limited audience.  Wonderful for a family history or a novel of regional interest. A major downside of self-publishing is that you don't get nation-wide distribution. There are other downsides but there are those who are passionate advocates of self-publishing.

 Guidance --

There's lots of that on line -- and my experience is so limited that I'm not the best person to ask.  And no, I can't take a look at manuscripts -- there's just not time, between trying to write my own books and teach the classes I teach and everything else in my life. 

I'm not trying to be unkind-- I'm honored that some folks have sought my advice. But to the best of my knowledge, there is no magic secret, no clever shortcut to publication. It's a lot of work.