AMAZON SLOWLY SHUNNING OUTSIDE REVIEWERS?
As many of you know, Amazon, the “king of all media,” ahem, “retailers of all media,” I should say (thank you Howard Stern), sells just about everything. They started out with just media, but branched out to many other products, too vast a variety to go into here.
I found their selection of books, CDs & Vinyl, computer games and such the most definitive source to place reviews. If I had something, no matter how obscure, and wanted to review it, I could almost guarantee Amazon would have a place for it.
There were many of said items out there, listed on their site where I was the only reviewer. Period.
Some of my reviews actually prompted people to contact me, including former band members, fans, adversaries, you name it.
In one case, a not so obscure telescope eyepiece I reviewed cause the formation of a thread about me on an astronomy forum. I wasn’t even aware of the ruckus until someone else commented to me through Amazon and told me what was going on. Once I joined the forum and put in my two cents, that was when the fun began. Nasty comments and hate mail ensued.
I found my reviews, at least in my mind, helpful, honest and from the heart.
Nowadays, I cringe at some of them because I started so long ago, my writing chops weren’t as clean as they are now. Plus, my opinions have changed on a few of those early items. Some a bit, some a lot. In one case, one of my bad movie reviews was deliberately taken out of context and used in a positive quote!
THE GOOD OLD DAYS
Whether people bought (or force bought through no other choice) their items from Amazon, it was simple and easy to see all the reviews on an item with one basic click. If there were many, you could just scroll through them from page to page, or sort them by the star rating. You could even sort by the latest posted. On the more obscure items, there were usually not that many reviews, so it was pretty easy to find them.
I, for one, did honest reviews and never ever discouraged anyone from buying the item from Amazon. Sometimes, I actually encouraged it because it was the only place it was available.
I was easily able to tell how many reviews I’d done. I could click on my name and tell right away if I’d done 60, 600 or 1,000 reviews.
It was a bit tedious to search them all for a specific one, especially if it was buried in a popular item with several hundred to several thousand reviews, even considering the number ratings of say, if all the three or five star ratings had four hundred to six hundred reviews each. If I went to my personal page and looked for it (used to be, just click on my name), my only choice was to scroll through them, or go to my computer hard drive and find it there. Then again, sometimes, what was on my hard drive didn’t always match the final version on Amazon. Not only did I sometimes tweak it before I saved on line, in the old days, I sometimes reviewed right on line and never saved it to the computer. Or, I lost some reviews due to computer crashes and incomplete backups, etc.
AMAZON AND GRADUAL TO ABRUPT CHANGES
Slowly, it became harder and harder to find my reviews on the personal page. The first thing I noticed was that I could not find my review count. Why would I care? No big reason, juss cuz. However, I wanted to make sure I had everything matching what was on my hard drive. I did not want to miss anything. Since I’d gone through several computers since I first started reviewing several decades ago (as explained above), I wanted to make sure everything was up-to-date. In that process, I was trying to find the easiest way to get from A to B. That led to this discovery.
I just checked this morning, as I edited this. My reviews are still there and the count is at the top, where it should be in the personal reviews tab. As of that moment, I had 1147, though that number will change by the time you read this. However, there are only two search parameters. Most recent reviews and Most recent comments. There are no other search parameters so scrolling through page after page, looking for a particular review, I’d better have them on the hard drive!
Next, Amazon made the more recent and more radical change.
AMAZON PURCHASERS GET TOP BILLING
Yup, that’s right. Amazon, in all their wisdom and greed, even though they’re the obvious top dogs in on-line retail, took it upon themselves to take all verified purchase reviews and put them up front on all items. Okay, I can sort of understand that. However, a review is a review. They help sell products, whether good or bad. They help people make decisions.
They have their reasons for doing so. There was a lot of abuse, which I totally understand. I could go on and on about that. Also, maybe the other retailers do the same, but my suspicion is that most people, whether they buy from Amazon or not, go there first to check the reviews before they go anywhere else. I know I do. With all the tools at their disposal to cut down on bogus reviews and abuse, this extra step seems a little over the top.
Now what about those other reviews? Like most of mine?
Okay, I do buy from Amazon, occasionally. However, I prefer to buy retail if I can. I like to touch and feel and sometimes smell the item before I buy, and you just can’t do that online. Most retailers I buy from don’t have web sites, or at least ones where I can do reviews. If they do, I don’t want to have logins to hundreds of different web sites with different quirks and standards. I’m used to Amazon and it always used to work!
In a way, I consider Amazon sort of like the Wikipedia of reviews. Is that bad?
Also, what about items I already have? There’s older stuff I’ve had that I revisit and want to review. Stuff that maybe I want to put out there that’s still worthy (or not) for people to seek out. Surprisingly, a lot of it is still available on Amazon.
So, what happened to all of us “others” reviews? Oh, they’re still there. However, you have to jump through hoops to find them.
You go to a book, for instance. There are 25 reviews. However, when you look at the list, you only see 10. Why? It automatically defaults to Amazon purchasers only. All the other reviews are hidden.
Whaaa???
If you want to see the rest of them, you have to click on the little in blue “…customer reviews” The ellipses being a number like 25 or 76 or 1,000.
Then you once again have to go just above the first review and click on “See all verified purchase reviews” in blue which is just below the star rating bars.
Then it takes you to the search parameter selection blocks.
Now, a nasty little bug I’ve found when I sometimes click on “All reviews.”
I click “All reviews” and the list populates. However, I want to see them in order of most recent. So, I click to sort them again. Guess what? It goes back to the default of Amazon Purchasers only! Or, at least it did sometimes. Lately, it seems to work properly. In my most recent example, not long ago, I did a review of Steppenwolf’s first album. When I hit All Reviews, then hit Most Recent, my review was at the top and below that was nothing but Verified Amazon Purchases. Go figure.
Those geniuses at Amazon trick out the system so it becomes very convoluted to see all reviews. I’ve found the same thing happened when I wanted to see all three star reviews, or one star reviews. It ALWAYS goes to Amazon Purchasers first. Then you have to say “All reviews” and it goes to the whole list. If you click on one star, it may or may not give you all or just Amazon Verified, or it used to.
I’ve found it hit or miss until recently where the filtering seems to be a bit better.
The other thing is limiting non Amazon Verified to five per week. I don’t have so much a problem with that. It’s the other issue that has pissed me off until recently.
WHAT NEXT?
So, what next? Banning non-verified Amazon reviewers altogether?
SUMMARY
I DO like Amazon, mostly. I’ll continue to buy from them and use them. They are the best out there for on line. However, with them being the big boys on the block, it seems to me they’re getting to be more of a bully about things. I know a business is a business. I can’t knock that they have the most comprehensive stock I’ve ever seen. However, I think sometimes they go over the line.
There’s also the possibility of Amazon brick and mortar stores in the future. If so, will they have the same comprehensive stock available in stores that they have on line? Only time will tell.
What do you think? Am I over the line? I mean, it’s not like I can do a thing about it. I’m still going to review and still use Amazon. There are many things about them I DO like.
Happy writing!
THE OXFORD COMMA – MY TAKE
A year ago, I did a general article on commas. One of the things I addressed was commas in a series. Back then, I didn’t specifically address them as the “Oxford Comma,” or, as it’s also known, the “serial comma” or the “Harvard Comma,” but they’re all the same thing.
Lately, this little punctuation mark has even made the news and a few Facebook threads, circulating around through the electronic ether.
Despite the arguments, mostly for, I’m still one against the use of it.
Why?
Unnecessary clutter.
WHAT IS THE OXFORD COMMA?
The best way to describe it is that when you have commas in a series, the last one, right before an “and” or an “or” is the Oxford.
For example:
The zoo had a variety of animals including bear, geese, lions, apes(,) and snakes.
That last comma is the Oxford comma.
Would you go if the movie had comedy, romance, cowboys, monsters(,) or trains?
The last comma is the Oxford comma.
In both cases, the Oxford comma, in my mind, is unnecessary clutter and does nothing for the sentence. The and or or takes the place of the final comma and the comma is redundant.
PROBLEMS WITH NOT USING THE OXFORD
One of the big reasons, especially of late, for using the Oxford is to remove ambiguity. The infamous contract negotiation incident that’s been in the news lately is a good example. While I read the example explanation, I’ve already forgot it so I won’t go into those details and possibly get something wrong. Instead, I’ll cite much simpler examples.
Detective Barnett talked to Roger’s two aunts, George and Charlie.
Huh?
In this case, it sounds like Roger has two aunts named George and Charlie when the author meant to say Detective Barnett talked to the two aunts plus George and Charlie.
Detective Barnett talked to Roger’s two aunts, George, and Charlie.
A little better, but not really.
I’d write it a little differently to completely remove the ambiguity.
After talking to Roger’s two aunts, Detective Barnett also talked to George and Charlie.
Case closed.
PROBLEMS WITH USING THE OXFORD
The main one is clutter.
It can just as easily cause ambiguity.
What if one of Roger’s two aunt’s are actually named George and Charlie? That would make the sentence correct. However, how about this?
Detective Barnett talked to Roger’s aunt, Charlie, and George.
In this case, Aunt Charlie is a masculine name but is her nickname.
Detective Barnett talked to Roger’s aunt, Charlie and George.
Huh? Even more confusing by eliminating the Oxford.
Detective Barnett talked to Roger’s aunt Charlie and then George.
No commas at all.
One could pick the technicalities to death, but it’s best to keep it as simple and clear as possible. Get rid of the ambiguities in the best way possible.
SUMMARY
I learned the old Air Force technical writing method, less clutter, get to the point. Though I have the Chicago Manual of Style and several other writing tomes at my fingertips, well, right above my head in my computer cabinet, all within easy access, I know what they say and disagree.
My publisher is on my side with this one as well.
No Oxford Comma.
No clutter.
No ambiguity either.
Then again, it’s up to you and your publisher/editor.
Happy writing!
BOOK FESTIVALS
Once you become published and have something to sell, it’s time to get out there and let people know you exist. You have a book, and well…it’s time to start marketing.
For many authors, the ugly reality finally hits once you have a book under your belt. The pure joy and sometimes agony (if you don’t love to write) is replaced with the fact that now that you finished the thing, it’s not going to sell itself!
Of course, if you happened to sign with one of the big five, they have built-in marketing machines.
However….
Unless you’ve written the best thing since sliced bread, which is highly unlikely, and folks, rarely does lightning strike, they’re not going to just let you sit back while they do all the work! If you get an advance, which is also, by the way, getting rarer by the day, they’re going to expect you to sink at least a good chunk of that into your own marketing effort.
What this all boils down to is no matter who publishes your work, you, that means YOU are eventually going to have to get out in the trenches and sell your book, whether you like it or not.
Which brings me to…
BOOK FESTIVALS
Probably one of the easiest events to market your book, especially for you wallflowers, is the book festival.
Why?
The center of attention isn’t all on you. You aren’t the complete focus of the event.
You’re given a table spot where you can set up your display, sometimes with room for a banner (which you may or may not have to pay for yourself), business cards, bookmarks, publicity sheets and of course, books to sell.
Along with dozens to hundreds of other authors, you get a chance to meet from tens to hundreds to thousands of people.
Now, the hazards of book festivals, especially for wallflowers are the same as I’ve talked about in book signings in the past.
Remember the term I used above? Marketing?
By my definition, marketing means to sell, to go out and seek buyers, to let people know about your book.
If you go to a book festival and sit at your table and knit, or scrunch behind the table and look at your cell phone for the entire time, guess what’s going to happen?
Almost everyone is going to pass you by. Unless you have a super attractive cover, and even then, a lot of people are going to be distracted by everyone around you who are going to be talking to them and telling them about their book!
You have to stand up, engage people, talk to them. Only use the chair to ease your legs once in a while or to make a sale.
Have a candy bowl, or something to attract people to your side of the table.
The whole idea of going to these events is to get out there and tell people about your book. You can’t do that if you don’t make any effort to engage them.
Often, these events are free to you, the author, or at best, they’re a token charge.
Maybe they cost the travel time and a hotel room and meals. It’s the cost of doing business.
Quite often, you may not sell a single book. However, if you talk to people, give them business cards and book marks, that’s spreading the word.
Also, think of this.
NETWORKING
Even if you don’t sell a thing, you’re talking to other authors and sometimes, you run across people passing by who may not buy your book, but maybe they want to review it. Sure, they may want a free copy, but if you can get a review posted, why not? Anything to get another review on line helps boost notoriety about your book.
Personally, I’ve done several of these festivals. I sold one book and considered it a success at one. At another, I didn’t sell any but I was able to get the book reviewed. It took a year, but the review was a good one. I consider that one a success and I got invited back to the festival again.
I have another one I’m going to this weekend. I sold one book there last year. Success. Even if I don’t sell a thing this year, if I can network, pass out cards, bookmarks, I’ll consider it a success.
Networking.
Happy writing!
DON’T STOP WRITING TO WAIT FOR AN AGENT
This is another thread inspired by the Genre Writer’s Retreat – Fantasy, Sci-fi, Steam Punk Facebook page, which lately, has provided me with a wealth of subjects thanks to writers and authors asking lots of questions. While I can give short replies, or sometimes only have time to give a quick “like” on the subject, here, I have time to discuss these things in more detail. Many times, they’re subjects I’ve covered before, but maybe not from quite the same angle.
THE QUEST FOR AN AGENT (OR PUBLISHER)
A lot of writers tend to become focused. Okay, sure, when you’re writing a story, you need to be focused on that story at that time. So, now you have it finished (well, mostly). If you are young and naïve, you’re going to drop everything and immediately start looking for an agent.
Just one problem.
Okay, you’ve finished your great masterwork, but what about editing it? What about a sequel? What about other inspiration?
Just because you finished one doesn’t mean progress comes to a screeching halt while you shop around your work to the “receptive” world of publishing.
I think you’ll be in for a rude awakening.
I am, of course, exaggerating most writer’s circumstances, but sometimes, just sometimes, not by as much as you might think. With a lot of writers, they (and maybe you) might be guilty of a variable of that scenario.
How many of you have become so focused on your one thing and never considered the rest of it? Sure, maybe you took the time to get it edited through whatever means and started querying, then spent all your time and energy trying to get it published.
Oh, wait a minute. In all that effort, you forgot one other thing.
Something else to write!
I can tell you right now that I’m not exaggerating about that. As a member of multiple writer’s groups over two decades, well three to be exact, and having attended multiple writer’s conferences (twelve to be exact), I’ve talked to a lot of writers and authors. You’d be shocked at how many of them have done exactly what I’m talking about. They put all their time and energy into that one book. Their reasoning?
“I want to see if I can get this one published first. If I can, then I’ll write something else.”
Oh boy…
NEVER PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET
I often cite my extreme quest to get published because I refused to self-publish. It took a looong time. Let me ask you something. If you wrote a single book twenty one (almost twenty-two, now) years ago, before you finally got published, how much inspiration do you think you’d have left by now? How many ideas and fragments of ideas do you think you’d remember after two decades? How many would be obscured by all the frustrations of being rejected?
How practiced would you be at the craft of writing if you’d even bothered to stick with it for more than a year, let alone twenty? I’m guessing most of you wouldn’t have lasted near as long.
Thanks to my two mentors at the time, Carol Davis Luce and Rhondi Vilott Salsitz, I knew I was in for a tough sell. I also knew I loved to write. The other thing was that when I started out, my first novel was never going to see the light of day. The Cave was just my way of seeing if I could complete a novel. Once that was out of the way, I got serious with The Greenhouse.
Sure, I pitched it. I pitched it and I pitched it. I queried it and I queried it. I went through all the same rigamarole as you’re probably going through with your great American novel, but in a more primitive form, using books and mail and very little Internet. Different times. However, while I was doing that, I was either editing it for the second or third time, or, I was in the middle of writing Lusitania Gold.
Folks, I wasn’t about to sit on my ass and wait for the agents and publishers to come banging at my virtual door! Thanks to Carol, Rhondi and anecdotal evidence (brought on by actually reading about querying), I knew it’d be a tough sell. Therefore, since I was brimming with inspiration, I moved on. My writing would not come to a screeching halt just because I had to take time to pitch The Greenhouse or Lusitania Gold or whatever.
SUMMARY – TAKES TIME AND EFFORT
Pitching your work, such as querying agents and publishers takes work, research, time, effort, bla bla bla. It takes inspiration and creativity just like writing does. However, consider that just necessary time away from your calling. It’s something you have to do if you ever want your stories to see the light of day. You have to be skilled at it, you have to be smart about it and most importantly, you need to allot time away from your regular writing for it.
However, you do not stop writing while waiting for an agent or publisher to take the bait.
That’s a great way to get nowhere fast.
Happy writing!
CHARACTERS ON COVERS
Boy, I love the Science Fiction And Fantasy Facebook thread! The people there give me a wealth of inspiration.
Recently, someone started a thread and asked how people felt about having characters versus scenes (or other designs) on their book covers. In this context, they were referring to mainly fantasy and science fiction. I think that particular author is fantasy, if I remember correctly.
I’ve talked about covers before, how important they are, how I personally feel about them, and how they can influence your book sales.
Now, let’s look at both sides of the coin.
BOOK COVERS WITH CHARACTERS
THE GOOD
A great artist may be able to bring your character to life. If your main character is very good looking, or is an alien creature or fantastical beast, that image fills in the blanks for the reader. They see that image on the cover and picture him, her or it throughout the story. If, the rest of the artwork accompanying the image fits with that image, you may have a flashy cover that gives the reader a vivid idea of a particular scene in the story. That can be a great way to sell a book.
THE BAD
Ninety-nine percent of the time, not only does the character on the cover not look anything like the main character, but the scene depicted has nothing to do with any scene in the story! Let me repeat that. Ninety-nine percent of the time, not only does the character on the cover not look anything like the main character, but the scene depicted has nothing to do with any scene in the story!
It’s a well-known fact that publishers give their work over to cover artists and it’s up to these artists to “interpret” the story and come up with a cover. So, the artist does just that. They “interpret” their impression of something in the story, which hardly ever corresponds to an actual event in said story. That includes the actual main character. It is usually a composite at best.
The author rarely, if at all, has any input whatsoever, even if given “token” input.
Therefore, though the artwork may be super fantastic, it rarely has anything to do with the actual story. It might be “close enough for guv’mint work,” but if the reader gets the impression that that cover depicts an actual scene in the book, they may read and read and read, searching for that particular scene, only to be disappointed.
How do I know this?
Because I’ve done it countless times! I’ve seen a cover, read the book and come away disappointed.
What about self-published authors? Do they have more control over their artwork?
That’s an interesting question because maybe they do. However, in this case, since they have to fork out all the cash themselves, they have more of a budget and as a result, many many self-published works have a bad rep for less than stellar covers.
Why?
Bad artwork.
Do you want your reader to get the picture of a heroine that looks like Marty Feldman who’s supposed to be a female warrior out of their mind?
WHY FORCE AN IMAGE?
Now, for the other part of the bad, why force an image on your readers? Why force them to see any of your characters as anything other than what you paint as words? If you use words, give them just enough to guide them along. Then, let them fill in their own blanks. Even if you give them minute details, a lot of readers are going to lose interest and fill in their own blanks, anyway. If you force them into some image on the cover, whether good or bad, you take away that freedom.
This hazard comes with a price if your book is adapted to the movies. Once a certain star takes on the role (and this goes for side characters as well), it leaves those faces cemented in the consciousness of the readers. If the stars change from movie to movie, there can be a rebellion of sorts. Some people will stick with the original star, while others with either go with the flow, or once again, fill in the blanks. Guess what’ll happen with your book covers? There’s a pretty good bet the original covers will be replaced with revised artwork with the stars on them.
BOOK COVERS WITHOUT CHARACTERS
THE GOOD
Book covers without characters are quite common and are a far safer bet for you as a writer. Without a character (which includes beasts, icky bugs, monsters…whatever), you can now let the words you write drive those descriptions for the reader. You’re no longer at the mercy of an artist you have no control over to drive your impression of what your character (or icky bug) looks like. Now, it’s up to the reader to fill in their own blanks.
What about the artwork, the scene or image?
Now, this is a whole different realm. Especially for fantasy novels, they artwork tends to be more elaborate than other genres. It doesn’t have to be a scene from the book specifically, just the impression of something that could be from the book. Something to attract the eye. After all, that’s the whole point of the cover. To attract the eye.
That’s the way it is with any cover, to attract the eye. No matter the genre, the cover needs to attract the eye. Since this style has no character or figures on it, it’s a scene, a logo, or something along those lines.
Blank covers are the least interesting. Best-selling authors can get away with them better than new authors. They’re the most boring of all.
Random patterns are next.
Then repeated patterns.
Then logos, though they can be quite popular and effective.
The best are scenes of some kind, and should have some relation to the story but don’t need to be a specific one in the book. Then again, if it’s a fantasy story, the scene shouldn’t be from a shopping mall!
THE BAD
They key is the artwork, whatever is used, doesn’t look hokey or amateurish. That screams self-published.
However, that doesn’t mean all self-published books have bad artwork, or that conventionally published books have great artwork. There are self-published books out there that put the big six to shame. It’s a matter of effort and how much money you want to sink into your book, if you self-publish. If conventionally published, it’s all about lucking into a great marketing and art department!
SUMMARY
Whichever way you go, keep in mind that if you get conventionally published, you have little control over the artwork so if they decide to put a character on the cover, tough! If self-published, do you really want to cement the main character in the reader’s mind or let them paint their own picture? Most people will anyway.
If you do it for them, they may not like what they see and it may bias them against you or your story. It’s better to leave a little to their imagination.
Happy writing!
PREPPING LUSITANIA GOLD
Wow! After 21 years of writing, one book under my belt, I’m deep into the stages of gearing up for the publication of my second book…that’s second book! In many ways, I have to blink just to get over the shock, but at the same time, I can feel and recall every moment of struggle it took to get to this point. It comes as no surprise at all.
On the other hand, I’m also counting my lucky stars. There are so many writers out there who aren’t authors yet. I differentiate the terms as writers haven’t been published yet. Nothing derogatory or superior between either term, just a definition. I was, after all, a writer for a loooong time!
Since I’m lucky enough to be in the author category, not only with a second full book coming out, but because I’ve published numerous short stories and articles, plus technical publications enough to make me an author, I can move on and get busy with the mechanics of the process.
My sincere hope is that you, my readers if not already, can soon be in the same boat as me. Hopefully, it won’t take 21 years and my oft quoted 689 rejections to get to that point. However, I also hope that some of you, if not all, write because you have to, not because you’re in it for mercenary reasons. This should be a passion, not a hobby. I’ve talked enough about that in the past.
EDITING
I just went through a major edit with one of my editors. Keep in mind that this was after a multitude of edits over the 20 years since I wrote the original draft. As I’ve said in the past, I’ve trimmed the story of a lot of bloat, but essentially, it hasn’t changed one iota from the original plot. All I’ve done is updated and tweaked details I’ve learned about due to new books written on the subject, new dives on the ship, much better Google maps, etc.
Now that the major edit is done, it’ll go to a proof reader, then another final edit. Even then, there’s the possibility of something slipping by. The hope is to keep anything major out of the story and as close to a perfect book as possible. With such a massive undertaking as a novel, even with so many eyes on it, there’s bound to be an occasional slip. We do our best and hopefully, that’ll show through.
LAST TWEAKS
I’ve decided to add a reality-versus-fiction section to the back of the book. Sure, it contains spoilers, but I like those and think it’s warranted. The reader can “cheat” if they want or, just read the story first, then continue on to find out why I wrote what I wrote. My buddy James Rollins does this as well as Steve Berry and several other authors I’ve read over the years. I don’t use that in all my stories but for my adventure/thrillers, why not?
I’m also going to add my thank you section, which I do for all my novels. In this case, I have to do extensive research. I had names, dates, places saved on my older computers but lost it all when they crashed over the two decades since I wrote it in Tipton, Oklahoma back in 1996. As it is, I’ve already had to call an old workplace through a convoluted phone system to get hold of the few that still worked there, find out the guy I wanted no longer worked there, but someone remembered the name of his wife, who read an early draft of this story! That, folks, is what I’ve had to do to dig up some of the names of people I want to thank for helping me along the way.
As for maps. There’s a current discussion on the fantasy web site on Facebook about maps and their relevance. In this case, I’m sticking to fantasy for maps. I don’t think it’s needed in this case, though plenty of thrillers have maps in them.
A WEB PAGE
Eventually, I’ll have to set up a web page tab on my web site for the Gold series and Detach’s adventures. Detach is the main character and hero of the series. I so far have six books in the can, so if this series takes off, I already have a backlog of manuscripts to go to. I haven’t decided what to call the page yet. That will come pretty soon, as well as what the Facebook page will be called.
ARTWORK
That’ll be up to the publisher. I think they already have something brewing and as long as it has a bit of green in it, I’m happy! I loved how Treasure Of The Umbrunna turned out!
PRE-PUBLICITY
I’ll have to be gearing up for that pretty soon as well. Since this is not the sequel to Treasure Of The Umbrunna, and since it’s a completely different genre, I have to think in a different box. I’m using my real name, of course, no pen name. I’ve talked extensively about that in the past. To avoid genre confusion, I’m just going to plainly state this is a different genre.
It will involve different channels, I suppose. To be determined later.
SUMMARY
Folks, if it hasn’t happened already, if you’re a writer, one day you’ll be faced with these and many more issues. If you’re conventionally published, your publisher and/or agent will help guide you along in all this. If you’re self-published, well…you need to research and figure it all out on your own.
In either case, get ready for a busy time!
Happy writing!
DOES YOUR STORY NEED A PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Once again, I have to thank the Facebook Genre Writers Retreat Fantasy Sci-Fi Steampunk Etc. page for this inspiration. A discussion came up the other day where a reader asked if she should add a pronunciation section to her book.
Good question.
Just the idea of needing one in the first place brings up a set of issues that I discussed briefly in the post and want to address here. I’ve alluded to them in past posts, but thanks to that thread, I can now focus solely on this subject.
PURPOSE OF A PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Just the idea that one is needed indicates that there are enough words sprinkled throughout the book that the reader is going to stumble over them. We’ll get to the stumble part in a moment. This list, if extensive enough to require a list, is either a list of made up, obscure or foreign words that the average reader may or may not want to learn how to pronounce.
For the reader’s convenience, the author, if he or she keeps track and doesn’t miss any of them, lists the entire range of difficult-to-pronounce-correctly words at the back or front of the book. Problem solved. Or is it?
WHY DO IT?
One reason is immersion. An author gets so wrapped up in their world, whether it be fantasy or science fiction, it’s a common reason to come up with these off-the-wall words (or even other genre fiction where real words are used). To make it more realistic, at least from the author’s perspective, liberally sprinkling these words in the text immerses the reader in the author’s world. In the case of historical fiction, or even non-fiction, they may seem necessary for the setting.
Another reason is literary. In literary fiction, it’s all about the words, the description and the word picture. Therefore, the beauty of the words is key. If difficult or unusual to pronounce words are called for, anything is game.
Maybe the author can’t think of simpler names that are pronounceable, or close enough the reader can figure out their own pronunciation. However, there are 26 letters in the English language and almost an infinite number of combinations to create sounds. It’s up to the author’s imagination to create sounds that are palatable to the reader. The simpler, the better.
HAZARDS OF DIFFICULT-TO-PRONOUNCE WORDS
Say you’re reading along, la de da…and you run across a word, Zarda’dla’beck’wa’wa’wadna’sdna’nwda’da’’’. Oh…kay…first of all, what in the world is that? How do you pronounce it? If the author gives no explanation, you pause, figure something out and move on. If there’s a pronunciation guide at the back of the book, you pause, flip to the back, try to figure out how to pronounce it, then continue reading.
Key thing: pause.
The flow of the story’s been interrupted. It’s come a screeching halt because you had to stop to stumble over that weird-ass word!
For most readers, they’re either going to just give up and skip over it or fill in their own blank. Maybe for the totally immersed reader, they may try to go the extra step. Would you?
For me, it’s just a matter of the old Charlie Brown adult speak “Wah wah wah wah.” I make something up and move on. Even if there were a guide in the book, I wouldn’t bother. I don’t care. I’d just fill in my own blank or skip it, anyway.
Now, in a fantasy setting, take a magick user performing a spell. “Zapbraft grella dragsaft!”
In this case, the words are nonsense. The author knows it, the reader knows it. There’s no need for a pronunciation guide because the words just convey a “mysterious spell” that’s purely effect and nothing else. The reader can zip right over them and move on. They’ll never see those word combinations again.
That’s the difference.
When the difficult word is someone’s name or the name of a place that keeps coming up, or it’s the proper name of a process of some kind, it’s a repeated difficult word that’s going to continue to give the reader pause throughout the story.
IN CONLUSION
Not all, but the majority of people like to breeze through a story. When they read, they read for pleasure and entertainment. It’s not like they’re picking up a college textbook. If they have to use a pronunciation guide to read something, it’s more work than pleasure.
To appeal to the widest audience, this is something you have to consider when you build your world. If your story gives your readers a lot of places to pause, the story flow is going to be herky-jerky and many readers may lose interest. Many might consider your story work instead of pleasure. You have to look at all sides.
Happy writing!
DESCRIPTIONS
I’ve talked about descriptions in various forms throughout the lifetime of this web site. Descriptions set the scene and help establish the mood and feel of your story. However, there are limits and that’s what I want to discuss today.
THE LITERARY ANGLE
In literary fiction, it’s all about the words. Action takes a second stage to description, emotion and narrative. People who like literary writing will not blink an eye at page-long descriptions of some object, location or person. It’s all about the wordplay, the depth of feeling and immersion. Words words words.
THE GENRE/ACTION FICTION ANGLE
In this case, the description is just the starting off point. The idea is to give the reader an idea of what it is, then let them fill in their own blanks. Giving too much description slows the pace, bogs down the action. In genre fiction writing, pacing is everything. People want to see the story MOVE!
BALANCE
The good writer strikes a balance between just enough description to give the reader an idea what something looks like, but doesn’t drag on into too much detail as to give the reader significant pause. What does this mean?
Using me as an example, I just don’t tolerate lengthy descriptions. What happens? The author starts out describing say…a room. We get the dimensions. Then he or she goes into details about furniture, then stuff on the furniture, then history about previous occupants, then history of the objects in the room, then the insects crawling around, the history of the insects, their personal stories, wa wa wa wa.
Folks, he/she’s lost me after the first few sentences. What I see is the good old Charlie Brown adult-speak phenomena, “Wah wah wah wah wah.” I skip to the next paragraph.
If the description continues, I skip to the next paragraph. I continue until the author gets back on track.
I cannot be the only reader that does the same thing.
I’ve already filled in my own blanks with my own useless trivial details that have nothing more to do with the plot than the minutiae that the author just described! Believe me, those minutiae have NOTHING to do with the plot!
When an action/genre writer goes literary, they bog down the action.
SUMMARY
This is why you keep descriptions to a minimum. I’m not telling you not to describe things. For goodness sakes, do it! However, when you do, get the most bang for your buck and describe what needs to be described. “Just the facts, ma’am,” as Joe Friday used to say (for you young’uns, look up the TV series Dragnet to get that reference).
Give the reader the key details that’re essential to the story, or the key details you want the reader to know and let them fill in their own picture. They’re going to do it anyway, given the first few sentences.
Don’t try to dictate every detail. It doesn’t work.
Happy writing!
