Writing for your readers: raindrops on roses

As much as writers write for themselves, for the sheer joy and (in some cases) catharsis, they must always bear in mind that IF they want anyone to actually PUBLISH and/or BUY their book, they must write for the reader as much as (if not more) themselves.

In short, if you just want to use your book as a vehicle to spread your own opinion and satisfy your exhibitionist tendencies, you might be better served by writing a blog. In blogs, you can say: anything you wish, in the manner you'd like–without a cardie-wearing editor with a grammar book permanently attached to their nose telling you what to do–about anyone you want (within reason; you may want to make sure they don’t know where you live), but that doesn’t mean people will want to READ it.

That is not to say that you’re not allowed to write for the elemental joy of creating something from nothing. In fact, you MUST enjoy what you're writing as 'writing for dollars' usually shows.

Yes, to be a successful writer, you have to be a master of contrasts, creative, and aware of the commercial imperatives. Closely linked to 'being aware of the commercial imperatives' is thinking about who you’re trying to connect and communicate with. After all, writing without trying to communicate is like trying to tie a knot around a raindrop: time-consuming and ineffective.

While it's probably not de rigueur to provide a link to take you away from my own musings, this article (or what I've read of it since I'm under deadline!) is so hilarious that I had to share: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2006/11/how_long_does_it_take_to_produ.html.

My favourite quote (so far) follows:

Now, the publishing industry ha[r]bours a dirty little secret: even in this age of high-throughput low-overhead efficiency cultism, some editors like to edit. They will kick the tyres and piss on the fender and get back to the author and say 'change this around, and get rid of the happy singing dinosaur in chapter 14'. And the author will therefore have to do a whole bunch more work on the book before it's acceptable ... (edited slightly; hey, I can't help it!)

As one of those 'editors [who] like[s] to edit', I'm pleased to tell you that 'the happy singing dinosaur in chapter 14 can stay'; however, his cousin Rex (allusion to my children's story which will be completed some day) DEFINITELY has to go!

Buongiorno

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the internet is a wide, weird, wonderful place!

Today, I received an email from a lady in Italy who indicated she'd seen my article about colloquial English on the internet. I'm guessing she means this one: http://www.justlocal.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?p=80&sid=8c8c5ccc6fb006b903f1762259be1283, but I'll know more soon.

The timing is interesting because I was thinking about posting the essays and features that I created as part of my coursework, but I wasn't sure if there would be sufficient interest. I'm guessing that in light of this enquiry, there just may be!

In any case, my article and essay explored, 'The American Influence on Australian Language'. This is a very prickly topic here in Australia, which is often dominated by emotion and hyperbole rather than fact.

And on that note, I'd better close for now, especially since I need to get a book I'm designing finalised and over to the printer, not to mention editing a massive manuscript. While I'm away, feel free to ponder this extract of my article:

Contrary to public belief, American words are not ‘coming in on submarines or being dropped from the sky or sent in undercover, fifth-column-style’ (Wajnryb 2005). American words have not been adopted en masse in Australia. Instead, Australians carefully select delicate morsels from the sumptuous banquet of the American language, leaving the gristle for others (Richards 2003). They slip into such lexicons as ‘dunny’ and ‘dag’, like well-worn and well-loved robes; only donning new lexical attire after trying it on for size, and changing the colour from red, white and blue to green and gold. The Australian language is filled with examples of transmuting borrowed words into native lingo. ‘Pash’ is a great example. It is said to be an Americanism, but it’s about as ‘true blue’ as they come. Australians are also deft at creating words specifically for the Australian language landscape. These words all tend to carry Australians’ finely honed sense of irony, as in ‘wanker’ and ‘dag’; a good-natured sense of humour, as in ‘anklebiter’ and ‘bum nuts’; and a ‘tell-it-like-it-is’ attitude, as in ‘ear bash’, ‘smash repairs’ and ‘toilet’. For the most part, newcomers, such as ‘movie’ and ‘vacation’ do not displace the native variety, but rather ‘create a new lexical space’ (Wajnryb 2005).

Ciao for now!
Renée

Credits for Edits

I have a question that I'm hoping someone can help me out with, either by posting to this blog or emailing me directly.

As an Editor of both fiction and non-fiction, I've had occasion to wonder why non-fiction editors are acknowledged on the imprint page (the page with all of the copyright and publishing information) while fiction editors seem to be acknowledged (seemingly less officially) on acknowledgements pages at the discretion of the author.

I've asked several people about this and the responses have varied from, 'Hey, I never noticed that!' to 'Yeah, that's weird; let me know what you find out!'

If anyone has an answer, please put me out of my curiosity-induced misery!

OK, weekend or no, I'd better get to work!

Absolute Genius (so far)

As you may or may not know, these days, I spend much of my time in Word weeding away extraneous words, brushing up on cross-cultural idioms and decluttering clauses, in short editing.

The Senior Editor of the independent publisher I perform manuscript assessments and editing for mentioned a piece of software called 'WordGenius'. Well, yesterday, I finally got around to downloading a trial and thus far I'm very impressed!

It allows you to drop and drag words from any desktop application. It has good 'headword' and idiom information and, better still, is based on the Macquarie Dictionary, which is considered by most people to be the Australian standard.

Don't get me wrong. I still love my OED (Oxford English Dictionary), especially since I have it on CD as well as in its glossy, 20-volume glory, but with this versatility, I can more easily perform my double checks.

I also currently have a subscription to Macquarie Dictionary Online, which is great too, but the drag and drop facility of WordGenius saves me from having to cut and paste or input words manually. More importantly, if my internet connection happens to go down (perish the thought), I'll still be able to use WordGenius and my OED software without interruption.

The only problem I've encountered so far is the pronunciation add-on doesn't seem to function. That could be because I'm using a demo version and that functionality is disabled, or it could be related to the fact that my computer system is rather overdue for an overhaul.

In any case, I'll keep you posted on any (other) quirks I encounter and what my final review is.

Into the ether

Hi there

Welcome to my first blog, well one that is connected to my business web site anyway.

Over the last few weeks, in and amongst another massive book editing job and web site development (and the rest!), I've managed to unroll a snazzy new menuing system on my own web site, which enables me to add new items in a, well, Flash. (Well, OK, it's JavaScript, but that isn't as catchy). My blog was one of the things I was keen to add so here it is!

I'll be experimenting with posting in my blog as well as continuing with my company newsletter. For the time being, I'll continue with both as I want to see how I go with the world of RSS feeds, blogs and interconnectivity. Also, I see both blogs and newsletters as being valuable ways to stay in touch.

OK, I'd better close for now as I have site maps to create, a bookmark to design and a book to edit!