I don't have a ruler but ... Pt II

Continuing from here but this post will be shorter, promise.

Recently I paid attention to how I use commas because it seems to me that many people overuse them. And I noticed that in early drafts of chapters and blog posts, I do it too!

And I realized that typing while I think is the culprit. I go along banging words out as they occur to me and when my thought process gets stuck, I stop typing--but first, I add a comma. It's like I have to capture every nuance of thought, even the pauses. For a first draft, that's absolutely fine. Now we're back to proofreading: okay, you've gotten a bunch of ideas down kind of as they formed. Great, you've got coherent thoughts and you want to tell people! Go for it.

Just proofread before you press “publish” or “send”, okay? It doesn't take long and it's not as annoying as flossing. Here's a tip from a copy editor I briefly worked with: Start with the last sentence, read that out loud, then move on to the second-last sentence, and keep going backwards. It's best to have another person follow along on their own copy because they catch things you might miss, but even doing it alone helps.

You can even do it between paragraphs. Whenever you temporarily run out of ideas, read over what you have so far. Once you get in the habit of proofreading it becomes automatic. Your first drafts and off-the-cuff posts will have fewer mistakes. More people will smile at you.

Too many commas can slow readers down. That’s exactly what you don’t want in scenes with fast-paced action or somebody’s hyped-up, tumbling thoughts. Even in blog posts, too many commas make me feel like I’m riding a cantering horse: bouncing up and down.

Commas. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, some are necessary and some are like those spiked strips cops throw across the roadway to catch speeding crooks. I don’t normally pontificate like this but some things just get in my craw and I have to snap about it.

Rant over, really. Feel free to disagree with me, it’s fine. Won’t be the last time, no doubt :D

image courtesy of DarkSide/stock.xchng

I don't have a ruler to slap your hand with, but ...

Sometimes, the world changes in unnecessary ways. You ever notice that? Soon as I decide I like a new product at the grocery store, dammit it's gone. A neighbor plows the snow out of his driveway and into the parking space in front of your house. So as I read blog posts and story drafts, when I see an unnecessary trend in how people use English, it pesters me.

Most word processing programs have spell checkers included. I usually use Blogger in Firefox, and that infamous red squiggly line appears underneath "alot" because it's incorrect. Do people turn off their spell checkers? Do they just not notice the red squiggle? Do they just not care? I don't know.

I'm not talking about occasional typos. When somebody repeatedly uses the wrong form of a word, it's almost certainly not a typo.

For example:

• "alot" instead of "a lot"
• "flush out" instead of "flesh out" (unless you really don't like the thing you're talking about. "Flush out" has a completely different meaning)
• "peak interest" or "peek interest" instead of "pique interest" 

Most U.S. editors and agents are not going to look favorably on a query that uses "alot" or "peak interest." I bought a self-pubbed story but had to put it down about 1/3 of the way in. When I popped on to Amazon to leave a review, I saw lots of comments about how badly edited the book was. So readers do notice this stuff.

There are rules for using English. Some of them can bend and some of them are meant to provide standardization so we all know what the heck we're talking about. 

Mistakes in blog posts are pet peeve of mine. When you deal with a publisher, you might find mistakes in the finished book that you had nothing to do with. Blogs are totally in our control. Proofread, that's all I'm saying. If there's time to put together a post, there's five more minutes to proofread it. Sometimes you miss stuff. I get that. My regular critters find mistakes in my chapters that I missed. But typos, left out words, and misuse of homophones don't happen often in my writing because I proofread.

Proofreading is not some mystic or arcane power. Anybody can do it. You don't have to be OCD to fix mistakes.

I have one more thing to say but I’ll keep that for next time. Thanks for reading! It's a grey day in my part of the Northeastern U.S. so maybe that's affected my mood.  Happy 2013 everybody!
Image courtesy of bjearwicke/stock.xchng

Guest post: Victorine -- Your indie-published book cover, Part Two

Last week we read the first half of Victorine Lieske 's guest post on Indie Book Covers: Three Seconds to Success or Failure. Vicki’s keen eye for detail and BIG success with her own indie published book put her in a prime position to offer the straight dope on creating your indie book cover. Today we have the second half of Vicki’s post:

Top six things to avoid when creating a book cover:

1. Sunrises, Oceans and Clouds – Pretty scenery is just that, pretty. It promises calm and relaxation. That’s okay if your book is about meditation, but most books should avoid the calm book cover. It’s what my friend Lisa Kovanda, the Nebraska Writer’s Guild President, always says. “It’s the happy people in the happy village.” Who wants to read about happy people? No one. Books need conflict. Your book cover should imply that also. Don’t make it look too bright and happy. Promise the reader conflict.

2. Poor Font Choices – Watch out for fonts that are too ornate. The buyer should be able to read the title in thumbnail size. If they can't, change the font. You also want to avoid fonts that have been overused. Google “Fonts to avoid,” and start a list. Make sure Papyrus and Comic Sans are at the top of your list.

3. Snapshots – Unless you are a professional photographer, you should avoid using photos you've taken yourself. Try looking on royalty free websites like photos.com or dreamstime.com.

4. Homemade Artwork – Again, if you're not a professional artist I suggest you avoid using homemade artwork. It usually isn’t successful.

5. Rainbow Gradients – Most of the time rainbow gradients look garish and unappealing. They also have a bit of a “happy people in the happy village” look to them. They’re too bright and colorful. Avoid them.

6. Obscure Objects – I swear sometimes a book cover is designed with the sole purpose to confuse me. Don't put something on the cover if you can't tell right away what it is. You've got three seconds. Don't mumble. Make sure your book cover speaks clearly.

My best advice is to get more eyes on your potential book cover. Ask your critique group if the cover works for them. (If you don't have a critique group, you may have more problems than just your cover design.) If the cover isn't working, you may want to hire a professional. There are many cover designers out there. You can find all kinds of artists and price ranges. A quick Google search for “Indie Book Cover Design” will give you lots of choices. Make your first impression count.

My heartfelt thanks to Vicki for sharing her views on my blog. I absolutely love these sentences: You've got three seconds. Don't mumble. Make sure your book cover speaks clearly.  And thank you, readers, for coming by.

Guest post: Victorine -- Your indie-published book cover, Part One

Today’s blog is aimed at people considering self-publishing. My guest poster is fellow Critique Circle member Victorine Lieske. (yay! whoop whoop!) Only a couple years ago, she self-published Not What She Seems on Amazon Kindle, then sold over 100,000 copies, and has signed with an agent. Vicki exemplifies the extremely helpful community of writers. Check out her blog at Victorine Writes.

Self-publishing is not the automatic stamp of “nobody wants my book so I have to publish it myself” it once was. Its respectability grows by leaps every month. I’m seriously considering going that route myself, so I asked Vicki about one of the many really important aspects of self-publishing. This week and next, she gives us her take on…..

Indie Book Covers: Three Seconds to Success or Failure

Employers decide within seven seconds if they want to hire you or not. If you give a good first impression, the rest of the interview is spent re-affirming that desire to hire you. If not, the rest of the time is spent trying to overcome their bias. I assert that the same is true for books, although I don’t think it takes a whole seven seconds. People decide almost immediately if they think they would like your book. If you don’t grab them in the first three seconds, you lose a sale.

People make assumptions about your book at first glance. If they don’t like your cover, they will assume they won’t like the text. If the cover looks sloppy, people will assume the book isn’t edited. If your cover communicates the wrong genre, people will assume the book isn't what they are looking for. Be sure your book cover is giving people the right impressions.

Mark Coker said something important when he came to speak at my local writer’s guild conference. He said, “A good book cover makes a promise to the reader.” He’s right. I’ll even take that further and say a bad book cover makes a promise to the reader also. You’re just promising the wrong things.

------> Come back next Saturday for Vicki’s list of six things to avoid when creating a book cover. Trust me, you will want to see that!