Style (2)

Style (2) 

“Write like you talk” is one of my favourite writing tenets. And EMBERS opens with the protagonist, Wyn McBride, talking to herself. While driving. While negotiating a flagperson stopping her on the highway. Start and stop. Jerk. Jerk. Free association, with words, sounds, songs, and sights, as the sound echoes the sense.

Although setting is primary, I do see EMBERS as a novel of character. The plot and the conflict centre upon character revelation and character development. I was also attempting to experiment a bit with point of view (POV). Variety of POV is one of the ways we learn more about the main character—what others say about her.

For most chapters, Wyn is centre stage as narrator. Sometimes as unreliable narrator, because she is not always conscious of why she makes choices she makes. Most chapters are conversations—with Sylvain, with Lu, with Liam. Doll does dramatic monologues, which tells you something important about Doll. Some of Wyn’s Ireland chapters are journal entries intended to be shared with friends later. One is a Skype communication. Another, a night in a pub. More than one night in a pub.

I have a horror of typos. It seems that no matter how many times you proofread a manuscript and no matter how many pairs of eyes volunteer to look for you, there are always more. Some are not typos but look like them. IT is my expression from childhood when you were, or became, the active seeker in the game, like hide and seek, or kick the can. You’re IT. Unfortunately, now it looks like “IT,” the techie department. The same goes for “heeland coos” which is my attempt at phonetic spelling for the way a Scots person pronounces “highland cows”.

Heeland Coos

There are at least two real typos which as of yet I have not asked my techie to change.  Apologies. (PS – For me, the difference between a typo and a spelling error is obvious. A typo is a physical mistake, when a finger hits the unintended key.)

Otherwise, stylistically, I aim for clarity and consistency. I will start a sentence with And or But if I so choose, or if it seems to provide the appropriate breathlessness. I prefer the comma before the “and” in a list of three or more. I subscribe to a daily Advice To Writers and often find inspiration and encouragement there:

The Use of Commas Cannot Be Learned by Rule

Posted: 03 May 2017 09:07 PM PDT

The use of commas cannot be learned by rule. Not only does conventional practice vary from period to period, but good writers of the same period differ among themselves. . . . The correct use of the comma—if there is such a thing as “correct” use—can only be acquired by common sense, observation and taste.