And the Question is...

"Any man who knows all the answers most likely misunderstood the questions."


I certainly can't claim to know all the answers, so maybe that means I did understand the questions. But for sure, some questions are harder for me to answer than others. Right now I'm struggling with the answer to what is my writing style.


Why do I need to know that? Can't I just write and let whoever picks up my books decide if the style is one that they like or sadly, might not like? Well, I could, but I've got this titling questionnaire to fill out about my next book. You see when a contracted book is in line to be published, the publishers have to start working on the book's placement, the cover of the book, and various other things that this author knows nothing about a year in advance of the actual book hitting the store shelves. One of the first things the publishers want to settle on is the title.

When a book is contracted, it's usually from a proposal with what is called a working title. That may or may not be the eventual final title of the book. Some of my titles have stuck. Like Angel Sister. Others have not. I don't expect my working title of this book to stick. So that means we're going to have to come up with a new and improved title very soon.

The first step to that next title is me filling out what the publisher calls a titling questionnaire. The first time I received one of these questionnaires was years ago for one of my young adult novels. That was an eye-opening experience, but at least I already had that book written at the time. None of my young adult books were contracted prior to completion. I wrote the books and then my agent at the time did her best to find a publisher. Now I'm fortunate to have a contract before I write the book, but that doesn't make filling out one of these questionnaires any easier. Especially when the first question asks me to describe my style of writing. I haven't studied writing. I just write. I tell stories. I've been writing for half a century. (I started very, very young! LOL) My style has come from trial and error. It's just how I write.

For every questionnaire I've filled out prior to this, I just made something up. But this time I decided to go out on the web and see if I could find out what styles are out there. I thought maybe there were names for styles like modern or old fashioned or hopeless. So here's what I found on Wikipedia. (Everybody's first and least trusted resource, right?) Writing style is the manner in which an author chooses to write to his or her audience. A style reveals both the writer's personality and voice, but it also shows how she or he perceives the audience, and chooses conceptual writing style which reveal those choices by which the writer may change the conceptual world of the overall character of the work.

Whew! That didn't get me one bit closer to being able to describe my style. Just made me need to maybe look up conceptual writing. I do like the first sentence. However I write is how I choose to tell my readers my story. Plain and simple. Maybe that's my style. Conversational. With lots of dialogue. Character driven. That sounds good. Maybe I can claim that.

Trouble is, even if I come up with an answer for my style of writing, there are a lot more questions. Questions that are going to strain my brain to answer. But I will come up with answers. Maybe answering the questions, having to really examine my characters and my story will help me focus on the next page and the next chapter. Plus, we might just come up with a new dynamite title. That's the hope and the purpose of the questionnaire and worth a little brain strain.

Here's a quote about questions from Edgar Cayce that I liked.  "Dreams are today's answer to tomorrow's questions." So I'll keep dreaming my story and trying to figure out answers. Could be I'll even come up with an answer about my writing style.

Do you notice writing styles when you're reading? Who has a style you like?

Hope all your questions are easy this week and have great answers. Thanks for reading. Talk to you again Wednesday. 

What's in a Name?

The name of a man is a numbing blow from which he never recovers. ~Marshall McLuhan

• Do you like your name?
• Have you changed your name from the name your parents gave you?
• Are you burdened with a nickname you hate?

I'm creating characters right now. Well, a couple of the characters have been walking around with me for several weeks. One of them had a name before she had much of anything else. The name was the beginning of her created self. The other one waffled back and forth with a name and eventually found the one that fits. The third character is still nameless. At least mostly nameless. I've named him a couple of times, but I'm not sure either name is going to stick.

So when I'm in the "who in the world am I going to write about next" stage of story development, I think a lot about names. And look at a lot of names. I have a falling apart baby name book. I've bought a couple of newer ones, but it's that book with no cover and big sections coming loose that I go to. That is the naming book. I've been searching through it for a strong name for this third character. A name that lets you know right away that this character is the one you need to pay attention to. This character is going to play a major role in this story. This character is named......????

I may have told you before that I was never all that crazy about my name. I like it okay now, and even when I didn't, I would have never thought about changing the name my parents - or my big sister if you believe her story - picked. But characters are different. Characters can undergo name changes with hardly a bat of the eye. And no legal fees. So why not? A character needs a name that fits.

You see when we were born, our parents were just guessing at the kind of person we'd grow up to be. A Lucy? A Josephine? A Matilda? Harry? Hiram? Hastings? But it's different with characters. We know what kind of person he or she is or was. Our job is to help the reader meet that person. And one way to begin doing that is with the right name.

Do you think names shape people? I might have been a different person - say somebody who ran for office - if I'd been named Barbara. According to one of my name books - not the falling apart one - Barbara is a very strong name. And yet, I've never named a character Barbara. I don't know why not. It's a perfectly respectable name that can be shortened into a decent enough nickname or two and it doesn't end in "s." That's a sorry reason for rejecting a name, but I still think Hanks's looks awkward on the written page. Correct perhaps but awkward. I have enough to worry about ferreting awkward phrasing out of my writing without inviting any poorly named characters to my story.

But I do love coming up with the right names for my people. You know maybe we should have a childhood name and an adult name. They could be the same, but they wouldn't have to be. Some of the Native American tribes did this, didn't they? And I think I have heard the Amish have family names they don't share with the world people. Or could be I dreamed that. So maybe I'll dream the right name for my character.

And so? Do you like your name?

Words have meaning and names have power. ~Author Unknown