More on Using the Singular "They"

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Using the Singular They, Them and TheirThese are payments made to an employee because of physical or mental incapacity that renders them unable to fulfill their duties. Nobody got their paycheck yesterday. Everybody loves their dog. If a client calls, tell them I'll be back at nine o'clock. When anybody does that to us, we feel like asking them who they think they are. Nobody in their right mind

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How to Use the Singular "They"

Monday, October 2, 2006

If English is your second language, be careful with the singular they. The rules can be confusing. But if you're a native speaker of English, you should have no problem if you just proofread like you ought. For, you've been using the singular they in speech all your life. Therefore, you don't need to remember the rules, because they're instinctual to you by now.Nonetheless, here are the rules ;-)

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The Singular "They"

Monday, September 25, 2006

You often have yet another option for eliminating he, him, and his: replace them with they, them, or their.But, you say, that's a grammatical error: they and its derivatives are plural!Not always. Notice that in everyday speech we often use they and its derivatives in the singular. English-speaking people have been doing this since the thirteenth century when he came to mean "male." Writers since

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Eliminating the Possessive Pronoun "His"

Friday, September 8, 2006

Often, eliminating his is harder than eliminating he or him, especially if you have a he, him, and his in the same sentence. Yet, you have six ways to eliminate his.To avoid using "his":Cut the word his.Use an article (a, an, or the) instead. Switch to the plural.Switch to the second person (using you).Write in the passive voice.Substitute "his or her" for "his."Follow examples. In the first two,

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Eliminating the object pronoun "him"

Thursday, August 31, 2006

In the last example of the previous post, notice that I wrote "she or he" instead of "he or she." Using these expressions interchangeably is good, because it avoids the subliminal suggestion in always putting he first. But it has a drawback: we're so used to reading he or she that she or he seems unidiomatic and calls attention to the writing. But only the first time and only for the second it

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Avoiding Sexist Language

Sunday, August 27, 2006

The problem is English's third-person-singular personal pronouns: there's no gender-neutral one, except it.Other languages, like French, have this problem too. But in them nouns (i.e., the names of persons, places, and things) still have gender, too (inherited from Latin). So, gender hasn't such strong sexual connotations in these other languages as it does in English, where only pronouns

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Oh, those darned third-person singular pronouns!

Saturday, August 19, 2006

This turns into an even hotter topic than whether American English is legitimate or not. So, let me start off this series on how to avoid gender-specific language with the justification for avoiding it.The bottom line is that you must use gender-neutral language to get published. Nonetheless, a decent respect for the opinions of all requires more of a reason than expediency.So, let me mention at

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Style Tip: Put Statements in Positive Form

Monday, August 7, 2006

In his Elements of Style, William Strunk wrote, "Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless, hesitating, noncommittal language. Use the word not as a means of denial or in antithesis, never as a means of evasion."For example:Instead of John was not very often on time, write John usually came late.Instead of Lisa did not think that was a very nice thing to say, write Lisa thought that a mean

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Style

Wednesday, August 2, 2006

When a copyeditor edits a new author's work, she checks for many things, but most of her edits flag multiple instances of the same few stylistic errors. The result can take the wind out of your sails, because you get your work back with something flagged in every other sentence.It isn't that bad though: it's just that you weren't taught to write the way you must write for publication. You have no

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The Worst Mistake You Can Make

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Fiction begins with a crisis, from which future action grows. The worst mistake you can make is also the most common mistake writers make — failing to immediately plunge a sympathetic character into a crisis. Ordinarily, this will be the hero. In any case, the hero's crisis can't be solely somebody else's problem: it must affect, and be affected by, the main character. But what about

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Creating Conflict with a Crucible

Friday, July 14, 2006

It's human nature to avoid conflict. Certain characters (ordinarily bad guys) may seek conflict as a tactic for aggression, but most of your characters won't. In fact, even when confronted with conflict by a bad guy, it's often in your character's best interest to turn his back on the conflict and walk away. If the reader asks herself why your character doesn't just walk away, you're in trouble.

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Creating Conflict: The Actors' Studio method

Monday, July 3, 2006

To create conflict in dialog, Sol Stein recommends the Actors' Studio method for developing drama: Two actors get brief instructions on what a scene is about and what they want — except that these instructions don't match. Then they are told to ad lib, and the fun begins. Conflictual, dramatic dialog results.For example, one actor is told that he portrays the principal of a private school that

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The Story Situation

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The Story Situation (Opening Story Situation) is the event or circumstances that start a story. In dramatic fiction, the situation usually brings about some self-concept threatening change for the main character.Examples of story situations: A woman marries a man who was in love with her dead sister. A woman marries a wealthy man and becomes the stepmother of a girl nearly her own age. An old

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Classic English Mysteries

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Theoretically, mysteries needn't center on crime, but most pure mysteries do.In fact they typically center on the crime of murder, because it's the perfect crime for this type of story. For one thing, since dead men tell no tales, murder is inherently mysterious. It's also simple and economical. All you need is a dead body, no other action and explanations to distract from real story. Moreover,

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Reading Level for the American Audience

Monday, May 22, 2006

There's a misconception that would-be writers should rid themselves of. It's that the reading level of the average American is very low.While there has been some truth this among younger people since the 1990's, too much has been attributed to it. Moreover, the No Child Left Behind Act has already brought first-through-fourth graders up to par with European students of the same age. Now, as the

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Subtle Conflict 6: Counterattack

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

In the five previous posts, we've been walking through Act III, scene i of Hamlet, in which conflict between Hamlet and Ophelia mounts. Remember the mood Hamlet was in at the begining of this scene. Remember also that he was debating with himself whether to force the core conflict with Claudius to it's crisis.Now look at what this meeting with Ophelia has done. Hamlet knows she's been put up to

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Subtle Conflict 5: Counterattack

Friday, May 12, 2006

In Act III, scene 1, we left off at the point Hamlet finds that he can make Ophelia think whatever he wants, that she is a mental whore, so to speak, who has no mind of her own.Then whose mind is behind her suddenly changing her policy and deciding to speak with him today? Thus, Hamlet realizes this encounter with Ophelia is a setup -- an attempt to get him to say something "treasonous" and that

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Subtle Conflict 4: Counterattack

Friday, May 5, 2006

Starting at line 103 (Act III, Scene 1) we continue with this encounter between Hamlet and Ophelia. Now he's angry.Speaking in prose from now on (instead of verse), Hamlet gives Ophelia a sarcastic dose of her own medicine, playing words. She didn't understand "Are you honest?" so he puts the question another way.Hamlet: Are you fair?Ophelia: What means your lordship?Ouch. She most certainly is!

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Subtle Conflict 3

Wednesday, May 3, 2006

Hamlet: Ha, ha! Are you honest?You can almost see his head spinning. He's probably pinching himself. Shakespeare again shows his great knowledge of human behavior. Rational people are stunned and perplexed by perverted reactions to things. They strike us as seeing an apple fall UP from a tree would strike us. These are the moments (in encounters with the twisted) when we can't believe our eyes

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Subtle Conflict 2

Monday, May 1, 2006

Continuing where we left off...Hamlet: Nymph, in thy orisonsBe all my sins rememb'red.Ophelia: Good my lord,How does your honour for this many a day?...in Act III, scene 1, around line 88.Hamlet: I humbly thank you; well, well, well.Hamlet starts giving the natural reply (Thank you) to what Ophelia should have said. But, by the middle of the line, he sees that she hasn't honored his request to

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Subtle Conflict

Monday, April 24, 2006

Great dramatic writing often builds into volcanic conflict through subtle conflict, because it can be the most powerful.For example, at the end of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Nora subtly responds to attacks on her worth with the conflict of stiffening resistance or restrained counterattacks. But her husband keeps abusing her as though she were an object without feelings and doesn't see what's

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The Story Creation Process

Friday, April 21, 2006

You cannot create a plot without a general idea of the characters who will perform the actions that move it. And you cannot create a character without a general idea of what will happen to him. So, you start with a premise that establishes the rudiments of both.Where to go from there? When we view the question from the writer's standpoint, we see that the actions must fit the character and vice

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Foreshadowing 4

Monday, April 17, 2006

Foreshadow by using the "Had-I-but-known" device to draw the reader through an otherwise dull scene, the significance of which will be apparent later. Use the author's voice or a character's voice, or show by the character's actions that he is unaware of the significance of a choice or event. You can even use this device to foreshadow surprise.Had Leroy known who the man was, he would have known

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Foreshadowing 3

Saturday, April 8, 2006

You can foreshadow what a character might do under great stress by showing what he does under everyday stress. Say, for example, he kills a cat or dog that irritates him. Or perhaps he flies into a road rage at some other driver who "cuts him off." You can use characters to foreshadow the actions of other characters. For example, a minor character might warn your protagonist about a major

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Foreshadowing 2

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

To create Type 2 Suspense (anxiety), foreshadow by hinting but holding out. Here is an example of foreshadowing from The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum. It takes place on a street in Kowloon, China and involves a heshang monk and his servant:The sign came — two abrupt nods — as the priest turned and walked through the beaded entrance of a raucous cabaret. The Zhongguo ren remained outside, his

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Foreshadowing

Friday, March 24, 2006

There never was a night without a twilight; a morning without a dawn; a winter without an autumn; a summer without a spring first; they all foreshadow a coming event.Lajos Egri, in his 1950's classic, The Art of Dramatic Writing.Egri considered foreshadowing a type of conflict — foreshadowing conflict. Indeed, foreshadowing has the force of conflict, because it promises conflict.He didn't

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Distancing

Monday, March 20, 2006

Though you ordinarily want reader intimacy, sometimes it's best to keep the reader at arm's length — either from the story or from a character (even perhaps the protagonist) or both.For example, especially in the opening of a novel, you don't want to the reader to feel accosted by something off-putting that is too close for comfort. He hasn't been hooked yet and may put the book down. So, if the

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Use inner conflict to evoke reader empathy.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Inner conflict is essential for two reasons. First, without it you have melodrama. Second, without it your character doesn't evoke the necessary emotional response from the reader.For example, without inner conflict, you have something like a fairy tale or Godzilla. There's no inner conflict in deciding what to do about Godzilla. Your characters aren't deeply involved, so how can the reader be?

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Idea Stories

Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Every story has a story idea that poses a question or problem in the beginning, which is answered or solved in the end. You read the story to pursue that answer or solution.Most stories hook you with a question or problem that is bait to arouse curiosity and emotional interest. So, you read simply to find out what happens.But in some stories the question or problem is an enigma. An enigma isn't

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British English or American English?

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Or Australian English, for that matter. (Canadian English is American English.)Generally, write in your language. Ultimately, it's up to the publisher. For an international audience the standard is American English for obvious reasons. In international business documents, software documentation, and Internet publication, American English is usually preferred.But this standard isn't closely

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Novel Forms

Monday, February 27, 2006

Novels currently take one of three main forms:Narrative: a story told by a narrator, or storyteller. Stream of Consciousness: immersion in the ruminations of a character's wandering mind. An example of a stream-of-consciousness novel is Franz Kafka's The Trial. Documentary: somebody's story told indirectly through documentation. Document novels tell the story through letters, a journal, a diary,

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What Its Premise Does for Your Story

Friday, February 24, 2006

The story questions a novel poses make readers follow the plot of a story like bloodhounds follow a scent. They want the answers to those questions, and they get impatient with distractions. Consequently, they quickly lose interest in anything that doesn't contribute to proving the story's premise.Your premise, then, is a tool to keep you in control of the story and your reader engaged.What a

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Creating Conflict in Character and Desire

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

To create conflict, you need three things: a main character, a goal for her or him, and opposition.In carving out the characters of your protagonist and antagonist, connect each one's deepest desire to his fundamental difference from the other.Shakespeare gives us an elegant example of this in Hamlet and his foil, Laertes. Hamlet is a man of honor — bona fide honor. Laertes is a man of seeming —

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It's All About the Reader

Friday, February 17, 2006

Publishing is a trade, and writing is a commercial product. It's a business. A service industry. People buy fiction to get an enjoyable experience in fantasy. Not to be guided, edified, informed, educated, changed, shamed, preached at, or persuaded of anything. Many writers fail because they view writing as a way to get attention. They have a burning desire to express themselves and think

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Teases 3

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

The afficiandos of literary fiction often look down their noses at the tease opening, preferring the classical opening that presents story questions about the core conflict. But don't let their PC tastes rule you. Here's a example of a fabulous tease opening by the Master himself. How about a play that opens this way . . .At midnight a sentinel slowly paces before his castle post, looking all

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The M.I.C.E. Quotient of a Story

Friday, February 10, 2006

All four elements of a story (milieu, idea, character, and events) are in all stories. They aren't all equally important in all stories, however. Depending on what the story is about, the relative amounts of each element should vary. That is, a story contains four types of information: information about the milieu, about the idea, about the characters, and about events.To the extent that a story

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The Lit Fuse Device in Melodrama and Comedy

Monday, February 6, 2006

The Lit Fuse device is common in melodrama and comedy.The very old "Perils of Pauline" movies are a melodramatic example. The villain, Snidely Whiplash, demands, "You must marry me!""No! No! I won't marry you!" she cries."But you must marry me!""No! No! I won't marry you!""But you must marry me!""No! No! I won't marry you!"If he can't have her, nobody can. So Snidely ties her to the railroad

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The Lit Fuse

Thursday, February 2, 2006

"Lighting the fuse" is a powerful literary device for creating negative Type 2 Suspense — putting the reader in a state of anxiety or apprehension.The classic example is that a time-bomb is about to go off and the hero must defuse it in time. But you can light the fuse by putting a sympathetic character in any situation with something terrible about to happen (usually at an appointed time) that

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Use Strong Verbs

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

Weak verbs are actionless verbs, vague verbs, and verbs in the passive voice. We have already discussed the passive voice, so let's focus on actionless verbs and vague verbs.Actionless verbs include static verbs, like exist and the various forms of the verb to be. Other actionless verbs include English's infamous cargo of "helping" or "auxiliary" verbs. (See below.) I call them "little verbs."

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Teases 2

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Steven Spielberg teases us in the openings of the Indiana Jones movies. Each movie opens with the end of some previous adventure. Thus the audience is immediately plunged into exciting action that poses intriguing story questions of great urgency. Will Indy get run over by that huge boulder? Will he reach the antidote in time? Will that rhinoceros neuter him? Spielberg definitely has our

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Teases

Monday, January 23, 2006

Hooks hook whether they relate to the core conflict or not. So, in mainstream fiction today the emphasis is on irresistible bait rather than on rigid classical form. Such hooks are short-range story questions called teases. Teases are attention-grabbing devices to arouse curiosity with catchy story questions. To pose them the story opens with some exciting action or dialog and plunges the reader

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Vision: A Resource for Writers

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Sorry for the unannounced hiatus from posting. I have been really down with the flue this past week. You can normally expect two or three tips per week.See my article entitled Writing to the Imagination in the current issue (#31) of Vision: A Resource for Writers. And a great bimonthly resource it is, with many great articles on writing.

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The Classic Hook - 3

Friday, January 13, 2006

In a first-person novel, the narrator is a character. Just plain curiosity about the narrator can serve as another hook. Mark Twain arouses this curiosity masterfully in the opening of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter.And that brilliant stroke of reverse psychology makes us

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The Classic Hook - 2

Saturday, January 7, 2006

Here is another example of the classic hook via long-range story questions about the core conflict — the opening of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), literary fiction by Harper Lee.When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. His left

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The Classic Hook

Wednesday, January 4, 2006

The hardest part of a novel is the opening. Your opening story questions must hook the reader. You must decide whether to pose long-range story questions about the core conflict or catchy short-range story questions about exciting action or dialog in the opening scene. Which can hardly be about the core conflict, because you haven't set up the core conflict yet.Here's an example of the classic,

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Sagging Suspense

Monday, January 2, 2006

The most common problem with novels good enough to consider for publication is that they sag in the middle. The story loses momentum, suspense flags, and the reader is no longer curious about what will happen next.You can fix this problem and improve almost any first or second draft by cutting the weakest scene. Just find the scene where your own interest flags, and eliminate it. If possible,

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