down the writer's path

Is punctuation making a comeback? The Eats, Shoots & Leaves phenomenon

If you are like me and the grammar gods did not smile kindly upon you, fear not. Your fortune is about to change. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, author Lynne Truss comes to the rescue with her "zero approach to punctuation." Billed as a runaway #1 British Bestseller, the book has swept onto American shores and is now ranked in the top five of the New York Times Nonfiction Bestseller List. Truss's rallying cry "Sticklers Unite" is being heard across the continent.

My own antagonism with punctuation reached a high pitch after sitting in on a critique group with several members in the group who considered themselves to be grammar mavens. After six years, I ended up being thoroughly confused by the small, but greatly feared, comma. When I received a sentence back punctuated "correctly" by each writer, yet each correction totally different from the others, I left--screaming. I had too many voices in my head. I found a friend in mystery writer Lawrence Block, who said he used commas to distinguish where he wanted the reader to breathe. That made some sense to me. Over time, I've come to view the punctuation crew more as notes on the music scale. The period takes on the beat and time of the whole note; the comma becomes the quarter note, and so on. Many writers refer to the cadence and rhythm of writing, so I find some sense in the analogy. Whether you love commas or hate'em, you'll find Eats, Shoots & Leaves an interesting and informative read.

A writer's playground

Okay, how many of you are sitting there cruising through the Internet and telling yourself you're doing research? Oh, not research, you're just checking out some favorite websites and blogs in hopes of gaining some inspiration. No? Then maybe you're simply having trouble facing the blank page. If so, I may have found an interesting new writer's toy, one that just might jump-start your imagination and your creativity.

Click over to WriteSparks! and download the free version of the story sparker software. I'm a big fan of the sprint writing exercises where you pick up the pen or start tapping the keyboard and write for five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes. It's a great way to start a writing session, and this program makes it so simple because a timer is included. Sometimes an image helps the process, sometimes a single opening sentence...anything to get you started. Well, WriteSparks! is a neat little bundle of tricks to tease the muse and stir the imagination. Full of quick plots, poetic lines, quick prompts, first lines, and much, much more, this little program might be just the thing to get you out of your summer doldrums. You might even surprise yourself and come up with a great story. Be sure and let me know what you think.

Ready? Go.

How the tale is told: viewpoint

Slipping in and out of point of view is not an uncommon problem for new and advanced fiction writers. In fact, point of view can often become a point of contention among writers. There are those who are strict and maintain a writer should remain within one point of view for an entire chapter, others allow shifts from scene to scene. Should the story be told from one person's viewpoint from the beginning or does the story demand multi-viewpoints? Which is better? Some might even consider point of view a plague upon writers. One thing most writers agree upon, despite evidence from bestselling writers to the contrary, you don't write from the point of view of the dog or the horse.

First words, tone, and Alice Hoffman's Turtle Moon

As much as first words have an important part to play in an opening parlay with the reader, so also does tone. The swift, rapid-fire play of dialogue or the quiet, slightly sarcastic, wry wording of a paragraph can help establish the mood of what is to come. When Alice Hoffman began the tale of, she also began the first creative steps in worldbuilding.

"The last major crime in the town of Verity was in 1958, when one of the Platts shot his brother in an argument over a Chevy Nomad they had bought together on time. Usually it's so quiet you can hear the strangler figs dropping their fruit on the hoods of parked cars, leaving behind pulp and tiny black seeds. Since Verity is the most humid spot in Eastern Florida, local people know enough to drink iced coffee in the morning. The air all around the town limits is so thick that sometimes a soul cannot rise and instead attaches itself to a stranger, landing right between the shoulder blades with a thud that carries no more weight than a hummingbird.

Charles Verity, who founded the town, after killing off as many native people as he could, is said to have found this out the hard way...."

Hoffman quickly establishes the tone, the setting, the genre, and the style, all the while adding a few drops of foreshadowing. The first paragraph reeks of atmosphere. Each word is carefully chosen and the result is the promise of a hot, sultry, even southern-style of a novel. She also establishes voice. The reader is carried along by the clear cadence of the phrasing, easing the reader more deeply into the world opening up before him.

First Words

First words, first looks, everything that creates a first impression is in play when you pick up a book for the first time. The importance of a book’s opening line is never more clear than in any book written to lure a teen or capture a middle-grader’s attention. I re-discovered the value of openings the other day. Drifting through Barnes and Noble with a latte in hand, I came upon a table full of books for kids. Although I know when I was at Borders we always had the classics out to meet the summer reading programs, I don’t remember the table being so full of new titles. After choosing several and reading their openings, I decided some time spent on the first words of a novel and their impact upon the reader might be of interest and provoke some thought about your own writing. As you read these openings, think about the first impressions you craft. What exactly are you doing with the words you choose? What effect do you want to create? Are you successful?

July's guest author: mystery writer Julie Wray Herman

My apologies to my readers, new and returning, for the lack of entries the past few weeks. While full of good intentions, the convergence of several deadlines kept me tripping over opening paragraphs but never gave me time to build the rest.

The good news is that the July 2004 guest author will be here to entertain you shortly. This month we'll hear from Houston writer Julie Wray Herman, author of the acclaimed The Three Dirty Women Landscaping Inc. mystery series. For a peek at Julie's garden, go to MysteryGarden.com. I'm sure you'll enjoy getting to know Julie as much as I have over the years.

Stay tuned.