|
mary rosenblum
|
Hello all.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I hope you had a great
weekend.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It's good to be home. I spent
four days at the World SF Conference in Anaheim California and with over
7000 attendees, I really worked. :-)
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It will be awhile before I get
my voice back.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I wanted to talk about using
'insider' vocabulary today.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
An important part of fiction
and of personal narrative is verisimilitude.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
That is, creating a reality
that the reader can believe in.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Using 'insider' language is
one very efficient way to do just that.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
In every profession, career,
or job, people who work in that particular community use words that apply
only to this job or situation...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
and are only used among
members of this particular community.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
When you incorporate those
words into your fiction, it gives the reader the sense that yes, this
character is an insider here, which the reader is not...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
OR, if your reader is an
insider, and does belong to this community, that character is behaving
realistically.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
This is the Tuesday Forum with
me Mary Rosenblum LR Web Editor, fiction and nonfiction writer. We're
talking about 'insider speak' to create verisimilitude. If you're new here,
remember that you need to click on the Ask a Question button or the word
bubble next to the red question mark at the top of the screen, or use the
ask a question icon in order to ask a question. Your regular send bar won't
reach me! You can also type /ask in front of your question in your regular
send bar to reach me.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
A simple example..
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
might be a cop as a main
character.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
An 'outsider' might describe
the person being arrested as a burglar while the cop on the street might
refer to that person as the perp.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Doctors don't describe
patients the same way a non-doctor does, and the bricklayer might grip
about the mud and how it behaved on this super hot day.
|
|
geezer
|
Sniffer for a gas detector
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Yep, exactly.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
The military is RIFE with
insider acronyms and code words.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
So taking the time to learn at
least some of the insider speak does two things...it makes your character
and his/her universe seem more realistic to the reader...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
and it keeps you from jolting
real experts right out of your story. Real experts being anyone who has a
connection to that field.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It is also one of the reasons
a lot of novice fiction does not get bought.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Editors are impressed with a
realistic milieu.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
That extra bonus of a rich and
well crafted verisimilitude can make the difference between a sale and a
rejection.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Especially in novel form.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It's not the first thing
editors look at, but if they are choosing between your book and another.
someone else's, it can be the decis
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
This is the Tuesday Forum with
me Mary Rosenblum LR Web Editor, fiction and nonfiction writer. We're talking
about 'insider speak' to create verisimilitude. If you're new here,
remember that you need to click on the Ask a Question button or the word
bubble next to the red question mark at the top of the screen, or use the
ask a question icon in order to ask a question. Your regular send bar won't
reach me! You can also type /ask in front of your question in your regular
send bar to reach me.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Vocabulary is always
important...it's a major component of characterization, after all.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
The hard part, of course, is
how do you learn this 'insider speak'.
|
|
dawndancer
|
Interesting. I wrote a sailing
piece and took out all the jargon due to non-writer reader's complaints.
Perhaps I should have left it in.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You probably should have dawn.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
The craft challenge when using
insider speak is that you have to make the meaning of that jargon clear to
the readers.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
But without breaking into the
text to explain in your author's voice, using parenthetical explanations or
...shudder....footnotes.
|
|
dawndancer
|
Is it necessary to define terms?
In that piece I wouldn't have had enough room - it was limited
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You need to make sure your
readers understand what you mean.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And you have to weigh the
importance of that understanding.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Do they need to realize 'port'
is right and 'starboard' is left, or is it enough for them to realize
they're simply names for one or the other direction?
|
|
dawndancer
|
Okay, so on a short piece like
that, maybe better to not use technical jargon
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Or use only the jargon that
you can make comprehensible in context.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You want to add the 'flavor'
of reality without sacrificing the piece explanations.
|
|
tory
|
Like salt--enough to flavor, but
not too much?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Exactly.
|
|
gwanny
|
when I first moved here to
tobacco growing country I kept hearing the term "stripping room".
You can imagine my confusion. LOL...terms like that must be explained to
the reader
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Well, not explained, gwanny.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Not in terms of halting the
story or narrative while you break into explain what the stripping room is
for.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
But in a fiction story, say,
you could certainly give the readers enough clues through your POV to let
them guess and probably guess right.
|
|
dawndancer
|
I used one - "single
handed" which I thought was self-evident, but got called on it by a
reader, though not by my instructor
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
??
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Used in the common manner? As
in, She made a single-handed attempt to berth the big day sailer without
hitting the dock?
|
|
dawndancer
|
Adventure piece - she was going
to sail single handely, but we call it sigle handed
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Fire your reader.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I'm only half kidding.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
This is why you want a wide
range of readers. So when you get someone wiht some very narrow
responses...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
you don' t think this is the
average!
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
That's a pretty well accepted
use of the term single handed or single handedly.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Remember....one reader does
not an average make!
|
|
pook
|
MAry, I am writing a romance in
a corporate computer environment but the time is 1970 when technology was
different. No pcs yet. Little memory. But I get confused in my mind between
what it was like then and what it is now. Is there a document I can look at
to refresh me?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
ah, and here is the
issue...finding those insider terms.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You're going to have to go
look for stuff written in the time that refers to the technology of the
day.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You're right...it was very
different.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
See if you can find someone
who worked in the field....a lot of now-senior systems and software
people..
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
may have started back then and
they'll remember the technology.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Or see if you can find books
written then that refer to the tech.
|
|
geezer
|
Drilled me some wheat. What puny
stuff came up... That drove my reader wild
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Again, you all need an average
of readers.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
most people will figure out
that drilled means planted if puny shoots came up.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It's always a balancing act.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Do you 'over tell' for the few
who won't get it and bore the rest?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Or do you let the few who
can't get it stay confused?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You can't cover the bases for
every single reader on the planet.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
So you do what works for most
of 'em.
|
|
foxx
|
Insiderterms can vary locally
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Sure. And depending on what
you're talking about.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
But you're usually going to
find some universals that will work.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
This is the Tuesday Forum with
me Mary Rosenblum LR Web Editor, fiction and nonfiction writer. We're
talking about 'insider speak' to create verisimilitude. If you're new here,
remember that you need to click on the Ask a Question button or the word
bubble next to the red question mark at the top of the screen, or use the
ask a question icon in order to ask a question. Your regular send bar won't
reach me! You can also type /ask in front of your question in your regular
send bar to reach me.
|
|
tory
|
Speaking of readers, one told me
to NEVER use contractions in the narrative, only in dialog. as
in--"She'd have remembered that..." True or One person's opinion.
I'd never heard that before.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
That's a convention, tory, but
it is not a 'Never' or 'Always' rule.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
If you're using a strong
narrative voice, they're fine.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
If you're doing a limited
third POV with zero narrative distance, they're fine.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
If you're doing an informative
piece, they're not fine.
|
|
dawndancer
|
I remember then. I was doing
audience data analysis. We did it by hand because calculators were new and
there were only electric typewriters.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Yeah, you'll find a whole
spectrum of technology.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And here, relative importance
is something to keep in mind.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
If you're a bit off on the
year that say a Trash 80 came into use...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
only a few people are going to
know enough that the fact that you're a year off on when they appeared is
going to upset them.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
But if you have people
uploading to the internet in 1970 you're in trouble.
|
|
beryl
|
Would trade magazines, reading
the 'lighter,' more general articles help?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
They do, although they rarely
use that insider jargon that individuals might use in casual conversation.
They include the more formal insider language.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Personal narratives or someone
who works in that field will help you more with the casual jargon.
|
|
dawndancer
|
Computers were just coming in
and were only in DOS, I used one of the first in 1976
|
|
senicynt
|
I have to laugh at the innocents
who want to 'install the internet' on their computers.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And these are the mistakes you
have to watch out for.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
The reason?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
When you write, you create a
contract with the reader.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I'll create a universe you can
believe in and you suspend your disbelief.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
When you violate your side of
the bargan and the cracks show in your universe...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
your reader no longer believes
in it and that contract is shattered.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It is something you need to
work hard to avoid.
|
|
hidden fairy
|
Can you use a action to help
with jargon words?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
What you can do is to use
action to 'show' us the meaning of the jargon, fairy.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Of course, in the SFnal
universe, where I create things that have no existance in the real world...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I am always having to define
them for my reader without defining them. :-)
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
So I have to intentionally
create scenes to reveal the nature of the vocabulary I invent.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Action and dialogue are your
two greatest tools here.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
A naive character is a great
bonus if that character fits realistically into your story.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Let that character do the 'say
what?' questions that elict an explanation from the insider.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Of course you have to create a
plot that requires that naive or it's obvious that he/she is only there to
elicit explanations. :-)
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I keep my need for a naive in
mind as I first plot a story.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Action is a great way to
reveal the nature of items with odd names.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
To return to the sailing
issue, if your MC is scrambling around the deck as a storm approaches,
hauling down canvass and the like, you can give the reader a lot..
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
of 'definitions' of various
nautical terms.
|
|
foxx
|
If most people use terms in
common speech, "install the internet", isn't that jargon of its
own?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
our language is FULL of
jargon.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Upload.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Download.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
install, reboot, blog.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Of course, with fast changing
trends such as computer lingo, fashion, and the like, that jargon dates
you.
|
|
dawndancer
|
How?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
How what, dancer?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
How to show the nature of
items?
|
|
dawndancer
|
How do you do definitions? I had
two characters and one was attached to the boat by a lanyard. That's what
it is. I changed it to a strap, but any sailor would know that's not the
right word.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Exactly. You need to use
lanyard.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Show us that character
attaching the lanyard to his harness, or putting on the harness and
thinking that...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
he hates using it, but the way
the wind's picking up, he could end up overboard and a half mile behind the
boat.
|
|
dawndancer
|
Is it okay if they find out what
it is by its use in later sentences?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It's a good idea to make it's
nature at least a bit clear.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You can add details later on.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
When readers start wondering
about something, they start missing things.
|
|
dawndancer
|
Well, he was overboard, but she
attached her lanyard to the jackline (didn't use that word either) to go
get him
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
No problem. He goes overboard.
She can't reach him. So she grabs the jackline, releases her lanyard and
snaps it to the jackline. Now she can reach him.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
The very few readers who won't
figure out what's going on here are not your concern.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
This is the Tuesday Forum with
me Mary Rosenblum LR Web Editor, fiction and nonfiction writer. We're
talking about 'insider speak' to create verisimilitude. If you're new here,
remember that you need to click on the Ask a Question button or the word
bubble next to the red question mark at the top of the screen, or use the
ask a question icon in order to ask a question. Your regular send bar won't
reach me! You can also type /ask in front of your question in your regular
send bar to reach me.
|
|
janecj333
|
When a fifty-year-old character
uses the phrase "that's just the bomb", at least your readers
know why the other characters just turn and walk away in disgust.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Well, if they don't, you can
make sure it's clear in context. :-)
|
|
dawndancer
|
Thanks. I would rather write
correctly. Sailors know the difference and I would be embaressed to not use
correct words.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And you need to!
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Otherwise it sounds as if you
don't know what you're doing and those who DO know will stop believing in
the reality of your scene.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It does take work to make
jargon accessible to readers.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Who said writing wasn't work?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And it takes work to learn the
jargon you need, too.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
In a short story, you can get
away with very little.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
A few key words will make the
scene feel real to readers.
|
|
andi
|
if the ones who don't know the
meaning they can look it up.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Well...only if a very few
don't know the meaning.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You really do not want to send
the majority of your readers to the dictionary. They simply don't go.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
So they'll be confused and
you'll lose 'em.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
But for the few who don't get
it...oh well.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Just make sure most can.
|
|
andi
|
that's what i meant
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
That's fine. :-)
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
If you're going to write a
novel, then I really do suggest that you need an informant for your jargon.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You're going to need a lot
more insider stuff for something that large, and it's hard to get enough
from secondary sources...although you can.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It depends on how accessible
resource material is.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Say you want to set your novel
in a military universe, a previous war, peacetime military, today's war.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Ideally, you need someone who
was in that branch of the forces in that time.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
BUT...a lot of people write
memoirs and personal narratives about serving...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
and they use jargon quite
often. So you can get a lot of stuff from resource material.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
But you're still better off to
have someone wiht military experience check your draft for major blunders.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
The military does things the
way the military does them and if you're outside the loop it's easy to get
it wrong. And in this case...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
a LOT of readers will realize
that you've made a mistake. :-)
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
But if you want to set your
piece in McMurdo in winter (Antarctica)...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
you can find a lot of resource
material, personal narratives and the like, about what it's like to be down
there.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And you'll get some jargon, and
not enough readers have been to McMurdo to call you on lapses if they're
not big ones.
|
|
dawndancer
|
Has anyone ever heard of the
various services having a PR office that will help with that?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Dawn, an awful lot of folk
have served in the military. If you ask around, you'll surely find someone
who will help you out...a friend of a friend.
|
|
senicynt
|
Mary, is there a slang or
vernacular dictionary which tells
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
There are. I have several.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You have to be careful with
them, though.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Vernacular and slang change
all the time.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And dictionary definitions
aren't always clear and accurate.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
They're not the best choice,
in my opinion.
|
|
senicynt
|
us when a word or phrase was
current?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Ah, and here's the other half
of your question. Sorry! Connection is slow I guess.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I haven't found any that are
really good, but you will find some out there.
|
|
writelegends
|
like in historical fiction
having an expert in that era read
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
For historical fiction where
your details matter, yes, I'd really work at finding someone who is an
expert in that era to read your draft.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You should be able to find
someone. Try universities.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
This is the Tuesday Forum with
me Mary Rosenblum LR Web Editor, fiction and nonfiction writer. We're
talking about 'insider speak' to create verisimilitude. If you're new here,
remember that you need to click on the Ask a Question button or the word
bubble next to the red question mark at the top of the screen, or use the
ask a question icon in order to ask a question. Your regular send bar won't
reach me! You can also type /ask in front of your question in your regular
send bar to reach me.
|
|
janecj333
|
Speaking of military, because I
hate the heirarchical structure and 'yes, sir'/ 'no, sir' quality of our
militaries, in my sf I create militaries that are nothing like those we
have. I wonder how well readers who are in the U.S. military might accept
that.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Well, jane, as with anything
made up, you need to make it realistic.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
If you can create a system
that believably functions in a form that is not 'traditional military' then
readers will believe in it.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
If you simply tell the reader
'this is the way it is' and the readers don't see why it works that way,
they probably won't believe in it.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It's back to the 'show, don't
tell' thing and this is a subtle variation on it.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
If you tell the reader that
your society, military, culture what have you...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
works, but there is no reason
to see why it works when it seems counterintuitive...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
readers won't believe in it.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
They are highly reluctant to
take your word for it. :-) You have to show them.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Same thing with jargon.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
If your lawyer or doctor or
lion tamer doesn't seem to know any more about her/his profession than the
average reader...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
readers don't really believe
that person is doctor, lawyer, lion tamer.
|
|
senicynt
|
I would think that a
non-yes/no/sir military is a neighborhood militia or an old style warrior
society where individual merrit surpercedes following orders.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Well, you can come up with a
number of ways for that to work, but that's it...you DO need to know why it
works and show that reason to the reader.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
That's all about creating your
universe.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Most novice writers just
create the surface....but unless that surface is so like our today that we feel
we know why it works...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
you need to create that
universe clear down to bedrock in order to make the reader believe in it.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
This is the Tuesday Forum with
me Mary Rosenblum LR Web Editor, fiction and nonfiction writer. We're
talking about 'insider speak' to create verisimilitude. If you're new here,
remember that you need to click on the Ask a Question button or the word
bubble next to the red question mark at the top of the screen, or use the
ask a question icon in order to ask a question. Your regular send bar won't
reach me! You can also type /ask in front of your question in your regular
send bar to reach me.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
If you want to set your novel
in an interesting and unusual universe, it really is worth your time and
effort to connect with someone..
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
who is an insider.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Conversely....if you meet
someone who is an insider in an interesting and unusual universe...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
say a salvage diver...by all
means see if you can set an interesting story in that universe. why not?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You've just been handed a
lovely, free resource. Use it!
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I am always collecting contact
information from anyone whose life/career interests me at all.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
"Can I talk to you about
your job? I'd love to use it in a story!"
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Nobody had ever said 'no, go
away, don't bother me'. :-)
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Doesn't mean it won't happen,
but most people do enjoy sharing details.
|
|
dawndancer
|
Do you have stock interview
questions?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Usually I wait until I've
plotted the story, dawn.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
So I know what questions I
need to ask.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And I often ask that person if
they'd like to read a draft. I ask them to point out all the places I've '
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
'slipped' in my reality.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It pays off.
|
|
senicynt
|
I saw your short in the
"YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION, 23RD ANNUAL EDITION" You did a good
job with the story. :0 It's the forst works of yours I've found.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Oh, thanks, sen. Which story
was that?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I can't remember which one the
23rd edition had.
|
|
dawndancer
|
So an overview as a resource
then back at them for particulars when writing?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
That's the best route, dawn.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Ah, sen, I saw that.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Search Engine...the most
recent years best, then. :-)
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Yeah, there's actually a lot
of research into the industry in that one.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Was kind of scary research.
That's barely future fiction.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
But that's also made up
jargon, for the most part. :-)
|
|
dawndancer
|
Do you do most of your general
research on the internet?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I do, but you have to
remember...nothing is guaranteed to be truth on the internet.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I use the internet to find
people who are experts and then I contact them.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You can go through university
departments, too.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Often some department
secretary will connect you with a professor.
|
|
dawndancer
|
Taught that to my statistic
students: Just because it's in print doesn't make it true. But it is a
starting place.
|
|
pook
|
Where's there a guarantee for
truth? Everything changes. Look at poor Pluto. The internet's a wonderful
resource.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
ah, yes, poor demoted Pluto.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I just have to remind people
about that 'internet truth' thing. Too many people DO believe everything
they read, sigh.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
But it's worth a search for an
insider source.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Remember that if you are
competing with someone who has equal plotting and characterization
skills...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
and your story has a rich and
well created setting while the other is 'generic', guess who will get the
sale.
|
|
writelegends
|
I'm scared of those who believe
everything they read!
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Good reason to BE scared,
write.
|
|
dawndancer
|
College professors are better.
We love to teach. Too many people are self-proclaimed experts
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Yes, I've had some GREAT help
from various professors. Every one I've encountered has been thrilled...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
to share her/his hard-earned
expertise.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
often...as you research your
milieu, you'll find things that will enrich your plot and add to your
story.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
The strongest stories are the
ones where plot, characters, and setting are equally important...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
and that triumvirate is rare.
|
|
beryl
|
In an Arab-American novel, a
character had a true Arab name, annoyingly unknown to me. I kept tripping
over it. At precisely the right moment, I learned the name was changed to
fit a situation and the meaning of the name was revealed and my heart
grapped the name. Sorry if off-topic, but from the beginning the name made
the Arab portion real...even if I was a little irritated.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
That's an excellent example,
beryl.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
A single detail can add a new
level of intensity to the reader.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
You don't need a lot of
specific insider details to make something come alive.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
But do beware of stereotypes.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Perry Mason is not a good
place to pick up legal verisimilitude.
|
|
janecj333
|
When college physics professors
give seminars about how only a god could have created the universe, I know
that it's time to walk. :(
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Well, you should never ever
assume any single source is truth. :-)
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Whether you agree with it or
not.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
The best source for insider
jargon is someone who is inside. :-)
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I tend to run medical stuff
past a doctor, military stuff past my military informant, cop stuff past my
retired cop informant, physics stuff past my physics professor friends...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
That sort of thing.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
When you run into someone with
an interesting job or career, make contact.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
See if you can use that for a
story, at least.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Keep a file of experts.
|
|
tory
|
About names. If you don't need a
specific name to mean something, is it better to alter slightly so odd
names read more easily ? For example, change Gjergji to Gerji?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Yes, unusual names are good, I
get SO tired of novice stories will Bill, Anne, Pete, Jim, and Susan.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
But yes, if possible, make
your name easily pronouncable.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Readers DO grip if they can't
pronounce a name.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And if your name simply is
going to be hard to pronounce, see if you can't force your character to
tell another character just...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
how to pronounce that name.
And don't wait until the fourth book to do so. :-)
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Anne McCaffery got a lot of
grief for Menolly, the mc in several of her best selling Pern books.
|
|
tory
|
Yeah, like Romeijn--"Like
the lettuce."
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
There you go!
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And that's worth it. That name
spelling gives it a strong ethnic flavor, like Daffyd for a Welsh milieu.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
but you let the reader know
early on how to pronounce it. Then you're fine.
|
|
beryl
|
Interestingly, the name could be
sounded it out, I just wasn't used to it but when I learned what it meant,
it just smoothed out for me. I now love it.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
and it was the extra 'insider'
bit about the meaning of the name that added to it, beryl. :-)
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
That's exactly what you want.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I just changed the name of a
main character in the novel I've just started, because the new name...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
carries cultural nuances that
most readers will pick up on subconsciously (or I hope so)...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
that will reinforce the theme
of the story later on.
|
|
janecj333
|
Menolly?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Yes...readers never did know
how to pronounce it. She got TONS of letters about it.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
She pronounces it MEN olly.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Rather than Men OL ly
|
|
dawndancer
|
I would have gone with canolli
type of pronounciation
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Me, too. SHe informed me I was
mistaken. :-)
|
|
geezer
|
would it be appropriate to have
a glossary fot made-up terms in a novel?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
No.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
I'll say that flatly.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Yes, some big fat fantasies do
that, and have keys for various characters too.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
If you are sending your reader
to the glossary every few pages...
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
they are not fully engaged in
your story.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Just make the meaning crystal
clear in context once, and then you're fine. They have it.
|
|
dawndancer
|
What about the Klingon
dictionary?
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
That's a cult thing, dawn.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Because of the Trek cult
status, you can do that.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Just as you can have huge
appendices to the Tolkien works.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Not for most novels!
|
|
janecj333
|
I hate to open a book and find a
long list of terms with maps and such. Blechhh.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Most readers do.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
And few readers use those
appendices, so they misinterpretin the story.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
It's more work to reveal
meaning through context but do it.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Writing IS work.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
Well, this has been a fun
Oregon hour. I'm glad to be home.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|