1 Introductory

There are basically two kinds of Info Dumps: relevant and irrelevant—both are bad, but one is worse. We’ll discuss both, then see if we can help you with the one you might actually be able to use. Don’t get me wrong here…information is important, but how you reveal it to your readers makes the difference between a satisfied reader and one who drops your book in frustration…never to pick it up again. Readers who never finish reading your book aren’t likely to mention it to any of their friends…at least not in a good light. Remember, you don’t have time to tell everyone how wonderful your book it…you have to depend on a few readers telling others who then go on to tell even more.

Irrelevant Info

A lot of research usually goes into just about any writing you do…even for a short story (though maybe not for Flash Fiction). The problem is that many authors, once they’ve found some interesting knowledge, want to share all of it with their readers, but that just won’t do. Most of the acquired facts may play a part in creating the story, but they aren’t part of the story. Those facts need to be left on the author’s desk…in the back corner…the far back corner.

One of the problems some authors have is in descriptions…extraneous descriptions. Do we really need to know what colour the walls of the kitchen are? Do we need to know what kind of shirt the MC is wearing? Do we care? That’s the first question you should ask yourself: Does the reader care about this info? If it’s only so you can picture the scene in your head, then it may not be important. Let the reader picture it the way he wants…as long as it fits into the story.

If those unimportant descriptions get to be pervasive, we call them Purple Prose, but even a smaller amount of description that doesn’t move the story along can be distracting, and you don’t want a distracted reader. Keep him interested, keep him involved, keep him reading…all the way to the end.

I’ve heard some authors of historical fiction complain that the info is needed…to set the time period. The problem often is that they make those details more important than the story itself. Overwhelming your readers with historical facts doesn’t make for happy readers.

Relevant Info

Description is necessary for the reader to visualise things, but just some…such as beginning each chapter by setting the scene—only enough info to get things going. If the chapter continues from the previous, then only a minimal reminder may be needed. Just make certain that the description is enriching the story…not leaving it in the dust, taking over, being more important. Remember that even if the details are important, you still can’t just dump them on the reader.

So how do you get these descriptions into the story…without dumping? We’ve all heard the rule to ‘sprinkle’ the info throughout the story. So how do you do that? Easy, just remember that the story is why the reader has even picked up your book, so keep it front and center. Keep the action going and let the description add to what’s happening.

Interrupting the flow, the action, the dialogue, with too much description can bring your story to a grinding halt, pulling the reader out. Instead of experiencing the story, they are now standing next to it, on the outside, looking in. That’s not saying to avoid description completely. The scenes do need to be set, the characters depicted, the action explained, but not instead of seeing the characters doing something.

A few authors have tried to avoid narrative interruption by having the characters talk about the action, explaining what’s happening. When characters break the fourth wall and start telling the reader anything, even indirectly, we call that As You Know, Bob. Another place where characters talk too much is when they tell the reader exactly what they’re thinking, known as On The Nose Writing. If the reader can’t figure out motivations from characters’ actions, then interrupting the story to tell certainly isn’t going to help.

Describe…But Judiciously

Use as much description as necessary…but no more. Avoid excess, especially if it doesn’t add. Don’t let the characters talk about anything they normally wouldn’t discuss. Keep the action going, keep the reader interested…and most especially, keep writing.

Welcome back to another year at Turner Editing. We’re going to continue posting helpful hints and suggestions to assist writers, but we’ve changed up the topics this year. We’ll keep the Terms category (as there are still a few folks confused about the jargon), but we’ll be replacing the Printing topic with a Marketing one (for those ready to take on the next aspect of writing). We’ve also swapped out Grammar for one covering the Writing process (for those who need the bigger picture). The last topic, Shortcuts, seems to have been exhausted, so we’re going to look at and review some Software that may make your writing easier.

Just as a clarification for those new to this site, let me explain about our naming and numbering scheme. You’ll notice that the posts have a topic and level indicated. This one is “Terms, 1 Introductory”. That means it is a first level discussion on some terminology. The other levels are “2 Basic”, “3 Advanced”, and “4 Excessive”. When you get done reading any post, if you’re still confused, let us know. We hope to be able to answer all your questions and be your source for writing information.

New Terms

This year, when we’re doing the Terms postings, we won’t be just listing or defining some new words—instead we’ll explain in more detail and show how to use (or correct) certain aspects of writing. We mentioned some of the expressions last year (in which case, we’ll link the two posts), but we’ll also add in a few fresh ones that have come up in questions and discussions with various clients and readers.

At the end of last year, we gave short definitions of a bunch of terms (Writing and Editing Terms #1, #2, and #3), specifically mentioning some issues to avoid. Well, now we’re going to expand on one of those items to avoid: Clichés, and their friends Metaphor and Simile. I’ve seen too many good stories that have been spoiled by some stale clichés, yet the fix is relatively easy…once you know what to look for, so we’ll start off with a definition, then dive right into the remedy.

What Exactly Are Clichés?

When someone puts together a phrase that succinctly expresses a thought, it gets repeated. The problem is that the best such phrases get repeated a LOT. Once one gets repeated too many times, and everyone knows it, it becomes a cliché. It once had the power to catch attention and fill in a gap in language, but now, due to over use, it is weak.

Writers write what they know, what they’ve read…unfortunately, what usually comes to mind are those trite little phrases. It’s so easy to just throw it in there…everyone knows what it means, but that’s just the problem…everyone knows. It’s no longer a bright spot in the literary world. It’s now a worn out, tired old, ready to be replaced expression…and maybe you are the one to replace it.

When you have something fascinating to say, see if you can find a fresh way to express it. Surprise us with the connections you make. Make us stop and smile at the wonderful way you take us along with you into the story.

What are Metaphors and Similes?

Very similar, both metaphors and similes relate things that aren’t usually connected—in a metaphor, you say that something is something else…in a simile, you just say that they are similar to each other.

• Metaphors
  1. His eyes were blue ice.
  2. Her hair was a river of golden flax.
  3. His muscles were mountains on his arms.
  4. Her smile was a bow, made to launch cupid’s arrows.
• Similes
  1. His eyes were as blue as ice.
  2. Her hair flowed like a river of golden flax.
  3. His muscles bulged like mountains on his arms.
  4. Her smile curved upwards, like a bow made to launch cupid’s arrows.

As you can see, you can use either one to say the same thing, so you get to pick which to use. The problem with both is that although once evocative upon creation, as soon as they start getting used and reused again and again, they both can become clichéd, so your task is to find new and interesting ways to connect things, and someday, we’ll be quoting you.

Instead of presenting an alphabetical list of terms, we’re going to discuss the process of getting ink on paper and what’s involved, defining the words as we go. I’ll underline each new term and define it in parens right after. (If you really want a list, there are plenty of websites out there, but I find reading a dictionary rather disconnected from reality.)

After you’ve finished writing your ms (manuscript), you can start laying out (the process of making your text look like a book) your book. The first step is to decide what physical size book you want, how tall, how wide, how thick. There are a variety of trim sizes (physical size of book in reader’s hand) available, but most paperback books intended for entertainment come in three sizes: 6 x 9 trade (paperback version of previously released hardback book), 5 ½ x 8 ½ digest (magazine sized book), or 4 ¼ x 7 mass market (cheaper version, often sold in racks at airports and drugstores).

Pages

Once you’ve set the size of the page, you need to address the margins (white space surrounding your text on the page) and gutters (extra space on the spine side of the page to account for the binding). Set your word processor to Facing Pages or Book Fold, then adjust the margins and gutters to about ½ inch all around with an extra ½ to ¾ added into the gutter, even more if it’s a thick book.

Check your running headers and footers (text at the top and bottom of each page outside the content, often has author name and title of book, or chapter and section name). See that they are in the right places. Now is a good time to review the page numbers, too.

Verify that your justification (alignment of text lines on the right and left sides), indentation (alignment of first line of a pgph), and pgph spacing (extra space added between pgphs) is correct. Typically fiction uses left justification, small indents, and no spacing between pgphs, whereas non-fiction uses full justification, block indent (all lines even with each other), and a small space between pgphs. Make certain to not mix the two styles in the same ms.

Keep line spacing (aka leading, pronounced “ledd-ing” because it used to refer to adding strips of lead between the physical lines of type) between 1.15 and 1.25 for ease of readability. (For a ms to be edited, use 1.5 or 2, so there’s enough room for the editor to write comments.)

Zoom back

Now you can zoom back and take a long distance view of your page. Inspect every page for widows (last line of a pgph at the top of a page) and orphans (first line of a pgph at the bottom of a page or last few words of a pgph on a line by themselves). Clean those up by tweaking the line or character spacing in earlier pgphs.

That should take care of most issues found in poorly produced books…at least the appearance. We can address the actual content later.