How many different perspectives are there to write from? Most novels are written in ‘first’ or ‘third person’ narrative, with a split of the third person narrative between third person omniscient and third person limited. It is of course possible to write in variations of and, or combinations of each of these points of view in the same book and, although some do it quite successfully, I would suggest that it takes an author who is relatively skilled and confident in their craft. Continue reading “Choice of Perspectives”
Author: T.D. McKinnon
Scottish author T.D.McKinnon ‘Survived the Battleground of Childhood’ in the coal mining communities of Scotland and England before joining the British Parachute Regiment at fifteen where he remained for five years. He has trained in the martial arts for most of his life and had five Karate schools in Scotland before immigrating to Australia. He writes across several genres and has completed five books that are all available as eBooks. He lives in Tasmania, Australia with his wife. Learn more about T.D.McKinnon at his website and Amazon author page.
The Changing Face of Writing
One or two fairly recent posts at Indies Unlimited prompted me to look at this particular subject.
“Wow!” is my first reaction as I look around. There is so much software out there to ‘help you organise your writing skills’, as they put it. I really did try to view it all with an open mind.
After all, did I not move on from my original method of production: writing it in long hand (à la Will Shakespeare), reading into a Dictaphone and then transcribing my work using an old manual, clunk-a-clunk typewriter, which was then superseded by the latest electrical variety; and then the ultimate magical world of PC’s came along and voila! The wonders of Word processing and the capacity to process words in any old fashion that takes your fancy… brilliant! But apparently that too is old hat now! Continue reading “The Changing Face of Writing”
US vs. the Rest: is American English Taking Over?
Spoken English
Around the world, spoken English can sound very different; hell, even in the same country it can sound, to the casual listener, like a different language. This difference can sometimes lead to misunderstanding and difficulty in communication; however, not so long ago (certainly in my lifetime), there was very much more diversity within the spoken English language.
Brought up in the UK, I listened to the different American accents in various US television shows and films with fascination, and could identify several New York dialects, the New England inflection, the drawl of the southern states, and all very different from a west coast accent. I was a Scottish miner’s brat, who’d never met an American; the power of talking pictures.
Whilst in Scotland I was able to tell what village someone came from by their accent. After moving to a new mining community in England, I came into contact with miners’ families from all over the UK; so many different accents: Wales, Ireland (Ulster & Eire) and the Northern and Southern counties of England; a multitude of different accents. Continue reading “US vs. the Rest: is American English Taking Over?”
The Buck Stops With You!
The thing about ePublishing, if you are an independent author/publisher, is that every little detail is your responsibility.
No matter who may assist you (paid or otherwise) in the process – that means through all of the editing, formatting, proof reading, art work and the specific, pre-upload, formatting requirements of each of the ePublishing distributors you decide to utilise, and of course the actual, physical uploading of the manuscript itself – the responsibility, to make sure everything is perfect, is yours. THE BUCK STOPS WITH YOU!
Quite apart from having a professional job done on all of the various editing processes, you need to have someone check it before you consider uploading. Many indies these days use beta readers who, as well as spotting mistakes and inconsistencies, will give opinions about how the book works; or perhaps why it doesn’t work. If you also have someone who knows, or at least has an idea, what it is that you are trying to say or do with your book; then so much the better. Continue reading “The Buck Stops With You!”