The Write Style

I recently bought myself another book on style. The editors at Dundurn, the publishers of my up-coming book, Growing Up Ivy, use a combination of their house style guide, The Chicago Manual of Style, and The Canadian Style (Toronto, ON: Dundurn Press, 1997).

It's the latter book that I purchased, in a revised and expanded edition. I have other style books on my reference shelf, as well as books like Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Jan Truss, a witty approach to punctuation. But this one should help me when I'm working with the editor.

The Canadian Style is designed so that you can quickly access the topics you need. But from time to time, I also pick it up just to read. The chapters include everything from abbreviations to revision & proofreading. There's even a section on frequently misspelled words, although they left out two that I always have trouble with: refrigerator and cemetery.

Do you know your publisher's stand on the use of the serial comma? Do you know whether to write out the numbers 1 to 100? Or how to express exact amounts of money; or how to use punctuation with quotation marks?

It's a good idea good to familiarize yourself with the style book your publisher uses. That way, you can correct many errors in usage before submitting the final manuscript.

Till next time.

Writers' Groups

I am a member now of two writers' groups -- one that I've been part of for several years; the other, for just a few months.

I was reluctant to join any writers' group, at first. For one thing, I never share my stories in their early stages. The first couple of drafts are just too fragile. They might crumble into nothing if edited too closely. For another thing (and this is a biggie), I'd rather be writing!

With the first group, the smaller one, we are all primarily interested in writing for children, each one a member of the Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators, and Performers (CANSCAIP). We all have stories to share about publishers, editors, school visits -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. We've grown to be good friends, supporting and encouraging one another. Between meetings, we email news of our successes and disappointments.

I no longer feel as if I'm not contributing to the group if I'm not ready to read my work. It's okay to simply listen and enjoy spending time with a group of like-minded people.

If you are fortunate enough to have a writers' group in your area, why not give it a try? You're the only one who can decide whether or not it's a good fit for you.

I'd love to hear your experiences.

Till next time,
Peggy.

Good-bye, Bella Stone

After two drafts and almost a year of writing, I find I have to rename one of the main characters in my novel-in-progress. This character, a fifteen year old girl, has turned out to be rather immature and gullible. She's naive and easily led. It is this personality that gets her into trouble.

I've been calling her Bella Stone. That's a good solid name, a no-nonsense kind of name. But as the story goes on and Bella's personality develops, that name keeps getting in the way. It just doesn't suit the girl who is emerging.

I need a more light-weight name for her. Maybe something like Daisy Feather? To me, a name like that suggests airiness, a bit of fluff. I imagine a dandelion seed, drifting like a tiny parachute, trusting her fate to the wind.

Hello, Daisy Feather. Now, that should help me get on with the story.

Write on!

Spreading the Word

With a new book on the horizon, I'm on the look out for ways to let the public know about it. A writer has to take a pro-active role in helping the publisher's sales and marketing team spread the word.

Yesterday, I was interviewed for a short segment on local television. The cameraman/interviewer was a pleasant young man enrolled in the television program at the local college. His story was about the film-making industry that is part of the history of the town of Trenton where I live. I was being interviewed because I wrote a non-fiction book on the subject, The Movie Years, back in 1989.

I was pleased when my interviewer asked me to talk a little about myself and my other books. This gave me the opening I needed. I told the television audience that for the last 20 years I've written almost exclusively for children. In fact, my ninth novel for young readers, Growing Up Ivy, will be released in June, 2010.

There was a time when I might have considered such a statement to be shameless self-promotion. Not any longer. Today I know that a writer has to use every available opportunity to get the word out.

Till next time!

Peggy

Cover for "Growing Up Ivy"

The cover illustration for Growing Up Ivy has arrived. The book, due to be released in June, 2010 is my latest novel for readers 10 years and over. I love the illustration Dundurn has chosen for its cover.

As soon as I received it, I shared it with all the usual suspects: my family and the members of my writers' group.
Here are some of their opinions.

Pat called it wonderful, said there was a mysterious turbulence about it. Linda thought it was excellent, dramatic and striking, and said it spoke to her of loneliness. Myself, I found it elegant in its simplicity. Carolyn called it intriguing, mentioning again the sense of mystery and loss. Its simplicity set up a whole set of questions for her: Where is/who is/what happened to the bike rider? "I want to read the story for the answers," she said.

And that's the whole idea. I hope you will look for Growing Up Ivy late next spring.

Happy New Year to all. And happy writing!

Visiting Schools & Libraries

"Dear Mrs. Peggy Dymond Leavey,
My name is . . . I go to . . . Middle School. I read Trouble at Turtle Narrows at school. It is the best book I have ever read. Joel Osler is so cool. He has the same life as me. You are my favourite author. Would you please come to my school?
Your biggest fan."

We all love to get fan mail like this, and I make it a point to answer each one I receive. Because I hate to disappoint a child, I explain that, although I'd love to come to his school, his teacher would need to invite me.

I always welcome the opportunity to talk to the kids who are reading my books. I have a general presentation on file, but I re-work it to meet the occasion or the expectations of the teacher.

Most writers depend on giving talks and readings to supplement their incomes, and therefore, we set fees to cover our time and transportation expenses. I try to make it as inexpensive as possible for the schools and have actually lowered my fees in the past year.

Fortunately, there is money available to help with the cost of having an author visit your school. Through the Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program, the Writers' Union of Canada provides funds to subsidize the cost of an author visit, providing the author is a union member.

Public libraries can also apply for funds from the Writers' Union through the Canada Council for the Arts. These readings must be open to the public, and the author must be a member of the Writers' Union of Canada.

Teachers can find out more about my presentations (talks & readings, or writing workshops) and my fees by visiting my website, or by contacting the Authors' Booking Service: abs@authorsbooking.com.

I'd love to visit your school!

What Works For Me

I create my first drafts in longhand. They are, afterall, extensions of the "free writing" method I use for generating ideas. When I reach the end of the story, I transcribe it, chapter by chapter, onto the computer.

I don't hurry this step. I am revising as I go. This is the stage I'm at now with my new novel. I hope to finish this step by the end of the year, but there's something to be said for moving slowly. I like to hold each chapter in my head overnight, to listen to the voices of the characters. It's surprising how little inconsistencies will reveal themselves, or new plot twists spring, unexpected, to mind.

Eventually, I will make a hard copy of this second draft and make further revisions to it in pencil, which is erasable. This may sound cumbersome to you. But although the word processor is wonderful for giving a writer the ability to move whole paragraphs around or delete them altogether, I still like the heft of manuscript pages.

When my hard copy becomes so cluttered with edits that I can hardly find my way through it, I'll transcribe this third draft onto the computer and, from that point, all the editing will be done there.

It works for me.

Cheers!