Writers' Guidelines For Self Publishing

Are your writing abilities sharpened for your success at self publishing? Most anywhere you look, you are likely to come across writers' guidelines covering a myriad of topics. A question regarding guidelines is should we write like we talk? Let me answer that right off. not really. Most beginning writers (me included) have said at one time or another, quite proudly, "I write like I talk." That is Acceptable if you are talking about how your characters speak. When you put quotes around your characters' statements, it is fitting to write as they talk. Utilize what your character would use when speaking. People say "ain't" and "gonna" . if not, the writing should be tight, clean English.

I know I have been critical of the grammar and spell checker functions of the computer software I use. The question is mainly one of obsolescence. Spell/grammar checkers are based on writers' guidelines that fit what we learned in eighth grade English class. I have generally skipped over the dreaded message "passive voice" because changing it did not read quite right. It occasionally results in a series of choppy sentences, but that merely means that you have more work to do on it . something I am still learning to do. Talk about life-long learning! That's what self publishing brings to the mix.

There are Exceptions
I started reading a book yesterday that had no less than fourteen reviews approving it and the author's story telling ability. I am into it far enough to predict another finding in my journey toward furthering my pursuit of becoming a sophisticated writer. I might be running out of time.
A friend of mine who used to teach creative writing gave me a series of writers' guidelines which included a small list of caveats that came from a text citing writing a number of blunders. Among them were:
1. avoid writing in the first person (this book is so written);
2. avoid contractions (this book uses them liberally);
3. avoid passive voice (yup. lots of times);
4. avoid mixing tenses; i.e., using a present tense verb in explaining a past tense event or action; (uh-huh, that, too);
5. avoid words that end in LY. they are not needed (but they work here).
Forget the caveats? Not really.. The distinctive thing I noted here is that if you have an acceptable story and a good story-telling approach, all those rigid guidelines have exceptions. Somewhere out there is an agent who can sell your style of writing if it features good characters, a good story and reasonably good English
Just keep writing. Self publishing may be your best path to getting published, but good grammar still works, although it can also give you a headache.

By: Hank Lajoie

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This article was authored by www.hanklajoie.net>"> Hank Lajoie who has self published three books and is well versed in www.hanklajoie.net>">self publishing and shares all he has experienced and is still learning. His background includes a military career, and he holds a BA in Public Relations/Journalism from Utica College of Syracuse University, where he also served as director of public relations and assistant professor of public relations. Just before retiring to Florida, he operated a desktop publishing company in Rome, NY where he started exploring www.hanklajoie.net>">self publishing, when it was still known as vanity publishing.