Writing Tips - Type Inner Speech in Italics etcetera

(Picture Credit - Computer2 by Psuca)

Early in the new year I read some articles on self-editing, on a Linkedin Writer Group forum. One piece explained how you type inner speech in italics. You live and learn.

As a Writer in English, it goes without saying that a mastery of English is most useful to the writer. Fortunately I have quite a good eye for spelling and my grasp of basic sentence-writing is okay. Using words such as okay might be a bit naughty, but at least I usually Notice when I’m being naughty. That capital ‘n’ is a tad mischievous too, but hey... The spell-checker on “Word” usually makes me toe the line, though some of their grammatical “rules” I frankly find sheer nonsense. So I believe most of my English to be sound.

Inner speech in italics please

Yet command of the English language is not the whole story. Articles on Linkedin about “Self Editing” have recently reminded me of that. Last year I would have typed some narrative as follows:

John headed down the dark alley with some trepidation. Now he saw a huge shadowy figure up ahead.

John: “Hello, is anyone there?”

The figure came closer and loomed over him.

John (thinks): “Let’s get outta here John!”

(Narrative over) Alternatively I might have used the word “thought”, but let’s not nitpick. THIS year the last two lines would be:

The figure came closer and loomed over him.

Let’s get outta here John!

(Narrative over) Frankly I find unbolded italics rather flimsy looking, but if that’s how it’s done...

To be honest I never noticed this editing convention. I guess that’s because I only started typing in relatively recent years. A feeble excuse, I know.

 

No full stop at the end of a title

Another one I admit to missing is that one about not putting a full stop at the end of a title (usually?). To be honest I thought “Suite 101” writing site were being Grammar Nazis when they told me that. But they were right. If you don’t get told... Recently I’ve had to delete LOTS of full stops... (Can I risk that on Triond I wonder with that “title fix” glitch?). You live and learn, as they say. Funny how you can miss such things.

I once put in a history essay that one country “claimed” war on another. It should have been “declared” of course. All I can say is I must have misheard this in some earlier lesson. The history teacher who pointed this out to me (a certain Terry Dennison of international swimming-coach fame) was the first person I can recall highlighting my limitations.

 

Positive Feedback

In my work as a Careers Adviser we were always told to give “Positive Feedback”: I.E. do Not say anything Negative. But I do wonder about that. Sentences such as, “The dog’s of war all chased the dogs bone” really irritate me. Apostrophes folks! Surely you have to point out errors etc. at some time.

Frankly some articles on “Triond” are gobbledygook at best and perhaps something needs saying to the individuals concerned. I will ponder on that.

For now I will carry on with my lifelong learning. Frankly I think some of the most “advanced” grammatical rules are a bit “OTT” (over the top) so I will always be a “Maverick” to some extent. Artistic licence...

I will always write with my “Inner Voice” which can always lead into some informality. I have my preferences. Old buddy Rob Stoakes critiqued one of my poems most aptly: “You can tell it’s a Butters.”

Yes, sorry but I love an exclamation mark! I like my commas too. Don’t use semi colons much (whereas my old friend Neil uses them a lot). But in my own way I’ll always try to be progressive and continuously improve.

Longer Pieces for more Views.

Another thing I read the other day was that to get more Views you need to write 1000-1100 words. Google etc. are now looking for more substantial pieces packed with quality content. For quite some time I have restricted myself to about 400 words on the assumption that most online “readers” have a low attention span. Have been deliberately keeping down to one page. Well, I am reconsidering this. Look out for longer pieces. 727 words before this elliptical sentence or fragment according to “Word”. You have been warned.

Paul Butters


More postings -      http://authspot.com/short-stories/colonisation-earth-part-three/

http://authspot.com/poetry/swirling-snow/

http://authspot.com/poetry/determined-8/

http://authspot.com/poetry/nick-2/

http://authspot.com/poetry/car-crazy/

http://authspot.com/poetry/arthur-5/

http://authspot.com/poetry/kepler/

http://www.picable.com/People/Sports/Skateboarding/Cleethorpes-Cheeky-Free-Parking.4249171

http://sportales.com/soccer/manchester-united-versus-real-madrid/

 

Triond Tragedy

(Picture Credit - World Trade Centers by Andrea Yelde)





The following blog has ironically attracted 638 Views on Triond to press (29\1\13). My "Fergie" piece has had 370 Views and is still on the "Sportales" top ten and doing well. However, my article "Single" on Triond has received 826 Views. Anyway, here is "Triond Tragedy":

Late last year Shelpeare and others advised me (and everyone else) to target Triond sites with a “Top of the Pops List”. So I targeted “Beyond Jane” a few times and got hundreds of views. On 12^th January I targeted “Sportales” with “World Ping Pong Championship 2013”. However, I made a typo in the title, and all was lost...

As I said above in my description, following the advice of Shelpeare and others late last year gave me a mini Triond Triumph. “Beyond Jane” was the scene for hundreds of views for me. Loved it.

The same tactic did not work on “Writinghood” because its “Top Ten” was monopolised by one or two writers. But hey, “Beyond Jane” was great: namely my pieces “Single”, “Listen” and “Beat the Bullies...”

But then I posted “Ping Pong...” As usual I copied and pasted the “Description” and main text from “Microsoft Word”. (My “Word” automatically corrects some spelling errors and underlines the others in bright red). Titles are too short to copy and paste so I typed this one straight in again: BUT I typed “Champoinship”!!! Only after it was published did I notice this error but I submitted a “fix” immediately. The URL showed the same typo by the way.

Just before that fix I had six Views and the piece went straight onto the “Sportales Top of the Pops”. Since then NO FURTHER VIEWS. Whenever I click on the title from my “Published” page I get “Not Found”. For days the same “Not Found” notice appeared when I clicked the title on the “Top Ten”.

By searching Sportales I found a “Sportales: Sport” page listing recent articles and THAT link worked! The URL was amended too. Later I changed the title again, using “Championships” with an “s”. The URL changed but only that one link worked. Further Views by Shelpeare and myself there did not register.

I complained to GetSat about this “access lack” and added further update-comments but there was no reply. Talked with Shelpeare via Personal Message at great length: this has happened to him and many others too.

Today the “plot thickened” when I checked my View stats. My “Referring Chart” shows 900 Views recently from Sportales and next to nothing from anywhere else. An article of mine, “Cheating at Table Tennis” has had 330 Views (don’t recall these hitting my Dashboard by the way) but “Ping Pong...” remains at SIX. Where are the other 600 Views?

Being an optimistic person I hope these Views will come through for “Ping Pong”. I also hope those links from my “Published” page, my profile etc. will be restored.

While I’m at it. Earlier I complained to “GetSat” about their “Image Machine”. When you draft a piece there is a button to “Get Images”: usually a selection of images appears: you click on one, it turns green and hey presto... For “Ping Pong”, however, the images provided were unresponsive, although their “credit details” did “pop up”. So I had to track an image down to source and add from my laptop. Such unresponsiveness happens from time to time and is a pain. Rant Over.

Paul Butters

Hello Poetry - My Most Popular Poems

(Picture Credit - "Poetry" by Ghazi Salahuddin)

Here is my latest personal Top of the Pops List:

1) Circles - 665,
2) Excitement - 479,
3) Frenetic Genetics - 424,
4) Mother Nature - 360,
5) New Eden - 328,
6) A Poem - 311,
7) Girl Eyes - 218.

The interesting thing to me is that "New Eden" had the first major surge of Views, getting onto the "Trending" list. Well, it was the first surge I noticed, anyway. Then "A Poem" made a surge and overtook "New Eden" for a while. Since then there seems to have been a "knock on" effect, leading to the top four as shown. Looks like many made a pilgrimage together to "New Eden" but thankfully checked out my other poems.

"Frenetic Genetics" has been very popular elsewhere on the web and has risen to number three here. Another poem, "Champion", did extremely well on VoicesNet and should perhaps be posted on Hello Poetry too.

PS Have posted "Champion" on "Hello Poetry" and it has drawn 77 Views in 1 hour! To press it has had 5852 Views on VoicesNet. Good News - at 1.30PM I received an email from "Hello Poetry" telling me that "Champion" was trending. Over and Out.

24\1 (00.07) Something else - from my Facebook Page - I put:

"AMAZING! On the Voicesnet writing site I amended about 25 pieces today by removing a full stop from the end of each title. Each one was assessed by a volunteer checker. If any others get rejected then embarrassment: they are already published!"

25\1 - Latest stats from Triond - "Triond Tragedy" 489V, "Fergie..." 189V.

26\1 - Latest: Triond Tragedy 591 (my 2nd highest to press on Triond), Fergie 202 (5th)!

Latest:      http://writinghood.com/style/remember-type-inner-speech-in-italics-2/

Over and Out.