Whose Who was Wittier than Who's Whom

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! As you've probably guessed from the title of this post, today we'll be talking about the words: Whose, Who, Who's, and Whom. They all have different meanings and you need to know which to use in a sentence and when. Lot's of Ws today! So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

As always, we'll start with the definition of each:
Whose:  /ho͞oz/ Adjective 1.) Belonging to or associated with which person: "whose round is it?"; "a minivan drove by and Juliet wondered whose it was". 2.) Of whom or which (used to indicate that the following noun belongs to or is associated with the person or thing mentioned in the...: "he's a man whose opinion I respect"

Who:  /ho͞o/ Pronoun 1.) What or which person or people: "who is that woman?". 2.) Used to introduce a clause giving further information about a person or people previously mentioned: "the mouse who married the playboy".

Who's:  /ho͞oz/ Contraction 1.) Who is: "who's that?". 2.) Who has: "who's done the reading?".

Whom:  /ho͞om/ Pronoun 1.) Used instead of “who” as the object of a verb or preposition: "whom did he marry?".


You can see they all have different purposes.

Use the word whose when you aren't asking who is but to who something belongs. Look at it this way, if you're constructing a sentence and you insert who's, see if you can change it to who is and it still make sense. If not, change the word to whose.

Make sure you can't use who's before using whose and you'll never go wrong.

Who is related to the subject and whom is related to the object.

I love whom I love. If you're a fan of The Last Unicorn, you'll get this reference.

Grammar Girl (love that website, by the way) has a great quick and dirty tip: If you can use the word him in place of whom, you have the right word. They both end in M.

I hope this post has been a wee bit helpful in reminding you of something we all too often forget - I know I do!

As of tomorrow, we'll be stepping off the usual path for this blog. I've joined the Winter Author Blog Challenge. It'll run for fifteen days and we'll be discussing Social Media! You don't want to miss that! If you're an author (or want to be) you can join us here: http://authorblogchallenge.wordpress.com/register/



I met some fantastic people through this challenge last year and I'm looking forward to meeting more this year. So, come on down and sign your butt up!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

True Nature

Happy Wednesday, good people of the blogosphere! February is about to step out and March will be upon us soon! I hope it brings you all peace and good fortune. 2013 is shaping up to be a pretty good year on this side of the country, and my blessing is that you all have the same success. Today we're going to delve into true nature. You know how much I like to go on and on about characters, and today is no different. Writing The Bird taught me a couple of lessons I'd like to share with you today. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Humans are such interesting creatures! They play mind games, put themselves on a pedestal, and manipulate others to get what they want. However, they can also be generous, kind, and caring. Whatever they are, it's their true nature. Pretenses can only be held on to for so long before the mask melts away, leaving their soul bared for all to see. This is important to remember when writing.

When I was writing The Bird, I had a loose outline in my head and the first few chapters plotted carefully. After that, I flew by the seat of my pants. I'm glad I did, because if I'd forced my characters into the roles I'd laid out for them, the book would've ended very differently. I love the ending! It was brought about by the true nature of my characters; which wasn't revealed until about halfway through.

This sounds crazy, huh?

But it's not. It's like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole when you attempt to force a character to conform. If you let them have their own way, they'll show you things your imagination could never come up with on its own.

But, Jo, it's in my head already, right? Something just happened to make it manifest on the page!

Not necessarily. As with life, it takes time for a character to show you the truth about themselves. They like to hide under masks and play cloak and dagger games with you; just like humans. Discovering what a character may be hiding is like finding a diamond in a lump of coal. But you have to give them time to reveal themselves.

You don't really know someone until you've been around them for a couple of years. In that time, watch how they interact with others, pay attention to the nuances, and listen carefully when they recount events you were present for to bystanders or other friends. It'll tell you a lot about their true nature. Everyone wants to be liked and revered; but that mask only lasts so long. You'll get glimpses if you pay attention.

I was caught completely off guard by my characters. Looking back, I now see the signs indicating exactly who they were on the inside. Their masks had me fooled, and I'm pretty shrewd!

So, take a look at your WIP's characters and look at what they're doing on the page. Really take the time to examine their actions and words. You may find that diamond.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Editing Tips

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today I'm going to be giving you some editing tips and telling you how to catch those niggling little errors that drive readers like me bananas.

If you're a regular visitor to my blog, you'll know I keep a handy link list to relevant content herein. This is for you, not for me. It lets you find what you're looking for at a glance without having to do an irritating search or browse through hundreds of posts to find great information. This post will contain links to a few of those posts for your referencing pleasure. A lot of my visitors take notes while they're here, and you might want to consider doing so as well. So, grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

If you're a writer, you should be going through no less than four rounds of edits before sending your content off to your editor. What's that? You don't use an editor? You should. They'll catch things you can't. But, if you insist on doing all your editing yourself, here are the five major edits that need to be done in your work:

1. Storyline - This is the first edit and should consist of you going through the storyline very carefully, line by line, making notes on what your characters are doing at any given point. You don't want an apartment on the first floor in this chapter only to have it on the second floor two chapters later, or your character to be asleep in bed and then having a conversation on the other side of town in the next sentence. Check dates for linear flow. Fact check now as well. Make sure elements and language used match the era and voice of the character. Make all your notes before you change anything. If there's anything to add or any holes to fill, do it now.

2. Cut Out Superfluous Words - Go through your manuscript with a possessed red pen. Kill as many of these words as you can: that, just, for, to, began, thought, as. Reword where necessary. Take out sentences and adjectives you don't need. Remove adverbs. This post will show you why you don't need them: -ly

3. Pronouns - This is a big one. Check each pronoun and the person or thing it references. Make sure you aren't using them incorrectly. Here's a handy guide: Pesky Pronouns

4. Consistency and Punctuation - This is where you check your flow. Make sure commas aren't sprinkled around like fairy dust. Be sure your sentences flow well. Read and re-read to be sure you've been consistent when spelling a word, using language, or using a reference. Check your chapters for tension. For the love of all that's good, use contractions unless writing formal speech. Chase the S! Search the words backward, forward, toward, etc... and check to be sure the s (if you used it) is consistent. Beware the homophone and make sue you're using the right word. Use semicolons now and then. If you aren't sure how to do that, check out this handy guide: Semicolons

5. Proofread - Give it one last once over. Check it all to make sure there aren't any of the issues listed above hanging around and everything is spelled correctly, all quotes are in place and are the right kind (see image below), and all i's are dotted and t's are crossed. This is your last chance to make it beautiful.

I use a literary editor. Every writer should. She goes line by line and checks everything. But every writer should also go through the first four items on this list before sending their manuscript off to be corrected. Your best bet is to let your story chill in a drawer for a couple of weeks after you're done writing it before you start the process above.

I hope this helps in some small way. I know being an indie author isn't easy, but if you want your work to get great reviews that don't bash your writing, put in the time.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Book Review Taken Before her very Eyes by Wade Faubert

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! What a lovely day I have for you today! I'm not only announcing the winners of the rafflecopter drawing, but also bringing you a book review. So, if you won, let me say a big CONGRATULATIONS! I hope you do the happy dance.

Without further ado, here's the widget with the winners:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Congrats to: Angel, Alana, and Jennifer! Angel and Alana have both won digital copies of The Bird and Jennifer has won a printed, signed copy, a bookmark, and a mini-magnet! I'll be in touch to find out how to get you all your prizes sometime today. Thanks for participating!

If you really wanted a copy of this book and didn't win here, there's still time to enter the Goodreads giveaway! Two signed, printed copies are up for grabs over there, as well!

Now for the review! This is for the Indie Fever 2013 reading challenge.

I picked up a sample of Taken - Before her very Eyes because of a Goodreads event announcing the publication hosted by the author, Wade Faubert. After reading it, I found myself wanting more. Over to Amazon I went to purchase the rest. I finally got a chance to delve back in and this is my review.

From a reader's perspective:
I loved the main character, Summer Demure (she was anything but). She seemed real to me and was written in such a way that I felt I knew exactly what she was going through. Pacing in the book was great and I moved through it in just a few days. I got confused at a point in the storyline where the kidnapper tells Summer he was the one that did the horrible things to her that occured in the beginning but she keeps referring to the man in jail as the one she was scared of. That revelation also kinda screwed the ending and left me a tad confused. I would like to have had a more open end with the real bad guy being swallowed up by the water instead of what happened but that didn't take away from my experience at all. World building was good and I felt I had a good sense of the town in Canada where she was.

From an editor's perspective:
Punctuation was all over the place. Pronouns need some major work.
Words were confused on occasion: rogue not rouge. Storyline needed to be kept straight. These things did throw me out of the story now and then but weren't so bad I ever had to stop reading.

Now, my rating:
1 star for a truly believable main character I rooted for.
1 star for a hair-raising story that kept me engaged.
1 star for making me want to read more.
- 1 star for the major oops in the storyline.
- 1 star for the grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors.
3 out of 5 stars. A very good, quick read that has a ton of potential to be amazing.

Not to appear in my review elsewhere:
I love that cover! It goes so well with the story inside the pages. My one tweak would be to make the author's name bigger. There's plenty of room and it gets a wee bit lost in the thumbnail. Other than that, all I can say is, "WOW! Well done!"

If you think you'd like to read this book, you can pick up a copy over on Amazon for $2.99.
Give his Facebook page a like: Author Wade Faubert
Check out his site: Wade Faubert
Or follow him over on Twitter: @WadeFaubert

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Reading Days

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! Holy moly! It's FRIDAYYYYY!! That means the weekend is upon us after we trudge through our workdays today. Instead of working my fingers to the bone writing today, I'm going to spend the day reading. It's been a minute since I've had the opportunity to take a day to just read and drink coffee but it's a rainy day in Georgia and I'm in need of a good book. Call it a celebration for writing nearly 12k words this week already. I'll give you my favorite paragraph! This happens after a fight between my two main characters. Remember, this is a first draft!

Kathy went to her room where she collapsed on the floor, pulled her knees into her chest, and allowed the pain to fill her. It started at her head and throbbed behind her eyes before making its way to her stomach where it twisted her guts into a pile of wriggling goo. Her toes curled and every muscle in her body constricted as she let go with a wail, pulling her arms around her body to hold herself together. Black dots swam through the faint light filtering through her closed eyelids. Again, she keened for her loss of love, dignity, and self. It wasn’t long before her body convulsed and spasms shook her where she lay. All that held her together was her own arms, wrapped so tightly around her chest there was no hope of catching a breath between sobs. She began to choke on her own saliva and sputtered, coughing and gagging, all in an attempt to do the most mundane of tasks: breathe. I’m going to die.

How awesome is that? I plan to release it later this year. Title has been decided but I'm not ready to divulge it just yet.

I'm going to try and finish Condemned by Eric Dulin today and start on the next book on my list. We'll see how that goes!

If you've won something from one of my many contests, I'm shipping those out today, too! Watch your mailboxes!

Remember, there are only three days left to get your entry in to win a printed, signed copy of The Bird plus some great swag OR a .mobi copy! You can enter every day so please share, share, share. Sharing is caring!

I have a review that will be coming for Taken - Before her very Eyes by Wade Faubert. That will be Monday's post and, trust me, you don't want to miss it.

I hope you all have a super fabulous weekend! I'll be back with you on Monday to announce the winners and give you that book review. How exciting!

Without further ado, here's the rafflecopter entry form:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you entered the other giveaway, the first winner has been chosen! Congratulations to: Marlena F.!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Dyslexiana

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm excited to tell you all about a great website that features books for those with dyslexia! Strap in and take a tour with me!

The site is called Dyslexiana. A wild group of authors got together and decided to produce books for those suffering from a Developmental Reading Disorder (DRD).

A typeface designed for people suffering from a DRD, designed by Abelardo Gonzales, is what the authors are using when creating these special print editions. You can pick up the free font here: http://opendyslexic.org/

From the website:
Welcome to Dyslexiana. We're a group of authors on a mission to produce literature that can be read by those suffering from Dyslexia. Here, dyslexia is n/a.

Their logo uses the typeface the books have been set in:

If you're an author interesting in joining them, or if you've produced your own DRD edition of a book and would like to be listed on the site, shoot them an e-mail at: info [at] dyslexiana [dot] com.

If you'd like to keep up with news, new posts, and other interesting tidbits, you can follow them on:
Facebook: Dyslexiana
Twitter: @Dyslexiana
Their Blog: Dyslexiana.com

Look for an exciting giveaway featuring this group's books next week!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Metaphors

Happy hump-day, good people of the blogosphere! Today, we're back to writing tips and general lessons! It's all about the metaphor on this glorious Wednesday so grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

First off, a definition:
Metaphor: met·a·phor  /ˈmetəˌfôr/ Noun 1. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. 2. A thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, esp. something abstract.

Well, we all know what it is, Jo. But how does one use it in writing? Great question!

A metaphor is saying something is something else (definition one). Using a metaphor is a skill that should be applied now and then. If you use it all the time, you're going to sound like you just stepped out of a Tim Burton film. While that may not be a bad thing, your readers will likely get lost.

Examples:
All around me, the trees were licorice ropes and the leaves were skillets.
That cat is a cow.
My father is a truck and my mother is a convertible sports car.

Notice none of these phrases have the words like or as. Those aren't metaphors, they're similes.

There's another way to use metaphors that many authors employ: Using things in the story to give a larger abstract idea (definition two). Say two of your characters are battling over a golden idol which, when held, brings the holder great wisdom. At the end, one person gives the idol to the other and walks away. Isn't that the greater wisdom? Your golden idol becomes part of a larger idea: wisdom and what makes one wise.

I hope this was a nice little refresher for you all.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo