Style Sheets, A Writer's Best Friend

My Actual Manuscript - Eeek!

When I was first writing, I heard from a fellow author about the Style Sheets that editors use when going over manuscripts. Editors use style sheets to maintain consistency. For example, spelling of names.  


What I've found though, is that a "Fiction Project Style Sheet" is very helpful in keeping track of things while I am writing. This is an especially helpful  tool for you "Pantsers" out there who rarely have extensive notes beforehand.


This can also be particularly useful to the science fiction or fantasy author who often use made up spellings for people and places. As a suspense author, I use them to keep track of red herrings and misdirection in my plots. Here is a simple one I made for 1st draft revisions.


The way a style sheet is usually set up is by dividing a few pieces of paper into 8 boxes. I like to do this on a word document, but drawing it out on notebook paper seems to work for my friend. Editors have a lot more on their style sheet, but I use an simplified version for writing.


You will label the boxes with things like: Characters, Dates, Time Spans, Places... That way there is consistency throughout your entire manuscript.  


A style sheet will help you catch things like starting a conversation in the morning and then describing the glorious night as your character walks home.  (Yes, I've done that.) 


Or for example, you say a certain person died two years ago (time span box) but then you write that its the first anniversary of her death...you'll catch it.


Also, for anyone that writes military thrillers, details like rank, type of weapon, and specialized equipment can be hard to juggle so make a box for those types of things.


I like to have a miscellaneous box for things like character quirks. Not only do I keep them straight, but while revising, I realize that they may have stopped with a distinctive trait halfway through. Because the style sheet helped me catch it, I know to add it in.


I include a box for romantic interaction so that I can list how the hero and heroine begin to get closer and if I am escalating the tension, physical proximity, etc.


For thriller writers, a box for the ways your killer is devolving may be helpful in pointing your protagonist to clues.


Punctuation is a very important one here. Decide if you will use ellipses or an em dash, whether or not you use Ms. or Miss, that sort of thing.  Do you spell out your chapter numbers or use a numeral?


Style sheets can be a really helpful reference guide when revising your own work or to give to a critique partner when asking for edits. They're fairly easy to make.


What are your revising tricks? If you have tip or method that makes your life easier, then let me know.  Until next time...Go Write!


Photographs by: Laurel Russwurm, restlessglobetrotter, Mild Mannered Photographer.

Anniversary and Contest Winner!

I started blogging three years ago this month! I can't believe how much I've learned from all of you during that time. I think my first post was basically a picture of my kids and like..."We went here for the summer." 


Yeah, I had no clue.


But thanks to all of you and your blogfests, contests, awesome posts on craft and the industry...I've come to not only enjoy blogging, but have made friends with many of you.


From celebrating a positive reply to a query to feeling your pain when we get a "No," its been so lovely to connect with other authors and lovers of the written word.


I'm looking forward to the coming year and can't wait to see what all of you do with it!


Until next time...Go Write!

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Congratulations to Gail M. Baugniet! You have won the Detective's Surveillance Kit Giveaway!


Prizes include; goodies to eat and drink during your "stake out," an Amazon gift card, a cool gadget from ThinkGeek.com and copy of Purple Knot!


Thank you all for entering and for being so supportive with your blog posts, Tweets, and "likes" for my book!


Photograph by Squeaky Marmot.

Clash Of The Titles - Gut Wrenching Scenes

Guest post by Michelle Massaro, Asst Editor for Clash of the Titles


This week COTT is focusing on gut-wrenching passages, which are some of my favorites! So it got me wondering, why do we so enjoy reading those scenes that tear our hearts out and end with an empty box of tissues?
 
Most of us already know about stress hormones and how they build up in the body, causing all kinds of problems. According to one article I read, emotionally-induced tears contain protein-based hormones as well as leucine enkephalin, a natural painkiller. So "a good cry" flushes all those stress hormones out of our system.


Well, the science is all fine and dandy but I still wanted some experiental answers. Here's what some of you had to say:


Diana Prusik: Tears are cathartic. There's nothing like a good cry during a touching scene . . except for a good cry followed by laughter. (Think Sally Fields' stellar graveside scene in Steel Magnolias. Poor Ouiser!) Something about reading or watching a scene like that feels emotionally cleansing.

Brian Heffron agrees: Catharsis
Barbara Robinson: Because a book has to touch us emotionally or it's nothing to us. It must evoke reader emotions. If I don't feel anything when I read a book, the book is not any good, and I wouldn't finish it.


Christine Lindsay: I think we need to cry as much as we need to smile and laugh. Although when we cry, it's because we are always reaching out for hope. That this sad situation will not remain, but that the sun will shine again. It's about hope.


Jessica Patch: God designed us to connect with others. The bible says rejoice when others rejoice and weep when others weep. We're built to care. We want to. Real life or fiction, we're drawn to it and good writing makes us feel like it's real even when it's not.


Those are some great answers! What about you? Why do you love those gut-wrenching scenes? (Or if not, why don't you care for them?)


~ Connect with Michelle at her blog, Adventures In Writing.