Down Under Views

How do you feel about illustrations in your books? Graphs? Photos? Sketches?

Most of the books I read these days are traditional adult books – aka books with no illustrations. But I like illustrations – especially when I don’t expect them in the books I’m reading.

I’m just as reliant on my imagination as the next person, so I don’t feel a lack when I’m reading something with no pictures, but I do consider it a sort of extension into the author’s brain when there are illustrations. It’s almost like valuing someone else’s opinions on an art piece you like while also having your own opinion; I don’t let the pictures change what’s in my head if I prefer not to.

In honor of National Grammar Day … it IS “March Fourth” after all … do you have any grammar books? Punctuation? Writing guidelines? Style books?

More importantly, have you read them?

How do you feel about grammar in general? Important? Vital? Unnecessary? Fussy?

If you know me (know I’m a writer), then you won’t be surprised to hear that I have the Strunk and White Elements of Style. I have heaps of other books on writing, etc, but Elements of Style is my only one that focuses specifically on the technical side of writing.

I haven’t read Elements of Style through like a regular book, no. I have used it more like a reference book, picking and choosing when I need.

And this is where I get into a rant…

Especially in this day and age, I feel that grammar (spelling, etc) is very important! I am absolutely disgusted by some of the articles and books that are out today and touted as actual good writing.

Bull! That’s what I say.

I’m not perfect by any means, but it’s not like there is some shortage of editors out there. Heck, these days they can customize down to whether they edit your grammar and punctuation, overall story critique, so on and so forth. I’m a freelance editor with few credits; hire me if you are on a budget!

I have seen words misspelled on restaurant menus, heard radio announcers say things so wrong that they have sent me into fits of giggles, articles that have no point I can decipher in their confusing run-on sentences and self-published books that had so many errors (not to mention plot holes) that my husband had to stop me from sending it back to the author full of red marks.

I don’t know if it is because we just take so little pride in our work these days or if the ‘instant gratification’ society we live in that is causing all this, but I find it amusing – more often annoying.

Suggested by Janet:

I’ve seen this quotation in several places lately. It’s from Sven Birkerts’ ‘The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age’:

“To read, when one does so of one’s own free will, is to make a volitional statement, to cast a vote; it is to posit an elsewhere and set off toward it. And like any traveling, reading is at once a movement and a comment of sorts about the place one has left. To open a book voluntarily is at some level to remark the insufficiency either of one’s life or one’s orientation toward it.”

To what extent does this describe you?

Well, that’s certainly an impressive quote to start a conversation off with, isn’t it?

I’m almost sad to say this, but this quote fits me quite well if we can combine reading stories and writing them…

Back when I was in the States, I didn’t have a very happy existence. Oh, there were plenty of good times, but the darker demons were still there. I told stories before I knew how to write and wrote many more once I did learn to write. When I wasn’t writing, my nose was stuck in a book.

If you didn’t see me with a book or a notebook, you could know that I had gotten yet another lecture about how my family viewed me as strange/antisocial for always having a book or a notebook with me.

When I moved to Australia, I adopted a new life. A wonderful life. I still had to get past the demons and whatnot, but I finally felt safe, in control of my life and loved unconditionally. I felt love like I’d never felt before, and I felt happy.

Reading books and writing them dropped off considerably.

Whether moving and my reading/writing dropping off are actually related, I don’t know. I just know that it happened to me.

The northern hemisphere, at least, is socked in by winter right now… So, on a cold, wintry day, when you want nothing more than to curl up with a good book on the couch … what kind of reading do you want to do?

Well, even though it is summer, today is rather winter-ish. The sky is completely filled with grey clouds and there is finally a chill to the air instead of the seemingly endless humidity of yesterday.

These are the kind of days in winter when I want to curl up with something that involves a bit of romance. It doesn’t have to be romance specifically, but I do want at least a touch in there because it makes me feel nice and warm…

Jackie says, “I love books with complicated plots and unexpected endings. What is your favourite book with a fantastic twist at the end?”

So, today’s question is in two parts.

1. Do YOU like books with complicated plots and unexpected endings?

2. What book with a surprise ending is your favorite? Or your least favorite?

Do I like complicated plots and unexpected endings… I suppose it’s all with what fits the book, really. I’ve read plenty of mysteries where I know just who did it, but still enjoyed it all the same. I’ve read plenty of books with plots more on the simple side that read just as well.

It’s when the plots are simple and the endings are either expected or unexpected to the point of being ridiculous – for a lack of writing skills on the part of the author – that things get uncomfortable. If you can do simple well, then do it well. If you do complicated well, all the more kudos to you. Don’t do complicated if your calling is for simple.

My favourite twist ending of all time has to be from Ender’s Game. It just has to be. I can’t think of a book with a twist that made me go ‘wow!’ like Ender’s Game did.

As for least favourite… I can think of plenty of books I don’t like, but none that had a ‘twist’ ending.