Design and Print Glossary

by JD Smith

Front Cover - the front cover of your book. This can be the front cover of a paperback, or the image used to display on a webpage selling an ebook.

Spine - specific to printed books only, the spine is the part of the book where the ends of the pages are glued together. When referring to the cover, the spine is the imagery which covers the ends of the pages, typically having an author name and title on display when a book is placed on a book shelf. Designers will ask for your page count so they can calculate your spine width. This is usually done using a calculator on a publisher/printer's website i.e. spine width = number of pages x page thickness

Back Cover – the back cover of a printed book, generally containing blurb

So that’s the basics. Now for some techy stuff …

ISBN/Barcode – sometimes confused as the same thing. They are in fact two different things. An ISBN is the number allocated to books, bought from www.isbn.nielsenbook.co.uk. Some publishers buy them in bulk and sell them on or give them away free with their publishing packages. This number goes on the copyright page. On the back goes the image reference of the number i.e. the barcode. This is an image representation of the ISBN number and usually has the number sat just below it. This is so shops can scan the book on their system, rather than having to manually input a 13 digit number. These days the barcodes are usually generated by the printer/publisher using a funky bit of software and placed on the back of the cover at the bottom (sometimes on the right hand side) after the cover has been designed and submitted for publication. Occasionally, or if you specifically want more control over the ISBN, you can ask the publisher for the barcode, or generate your own using an online company, and have the designer place this for you.

[Image] Resolution - references the quality. The higher the resolution, the better quality the image. For printed books, images are generally required to be 300 dpi at the size they are to be used. For web (i.e. images for covers of ebook) images are only required to be around 72 dpi at the size they are to be displayed.

[Image] DPI - Dots Per Inch. Think of painting an image by making lots of little dots with coloured pens. The more dots, the more complex and complete the image will look. Enough dots and you won’t notice there are any dots.

[Image] Raster/Rasterised – images are either raster or vector. Rasterised images are made up of pixels/dot matrix. They’re images such as photographs and any other images which has been saved down as a JPEG, TIFF and such like.

[Image] Vector – vector images are a designer’s best friend when it comes to scale-ability. Rather than pixels/dots, they are made up of vectors (also known as paths or strokes), which means they can be scaled to any size imaginable. Complex graphics are made up of a series of paths and strokes that you wouldn’t realise are there. These file formats can be saved as EPS or AI (Adobe Illustrator) files. Commonly they are cartoons or digital drawing, although some are so complex you wouldn’t realise they are, and have a photographic quality to them.

Images of a better quality/resolution, generally cost more from a stock image library than a lower resolution image

Stock Image Library - generally speaking these are online sites which sell images in much the same way as you can pay for and download music or software. Many of them sell Royalty Free images.

Royalty Free Image - an image for which you pay a one off fee to use as much as you wish, as opposed to licensing an image where you are limited for example to how many books you can have printed with the image on, and for how long (in years).

Formatting/Typesetting - generally speaking the formatting of text for the interior of a book (i.e. the words/story/prose).

Gutter - the gutter on a book is the margin on the inside edge of a page. It is generally larger than the margin on the outer edge of the page. The reason is that when the spine is glued, and you open a book, you would not be able to see easily any text that runs too close to the spine.

Spread(s) - the left and right and pages of a book which face each other is known as a ‘spread’ or ‘facing pages’. If a designer sends you a PDF in spreads, which they potentially will when proofing a book, it means that the PDF will look as it would when you open a book, with the left and right hand pages next to one another as opposed to single pages.

Book Size - i.e the overall height and width of a book: 6 x 9”, 5 x 8”.

MOBI - Kindle specific file.

Software - Graphic Designers, for the purposes of book covers and paperback formatting, at least, use Adobe Indesign/Quark Express, Adobe Photoshop for image manipulation, and Adobe Illustrator for manipulating or drawing vector illustrations. Anyone who actually does any formatting or page layout in Adobe Illustrator needs to serious rethink their working practice. Kindle documents, however, are best laid out in Word and subsequently converted to MOBI files using a generator.

Bleed - my favourite to explain. Bleed is the image or colour which extends beyond the edge of the cover or page (normally 3mm or .0125”). Designers will deliberately set up cover files so that when they export a print-ready file for the publisher, there is excess image (bleed). This means that when the printer has printed your book covers and subsequently trims them (cuts them out of the large sheet on which they were printed) you do not end up with areas of cover which have no print on them. Think of it like this, if you are going to roll out pastry to line a pie dish, you roll it out larger than you need, line the pie dish, then trim off the excess. This is effectively what bleed is.

Crop Marks (also known as registration marks, trim marks, cutting marks) - fine hairlines printed on the outer edge of your cover file. They tell the printer exactly where they need to trim/cut your cover on each edge. Some publishers add these themselves, others require the final cover files to include them (this difference between printers is fairly specific to publishing books – in the rest of the print industry it is standard to simply supply files WITH crop marks).

Artwork - depending on what you’re referring to, this can mean a multitude of things: 1) An illustration placed on the cover (as in a piece of art, painting, drawing etc); 2) A printer might refer to the finished cover design file, the print PDF, as ‘artwork’; 3) Some designers refer to the process of design as ‘artworking’.

Illustration - painting, drawing (in any medium – pencil through to computer graphics) that may go on the cover or, indeed, the interior or the book. Illustration is NOT the same as cover design, and authors should be careful when employing an illustrator for their cover, that they are also a competent graphic designer, or that they are working with a graphic designer. Many graphic designers will employ an illustrator when occasion arises instead of using stock illustrator or photography. Not to do a disservice to illustrators out there, but as I wouldn’t take it upon myself to draw or paint something for a cover, many illustrators I have come across in my career don’t have the knowledge of typography and setting files for print that a graphic designer should have.

Fonts - the style of the characters of the alphabet. Most computer come with what are known as ‘system fonts’. Many of them are good, some are recognisable as being cheap fonts that come free with software. You can download many free fonts to install on your system from the internet. These also tend to look cheap. And lastly you can also buy fonts, in much the same way as you can buy stock imagery, from websites specialising in selling fonts.

Typography - the art of arranging type (words/titles/author name/body copy). And, yes, this does involve much more than simply centring your name and title.

Body copy/text - the bulk of text in your manuscript.

Blurb - the copy on the back of your book which sells it.

Strapline - it’s amazing how many people don’t know what ‘strapline’ means. It’s the line which goes on the front of your book which gives a further snippet as to what you book might be about (e.g. One kingdom, three brothers, three claims to the throne …)

Pantone - Pantone is a range of ink colours used by the design industry. Most publishers will, however, print the interiors of books in black only, and the covers in colours make of up Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK).

Drop Capitals - an enlarged letter generally used at the beginning of a chapter.

PDF – most people have got to grips with the file format PDF these days. Most printers will require one for printing your cover and/or inside pages; others, rarely, just a high resolution JPEG. PDF is a more secure file, which has the capability of embedding fonts and minimising anything in your file being disturbed during the printing process. Designers will also use them to proof your work to you. Proofing will usually be done using low-resolution (low quality), and therefore small file size, PDFs. When it comes to printing, the printer/publisher will require a high-resolution, print-ready, print-quality, PDF.

Mock Up - generally a term used for coming up with visuals of say a cover. Mock-up/concept/ideas/visuals.

JD Smith (Jane) lives and works in the English Lake District. Having worked as a graphic designer for over 12 years, her passion for books and everything literary took over and she now works predominantly on book cover design and typesetting. She is the editor of the writing magazine Words with JAM, and the author of historical fiction.

Researching for Historical Fiction

When I began writing I followed the mantra spouted by so many wise owls who guided the tyro author, “write what you know”. It was a rule that urged aspiring authors to write about their own experiences and world. Such authenticity would inevitable result in better and more distinctive writing. I believed it.
I began writing modern day stories of kitchen sinks, crime and humour but never seemed to find that extra fizz that elevated the writing or the story, or indeed this author. Somehow the available palette seemed limited and the settings too parochial.

I felt such a fool when it suddenly and belatedly hit me that Hilary Mantel did not actually live in Tudor times, Bernard Cornwell never served with Wellington’s army against Napoleon and George Macdonald Fraser was never a Victorian cad. These wonderful historical fiction authors were not writing of what they know, rather they knew of what they wrote. Research was their secret for opening up the whole of human history for their storytelling. It brought authenticity and insight, it released the imagination and brings confidence to the writing and storytelling.

I decided to ignore the wise owls and began to explore historical fiction as a way to tell compelling and human stories. I had a story in mind, the characters beginning to take shape, all I needed was the right setting and time to place it. So I researched. And I found Aden in 1965 and the seeds of my novel The Open Arms of the Sea began to grow and flourish. Four years later it emerged as a real live book.

I am a novice historical fiction author but I share some of the observations and insights into research that I have picked up along the way. I will say from the outset that I am far too young to have served in Aden in 1965, I have no military background or connections and have never visited Yemen. The resulting novel is all research and imagination.

It’s the story, stupid

No matter how much research you do, how thorough, how insightful, it matters not a jot if you don’t have a good, well told and compelling story, characters who are human, engaging and believable and that they all exist in an enthralling place and time that smells, sounds and feels as well as looks. You are not writing historical fiction but a fiction historical. The story always comes first.

Wear your research lightly.
Exposition and research chunking is a death knell to good storytelling and the urge to cram in too much of your recently acquired historical knowledge and insight is to be resisted at all costs. If it doesn’t flow naturally in the narrative and writing style then it doesn’t go in. A good 95% of what you discover and learn through your research should never find its way to the pages of your novel, only the 5% that oils its narrative wheels.

Good research improves your writing.

I promise you it will. Good and thorough research establishes a solid and strong knowledge framework which gives the author one of the most precious and influential gifts for good writing – confidence.

Research can be a turn-off for writing.

I think you have to have a genuine interest or enthusiasm for the time and place your novel is set. Writing a novel can take a long time and you have to be prepared to maintain your writing verve throughout. Research can reveal that your chosen period is not as interesting as it once seemed, or that it is a saturated period market for novels or your story can find no foothold in its time. If you don’t maintain your interest in the history then the energy and buzz of your writing will soon pale. Research is about proving you have chosen the right history as much as supporting its fictionalised story.

So what research did I do for The Open Arms of the Sea?

A lifetime love of watching war films certainly helped. It has certainly been the constant backcloth of knowledge against which everything else has been added. A literature degree at university gave the fiction cells a stir that churn still and an interest in modern history was always there too. Practically, of course, there were the usual research routes. Wikipedia and Google for basics but always treated warily, library, newspapers/journals of the time and novels set in the chosen period are all standard research fare. My genre and chosen period of 1965 in Aden offered up a few more research avenues such as Regimental reports, soldiers' diaries and memoirs. One area that provided really great help was photographs of the period and place – no better way to get an instant feel for a wide range of cultural minutiae – dress, vehicles, foods, street scenes etc.

What should I have researched that I didn’t?

My own friend and colleague network. It was a great Doh! moment when following the publication of The Open Arms of the Sea I discovered that two people in the same village as me actually served in Aden, albeit in the late sixties and a work colleague also served on the Aden Defence Ministry desk during the crisis. The lesson learned is to check out one’s networks for any possible insights. Because I was writing alone I kept my project secret. More fool me. I have also learned that my network contacts also include a university lecturer specialising in the Stuarts, another who has written learned texts on Medieval Britain and an ex-headmistress who was taken from Alderney by the Germans as a teenager and imprisoned in Germany for the duration. History is everywhere if you look for it. Even old history.

And next?

I’m working on a story set in the SOE and France during the Second World War. Interesting times and people. Deceit, deception, courage, action and some romance thrown in. A secret world. Research, as always, a challenge.


By Jasper Dorgan

Writers' Peer Review Sites – worth the toss?

Most wannabe writers will have dipped their quills into a writer’s peer review site at some stage. It is a baptism of fire, a test of mettle we know we have to endure on the path to publishing glory. But why do we do it? What is it we believe such sites will do for us, or help us achieve? And when it all comes down to it are these sites worth the many midnight candles spent pouring your hopes and longings into them? The answer, of course, is yes and no.

I have direct experience of participating in four peer review sites, YouWriteOn, Authonomy, ReviewFuse and the Bookshed. There are many others but the operating principles remain uniform. It is only the quality and philosophy of sites and its people that change. The secret is to find a good one. It is only good sites that bring value to a writer.

So what I learned about peer review sites? I share some observations.

Few diamonds

For every 100 members on a public site there will be 15 who can actually write. And probably no more than 20 who will provide feedback that has anything insightful, helpful or interesting to say. Discovering these diamonds is often a monotonous, long-game lottery during which much that is unedifying and depressing about these sites has to be endured. The writers who think they can write but can’t. The ones only interested in fawning validation. The self-promoters. The arbiters of true taste and the self-appointed site morality guardians. The trolls. The score and league table obsessives. The knitting circles. The seemingly endless trawl of hobgoblin and sub-genre magic Potterlands that have to be travelled. The nerdish colon kings and the prudish kitten queens. Most sites will have them all. But the discovery of the few diamonds are worth the effort. Because the diamonds become trusted and much valued sounding boards, mentors and advisers. They write stuff that is enjoyable to read. They can even become cyber writer friends. A diamond is worth an army of trolls.

It’s you, dummy

No site can make you a writer but they may help you be a better writer if you allow. On most sites the contributors will divide into those just seeking validation and praise and those who know they are not the finished article and are looking genuinely to improve. Avoid the former for there is nothing you can usefully contribute and embrace the latter because they are worthy of the effort. I have found that the real value of these sites lies in the reviewing of others rather than being reviewed. Sure, there is great value in having a good reviewer make useful suggestions and insightful criticisms of your own work and these will be readily absorbed, but there is even greater value in doing thoughtful, honest and reasoned reviews of others’ work because by doing so you begin to understand and appreciate the flaws in your own work much more acutely, and this improves your own writing. And it is only you who can do this because writing is not a committee process. It’s just you.

Thank you

When the next infantile review of your work arrives or your considered and reasoned review is met with spitting umbrage the only response is to say “Thank you” to the first and nothing to the second. Get into a thicker skin, not a spitting match.

Message Boards

Avoid them at all times except for the first exploratory site visit. Message boards are where all the site’s gremlins, gangsters and gripers infest and brood. Most make a Corleone blood feud seem like a kiddies’ party. Stay away. Say your thank yous if you dare but step no further and never, ever, venture to suggest that they may wish to get a life, because in doing so you will lose yours. Or at least the will to live it.

Be truthful, be honest

It is the only way. How does your writing improve or how do you help others if you do not give your views and opinions honestly? Telling someone that their writing is good when you don’t think it is gives no benefit to anyone. Such telling will always require a detailed reasoning for the opinion and any writer worth their salt and ready for the open market shark attacks will value and welcome such telling. It isn’t personal. It holds equally true when you praise a writer’s work. It is always pleasant to get such a response but the reasoning for its appreciation and why it works is even more valuable.

Passing through

Peer review sites are for passing through, not for nesting in. Like schools you can travel from primary (eg ReviewFuse) to secondary (YouWriteOn) to uni (Bookshed) and if you’re very unlucky you might get to visit a borstal or two along the way (Authonomy). If you’re not graduating through then you are not developing and growing as a writer. The poorer writers hibernate in a site, the better ones will all fly away off and up.

Had their day?
A few years ago peer review sites were very much viewed by aspiring authors as a viable route to possible publishing contracts and were enthusiastically embraced by many. The reality is that very few authors were ever taken up and the growth of e-publishing and decline of sector economies means that many of the sites became more cyber slush pile and bicker fests than diamond fields. The numbers attending have fallen dramatically. But this does not mean that the sites’ value for the honing and development of writing has gone. It is still there, but in weaker numbers. The fewer diamonds harder to find. I suspect the public peer site in its present form is in inevitable decline. But the market will grow alternative ways to aid the aspiring writer.



So are peer sites worth the toss?

I very much doubt I would be where I am in my writing life without the influence of the peer sites I participated in, particularly YouWriteOn and the Bookshed. As with all things you get out what you put in but you need to manage your expectations on the tightest of reins. For me it was never about league tables and points scored or involving myself in a cyber love-ins or troll-fights, it was just about improving my writing skills and voice and learning the craft. When I look back at my early submissions to sites and compare them to later ones and to now, I can see and feel the remarkable change and improvement in my writing. I no longer actively participate in peer sites but my desire to become a better writer continues. One of the many lessons learned on the sites is that no writing is perfect. Perhaps that lesson is worth the participation costs alone.

by Jasper Dorgan

Jane talks design with Joanna Penn

Triskele member, professional designer, and editor of Words with JAM,  Jane Dixon-Smith talks to Joanna Penn, of The Creative Penn, about design, typography, professional v. amateur formatting, author branding, common mistakes, her own writing and Triskele Books.

Here's the video.

And do listen to Joanna's podcast, with helpful tips on Kobo, good news on indie publishing and a mysterious tease ...


Thank you, Joanna!
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/

Submission letters and synopses

SOME ANSWERS & IDEAS
By Gillian Hamer

There is little more terrifying to a new author, when considering dipping a toe into the world of agents or publishers, than the idea of putting together an acceptable submission package.

We’ve already had excellent advice this week from Kelly Jarosz about the important of manuscript presentation, but another area which can cause hot sweats and sleepless nights is the topic of submission letters and synopses.

I’ve had varying degrees of success with agents over the years, but one thing I have discovered is that when it comes to synopses, less is more. Unless an agent states clearly on their website or submission terms they require a full three page, chapter and verse, detailed synopsis, my advice is to stick to a one page resume of the plot. If possible add a hook or interesting snippet in there, something to stand out from the crowd.

Again, please always follow any rules for agents that prefer strict guidelines, but if not, don’t worry yourself into the ground about your synopsis. I have had two agents now, both of whom told me they never read more than a single page synopsis, and would never make a decision on a novel on the strength of one.

However, one thing I think is vital is a strong submission letter. Again, I would strongly advise this is kept short (no more than one page), polite and succinct, but again, I’d recommend inserting something that takes an agent’s interest. Maybe comment on how you chose to submit to them as your writing has been likened to one of their clients. Or show that you have done your homework and studied the genres they specialise in. Also, don’t be scared to add a little humour or humility – both can work well in the right situations.

Even if you are subbing to more than one agent at a time, which in my opinion is completely acceptable, always personalise each letter. NEVER send a round robin type letter or email. Always take time to study their websites, find out who is the right agent to submit your work. There’s little point in sending anything to an agent who only represents non-fiction classical authors if your book is a comedy take on the next Fifty Shades of Grey! The fastest way to end up in the slush pile (or probably the bin) is to send a batch of letters that have been cut and pasted with no personal detail.

Remember, agents are human. Publishers are too (for the most part). From the dealings I’ve had with both … most are lovely people who are as passionate about writing as you are. Give them a break from the norm. They get as fed up of slush piles as you do. So, if you feel confident enough and you have something witty to say, be articulate, state your case. Most importantly – stand out from the crowd.

And the most important piece of advice I can give you … be yourself.


I’ve included a couple of sample submission letters below. Both of these have been successful in getting request for fulls from their initial pitch, and both went on to get representation with the agent. You may be surprised how short and succinct these letters are, but trust me, agents are busy people, the less waffle, the more likely you are to attract their attention.

Obviously, it goes without saying that you will need to tailor these to suit your remit, but as a simple template, stick to these guidelines and you won’t go far wrong.


EXAMPLE 1

Dear XXX (ALWAYS PERSONALISE)


I am currently looking for representation and would very much like to submit my novel to the XX Literary Agency.

As an obsessive reader myself, I enjoy many of the writers currently on your books, particularly XX and XX

I do feel that my own writing (my novel is XX fiction) would fit well within the XX Agency's current list of
writers.

I am looking for an agency whose ethos is based firmly on working closely with their writers and I was delighted by your website and your dedicated approach to writers and literature.

Briefly, (put BIOG here – no more than 100 words)

My novel XXX is complete at XXX,000 words.


Best regards,
…………..


EXAMPLE 2

Dear XXX (ALWAYS PERSONALISE)

Having studied your website, I am attaching a short synopsis and sample chapters of my crime thriller, XXXXX, which is complete at XXX,000 words. The novel is the first in a series of six books which I have been working on for the past two years. I am actively seeking representation for my work with a view to future publication.

Briefly, (ENTER 100 word BIOG here)

Sample chapters of XXXX came third on XXXXX, and I received a very promising review from a top editor. (ENTER ANY AWARDS OR ACCOLADES YOUR BOOK HAS RECEIVED here and a TWO OR THREE SENTENCE SUMMARY OF THE NOVEL)

I've completed a XXXX course, and have had numerous short stories and articles published in XXXXX. (SHORT WRITING BIOG HISTORY here)

I am now actively seeking an agent to assist me in breaking into the difficult world of fiction, and I'm prepared to work hard to realise my dream.

If you require any further information, or wish to read more chapters, please let me know.

Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,
……………………..

Triskele Bookclub - House of Silence by Linda Gillard

Books that don’t fit the mould always appeal to me and this one is no exception. House of Silence is a tricky book to define. It has mystery, romance, skeletons in the closet, a decrepit family manor house and a fair few emotional truths. I read it in one weekend, completely absorbed by the world the author creates.

The characters are deftly drawn, with layers upon layers of personality, and each with a distinct voice. Considering there are several scenes containing four sisters, this is some achievement. Our protagonist is also more complex than even she realises, and her journey of discovery is as much about understanding herself as it is about uncovering long-buried secrets.

Another area where Linda Gillard shines is in dialogue. The early conversations between Gwen and Alfie fairly crackle with wit and intelligence. My personal favourite was Hattie, whose butterfly monologues flit from subject to subject with flashes of colour and beauty.

The expertly paced plot is full of surprises, not least the romantic twist, and just when you think you know what’s going on, there’s another development. The damaging effects of long-distant choices reverberate down the years, surfacing in the present to upset the fragile balance.

And as with all Triskele Bookclub choices, the entire novel is suffused with a sense of place. Both the Norfolk location, with windmill, sea mists and December chills; and Creake Hall, the seen-better-days Elizabethan manor, with formal gardens and draughty attics, are beautifully realised and atmospheric. The hall becomes a character in itself.

I was initially wrong-footed by the switches in point-of-view, but once I got used to this stylistic choice, I found it an interesting way to experience incidents from two angles. Reading House of Silence reminded me of several other well-loved books, such as Cold Comfort Farm, The Pursuit of Love, Janice Gentle Gets Sexy and The Little Stranger and was a delightful way to spend a weekend.

Review by JJ Marsh



Interview with Linda Gillard

Linda, location is a key feature of all Triskele Books, why is why we chose House of Silence for our bookclub read. Personally, I think your choice of setting works perfectly as backdrop to the story. But could you tell us a little about why you chose Norfolk?

I know the area well and lived there for many years, but beyond that, I think there’s a sort of literary north Norfolk landscape that exists in the mind of the general reader: isolated, bleak, flat, with big skies and artists’ light. I wanted to write about a family who don’t communicate with each other and never have. They spend a cold, emotionally harsh Christmas together, shut away in a gloomy, decaying mansion in a Norfolk backwater. Revelations change the family’s domestic landscape for ever and light is finally let in. The north Norfolk coast seemed just the place for all that to happen.

On a lighter note, the Norfolk setting allowed my hero live in a converted windmill which provided a great contrast to the Jacobean mansion.


You clearly have an ear for dialogue and excel at characterisation. I know you used to be an actor. How influential was that?

It’s been hugely influential. I actually see myself as not so much a novelist, more a failed screenwriter! I read drama at university, went to drama school, then acted professionally for some years, so dialogue, “voice”, how they portray character are all deeply ingrained in me.

I do very little dialogue attribution. I expect readers to be able to tell who’s speaking from the way the characters talk. I’m quite fanatical about tinkering with dialogue until it sounds right, until every character sounds individual. I hate it when I read books and all the characters sound the same regardless of gender, age or class. That’s just lazy writing.

Over the years I discovered a character’s “voice” was a lot to do with rhythm – the length of sentences, punctuation, elisions, the way people truncate sentences when talking, even the way they swear. I noticed in one of my drafts that everyone was cursing in the same way. People don’t. There’s a world of difference between “Blast!”, “Blimey!” and “My giddy aunt!”


On the same topic, do you think a theatre background informed your concept of structure? There is something classical about the way House of Silence builds to the dramatic third act. 

I think my theatre background has definitely influenced how I structure novels. I even write what are known as “curtain lines” at the end of chapters! (Something pithy or surprising that makes a good “exit” from the chapter.)

I think HOUSE OF SILENCE owes something to the 19thC plays of Ibsen and Strindberg, whom I studied at university. It’s not just that all the revelations come out in the final “act”, I also give the main characters a great big “soliloquy” in which they each talk about the past and what really happened (or what they think happened.) This is very much a theatrical device and I wasn’t sure it would work in a novel, but I couldn’t see how else to unravel my complicated plot.

I was also playing around with the Agatha Christie convention of Poirot gathering everyone in the library to hear the (false) revelations/confessions before the reader gets the real solution. I knew that worked in classic detective stories, so I thought I’d use it in HOUSE OF SILENCE which owes something to the English country house mystery.

One of the things which threw me at first was the switching between 1st person point-of-view to an omniscient narrator. It’s an unusual technique. Was it a conscious choice or did it simply develop that way?

I’ve done that in all but one of my books. (In STAR GAZING I have two first person and a third person narrator.) I settled on this narrative style because I get bored writing in just first person, listening to only one voice. But equally, I think third person narration is not nearly so effective for getting readers to feel what the characters feel, see what they see. So I devised a “horses for courses” style where I use whichever narrator will best serve the bit of the story I’m telling. Describing how my heroine feels sexually attracted to someone was probably best done in the first person. But I also needed to show scenes where she wasn’t present, scenes in which members of the family talk to each other about the past. That couldn’t be done in first person so it had to be an omniscient narrator.

This switching back and forth irritates some readers and they’ve complained about it in reviews, but I think this seamless combination of first and third narrators gives me the maximum flexibility and scope. In STAR GAZING I had a congenitally blind first person narrator heroine, so much of the book was told from her blind “point of view”. Even if I could have sustained that for an entire book, readers would have got bored with the lack of visual reference. So I had another first person narrator (the blind woman’s sister) and a third person narrator. I just used whichever I thought best for the bit of the story I was trying to tell. I suppose it must have worked because that novel was short-listed for two awards and won another.


A bond develops between two characters over quilting and material. (In fact, I joined in Gwen and Alfie’s Austen game by dubbing the book Fabrics and Fabrication.) The seamstress/unpicker is powerful theme running through this story. Is sewing a personal interest or was this an area you needed to research?

I didn’t need to do any research because I’m a quilter (or used to be before I started writing full-time.) Three of my novels incorporate patchwork quilts and textiles as part of the plot and two of my heroines are textile artists. (The other two books are EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY and UNTYING THE KNOT.)

I think there’s an affinity between constructing quilts and the way I write novels. I’m sure years of designing and making quilts fed into my writing. I guest-blogged about this for another indie author, Joanne Phillips. http://joannegphillips.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/guest-post-by-linda-gillard/ 

Something I noticed were the many moving truisms about grief, behaviour, family, love and trust. I’m curious as to whether you started out with the express intention of exploring those ideas, or whether they grew out of character interaction.

I don’t think I ever write about anything else! I hope I do it with a light touch – there’s always plenty of humour in my novels ­– but all my books are about love, loss, trust, family and friendship. Something that interests me is how much damage can be done by people trying to do “the right thing”. Everyone in HOUSE OF SILENCE acted for the best, but no one could foresee the long-term consequences.

I explored this in another novel, A LIFETIME BURNING, in which the main protagonists act “for the best” with catastrophic consequences. That novel definitely showed signs of my undergraduate study of Greek tragedy! With that book I set out to write something on a grand scale, a Greek tragedy set in suburbia, written in the style of someone like Barbara Pym. It was an experiment. I didn’t have a publisher when I wrote it and I was feeling brave. I just wanted to see if you could do something almost operatic in a novel.

The structure of that book is very complex because in addition to my first and third person narrators, it’s non-chronological. The story jumps back and forth over sixty years of an extended family’s life. Some readers dismiss the structure as random, but events and information are fed to the reader in a very precise way for maximum dramatic effect. A life doesn’t generally have a good dramatic structure, so I imposed one by manipulating the sequence in which events were narrated.

There was another advantage. I could cover sixty years of this family’s life and follow Elmore Leonard’s very good advice to “leave out the boring bits.”


You’re one of a growing number of traditionally published authors who have forsaken publishing houses to go it alone. What drove that decision?

I was an award-winning, mid-list author of contemporary women’s fiction when I was dropped by my publisher a few years ago. (“Disappointing sales” was the reason given.) After two years my agent still hadn’t found a publisher for my fourth and fifth novels. Editors liked the books, but said they’d be hard to market as they belonged to no clear genre. I had a modest but enthusiastic following nagging me for a new book, so I decided to indie-publish my fourth novel, HOUSE OF SILENCE on Kindle.


And has it been successful? 

Yes, very. I hoped to sell 10 a month, maybe 10 a week if the book really took off, but I sold 10,000 downloads in less than four months. Amazon acknowledged my success by selecting HOUSE OF SILENCE as a Top Ten Editor’s Pick Best of 2011 in the Indie Author category. I’ve since published four more indie novels (two backlist, two new) and I now earn a good living from them – something I wasn’t able to do when I was traditionally published.

I’ve proved I can earn more for myself than a publisher can earn for me, but the main issues for me were creative freedom and artistic control. Two of my traditionally published novels were sunk by unappealing covers and I’d had a title foisted on me which I hated. I was asked by editors to simplify my storylines and make my heroines more likeable.

For years I was told my books didn’t belong to any genre and were therefore hard to market. I wouldn’t accept that. I embraced the genre-mix and used it as a selling point. My tag-line for HOUSE OF SILENCE was “REBECCA meets COLD COMFORT FARM” and readers have told me that made them click. Mixing genres isn’t a problem for readers, just retailers.


HOUSE OF SILENCE is the first of yours I’ve read, but I know it won’t be the last. Does location play a key factor in your other books? If so, where should I start?

I’ve lived in the Scottish Highlands since 2001 and I’ve spent many of those years living on islands – Skye, Harris and Arran. Although I’m English, I’ve carved out a bit of a niche writing novels set in the Highlands and islands. STAR GAZING and THE GLASS GUARDIAN are set on Skye, EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY is set on the remote Hebridean island of North Uist.

Location is very important to me, both as a reader and as a writer – the area, even the actual building in which the story is set. UNTYING THE KNOT is set in Highland Perthshire, in a 16thC tower house that the cracked-up ex-soldier hero has renovated as a family home. The tower house is another character in the story, in the same way that Creake Hall is a character in HOUSE OF SILENCE.

I don’t think of myself as being very good at descriptive writing – I find it very hard – but creating a sense of place is something for which I’ve been praised. I’m also interested in creating interior landscapes, eg the sensory world of the blind heroine of STAR GAZING. A few of my characters descend into delusion or madness, where they inhabit their own world. In UNTYING THE KNOT the hero suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. At the climax of the book he retreats into a private world of flash-backs. Sometimes he believes he’s on a Falklands battlefield, sometimes he thinks he’s patrolling Londonderry during the Troubles.

I was trying to create a landscape within a landscape – one that’s imagined inside one that’s real. My hope was, the sudden dislocation of place would give readers an inkling of what it’s like to suffer from PTSD, a devastating mental health condition that isn’t widely understood and for which there’s little in the way of treatment.

So if you’re interested in Scotland, landscape, family stories, romance and mental health issues, you might enjoy any of my novels.

Thanks very much for inviting me onto the Triskele blog. It’s been a real treat to answer your questions. I love talking about the nuts and bolts of writing!



LINKS

WEBSITE - http://www.lindagillard.co.uk/

FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/LindaGillardAuthor
AMAZON PAGE
UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linda-Gillard/e/B0034PV6ZQ/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
US http://www.amazon.com/Linda-Gillard/e/B0034PV6ZQ/ref=la_B0034PV6ZQ_af?rh=n:283155,p_82:B0034PV6ZQ

BOOKS

HOUSE OF SILENCE
UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/HOUSE-OF-SILENCE-ebook/dp/B004USSPN2/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1
US http://www.amazon.com/HOUSE-OF-SILENCE-ebook/dp/B004USSPN2/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1363947061&sr=1-1

STAR GAZING
UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Gazing-ebook/dp/B00550O0S8/ref=pd_sim_kinc_4
US http://www.amazon.com/Star-Gazing-ebook/dp/B00550O0S8/ref=pd_sim_kstore_31

EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY
UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/EMOTIONAL-GEOLOGY-ebook/dp/B0055T357G/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1
US http://www.amazon.com/EMOTIONAL-GEOLOGY-ebook/dp/B0055T357G/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3

UNTYING THE KNOT
UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/UNTYING-THE-KNOT-ebook/dp/B005JTAMQO/ref=pd_sim_kinc_2
US http://www.amazon.com/UNTYING-THE-KNOT-ebook/dp/B005JTAMQO/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3

A LIFETIME BURNING
UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-LIFETIME-BURNING-ebook/dp/B006VOL2WE/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1
US http://www.amazon.com/A-LIFETIME-BURNING-ebook/dp/B006VOL2WE/ref=pd_sim_kstore_4

THE GLASS GUARDIAN
UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-GLASS-GUARDIAN-ebook/dp/B0088CQPOM/ref=pd_sim_kinc_2
US http://www.amazon.com/THE-GLASS-GUARDIAN-ebook/dp/B0088CQPOM/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1

Manuscripts Dressed to Impress

Imagine going to a job interview. You are by far the most qualified person for the job, but you show up to the interview in sweat pants and a stained hoodie. We all wish the world were a place where that wouldn’t matter, where the boss would overlook your outward sloppiness and give you the job based only on your brilliant ideas and excellent record of success. But we know the world doesn’t work like that.

A previous toolbox post talks about the importance of professional cover design (http://triskelebooks.blogspot.ch/2013/02/the-fundamentals-of-good-cover-design-1.html). However, professional presentation starts with our manuscripts, well before the book hits the shelves. Whether we’re submitting to an agent, an editor, a workshop, or a critique group, the document’s spelling, grammar, punctuation and formatting will make an impression on readers. Therefore, it’s to our advantage to make sure our work is professionally dressed anytime we send it out into the world.

Ensuring a professional-looking manuscript requires spending time on two skill sets: language skills of spelling, grammar and punctuation; and technological skills of formatting and submitting.

Language Skills

While it’s a good idea to hire a professional proofreader if you are publishing independently or submitting to an agent, it’s still worthwhile to invest time in learning to proofread yourself. The following resources can help.

Fellow writers: It takes time to learn to identify your mistakes. Editing other writers’ work helps build an awareness you can apply to your own work. If a fellow writer proofreads well, ask them to line edit a short piece. Their edits will show you what mistakes you often make. Then you can create a list of these mistakes to refer to while proofreading.

Style guides: A style guide is the ultimate resource when you’re not sure where that comma goes, how to abbreviate a certain word, or when to use italics. If your form of writing doesn’t require a certain style, pick a style you like and use it consistently. Style guides include The Associated Press Style Book, The Chicago Manual of Style, and Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style. The Economist provides a free A-Z style guide online here: http://www.economist.com/styleguide/introduction.

The Internet: There’s little excuse for language mistakes when we have the whole Internet at our disposal. Use an online dictionary if you’re not absolutely sure of a word’s spelling or meaning. Also check the idioms in your piece. If you’re not positive whether it’s ‘chock full’ or ‘chocked full’, do a Google search for each. The phrasing with more search results normally is the correct one. For quick and entertaining tutorials on mistakes we all make, check out the series of grammar-themed online comics at TheOatmeal.com (http://theoatmeal.com/tag/grammar).


One note: Correct language doesn’t mean your piece must sound like an encyclopedia entry. Depending on the piece’s tone and voice, you might break some rules. What’s important is to know when you’re breaking rules and to be able to justify how breaking them enhances your story.



Technology Skills

Today’s writers can’t avoid using computers, so it’s crucial to learn how to change font sizes, margins and line spacing; add headers and footers; determine your word count; and upload or send your files via e-mail. The Help function in your word-processing program is a primary resource, followed by an Internet search for your specific question. If you are seriously technologically challenged, basic tutorials or classes could be a worthwhile investment.

Formatting guidelines: Before submitting your work anywhere, check for preferred formatting and submission procedures. For example, many publications prefer that you paste your piece into the body of an e-mail and may automatically delete your submission if you send an attachment. That said, formatting your submission according to the following guidelines will be appropriate most of the time.

- Use an 11-12 point serif font like Times New Roman. Serif fonts are more comfortable to read.

- Double space between lines, even between paragraphs. Scene breaks can be indicated by an extra line of white space or a small centered symbol. Use only one spacebar space between sentences.

- Use 1 inch/2.54 cm margins.

- Include a header or footer on each page with your last name and the page number (Example: Smith pg. 7 of 8). Your name is there in case your printed piece is accidentally scattered all over the floor along with several other submissions, and the page number makes it easier for readers to point out specific passages for critique.

- Save your work as a Microsoft Word document (.doc, not .docx) or .pdf file. These file formats will most likely work on all computers.

- Include your last name in the file name (Example: Smith_BestStoryEver.pdf). Again, having your name in the file name makes it easier to identify your work in a sea of submissions.

Improving language and technology skills can seem like a waste of precious creative writing time, but over the long term you will avoid stress and your readers will avoid frustration. It could even save your submission from instant rejection.



Kelly Jarosz is a published academic writer and award-winning communications consultant. She is co-founder of the Zurich Writers Workshop (www.zurichwritersworkshop.com) and is actively working on a novel.