We’re encouraged as writers to stay away from dialect for various reasons, chief of which is that it may be hard for the reader to understand. Those of us who use dialect may be at a disadvantage when we write, depending on how you look at it. For me, dialect adds another dimension to my writing. It’s part of the silent character in my books - Jamaica. It makes my work stand out, and those who know Jamaicans comment that they can hear that musical Jamaican lilt to the words. However, I have to be careful in the way I apply dialect in my work.

If there was one thing I could say to readers, it would be that Patois (pronounced patwa) has its time and place. It’s important to remember that. I posted a chapter at my writing site and one reader took me to task over my character’s use of Patois. He complained that the woman used the Queen’s English and Patois in one conversation and that he expected her to express her thoughts in Patois, or as he put it ‘whatever that dialect is.’

Now, this is one of the problems I have with what we call chapter-jumpers on the site. The ones who are conscious of what they’re doing usually preface their critique with a statement that they might have missed key aspects of the novel, such as character development, by reading a chapter in the middle. Having read this gentleman’s comments, I had another scroll through the chapter in question. I did it because the writer in me must put aside my feelings and take each criticism as an opportunity to improve what I do.

Yes, the woman used English and Patois throughout the scene, however, she started out nice and calm talking with her husband. As she got irritated, she lapsed into local dialect. Her thoughts were in standard English and I’ll defend that by saying this is the way in which I choose to write narrative. I don’t need to have readers struggle to understand what I want to express by wording it in Jamaican parlance. Besides, it would be out of character for the woman in question.

I put myself in her position (which is what I’m supposed to do as a writer) and came up with the following factoids, which the average reader may overlook.

• The official language in Jamaica is English. It is also the language of business the world over, for those of us who hadn’t heard.

• Many Jamaicans have a fluent grasp of English and Patois. Many more speak only Patios and have difficulty forming a sentence of English, which makes me wonder if we are deluding ourselves into thinking that English is our official language. However, those who speak mostly Patois do understand English.

• The average Jamaican can form a sentence that has both English and Patois. For example:

Patois: Can you put the box here and tek up dat one from deh so?
English: Can you put the box here and take that one up from there?
(If you vocalize, it easier to understand what’s being said.)

If I’m at work, naturally I use the Queen’s English. If I’m talking to my co-workers I may use some Patois. Time and again, the people I supervised forced me to put aside English and level with them in the language they understand best. Might I say here, it’s an excellent language for cussing. We have a colourful range of swear words, which I won’t discuss here.

I’ve read that we think in images, but I’m a little fuzzy as to how I frame my thoughts. Being fluent in both languages makes it hard to say how I think.

When I’m with friends, I speak a mixture. I can’t think of any person I interact with daily who only speaks Patois. In school, there is no room for Patois, so we are taught English. However, Patois is the first language many of us are exposed to, which proves to be a handicap when we enter the formal learning system. Some never quite make the transition and leave the education system without a proper grasp of English. However, most people can form simple sentences that help us to do business.

Patois is an inbred part of the Jamaican culture. Few of us, maybe only those from the upper strata of society can claim that we heard English from the time we came out of the womb until we entered the classroom. Even if parents insist on speaking English to their children, it is likely that the domestic speaks mostly Patois.

How to bring all of these nuances over in fiction effectively?

It takes a subtle building from the first page. In my work-in-progress I have three friends who meet over lunch in the second chapter. They each speak differently. One uses a lot of Patois (worded so it can be read, of course), the other slips in and out, and the third only speaks it rarely. I try to maintain this pattern throughout the book. The one who uses both tends to slide into the local language when she’s with her friends or if she’s upset, which I think is natural.

I hope that my readers are picking up these things, which I have left unsaid. I’d hate to have to say in black and white that Character A loses her English when she gets hot under the collar versus using it when she’s in a calmer frame of mind. I suppose I could, but what fun would that be? Shouldn’t the reader be left to discover some things on her own? Still, I’m learning that the gimme-everything-right-now world we live in sometimes forces publishers to lay everything out for the reader. Wayne Brown, whose workshop I used to attend, told me that I was to always assume the reader is more intelligent than me. Some readers may expect me to spoon-feed them, but I’m trying to strike a good balance and leave the obvious unsaid.

So have you read anything with dialect lately? How difficult was it? Any ideas on what you’d do differently from what I’m doing?

In an interview with Jessica Chambers, she asked me if I had to give an aspiring writer one piece of advice, what it would be. Here’s what I said:-

Don’t rush into the publication process. Take time to learn the craft and everything else will follow. I don’t think it’s possible to write for a year and produce publishable material, unless, of course, one is a genius.

Like every other skill, it takes trial, error, perseverance and lots of practise to have something marketable, over time. I made the mistake of thinking Contraband was ready before it was and earned a couple of rejections for my troubles.

This is something I wish I understood when I started writing seriously in 2004. I wrote Christine’s Odyssey (young adult novel) before I quite understood that I should have learnt the craft beforehand. I’m paying for that mistake in spades. Like Contraband, it’s gone through more than several rounds of editing and I’m still not satisfied with the book.

However, it won a bronze medal in competition in 2008 and I look at it today and see where there is room for much improvement. I recently found out that a Caribbean publisher based in Jamaica is looking for young adult manuscripts, so I decided to do yet another round of editing.

In my opinion, writing is one of those pastimes we never ever master. I look at the things I wrote years ago and know I’m a much better writer today. I also know I can still improve. I cringe each time I come across something like ‘Christine saw’, ‘Christine heard’, or ‘Christine watched’, which are phrases I no longer use because they create a kind of filter between reader and character. Nowadays, I try to put the reader directly into my character’s head.

As I bring Christine’s Odyssey up to snuff, I see where I had a good plot, some intriguing characters, but I also had some stilted phrases and places where I could have gone deeper into my main character’s thoughts. I’ve also fleshed out her main helper much more and I’ve done the same with the mother who abandoned her.

People who have read the story loved it. They laughed and cried with Christine as she went from feeling rejected to forging a relationship with her mother. However, I have grown through seven other complete works in that time and today, I can confidently say that I’ve done my internship.

It never ceases to amaze me when someone who’s been writing for a year actually sends out a query, but I can afford to say that now. That’s almost exactly what I did, thinking that my novel was the best it could be. I wish I had a mentor to tell me that I needed to know a lot more about the craft end of things before I sent my baby off to meet rejection.

Hundreds of articles later, I knew what to do to hone the raw material I had into a good book. Alas, many new writers fall into the same trap. In our hurry to be published, we send off material that’s just not ready, and heaven forbid if someone should give us an honest opinion which says anything other than what we think.

I may be wrong, but I now believe that it takes at least five years - shave off a year or two if you’re writing and/or editing every day - for a first time writer to produce a publishable novel.

Am I off base? Making little sense? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

In November 2008, I chose a peculiar subject for my NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) project. The story had to do with three female friends, who faced significant problems. Two of them were in extra-marital relationships and the other could not get rid of a dead-beat boyfriend.

I played with the story idea for a while before committing to write it, for a couple of reasons. Did I know where I was going with the story? Could I get people to read it objectively and could I eventually sell it? Was I being true to myself to write it in the first place? The question of selling it wasn’t all that important because it would take me a while to get it to a publishable stage.

At the end of the month, I had a little over fifty thousand words and having met my NaNoWriMo goal, I put the project aside. When November 2009 loomed on the horizon, I got busy finishing up that story because there was no way I could face NaNo 2009 with the last year’s project still outstanding. Last NaNo, I wrote book two of that series. Still haven’t finished it, but I suppose I will by the time November comes around.

Right now, I’m editing the 2008 project with a view to submitting it to an agent and/or publisher. It’s a story I feel with resonate with women, if I can do a convincing job of telling this tale. With the story already written, I now have to insert additional background information and setting. But most importantly, I have to paint these women as sympathetic characters with convincing motivation for the choices they make.

Writers are able to separate their beliefs from the body of the story and make useful suggestions, and I expect no less. Readers have said they don’t like this character or that one, and the reason they don’t, which provides me with the information I need to make changes.

I’ve gone in and heightened conflict and I’ve given better reasons why my characters behave the way they do.

If I can make the women likeable, despite their bad behavior, then I will have done my job as a writer. Now, I won’t fool myself into believing that every reader will be able to read dispassionately. That’s not how we humans are built.

I take my cue from an agent who rejected Dissolution last year. To be fair to him, he had indicated that adultery was not a subject he was particularly fond of reading about, however, I went ahead and sent him a query. He asked to see the first three chapters and eventually rejected the project on the basis that my handling of the characters did not make him sympathetic enough to read on.

However, I submitted the same project elsewhere and earned a publishing contract, which serves as a good reminder that reading is subjective. Two people will read the same piece of prose - one loves it, the other hates it.

I am getting a crash course on the craft of writing as I reinvent this book. I’m re-learning about conflict and motivation and I’m reminded that each chapter needs to move the story forward, which is sometimes difficult when dealing with three characters and keeping up with their individual and collective situations at the same time.

Like many other writers, stories choose me. I never sit down and wonder about what the write next. I get a snippet of an idea - maybe from a news item or something that happened to someone I know, or perhaps something that happened to me.

At first hit, I never write the ideas down, but if they come floating back with additional details, then I start paying attention. Those stories that are meant to be told provide their own meat for the bare bones that first reveal themselves.

Once I have enough detail to flesh out a few chapters, I either do an outline or start writing.

As to this particular project, I’ll finish it because I believe it will make a good book. Though the subject is controversial, I won’t back away because I might have trouble selling it. Somewhere out there is an agent or publisher who will know if it’s the right fit for them and how to market it to readers.

I’m sure prolific writers struggle with what’s next, especially when ideas come hard and fast. How do you choose what to write? Do your beliefs hold you back from stepping out and handing a subject you regard as taboo? Would you back off from writing a book if you thought the subject would change the way people think about you?

Like I’ve said before, lists work for me. I finally edited my Things-To-Do down to one liners, which I’m working my way through. I pasted them on the ‘notice board’ my son made for me.

Picture four sheets of plain paper stapled together and taped to the wall over my desk. On it, he stuck 3-4 bright orange Post-It notes reminding me to buy this or that item for him. D’you see why he was so generous with his time?

I’ve been thinking about the different ways in which I can get my name out in the public domain while I wait for Contraband to become widely available in Jamaica. There’s no sense starting a publicity stir if the book is in limited supply, so I think I’ve hit upon a strategy that might work.

From time to time I write stories or ‘how to’ articles for the Sunday Observer. These are printed in the literary pages. Now I figure I can do a series of articles on the craft of writing. I’m sure there are people out there who feel they have stories in them, but are not motivated enough to do anything about it.

Sharing the knowledge I have is the least I can do to give back while I’m gaining the publicity I need to establish myself as a writer. An editor told me not-so-recently that the wheels in the publishing business turn slowly. I’m finding this out firsthand, but like I’ve also said before, another thing I’m learning is patience.

So now, I’ve written the first in the series. In this one, I talk about my editing rituals. Had I given thought to the series earlier, I’d have begun with an article on how to get started with writing. In the long term, I figure I’ll do something with the entire series.

Meantime, I continue to edit one book for submission to my publisher and another to try and get an agent.
More than ever, the publication process is teaching me life lessons. The only way to convert my dreams to reality is by well-thought-out action. After that, I need staying power to push ahead despite the roadblocks.

Is there anything you’d like to achieve about which you’ve done nothing? I’d encourage you to do some investigating and then take that first step. Do it today!  You won’t regret it.

My friends Corra and Sybil reminded me that we’ve now gone half the year, which is a good point to review what I’ve achieved so far. I posted a list of goals on January 5 and I haven’t looked at it much, but I did keep some of the stuff in the back of my mind. Let’s see what I got done.

* Writing time. I noted that I needed more, which I still haven’t got. I planned to complete my last project at the end of February, but got it done by April. I’ve printed it out and I’m in the process of editing it. I’m keeping track of the edits here. This project should be complete in another month or so.

* Article a month for the local newspaper’s literary pages. - Nothing happened here except for a story or two. I plan to get at least a couple done within the next two months.

* Complete sequel to Sweet Music Man/Distractions - I set a deadline of year end for this. I should be able to get it done.

* I wanted to submit a young adult novel in the 2010 Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s Creating Writing Competition. That’s not on since I only managed to get three chapters written since last November.

* Contraband was edited and is now published, so that’s been put to bed. Oh and Sybil made me a cool book trailer. You can see it here.

* Agent search . - The trouble is still lack of time. Within the next 10-15 days I need to start editing Sweet Music Man with a view to finding an agent. I aim to finish editing this novel by the end of July. The agent search will begin in August.

*I’ve taken on additional projects - Annika’s Revenge, Grudge, Lost & Found, and one other that doesn’t yet have a name. I know I can’t possibly write all of these at once, so I’m keeping a blog where I put down ideas as they come. By the time I’m ready to write, I’ll know my characters and the path their stories will take.  Not sure what deadline to put on these projects, but let’s just say maybe in another year or so, I’ll have maybe two of them written.

* My website needs a makeover so bad! I did a great job and then couldn’t load it up. Now I’m using Web Expression, but I don’t like the program, so I play with it for a while and then quit to surf the net. Don’t know when I’ll get this done. I’ve been playing with the thought of using a blog for my official website. I can’t even begin to think of a deadline to get this sorted out. If I had money to pay for this sort of stuff, things would be sweet!

* I was speaking to someone who suggested that I apply for a grant, based on some of the things I want to do for my writing and my books. I must get this done within another fifteen days. I’ve been dawdling too long over it.

Here’s hoping that come December 30, I’ll be able to take most of this stuff off my list. Thanks Corra and Sybil!  There’s nothing like accountability to keep me on track.

In the normal course of our lives, we talk about ‘blessings in disguise’, but until recently I haven’t really thought about what it has meant for me as a writer.

In 2007, I thought I had a salable manuscript, so onward I went with querying. I sent the novel to a publisher who asked to see it. To date, I have not had a response, despite at least two emails questioning what was happening with the manuscript. I took their silence as a hint and moved on.

Looking back, I admit the manuscript was not ready. It was over one hundred thousand words - way too much for a romantic suspense novel. Since then, I’ve pared it down and found another publisher. Considering the plot twists, I can live with the new word count, until, of course, the editor starts snipping.

As part of my research, I try to read novels printed by the publishers I query. I also like to read what other Jamaican writers produce, since my work is a lot different. I went ahead and bought a novel that was published by the company I had queried. Of course, I wanted to know if my work was so bad that it did not even merit an ‘I’m sorry, but this is not what we’re looking for at this time.”

I found the book interesting and read it within two days, however, I had a problem with the editing. Too many errors had passed into print. At that time, I consoled myself with the thought that I had had a lucky escape.

A few weeks ago, I saw a second novel from the same author and decided to buy it. I’m reading the book now and know for a fact that the publisher’s silence was indeed a blessing in disguise.

I don’t know how many other writers read the way I do. Firstly, I read for enjoyment. After that, I concentrate on craft - how the novel is plotted, the language the writer uses, the depth of the characters, and whether I’m satisfied at the end.

Few novels make it to print without an error or two in there somewhere, but I was very disturbed by the careless way in which the book was edited. I might have excused it if the book was self-published or they were doing a second print run and couldn’t bother with the expense of a new round of editing, but this was a new work. I’m not sure I understand what might have gone wrong.

I count a fair number of writers as my friends. I’ve never met them face-to-face, but via the writing networks where I’m a member. We are critique partners and read each others work for just about everything. My forte is that I have a good grasp of English. I don’t know many grammatical terms, but I can look at a sentence and know when it needs fixing and how to fix it.

When my manuscript came back to me for editing, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the major part of what I had to do was add commas in some places. I also had to provide deeper explanations for why this or that thing happened, and add a new scene, but I did not have to do any rewrites. Yippee!

I say that to say this. If I, as an ordinary person can present a piece of relatively error free writing, what excuse does a publisher have for sending a book into the world, that nit-pickers like me can savage with a highlighter? I imagine if the writer has read the book and picked up these errors, she would have been cringing through the entire novel.

I’m perfectly aware that there are writers who can’t spell and who don’t know the difference between lie/lay and their/there, among other things. Some of these people are my friends- published writers who hire others to do the job they can’t do, or they hand over their manuscript, knowing an editor will work out all the kinks. In the same way, when I turn my manuscript over to a publisher, I do so with the expectation that they will catch the things I missed.

Two weeks after I got my book, I took time to read it. I noticed a sentence added here and there that enhanced the text. I noted at one point where a sex scene had been removed, that the splicing was not very smooth. I saw mini slip-ups with the typesetting and oh, yes, a few errors we missed on both sides. However, for the most part, I am happy with how the book turned out. Apart from that lingering fear that I’ve written 260 pages of drivel, I can hold the book up proudly and say ‘I wrote this!’

I’m not so sure this fellow writer can unreservedly say the same. Every instance of ‘past’ in the book was left as ‘pass/passed’ - so people were going ‘pass’, looking ‘pass’ and walking ‘pass’. To be truthful, I began to wonder if I had got it wrong.

One character couldn’t ‘bare’ the thought of…There was a ‘sad tragedy’. In a couple of instances, people ‘edged’ when they were meant to ‘hedge’. Commas were scarce in the entire thing, including places where they are a must, eg. before and after names. I’m wondering if some of the rules changed and I’ve been tardy with catching up.

And then there were embellishments that needed to come out, like ‘Hostile rage’ and ‘smirked sarcastically’. I’m at the point where I’m reading with a highlighter in hand. In case you’re wondering why, it’s not that I’m spiteful. I also do some editing and this sort of exercise hones my skills.

To get back on point, don’t think for a moment that I blame the writer; a disservice has been done to her. The final product is the responsibility of the publisher. I’m wondering what I’d do if I found out that my editor was less skilled than me in the editing department. Food for thought, eh?

I have a blog where I’ve started posting my thoughts on books I’ve read. I’ll skip this novel because I might get into trouble. Still, I can’t help but say ‘Thank God!’ this publisher passed me over.

If this rejection wasn’t a blessing in disguise, then I don’t know what is.

God willing, in a few months I’ll be going through the process of getting another book on the market in Jamaica. Everything I’m learning now will be of value then. Forgive me if I’ve said this before, but one of the most important lessons I’m learning is patience. I’ve had to wait for everything and I’m still waiting.

I’m in dialogue with the biggest book and magazine distributor on the island, but have to wait until the purchasing manager comes back to work some time next week. However, he already has a copy of Contraband and contact information to make their order.

I now have to be patient and wait for this to happen. Until then, I’ll try to get at least one review organized for the newspaper. At this rate, I’m thinking the launch will probably be in late July or early August. We’ll see.

Got another bit of good news today. A small book and stationery outlet asked me to bring them copies. That whole arrangement took about two weeks to complete. Not bad in the scheme of things.

Naturally, I’ll have an advantage when Dissolution comes out. I intend to capitalize on that.

I’ve done some business cards, which I should have done long ago. It makes the job of people contacting me a lot easier if I’m able to leave a card along with copies of the book.

My website needs some attention. I did a marvellous job updating it, but now it won’t load, so I have to approach it from another angle. I’m thinking about using a blog template, but I need to chew it over some more. I suspect it’ll be a while longer before I have everything figured out.

Still, I console myself with the thought that nothing that’s worth having ever comes easy - not in the writing world and not in life.

So now that I have actual copies of Contraband in hand, I’m back on the inland promotional trail big time. I’ve spoken with the largest book distributor on the island and once they ‘approve’ the novel, I’m good to go.

I spoke with the manager of another bookstore I had contacted previously and I have the go-ahead to bring them copies of the book. I’m sweetening the deal by inserting a book marker in each. Hopefully, they’ll reach the people buying the book. I’ll be sure to leave some in the store as well.

I told myself I wouldn’t do the launch until October when the second book comes out. My girlfriend steamrolled me and kicked that idea to the curb.

“Are you crazy?” she asked. “We’ve waited so long for this and now you don’t want to have a book launch! We’re gonna do it no later than the summer. October? Are you kidding? We have to hit the ground running with this!”

And so on, and so forth.

Sooooo, I guess we’re still having a book launch.

She gave me a brilliant idea while she ranted. I’m going to bind the 3-4 copies I’m using for reviews, so they don’t start looking tacky. I should have that done by tomorrow.

It feels good to be doing something other than editing, writing, and spinning my wheels.

A year ago, I dusted off the first chapter of a novel I wanted to enter in a competition. I didn’t end up submitting it, but I did accept some advice from a rude man who reviewed the chapter. I have to admit what I posted as the first chapter was indeed long at 4,300 words. Not everybody can digest that much of an unpublished novel at one sitting. Me? If I’m reading on the run, 2,500 - 3,000 words are manageable. I’ll do 5,000 if I have some time to spare. I’m going through the first chapter again, exactly a year later and came across the review I mentioned earlier.

The reader told me he was with me up ‘til the time my character hit her office. He didn’t think finding out what she did as an insurance broker was important. Nor did he think it was worth his time to read a paragraph where I mentioned her best friend and her husband, along with her (my character’s) sister.

He went on to tell me he - as the writer - would have skipped an interaction with her assistant and the bad-tempered customer. He suggested I have her go back to the office and…

…spend some time doing flashback thoughts in her cubicle. Then she answers the phone and it’s Christophe, which gets her all upset as you have it.

Interestingly, he also said.

You can work all this information in (assuming it is, indeed, necessary to the story), but you need to do it within the context of some progression of whatever the real story is - which I assumed from the way it started had to do with Anya’s angst about Christophe.

I read his commentary and then read it again after I lost the urge to find him and stab him in the eyes. I made some changes to the chapter, but I like to think about what I write in the context of life as I know it. I could have had my character sitting in her office thinking about the man she lost, however, humans do not exist in a vacuum. In the course of a day at work, I daresay I interact with more than twenty individuals in a number of situations.

In the chapter, I didn’t go in-depth with her job function. She had an antsy client making some unreasonable demands. I dealt with those through instructions to the assistant to prepare a letter and quotation for the client. I know. Who wants to be bogged down by the intricacies of working for an insurance brokerage? While that reader thought that scene unnecessary, he was the sole person who had a problem with it. I decided to keep it, simply because it has much to do with the plot of the story.

We do a diverse amount of things in a day and have hundreds, if not thousands of thoughts. Fiction has to be intriguing to hold the reader and yet there have to exist points of familiarity to which the reader can relate.

Now, I realize that I can’t cram much more than a few sentences of back story into the first chapter, but I think that as the writer it’s my job to know what is necessary to include from the get-go.

I’ve used his suggestions to take a hard look at this chapter. I cut a bit of it and made it into the second chapter, but what was reinforced for me is something that I had to learn very early in my writing journey. It’s smart to listen to those who critique my work, however, I have to trust my instincts, and yet be ruthless as the same time. I’m the only one who knows the story I’m writing and have to exercise judgment on what needs to be in there and what I can do without. I’ll change something if there’s a compelling reason to do so. Otherwise I edit when the editor tells me I’ve got to make adjustments.

I have a few reasons to be relieved today.

Thanks to Alan Miles, my blog is up and running once more. My book, Contraband, was released last Friday.

That project is a five-year adventure, helped along by a band of people I’ve never met, yet I call them friends.

I still marvel at this thing we call the internet. It’s helped me reach individuals I wouldn’t have otherwise. I’ve learned most of what I know about writing through studying material I found on the net. And now, I’ll continue marketing my work, using this wonderful communication tool.

I’m feeling especially grateful. I had a sort of epiphany. The meaning below I took from dictionary.com

e•piph•a•ny

-noun, plural-nies.

a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

I’ve known for some time now that I need more time in which to write. I have completed novels that must be edited and sent on their way into the world. There are other projects I should start writing. And there are those for which I need time to do mind-maps so I can get them out of my brain and posted somewhere.

I’ve spent half my life working for other people. Now, I need to find a way to make a decent living working for myself so as to be able to concentrate on what I enjoy doing.

Initially, I put out feelers to get started with editing for other people. I’ve done nothing more about that. I must move on this and other things.

To borrow a phrase, I need to start living my life on purpose.