Month: June 2023

The Future of the Written Word – Will Anybody Remember What Words Mean?

by Gayle Bartos-Pool

Writing Books

This is a Follow-Up to Jill Amadio’s post about words used by younger folk that might need a new dictionary to understand them because they aren’t in my old Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate 1965 edition. We hear slang on TV shows geared to a younger audience and from young folk in our daily life, some of which needs to be defined by the user because the listener has no clue what they mean. But what will books in the not so distant future be like? Here’s a sobering take on this subject.

I was in a writers’ group years before we formed the Writers-in-Residence blog that consisted of aspiring novelists of all ages. The majority of us were older, but the young folks wanted to be writers and this was a good way to have their work critiqued and maybe improved. Each month one person in the group would submit 30-60 pages and the others would read them and make notes and suggestions about that sample. The pages were usually part of a novel-in-progress. None of the younger people had published work, though most of us older folk did have one or two books in print or wrote for a newspaper. We still wanted our work read and have the group toss around ideas to make the WIP (Work in Progress) better.

That was basically wishful thinking on most of our parts. First, the younger folks didn’t understand sarcasm and how it was used in writing. In other words, they couldn’t understand a good joke about life in general. They also didn’t understand references to anything more than a few years older than they were. A sense of humor was foreign to them, as were the names of famous movies or actors or World History or… Anyway, much of the color and character in our work went over their “collective” heads.

As for their work, I remember reading the first few pages of one person’s novel. The lousy spelling and total lack of punctuation made the pages unreadable. I felt like a Fifth Grade teacher grading a kid’s paper who would definitely be getting an “F.” I had to tell the person why I didn’t finish reading his work. He wasn’t happy and didn’t stay in the group much longer. But every one of those younger people wrote the same way: badly.

I have heard that schools aren’t teaching little things like grammar or spelling or punctuation or math or science that you might find in a school book back in the last half of the last century. I’m not talking about the 1800s. I’m talking about 1950-1999. But remember: Gravity still exists. 2 plus 2 still equals 4… so far. A dictionary from that earlier era should still be relevant. We can add words, but not change their spelling or eliminate their original meaning. Or can we…?

If a word can mean anything you want it to mean or its spelling can be whatever you key into your handheld device with your thumbs or if World War Two was won by space aliens and not the Allied Forces, “Houston, we have a problem.”

4 Great Books

But if this Brave New World is what the future holds, the only hope we have is that the people who use these new words can’t spell them, much less understand how to use a pen and write them, so there won’t be any new books out there to read containing these odd words with nebulous meanings. But folks in the future will still have Shakespeare and Agatha Christie and a few books by some of us who still write in a readable language… but that of course does depend on a hope that kids are taught to read in school and right now that doesn’t look too promising. And of course some people are removing great books from schools and libraries or are rewriting them to suit a new generation’s feelings, so that is problematic. Ray Bradbury wrote about a dark future like this in Fahrenheit 451. Orwell saw this coming in his book, 1984. I actually made references to the books 1984 and Brave New World in this post, if you caught the sarcasm. (Look up the meaning of the word if it’s unfamiliar. Use a Webster’s…) So folks, keep copies of these great books in your home library and other books that you have in your collection so future generations can see what people wrote about a century earlier, though you might have to read the book to these younger folk if they weren’t taught in school…

Do I think this is a problem? What part of “Yes” don’t you understand? (Oh, by the way, that’s sarcasm…)

RayGayleClose

This is Ray Bradbury and me.

Words!

by Linda O. Johnston

Some of my fellow Writers in Residence inspired me to write this post by mentioning, in past weeks, their enjoyment of, and working with, words–most especially Miko Johnston, who wrote “Wordplay,” and Jill Amadio, who wrote “You Say Potatoe…” I always enjoy our posts here, but those two really jostled a lot in my mind.

Why? I love words! I always have, from the time I was a very young kid, and still do. Reading, spelling, grammar in grade school? Wonderful!

Miko described her fascination with words and their origins and imagery and sounds and more. Jill focused somewhat on the differences between the U.S. and U.K. versions of the same words and their spelling and uses in grammar.

And me, here? Well, let’s just say I do all I can with words in different schemes and environments. Yes, I write. I’ve always written, since I was a child, but I do a lot more now. My undergraduate college degree was in journalism, and I worked in advertising and public relations before becoming an attorney–and a published novelist. They all involved words!

Besides writing these days, I also do a lot with word puzzles, especially crosswords, cryptograms and acrostics. It keeps me fresh with the words I use as well as learning how others can play games with them, literally. Yes, I sometimes check the answers if I don’t otherwise figure them out, since it’s a good method to learn not only words but different and sometimes strange usages–although I’d much rather figure them out myself.

I find it interesting that I sometimes also have to figure out what recent slang and other words mean, even though many used to come to me just by hearing them and their usage. For example, I had to look up what the current usage of “woke” means. Yes, I had to become woke in its usage!

My own vocabulary was helped over the years by the fact I used to be fairly literate in the French language after studying it for over ten years as a kid. I rarely use it now, though I can often read French, but I don’t always understand when people speak it in my presence unless…they…speak…slowly. Yes, lack of usage has slowed me down, although I can always come up with a sentence in French, probably an elementary one. And if I see French words on a page, I can often translate them.

Plus, over the years I’ve learned some Spanish words, too. And after spending a significant amount of time in Germany years ago, I can sometimes recognize German words as well.

So… Yes, words and I are good friends. Buddies, chums, mates and more. Amies et amigos und Freunden. Guess I’ll keep talking and reading and listening and solving puzzles…and hope to learn even more words.

COLLECTING MEMORIES…..

 

 by Rosemary Lord

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            Well, it was good to get away and take a break from all the Hollywood goings-on.

I’ve just returned from visiting my family in England – some sunshine, some rain!

            It was a special trip that my siblings and I made to a little village deep in the Wiltshire countryside to picturesque 16th-century village church, where we gave our eldest brother and his wife a final ‘send-off’, surrounded by those who loved them – us siblings, their four grown-up children and grandchildren.  It was another occasion for remembrances of childhood escapades – lots of tears and giggles. Followed by lots of tea and cake in the church hall.

Rosie's brother and sinl

        

    After a long, happy marriage, my brother Peter and his wife Margaret – still as much in love as ever – had both caught pneumonia during the bitter winter, and had died within 48 hours of each other. Never to be separated. We remembered the tales Peter had told about various relatives, and especially our Mum and Dad.           

            That started our quest to find out more about our family. As the eldest, our brother Peter had more memories and information about Mum and Dad, grandparents and assorted relatives and life during World War Two. He’d written down things he’d heard about Dad’s time during active service in the Royal Navy in WWII – and Mum’s own life.  I realized that each of us had different tales, different family stories.

            Mum would talk to me about her love of Hollywood, planting the seeds of inspiration for the life I have led. How she would send away for Hollywood Movie magazines, follow the American movie stars, from Clara Bow to Joan Bennett. She’d copy their hairstyles and fashions, send away for little pots of ‘eye-black’ or face-creams – guaranteed to give you a’ Hollywood Movie Star complexion’ advertised in the magazines.

            I squirreled away these nuggets of information to later be used in my writing. I used a lot of Mum’s details in my Lottie Topaz novels and colored with information I gleaned from Mum and her love of Hollywood. I know she was thrilled when I chose to live here, even though she missed me. She lived vicariously through me.

            My brother Peter knew more about Dad’s time during WWII. About the time he was Paymaster on the famous Ark Royal Aircraft Carrier when it was sunk in the Mediterranean, by a German torpedo in 1941. After orders to abandon ship, men scurried to find the life-boats as the ship was sinking. But our quiet, shy Dad pushed past the escaping men, clambering down into the bowels of the ship to retrieve the ship’s code-books and the money from the safe – so he could pay the men. Peter shared tales he’d learned of Dad’s life in the Navy or living in an orphanage after Grandpa Lord died.  Dad was in the same kindergarten class as Archibald Leach – later known as Cary Grant. More about that another time….

            Children often overhear their elders’ conversations. Thankfully, our family’s young brains retained fragments of tales and characters. Especially me! So we’re now sharing these snippets in order to make one whole cloth of a family story.

            Brother Peter met his wife Margaret at a Writers’ workshop.  He had stories published in magazines and had written a spec script for “The Avengers” television series. But that writing life got lost along the way after he and Margaret married and the children came along. Life takes us in different directions. So he was delighted when I began to make a living (of sorts) from my writing and published books.

            Like our parents, we were voracious readers, discussions about books were frequent. We remaining four siblings have different information about various relatives. Our brother-in-law Peter, skilled at deep research, bringing us dates and facts and lineage, pulling it all together, recently found a photo of our paternal grandpa, Detective Ernest Lord of the Bristol Constabulary.

Photo_2023-06 Grandpa Lord (3)

            Now, bringing us all together during this tragic episode in our lives, we’ve been pooling these tales to write our family history. I’d asked my brother Peter to make notes for me, whenever he remembered something. Notes I treasure. Our writer’s minds works continuously, mentally jotting down words, sentences overheard, characters imprinted on our literary brains. I’ve squirreled these away to turn into another engrossing novel.

            As I return to my hurried, sometimes seemingly senseless, Hollywood life, I reflect on the time spent with my family. Reflecting on my lovely big brother, Peter, and his devoted, super-smart wife Margaret, who had taken the time to give me feedback and notes on my first draft of my Lottie Topaz novel.

            Memories of our childhood, our relatives, families and friends are often invaluable fodder for our stories. Gayle Bartos Pool uses her family history in her profusion of books. Miko wrote of her family’s dramatic history in her Petal In The Wind series. We have so many tales inside us that should be told. Stories to be shared.

Now is the time, I tell myself, I will finally turn them into stories that I can breathe life into for readers to discover. And this is what we do as writers, isn’t it? Tell stories.

Know what I mean?                                 

The Resurgence of Audiobooks

by Hannah Dennison

The saying ‘ask a busy person’ never held truer for me than these past few weeks. I was on a deadline – the kind where you cannot be late because the publisher works to a tight schedule – I visit my mum almost daily in a nursing home, I have a demanding job to pay the bills, and I have energetic dogs to walk – but despite all that, I happily agreed to feed my daughter’s cats adding another 1 ½ hours of commitments to my day. It’s only a 25-mile round trip but those are country miles along narrow twisty roads and if you get stuck behind a tractor …

Miraculously, it all turned out to be a wonderful gift. The weather has been fabulous (ask Jackie – she knows!) so each morning I would take my coffee and breakfast and sit in Sarah’s beautiful garden with Taz and Tilly and listen to the birds and remember to breathe – to literally ‘stop and smell the roses.’

I also rediscovered audiobooks.

When I’m in serious writing mode – I can’t read any fiction. I just don’t have the bandwidth. Not only that, when I do pick up a book, I find it hard to switch off my writer or editing hat, unintentionally critiquing instead of just going on the journey. There are exceptions of course.  I just finished Lucy Worsley’s excellent biography Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman and I can’t say enough good things about it. But I digress.

I’d checked out a CD of ‘Outlander’ by Diana Gabaldon  from my local library initially for my mother who – at 93 – is a great audio fan. I’d always loved Diana’s time travel series. I’d heard her talk many times, especially at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, AZ where she is their local author.

On a whim, I thought I’d listen to Outlander en route to kitty duty. Usually, I listen to podcasts but I’d forgotten all about audiobooks despite having devoured them on my daily freeway commute when I worked in Los Angeles another lifetime ago.  I’d even got stopped by Highway Patrol once for speeding. When I explained that I’d been listening to ‘Shutter Island’ by Dennis Lehane and just hadn’t been paying attention, they still gave me a ticket – clearly not amused.

An article in Wordsrated (January 2023) stated that globally, audiobook revenue for 2022 is projected to be worth over $5.38 billion. Over the last five years, audiobook revenue in the USA has increased by 113.3% making it the fastest-growing book format in the USA. Nielsen reported that in 2022, 27 million audiobooks were sold in the UK alone, an increase of more than 50 percent since 2018 – and the median just keeps on growing. Revenue from audiobooks is expected to grow 26.4% every year from 2022 to 2030 and reach $35.05 billion in 2030. It’s mindboggling stuff so if you haven’t explored this option for your work, now is the time!

Happily, my books are available on audio but full disclosure, I don’t think I can bear to listen to them. I’d hear all the discrepancies or things that in hindsight, I may have written differently. It would be too cringeworthy.

The narrator is critical.  Davina Porter has narrated the entire series of Outlander. Deemed a Golden Voice narrator with AudioFile, it’s easy to see why. AudioFile’s founder, Robin Whitten said ‘Golden Voice narrators have superb performance skills, are keenly attuned to their authors, and are practiced in many genres and styles.’

Voice acting is a unique skill that includes accurate articulation, the ability to control emotions, instinctive pausing, being aware of when to use an accent (Davina Porter’s Scottish accent in Outlander is flawless) but most of all, the narrator must be able to differentiate each character to enable listeners to audibly ‘see’ that character and bring it to life. 

I know some folks record their own books – and I say good for you! An author friend of mine uses his car as a sound booth – seriously. He stuffs the interior with pillows and duvets and does everything on his phone. It works for him but I wouldn’t have the patience to fiddle with all the editing software.

Audio books are not for everyone. In ‘The Author’ – the UK’s quarterly publication from the Society of Authors, Laura Hackette, Deputy Literary Editor at The Sunday Times, says she ‘doesn’t have the attention span for the format’ and either she drifts off or gets distracted by other things or gets ‘frustrated by the slow-paced narration.’ She even tried listening on 1.5x speed but it just sounded weird.

My cat feeding duty is over now and, to my surprise, I turned the manuscript in three days early – the first time in years. Perhaps it was just taking that enforced time out that made a difference. Who knows? But what I do know is that I have another 8 volumes of Outlander to listen to. I think I’ll just spend more time in my car – even if it is just parked outside my house.