I'M BACK! SHOULD I BE?

You decide: pretentious selfie or funny moment?
All depends on context--and eye for detail!

Yes, I have written my blog every two weeks, but give a blogger some "slack." Oops! Pundits suggest avoiding alliterative writing, especially in fiction. Well, those pundits certainly know what they're writing about, don't they? Actually, according to other experts on Twitter, for example, most Tweeters who give advice aren't qualified to do so.

Therefore, this week, I'm going to post, drum roll please...! Oops, a cliché! Oh, and overusing exclamation points--editors have a point, !, on that usage.

I received my training via two parents who were writers, years of post-graduate education (Don't tell my college and first grad school that I didn't learn to write "well" until my second graduate program. "Misspent youth," my father would say.). And that last sentence leads to another suggestion: temper usage of parentheses and use them correctly. If I were to comment on the debate over how to use parentheses, and for that matter, adverbs, (has anyone read classic fiction recently?), and semi-colons, and. . .James Joyce, where are you when I need you? Oops, another "No, no," rhetorical questions should be kept at a minimum, and when referring to famous author's works, make clear for the contemporary reader which one; okay, Ulysses, Roman name for the Greek, Odysseus; and if you read the Odyssey you will get my reference.

Oh, no! Last sentence too long, sorry Proust. No verb in last sentence and this one, too! I apologize Elements of Style.

I think most will agree that the grammar Nazis--yes, I do find the use of Nazis disturbing, though now commonly used--and deconstructionist line-editors have reduced fiction writing to stale, formulaic, by-the-book, plot narratives. How book snobs used to describe Harlequin romances. Antithetically (adverb and high-brow lexicon), where are the content, copy and line editors at so-called highly respected publishing house when we need them? Case in point, I dare not be explicit for concern about reader backlash: a series published 2011-2012 which received the UK's National Book Award for Popular Fiction and Book of the Year.

No, I will forge ahead, not for the notoriety, awards or maximum sales in a year, but to do what I love: write fiction.

P.S. If you find any errors in THIS BLOG, ignore them, if you have a sense of humor. LOL. Future blogs, you have my blessings. I think.

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