This is not your English teacher's novel
by Valerie Ipson
Think for a minute what your manuscript would look and sound like if you followed all the rules you were taught in 8th grade English.
(I hope you're shuddering just a little bit.)
If you're strict with the rules, you'll be writing without the benefit of the fast-paced, efficient fragment. I know. I know. Your teacher marked all over your papers in red ink because of sentences that were missing subjects and verbs. Well, it's revenge time.
In our fast-paced world, people are moving more and more to short, quick forms of communication. And that's what fragments do for a novel. Set the pace. Move thought quickly. And efficiently.
"In the hands of a skilled writer (like you), fragments can underscore a point or advance a plot with remarkable precision and brevity...Their clipped, staccato cadence varies the rhythm from the flow of complete sentences. They add contrast and energy. They create pauses, and as you know, pauses create emphasis." 1
And truth be told, don't we often live life in fragments?
Yes. Yes we do.
1 MTC, P 175
Recognize Both Genders In Your Writing
by Tamara
Sometimes I have moments when I think, "Where have I been all my life?"
Reading this chapter, I had such a moment when Mr. Wilbers quotes from The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing (C. Miller & K. Swift).
There is a handbook for this?
Shouldn't we back up the train with something like The Handbook of Nonsexist Thinking?
But that is probably a topic for a different day. (I have no interest in adding any more fuel to the ongoing gender war.)
To sum up: It is clear we need more gender-sensitive language in our writing. The problem, as Mr. Wilbers points out, is "trying to find the most natural, least contrived ways to write inclusively."1
And this is where my head starts to swim. I admit I am not a grammar guru. I've read this chapter three times, and some parts out loud, to better understand the 'mixing of singular and plural references with indefinite pronouns.'
And I am still grappling with the news flash that "English has no third-person singular personal pronoun that is inclusive of both genders."2 Look, English is my first love, It's hard not to take it personal when someone points out a flaw.
Enough about me.
If you need some suggestions on how to be inclusive or at least gender neutral in your writing, try these:
1. Use plural pronouns.2. Eliminate the masculine pronoun.3. Replace the masculine pronoun with an article (a, an, or the.)4. Use genderless words such as person and individual.5. Use the second person.6. Use the "singular they and their" with indefinite words and pronouns such as every, any, everyone, and anybody.*7. Use he or she. 3 (*see head swimming not above)
There are explanations for these as well as examples and exercises for each in the book. Here is just one sample:
"A skydiver is responsible for folding his own parachute." Change to: "Skydivers are responsible for folding their own parachutes." 4
There you have it. Including the masculine and feminine in writing. Until the day when English has a third-person singular personal pronoun that includes both genders--be creative, be brave.
1. p. 39, Mastering the Craft
2. p. 40, Mastering the Craft
3. p. 39-40 Mastering the Craft
4. p. 42 Mastering the Craft
PEGGY: One of the wonderful things about writing is that I am continually learning things about the English language. As language morphs and develops, I wonder if we will see plural pronouns replacing singular gender-specific pronouns as grammatically acceptable. According to Grammar Girl, most do. I have to work to make sure that I don't use a plural pronoun when a singular antecedent. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends avoiding sentences that combine plural nouns with singular antecedents (and Mr. Wilbers has shown several ways to do that). Fun post.
