Quotes and Colour

 

Since I’m currently writing a book in the form of columns for a fictional English newspaper, I should use the grammar and spelling conventions that my protagonist would use. That could confuse my American audience, but it probably won’t since many of us are used to reading books that come “across the pond” (or ‘across the pond’) with the British grammar and spelling intact. The biggest issue is to make sure I catch it all.

As you can see from the graphic at the head of this post, the British use a single quote around dialogue where we use a double one. It does not, however, show the dissimilar placement of commas and periods that come after a quote mark because the example has no difference. The British place the comma or period inside the quote mark if it is part of the quoted material and outside if it is not, while American English always puts commas and periods on the inside. In the following example, the first sentence is American while the second is British.

The British call a period a “full stop.”

The British call a period a ‘full stop’.

The graphic also demonstrates one of many spelling differences. Spelling was the only subject I got Ds in at school. Even so, I had learned how to spell “color.” Then we moved to Scotland for what would have been my 6^th grade year at home, and I had to relearn the spelling as “colour.” It wasn’t the only word I had to relearn, and I hated it, especially knowing that I would have to learn the American spellings all over again when we returned to Michigan.

American grammar conventions are second nature to me, and even American spelling comes more naturally than British spelling does. I simply cannot write the early drafts any other way. Fortunately, Microsoft WORD’s grammar and spell check program has a British version. So if I decide to use British grammar and spelling conventions in my column (and I probably will), I can run that before finalizing the manuscript. That still doesn’t guarantee that I’ll get it all correct, though.

What I’d give for a single form of English.

Two English Languages

 

Actually, there are many more than two English languages. American English is different than British English is different than Australian English, and so on. Even within countries such as the U.S. there are many different dialects. But for this post I’ll limit myself to the more generic American English and British English.

My current work-in-progress takes place in England during World War II. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m writing it in the form of a newspaper column. And since it is written by an English woman for an English newspaper, of course it will use British English.

That creates another challenge that I’m working through.

Some differences between American English and British English are well known, such as the British use of biscuit for what we would call a cookie. But did you know that a railroad is a railway and a thermos is a flask?

I’ve been writing with two dictionaries at hand: The American-British British-American Dictionary for English Speaking People by Jeremy Smith and the 3^rd edition of The UK to USA Dictionary: British English vs. American English by Claudine Dervaes and John Hunter. Every time I’m not sure whether an American term is also used in England, I check those dictionaries. There are two problems with this, however. The first is that I may assume a word is used in England when it is not, in which case I won’t bother to look it up.

The second problem that the dictionaries are written for people who want to understand what they hear or read, not necessarily for writers or educators. So while they are fairly comprehensive, I’m not sure they include everything. If I’m wondering about a term that isn’t in them, I may need to turn elsewhere.

I have been supplementing the dictionaries with a rather unexpected resource. I enjoy the Miss Read books, which take place in England and are written by an English author. (Miss Read is her pen name.) When I wanted to know what a handyman was called in England, I couldn’t find a reference in either of the dictionaries I mentioned above. Although I thought that probably meant that the term handyman is used in British English, I wanted to be as sure as I could be. There is a handyman in a Miss Read book that I recently read on Kindle, so I went into the book and used Kindle’s search function to look for “handyman.” When I found it, I knew I could use that word comfortably. I’ve also used the same resource for several other terms and found it helpful each time.

Still, no matter how hard I try, I’ll probably miss something, and a reader will point out that the British don’t use the American term.

That isn’t the only terminology issue, though. There are times when I may use a uniquely British term when an American one will do, such as using cooker for stove. Still, if I go overboard, I will sound as if I am trying to be British myself or, worse, as if I am mocking the language. So the challenge is to make my character English without overdoing it.

An even bigger challenge comes when I try to write a column that would use British grammar and spelling.

That’s the subject of next week’s blog.

The 1,000-Word Dilemma

 

I’m still dedicated to writing middle-grade historical fiction, but every now and then I like to challenge myself with something different. I have just started a historical novel for adults. No, there is nothing R-rated in it, or anything in fact that is inappropriate for my regular audience. It does, however, have three things that mark it as an adult novel. First, the protagonist is an adult, which is rare (although not unheard of) in children’s books. Second, this one will include a romance (but no sex even offstage). And third, although the vocabulary won’t be complex, some of it may be beyond my normal audience.

Another difference between this book and my previous historical novels is that they have all taken place in the U.S. This one takes place in England during World War II.

The format is also new for me. My protagonist is a newspaper columnist, and I am writing this novel as fifty-two weekly columns.

Since each chapter is a column, one of the challenges has to do with chapter length. Newspaper columns have to be a prescribed length, give or take a few words. I have given Jane a one-thousand-word target, with a ten word allowance on either side. That means she isn’t the only one who has to meet that target. As the person who is actually writing the columns, I do, too.

When I write a chapter for my middle-grade books, the length varies. With my readers in mind, I do have a minimum and maximum length, but they are significantly different. That means I can put in everything I think belongs and not worry about how to add more without making the chapter too wordy.

Meeting a tight target is much harder.

Three years ago I was given an assignment to write the February 2025 devotions for Portals of Prayer. Coming up with a month’s worth of ideas for daily devotions was challenging enough, but the hardest part was to keep them at “approximately 1,325 characters with spaces in Microsoft Word (. . . approximately 245-250 words).” My “approximately” and their “approximately” didn’t quite match, and I missed the mark on five of the 28. Fortunately, the editor sent them back to me to rework so I didn’t have to worry that the editor would make the changes himself and misinterpret what I was trying to say. (I had that happen with an article once.)

I wouldn’t mind writing a real newspaper column one day.

But it is hard even in fiction.