SLOUCHING, PART TWO

Even more time has slithered down the drain since I posted Part One (SLOUCHING TOWARD PUBLICATION).

I'm still hung up on the text of the book, trying to finalize it.

My new problem is an attempt to conform to proper style for particular terms. I've been here before, in the writing of other books.

It's always the same question: Is the item in question one word or two words or hyphenated? Is it the same in the noun form as it is in the adjectival? What do the authorities say?

Take "back yard," for instance. Some folks say it should be "backyard," for both noun and adjective (Associated Press, for one). Others (Roy Copperud, Paul Brians) want to use two words for the noun, one word for the adjective.

They argue that usually it's "front yard" not "frontyard" and "side yard" not "sideyard," so "back yard" fits better.

Same position concerning the "back seat" of a car.

I've decided to use "back yard" for the noun and "backyard" for the adjective. AP Stylebook can suck it. Same for "back seat."

"Bob's in the back seat, sitting next to a backseat driver."

Often, though, when the noun form is two words, the adjective is formed by linking the words with a hyphen.

"Bob writes science fiction; this is his third science-fiction novel."

"Bob has a buzz cut; he wears his hair in the buzz-cut style."

I've always used "okay" but AP says not to, preferring "OK" instead.

I had a character "passed-out" in a patio chair, but the Internet seems to like "passed out" instead. Okay, I'll go along with that. It also prefers "sport coat" over "sportcoat," but if that annoys you maybe you can write "blazer" (if it applies) or "jacket."

The thing about English is that "popular" usage determines "proper" usage. The more people do it a particular way, the more likely that way will be favored by authorities. Usage is more descriptive than prescriptive.

As a result, getting it wrong often enough seems to make it right.

So "restaurateur" evolved into "restauranteur." You can use either one, if you don't particularly care.

Foreign terms like "chaise longue" mutated into "chaise lounge."

Currently, the non-word "bicep" is getting a lot of play in novels and magazines (Newsweek uses it). I see the word as an illiterate back formation on "biceps," based on the mistaken notion that because "biceps" ends in S it must be plural. Authors use this made-up singular for when they're referring to just one of the muscles:

"Bob has a tattoo on his left bicep."

It's wrong, however. "Biceps" is singular. It comes from the Latin words for "two heads," indicating there are two attach points (at the shoulder, presumably—my Gray's Anatomy is AWOL).

The plural of "biceps" is "bicepses." (MS Word allows this plural, though I suspect I added it myself. Word does not like "bicep." Blogger's spellcheck doesn't like "bicepses" but is okay with "bicep.")

The 8th edition of Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary doesn't list "bicep" (and I've never seen it in any other dictionary). It lists "biceps" but doesn't offer a plural form. Same with "quadriceps."

Oddly, the listing for "triceps" gives "tricepses" as a plural, but also allows "triceps" to be its own plural. (MS Word underlines "tricepses" in red. I'll need to have a word with Word.)

Paul Brians's list of errors says "bicep" is used (okay?) in casual speech, but is frowned upon in the medical community. I say it's a non-word and should be avoided. Or just use it in dialogue to show a character to be illiterate. But there's a problem. Your reader might not get it, so you may have to have another character point out the error.

(On the other hand, shaming your character may also shame your reader—who might not take kindly to that treatment.)

(To get a text version of his list, change "html" to "txt" in the address and open the new page in your browser; click Ctrl-A, C to copy, then drop it into Word; save as "Text Only with Line Breaks" to get an easy-to-read version that opens in Notepad. And by the way, Paul Brians would have written the possessive of his name without the final S. He doesn't like the look of the "–s's" form, though that is the rule. [Bridget Jones's Diary].)

In order to keep things straight in my current book (and in future works) I've started a Notepad file to list my own personal preferences. I'll also add any word I find myself looking up in a dictionary to check the spelling. Ultimately it should save me some time. (But right now it's just slowing me down.)

Is it better to be right or to be consistent?

It's a lousy choice: Be consistently right.

PROMOTIONS IN APRIL

Starting at midnight this coming Monday (April 14), my techno thriller HOT STATUS will be free for three days. During that period, the sequel (MAD MINUTE) will be selling at a reduced price: $1.99.

Then, for an additional three days (April 17 – April 19), MAD MINUTE will go up to $2.99, on its way to returning to its regular price of $4.99.

This time I'm sending the information about HOT STATUS to five of the book promotion sites I use—but nothing about the Countdown promotion of MAD MINUTE.

The idea is to see if giving the prequel away for free will engender sales in the sequel—even if nobody (outside this post) advertises the fact the second book is being sold at discount for awhile.

Will folks find this out on their own? Time will tell.