The Well-Imagined Story

Image by Nick Craine

Above all, a well-imagined story is organized around extraordinary human behaviors and unexpected and startling events, which help illuminate the commonplace and the ordinary. – Tim O’Brien

via Telling Tails – Magazine – The Atlantic.

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Terms that cannot be used in a Steeple Hill novel

Source: Terms that cannot be used in a Steeple Hill novel.

[Update: The link above no longer works. Harlequin has taken the page down as reported by Ted Dekker. Read comment #2 for the history behind this post.]

Terms that cannot be used in a Steeple Hill novel:

• Arousal
• Bastard
• Bet/betting
• Bishop
• Bra
• Breast (except for breast cancer if necessary)
• Buttocks or butt (alternatively, you can say derriere or backside)
• Crap
• Damn (try “blast” instead)
• Darn
• Dern/durn
• Devil (except in the religious sense, but the circumstances would be rare)
• Dang or Dagnabbit
• Doody
• Father (when used to describe a religious official)
• Fiend
• For heaven’s sake (can use “for goodness’ sake” instead)
• For the love of Mike
• For Pete’s sake
• Gee
• Geez/jeez (but “sheesh” is acceptable)
• Gosh
• Golly
• Halloween
• Harlot
• Heat (when used to describe kisses)
• Heck
• Hell (except in the religious sense, but this would be rare)
• Holy cow
• Hot/hottie
• Hunk
• Need/hunger (when used to describe non-food-focused state of being)
• Pee
• Poop
• Panties
• Passion
• Priest
• Sexy
• Sex
• Sexual attraction
• Tempting (as applied to the opposite sex)
• St. [name of saint]
• Swear, as in “I swear…” – Christian characters are not supposed to swear.
• Undergarments – of any kind
• Whore

The following are allowed only in the context mentioned:

• Angel – only when used in a Biblical context
• Miracle – only when used in a Biblical context
• Oh my God/Oh, God – ONLY allowed when it’s clearly part of a prayer
• Heavenly – only when used in a Biblical context
• Although you can say “He cursed” or mention cursing, do not overuse. Furthermore, only non-Christian characters can curse.

Situations to be avoided:

• Kissing below the neck
• Visible signs or discussions of arousal or sexual attraction or being out of control
• Double entendre
• Nudity – people changing clothes “on screen” or any character clad only in a towel
• Hero and heroine sleeping in the same house without a third party, even if they’re not sleeping together or in the same room
• Also, Christian characters should not smoke, drink, gamble, play cards or dance (except in historical novels they may dance but please limit to square dances and balls, no “sexy” dancing like waltzing cheek to cheek), and terms associated with these activities should only be used in connection with bad guys or disapproving of them or such.
• Bodily functions, like going to the bathroom, should be mentioned as little as possible and some euphemism may be necessary but we don’t want to sound quaint or absurd.

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Voices In My Head

It seems all the blogs I subscribe to have recent posts on voice, that most elusive trait of good writers.

• Oy Vey: Voice, and Also Twilight and FAQ #9 (I think?): Questions About Voice from Brooklyn Arden
• Omniscient Voice Part I and Part II from Forensics and Faith

I think voice arises first and foremost from culture and home life, then region, education, and job experience. All affect voice strongly. So a reasonable starting point for determining voice – to me – would be to start with character. Highlight these aspects of character and hopefully the rest of your talk will follow naturally.

I’d also like to ask my readers a question. Years age I noticed that once I get into reading a particularly good book, I tend to take on the voice of the book or the main character. I first noticed it when I was a young teenager reading some of the classic adventure stories like The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas or a good Jules Verne novel like The Mysterious Island. Those are two of my favorite authors and favorite books, by the way.

Has anyone else out there ever experienced the same thing? Also, is there a way to harness this in developing my own voice or finding the voice of my own characters?

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