We have covered four important topics in our discussions about the art of being published: Editing, Criticism, the author's Willingness to act upon suggestions, and most recently, Surprises. A fair amount of territory to cover, to be sure. Consistency is our next topic, and it is a problem that can plague good writers by hiding through their every read.

 

Small and big flaws in narrative consistency can hide through several of the author's most careful reviews. For this reason, we urge that every narrative get a good viewing by a second, and even a third reader, who are not in the book to line edit. (We, honestly, do not recommend more than one line-editor for a book. That might create consistency problems...)

 

In the broadest terms, this topic is about balance-the correct balance of themes. Scary books should remain pleasantly frightening. Humorous books won't hold the reader if they turn sour. Romance requires a near perfect balance of Drama. Sci-Fi seems to love being paired with Adventure and even Horror themes. Done well, those themes will not collide, or tip the book too far in the wrong direction. Authors, and line-editors, can sometimes be too close to the text to see when the narrative is out of balance.

 

Readers don't usually overlook such things, because they are not working when they read. Quite often, we hear about some hopeful book that had a good beginning, but a lackluster ending. Or, a Sci-Fi so overloaded with Romance that both camps found fault with it. An out-of-balance book is not usually criticized for having too much of some theme. The usual complaint will be that the book lacked enough of some other element. A good beta reader, with no other task to perform beyond enjoying the story, will spot most broad consistency problems in any narrative.

 

What about the small consistency errors? Those are the ones, sometimes, so tiny that the best line-editor will struggle to capture them. Those will be typos, often: the author repeatedly refers to 1934, but typed 1943, once, instead; a character's name is misspelled a single time; an article of clothing changes color; a pen becomes a pencil; an open window is opened again; a closed door is shut... Or, those same types of flaws appear in the complex structure of the story: a character with a distinctive dialect fails to use that speech pattern every time they speak; an intimately described house or building is inexplicably altered in layout... It's even possible to have a character leave their auto somewhere to go riding with a friend, then appear in their own car again, without having them return to get it.

 

Just as the measly little typos tend to hide from every reader in the book, the terrible, plot-crashing flaws can hide - because the text around them is so brief. Just make a character turn the wrong way down an often-used hallway in a grand house, and it might be overlooked for a great while.

 

Thanks everyone and enjoy.

Joel

 

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Are you interested in JournalStone's books but you can't afford the retail price?  We are always looking for sound proofreaders.  If you think you qualify and would like to read our pre-release novels, send an e-mail to christophercpayne@journalstone.com. 

 

We don't pay for proofreading but we do give you access to a wide variety of new releases.

 

We will send you a pdf and ask you to read the manuscript in 1 to 2 weeks and then forward us your grammatical changes.

 

We do require you to have some knowledge of the English language so please don't be offended if we have to decline your request to join the proofreading team.

 

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you. 

  

 

For a complete list of all the nominations please click on the link below:

 

HWA Bram Stoker Award Nominations

  

I would like to be the first to congratulate JG Faherty (Greg) and Brett J. Talley on being nominated for a 2011 HWA Bram Stoker Award.

 

Greg was nominated in the Young Adult category and Brett was nominated in the First Novel Category.

 

This is a wonderful accomplishment and an amazing achievement for both of these authors and for JournalStone Publishing. We are lucky to work with such talented people and wish them both the best of luck in the final round.

 

JournalStone is honored that our first year of publishing has attained such lofty results. We never imagined that two of our authors would attain this level of recognition in such a short amount of time.

 

We want to thank the HWA, our staff and all of our authors and we wish Greg and Brett the best of luck in the final ballot to be announced March 31, 2012.

 

JournalStone is a small press publishing company, focusing on horror, fantasy and science fiction in both the adult and young adult markets.

 

We are members of & actively support:

HWA - Horror Writers Association
WNBA - Women's Nat'l Book Assn.
HPLHS - HP Lovecraft Historical Society
IBPA - Independent Book Publishing Assn.
SFWA - Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

  

Check out our electronic bookstore at www.journal-store.com.