Please help me welcome one of my fellow Twilight Times Book authors, Ms. Christine Amsden to Murderby4 today. I'm also proud to help her announce her new book release:
Cassie Scot is the ungifted daughter of powerful sorcerers, born between worlds but belonging to neither. At 21, all she wants is to find a place for herself, but earning a living as a private investigator in the shadow of her family’s reputation isn’t easy. When she is pulled into a paranormal investigation, and tempted by a powerful and handsome sorcerer, she will have to decide where she truly belongs.
"In this entertaining series opener, Amsden (The Immortality Virus) introduces readers to the eponymous Cassie, a decidedly mundane member of a magical family. ...Readers will enjoy Cassie's fish-out-of-water struggles as she fights magical threats with little more than experience and bravado."
And here is Christine's guest blog for today. It's a great one, so pay attention and enjoy!
Myth Busters, Grammar Edition:
Starting a Setence with And or But
copyright Christine Amsden 2013
Confession time: How many of you learned in school that you can’t
start a sentence with a conjunction such as and or but? Go ahead, admit it. I won’t think less of
you. It would make me a serious hypocrite since until late last week, I
believed it. Countless English teachers couldn’t be wrong, could they?
Turns out, they were misinformed. Moreover, this may be one of the
most persistent myths in education today. I don’t mean to impugn my English
teachers who were, as a whole, wonderful people who helped me follow my dream
of becoming a fiction writer. They were misinformed. So were the people who
taught them. And so on and so forth. (See how I started that sentence with and? It wasn’t
wrong!)
Last week when I made style suggestions for fiction writers, I
used beginning conjunctions as an example of a rule that fiction writers can
and do break. Cora Foerstner, a fellow writer and an English professor, called me on it. She
was nice enough to e-mail me privately instead of creating a public post that
might hurt my credibility. I appreciated that, although I am open-minded enough
to admit when I’m wrong. If that discredits me in some people’s eyes, oh well.
Enjoy your perfection.
For my part, I was wrong. I didn’t take her word for it right away
— I mean half a dozen English teachers scattered throughout my childhood
deserved a fair trial before I passed judgement. Cora and I passed a few
e-mails back and forth, I did some research on the Internet, and I contacted my
brother, Brian Amsden, who has a PhD in rhetoric from the University of
Indiana. Grammar was not part of his coursework (it is apparently not part of
almost anyone’s coursework), but he studied it. He shared this quote with me
from the CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE, 15th EDITION:
“Beginning a sentence with a conjunction. There is a widespread
belief–one with no historical or grammatical foundation–that it is an error to
begin a sentence with a conjunction such as and, but, or so. In fact, a
substantial percentage (often as many as 10 percent) of the sentences in
first-rate writing begin with conjunctions. It has been so for centuries, and
even the most conservative grammarians have followed this practice. Charles
Allen Lloyd’s 1938 words fairly sum up the situation as it stands even today:
‘Next to the groundless notion that it is incorrect to end an English sentence
with a preposition, perhaps the most wide-spread of the many false beliefs
about the use of our language is the equally groundless notion that it is
incorrect to begin one with ‘but’ or ‘and.’ As in the case of the superstition
about the prepositional ending, no textbook supports it, but apparently about
half of our teachers of English go out of their way to handicap their pupils by
inculcating it. One cannot help wondering whether those who teach such a
monstrous doctrine ever read any English themselves.’” (Section 5.191)
Wait a second…. The thing about ENDING a sentence in a preposition
is wrong too?
“Good grief.” — Charlie Brown
At least I already knew it wasn’t wrong to split infinitives. I
learned that one ten years ago during my boot camp with Orson Scott Card, who
explained that the “rule” was a holdover from Latin where it was literally
impossible to split infinitives (because they were just one word). Similarly,
the “rule” against beginning sentences with a conjunction is a holdover from
Latin grammar. During my discussion with Cora Foerstner, she had this to say:
“Many of these “rules” such as not ending a sentence with a
preposition, come from Latin grammar, which is not English grammar. But in the
Renaissance, they were enamored with all things Latin, and often tried to force
English to conform to Latin “rules” grammar rules.”
Okay, so I’ve gone through the five stages of grief on this:
1. Denial — No way. There’s no way all my English teachers were
wrong about this. There’s no way I’ve been a writer since I was eight years old
— I’m almost thirty-six — and I just missed this. Okay, yeah, so I never went looking for it
because I assumed it was right. I had no reason to believe otherwise.
The trouble with assumptions is that by definition, you don’t know
you’re making one.
2. Anger — How could those English teachers have lied to me? They
lied to me about Christopher Columbus, too. Made him out to be some kind of
saint who “discovered” America like there weren’t already people here and like
the Vikings didn’t discover it before he ever did. Grrr… the whole gosh-darn
education system is full of mistakes. What am I going to tell my children when
their teachers tell them these things?
3. Bargaining — Okay, maybe it was a rule but it isn’t a rule
anymore. I mean, that happens. English is a living language, it changes all the
time. Ain’t is a word (but I ain’t gonna to say it). So this was a rule, but it
became so popular in informal speech to break the rule that the various
dictionaries have accepted it. So maybe the beginning conjunction thing is like
that, only not everyone has gotten the memo.
4. Depression — I write for a living! This is what I do. How did I
not realize this? What else don’t I realize? Am I conjugating my verbs right?
Was that question mark supposed to be at the end of that sentence? Or this one?
5. Acceptance — All right, all right. It’s not the end of the
world. It is what it is. There is no rule in the English language prohibiting
sentences from beginning with conjunctions. There never has been. It’s not like
this information changes anything. I’ve been happily “breaking” the rule for
years, along with just about every other writer in the world. Isn’t it nice to
know we weren’t breaking a rule at all?
(Hey, I’m a psych major. This is how I analyze these things.)
CONCLUSION:
There is no rule in the English language
against beginning a sentence withand or
but.
MYTH BUSTED
Wait…
So there’s no rule against it. Does that mean I should begin sentences
with and or but?
One of the reasons I had trouble accepting this new version of
reality is that the “rule” made sense to me. The function of a coordinating
conjunction is to join two or more independent clauses, phrases, or words. When
you put one at the beginning of a sentence, you’re joining it to the previous
sentence. Sort of.
The reason writers have been using and and but at the beginning of
sentences for centuries is that there are times when you want to put the
emphasis on the connection itself rather than the clauses being connected. Extra
emphasis is also put on the second clause or phrase. Because it’s in a shorter
sentence. (Because is a subordinating conjunction, by the way, and the same
rules apply.) And because the capitalized conjunction calls attention to
itself.
This is where psychology comes in. Great, I’m back in familiar
waters!
Readers pay more attention to beginnings than endings. You can
generalize this truth throughout every level of writing, from words to entire
books. (That’s right, words. Remind me sometime to explain why your main
characters’ names shouldn’t all start with the same letter.)
I break up my prose into lots of paragraphs for the same reason.
When readers skim, they pay more attention to the first sentence in a
paragraph. By having more paragraphs, I force you to read more of my sentences.
(Bwahaha!)
But this power can be abused. Just because you CAN do something,
doesn’t mean you should! I can use exclamation points at the end of half my
sentences to show I’m excited! I really am! I mean, look at all the exclamation
points!
Variety is one of the keys to captivating prose. You want to vary
the lengths of your paragraphs and sentences. You want to use different words,
calling on synonyms instead of repeating the same ones over and over again.
Starting sentences with different words is part of strong prose as well, so no
word should begin a sentence all the time.
I also believe there are some choices which function more strongly
in prose when made sparingly. Exclamation points are a prime example of this. Most
fiction writers learn early on that exclamation points should almost never be
used. Some say absolutely never. I disagree, because I refuse to give up my
power to emphasize a point! I give up that power by never using it as well as
by using it too much.
That’s where the should
comes in. Keep these things in mind when deciding whether or
not to begin a sentence with a conjunction:
1. A sentence that begins with a conjunction does not stand alone.
Not all sentences have to stand alone, but the most powerful ones will.
2. A sentence that begins with a conjunction emphasizes the
joining. This may be exactly what you want. But a lot of times it isn’t. I just
gave you an example of a pair of sentences that would have been stronger had
they been joined. The but
wasn’t that important. Neither were the words that came after.
The complete thought was important.
3. Beginning a sentence with and or but calls attention to itself. This may be true
in part because of the persistent myth, but even if everyone knew the truth, it
is still far more common to see these words in the middle of sentences. It
should be far more common to see these words in the middle of sentences,
innocently and invisibly getting out of the way for more important concepts.
4. And finally, if you can cut the conjunction without changing
the tone or meaning of the sentence, do it. Finally, if you can cut the
conjunction without changing the tone or meaning of the sentence, do it. (I see
this fairly often. I’m guilty of it myself sometimes. It’s the sort of thing I
catch in revisions.)
Writers, enjoy knowing that it is right and proper to use
conjunctions at the beginning of your sentences, but don’t overdo it.
***
~ Publisher's Weekly
"When sorcerers call the shots, what's a girl without powers to do? Get ready for a ripper of a murder mystery full of romance and intrigue, where magic potions bubble, passions spark and vampires are definitely not your friend. Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective grabs you by the heart and won't let go until the very last page. Well-written, immersive and unputdownable. This is urban fantasy at its best. More please!"
–Kim Falconer, bestselling author of The Spell of Rosette
Author bio:
Award-winning author Christine Amsden has written stories since she was eight, always with a touch of the strange or unusual. She became a “serious” writer in 2003, after attending a boot camp with Orson Scott Card. She finished Touch of Fate shortly afterward, then penned The Immortality Virus, which won two awards. Expect many more titles by this up-and-coming author.
Title: Cassie Scot ParaNormal Detective
Author: Christine Amsden
Author web site: http://www.christineamsden.com
Publisher: Twilight Times Books
url: http://twilighttimesbooks.com/
Genre: paranormal fantasy
*Print ISBN: 978-1-60619-275-7
Format: 5.5x8.5 trade paperback; 250 pages; $16.95 USD
*eBook ISBN: 978-1-60619-274-0; $6.50 USD
Format: ebook in pdf, ePub, Kindle, Mobi, PRC, etc.
Distributors: Amazon Kindle; Apple iBookstore; BN.com Nook; Kobo Books; OmniLit; Sony eBookstore, etc
Release date: May 15, 2013
Price: $16.95
Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Pages: 250
LCCN: pending
Chapter excerpt:
http://twilighttimesbooks.com/CassieScot_ch1.html
Christine, this is a great article! I clearly remember being schooled in NEVER starting a sentence with "and" or "but," however, in my many years of writing and reading I have come to accept that it is totally acceptable and also used every day in natural speech. I've given myself a lot of "free rein" in my writing to allow it to sound as natural as possible. Sometimes it means breaking those "old rules." ;o) Thanks for being here today and come back again soon.
ReplyDeleteI wish you well on today's release of your new mystery!