Quick Fire Questions (A Place to Ask and Answer)

[Abernovo]

A bleak laugh? See, I'd never thought of that, even putting that sentence together, but bleak laugh, I understand perfectly what you mean.

 

[Ursa major]

A resigned laugh**, perhaps? (At least it's a sort of double pun on the situation in that he's now not going to be doing something and that he is resigned to the "imposition" of the decision. Ish)

Or a laugh of resignation?

 

[psychotick]

Hi Al,

Knowing nothing about either the world of Harry Potter or what all those letters stand for, I'd suggest contacting JK's agents for a clarification of what they will and won't allow in playing with her creation. It's not just about the money, there's also reputation and story line to consider. They might have some guidelines as to what you can and can't write, and also they might ask for some sort of final approval before publishing.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[AlcubierreWarp]

Thanks psychotik, I'll think about that.

 

[alchemist]

Half my characters are academic types, and have "Doctor" in front of their names.

1. In dialogue, I presume this would be correct...

"Hello, Doctor Riviera."

...rather than

"Hello, Dr Riviera."

2. In narration, I presume I can get away with...

Dr Riviera looked at the screen.

Are my presumptions correct?

 

[Arkose]

In general I would agree. I guess the point of view matters. I can see kids/teens/non-doctors using Dr in narration, while an actual Doctor (POV) might just use Doctor. I watch Frasier re-runs, alot, and I can see Frasier and Niles witting out Doctor all the time. I see their Dad, Martin, writing Dr.

I just hope you don't use it too much. A story full of Dr. and Doctors would be tiring. Hopefully the characters eventually become just "Riviera," unless in conversation of course.

 

[Ursa major]

I'm going to assume a fair proportion of alchemist's doctors are consultants and so called Mr French and Mr Italian whether in dialogue or narration. And some will, for at least part of the time, and by certain people, be known by the first names and/or nicknames.


This title-contraction business is a problem with various professions: Professor and Prof., Right Honourable and Rt Hon., for instance. Not to mention Major and Maj., Captain and Capt., etc.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm smiling because the first part of my q. Was to ask if I use sir and ma'am as a military title/mode of address I should capitalise it and I think the above says yes.

Alc, I think as layman I might wonder why you're not being consistent; the meanings the same to me whether in or out of dialogue

I wonder too if it matters if I say
"Alc that's maybe confusing me," Springs said or
"I'm maybe not helping," said Springs

Only I tend to put the said first a lot

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I would not see any difference between the two, as they are pronounced the same. You would want it to be Dr. rather than Dr unless that's a non-American thing of which I'm unaware. In fact, quite the contrary, I notice in Agatha Christie books I've been reading lately that she uses M. Poirot rather than Monsieur Poirot in almost all instances. And you wouldn't (probably) consider writing out Mister Jones instead of Mr. Jones, regardless of whether it's in dialogue or not, so I see no difference between that and Doctor. For what that's worth.

 

[AMB]

I do believe that Dr is correct over Dr., because doctor ends with the same letter the abbreviation ends with.

So Maj. and Capt. have the period, Sgt and (I'm guessing) Col do not. Likewise Dr, Mr, Mrs, etc, but M. for Monsieur Poirot.

The reason I'm not sure about Col is because a friend said it might be for Colonel, when I always assumed it was Colonel. Might not matter either way.

It is the sort of rule that it seems very few know. Does that mean it is outdated?

 

[Arkose]

I was taught in the military to use Sgt or Col

Looking it up on free dictionary I see SGT, Sgt, and Sgt. as abbreviation.

But the link below leaves out the period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force_enlisted_rank_insignia

 

[Arkose]

anyone have a suggestion for race sheet like there are character sheets?

 

[TheDustyZebra]

To clarify, as I feel rather muddled reading my own post above (I was on my way out to lunch when I posted it):

What I meant to say was that you could use either, and it wouldn't matter who was speaking -- it's pronounced the same either way. However, in general, you would probably want to use "Dr. Riviera" whether it was narration or dialogue, and "the doctor said..." or "my doctor recommended..." whether it was narration or dialogue. If it has the name attached, it's generally the abbreviation, and if not, it's generally the whole word. Same with military or any other title. Note that it will not be capitalized without the name attached -- "President Smith" or "the president said".

I stick to my guns on the period with the abbreviations. I speak only for my own country, of course, but I've never seen Dr or Mr or Sgt. or anything else of the sort without a period in any respectable text, fiction or non.

 

[Hex]

TDZ -- I have always believed that it's a difference between the UK and the US. In the UK we don't put a period after Dr (probably because of what AMB said), in the US, you do. Certainly this is how it works in academicy things.

Alchemist -- I have a doctor (academic) floating around in my wip and whenever I've used her name, I've called her 'Dr' -- e.g.: "Hello, my name is Dr Smith." I've avoided 'doctor' because it always makes me think 'medical'. I don't know if what I've done is correct, but I would prefer to only use 'doctor' when forced to it -- so, when not also using her name (I suppose I'd have to somewhere like 'Trust me, I'm a doctor," she insisted, with a glint in her eye.).

Dr Hex

 

[Boneman]

Thanks psychotik, I'll think about that.

I wouldn't think about it too long - you'll have JK's lawyers and Warner Brothers' lawyers on your doorstep quicker than you can say 'Averacadavera'... But think of the publicity you'll get, when you get out of jail!

by Springs 1971
I wonder too if it matters if I say
"Alc that's maybe confusing me," Springs said or
"I'm maybe not helping," said Springs

The only directive I ever saw on this was that in 'Janet and John' stories it was always:
'Let's go to the beach' said Janet.
"I want an ice-cream," said John.

and ever since then, I've always said after the person, not before... It will be impossible to read any of your dialogue now, without a gushing narrator's voice telling a children's story if you do it that way.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Thanks for that BM edit!

 

[Ursa major]

The choice between 'John said' and 'said John' is the author's. It's one of those things where once the reader becomes used to whichever is being used, it becomes invisible. (I used to think this was one of those UK/US things, but I've seen both used by authors of each country.)

However, I don't think one should be too consistent in this, because there are one or two occasions - sorry, but I can't think of any examples off the top of my head - where a sentence reads better (smoother?) using the alternative to the predominant choice in the text.

 

[alchemist]

Thanks everybody for the replies on the Dr/Dr./Doctor issue. I think I'll follow TDZ's line here...

However, in general, you would probably want to use "Dr. Riviera" whether it was narration or dialogue, and "the doctor said..." or "my doctor recommended..." whether it was narration or dialogue.

As for the fullstop/period, I think I'll stick to Dr for now.

Rest assured the term isn't used too often; generally when the characters are being formally addressed by others at the start. It then progresses through first names and last names until by the end, they're all calling each other #$%£$%

 

[TheDustyZebra]

It then progresses through first names and last names until by the end, they're all calling each other #$%£$%

Is that abbreviated #$ or #$.?

 

[Mouse]

The only directive I ever saw on this was that in 'Janet and John' stories it was always:
'Let's go to the beach' said Janet.
"I want an ice-cream," said John.

and ever since then, I've always said after the person, not before... It will be impossible to read any of your dialogue now, without a gushing narrator's voice telling a children's story if you do it that way.

I have these exact two bits of dialogue in The Barbarians' Key:

“And I can ride,” Madden said.
“I can see that,” said Sorrel.

I use 'name said' more often, but in that particular set of books, I use both versions. Incidentally, Boneman has read TBK, and didn't make any comments about gushing narrators.

Anywho, I came here to ask another question! How should newspaper headlines be written? The headline occurs in a sort of dream/flashback so all the surrounding text is in italics. Should it be ALL IN CAPS, Initial Capitals, Or just normal - only not in italic.

I Googled newspaper headline images and it seems to vary.