Blog 4: Night turned to day, then I had a jacuzzi

Spot the difference

Today, my little writers, I’m going to take you back in time. Yes, it’s true! I bet you didn’t think you’d be doing a bit of time travelling when you clicked on this blog. Don’t get too excited though, I’m only taking you back two weeks, and you aren’t allowed to change anything. So, you can’t put in those winning lottery numbers and win the jackpot or attempt to rectify some embarrassing mistake. Sorry about that.

We are in fact going back to the blog I wrote about repetition. Is that a bad place to return to? Are you now reminded of the horror of those words and phrases that you didn’t know where lurking in your stories? If you are, then I have good news! I’m now going to tell you to do the complete opposite. Yay!

Confused? Let me explain. I’m not telling you not to do what I suggested in that blog. I haven’t had a change of heart in the last fortnight and decided you should strike that whole blog out of your mind, so please don’t do that.

What I would like you to consider today is consistency. Where I told you before not to use the same words, there are cases where they should absolutely stay the same, so as not to confuse the reader. For example, don’t go all out and try to be clever, and find other words for things just for the sake of it. An aeroplane is always going to be called that, don’t try calling it a winged vehicle or a sky flyer; football is what it is, don’t think of another name for it, just to be creative or to avoid using the same word. Of course, if you are using it as a metaphor, that has meaning to your characters in the story, that’s completely different.

The main problem is usually author hiccups. What I mean is, if you’ve chosen unusual spellings for names, places or things, then you may get a few letters mixed up. I’m not saying, keep it simple. My god, no! You should spell things however you fancy. Go crazy and have fun! Hell, that’s what we’re here for. But you may need to make a list that you can refer back to. We don’t want Rachael turning into Rachel. She won’t be happy about that at all. As an editor, I have an alphabetised (or alphabetized, if you are American) grid for this, which makes it easy for me to find and check the spellings. Nifty, huh? Hey, perhaps you already do this and that is fantastic organisation. Well done! Please take a bow. Because let’s face it, a lot of us creatives just go for it with our writing and don’t always want to stop to make notes. You can of course do this later, when you go back through it.

But, as the comedian, Jimmy Cricket used to say, “There’s more!” Yes, I’m showing my age again. It doesn’t stop there; think of all those details that you have put into your story, such as the time of day, the weather, details of the characters’ appearances and their surroundings – the more you put in, the more you need to keep track of. Imagine, if you will, a man checks into a hotel room. It’s a simple room with plain white walls, the only furniture in there is a small bed and a set of drawers. The next morning, he awakens in a king-sized bed, the room is bigger, there’s an ensuite bathroom, patterned wallpaper, jacuzzi, TV, snack bar and sofa. This basic room has been transformed into a luxurious haven while he slept! How can this be? But the most concerning part in all of this is that the character is not surprised whatsoever. He just grabs a drink from the bar and turns on the jacuzzi. Okay, that was a little far-fetched. But you get my meaning. These extra details appeared to come out of nowhere because they weren’t mentioned before.

Side characters too can be tricky to keep a handle on. One moment you have a bloke with a shaved head and blue eyes, then suddenly, BAM, there’s been some sort of magical transformation, he has green eyes and a full head of hair. Have you seen those YouTube videos with a big red circle or an arrow pointing to an actor’s bruised leg that suddenly switches to the other one, or they were just pushed in a river and as it cuts to them running in the next scene, they are by some miracle, completely dry? It’s the same when you are reading a book, they will notice if a detail doesn’t match up and when they do – repeat after me – it will take them out of your story. It’s like being rudely awakened out of an amazing dream, just to be reminded that you aren’t in a fantasy world where people can fly and cats can talk, but you have work tomorrow, and you have a pile of ironing to do! And no one wants that. I mean, does anyone actually like ironing?

In addition, details such as the timeline and weather can be particularly difficult to follow when you have multiple POVs or if you skip forwards or backwards in time. See, I told you, time travel is delicate! Keep a note of people’s backgrounds and experiences and make sure not to contradict your writing further into the story. I create a timeline table during the editing process, to keep a check on things like what day it is or the time it takes to get from place to place. We want to avoid someone arriving at their destination far too quickly or in the middle of the night, when an hour ago it was morning. It can be a bit like solving a puzzle. A few pieces have popped out of place, and I have to find them and slot them all back together. Is it weird that I find it kind of fun?

Consistency should also be considered when it comes to voice, POV and general written style. But those are topics for other blogs. I’m sure you are quite dizzy from all the time travelling and would much prefer to go to your latest piece of writing and double check that your main character’s best mate hasn’t changed their name, shaved their head or moved house while you were gone. You never know what they’re up to when you’re not watching, do you?

Until next time, happy writing and remember – be consistent, people!