A brief word about this blog first:
The absolutely hardest thing about writing a weekly blog post is coming up with topics to write about. Since I’ve been publishing this blog for fifteen years now (!!!), I feel as if I’ve covered everything and sometimes many times over. Still, every week I sit and stare at a blank page in Microsoft Word and try to think of what to write!
My ideas most frequently come from what I’ve been doing or reading that week. If I am struggling with a bit of writing craft myself or notice something that one of my coaching clients is doing, I’ll use that as a topic. I love finding and reading new or new-to-me books on craft and will write up a review of what I’ve read. And, in the past few years, I’ve been doing a lot more playing with tech.
And now, finally, in order to make my life a little easier, I’m going to assign each week in the month a different topic like so:
Week 1: Tech
Week 2: Writing Craft
Week 3: Book Review
Week 4: Publishing
And if there is a fifth week in the month, some bonus topic. Also, if I’m struggling to find a publishing topic, I may throw in another craft article (can I really think of twelve publishing ideas to write about? I don’t know!).
So, now you know what to expect of me each week. If you love reading about only one of these topics, you’ll know to seek out my blog on that one Sunday. If you’re interested in them all, then I hope to see you each week. But now you know what you can expect from me.
As this is the second week of the month, here is a brief post about something I’m seeing in one of my client’s work:
Using Jargon in Your Book
I have a lovely client who writes contemporary romance. In real life she’s a professor of bioengineering — pretty impressive, right? So, naturally, as a new author, she decided for her first book to write what she knows: a romance between two cancer researchers. There’s only one very minor problem with this—the jargon!
As a scientist herself, my client thinks nothing of talking about different types of cells, the steps the characters take in the study they’re performing, and she throws in some (I think?) wonderful analogies:
“Seeing her take command of their project, get invested in their next steps, it was like teasing a pathogen in front of a phagocyte, he couldn’t resist the desire to consume her–to act on their shared ideas.”
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got no idea what it was like to tease a pathogen in front of a phagocyte (whatever that is!). You can understand what she’s trying to say—she gives us a bit of a definition, some bit of context, but does it work for the lay reader? The non-scientist?
There are times when it does and when it doesn’t.
If there is no definition or explanation of what she’s talking about I’m completely lost. On the other hand, using such analogies and descriptions gives her work color, makes it really stand out for your ordinary contemporary romance.
Using jargon in your work gives people familiar with that occupation a tickle at being in know—so long as you are using it right. For those of us not familiar with the subject it brings us into the story and the life of the characters.
Jargon adds authenticity to your character’s voice. The trick is not to overuse it. I can accept not understanding a brief description of the experiment the characters are conducting, but if it goes on for more than a short paragraph I’m going to start skipping ahead. The story isn’t moving forward and I’ve lost interest (unless I am actually fascinated by the scientific process, which, I imagine, few people are, or if they are, do they really want to read about it a romance novel?).
So do you add jargon? Yes, absolutely! It adds color, authenticity, and something different and interesting to your book. Just be sure you define the jargon for lay people and don’t over do it.