When The Feedsack Dress came out in 2007, I started a blog on Typepad that focused on life during the late 1940s and early 1950s. I stopped posting there in 2012, but you can still link to The Feedsack Kids. I’m posting some new blogs and my favorite old ones here.
Category Archives: Resources
How Editors Stay in Style
If you’re an editor, you know the importance of the new 1192-page 18th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. Since the University of Chicago Press published the first edition in 1906, other book publishers, many periodicals, and now electronic publications have accepted Chicago as the primary guide.
Even publishers who write their own style manuals, or settle for a pamphlet on which Chicago guidelines they don’t accept, study the latest edition to adjust editorial styles.
Without style manuals, we would rely on writers’ personal preferences and editors’ memories to be consistent on thousands of disputed questions. The two most common may be which numbers to write out and whether to use the serial comma. Most newspaper style manuals, for example, digress from Chicago in writing out numbers up to 10 (versus through one hundred) and in omitting the comma before and in a series (e.g., apples, oranges and bananas) unless it’s required for clarity.
IMHO, whatever the style manual, clarity should supersede consistency.
Chicago’s editors do extensive research and consultation on trends. The 18th, for example, reaffirms some old wavering choices (e.g., capitalizing the first word in a complete sentence following a colon) and identifies spelling preferences for new terms (e.g., omitting the hyphens in ebooks and esports).
Hyphenation is a major headache, and the manual devotes more than a dozen pages to multiple examples of pesky hyphens. Through several editions, I’ve referred to that advice more than any other.
Some changes reflect social attitudes, including preferred ways to refer to individuals or groups. In an earlier edition, editors recommended accepting they as a singular (standard centuries ago then abandoned in formal writing) but withdrew it because of protests. The 18th edition cautiously gives they as an option for referring to a person whose gender is unknown. Stay tuned.
Another change is capitalizing Indigenous, considered a parallel to Black and White. (Some style manuals favor lower case for all three.) In recent decades I‘ve seen editors move from Indian to Native American or the name of a particular tribe (e.g., Navajo) to American Indian.
The 18th also updates production sections, including advice for self-publishers on such basics as choosing fonts and margins and such new problems as preparing notes for an audio book. AI receives attention (e.g., citing AI-generated images).
To read more information on changes in all sections, go to https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/help-tools/what-s-new.html. If you want to buy the 18th, shop around for the best price. The list price is $75, but you may find a better deal from the publisher or an online bookseller. If you plan to use the manual in an editorial office or don’t lift weights, consider the online edition.
—Carolyn Mulford
My Personal Research Library
Most writers build up a personal library for their major projects. Three other mystery writers—Laura Bradford/Elizabeth Lynn Casey, Laura Lebow, and
Sujata Massey—and I will share what we keep at hand during a panel on research at Malice Domestic, a national annual conference for mystery readers and writers.
Here are some titles on my shelves.
Crime and Investigation
Two books I’ve used for years are Forensics and Fiction: Clever, Intriguing, and Downright Odd Questions From Crime Writers and Murder and Mayhem by D. P. Lyle, M.D. The cardiologist and author answers mystery writers’ medical and post-death questions, providing essential details and ideas for ways to kill characters. He also takes questions at http://www.dplylemd.com.
One of my favorite books on police work is Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers, by Lee Lofland, a former police officer. He shows and tells the basics writers need to know even if writing about amateur sleuths. See http://www.leelofland.com.
Other books I open from time to time are Complete Idiot’s Guide to Criminal Investigation, by Alan Axelrod and Guy Antinozzi; Crime Scene, by Cyril H. Wecht, M.D.: Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science, by Richard Saferstein;
Scene of the Crime: A Writer’s Guide to Crime-Scene Investigations, by Anne Wingate; and The Writer’s Complete Crime Reference Book, by Martin Roth.
While writing Show Me the Ashes (coming December 2015), I relied heavily on Practical Fire and Arson Investigation, by John J. O’Connor.
Useful References
I have numerous books that don’t concern crime but help me in creating setting. With almost every mystery I study the illustrations in American Shelter, by Lester Walker, to create the layout and exterior of homes.
Two other books that receive frequent use are Know Your Antiques, by Ralph and Terry Kovel, and Reader’s Digest’s Nature in America: Your A-to-Z Guide to Our Country’s Animals, Plants, Landforms and Other Natural Features.
Among the other books I dip into occasionally are those on cooking, history, art, and foreign languages.
Tip: Buy references books at library book sales and from used book stores.
The CIA
In developing the character of former CIA covert operative Phoenix Smith, I read a number of books on the CIA, including these autobiographies: Blowing My Cover: My Life as a CIA Spy, by Lindsay Moran; Denial and Deception: An Insiders View of the CIA from Iran-Contra to 9/11, by Melissa Boyle Mahle; and Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, by Valerie Plame Wilson.
Other Resources
I own a large collection of books on writing and editing in general and a small collection of how-to books on writing mysteries. For a short list that I posted a couple of years ago, go to Show Me the Mysteries, Writing Tips and Resources.
You can’t find everything on the Net, and some books you want to reach out and pick up whenever a question arises.
—Carolyn Mulford