Gail Carriger

Headstone: Ate too much custard. Drank too much tea. Died still angry about Firefly & the Library of Alexandria. Queer & femme AF NYT bestselling author. I'm just here for cuteness + Pride, join the Chirrup for my actual stuff. gailcarriger.com/chirrup

[gailcarriger]

In case you want to play!

[gailcarriger]

In case you want to play!

[pawthorn]

Shout out to Tamora Pierce specifically for making her lead female protagonist have a crush on a friend, not act on it, and eventually out-grow that crush and feel grateful that she never said anything.

There are so few stories that affirm choices like that, that admit that feelings don’t always last forever and that choosing not to pursue romance is actually a very valid choice. I love the Protector of the Small series for a lot of reasons, but this is a big one.

[joeyclaire]

my mom’s trans allyship is on another level

[joeyclaire]

she once called my friend’s deadname “that stupid thing his mom calls him”

[asideoftrashplease]

I was once talking to my 75 year old Chinese dad in passing about a trans friend of mine not getting along with her family and he asked why and I said err, because she's trans, dad.

He asked: "Oh, was she the only son or something before *waves hand*?" and I was like, warily, no she has two brothers. And he responded with a great deal of confusion: "Then what's their problem?!?!"

Later on: "Anyway, even if she WAS the only son, that's not her problem, that's THEIR problem. They should have had more sons if they were going to be bothered about it."

[jackdaw-kraai]

Knowing what I know about chinese culture there’s something so beautifully simple about his logic of “no son to carry on family name/look after them in old age/all the other stuff? Skill issue! Should’ve had more sons! Should’ve kept the family unit strong yourself! Blaming your daughter for your own failure of family planning is W E A K!” and then he learns there are more sons and it completely breaks his train of logic because if yes to more sons then why issue?? You have two others and you’re mad you don’t have three?? Whack. Greedy.

I can already envision him as an ancient lord of a powerful house looking down his nose at the latest messenger bringing gossip from the house of his offspring’s friend and going “now they have a daughter to marry into another family for powerful alliances and two sons to take over her former duties and somehow they’re still complaining about their good fortune? They shall not survive the winter.” and then sipping his tea with all the grim satisfaction of someone about to watch an unnecessary soap opera of drama unfold from a safe distance or something

[asideoftrashplease]

That's a funny image for sure, though I think if there's a typology of Chinese philosophical mentality, there would likely be a spectrum from "Confucian patriarchal lord" to "Buddhist monk / Taoist hermit" and my dad renounced at 18, was a monk for a time, before coming back to work for his family since they were poor 🤷 it was what 3 years after we gained independence from the British so the economy was probs a mess.

When he found and married my mom, he was nearly 45 and they had so much trouble conceiving that he went to a Guanyin temple supposedly "magical" for praying for children. When I was born (not a son, also an only child until now), my mom said, "when you prayed at the temple did you ask for a son?" He said, "Aiya, everyone is asking for sons, so I said any gender is okay. If I asked for a son, maybe we wouldn't have gotten a child because Guanyin's son quota is already used up. Do you want that to happen?" My mom laughed for days about "son quota" and continues to tell people about it today, but her honest answer was: "Any child is okay."

Jokes on them. They didn't specify a gender, so Guanyin Ma gave them a non-binary child!

More seriously: my dad doesn't care about sons. When I told my parents that I wouldn't marry or have children, I thought he might be disappointed, but he wasn't. Then again, maybe I should have expected that, given he tried to become a monk at 18 🤪 I think he said the thing about sons to poke fun at people who care too much about sons because he frankly thinks it's all a bit ridiculous. In his eyes, a child is a child, so what's the point in caring about gender? If the child "changes" gender, does it make a difference?

When I first spoke to my mom about trans issues, still closeted at the time, she said, "I don't understand why they feel the way they do, but they aren't hurting anyone so don't bother them. They are normal people just minding their own business." I said, "I agree, but on the topic of not understanding: Mom, do you think that when we reincarnate, we are always born into a body of the same gender?" In Buddhist stories, there was a lifetime in which Guanyin was reincarnated as a cow or ox, and in repayment for my birth, my dad does not eat beef till this day. Gender or species isn't constant in the cycle of rebirth. My mom said, "No, you're right. Whatever thing that carries on has no gender. I was probably male, human or animal, in one of my past lives." And she has supported trans rights even more ever since.

[beemovieerotica]

[mbta-unofficial]

Holy shit queen

[officialbluebeetle-deactivated2]

ok but what if like. werewolves transform under the full moon but theres just this one and by day hes a big tough guy and then when he transforms hes a tiny dog. just fucking. just fucking turns into the tiniest, fluffiest dog

imagine that howling at the moon

[officialbluebeetle-deactivated2]

imagine

[verceri-deactivated20141109]

Truly a ferocious predator.

[verceri-deactivated20141109]

And lastly: (He’s the pack leader obviously)

[itsa-me-amelie]

the big wolves are his younger sisters

[heidmaan]

oh my fucking god it got better

[trochaic-mutant-ninja-tetrameter]

🎶Lycan with a cute form! Puppy power!🎵

[mythicaldreamer]

I need an animated show of this yesterday

[gailcarriger]

I just learned these existed and it's possible I am WAY too excited about them.

BOOK FANS!!!!

[shamebats]

[kabretoss]

It does matter. It matters exactly like this.

Last month I was in the ER, the most vulnerable emotionally that I've ever been while putting myself in the hands of a stranger. That the intake doctor had a lanyard heavy with Pride pins mattered. It's such a tiny gesture, but the amount of safety I felt because of it, during an agonizing moment in my life, was huge.

[gailcarriger]

[gailcarriger]

[gailcarriger]

[gailcarriger]

[gailcarriger]

Just some cute pictures from around the office. My teacup collection. A recent gift from some readers, the knitted octopus.

[gailcarriger]

30 Authors by Whom I’ve Read at Least 5 Books

I have stuff for you today about my favorite authors, but in a round about way. Simply put, here are authors who I read a lot. In fact I’ve read over 5 of their books. But that’s partly because they’ve written over 5 books! I do have other favorite authors.

10 authors by whom I’ve read at least 5 books (the way back version)

So these are authors I read a lot in my youth. This is going date me. (But, frankly, you can find out how old I actually am if you try hard enough. This is the Internet Age, there are no secrets, only lies. Good luck finding my actual birth date. That’s under lock down.)

Garth Nix

Tanya Huff 

Kate Elliott

Lee & Miller

Anne McCaffrey

Robin McKinley

Patricia Wrede

Jane Yolen

Sharon Green

Tamora Pierce

10 authors by whom I’ve read at least 5 books (the yes, really version)

Some of these authors may surprise you since, for various (probably not very valid) reasons, I don’t seem to talk about them much.

SL Viehl

Jean Johnson

Moira Moore

Eli Easton

Lyn Gala

Kim Fielding

Amy Lane

AE Via

Cat Sebastian

JD Macdonald

No one will be surprised by this last batch:

10 authors by whom I’ve read at least 5 books (the of course version)

Never say you’re surprised by any of these!

Douglas Adams

Terry Pratchett

Mercedes Lackey

Patricia Briggs

Alyssa Cole

Courtney Milan

KJ Charles

R Cooper

Alexis Hall

TJ Klune

Yours (destined to be killed by a tumbling TBR pile),

Miss Gail 

[gailcarriger]

[gailcarriger]

What is an author style guide? How about a style sheet?

In putting together a pronunciation guide post and video for my science fiction series (aliens make everything complicated, including language) I realized I’ve never talked about what a style guide actually is (for us fiction writers, I mean). I started to amend that post with an end note on this subject, and then realized I was writing a whole new post. Because most of the stuff out there is about style guides for academic/non-fic authors and this… isn’t.

So here, Gentle Reader, is a guide to style guides for fiction authors!

What is a Style Guide aka Style Sheet?

Style guides/sheets are something copy editors give to authors, and/or authors give to editors (and their publishing houses) indicating preferential sentence structure, made up words, names, and unique language.

Why do we do this?

So that the copy editor (CE) knows what words NOT to correct or change (what to ignore) but also how those non-standard words are meant to be spelled – since authors can (and often do) misspell their own words. Also so the CE will not attempt to change those intentional choices an author makes around grammar that is part of the author/narrator voice.

Fiction Author Style Guides

This is usually a universal guide to how the author uses language (unless the author changes their voice substantially between books – see Tanya Huff). It has to do with how an author writes and how they like to structure their sentences and grammar.

It will be included in the style sheet for each individual book/series, but is pretty much linked to an author’s specific voice (narrative style), so carries throughout their work (although it can and does change and evolve over time).

Author style guide example (Gail Carriger)

My own personal style guide is something you may or may not have noticed as you read my books, it includes things like:

Punctuation General

use serial comma (aka Oxford comma)

italics or roman according to main surrounding text

possessives of s-terminal names unless already plural/plural-appearing: James’s

ellipses: unspaced, three, space after if terminal replaces terminal punctuation

parenthetical use permitted (for interjection of narrator voice)

conversational language & grammar permitted in dialogue

Punctuation Author Preferences

no semicolons if possible in general (space en dash space instead in narration, comma splices standard in dialogue) NEVER use ; in dialogue

space en dash space in place of just em dash, save for cut-off speech AKA opt for the en dash (–) with two spaces either side when using for grammar purposes (so in place of the : or the ;)*

em dash** only for interrupted dialogue with spaces only on outside AKA use un-spaced em dashes (—) only for interrupted speech like th—

cutoff speech indicated by em dash is not followed by sentence-terminal punctuation

comma use (or lack thereof) driven primarily by comprehensibility, so rules may be bent or ignored entirely if necessary

restrict colon use, opt for the en dash if possible

 do NOT correct to cliche (e.g. it is meant to read “all pompadour and no circumstance”)

fragment sentences permitted at all times

choice to use contraction is intentional, especially in dialogue, and used to indicate speech pattern, class, linguistic register, or narrator voice – please do not standardize contraction use

leapt instead of leaped

Mr Mrs Miss without “.” ***

leave space before paragraph return

Typefaces & Capitalization

italics for: emphasis, words as words, words as sounds, implied/recalled dialogue, direct thoughts, long displayed/written text

Roman for emphasis within italicized passages

Small caps for signs, and displayed/written text messages

Titles like Lord and Priest, familial titles like Mother, and noble addresses like Your Majesty and His Majesty capped when used in place of name (direct address)

Other

ago/before, that/which distinctions maintained where feasible

like is acceptable substitute for as if

composed words that begin with mid or half are hyphenated if not specified in Webster’s (e.g., mid-roll)

comma before terminal either/neither/too if it refers to proximate item (e.g., “I don’t like this, and I don’t like that, either” vs. “I don’t like this, and she doesn’t like it either”)

times are to be written in American format (e.g., 12:40, not 12.40); AM/PM uppercased with no periods

-ward, not –wards (except in dialogue and first-person narration when consistent with prior usage)

* En & em dash issues: I have a complex reason for this that mostly has to do with being a digital reader, you can ask me about it sometime if you are really interested.

** The em dash is the REALLY long one.

*** Mr (with no .) This is something my American publisher (Orbit) did from the start with Soulless, it’s part of their style guide, so I adopted it for constancy throughout all my books

3 Other Style Guides

1. Publishing houses also have style guides.

Publishing houses have their own style guides that their editors operate under. This will include things like whether or not to use the oxford comma, how dialogue is type set, whether the spelling is British or American, which dictionary (Webster, Oxford, etc…) and which style guide (usually Chicago), and so forth. Sometimes this conflicts with the author’s preferences. This can result in… negotiation.

In my experience the author wins about 50% of the time.

I should note that things like whether a book is anglicized (USA or UK English spelling, but also use of words like forwards versus forward) is not always up to the author. I talk about this in this blog post: The Ladybird Problem

2. Copy editors have preferences

Also copy editors can have their own tics. Things they really don’t like and always want to change. (Ask me about “that banning” sometime over drinks.) Sometimes us authors have to adjust our style sheets to compensate.

Technically, however, a copy editor should adjust themselves to the author’s voice and never try to correct for aspects that are intrinsic to their writer DNA. But if that writer quirk is technically an error in the English language a copy editor will likely have a very difficult time of it. (Like an intentional miss-use or misspelling of a specific word.)

To be fair, so might the readers.

3. Book or Series Specific Style Sheets

The specific style sheet as handed off to a copy editor (or the reverse depending on your relationship with that editor) will include your style guide (if you have not worked with that editor before) and then a style sheet for this exact book in play.

Because this is language (and to make matters confusing) the terms style guide and style sheet are conflated constantly, don’t worry about it.

Anyway, in addition to all of the above elements a style sheet will include all the made up words, names, and concepts related to that specific book/series. Also all iterations of those names (like both Dyesi and Dyesid Prime).

These are the things readers will notice and ask you about. Mostly “how do you pronounce x?”

I have a blog post about names and pronunciation here. But when I dove entirely into sci-fi for the Tinkered Starsong series I realized I need to do a whole video on how to pronounce all my made up stuff.

Not just for you, but also for my poor audiobook narrator!

Book Style Sheet – Example Tinkered Starsong Series

Characters/groups, titles

acolytes (divinity)

armiger (Wheel)

Asterism (pantheon)

Berril (Shawalee) (light grace, winged)

Bob (cyborg) (Missit’s bodyguard)

calator (rank of acolyte) (organize events)

cantors (pantheon position)

carborgs (organic implants for modification)

Cassin (Sapien) (cantor) (from Attacon Prime)

Chalamee (Dyesi) (acolyte sacerdote)

Chaymay (Sapien) (Orrow high cantor)

chiropterans (winged humanoids)

countervails (Kill’ki position)

crudrats (Wheel outcasts)

Deducts (Agatay faction)

Del (Phex’s boss)

diarchs (leaders on Agatay)

diefthyn acolytes (focus on the artistic side of the divinity)

Dimsum (murmel)

divinity, the (Dyesi)

Elder K (bodyguard for Zil)

Endants (Agatay faction)

Errata (pantheon)

Fandina (Dyesi) (purpled blue skin) (sifter)

fixed, the

Fortew (Sapien) (Tillam low cantor)

Gemma (Sapien) (Attacon 7) (cantor)

graces (dark graces: bold and interrupting, formulate pauses, break sound patterns with stillness, shade colors) (light graces: create rhythm/motion, enhance sound, brighten skinsift)

heart sister

Heshoyi (Dyesi) (calator)

imagoes (final Dyesi instar) (variants: 1 protector type, 2 breeders) (females very large) (m/f/n/pl)

Itrio (Sapien) (bodyguard for Fortew) (from high-gravity planet)

Jinyesun (Dyesi) (iridescent teal skin)

Jutte (grace)

Kagee Setset-Four (Agatay) (Sapien) (grey, silver hair) (high cantor)

Kallow (Sapien) (low cantor)

Kill’ki Coalition, the (territory, political allegiance)

Korpuna (Cotylan) (chef)

Kumaimi (Dyesi matriarch)

Lenqihe (Dyesi sifter)

Levin Retmor-Nine (first Endant, Diarch of Agatay)

Lhar

Liera Conmor-One (Agatay)

matriarch (breeder imago Dyesi)

Melalan (Tillam) (sifter)

Miramo Conmet-One (first Modal, Diarch of Agatay)

Missit (Sapien) (Tillam high cantor)

Modals (Agatay faction)

monitor (Attacon government overseer)

Monji (grace)

nymphs (Dyesi) (genderless: it)

Ohongshe (Dyesi precatio) (purple eyes, pink-tinged skin)

Orlol (Errata)

Orrow (newer pantheon)

Phex (m) (barista) (blue hair from crud)

Pommey (light grace)

potentials (godhood candidates)

precatio (rank of acolyte) (manages the pantheon)

progenetor (Wheel)

Protans (infertile Agatay)

protectors (imago variant)

Quasilun (Dyesi bodyguard) (imago) (nb: they/them per au)

sacerdotes (acolytes in charge of worshiper management/interaction)

Seryloh (Dyesi) (low, raspy voice)

Sharm (nb) (Dorien)

Shawalee (species) (s/pl invariable)

skinless (Dyesi)

skinsifters, sifters (Dyesi)

softskin, softskins (sensitive to sound alone)

Tarloun (god)

Tern (Sapien) (Cotylan, from Cotilax) (Tillam light grace) (fold-theory physicist)

Tillam (pantheon) (Missit, Fortew, Zil, Tern, Yorunlee, Melalan)

Tyve (Jakaa Nova) (dark grace) (Zil’s sister) (skin dark magenta)

Villi (Sapien)

Wyn (Orrow dark grace)

Xillon (pantheon)

Yislofei (sifter)

Yorunlee (Dyesi) (Tillam sifter)

Zalihan (Dyesi who recruited Phex) (cousin to Ohongshe)

Zil (Jakaa Nova) ((Tillam dark grace) (Tyve’s brother)

Places, Planets, Species

Agatay (also adj) (planet, pop < 1 billion)

Apex Dome (near Dyesid Prime) (on Divinity 12)

Attacon 7 (moon)

Attacon Prime (planet)

Cotilax (planet)

Cotyla (adj Cotylan)

Cotylan (species)

Cotylan Mainspace (territory)

Divine Three, the (satellite moons Divinity 12, 24, 36) (pop approx 30 million Dyesi acolytes) (connected to each other by tubes and bridge through space) (orbiting ring around Dyesid Prime)

Divinity 12 (moon of Dyesid Prime)

Divinity 24 (moon of Dyesid Prime)

Divinity 36 (moon of Dyesid Prime)

Dome 6 (Agatay)

Dome Precept (Syrunid Prime)

Dorien (species) (s/pl)

Dyesid Prime (Dyesi homeworld) (ringed) (covered with storm clouds, purple)

Dyesi, the (s/pl) (taller than humans, skin blue range and shimmering, huge eyes, six-fingered hands, pointed ears with fin-like crests) (language: Dyesi) (nb: it, itself)

Earth 10 (planet)

Galoi (species)

Hominins (HS or H species classification) extensive genetic tinkering renders them distinct from original homo Sapiens.

Hu-core (territory)

Hydrab (species)

Jakaa Nova (species) (in Kill’ki Coalition)

Kill’ki (species)

S-class (genius)

Sapien, Sapiens (S1-5 species classification, AKA Homo sapiens, where S2=heavy gravity, or S3=extensive environmental pressure evolution)

Syrunid Prime (adj/demonym Syruni) (relatively close to Dyesid Prime)

Suryni (species)

Wheel, the (xenophobic, Sapiens)

Other

affiliative

aestheticists

beam (light transferred trans-space information/communication)

Best New Pantheon award

“Blue Mirror” (Asterism song)

body mods

cafe (au pref)

cagy (au pref)

crud (dark matter?) (“flush”) (DMP)

crud lung (non-baryonic bronchopulmonary attrition)

cyborg

“Day Gone”

delineation (removal from political/inheritance obligations on Agatay)

Divine Awards, the (at Apex Dome)

dracohors

frozen register

FTL (faster than light)

Galactic Common (language)

Galactic Formal (diplomat’s language)

god drop / fall from grace (drain after a major dome)

godfix

godsdamn

godsong

goodbye (au pref)

grace name (one syllable)

gracework

heartsound

hiccough (au pref)

home space (modeled on home world)

home world (au pref)

hu-core

ident ring, ident band, ident cuff, idents, wrist ident, finger ident, ident chip

Immortal Achievement Award, the

infonet

instar

interface statue (of a god, personality insert)

Intergalactic Antislavery Act, the

godfix, godfixed

godsong, godsongs

keyskins

koel (songbird)

koriemin (spice)

leapt (au pref)

medi-bed

megafauna

microscale

mods

“Moon Made” Asterism song

murmel, murmels (small blue space-born creatures) (monkey-cats)

naivety (au pref)

nerve-racking (au pref)

Neuro Blue (neurodegenerative disorder, slang)

Nusplunder (new tourship) (former dome-construction vessel)

off-planet/off-world (au pref)

planetfall

planetless

planetside

Post-Darwinism

putt-putts (Dyesi vehicles) (round, soft, globular, seat 3 nymphs)

refuse (slang for refugee)

regs

“Riverrun” (Errata)

saposi juice (Dyesi drink)

Scholar Emeritus Award

screwpine

scythers (blades that harvest dark matter)

sentients

silkhorn (powdered Dyesi mushrooms) (bluish)

skinless register

skinsift, skinsifts, skinsifted (skin patterns formed to music)

sodorium lorithite (soporific)

somaform, somaformed (when human genetics are terraformed to accommodate the planet)

songbruise, songbruised, songbruising

songburn, songburned, songburning

songsift

soulsift

star shine (au pref)

stardust-striation

“Starshine” (Tillam song)

sync (au pref)

synth stickers (imitate skinsift)

themself themselves (for Quasilun)

“Tillam’s Lament” (“Five”)

tourship (au pref)

triggered (genetically optimized)

unsifted

verity (Dyesi drug)

wearables

wergild (au pref)

wrist beamer

10 More Installments of Gail talking about publishing?

10 Things About Publishing This Author Wishes Everyone Knew

30+ Blogs & Podcasts for Authors

7 Tips for Getting Over Writer’s Block

How to Write (and Not to Write) an Author Bio

The Pros & Cons of Cons

7 Side Effects of Being a Full Time Author

Pen Names, Cover Art & Reader Betrayal

Plot Versus Pace (Why That Book Sucks)

Learn to Let Go of the 10%

Writing Humor

Yours (destined to be killed arguing over semi-colons),

Miss Gail 

Find my books 

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[gailcarriger]