TO ‘E’ OR NOT TO ‘E

TO ‘E’ OR NOT TO ‘E’

Now as a writer I’m about to make a confession. I am a horrible speller, not a very desirable trait in a person that has aspirations to be a writer. Ever since I can remember starting to read and write, nearly 55 years ago spelling has been a profound challenge for me. For many years a good dictionary was one of my best friends, so the creation of spell check is a true blessing!

Where am I going with this post? Well, when I started my second novel I had several titles in mind and as the book progressed one title just seemed perfect.

REBELS AND DESPERADOES

Short, simple, descriptive and it really summed up the story line well. Now when I had the cover produced and I showed it to friends, family and acquaintances - their first reaction wasn't wow, great cover, it was - hey you spelled DESPERADOES wrong!!!  Virtually everyone that saw it thought it should be spelled without the E, as DESPERADO.

OK, I’m not stupid and I checked several online dictionaries, pulled out my old book version. In every case it was correct to spell DESPERADOES with an E or without the E, it’s sort of a tomato- tomatoes sort of word, and either spelling was perfectly acceptable. I even went as far as asking my father Captain Stuart (a walking dictionary) if my spelling choice was correct, and after a long discussion - he agreed DESPERADOES was an acceptable version of the plural of desperado.

So to further delve into this challenging word I posed this question to the WRITERS HANGOUT GROUP on Linkedin. Several members responded and concurred that either was correct, however one Spanish writer pointed out that the word desperado is of Spanish origin and in Spanish the plural is spelled without the E.

But the most pertinent comment was that it didn't matter what was correct, it’s what’s perceived to be correct.  There cannot be a spelling error on the cover, no matter what!

So what it comes down to in the end is that it rally doesn't matter what I believe is the correct spelling, or what I prefer. What’s crucial is what do potential readers think is correct. If they see the book’s cover and immediately say, hmm - is that a spelling mistake, then - yes it’s a spelling mistake. It doesn't matter in any way shape or fashion that I know it’s correct, if they see it as a spelling error, that it’s an error.

Therefore, the title will be:   REBELS AND DESPERADOS

I’d be remiss if I didn't credit the bard- William Shakespeare for inspiring the title of this blog post.

But: ‘Would a desperado without the E be just as desperate?’

  Sorry, but I just couldn't resist!

REBELS AND DESPERADOS - MILESTONE ACHIEVED

REBEL EMPIRE- BOOK TWO- MILESTONE ACHIEVED

I started writing this blog to chronicle my journey as a writer and at the time of the first post on May 29- I had already completed my first rough draft of the second novel in the series REBEL EMPIRE -entitled REBELS AND DESPERADOS which is the sequel to GETTYSBURG REDUX. So today I completed my first re-read and edit of the novel and I consider this one of the first true milestones in this new writer’s journey. So, a milestone achieved, and I must admit I really like this story a lot. I felt I had much more creative freedom with this novel than I did with the first book. In this case there was little or no historical baggage to handle, I used just a few actual historical characters and had free reign to let the creative juices flow.

There was a great deal of trepidation and anxiety in my mind when I sat down on Jan 1, 2013 to begin the sequel, after all I had completed GETTYSBURG REDUX in 1996 and a period of nearly 17 years had passed where I had not written a single word of fiction. Could I do it again, was there a second novel rambling around in my poor old brain? All very valid questions, but fueled with a few great ideas and a new lap top PC, many thanks to the family for the Christmas gift and building on that kernel of an idea which had floated around in my mind for years I started to write. I must admit that this novel basically wrote itself and while I had set an ambitious goal of 200 pages and a completion date of mid July, I was incredibly pleased to be finished the first draft by May 9^th, way ahead of my own schedule!.  Like I said the novel basically wrote itself, and while I had a reasonably firm idea of where the first half of the story would go, the second half took off and went to unexpected exciting places.

So now the first true rough draft is completed. My goal is now to take a second look at the formatting to seek any strange formatting problems, and then do a final second detailed edit.  Once that is complete, hopefully by the middle of July it will then go to my editor.  With a little luck the proposed publishing date is mid September. Fingers crossed.

One of the challenges for a writer that takes the independent course and self publishes is the task of getting a cover, a decent cover.  For REBELS AND DESPERADOS I had a good idea of what I wanted as a cover and I produced a mock up image using excel. However, I knew it was nowhere good enough to be used as a finished cover.  This is where my talented son-in-law Pato Lahman took my primitive attempts and ideas and worked some magic.

Here are the two covers he produced.

Cover 1- wanted poster cover

Cover 2, flag only

I prefer cover 1 with the wanted poster, so I’d love to hear your opinion, please let me know which one is better.