Blog - Thomas Hauck, Professional Book Editor and Ghostwriter

Should You End a Sentence With a Preposition?

Posted on March 10, 2024 by Thomas Hauck

In English grammar, a preposition is a word that typically comes before a noun or pronoun and expresses a relationship between that noun/pronoun and another word in the sentence. Prepositions indicate location, time, direction, manner, or other relationships. Here are some examples of prepositions:

In: She lives in New York.

On: The book is on the table.

Under: The cat is under the bed.

At: We will meet at the park.

By: I traveled by train.

For: This gift is for you.

With: He went with his friends.

To: She went to the store.

From: I received a letter from him.

Between: The sandwich is between two slices of bread.

You can see that a preposition is like a bridge word. By itself, it has little substance. Its existence is justified by the noun with which it appears, as well as the accompanying verb:

“She lives in New York.” The preposition “in” merely connects and clarifies the two substantive ideas, “She lives” and “New York.”

Until recently, grammarians insisted that a sentence should never end with a preposition. Among academics, the rule against prepositions was said to originate with Latin, the “father” of the five Romance Languages: French; Italian; Portuguese; Romanian; and Spanish. In Latin, a structurally sound sentence can’t be made with a preposition placed at the end.

But that rule is fading. Today’s linguists say that because English is not a Romance language, we need not use them as a guide.

In 2024, no less an authority than Merriam-Webster announced on Instagram, “It is permissible in English for a preposition to be what you end a sentence with.” To underscore its edict, as you can see, it used the preposition “with” at the end of the sentence.

The Problem? Prepositions Are Weak Words

In my opinion, strong sentences begin and end with strong words—either nouns or verbs. This goes back to the days when humans communicated primarily by speaking to each other, and the most effective way to get your point across was to make your last word the strongest word. The last word of your sentence is like the punchline of a joke: the words preceding it are the “set up,” and the full power of your message is not released until the end.

Consider the sentence used by Merriam-Webster in its Instagram post: “It is permissible in English for a preposition to be what you end a sentence with.”

Could you ever imagine a sentence more wimpy, convoluted, and weak? Instead, try this variation:

“When you end a sentence in English, it’s permissible to use…. [drum roll please…. let the suspense build]…. a preposition!”

In our revised example, we end the sentence by revealing a solid noun (“preposition”) that has real weight. We do not end the sentence with a wimpy preposition.

Here’s another example. Advocates of ending sentences with prepositions will point to this old-fashioned sentence as being foolishly correct: “This is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.” According to them, this sentence should read, “This is the type of arrant pedantry I will not put up with.” It sounds more natural, they say, to use the preposition “with” at the end.

I say that both are lousy examples of sentence construction.

Here’s how I would write it: “I will not put up with this type of errant pedantry.”

We end on a solid noun, “pedantry.” Simple, direct, and to the point.

If you insist on starting the sentence in the original way, then I’d write it like this:

“This is the type of arrant pedantry I condemn.” I’ve replaced the weak phrasal verb “will not put up with” with a much more concise verb, “condemn.”

One more example. Advocates of prepositional endings offer this sentence:

“English grammar isn’t something with which to mess.”

That’s awkward. (True.) They say this version is acceptable: “English grammar isn’t something to mess with.”

I say both are weak. I would write:

“Don’t mess with English grammar.”

A simple command, simply stated.

Is It Ever Better to End with a Preposition?

Here’s a good question: Are there occasions where a preposition is strong enough to use at the end of a sentence?

Yes, such as in cases where you’re using a phrasal verb, which is a commonly used verb consisting of multiple words. Some examples are “log in,” “zone out,” and “look up.” For example, you might say, “I went to my account, and to my horror I discovered I couldn’t log in.” In this case, the preposition “in” cannot be separated from “log.” They function as one word.

My takeaway from this discussion is this: Always look for the strongest and clearest words to begin and end your sentences. Finish not with a whimper but a bang!

Posted in Essays, Grammar and Writing Skills | Tagged book edit, Boston book editor, freelance editor, good writing, grammar, thomas hauck book editor | Leave a comment

Lessons from the Extreme Economy of Pop Song Lyrics

Posted on March 3, 2024 by Thomas Hauck

Here’s a bit of trivia that may interest you.

From 1962 until 1970—a period of eight years—the Beatles collectively composed and released about 200 original songs. Various experts have estimated that the average Beatles song has about 200 words. Some have more and some have fewer, but that’s the average. As a songwriter myself, this sounds about right. So that means the four moptops—mostly John and Paul, but also George and Ringo—produced about 40,000 words in eight years.

(As a side note, the emergence of rap music in the 1980s exploded this formula. Rap songs can have hundreds of words! The full-length 1979 version of “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang runs a reported 3,000 words. Eminem’s 2013 track “Rap God” holds an official world record with 1,560 words in just six minutes and three seconds.)

The total of 40,000 Beatles words is actually inflated. If you know anything about pop songs, it’s that they’re highly repetitious. The standard verse-chorus format means the chorus—the heart of the song—is repeated, often several times. So I think a more accurate total would be 20,000 original, non-repeated words.

Think about that! Twenty thousand words between four writers in eight years. Of course, writing words was just one part of the job. They also had to write the music for each set of lyrics and then perform the songs themselves. For many artists, that alone would be a full-time job.

The Total Career Vocabulary

We may wonder how many unique words pop songwriters use over the course of their careers. In other words, what’s their total vocabulary? According to a June 2015 study by the music lyrics website Musixmatch, the songwriter with the biggest vocabulary—that is, the biggest dictionary of actual words used across their entire catalogue—is Eminem, who as of that year had used 8,818 unique words. Rap artists including Jay-Z, Tupac, and Kanye West held down the other four top spots. The only similarly wordy pop songwriter was Bob Dylan, whose career vocabulary comprised 4,883 unique words. The Beatles were far down on the list, which is no doubt a reflection of their focus on the simplicity and universality of their songs. They used simple words that anyone could grasp and understand.

At the other end of the spectrum, consider that William Shakespeare is estimated to have used a vocabulary of more than 20,000 words in his plays and poems. His works provide the first recorded use of over 1,700 words in the English language, many of which he invented. But of course theatrical plays are highly word-intensive, and feature characters who collectively may talk nonstop for two hours or more.

Discipline Can Be Difficult—But Necessary

This topic is pertinent to novelists who are generally unconcerned with the constraints of the word count. Unlike pop songwriters who face a three- or four-minute time limit, or short story writers who face limits when entering competitions, and self-help authors who may work under the eagle eye of a penny-pinching editor, novelists often enjoy free rein to crank out as many words as they can manage. Under a skilled and disciplined hand, this is no problem; but how many times have you been reading a highly touted novel and thought to yourself, “Can we please quit the chit-chat and just get on with it? Why is this author babbling on about stuff that doesn’t matter?” Excess wordiness often takes the form of the author striving to ingratiate themselves with the reader by being “chummy” and “conversational,” as if speaking to the reader and regularly poking them in the ribs and saying, “Are you with me? Are you listening? Do you like me? Are you impressed by my artistry?”

Once in a while, it’s good for any novelist to step back and say, “I’m not the reader’s friend. I’m a storyteller and I’m going to do my job. How can I deliver the biggest bang for the buck? What can I delete that the reader doesn’t need?”

The best way to captivate your reader is to respect their time and intelligence. It doesn’t matter if they like you; they need to like your work.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Do You Write for Yourself or Your Reader?

Posted on February 26, 2024 by Thomas Hauck

If you’re a writer, or indeed any type of artist, who are you working for? Yourself or your audience?

There are many people who assert that every artist—writer, musician, painter, filmmaker—should follow their own muse and create what’s meaningful to them alone. The artist should not worry about pleasing an audience. They should never try to “second guess” what they think the marketplace wants and allow this belief to influence their art, for if they do, their art will become corrupt and insincere. It will be doomed to failure before it’s ever released.

The quintessential example of this value system was the Impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh. During his brief career he created 860 known oil paintings. He sold only one: The Red Vineyard was shown in an exhibition in Brussels in March 1890, four months before the artist’s death. It was bought by Anna Boch, a Belgian avant-garde painter, for 400 francs. Otherwise, Vincent Van Gogh was a commercial failure. He painted what he wanted to paint and was not discouraged by his rejection by the art establishment. Today, of course, his works are considered masterpieces and command record auction prices.

In literature, one of the most celebrated authors of the past century was Anne Frank, who kept her wartime diary without the slightest hope or thought that it would ever be published. It was only after she had perished in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and her father returned after the war did her diary appear in print and eventually become a global best seller. There are many such writers who achieved commercial success only after death, including Edgar Allan Poe, Franz Kafka, Jane Austen, Emily Dickenson, Henry David Thoreau, Sylvia Plath, John Kennedy Toole, and Stieg Larsson, who died in 2004 before his Millenium trilogy was published and went on to sell 80 million copies worldwide. These authors wrote what they wanted to write, and only by a stroke of fate achieved great success.

Masters of Audience Satisfaction

On the other side of the coin are artists and authors who deliberately and consciously sell into a market, and do it successfully year after year. They know what their audience wants and they deliver it. In our era, few writers have embodied this approach more than Agatha Christie, who during the course of her career wrote 75 novels and 14 short story collections, which collectively have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion more in translation. Another good example is J.K. Rowling, whose Harry Potter novels have sold over 600 million copies, spawned blockbuster films and an amusement park, and made Rowling the world’s first billionaire from sales of books alone. (It must be noted that Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter novel, The Philosopher’s Stone, purely for herself and her children, and had difficulty selling it to a publisher. But once it took off, she built a mighty Potter machine.)

Other masters of audience satisfaction include Barbara Cartland, Tom Clancy, Dean Koontz, Jackie Collins, Nora Roberts, and Danielle Steel. On the non-fiction side you’ll find Tony Robbins, Brené Brown, Stephen Covey, Tim Ferriss, Jen Sincero, and others.

Art or Commerce?

What does this question mean for the everyday author who’s trying to sell a few books, not to mention become a best seller? Or the musician who’s trying to sell songs, or the artist trying to sell paintings?

As far as I can tell, every artist needs to hold two contradictory thoughts in their mind at one time, simultaneously:

1. I make art for myself alone. I do not care if anyone else likes it. My art reflects my vision and satisfies me, and to act on any other basis would be intolerable.

2. I make art for other people. If my art communicates nothing to others, and does not enrich them, then it is pointless and narcissistic. What is the value in speaking only to myself? Isn’t that simply selfish? If paint a masterpiece and keep it in my studio, out of sight, then what good is it? If I write a book that pleases me but doesn’t sell a single copy to anyone except my friends and family (who buy it to make me happy), then what have I accomplished? How have I made an impact on the world?

But on the other hand—there’s always another point of view!—if you attempt to divine what other people want, and modify or manipulate your art for the sole purpose of appealing to them, then you are likely to fail. You will please neither yourself nor your audience. This is the worst possible outcome.

Why? Because people don’t always know what they want until they see it. People didn’t know they wanted Harry Potter until it was presented to them. They didn’t know they wanted The Beatles until the Fab Foursome appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. They didn’t know they wanted an iMac computer until Steve Jobs made one. They didn’t know they wanted Taylor Swift until she invented herself.

The answer to the question of whom you work for is this: It’s your choice! As a human being with agency, you are free to create the art you want to satisfy yourself. If you don’t care if anyone else likes it, you should be happy with the results you get. But if your intention is to reach out and touch the hearts and souls of other people, then their response should matter to you, and you need to carry out your work accordingly.

Posted in Essays, Grammar and Writing Skills | Tagged Boston book editor, Novels, self-help book, thomas hauck book editor, writing | Leave a comment

The Truth About “Show, Don’t Tell”

Posted on February 18, 2024 by Thomas Hauck

I don’t know who thought up the writing axiom “Show, don’t tell,” but I believe it causes endless confusion and misery for writers who already suffer from poor self-esteem and are ready to bow their heads to an imagined High Priest of Letters.

In case you don’t know, “Show, don’t tell” is meant to encourage the author to allow the reader to experience the story through actions that are visible on the surface, as if you were watching a movie, rather than through the author’s exposition, summarization, or description.

For example, let’s say the protagonists in your novel, Jim and Fred, are having an argument. You could simply write, “Jim was angry.” If you do this, you’re relaying to the reader a shorthand version of Jim’s emotional state. You have observed Jim, and this is your conclusion. This is “telling.”

Alternatively, you could say, “Jim’s face became red and his eyes flashed. The veins on his forehead throbbed as his mouth tightened into a foul snarl.” From this, the reader should be able to conclude, “Oh—Jim must be angry!” This is “showing.”

By using this showing method, you, the author, are reporting, in detail, what your reader would see if you were not there to interpret Jim’s emotional state. You have removed yourself from the role of interpreter or interlocutor so that the reader see for themselves what’s going on.

It’s easy to see the big advantage, in this particular case, of showing. It’s just more fun to read! Saying “Jim was angry” is boring. It’s three ordinary words that convey very little information. In contrast, the showing version is twenty-two words that collectively provide more information in a way that’s more emotionally compelling. They feed the imagination much more powerfully than the rather vague assertion that Jim was “angry.” After all, there are countless ways to be angry!

Either Way, You’re the Decider

Here’s the difficult part: Whether you choose to show or tell, you’re the author. You’re the film director, so to speak, and you must decide what to show your reader. The reader knows nothing except what you reveal to them. You can either tell them or show them.

As a matter of practicality, you cannot possibly show your reader every bit of information about your characters and their lives. If you tried to do this, your novel would have to be thousands of pages long! Sometimes you just need to tell your reader some facts and then get on with it. For example, on page 2 of Carrie, Stephen King’s classic novel, the author bluntly tells us, “Carrie White was telekinetic.” Boom. Just like that! Right at the beginning of the book! Of course, as the story unfolds he shows us in vivid detail the extent of her powers, confirming his earlier revelation.

As the author of your book, you need to constantly decide what to tell your audience and what to show them. Your choices will depend on what you feel is truly important to your story as opposed to what you need to provide as “boilerplate” to set the stage. This is where we get into description. Every story needs some amount of description to orient the reader and provide context. Location can be important. You might say, “Nestled in the Hidden Valley along the banks of the meandering Green River, the little town of Centerville was a thriving center of commerce and an important stop for the Pacific Railway trains bound for the lumber markets of Seattle.” This is pure “telling.” You’re informing the reader of a set of basic facts they need to know. Then, when your hero strolls into Joe’s Hardware Store on Main Street, the reader can easily visualize the setting.

Inner Lives

Another situation where telling is necessary is in literary fiction, where authors tend to spend time discussing the interior lives of their characters. By definition, these are thoughts and emotions that do not appear on the surface, or may even be hidden by the character. The author may tell us how the character feels about his or her life, other characters, or some event in the future or past. Going back to Carrie, here’s a typical sentence from Part 2, Prom Night: “Carrie did not think anyone could understand the brute courage it had taken to reconcile herself to this, to leave herself open to whatever fearsome possibilities the night might realize.”

This is an example of the omniscient author reading the character’s mind and then telling us what she was feeling. Could King have somehow “shown” us this through Carrie’s external actions or expressions? Perhaps, but he chose to just tell us and keep the story moving forward.

This brings us to the real point of the admonition.

Own Your Subject

As the author, you need to own your subject. You need to have the first and last word on it. This means deftly telling the reader certain facts they need to know, and then showing them, with patience and insight, the important things. You cannot gloss over your story by just saying, “He did this and then he did that.” Such an approach is lazy, boring, unoriginal, and uninformative. On the other hand, you can’t devote page after page discussing what your character is thinking and feeling. Your character needs to do something and take some action that we can see.

Back to Carrie. Stephen King owns this subject. No one has yet written a better novel about a repressed teenage girl with telekinetic powers. He took his idea and worked it to the max. He mined every nugget of gold from it. King happens to own many book ideas. Do you want to write a horror story about a demonic car that kills people? Good luck! Or how about a killer St. Bernard dog? You’d better come up with an original twist.

That’s the bottom line. Choose your story, and then make yourself the undisputed authority on it. Cover all your bases. Have the last word.

Thomas Hauck book developer — Thomas Hauck

Posted in Essays, Novels | Leave a comment

Be Nice to Your Reader!

Posted on February 4, 2024 by Thomas Hauck

I may be wading into treacherous waters here, but in my humble opinion too many literary novels that are highly praised by critics are in fact nearly incomprehensible to the average adult reader; and I get the feeling that too often, a certain level of opacity is actually seen as a desired feature rather than a defect. The more challenging the prose, the better. The higher the self-imposed degree of difficulty, the more likely the judges are to hold up the paddle that says “10.”

Here’s an example. I recently bought a literary novel by a New York Times best-selling author. The work of domestic fiction, published in 2023, garnered a fistful of glowing reviews, including from The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Kirkus Reviews, and others; but despite the high praise, this particular effort has not yet become a best seller.

Unlike many literary novels written in incomprehensible prose (in other words, the style is the problem), in this story, the sentences are plain enough; it’s the substance that throws up the barricade. Here, we are quickly (I mean within the first ten pages) introduced to six seemingly identical protagonists. They are all middle-aged, affluent, hetero yuppies: three siblings (call them Dick, John, and Sally) and their three spouses (call them Mary, Emily, and Evan). All six converge upon a remote house at Christmastime, so they are constantly interacting in the same confined space. There is no lead actor; from page to page, all the players receive roughly the same amount of attention from the author.

With such a crowded stage, the author has two choices. She could take the time to laboriously differentiate each character by description, and then refer to these descriptions as the round-robin conversations unfold. But this would slam the brakes on an already non-existent plot. So the author takes the second option and simply refers to them by name as they interact.

The result is that you get this:

Dick does this. Sally does that. Emily comes in. Evan complains. Mary goes upstairs. John makes a phone call. Dick wants a snack. Mary gets mad and leaves the house. Sally wants more red wine. John feels left out. Evan takes a shower.

You get the idea. It’s truly baffling because it’s all so trivial and yet you, the reader, are continually forced to remember who is married to whom and what their particular problem is. One Amazon reviewer of this novel wrote that following advice from another reviewer, as the story unfolded she made her own list of the characters and their various attributes. Imagine that! In order to read a pleasant little domestic drama, you, the reader, must get out a sheet of paper and write down the players, like a scorecard at a baseball game. No thank you!

A Book Is Not a Play or a Movie

I think I know what the author was trying to do—but she chose the wrong medium. This setup could work in a film or on stage, because in those contexts you can see the characters and quickly get to know them. I’m thinking of films like The Big Chill, the 1983 American comedy-drama film starring an ensemble cast of eight including Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams. Like this novel, they converge in a house and work out their various issues. In a film or stage play, you can do that. All you need to do is regularly have the characters say each other’s names:

“Oh, Sam, did you go shopping?”

“Hello, Nick, how are you?”

“Chloe, how could you be so spiteful?”

And so on.

Unfortunately, in a book, the reader knows nothing except what the author chooses to tell them, one word at a time. The author may have a vivid movie playing in her head, and think she’s simply transcribing the action onto the printed page. But book readers aren’t mind readers, and it’s the author’s responsibility to find a way to tell her story in a way the reader can follow without needing a bottle of aspirin.

The bottom line: When you write a book—any type of book, fiction or non-fiction—always keep your reader front and center in your mind. Be nice to them! Reading a book requires a commitment of many hours, and even days. If you make extravagant demands on your reader, don’t be offended if they close the book and find another place to invest their time.

Thomas Hauck – author, ghostwriter, book developer

Posted in Book Reviews, Essays, Grammar and Writing Skills, Novels | Leave a comment

Why I’m a Happy Ghostwriter

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Thomas Hauck

There seems to be a lot of interest in ghostwriters these days, perhaps spurred by the recent “Gathering of the Ghosts,” a one-day convocation in New York of around 140 successful ghostwriters. They came together, it seems, mostly to complain about not being paid enough. But that’s okay—who wouldn’t want to make more money?

Since I’ve been a professional, full-time ghostwriter, editor, and book developer for over fifteen years, I thought it might be worthwhile if I put in my two cents. Here are just a few of my observations on the subject, including a personal reflection.

1. As a matter of background, I write about five full-length (30,000- to 80,000-word) books each year for my clients. These are non-fiction (business, leadership, self-help, health) and fiction (novels). My writing goal is 2,500 words per day. I have no assistants—just myself, my MacBook Pro, and the internet. I also edit books—roughly twenty a year. Hence the job description of “book developer.” I’ll do whatever it takes to make your manuscript ready to publish—ghostwrite, edit, develop, whatever you call it. The deliverable is a Word document containing 250,000 or more individual characters, including spaces. Those quarter-million characters are my responsibility.

2. In my opinion, most of the people at the forum in New York are not true ghostwriters because their contributions are public and their names often appear on the covers along with the “author.” They are paid collaborators. This is fine—I’ve been a collaborator too. But in my work, my valued clients generally insist on my anonymity. They don’t want anyone to know I wrote their book. I often will sign an NDA to that effect. To promote myself, the most I can do is use the vague term “book developer.” Most of my wonderful clients don’t mind this.

3. Publishing is a very risky business. The vast majority of books that come off the presses do not make a profit for the publisher or author. Many of them lose money, especially self-published books. But most of my clients do not expect to make a profit. In particular, my non-fiction business clients use their books as marketing loss leaders. These entrepreneurs, CEOs, and consultants use them to elevate themselves as thought leaders in their industries, and thereby get better clients or bigger speaking fees. This is one reason why they do not want my name on their book: it’s important that their reader sees them as the expert.

But to get back to profits—in my job, I take no risks. I get paid in cash for my services. I write your book, get paid, and have no residual equity interest. If the book is a best seller, do I then lose potential wealth? Yes. But the vast majority of books are not best sellers. In the long run, the system works well for me and my valued client.

4. To get to the title of this little essay, why am I a happy ghostwriter? Probably because as I approach the age of seventy, I’ve done just about everything else, and believe me, ghostwriting books is about as fun as it gets. In my lifetime, I’ve worked too many jobs to list, but here are just a few, in roughly chronological order:

• Art teacher (for a summer after high school).

• Donut fryer on the overnight shift at a donut shop.

• Pattern painter in a non-ferrous foundry making bronze and aluminum castings.

• Guitar player and songwriter in a rock band (The Atlantics, 1976-1983). I still play my guitar every day.

• Stockboy in an office supply store.

• Salesperson at three Boston art galleries. (I was terrible at it.)

• Telemarketer for a theater and a publishing company. (I was outstanding!)

• Assembly line worker and then supervisor at Lotus Software. I became an expert at fixing the very fussy shrink-wrap machines.

• Executive black car driver. I mainly drove lawyers home late at night from their downtown Boston offices on Federal Street.

• House manager and group sales director for the cabaret show “Forever Plaid.”

• Special events manager at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum. (Loved that place—I’m a car guy.)

• Editor of Renaissance Magazine, the bible of the national renaissance faire industry. (That was a fun job!)

• Non-profit development officer and director. This phase lasted a good ten years. I made a lot of money for the organizations I worked for, the last one being Montserrat College of Art.

There may be a few I missed, but you get the idea. One important lesson I learned from these experiences is that when you’re an employee, you have zero job security. Your boss will make dumb decisions and then lay you off to save his own hide. That’s why I’m so happy to be a self-employed ghostwriter. I’m my own boss, and the harder I work, the more I get paid. I’m the captain of my own little ship, so to speak.

5. Do I write my own books, under my own name? Yes, I have, and will continue to do so. But to be honest, after spending the day writing 2,500 words for an important client, it can be tough to get motivated to write more. You just want to do something else!

That’s my story, in a nutshell. Retirement? Never. I’ll keep going until I keel over and they have to pick me up off the floor.

Posted in Advice on Hiring a Ghostwriter, Business Books, Essays, Self-Help Books | Tagged Boston book editor, freelance editor, ghostwriter, thomas hauck, thomas hauck book editor | Leave a comment

Your Novel May Not Be Real, But It Must Be Believable!

Posted on January 22, 2024 by Thomas Hauck

In storytelling and novel writing, there is a big difference between what is objectively real and what is believable.

This is the two-part rule:

1. Nothing in your story needs to be real.

2. Everything in your story must be believable.

What do I mean by “real?” As a former philosophy major in college, I can tell you that since the days of Socrates, this has been a topic of vigorous debate! People argue endlessly about what is real. Some insist that ghosts are real. Others say that Covid-19 is not real. And you only need to turn on Fox News to get a big dose of “facts” that seem far from real.

Let’s try to find a definition as it pertains to fiction writing. As I see it, a story element that is “real” is one that the ordinary person would observe or have knowledge of in everyday life, and which ties the story to life as we recognize it. For example, a housecat is a real animal. But a housecat with wings is not real. The housecats that we see every day, and which live on earth, do not have wings.

But could you write a fantasy story featuring a housecat with wings? Of course you could! It all depends on the context and what the reader expects. As an artist, you have the freedom to imagine any kind of universe you want, and populate it with any variety of feline, winged or otherwise. But you need to ensure your reader understands and accepts that your winged cat inhabits a universe where such things are normal.

Get a Laugh at Any Cost

To me, playing fast and loose with reality becomes a problem when the author puts his characters in a contrived situation to make fun of them, and the author clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Recently I read a novel—a purported comedy from a major publisher—set in contemporary Los Angeles. The protagonist is a professional plumber by trade, who specializes in unclogging drain pipes. This is a real profession that real people do. The setup is that a wealthy woman has a clogged outflow pipe from her house. It’s described as a clay pipe invaded by roots from a nearby ficus hedge. The plumber and his partner start digging in a specific place.

Problem 1: How does the plumber know the exact location of the clog? This is a minor but irritating detail. By some divination, he and his partner know exactly where to dig.

The author then describes how the bumbling duo spend “all morning” digging a five-foot trench on either side of the pipe.

Problem 2: Any normal plumber would get a backhoe and dig the trench in fifteen minutes. But I suppose the author thought it would be funnier if the incompetent pair spent all morning using hand shovels to perform this simple, routine task. And anyway, if the homeowner had an antique clay pipe running under their lawn, the plumber would excavate the entire length of the clay pipe, from the foundation of the house all the way to the street, and replace it with PVC pipe.

In the scene, the plumber then puts on “ear mufflers” (whatever those are) and uses a chainsaw to cut the clay pipe.

Problem 3: This is ridiculous. With a little bit of research, the author would have learned the proper tool for cutting buried sewer pipe is a soil pipe cutter. This is a simple manual tool, with no engine and no ear protection required.

With the pipe now cut open, of course you know what happens next: The lady inside the house flushes the toilet. According to the author, the sewer water comes gushing out of the gaping pipe with such tremendous force that a “geyser” erupts, “exploding” with tremendous force all over the chest and face of his partner, who is standing in the trench, which is probably only a few feet deep.

Problem 4: Again, this is preposterous. Home outflow lines operate by gravity, not some sort of pressure system. When the lady of the house flushed her toilet, the stinky water—perhaps a gallon or two maximum—would come dribbling out of the pipe. If the house were elevated, you might say it came pouring out. In any case, if you were inattentive and standing downstream in the trench, it might soak your work boots, but nothing more.

And then comes the tragic end: Somehow, this terrible crisis, capped by his face drenched in raw sewage, is enough to give the plumber’s partner a heart attack, and he drops dead on the spot. The whole sorry episode is just not believable.

You might say, “Hey, take it easy! It’s just a funny scene. Let the author have some creative license.”

To that I reply, “No. The author has not intended to create an alternative, magic universe, with different rules about real life. Neither is this a kids’ slapstick cartoon book, like Captain Underpants. It’s a novel with literary pretensions. The author wants his story to be set in the real world, and when creating his comic scene, he has simply been lazy. He doesn’t know the first thing about the factual underpinnings of the scene he invented, and he assumes we don’t either.”

There is a reason why truly great writers like Stephen King go to great lengths to research and understand the subjects they write about. They want their stories to be believable. They want them to seem real, and they don’t condescend to the reader. In too many literary efforts today, I see a relentless drive to be clever regardless of the relationship of art to real life. It’s like seeing a building with gaudy ornamentation and frothy details, and when you look closer you see the underlying structure is made out of cheap plywood.

Posted in Book Reviews, Essays, Grammar and Writing Skills, Novels | Tagged Boston book editor, freelance editor, thomas hauck, thomas hauck book editor | Leave a comment

“Becoming Invaluable” Is an Invaluable Self-Help Book!

Posted on January 14, 2024 by Thomas Hauck

Congratulations to my valued clients Steven J. Bowen and Terry Lyles, Ph.D., on the publication of their new book, Becoming Invaluable: Develop the Willitude to Navigotiate Success.

What does it mean to be invaluable? The authors suggest that it’s entirely up to you to decide how, and in what way, you can be invaluable to your fellow human beings. It might mean becoming the CEO of a big corporation; it might mean becoming a doctor and helping people live longer and healthier lives; or it might mean becoming a singer like Taylor Swift and entertaining millions of people.

But it also might mean making just one person’s life better – a child, a patient, a neighbor.

In all of these choices the common element is that you are serving other people and helping make their lives better, whether it’s millions of people, a handful in your family, or just one person.

You will also notice that Steven and Terry enjoy using and making up new words. For example, “willitude” is a combination of “willpower” and “fortitude.” “Navigotiate” is a combination of “navigate” and “negotiate.”

Find Your Value

Becoming Invaluable begins with your first task, which is to find your value. Nobody can do this for you; you have to do it for yourself. And when you find your value, you should pursue it. To become invaluable, you need to develop your five personal attributes. They are knowledge, skills, attitude, health, and strength. You need a vision for your life and the mission. You should also embrace the concept of servant leadership.

The authors discuss the importance of your daily health and strength, and how to watch out for the warning signs of low self-worth, which is just as bad as having an inflated ego.

The book is liberally peppered with profiles of successful people who were interviewed by Steven and Terry expressly for this project. For example, one of them is Jason Johnson, the co-founder and CEO of Exclusive Charter Service, also known as ECS Jets, which provides 24/7 global aircraft charters. He made himself and his company invaluable to his demanding clients by paying attention to the smallest details. For example, he went to Bed, Bath & Beyond and bought inexpensive cotton towels with initials are already embroidered on them. Before every flight, he would place in the bathroom of the aircraft the towel with the correct initial of the client. It’s a small gesture that his clients truly appreciated. And of course, Jason also made sure to take care of the fundamentals, which is to transport his clients safely and comfortably to their destinations!

Published by MindStir Media, Becoming Invaluable is available on Amazon and at Mindstirmedia.com.

Thomas Hauck reads “Becoming Invaluable”

Posted in Book Reviews, Books Developed by Thomas Hauck, Business Books, Self-Help Books | Tagged self-help book, Thomas Hauck Book Development | Leave a comment

Write a Book and Rise Above the Crowd

Posted on January 9, 2024 by Thomas Hauck

We live and work in a business environment that is intensely competitive. Top-tier business schools churn out thousands of new graduates every year, all looking to make their mark in the corporate world. New hires fight their way up the ladder to become managers. Managers compete for the few available roles as directors or vice presidents. As you near the pinnacle, the rivalries become more intense. And even if you snare the top prize as CEO or president, you know that the wolves are nipping at your heels, looking for a sign of weakness.

If you’re a consultant or solo entrepreneur, the pressure is just as intense, because your clients are fickle and ready to jump to a competitor offering a better deal or more prestige.

Did I say prestige?

Yes! These days, many hiring and contracting decisions are made on the basis of the perceived prestige of the potential partner. People want to be associated with a winner. They want to bask in the reflected glory of an industry leader. They want the very best—and are willing to pay the price.

Successful Authors Are Experts

It’s an axiom that publishing a successful book puts you on a level higher than people who have not written a book. By writing a book on your professional area of expertise, you establish yourself as the expert in your field. If you don’t believe me, think about the books that Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of GE, wrote. Published in 2001, his first one was called Jack: Straight from the Gut. It was followed by Winning, written with Suzy Welch, in 2005. It reached No. 1 on The Wall Street Journal bestseller list and appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list.

These books and others established Jack Welch as the preeminent expert on corporate leadership in the early 21^st century. He had retired from GE in 2001, but you would never have known it by his soaring public profile. In 2009, Welch founded the Jack Welch Management Institute (JWMI), a program at Chancellor University that offered an online executive master of business administration. He taught at MIT Sloan School of Management and conducted seminars for CEOs all over the world. He had a reputation as a leader, and he made the most of it.

Take the Next Step in Your Career

If you’ve reached a plateau in your professional career and don’t see a way to get higher, becoming an author is how you can take that next step up the ladder. A book is the most powerful “door opener” there is. It elevates you in a way nothing else can.

But you need to be very careful, because you cannot just slap a cover on a collection of your blog posts or—even worse—fill the pages with AI-generated filler. If you do that, your plan will actually backfire. You’ll be perceived as a hack and an amateur. You don’t want that!

Your non-fiction self-help or business book must offer real value to your reader. You must deliver solid, actionable information. You must identify a specific problem faced by your reader, provide a solution, and back up your solution with proof, either from your own experience or from case studies. Stories are the most powerful teaching tools, and you need them in your book!

With a high-quality, professionally researched and written book, you’ll have access to media platforms such as television, radio, YouTube, Twitter (X). You’ll be invited to give lectures and TED talks. Influential people will regard you as their equal and come to you for advice. You could hold your own seminars. Your fees for your services will go up.

Writing a book can be one of the best investments you can make in your career and professional future. And with the right professional help from a qualified editor or ghostwriter, it can be an enjoyable experience as well!

Thomas Hauck author — Thomas Hauck, book developer and ghostwriter.

Posted in Advice on Hiring a Ghostwriter, Business Books, Self-Help Books | Tagged Boston book editor, business book, ghostwriting, non-fiction, self-help book, thomas hauck book editor | Leave a comment

“Highwire Act & Other Tales of Survival” by JoeAnn Hart

Posted on December 21, 2023 by Thomas Hauck

Gloucester author JoeAnn Hart has a new book out, and it’s good news for lovers of sharply written and keenly observed short stories.

During the past decade and half, she’s built a name for herself in the literary world. Her debut novel, Addled, was published in 2007 by the venerable house of Little, Brown. It painted a painfully funny picture of the denizens of the Eden Rock Country Club, beset by a flock of Hitchockian geese. Her next effort, which also made waves, was Float (Ashland Creek Press, 2013), set in a funky seaside town gripped by the climate crisis. In 2019 she delivered Stamford ’76 (University of Iowa Press), a ripped-from-the-headlines novel based on a brutal murder in JoeAnn’s social circle.

Her newest is Highwire Act & Other Tales of Survival, published by Black Lawrence Press in September 2023. It’s a collection of funny, fierce, and fabulous short stories, framed by our current climate crisis (a theme on which JoeAnn has become a literary authority). The stories are varied: A homeless man contemplates an infant’s grave from the Westward Expansion; a young couple raise crickets for food; a woman in a caged complex is witness to the deterioration of her neighbor; a college student argues over ethical eating with her parents; and a woman dying of Covid-19 watches the birds from her hospital window.

Some of the stories are set in the real world while others foretell a strange, speculative future. The startling metaphors are firmly rooted in nature imagery, as in “worries began to bloom like algae in a stagnant pond.”

The eighteen tales are like polished golden nuggets, with sparkling prose, glossy weight, and true value. Pick up a copy of Highwire Act & Other Tales of Survival and read it. It will make you smarter and you’ll feel like you’ve spent your time wisely.

Highwire Act & Other Tales of Survival by JoeAnn Hart

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged Fiction review, short stories | Leave a comment