Stylistic Choices

If you've read my books, you might notice a few things I do that aren't exactly kosher grammatically.  These are, for the most part, stylistic choices I've made.

I don't capitalize the word god unless it's in dialogue and the person saying the word means the Christian GOD.  Likewise, I don't capitalize the word titan - even though it seems other people do.  If the gods don't get to be proper nouns, neither do the titans. 

I capitalize Efreet.  That was a choice I made a couple years ago.  Not exactly sure what I was thinking at the time, but it was there in Wish in One Hand and so it has to be like that for the rest of the books to maintain continuity.

I don't capitalize djinn or genies or brethren.  Much the same way we don't capitalize man, human, or people.  But I do capitalize it when I refer to them as the Many.  It's more how some of the genies think of their race than anything.  Which is probably why I capitalize Efreet.

I don't use the word 'whom'.  A fact which my editor will attest to and one which she ribs me about on occasion.  I don't use it in speech, and my writing style is more conversational then formal, so I don't use it.  And I won't unless a character speaks that way. 

Sometimes, in the djinn books, I slip into present tense.  I do it on purpose.  Jo's telling these stories to you through me, so when she says stuff like "I know better than to keep my eyes open during a teleport" it's because, for her, it still happens.  

Since my style is conversational, you'll find me writing things the way I would say them or the way I would imagine a character would say them.  And if it's dialogue, all bets are off.  People say things in the weirdest ways sometimes.  'I could care less' comes to mind.  Yeah, 'I couldn't care less' is the proper way to say it.  I say it the other way.  In dialogue, I use whichever way the character would say it.

Oh, I also make mistakes.  My editor catches those and I fix them.  Occasionally, I miss one or two.  Otherwise, those things you might think of as mistakes were put there or left there intentionally.  I still want my editor to keep pointing them out, though.  I can't expect her to know a mistake from a not-mistake.  She's not a mind-reader for petesakes.

Anyway, I hopes that helps readers get to know me and my books better.  Style happens and sometimes you just have to roll with it.  ;o)