The Word Cloud

1. I've got somebody saying that they are 99% positive that diagnosis is correct (he's a doctor in case you're wondering) As I have never seen the term '99% positive' in a book before I was wondering how people would write it, or if you would alter it in anyway (remember he's a doctor and very intellectual so the possibilities are endless)

2. The weather is kinda like an underlying thing throughout the book , primarily the heat and sun etc. Any suggestions on how to portray this in different ways? I've already used stuff like pressure from the sun and the sun's piercing rays, the claustrophobic heat etc. Can anyone think of anything I may have overlooked?

3. What are your personal targets for words written in a day (just out of curiosity)

I'll skip to point 2. Once you've told the reader what the weather is like the only thing you can do it 'show' it. Show how it affects people and the surroundings - sentences such a 'pressure from the sun and the sun's piercing rays, the claustrophobic heat etc' don't really imerse the reader in what is happening.

3. Ahh I don't ave a personal target!! I am a bad writer!

1) I'd write "ninety-nine percent positive". General practice in fiction is to write all numbers under 101 out in letters (except house numbers, and I'd argue buses). But it's really a copy-editor's worry.

I've certainly heard people use the phrase, so I wouldn't worry about that, if it seems right to you.

2) Nashelle's right: concentrate on how your characters experience the weather - wind in the hair, sweat trickling down your waist, glasses steaming up when you go into a café - rather than just describing the weather itself. Since we only experience our weather through our bodies, we best experience your fictional weather through your characters' bodies.

2) The most Yeats ever wrote in a day was six words. Not lines, words. I write 2,200 first-draft words a morning, which takes about 4 hours. After that I go by time, not words, and just make sure I don't do anything else (such as posting on the Cloud) for that time, and whatever work gets done, gets done.

Emma

Looking at your first question, it's going to depend on the context, eg. is he speaking in a professional capacity, or just chatting with friends?

"General practice in fiction is to write all numbers under 101 out in letters".

Thanks for the advice everyone - I'll take it all on board and see what happens.

I thought the same Tony, but again i've only ever applied that to reports etc so I was unsure when it comes to writing fiction.

And Kate he is delivering the news to the parents of a patient so I don't know if you've got any other suggestions on how I could reword it?

I believe that in dialogue numbers are always written in full. He could say he is 'ninety-nine percent sure the diagnosis is correct'

The rule I see most often is if the number is over ten use numerals. However, I would suggest going with what looks natural. Numerals might seem odd if read in dialogue, not so much if it’s in the narrative.

On Kate delivering the news, instead of giving a figure you could phrase the delivery suggestively. Implying a process of elimination has happened (tests) to lead the doctor to that point. Hell on the word count but delivering important news to a patient’s parents isn’t something that would be rushed. Example;

“All the symptoms point toward fatal familial insomnia. It explains her elevated heart rate, weight loss and hallucinations. Mr and Miss Williams I must be honest with you, the prognosis is poor. The condition is rare and patients don’t tend to last more than eighteen months. We have already begun standard treatment but the best we can do is make her comfortable.”

“You’re certain? You’re one hundred per cent certain?”

“If we’re wrong and her condition improves over the next few days we will of course reassess the diagnosis, but at this time it seems unlikely that she will recover.”

In answer to question three; I write every single day, as much as I can before I want to stop.

1) If I was the doctor, I'd lie and say I'm 100% certain. And if I turned out to be wrong, I'd blame it on someone else.

2) In my book 'Hag Blood', the Weather is one of the characters, which is probly a special case.

3) When I'm having a serious writing day, I hope to get at least 2000 words down. My personal best was 15000, but I stayed up all night and had to gaffer tape the pen to my numb fingers.

Thanks for the help. MissFletcher - I have already described that part. The percentage is just the doctor reaffirming what he has said since they have doubts.

Interesting to hear everyone's writing targets. I can barely get 1000 before I run out of ideas!

Word count for me varies between what I'm writing. I can push 2000 if I have the time to sit without anyone disturbing me.
I generally try to go for pages, I had a book that said 'try to write a page a day. So that would only be about 25-350 words. But if I stick to pages, I feel better when I've pushed more than one out - which can be odd as I write in different medias. PC, Laptop, iPod, pen and paper, I then have to spend a little while an evening putting the pieces together.

250-350 :)

I wrote 2500 words in about four hours recently and I hadn't been smoking or drinking anything weird.

They weren't very good words, but they were there...

and I've been pretty much totally blocked since... *sigh*

On numbers, fiction and non-fiction are different, when it comes to the 'threshold' where you start writing figures not words - apparently in musicology it's common to write words up the 12, because there are twelve notes in the diatonic scale. Not sure about dates: house numbers are usually figures, and so on. And house style may vary between publishers. The bible on these things, and everything else, is OUP's New Hart's Rules. But as long as you do something sensible, it's really for the copy editor to iron out.

I have another issue now that relates to the use of medical terminology.

The length and detail of what I have written is almost equal to what MissFletcher has posted, but after feedback I've had mixed reviews. Some have said that it's fine the way it is, others have said that it might be hard for a reader to keep up/understand what is being said.

I know it will mainly depend on who the book is aimed at but to be honest I don't have a clue who the target audience will be yet!

Any ideas?

Erebus I've see two issues. Firstly - how do you not know who your target audience is?
But that aside - doctors by law and practice have to make sure the patient understands what is happening, in terminology they can understand. Yes, we've all been patients and not nessacerily understood - but we should.
Doctors and nurses have a duty of care -trust me I'm a nurse - so you can have the correct terminology that 90% of the public wont understand with a then simplier version dependant on the character the doctor is telling it to.

(this also opens up a huge area to if a 'consent' form is valid, if the patient didnt understand how can they consent to something? regardless to what is on the small print.)

hope this helps ?
jak

Thanks Jak

To answer your first question I still haven't decided what direction my book is going to go in. I might include loads of blood and gore in the upcoming scenes and develop my story from there. OR I might go along a different route so it can appeal to a wider audience. At the minute it has been fairly neutral so I can push it in either direction and then possibly re-edit it afterwards once i've decided.

Thanks for the terminology advice. I've got the doc giving a brief detailed description of the illness before spelling it out simply which I think works. Once i've done a bit more I might post on here for feedback

Just written 980 odd words and I'm not even... oh, just ran out of steam :(

Well, if all 900 words were ODD, you'd hardly be EVEN, would you? G'night.

Just do what they do on ' Holby City' everyone on that show has to have FBC's U's and E's- regardless of their ailments...

Having a blood test every month I know what FBC's and U and E's are. Here's where I show off a little. Full blood count and U and E's is a kidney function test. So I'd be careful about using any terminoligy, it has to fit the patient. I'm sure Jak would help out there, he's a whizz at this sort of thing being a nurse.