Acronyms by Nancy L. Eady

The other day I thought I was going to be late enough to work that my co-workers might worry about me, so I sent an email with the title “RLFNGR.” In the body of the email, I wrote “Running late for no good reason,” and then gave my projected arrival time. When I got to the office, our receptionist, a young man in his late 20’s/early 30’s, greeted me with a cheerful, “I liked the acronym in your email!” I rounded the corner to my office, where his mother works across from me, and she said, “I sure am glad you told me what that meant!” I started to laugh. I told her that people our receptionist’s age or younger seem to love acronyms, while people our age want to have them defined. 

The conversation reminded me of a song that came out about twelve years ago, when Kayla was young enough to listen to Disney Radio, and we would sometimes listen together. 

It was a bouncy, peppy little song, with the chorus:

Be, be, be my bff,

Cause IDK what's coming next, 

LMHO with the rest,

So TTYLXOX.

At the time, I had no idea what it meant, but I was intrigued enough to remember the lyrics. Once I realized that “Be, be, be” was a repeat of the verb “be” rather than an acronym for the Better Business Bureau, understanding the chorus got easier. “Bff” stands for best friend forever, “IDK” means “I don’t know” and LMHO stands for “laughing my head off.” “TTYLXOX” stands for "talk to you later, hugs and kisses." Had that song come out today, most of those acronyms would be familiar to me.

The federal government is fond of acronyms. I gave an online seminar the other day on autonomous vehicles and as part of my research for it, I looked over two National Transportation Safety Board investigation reports and a report from the Congressional Research Service. Each document had a full page-length or longer glossary solely dedicated to guiding the reader through the alphabet soup of governmental acronyms. 

While acronyms are probably unavoidable in “real life,” I am not a fan of them in fiction unless they are exceptionally well-known such as “FBI” or “CDC.” If I don’t understand the acronym, it pulls me out of the story and forces me to figure it out or look up what it means. A better person would just skim over it and keep reading but I am not such a person.  An undefined acronym drives me crazy, almost as crazy as material from an advertiser with a random asterisk stuck by a term or item, and nothing anywhere in the literature explaining what that poor lonely asterisk means. 

Do you ever use acronyms in your fiction? In what settings or situations do you think acronyms might work?

Some Thoughts on Writing Fiction by Marilyn Levinson

My non-writing friends think I'm lucky to be a writer because writing gives me a purpose that occupies my days. They know I'm part of a world filled with fellow authors, readers and publishers.

Being a writer means I always have projects that require my attention, often with a deadline. First and foremost is writing my current WIP—work in progress. I'm often working on edits for the book scheduled to be published in a few months. That requires a great deal of marketing: guest blogs, and interviews, posting on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as well as writing my monthly newsletter, and seeing to other tasks that arise and need my attention.

As a fiction writer, I am constantly learning. There are the electronic ABCs of being a writer: knowing how to post photos and stories all over the web. These "devices" like stories and reels keep on changing and we writers better keep up with these changes if we want readers to find out about our books. I'm still learning how to make changes on my website, and one day I'll learn how to make a YouTube webinar. For now, I'm content to be interviewed or part of a panel and having my host or hostess take care of putting them up for others to see.

The great thing about writing fiction is you're always creating something new. Honestly, it's kinda scary as well. I write mysteries, which means each book needs a new set of issues or problems, suspects and victims that are presented in a fresh, appealing way. This involves doing research on whatever subject that book is about. A few topics I've read up on are: bank robberies, how to tell a diamond from a fake, the correct order in a wedding procession, witch hangings in Connecticut, and art forgery. The array of topics that lend themselves to murder and mayhem is endless.

Like many fiction writers, my first attempts at writing were short stories. From there I went on to write novels for kids and then on to writing mysteries for adults. Since one of my children's books will come out in a new edition next month and I'll be following it up with three more books in the series, I've been thinking that many fiction writers write in more than one genre or form. While I write mysteries and books for kids, many of my fellow mystery authors write mystery short stories as well as novel. I suppose I started writing books for kids because I was home with my two sons; I began to write mysteries because I love to read them.

What's the difference between writing a book for kids and a book for adults? The only answer I can offer is that regardless of the type of book I'm writing, I'm in the protagonist's head and seeing things from his or her perspective. So if I'm in ten-year-old Rufus's head, I'm thinking like a ten-year-old who suddenly discovers his magical powers. If I'm inside thirty-year-old Carrie Singleton's head, I'm aware of her responsibilities as head of programs and events at the Clover Ridge Library and her aptitude for solving murders. I suppose my language level varies depending on what kind of book I write, but that happens naturally. I've never over-simplified my language in a kids' book. Just thinking as a person of a certain age takes care of that.

I've no idea why so many of my books include a paranormal element. This has always come about in a most natural way, going back more than twenty years when I first wrote my mystery, Giving Up the Ghost. A ghost plays a role in my Haunted Library series as well as in my kids' novel Getting Back to Normal. Rufus is a witch like his mother, grandmother, aunt and evil uncle. Perhaps there's no need to come up with a reason why I often include a paranormal element in my books since "other creatures" appear in our fairy tales and literature. Think of Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Topper, and Aladdin, to name a few. All part of our heritage and as real to us as Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood.

Writing fiction is a delight. It's hard work. It's a privilege to create characters in stories that people will read and remember and talk about.