The Great English Debate

The English Language has become an international currency and is evolving at a rapid pace.  Not only are pronunciations different, but the spellings and usage differ, particularly between British and American English.

This is confusing enough for people whose first language is not English, but imagine what they experience when they study or do business in Canada.  Many Canadian writers are adamant about using Canadian spelling only.  But businesses, publishers and media writers often work with the Chicago Manual of Style to communicate in what is being called International English.

As a bilingual country, Canadians also are faced with documentation printed in both French and English. One Federal Publication version of the Canadian Style Guide also includes an appendix on how to present French words in an English text.

There are strong opinions on this ongoing debate.  Vancouver’s Geist Magazine has one worth reading called Bad Spellers by Stephen Henighan. “Like other aspects of Canadian culture, our spelling, in spite of its second-hand appearance, is unique.”

Compulsive Intimacy Between Writers and Characters

Excerpt – The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield 2006
The character, Vida Winter, is a writer at the end of her life conveying the intensity of her relationships with her characters.   Finely crafted  with the complexity of texture, subtlety and nuance  found  in 19th century classics, this haunting romantic mystery novel  is a remarkable debut for author Diane Setterfield.  V.G.

”I have lived my own life. I have closed my study door on the world and shut myself away with people of my imagination. For nearly sixty years I have eavesdropped with impunity on the lives of people who do not exist. I have peeped shamelessly into hearts and bathroom closets. I have leant over shoulders to follow the movements of quills as they write love letters, wills and confessions. I have watched as lovers love, murders murder and children play their make believe. Prisons and brothels have opened their doors to me; galleons and camel trains have transported me across sea and sand; centuries and continents have fallen away at my bidding. I have spied upon the misdeeds of the mighty and witnessed the nobility of the meek. I have bent so low over sleepers in their beds that the mighty have felt my breath on their faces. I have seen their dreams.
My study throngs with characters waiting to be written. Imaginary people, anxious for a life, who tug at my sleeve, crying “Me next! Go on ! My turn!” I have to select. And once I have chosen the others lie quite for ten months or a year, until I come to the end of the story and the clamour starts up again.”