Though I am not Canadian, I have lived in Canada for the majority of my school years. This basically means that I have learned the Canadian spelling of most words. However, elementary teachers have always been a little vague on the correct spelling. For example, the word colour. I have been told that it can be spelled both colour and color, both of which will be correct. I prefer to use colour, as well as neighbour over neighbor, etc. My question is, are publishers going to be picky as to the the spelling of those words? Will the spelling even be a deterent to the chances of my book getting published? What if I tried to publish it in the U.S.A? Will they care? *To the moderators, please move this thread if it belongs under publishing instead. I wasn't sure which one to choose.
The important thing is to be consistent. If you use colour one place, use it throughout. Set your computer's language to English(Canada) so it will use the right spell check dictionary, and get a copy of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Your publishers will probably care more about consistency than anything, but you should be your own sharpest critic. That is how to excel.
no... no... not as long as it's correct, one way or the other... not really, since us agents and publishers deal with writers from all parts of the world... however, if you're writing for a us readership, it would behoove you to use standard us spelling... unless, of course, your character/setting are from/in the uk or other part of the commonwealth...
Thanks for the replies. I do have my computer settings on english (Canada) but there are still those few words that get the okay both ways (eg. color, colour). Also, I try to be consistent, so that shouldn't be a problem. I'm the kind of person that goes back over the manuscript to make sure the story is always consistent, as I detest plot holes, especially when I can do something about them. Again, thanks for the answers.
I grew up in Canada and I now live in the United States, and I still have to contend with the differences in spelling every day. I'm still tempted to use "colour", etc., but those aren't my main problem. I'm always using "cancelled" and in the US they spell it "canceled", and that still looks wrong to me after nearly fourteen years of living here.
