As writers, we generally share ideas to improve our craft. Here are some ways to trim our writing. Readers will appreciate us removing these common redundancies and flabby expressions. Descend down: I’m fairly certain it’s not possible to descend in any direction but down, so the qualifier is not needed. e.g. The pirate captain forced …
Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 38.
As writers, we generally share ideas to improve our craft. Here are some ways to trim our writing. Readers will appreciate us removing these common redundancies and flabby expressions. Depreciate in value: Can something depreciate in anything other than some form of value? I can’t think of anything, but by all means educate me. e.g. …
Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 37.
We writers generally enjoy sharing ideas to improve our craft. Here are some ways to trim our writing. Readers will appreciate us removing these common redundancies and flabby expressions. The recent celebration of love via St. Valentine’s Day, that tacky, commercialised occasion much promoted by florists and the sellers of cards and chocolates, prompted me …
Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 36.
Life in a forest can be so rewarding. Valerie and I moved to the Forest of Dean just over a year ago and began exploring our new home area almost at once. But we’ve kept largely to the laid down paths provided by the Forestry Commission and those that have been made by dog walkers …
Continue reading A Walk on the Slightly Wild Side
Madeleine McDonald’s book is a traditional romance set in an unusual location. Told from the points of view of the two main protagonists, the story reveals secrets about both that neither are aware of in each other. The clash of cultures and personal histories makes the possible resolution of this romance uncertain until the very …
Continue reading Enchantment in Morocco, by Madeleine McDonald, Reviewed.
We writers generally enjoy sharing ideas to improve our craft. Here are some ways to trim our writing. Readers will appreciate us removing these common redundancies and flabby expressions. Crisis situation: Since a crisis is a ‘situation’, we can do without the word here. e.g. Inaction by many governments renders climate change a crisis situation …
Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 35.
Writers seem to enjoy sharing ideas to improve our craft. Here are some ways to trim our writing. Readers will appreciate us removing these common redundancies and flabby expressions. Could possibly: Could generally means ‘might’, ‘may’ etc., so ‘possibly’ is redundant. e.g. Your cat could possibly win the Fancy Cat contest. Try: Your cat could …
Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 34.
Who’d have thought a novel written from the point of view of a fourteen-year-old American chapel-going girl would find favour with an agnostic British male pensioner? This one did, and how! Lily is given an authentic voice by the writer so that there’s no danger of author intrusion in this tale of prejudice, faith, injustice …
Continue reading The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, Reviewed.
I’m cautious about reviewing poetry: it’s an esoteric art form with echoes of the world of the contemporary arts. In other words, a field full of the pretentious attempting to bamboozle the unwary, and too often succeeding. It differs from the world of visual art in the amount of cash thrown at it, of course, …
Continue reading Navigating Nightmare Ecstasy, by The Junk Talk Poet, Reviewed.
As a group, writers enjoy sharing ideas to improve our craft. Here are some ways to trim our writing. Readers will appreciate us removing these common redundancies and flabby expressions. Connect together: Is it possible to connect any other way? I don’t think so. e.g. Connect together the multiple sightings of UFOs and you get …
Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 33.
We writers tend to enjoy sharing ideas to improve our craft. Here are some ways to trim our writing. Readers will appreciate us removing these common redundancies and flabby expressions. Completely filled: When something has been filled, it is full, so ‘completely’ is redundant. e.g. She blew up the beach ball until it was completely …
Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 32
How many times should you start a writing project? Odd question? Well, I normally have my books ready in my mind, that is, I know where I want to end up even if I don’t know the route, long before I place a single word on paper (for which, read ‘screen’, since I compose at …
Continue reading False Starts and a Solution?
Characters are fundamental to my stories, as readers will know. I’m in the initial stages of writing a new science fiction novel, set on Mars. For a while, I’ve been beset by a mysterious barrier to getting on with the story. Lots of preparation, research, and reading round essential topics of interest. And I have …
Continue reading Name a Character in my New Novel.
Writers enjoy sharing ideas to improve their craft. Here are some ways to trim our writing. Readers will appreciate us removing common redundancies and flabby expressions. Completely engulfed: When something is engulfed, it’s completely enclosed in whatever is engulfing it, so ‘completely’ is a tautology. e.g. The flames completely engulfed the high rise building. Try: …
Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 31.
This novella introduces amateur sleuth, Georgia Pattinson, early music soprano and a lady with guts. Sound a little specialist? Not a bit of it. Whilst there are references and interesting details relating to both her skill and the musical world she inhabits, this isn’t one of those elitist books that allows a special interest to …
Continue reading Whistles After Dark, by April Taylor, Reviewed.
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Antidote to the Novel
Stuart Aken 