A Fortunate Man, by John Berger, illustrated by Jean Mohr: #BookReview.

On 04/08/2018 By stuartakenIn Book, Creative Writer, Reading, Review

Biography/Medical Memoir 177 pages. I came to this extraordinary piece of writing via an unusual route. The village hall hosted a short dramatic presentation by ‘New Perspectives’ introducing the book using visual aids, a soundtrack and the skills of two actors to explain how the book came into being. Although that drama was flawed, it …

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The #Write #Word? Post 30

On 03/08/2018 By stuartakenIn Creative Writer, Fiction, Grammar, Word Choice

Struggling to find the ‘right’ word for your writing? You’re not alone. Maybe, in trying to improve my own work, I can help other writers. Today’s words: Waggish/Serious, Wetly, With reference to, Weather the storm, Writer. Antonyms: words that express the opposite of other words can be hard to find, because thesauruses usually give no …

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Landscape and Memory, by Simon Schama: #BookReview.

On 03/08/201803/08/2018 By stuartakenIn Book, Creative Writer, Literature, Reading, Review2 Comments

History 672 pages Art historian, philosopher, raconteur, academic, or proselyte? Simon Schama’s great tome carries elements of all these. One reviewer, quoted on the cover, adds ‘self-indulgent and perverse’, and I’ve no argument with those. There are undoubted instances of the self-congratulatory, ‘I know a lot more than you’, and the academic show-off in this …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 01/08/201826/07/2018 By stuartakenIn Creative Writer, opinion, Progress3 Comments

As I write this, on Thursday, 26th July, nothing new has happened regarding the book. It may be that, by the time this is posted, something has changed. But I’m offline until 1st August, so this post has been scheduled to appear at the normal time. I’m continuing the short series of posts on why …

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The Writer’s Lexicon: Volume II, by Kathy Steinemann: #BookReview.

On 27/07/201827/07/2018 By stuartakenIn Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice, Word Use2 Comments

Reference/Writing/Editing 312 pages Subtitled ‘More Descriptions, Overused Words and Taboos’, this is a companion to the first book with the same title. Like that initial volume, this is an essential for any serious writer. Language is our lifeblood, and words are tools we employ to express our thoughts and ideas. If we’re to do this …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 25/07/201825/07/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

As there's still nothing new to report re the WIP, and therefore no true progress on the book, I thought I’d continue along the lines of last week’s post. This time, I’m looking at the content; in particular, the inclusion of sex and nudity in my work. So, if you’re at all prudish, narrowminded, easily …

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Befriended, by Ruth O’Neill: #BookReview.

On 21/07/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

Contemporary Fiction 310 pages Subtitled, ‘Be Careful Who You Trust’, this piece of modern fiction is not the usual material I read. I dislike labels, but I do wonder if this is intended more for the ‘Women’s Fiction’ market. The story is well presented and the characters particularly well developed. I did have some difficulty …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 18/07/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

Much like the swan paddling upstream, most action on the WIP is happening beneath the surface for now, so I thought I’d post a piece on the process of writing the book, the reasons behind some decisions. As I recently had a rather unusual review of the first two books in the series, highlighting the …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 12/07/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

We’re in that quiet-on-the-surface period, when the publisher is frantically busy behind the scenes but very little shows on the surface. So, briefly, regarding progress: the book’s with the publisher and proceeding through the various steps that take an author’s words and make a book of them. The cover’s well on the way to being …

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Mrs Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf: #BookReview.

On 08/07/2018 By stuartakenIn Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Literature, Reading, Review6 Comments

Classics 208pps This classic of English Literature breaks all the rules of writing a novel; a bold step at the time of its creation. Viewpoints come and go, often without any real introduction, and sometimes within a paragraph. Passages develop and proceed, often without any indication of who we’re listening to in their internal dialogue, …

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1000 Yards, by Mark Dawson: #BookReview.

On 24/06/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

85 pps Thriller/Espionage. This short is written in typical ‘thriller’ style, however, it also gives the reader some meat on the bones of the characters, which is great. The depiction of North Korea is chilling, and reads as though the author has first-hand experience. The protagonist, Milton, shows some concern for those who help him …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 21/06/2018 By stuartakenIn Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

And the tale continues. This book’s been subject to a number of interruptions during its creation. Not least was the collapse of my iMac, it’s replacement with a Windows 10 PC, and the appallingly drawn-out and unnecessarily complex issue of transferring files from iCloud to MS OneNote. I’ve dealt with corrupted files along the way, …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 13/06/2018 By stuartakenIn Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

As a general rule, authors dislike dealing with the edits sent them by their publishers. It’s often a battleground between competing egos. However, I welcome the chance to correct those things that escaped my attention by being too close to the creation. I’m on the third pass through the MS, having already done the full …

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Everybody Shrugged, by Walt Pilcher: #BookReview.

On 05/06/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

354 pps Genre Fiction/Political/Literary humour. Humour in any book is a gamble. We don’t all see with the same eyes. Whilst this novel rarely made me laugh out loud, I did smile and grin a lot, so it was a positive experience. That it managed this while dealing with such issues as government incompetence (this …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 30/05/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

Now the WIP is with the publisher, and I’m awaiting the response, the result of their edit, the cover and design suggestions, I thought I’d review my Science Fiction activity to date. ‘Ten Tales for Tomorrow’, was self-published in January 2011. It’s a collection of mostly dark, sometimes humorous, speculative fiction. There’s variety here; everything …

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