Progress on the WIP: SciFi in the Making.

On 26/06/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress2 Comments

This week I’ve moved up to 65,572 words in the second rewrite, so another 32,290 words forced through the processor. With luck, and application, I should start on the next phase at the end of the coming week. That’s the part where I make sure exactly the right words are in place and check that …

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Progress on the WIP: Sci-Fi in the Making.

On 19/06/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

This week’s progress report reveals I’m now 33282 words into the second rewrite, so only 13,483 words pushed through the mincer this week. It’s been a bit busy on other fronts, but I’m getting there. Some interesting twists and turns occurring in the story, making it tighter and more tense. Looking forward to finishing this …

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Searching for the Right Words? Tip #21

On 17/06/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Word Choice

This series is aimed at helping writers find the right words to express their meaning. Your thoughts and comments are welcome. You want to inspire readers with joy, stoke their terrors, romance them with love, overwhelm them with horror. This set of posts examines ways of influencing mood by selecting the ‘right’ words for the …

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Searching for the Right Words? Tip #17

On 03/06/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Word Choice

This series aims at helping writers find the right words to express their meaning. Your thoughts and comments are welcome. Do you want to inspire readers with joy, stoke their terrors, romance them with love, fill them with horror? This set of posts looks at ways of influencing mood by selecting the ‘right’ words for …

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Searching for the Right Words? Tip #16

On 31/05/201631/05/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Grammar, Word Choice2 Comments

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Progress on the WIP. SciFi in the Making.

On 29/05/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress

This week’s progress report reveals that I’m now 63545 words into the first rewrite, which takes me 17762 words further than last week at this time. I’ve had to take out some of the original story as a result of additional information I’ve gathered from the last lot of research. It’s actually given the story …

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How Did the Author Do That?, by Dr. John Yeoman PhD, Reviewed.

On 28/05/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Review1 Comment

This historical novel, set at the very end of the 16th century in London, is more than merely a damned good novel. It’s purpose is to help other authors improve their writing through example. John Yeoman is a well-respected writing tutor, amongst other things. He displays a wicked, sardonic, sense of humour in the story, …

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A Sense of Wonder

On 16/05/201617/05/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, question12 Comments

We live in a place of outstanding beauty, my wife and I. If possible, we walk in the Forest of Dean every day. Today, we took a fairly familiar route but followed the trail the opposite way round from previous walks. That, in itself, is a stimulus to the brain, of course. Different viewpoints bring …

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5 Writing Mistakes

On 10/11/201503/08/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Word Use

Posted from Grammarly.

Honest Reviews

On 08/11/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Review8 Comments

Do you write reviews? Do you read them; perhaps use them for some idea of whether a particular book is for you? It's certainly the case that reviews are an essential element for indie writers to get their books noticed. So, as with all matters commercial, an element of fraud and cheating has entered the world …

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Short on Success?

On 06/11/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Prizes3 Comments

Novelist, playwright, journalist, writer of fact, or simply a 'writer'? I'll bet, whatever your specialism, you’ve at least been tempted to try your hand at that gem of creativity, the short story. I’m not going to go into definitions, since theories suggest the short story is anything from 6 to 20,000 words. For me, a …

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Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 12.

On 31/10/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Word Choice

Writers enjoy sharing ideas to improve their craft. Here, I'm looking at ways to trim our writing. Readers will thank us. I'll look at common redundancies and a few flabby expressions. Ask the question: Can you do anything else with a question but ‘ask’ it? Of course you can: pose a question, even post a …

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A Weekend at #FantastiCon 2015.

On 28/10/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction7 Comments

And what a weekend it was! I first mentioned it in an earlier post, find it here. This was the second fantasy/science fiction convention I've attended. Both events were organised by my amazing publisher, Dan Grubb of Fantastic Books Publishing. The first was in Hull, last year. This year's event took place in the Country …

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Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 11.

On 22/10/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Word Choice2 Comments

Writers enjoy sharing ideas to improve their craft. Here, I'm looking at ways to trim our writing. Readers will thank us. I'll look at common redundancies and a few flabby expressions. But, reading this post and nodding wisely won't improve your writing. Stay alert to those extraneous words that sneak into text, or they'll slide …

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Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 10.

On 18/10/2015 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Word Choice7 Comments

It's been a while: my apologies. I've been rethinking certain aspects of my writing life and deciding what changes I need to make, and when and where. And domestics have been a little unsettled recently with some slightly changed priorities that have made it temporarily more difficult to get on with my writing. Next Saturday, I'll be at …

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