Searching for the Right Words? Tip #7

On 29/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Grammar, Word Choice5 Comments

Hoping to inspire readers with joy, arouse their fear, romance them with love? Or, perhaps your story needs the reader to sink into despair along with your protagonist? This set of posts looks at ways of influencing mood by selecting the ‘right’ words for the job. Example: “I watched the road as it took us …

Continue reading Searching for the Right Words? Tip #7

Searching for the Right Words? Tip #6

On 26/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Word Choice

Want to inspire readers with joy, arouse their fear, romance them with love, or does your story need the reader to sink into despair along with your protagonist? This set of posts looks at ways of influencing mood by selecting the ‘right’ words for the job. Example: “I had only ever seen a television briefly …

Continue reading Searching for the Right Words? Tip #6

The Case for Mars, by Robert Zubrin, Reviewed

On 25/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Review

Subtitled, The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must, this extraordinary work by Robert Zubrin, with Richard Wagner, is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Mars either as an observer or as, in my case, a writer of science fiction. In researching for my novel about Mars, I’ve read a great …

Continue reading The Case for Mars, by Robert Zubrin, Reviewed

The Bridport Prize Anthology 2015, Reviewed.

On 22/04/201622/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Literature, Prizes, Review2 Comments

I bought a copy of this paperback to see what sort of work might win the prizes in this much respected annual contest for writers. I’m intending to enter this year, so I wanted to discover what quality and style of work is considered good enough. Each year, the judges for the three categories of …

Continue reading The Bridport Prize Anthology 2015, Reviewed.

Searching for the Right Words? Tip #5

On 22/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar2 Comments

Continue reading Searching for the Right Words? Tip #5

Searching for the Right Words? Tip #4

On 19/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Word Choice2 Comments

Do you want to inspire readers with joy, arouse their fear, romance them with love, or does your story need the reader to sink into despair along with your protagonist? This set of posts looks at ways of influencing mood by selecting the ‘right’ words for the job. I started out this series with the …

Continue reading Searching for the Right Words? Tip #4

Searching for the Right Word? Tip #3

On 15/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Word Choice

Do you want to inspire readers with joy, arouse fear, romance with love, or does your story need the reader to sink into despair along with your protagonist? This set of posts looks at ways of influencing mood by selecting the ‘right’ words for the job. Delicate Delicate is an adjective with many subtly different …

Continue reading Searching for the Right Word? Tip #3

Searching for the Right Word? Tip #2

On 12/04/201612/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Word Choice

Do you want to inspire readers with joy, arouse fear, romance with love, or does your story need the reader to sink into despair along with your protagonist? This set of posts looks at ways of influencing mood by selecting the ‘right’ words for the job. Abundance: Listed in Roget’s under the header, Productiveness (noun), …

Continue reading Searching for the Right Word? Tip #2

How We’ll Live on Mars, by Stephen Petranek, Reviewed.

On 09/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Mars, Review2 Comments

There are times when a book comes into our lives at an appropriate moment. This was one such for me. I’d just spent a few days reviewing the research I’d been doing for a science fiction novel set on Mars. Amongst the websites I’d downloaded to consult on technical issues, I found references to this …

Continue reading How We’ll Live on Mars, by Stephen Petranek, Reviewed.

Searching for the Right Word? Tip #1

On 08/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Word Choice

In this series of posts, I’m looking at how certain words can influence readers. Do you want to inspire with joy, encourage fear, romance with love, or does your story now need the reader to sink into despair along with your protagonist? This set of posts will look at ways of influencing mood by selecting …

Continue reading Searching for the Right Word? Tip #1

Seems I’m One of Goodreads’ Top 1% of Reviewers!

On 06/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Review16 Comments

I feel I should share this piece of good news with you all. I hope you'll find it interesting. It's a copy of an email I received today: Hello Stuart, In our community of readers, you stand out in a notable way: You're one of the top 1% of reviewers on Goodreads! With every rave and …

Continue reading Seems I’m One of Goodreads’ Top 1% of Reviewers!

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 50.

On 05/04/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Word Choice2 Comments

This series, concentrating on ways to trim writing, whilst providing examples aimed at stimulating imagination, has come to its natural end with this post. Next, I’ll be looking at expanding effective vocabulary by using the right words to convey the idea, mood, or meaning. Lift up: It’s pretty difficult to lift in any other direction, …

Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 50.

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 49.

On 31/03/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Word Choice4 Comments

In this series, I've aimed at trimming our writing. I’ve tried to include examples that might seed ideas for your writing. Our readers will appreciate the absence of common redundancies and flabby expressions. This post, however, is the penultimate offering on the topic. Next, I’m going to be looking at expanding effective vocabulary by employing …

Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 49.

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 48.

On 29/03/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Word Choice2 Comments

Writers enjoy sharing ideas to improve our craft. This series aims at trim writing, using examples intended to stimulate the imagination. Readers will appreciate the absence of common redundancies and flabby expressions. Penetrate into: Is it possible to penetrate out of? No, I didn’t think so. e.g. At that exquisite moment of union, the man …

Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 48.

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 47.

On 24/03/2016 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Grammar, Word Choice

We writers share ideas to improve our craft. This series aims to trim our writing. Readers will appreciate the absence of these common redundancies and flabby expressions. Joint collaboration: Let’s dispense with the ‘joint’, unless you feel the need for a fix, of course. All collaboration is a joint affair, after all. e.g. Joint collaboration …

Continue reading Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 47.