Looking for the Best Word? Tip #18

This series offers help for writers to make their work more varied, accessible, interesting, accurate and effective by exploring similar and dissimilar words. It also helps language learners understand some of the finer points of English usage. A good thesaurus gives substitutes for the idea of a word, but not all suggestions are true synonyms. Context …

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Author Interview on Unplag.com.

Today, I’m delighted to be interviewed on the unplag.com/blog, and given a chance to share information, motivation and writing advice. The piece is titled, 'Stuart Aken reveals a secret of his writing craft in his interview to unplag'. I consider this a real honour and I’m pleased to share it with you. Here’s the link …

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Looking for the Best Word? Tip #17

Today’s Google search for ‘Writers Help’ brought up 58,000,000 results. One post from this series was 4th in the list and a second was 6th! So, you’re in good company if you read this post. The series offers help for writers to make their work more varied, accessible, interesting, accurate and effective by exploring similar …

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Progress on the WIP: SciFi in the Making.

Many readers followed my progress on Blood Red Dust, so I've decided to run a similar series of short blogs for the second book in the series. The new book is underway. I have a small core of characters, some of whom readers met in Blood Red Dust, and others new to the series. The …

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Against the Night, by P M F Johnson, Reviewed.

Poetry is more difficult to review than novels or nonfiction. For me it is, anyway. As a writer of prose, often puzzled by the brevity and density of poetry, I feel less qualified to comment on technical aspects. What I can do, however, is describe how the poems made me feel, what I experienced as …

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Looking for the Best Word? Tip #16

Read this post and you’ll be in good company. Today’s Google search for ‘Writers Help’ brought up 72,300,000 results. One post from this series was the 4th in the list and a second was 9th! The series offers help for writers to make their work more varied, accessible, interesting, accurate and effective by exploring similar …

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Looking for the Best Word? Tip #15

If you read this post, you’re in good company. I recently did a Google search for ‘Writer Help’ to answer a Quora question. The search brought up 270,000,000 results. 2 of the posts from this series were listed on the first page in the 1st 10 results! A series offering to help writers make their …

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Fantasticon 2016 and Other Treats

A book launch, where we sold out of the publisher’s stock! A meeting with Royd Tolkien and lots of other authors. A gathering of enthusiastic and generous people at an event celebrating science fiction, fantasy and gaming. Plus: Visits to relatives and friends in various locations. Visits to Family Research Centres to gather facts for …

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Looking for the Best Word? Tip #14

A series offering to help writers make their work more varied, accessible, interesting, accurate and effective by exploring similar and dissimilar words. A good thesaurus provides substitutes for the idea of a word, but not all suggestions are true synonyms. Context is vital. Placing alternative words in the same sentence to see if they actually …

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Today’s Definitely The Day!

What better place to launch a new science fiction novel than a convention devoted to scifi and fantasy? Well, today (19th November) I’m here at Fantasticon 2016, in Hull, signing copies of my latest book, Blood Red Dust. Set on Mars before the end of this century, it follows the lives of a set of …

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Looking for the Best Word? Tip #13

A series exploring similar and dissimilar words for ways writers might make their work more varied, accessible, interesting, accurate and effective. A good thesaurus gives substitutes for the idea of a word, but not all are true synonyms. Context is vital. Placing alternative words in the same sentence to see if they actually make sense …

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Looking for the Best Word? Tip #12

A series exploring similar and dissimilar words for ways writers might make their work more varied, accessible, interesting, accurate and effective. A good thesaurus gives substitutes for the idea of a word, but not all are true synonyms. Context is vital. Placing alternative words in the same sentence to see if they actually make sense …

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Liking is Lovely, but Sharing is Caring.

All of us who blog, or use a website to inform potential readers about our books, are aware of the struggle for exposure, the difficulty of getting our names out there. We indulge in online activity to add value to the lives of others (at least, I hope we do: those interested only in self-promotion …

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Looking for the Best Word? Tip #11

Examining similar and dissimilar words for ways writers might make their work more varied, accessible, interesting, accurate and effective. A good thesaurus suggests substitutes for the idea of a word, but not all these are true synonyms. Context is vital. Placing alternative words in the same sentence to see if they actually make sense is …

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666, An Anthology of Horror Shorts, Reviewed.

https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/card?asin=B01M6A07BE&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_ERalAbGW2P26R&tag=stuartaken-21 A scary collection of thirty-two horror shorts, every one of them exactly 666 words long! These Fantables were mostly the result of a contest run by the publisher, Fantastic books Publishing, but include some tales by selected invited professional writers. The stories run the whole spectrum of horror writing from the traditional through to …

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