Stuart Aken's Blog, page 197

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 44.

Writers enjoy sharing ideas to improve their craft. Here are some tricks to trim your writing. Readers will appreciate the absence of these common redundancies and flabby expressions. Equal to one another: Wordy! e.g. The authors were equal to one another in terms of books published, but she was a better writer. Try: The authors […]

Creative #Writing #Contests Page Updated

Here’s this week’s reminder that I’ve updated the contest table. Whenever you visit the page, the table will be as up to date as it is on my home computer, as it updates each time I ‘save’ to the table. You can access it by clicking here.Filed under: Author, Creative Writer, Prizes Tagged: Author, News, […]

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 43.

We writers often share ideas to improve our craft. Here are some ways to trim your writing. Readers will value the absence of redundancies and flabby expressions. Emergency situation: Situation is extraneous here, so we can manage without it. e.g. They have an emergency situation at the flower festival; all the petals are falling off! […]

The Red Room, by Joan Barbara Simon, Reviewed.

I have never read anything like this. Now, there’s a statement. But what does it mean? This book is subtitled, ‘a portfolio’ and that’s a good description of the range of contents. First, let me advise potential readers that this is material for adults. Those who seek gentle reassurance in romance and the sweet murmurings […]

First Draft of the Mars Book Finished.

Much to my surprise, I finished the first draft of the current WIP, yesterday. This science fiction novel set on Mars currently has no title, other than ‘the Mars book’, which, let’s face it, isn’t exactly inspiring! Why was I surprised? I write as a pantster, so I don’t work to a plot, merely a […]

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 42.

Writers enjoy sharing ideas to improve their craft. Here are some tricks to trim your writing. Readers will appreciate the absence of these common redundancies and flabby expressions. Enter in: Since you can’t enter out (that would be an exit), let’s leave it out, eh? e.g. Jenny was prepared to enter in the dragon’s den […]

Mothers’ Day: A Best Friend Remembered.

In May this year, it’ll be 52 years since my mother died. That was 2 days after my 16th birthday and my memory of the day is, perhaps understandably, a little hazy. She was the victim of an idiot driver who reversed down a road in a place hidden from oncoming traffic. My father, driving […]

Creative #Writing #Contests Page Update Reminder

Here’s this week’s reminder that the table has been updated on the website. Whenever you visit the page, the table will be as up to date as it is on my home computer, since it updates each time I ‘save’ to the table. You can access it by clicking here.Filed under: Author, Creative Writer, Prizes […]

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 41.

Writers enjoy sharing ideas to improve their craft. Here are some tricks to trim your writing. Readers will appreciate the absence of these common redundancies and flabby expressions. Eliminate entirely: To eliminate something is to eradicate it, therefore ‘entirely’ or ‘completely’ or any other tautological qualifier is just that; tautology. e.g. The leader said, ‘If […]

Zen in the Art of Writing, by Ray Bradbury, Reviewed.

Ray Bradbury was one of my earliest writer heroes. I read a lot of his work when I was a teenager and young man. Along with Asimov, Clarke, Aldiss, Heinlein and Wyndham he was one of the authors who created my love of science fiction. I hadn’t come across this collection of essays aimed at […]