Stuart Aken's Blog, page 201

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 29.

Writers enjoy sharing ideas to improve their craft. Here are some ways to trim our writing. Readers will appreciate us removing common redundancies and flabby expressions. Completely destroy: If you destroy something, it is shattered, demolished, pulled to pieces: in any case, it ceases to exist as it was before the act. ‘Completely’ is therefore […]

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 28.

Writers enjoy sharing ideas to improve their craft. Here are some ways to trim our writing. Readers will appreciate us removing common redundancies and flabby expressions. Commute back and forth: You commute to get to and from work, so ‘back and forth’ is unnecessary. Unless, of course, you have the sense to live close to […]

You can’t tell me what to do!

Originally posted on Meg Sorick- writes better than she dresses:
I came across this photo/list of Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules of Writing on Pinterest. ?It’s an excerpt from?his?essay of the same title. ?I thought it would be interesting to see if you all agree or disagree with these rules. Here’s my opinion: 1. Personally, I…

Updated Writing Contests Page

Just a quick message to know the table has been updated and you’ll find it here. Good Luck!Filed under: Author, Creative Writer Tagged: Writers Resources, Writing

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 27.

Writers share ideas to improve their craft. Here, I’m looking at ways to trim our writing. Readers will thank us for removing common redundancies and flabby expressions. Close proximity: Something in proximity to something else is close to it, so ‘close’ is a tautology. e.g. The close proximity of the backpacker caused the tourists to […]

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 26.

Writers share ideas to improve their craft. Here, I’m looking at ways to trim our writing. Readers will thank us for removing common redundancies and flabby expressions. Cease and desist: The lawyers seem to love this one, but writers of creative work would, I hope, resist the tautology. e.g. Cease and desist all contact with […]

The Spirit of a Witch, by Sarah Jane Avory, Reviewed.

This book came to me as a prize in a raffle at the Fantasticon 2015 fantasy convention in Hull. I doubt I would’ve come across it otherwise and don’t think I’d have read it. The novel is clearly aimed at young women and I suspect many of them, especially cat lovers, will enjoy it. The […]

7 New year’s resolutions to make your blog more user-friendly

Originally posted on Daily Echo:
You’ve done all the celebrating, the world is slowly getting back to normal and the Easter eggs are already crowding the shelves of the supermarket (yes, really). Many New Year’s resolutions have already been broken, slightly bent or put off till after the weekend… but there are a few easy…

Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 25.

Writers share ideas to improve their craft. Here, I’m looking at ways to trim our writing. Readers will thank us for removing common redundancies and flabby expressions. Careful scrutiny: Scrutiny is the careful examination of something, so ‘careful’ is a tautology here. e.g. Susan read the contract with careful scrutiny. Try: Susan read the contract […]

A Brief Update on The Writing Contests Table

As promised, I’ve looked at the way the new table works and it does update as I enter and ‘save’ information. This means whenever you access the table it will hold the latest information. Obviously, as this is now a ‘rolling’ amendment to the content, I can’t produce a notification for every time I make […]