Stuart Aken's Blog, page 209
September 9, 2015
Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 04.
Many writers enjoy sharing ideas that might improve our craft. So, let’s chop the fat from our writing. Make it lean and trim. Readers will thank us.
In this series, I’ll look at some common redundancies.
But, reading this and nodding wisely in agreement won’t do. We need to stay alert to those extraneous words that sneak into text, or they’ll reappear. Including this aspect in our editing process should catch most offenders.
Advance warning:
Oh dear: can we warn in retrospect? I don’t think...
International Literacy Day
This infographic courtesy of Grammarly https://www.grammarly.com/plagiarism-checker
Filed under: Uncategorized
September 8, 2015
Men Vs Women Writers Infographic
An interesting infographic here. Of course, we’re all individuals and each of us will recognise various aspects of this survey as either true or false for us. But averages are always of interest.
Originally posted on SaylingAway:
Thought you might enjoy this infographic on men vs women writers, while I’m living it up in Maine! Please note this graphic was kindly provided by:https://www.grammarly.com/grammar-check
Filed under: Uncategorized
September 7, 2015
Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 03.
Many writers welcome the sharing of ideas that might improve our craft. So, let’s chop the fat from our writing. Make it lean and trim. Readers will thank us.
In this series, I’ll look at some common redundancies and other questionable writing devices.
But, reading this and nodding wisely in agreement won’t do. We need to stay alert to those extraneous words that sneak into text, or they’ll reappear. Including this aspect in our editing process should catch most offenders.
Advance planning:
...September 6, 2015
Running for ME/CFS no. 53
The original has a little pocket full of slips with the website details for people to take with them. One week today at this time I’ll be recovering, hopefully with a local pint and some tasty food, after running the 13.1 miles of the Great North Run along the roads from Newcastle Upon Tyne to the seafront at South Shields.
I’ve done all the training. Run a good many miles along local roads and through the hilly forest above my house. I’ve had physio for my back, taken advice about proper sup...
Nine, by Drew Wagar, Reviewed.
This is a science fiction short based on the Oolite space trading game. No, I’d never heard of it, either. But you don’t need to be familiar with this created Ooniverse to understand and enjoy this clever tale.
It’s a multi-layered piece, with many themes, in spite of its brevity. But it can also be easily enjoyed as a simple story. The characters are all drawn with care and enough personality to make them real people rather than either caricatures or stereotypes.
The story moves at a good p...
September 5, 2015
The Man Whom the Trees Loved, by Algernon Blackwood, Reviewed.
Modern readers may find this short novel too wordy, which is a shame, as it’s a well-told story. But it is undeniably written in the style of its age, with a good deal of description and not a great amount of action.
The central characters are all very fully drawn and their interactions are beautifully set out on the page. This is a strange tale, founded in the paranormal genre, but bordering on horror and definitely laced with subtle menace. The God’s eye point of view won’t be to everyone’...
September 4, 2015
Running for ME/CFS no. 52
The map of the run, provided by the sponsors. It’s a bit big to copy the whole thing! Today, I’ve made the last training run before the actual race. For the remainder of the days between now and 13th September, I’m supposed to ‘rest’ the muscles and build energy for the race itself. This means some shortish walks only, to keep the joints moving and feed some work into the muscles without causing any strain or drain on energy.
So, on Wednesday, I was down to do 7 sessions of 4-minute runs and...
September 2, 2015
Cut The Fat; Make Your Writing Lean: #Tip 02.
Many writers welcome the sharing of ideas that might improve our craft. So, let’s chop the fat from our writing. Make it lean and trim. Readers will thank us.
In this series, I’ll look at some common redundancies. (I had hoped someone perspicacious might point out that the first post title in this series used a redundant adjective, ‘out’, but no matter. I’ve removed it for the remainder.)
But, reading this and nodding wisely in agreement won’t do. We need to stay alert to those extraneous wo...
August 31, 2015
The Methuselah Strain in Hardback.
Here it is: the hardback print version of my science fiction novella, The Methuselah Strain. All copies will be signed.
Dan Grubb, owner of Fantastic Books Publishing, suggested we launch this at the great fantasy/scifi event, Fantasticon 2015, in the region where I was born. It takes place over the weekend of 24/25 October in the Country Park Hotel close to the Humber Bridge, in Hessle (where I spent my teenage years). The nearest city is Hull (where I was born) about 5 miles to the east. I...
