Stuart's Word Spot: Wacky

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Wacky: noun - A mad, peculiar or crazy person, an eccentric. Adjective - Left-handed, eccentric, peculiar, crazy, mad, weird.

'Salvador Dali could be described as a wacky, due to his odd and eccentric behaviour.'

'There was a growing trend in the 1980s to describe something as wacky if it was a little bit unusual, different or outrageous, which was a shame, as it devalued the word through over use.'

What's the biggest single mistake writers make when querying?

In this lengthy feature, Jordan Tohline analyses the results he gleaned from asking 100 agents the same question – 'What's the biggest single mistake writers make when querying you?'

It's worth the 20-30 minutes it'll take to read this, if you're serious about getting a positive reaction when you send your darling off as a sacrifice to the agents.

Neglect it at your peril.

http://www.jmtohline.com/2010/12/biggest-mistakes-writers-make-when.html

Why do Some Revere Ancient Myths, yet Sneer at Modern Fantasy?

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Agents and publishers, with a few notable exceptions, frequently reject fantasy as a genre. It is the genre most frequently excluded in the details given by literary agents and publishers. I wonder why this is. Fantasy incorporates a huge variety of novel types. Obviously Lord of the Rings is included in the genre, but so are such classic novels as Animal Farm, Gulliver's Travels, Vanity Fair, Utopia, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and many others. Do publishers and agents simply see the swords and sorcery or dragons of conventional modern fantasy and assume that all deal with the same subjects? There is a long history of admiration by publishers and academics for the works of the Ancient Greeks; and if their works aren't fantasy, then nothing is. But modern fantasy seems to leave them feeling slightly uneasy, for a number of unspecified reasons. It is easy to suspect that some form of literary snobbery is at large here. Perhaps some of those who reject the genre would like to enlighten me and my readers about the reason for this apparent prejudice.

Writers Services Website; a review.

Writers’ Services has over 2000 pages of advice, information and tips for writers. Most of the resource on this website is free, with some professional services offered at a charge. (As is my habit, I’ll concentrate on the free stuff; it’s up to the website to market anything they want you to pay for). There is a monthly online magazine, packed full of news and comment and columns from well established figures in the writing world. An up to the minute News section details all things writerly, as they happen. The Comment section holds information listed under a great variety of headings and has links to the archives so you can find items published in previous years. Under ‘What’s New?’ you’ll find diverse articles; e.g. 26 July 2010 headings are: John Jenkins’ July Column – dealing with dialogue; News Review, looking at Amazon; The English Language, publishing world; Comment, looking at translations; Latest changes in the book world, where Chris Holifield looks at Creative Commons; and more.

Writers’ Web holds information and articles on everything to do with the web as it applies to writers, including links to free software, quantity versus quality, inexpensive printing, security, etc.

But it is the Resources pages that really make this site stand out from the crowd. Here you’ll find reviews of books and software, listings of agents, self-publishing facts, educational matters, health and safety advice, and there’s a new feature, reviewing writing magazines.

You’ll see there is a great deal of information on this site. It’s well presented and easily navigated, which is as well, considering the number of pages. It’s a site I browse often and I think you’ll benefit from a good look at this one.

Word of the Day is divorced from the blog that precedes it and produced in response to a request from a follower to provide just such a service.

Word of the Day; utopia – From the title of a book by Sir Thomas More (1477-1535) – an imagined place where everything is ideal; an impossible state of social perfection. ‘Julie stumbled out of her daydream into a world of everlasting blue skies, gentle people with friendly dispositions, and a complete absence of commerce and thought she had found her utopia.’

Frustrations of titles

For some years, I've been writing a fantasy novel; volume one of a trilogy. I'd always planned on calling the series 'Skyfire'. So, somewhat belatedly, I checked Amazon for the title, having failed to do that with Breaking Faith and then discovering umpteen books with the same title. The search came up with 75 results for Skyfire, so, back to the drawing board. But I've come up with an alternative, which I think will work as well; watch this space for more news on that. Whilst I was at it, I devised titles for each volume and checked those out online at Amazon and on Google, as well. All OK on that score. I'm on the final edit before I start the search for an agent on this one; working on chapter 16 of 68 at present.
Spent a little while bringing the website up to date. There are links to over 220 sites of interest to writers and readers on http://www.stuartaken.co.uk. Give it a look, if you're interested in books, fiction or stories.
Had a bit of good news yesterday; I've won an unspecified prize in the LaScala Studios short story contest. I'll discover what at the prize-giving ceremony at the end of July.