Language evolution is an understandable and even necessary thing – linguists agree that when a language stops evolving, it quickly becomes a dead language. But English is undergoing an interesting type of evolution: word definitions are changing and expanding to...
writing
eBook Plague – Errors Aplenty
“Annoying.” “Very irritating.” These are just a couple of the most common descriptives readers are using when talking about their frustrations with the numerous errors in e-books. These readers are asking Amazon and other e-book distributors for refunds without...
Hot Today, Cold Tamale…Another Menu Misspelling
Restaurant menus are fertile grounds for misspellings that are either funny or create double entendres. This one actually gave its customers the wrong impression, as the entire dish was hot: The funny thing is that "chili" was used in almost every dish on the menu,...
Tuxedoed Writing
Will Rogers, Jr. once advised a fellow actor, “Don't ever take a dramatic lesson. They will try to put your voice in a dinner jacket, and people like their hominy and grits in everyday clothes." The actor – Dale Robertson – followed Rogers’s advice and became a highly...
The Joys of Language Evolution
No one likes change. Or so they say. The English language is in a constant state of evolution. Some people think it’s a bad thing and mourn the idea of static language. I think it’s a good thing – even an exciting thing – especially for writers. Why is this a good...
Sex Scenes in Young Adult Books?
Malorie Blackman and Melvin Burgess say teenagers should read books in high school which tackle realistic sexual relationships as well as realistic sex itself. Their argument is that teenagers are going to get their information on sex and what it's like (or should be...
What Makes Good YA (Young Adult) Fiction?
Every genre has its own characteristics, and characters in novels each have their own personalities, accents, speech patterns, etc. It’s what distinguishes them from each other and makes each character unique, turning them into believable people. YA writing goes a bit...
Falling In Love Can Be Dangerous
As writers, we love what we do. Let’s face it – if we weren’t passionate about it, would we pour our hearts and souls onto page after page, into book after book, not knowing if anyone else will share our passion? Of course not. We also tend to fall in love with our...
The Absence of Writing
Dennis Quaid said, “Good film is the absence of acting.” What a great point. If you notice the acting, you’re removed from the depth of the film itself. Actors need to be natural and to fit their roles, not to deliver a series of choreographed lines and moves that...
Ironic Forbes Error
This misspelling - and obvious proofreading oversight - was in a June 2, 2013 Forbes article titled, "Book Publishing May Actually Save Itself". What's ironic is that the error appeared in an article about publishing! And the misspelled word, which should have been...