First, Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas and, like me, you’re probably glad the snow has gone. But I couldn’t resist including one of the pics that my daughter-in-law took of Kenilworth Castle over the festive season – whether you like snow or not, that kind of view takes some beating.
One of the pleasant things about being a published author is that you are sometimes invited to give a talk at local libraries or book festivals. I always invite questions and one that is invariably asked is ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’
This week’s blog is a bit of a hotchpotch (or, so my dictionary tells me, a hodgepodge if you’re American or Canadian).
So to start with, if you love words, some useless facts! An average six-year-old knows 9,000 – 13,000 words. This rises to 40,000 – 50,000 by the time they reach their teens. Though, as you’ve probably noticed, they only use a fraction of this on a daily basis. According to Global Language Monitor a new word is created every 98 minutes and last year English acquired its one millionth words. (Though how they work this out is beyond me!) So, if you’re sitting down to write that novel you’ve got lots of words to play with.
But what if you’re writing for children ? You obviously need to take some care ensuring that the level of language you use (vocabulary and syntax) is suitable for the age range you’re targeting. We all have four vocabularies. Listening is our largest – we often hear words that we can only understand in the context in which they are spoken. Next comes speaking, followed by reading (again we sometimes guess at the meaning from the context). The fourth is writing which is more precise and we have to think before putting pen to paper. A quick tip here: when writing for children, if you need to consult a thesaurus, use one designed for children rather than the somewhat ponderous adult versions.
And finally, as a self-confessed Luddite, I couldn’t resist this quote from Joel Achenbach in The Washington Post that I saw recently in a writers’ magazine:
“The best feature of print is that it doesn’t interrupt you. It doesn’t try to link you somewhere else. It doesn’t talk back…Interactivity is a great virtue sometimes, but there are other times when you want to read a story that doesn’t try to heckle you…”
It’s hot, and although I love summer weather I can’t help feeling it’s largely a waste of time for those of us cooped-up in a city-centre office. You don’t get to enjoy the benefits and when you go home you have to face the tedium of filling and re-filling a degging can, just to keep those precious plants you bought alive and perky.
But let’s not be negative. Apparently if you think happy, positive thoughts, your whole life will be happier and more successful – well that’s the theory, anyway! So let’s be positive, instead. According to the Press Gazette over a billion consumer magazines were sold in 2009 and sales dropped just 1.3% in the second half of the year – despite the recession. So, if you’re a writer there’s still a huge market out there for your work.
I suspect the reason for the buoyancy is that magazines are still considered comparatively cheap – a small indulgence that can be justified even when times are hard and finances tight.
If you’re interested in writing fiction you could do worse than check out Fiction Factor where there are hundreds of useful articles on all aspects of the craft and links on book promotions and marketing.
Or, you might like to see what Ty Johnston has to say at Local Misanthropy, his blog on writing. A recent post considers whether writers really can make a living from writing only short stories.
So, now that we’re all feeling much more up-beat, I’m off to watch England’s third World Cup match, against Slovenia. But I’m wondering whether I’ll still be feeling as optimistic in a couple of hours’ time!
