Audience • Deliverable • Deadline
Distinctions: Squash vs Quash
Words: Squash vs Quash You squash bugs. You quash rumors. ———— Change: “The about-to-launch campaign was also squashed by Mayor Boris Johnson.” ———— Technically squash can be used in place of quash (to put an end to; suppress). But isn’t it nicer to make the distinction?
Self-Imposed Limits in Science Fiction
Science fiction is defined by a spirit of curiosity in a story where everything is just enough different that your initial biases are suspended and you, the reader, become alert to possibility.
Jane Eyre (Fukunaga)
No movie adaptation of Jane Eyre is likely to please me; the most I can hope for is that I don’t wince too much. Jane Eyre was my first favorite book, the first book I connected to. Our relationship began when I was 14, seeing the Susannah York/George C. Scott adaptation on TV’s Hallmark Hall of Fame. By that all other adaptations are judged. This 2011 version leaves me cold.
Acknowledging Craft
Why is perfecting one’s craft is looked on with suspicion, as something that limits self-expression rather than expands it?
Clear and Simple as the Truth
Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose
Francis-Noel Thomas & Mark Turner
Princeton University Press. 1994.
This book defines one type of style, classic, and its elemental principles. The classic style is contrasted to other styles, such as, romantic, contemplative, and reflexive.