19 December, 2007

A Roar for Powerful Words



Julie of Virtual Journey kindly awarded me 'A Roar for Powerful Words', a blog award which began life on the Shameless Words Writing Circle.

Julie described my blog thus:

"My fifth award goes to CARLA NAYLAND, another historical writer, in recognition of her careful analysis and depth of understanding in her chosen genre"

Thank you, Julie. I'm honoured.

The recipient of the award has to set out three things that they believe are important to powerful writing, and nominate five more recipients of the award.

Here are my suggestions for three features that contribute to powerful writing:

  • Clarity. This is a prerequisite. It's very difficult for writing to be powerful if no-one can understand what it says.

  • Economy. Using the minimum of words to convey the idea clearly. This doesn't mean reducing everything to three-word soundbites, it means compact writing without waffle.

  • Vivacity. Powerful writing is vivid and lively. It shows that the writer is interested in what they are writing about; which is a good first step to getting the reader interested too.


And my five suggested recipients:

  • Rick of Rocketpunk Manifesto. Science fiction, with occasional forays into fantasy fiction, alternate history and invented history.

  • Wordcarving, John Ahearn's poetry blog.

  • Nan Hawthorne of the Blue Lady Tavern. Gossip, anecdote and tales from the daily life of a (fictional) tavern keeper in 8th-century England.

  • Martin Rundqvist of Aardvarchaeology. Mostly Scandinavian archaeology, with occasional diversions (e.g. scroll down to Dec 16 for some eye-popping pics from a Swedish cabaret club).

  • Shared between: Alianore of the Edward II blog, rehabilitating the reputation of an unfairly maligned king one blog post at a time, and Susan Higginbotham's Unromantic Richard III, devoted to an unfairly maligned king whose rehabilitation has perhaps gone just a little too far.



So, off you all go to Shameless Words (link above) to claim your psychedelic lion, and I shall look forward to seeing your choices!

11 comments:

Kit moss said...

My lady, honoured am I indeed for having been deemed deserving of your award! My constant gratitude and appreciation is yours.

Leofwen Taverner
Lawrenciium, Críslicland
http://crislicland.blogspot.com
aswell as Teh Blue Lady Tavern

Martin said...

Many thanks, Carla! I think you pretty much nailed it with your three characteristics of powerful writing.

Gabriele Campbell said...

Congrats Carla, and welcome to the club. :)

Russell Whitfield said...

Congrats, Carla - you are the queen of vivacity, that's for sure.

Well done you!

Russell Whitfield said...

Just a question - you say that Rocketpunk Manifesto covers "Invented history." I have to say that this is a term that I've not come across before, but it really intrigued me.

I did look on the blog, but nothing jumped out that was invented history, so I'm wondering if any Naylanders can give us a definition or some examples of it.

Cheers

Russ

Carla said...

Nan/Leofwen - You're welcome!

Martin, Gabriele - Thank you.

Russ - Thanks, you're too kind! "Invented history" is a term I use for a story that's set in an invented world but doesn't involve magic or supernatural beings. It's not historical fiction because the setting isn't real, but it's not fantasy either because there's no magic. I like it very much, but there's not a lot of it about. Guy Gavriel Kay writes it (as do I, and Rick). See earlier post for my definition and how it differs from historical fantasy etc.

Rick said...

I'm going to have to wimp out again, because I never know who to single out for passing it along!

I may grab the cool lion anyway, though. :)

Russell Whitfield said...

Thanks, Carla, that's ace. The topic there was a fascinating one.

Oh - Merry Xmas to you all the readers of the blog!

Cheers

Russ

Carla said...

Rick - you don't have to play. The lions are great, aren't they? Seamus (Shameless Words) collects them, so if you have any good lion photos, leave a link in his comments.

Russ - Cheers, and a very happy Christmas to you!

virtual nexus said...

One of the pleasant things about this award is seeing where it goes next!
Congratulations to all.

Carla said...

Julie - yes, I've found several good blogs by following links from awards like this!