by Sue Horner | Feb 23, 2024 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Do you want to explain something, make a point or spark that “aha” moment? Reach for a metaphor, which shows how two things are alike without using “like” or “as.” A metaphor gives people a shortcut to understanding new, complex or conceptual info, says writing...
by Sue Horner | Aug 17, 2023 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
I can’t be the only one who eagerly awaits the results of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. At last, they’re in! This amusing contest goes back to 1982, and invites ideas for the worst possible opening sentence to a fictitious novel. It’s named after Edward...
by Sue Horner | Aug 22, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
As I note every year around this time, it takes real creativity to come up with truly awful writing. Yes, I’m talking about the winners of the over-the-top Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. This contest challenges entrants to come up with the opening sentence to the...
by Sue Horner | Dec 3, 2021 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Any contest (1) dealing with books and (2) awarding a prize to The Oddest Book Title of the Year is a winner. So if you’re a book lover too, you’ll be eager to find out the winner of the quirky Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title for 2021. Drumroll…. Is Superman...
by Sue Horner | Aug 13, 2021 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
If you like the idea of spinning a wordy, over-the-top sentence that would be proud to launch a bad novel, you must know about the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. I first found and wrote about this amusing contest in 2009, although it began in 1982. As the site says,...
by Sue Horner | Apr 9, 2020 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Music is keeping a lot of us going during these days of social isolation and physical distancing. Without live music performances possible, I’m grateful to #CanadaPerforms, an online program and relief fund by Canada’s National Arts Centre. Through the NAC and...
by Sue Horner | Jul 17, 2019 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Who doesn’t love a slice of deliberately bad writing? Yes, word nerds, gather ’round. It’s time to celebrate the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest, “where ‘www’ means ‘wretched writers welcome.’” The contest awards the best of the worst opening sentences, or what the...
by Sue Horner | Nov 8, 2018 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Hot on the heels of this month’s midterm elections in the United States (no, I’m not going there) is voting of a different sort. I’m talking about choosing the Word of the Year. The big names like the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster wait until late...
by Sue Horner | May 31, 2018 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Stumbling over a few misused words recently brought to mind the 1987 movie, The Princess Bride. Vezzini (Wallace Shawn), the “mastermind” hired to kidnap the princess, constantly describes unfolding events as “inconceivable.” Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) says, “You...
by Sue Horner | Jan 4, 2018 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
The wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University in Michigan are at it again. Among the words they’re trying to banish for “Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness” are fake news, gig economy, impactful and unpack. As an unnamed spokesperson said when releasing the...
