Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 1 Comment

Crutch Words – Walk – part 1

 

It’s been a while, but I’ve been super busy, I assure you! I’m setting up another website, this time for my book cover design business (or hopefully, soon-to-be business) and I’ve been spending a lot of time creating book covers (you can check it out here, if you like, but please bear in mind that it’s still under construction). Between family, writing my novels, designing book covers, learning about important legal stuff for both of them, and managing life, there’s hardly any time left for blogging. Still, I haven’t abandoned it completely. It’s just that I can only do it whenever I get some free time and if I have enough energy left (which is not as easy to find as you may think).

So, here’s a new list of synonyms that will hopefully help new and seasoned writers alike. This time, the word I focused on is WALK. Needless to say that you shouldn’t swap all instances of walk with these synonyms. Each word has a deeper meaning and can convey your message correctly only if used properly.

So here’s the list:

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

A question for you

I come to you with a question. A few years ago, I had a short story published through an e-zine. Since then, the magazine ceased to exist, although the site is still up. My story was featured in the last issue they published. No one could access the story unless they paid to read the issue. That was back in 2014. Pretty much what any print magazine does. Pay to read. As far I know, even today, one can only read an excerpt of that story, but needs to pay a subscription to read the rest.

The story is related to my upcoming debut novel, The Darkening. In fact, they are so closely related, they have the same title. Yeah, I know it’s not a good idea to do this in general, but I suck at coming up with titles.

Anyway, now that I’m redesigning my newsletter, I was thinking of using that short story as part of a reader magnet that will also include the first four chapters of my debut novel, and access to a short interactive story I designed. So three items in total.

But here’s the problem. My style has changed significantly since 2014. I improved considerably in these four years. As far as I’m concerned, that short story is not as good as it could be. It was good then, when I only had a year or so of writing experience. But if I were to write it now, it would be different. The story doesn’t resonate the same to my ears. I’m worried that if I let people read it the way it was published then, readers may get the wrong impression of my current writing skill and style. Of course, as I’ve told you before, I’m a perfectionist. Never satisfied with the quality of the material I produce. So it may all very well be in my mind.

So here’s the question to you, the more seasoned and knowledgeable writers: Have you ever had to rewrite a previously published story of yours for a new publication or to give it away to new readers? If so, how far is a writer allowed to go with new revisions/edits? Would such a thing create problems for the publisher of the original story? Would you even consider reusing or repurposing older material for new readers? Ultimately, am I right to be worried or am I worrying too much?

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Crutch words – ANGRY (part 2)

This is the second part of my list of ANGRY synonyms. You can find part one here. I have to admit, while researching for these, I often had to pause and double-check (and sometimes triple-check) that they were in fact still in use or that they actually meant what I was looking for. Bellicose and Churlish are two of the words I had never seen before, but then again, I’m not a native English speaker, so that may be the reason.

Keep in mind that each synonym, is just that; a synonym. It doesn’t always work as a replacement, because each word carries a meaning of its own. So before you substitute all instances of angry with any of these or from part one, make sure it’s the right one.