Category: words

The authors, a growing group that already numbers 35, say that national curriculum assessment criteria have become a “prescription for how to teach children to write (to pass the tests), with quite adverse effects on their writing skills”. This means, they say, that children are taught “not to use simple words such as ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘small’ or ‘big’ but to always find other more ‘interesting’ words to replace them – such as ‘wonderful’, ‘terrible’, ‘minuscule’ or ‘enormous’”.

“It seems like we’ve never been so overwhelmed with reboots, prequels, neverending series, and what Slate has called “famfic” — continuations of a series by the late author’s own family.”

“In 2005, during Wikipedia’s peak years, there were months when more than 60 editors were made administrator — a position with special privileges in editing the English-language edition. For the past year, it has sometimes struggled to promote even one per month. The pool of potential Wikipedia editors could dry up as the number of mobile users keeps growing; it’s simply too hard to manipulate complex code on a tiny screen.”

The move has dismayed some authors, who believe it sets a dangerous precedent and could spread across the industry. It has also raised concerns about the amount of data Amazon is able to mine from its customers. “We’re making this switch in response to great feedback we received from authors who asked us to better align payout with the length of books and how much customers read,” the company said.

“Brushing aside mounting criticism, a Tokyo publisher has defended its decision to release a controversial autobiography penned by a former teenage serial killer, billing it as helpful to elucidate – and even deter – heinous juvenile crimes in society. Since the release of the autobiography last week, Ota Publishing Co. has faced a ‘massive’ backlash from the public, the company admitted in a statement.”

“Currie had said he would resign because he felt administrators did not support him after he read King & King, in which two princes fall in love and get married. He has said he read the book after a boy in his class was called gay in a derogatory way and told he was acting like a girl.”

All of them? That’s what the research says. Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield explain. (podcast)

“Why is everyone so quick to write bookstores’ obituary? What is this cultural obsession with obsoletism? Perhaps it’s just in our bones—that technology always wins.”

“That fans would run amok with the story was probably inevitable. Readers today often behave more like corporate shareholders than consumers, demanding a say in the direction a story takes and adding their own flourishes and twists. With thriving online fan communities, devotees of a franchise can easily find their niche.”

“For the many authors who publish directly through Amazon, the new model could warp the priorities of writing: A system with per-page payouts is a system that rewards cliffhangers and mysteries across all genres. It rewards anything that keeps people hooked, even if that means putting less of an emphasis on nuance and complexity.”