Have you ever read something and thought, “Wow!”? There’s a distinct difference between writing that’s good, and writing that’s truly great. One piece of great writing will differ immensely from another, but there are eight characteristics that all great pieces of writing contain.

They are:

Focus

Focus could arguably be the single most important characteristic of great writing. With a lack of focus, it’s nearly impossible to succeed in achieving just about all the other characteristics on this list. Focus is what turns a collection of random thoughts and ideas into a real piece of writing. It’s what allows the reader to stay with you from start to finish.
Organization

Poor organization can significantly impact your writing – and not in a good way. In fiction, good organization of the elements of your story is what keeps the reader interested and in suspense. In nonfiction writing, good organization is what makes it possible for the reader to understand the significance of the facts that are presented.
Purpose

All writing must serve some sort of purpose – for the reader and the writer themselves. Purposeless writing is a waste of time. Every piece of writing must fulfill a purpose, whether it be to entertain, to inform, or to teach. There are many possible purposes, so make sure you always find one and keep it in mind while writing.
Emotion

People have deep emotional capacity, and it’s feelings and emotions that make them relate to a story, love it, or even hate it. Great writing contains emotional depth; it makes the reader feel something. If writing evokes no emotions in a reader, it will be considered boring, bland, or forgettable.
Style

There are many different styles, and every writer has their own voice. However, true style will be present in all pieces of great writing. Style can’t be well defined, but it is exhibited in the way a story flows and sounds. It’s cadence and powerful sentence construction. Writing that lacks style will seem awkward and unpolished.
Accuracy

In nonfiction writing, accurate facts are of course essential to your story. If you get it wrong, you’ll lose authority and credibility with your reader, and that’s the death of a writer. Fiction writing also needs accuracy – in the form of consistency throughout the story. Made-up details should stay the same, and any elements pulled from real life should be accurate, or at least believable (even in a work of fantasy, the unbelievable must seem believable).
Engagement

Great writing will pull a reader in and fully capture their attention. It will speak to them, usually indirectly, and make them feel engaged and invested in what they’re reading. Skillful engagement is what gets them talking about your writing. It’s what makes them feel inspired.
Proficiency

Finally, no writing can be great if it shows a lack of proficiency for the mechanics of writing and language. Proper grammar, correct spelling, well-constructed sentences – all of these are essential. Writing that lacks proficiency makes the writer seem foolish, and it’s difficult for readers to get through.

Alayne Valentine is an avid writer and literature analyst who enjoys breaking down and analyzing novels. She loves to blog and often covers anything from formulating plots to using grammar checkers.

Photo Credit: theguru1

Today’s guest is Christopher Loke, author of The Housekeeper’s Son. (I reviewed his book a few weeks ago. Feel free to look it up in my archives.) Christopher is also the executive editor for Jolly Fish Press.

As executive editor for a publishing house, I’ve seen my share of query letters—those that draw my attention right away and those that scream, “Dunk me into the slush pile! NOW!” While I try to give every query a chance—overlooking minor typos and such—there are, however, query crimes that must never be committed.

The query letter, no matter how intimidating it sounds to writers, only consists of three major sections. These are also the sections that editors like me care about most. To make it easier, I advise writers to just write one paragraph for each section. A good query letter will consist of three major paragraphs: The intro, the body, and the conclusion.

The Intro
The first paragraph should be your hook, or tagline. To illustrate, I will use The Housekeeper’s Son as example. If I were to query an agent or a publisher on my novel, my first paragraph will go like this:

“When 72-year-old housekeeper, Eleanor Ethel Rose, is found with a bloody knife in her hand beside the dead body of her employer’s 12-year-old daughter, she quickly pleads guilty before her trial even begins. But to Victor Lee, a young journalist who is assigned to cover the story, there is more to Eleanor’s confession.”

And that’s all you will need to write. Simple and to the point. I use two sentences for my hook, but you can concise yours to one if you like. I don’t recommend more than three sentences.

The Body
Once you have the hook, you can expound briefly on what your book is all about. Now, remember not to divulge too much. All you need to write is a brief summary of your book’s major plot. Here’s what I imagine the author of Cinderella will write:

“Cinderella has always been ill-treated by her stepfamily. She lives her life as a servant to her abusive family, who is anything but kind. She longs to break free from the misery she’s in. And when her fairy godmother appears one night to give her the chance to meet the prince and possibly change her life forever, Cinderella’s dream seems to have come true. But magic has its limitation. It will only last till midnight, after which Cinderella will become her poor servant self again. Even in her immaculate gown standing in front of a prince, who is obviously smitten by her beauty and grace, Cinderella cannot foresee the chaos that will unfold as soon as the clock strikes twelve.”

That’s all you need to “tease” the reader without telling too much or being too short.

The Conclusion
There are a few pertinent things in the last paragraph of your query. They are the name of your book, why it should be acquired, the word-count, and the target audience. It is important that you include these few things in your conclusion or all will be in vain. Once you’ve done so, you may write a little about yourself. As editor, I always love to know a little about the author I am reading. It gives me an idea of who you are and your credentials, and it helps.

Here’s a list of things to remember when writing a query letter:

1. Address the agent by name.
2. Be concise.
3. Include the book title, target audience, and word-count.
4. Tell your reader what your book aims to accomplish; what are the underlying themes of the book, if you have one.
5. Include your email address and phone number. Although not necessary, it is always nice to let your reader know where you live.
6. Leave out the subplots and only involve major characters in the body of your letter.
7. Spell check.
8. Grammar check.
9. Punctuation check.
10. Review your letter to be sure it makes sense. Put it away for a week and reread again. If it sounds good, send it. If you are confused, fix it and repeat the process again.
11. Don’t tell the reader how great your book is, show them the plot and let them decide.
12. Don’t use funky fonts.
13. Don’t reduce font-size because you write too much.
14. And never send out a query letter until the novel is complete.

That said, bear in mind that there is no right or wrong way to write a query letter. What you want is a query letter that is clear, easy to follow, and well-written. And if you truly craft it well, good results will follow. Promise.

When looking at the lives of TV stars, would we expect their children to be named after themselves, in some egotistical way of creating fame for their youngsters or are TV stars a different breed of celebrity, who choose everyday names for their children in order to keep them away from the spotlight? Here in the top five baby names from the world of TV, we explore the best of the best, and were pleasantly surprised with the results. So prepare to be dazzled by the cuteness of some of these stars baby names, we most certainly were.

1) Our top spot goes to the queen of day time television Holly Willoughby, with the name, Belle Baldwin. A beautiful name for a baby girl, and we must all admit that we are a bit jealous that we did not think of it first, and we have no doubt that the little one will grow up to be just as stunning as her name. A tip here from the This Morning presenter, calling your baby daughter after a fairy tale is never a mistake, as we all want to be the belle of the ball one day.

2) Our number two spot goes to a rather peculiar name on this top five list, giving our appreciation to Bruce Forsyth for naming his child Johnathan Joseph Forsyth Johnson, quite a mouthful. With a Miss World mother, and Brucie as your father certainly this name is a sign of television royalty. Perhaps when naming your child you should be a bit more selective over how many family names to use, after all it would be quite difficult when telling them off to use every single name. However, we like the use of the letter J in this name, as the names together do seem to have a certain ring to them.

3) This next spot could cover all five spots on this list for the weird and wonderful names that we are about to uncover to you, and it is all down to the imagination of one top celebrity chef, none other than Jamie Oliver who has called his children, Petal Blossom Rainbow Oliver, Poppy Honey Rosie Oliver, Daisy Boo Pamela Oliver and Buddy Bear Maurice Oliver. These names simply confuse us, as they all seem to have a strange middle name like Rainbow or Bear, and we are not sure quite why this is. Therefore, for this we cannot give the number three spot to only one name, they all deserve recognition for being out there.

4) Our number four spot goes to a famous TV presenter, the one and only Johnathan Ross for his daughter, Betty Kitten. This name reminds us of a fifties glamourpuss, and we’re not sure why this isn’t just a stage name rather than her real name. His other two children also have very individualistic names, but Betty Kitten is our favourite with her brother and sister being called Harvey Kirby and Honey Kinney. We are sure that these names will certainly be putting the young Ross trio in the spotlight in the future.

5) Our last place goes to perhaps the most extreme name on this list, as we had to go out with a bang. All hail Peter Andre and Jordon for calling their daughter, Princess Tiaamii Crystal Esther Andre, who just beats her brother with the name Junior Savva Andreas Andre. This name baffles us as to why it was allowed, and whether you like these names is a matter of personal preference, however we most definitely suggest that you discuss it first with your family before naming your first daughter simply princess.

Citations:

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This article has been written by Rhian, who is interested in baby names. If you click here you can find information on names for your children, or interesting articles across the baby name world.

A lot has changed over the past 20 years. Most notably advances in technology have changed our society for better or worse. The 90’s, many Generation Y people will argue, was way better than todays world in terms of popular culture and technology. Now, one cannot denounce the evolutionary technological advances we’ve had over the past 2 decades, but the world certainly has changed. Whether it’s nostalgia bringing us back to the 90’s and we’re seeing all the stuff that used to be popular in a way better light then it actually was, you can never really know. Something that no one can argue with, however, is that the world has vastly changed in the past 20 years.

Technology

Long gone are the days when if you had a set of Walkie Talkies you were the coolest kid. You and your friend could each get one and tune it to the right frequency and off you were on a mission to infiltrate the kitchen for a bag of Gushers. This has been overruled by the invention of mobile phones, notably iPhones. More and more younger kids these days have iPhones, $600-700 pieces of technology. You can argue that this is a good thing which has integrated thousands of features into one device that would normally take dozens of devices to do the same thing, and this is true. However, the change from kids using Walkie Talkies or CD players to the iPhone, I think has affected kids more negatively than positively. Studies have shown that the development of social skills has declined over the years which is blamed on the advance of technology.

GameBoy Colors are now a thing of the past and have been replaced with the Nintendo 3DS. It used to be that playing your 8 bit games in a small variety of colors was cutting edge. Now the new Nintendo 3DS has 2 cameras, the capability of playing games in 3D, multiplayer wireless gaming, video playback, and the internet, just to name a few features. This astounding advancement in mobile gaming technology is huge and has been followed up with the PSVita and truly, the device that has taken over in terms of mobile gaming, the smartphone with the invention of the App Store. Pokemon Yellow Version has been surpassed by Angry Birds.

Music & Television

Television is still just as popular as ever and is a ritual for some people. Watching TV until the fall asleep every night. However, the content has changed significantly. Kids aren’t waking up every saturday morning to watch 4 hours of Loony Toons and Captain Planet. Now kids wake up and watch Yo Gabba Gabba or Go Diego Go. Toonami, perhaps the greatest television segment in the history of awesome television segments was taken off air in the early 2000’s. Many classic kids channels like Nick, Cartoonnetwork, and Disney channel have taken the turn for the worst.

Music and personality stars have changed. N’sync and the Backstreet Boys have been replaced with The Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, and most recently, One Direction. Whether that is an upgrade or a downgrade is for you to decide, however. Britney Spears has persisted through the decades to become a much older and forced Britney Spears version 2. Artists are becoming increasingly auto tuned and modified through artificial means. Pirating music is just as easy as ever after the downfall of Napster. Limewire and Frostwire have taken their place as well as many file sharing websites and torrents.

Games & Toys

Famous toys such as the Furbie and Easy Bake Ovens are long gone now and technology is starting to take over the entertainment of young kids. LEGOs however are still going strong, there is usually still an aisle or so dedicated to selling LEGOs at your local Walmart or Target superstore.

Miscellaneous Products

The ever popular soda that still garners a cult fan following today SURGE has been replaced by other drinks such as Red Bull. YooHoo, although still sold, is getting harder and harder to find in stores. Pokemon trading cards are still around today and enjoy limited success among the young audience. Long gone are the days of 151 Pokemon. 649 Pokemon now populate the epic world of limitless adventures and possibilities. Blockbuster has seen its decline and is in the final stretch of it’s life. The world of quick internet streaming and rentals has taken over with Netflix and Redbox.

The world has seen thousands of changes over the past 2 decades and whether they are for good or bad are for you to decide.

Thomas Chavez

Professional Staff Content Writer and Nostalgic 90’s Kid for RageHats.com

This is probably not a big surprise to any of you, but Friday the 13th is one of my favorite days. It’s practically like a holiday. Since I was twelve, I have had a scary movie party at my house every Friday the 13th. My friends automatically knew to plan on coming over that night and we’d have yummy food and settle in for a night of thrillers.

Once, my brother and I  threw a party at my grandparents house. I can’t tell you how perfect the setting was. Their home was an old mansion on a farm outside of town. We had a friend, dressed as a police officer, come over and let everyone know that there was an escaped convict on the loose and to be careful. Then, we “killed” our friends off, one at a time. While the group moved from one part of the room to the next (there were clues to let us know what the murderer was after), we would pull someone back, put a line of fake blood across their neck, and put the next clue on their body while they played dead. It was so much fun and everyone loved it.

When I told my husband about these kinds of things I instigated my whole life, he gave me a very peculiar look. It came as a surprise to me that not everyone loves Halloween and Friday the 13th. I realize I’m the odd bird out of almost anyone I know, but it never hit me until I met my husband how different I can be. (Don’t worry, he’s gotten used to me – and still loves me anyway!)

So I was just curious. Does anyone else have a fun tradition they like to do? When you wake up and realize that it’s Friday the 13th, do you get excited, think something bad will happen, or do you just roll your eyes? What movies do you like to watch on this day? Anyone have book they’re going to read tonight?

As for books, I recommend reading The Season of Passage, by Christopher Pike. It’s an oldie, but a goodie. And we can’t forget any number of Stephen King books.

I grew up watching Hitchcock movies, so I always love to put in a classic. I also love a good Tim Burton movie (We’re going to watch Sleepy Hollow tonight – love that one!) I don’t keep to just those ones, but I seem to revert back to them now and again.

Because I’m me, I have to clarify here (I know this blog is getting long, sorry): A scary movie, does not require gore. I’ve watched the classic horrors as well, like Friday the 13th (duh!), and Nightmare on Elm Street. But movies have evolved and I hate to admit, that I I haven’t gone with them. I don’t intend to watch Saw, nor did I care for House of Wax. No. What I really enjoy are movies that are more of psychological thrillers. Think Identity (If you haven’t seen it, I highly suggest renting it tonight.) You know, where the setting is creepy, the plot is intense, and you really don’t know what’s going on until the end. Of course, that’s just my opinion. If you like the blood and gore, enjoy yourself tonight.

However you want to celebrate tonight, I hope you enjoy it and that good luck will follow you today!