Even for the biggest names in publishing, it seems, the novella is a no-go. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't seek them out; according to McEwan, they're the "perfect form of prose fiction.
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But the truth is, if you ever see a minor out wassailing, you may want to call his or her parents. The word wassail has many meanings. Before the Battle of Hastings in , English soldiers reportedly sang:. But, in England, wassail also denoted the alcoholic beverage you imbibed during that toast—an elixir of steamy mulled mead or cider.
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Sometimes, wassail was a whipped dark beer flavored with roasted crab apples. Wassail was usually slurped from a communal bowl before, during, and after big events and holidays. It was supposedly on the menu during Lammas Day, a pagan autumnal harvest holiday that involves transforming cornhusks into dolls. It was also imbibed on Twelfth Night , a January holiday that involves lighting a fire in an orchard, dancing, and singing incantations to apple trees in hopes of encouraging a bountiful harvest. By the Middle Ages, the practice of sharing a giant bowl of wassail—that is, the practice of wassailing —evolved from a holiday celebration to a form of boozy begging.
Not all rich folk were happy to see wassailers at their doorstep. Misers like Selden may have had a point: Since alcohol was involved, wassailers often got too rowdy. In fact, boisterous wassailers are one reason why Oliver Cromwell and Long Parliament passed an ordinance in that essentially banned Christmas. By the 19th century, wassailing would mellow.
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Beginning in the s, music publishers started releasing the first commercial Christmas carols, uncorking classics such as God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and The First Noel. Among them were dozens of wassailing songs, including the circa Here We Come a-Wassailing and dozens of others that are now, sadly, forgotten. As the custom of caroling became the dominant door-to-door pastime, alcohol-fueled begging dwindled. By the turn of the 20th century, carolers were more likely to sing about libations than actually drink them. For starters, ask for beer. Go for it all, go for the gold, go for Thirsty for your own wassail?
Stock up on sherry and wine and try this traditional recipe from The Williamsburg Cookbook. Some of the most frequently used words in the English language must have been created by someone with a devilish sense of humor. The answer to that last question is a bit complicated. There is another possibility, though: Bodacious Words Your Dictionary Forgot.
The word is pronounced PEE-si-lo-nim , according to Grambs, who pays homage to its obscurity. It's an old synonym for synonym that you'll find in these pages.
But many words in this dictionary have no real counterparts in today's English. However, it says both of these terms are rare. To add another dimension to this question, some have argued that there are no true synonyms at all, as every single word carries a different shade of meaning.
Fast. Smart. No Chit-Chat.
And only word counts matter. Worse, all three of these answers reveal a lack of understanding of the marketplace in which writers are trying to sell stories—the same marketplace where we agents are selling stories. How to reach that 90,word sweet spot? Much harder to add than to cut—and a much rarer problem.
Write out your basic storyline in Major Plot Points only: For more information on plot points, take a look at my book Plot Perfect.
Question and Answer (novel) - Wikipedia
Now, using the word counts by act as a general guideline, cut anything you can cut to the word counts outlined above. This 90,word guideline for how many words in a novel is just that, a guideline. Each genre and sub-genre has its own word count range ; cozies tend to be shorter than other kinds of crime fiction, for example. Do check your comparable titles —recent debuts only—to make sure your story falls in that range.