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Help us choose a collective noun for a group of authors!

17th May 2017

There are some wonderful buildings in London that are just made for hosting events. Waterstones Piccadilly has the 5th View Bar and Restaurant, with wonderful views over London towards Westminster Abbey. As the sun was going down over the capital we were delighted to get together with Head of Zeus Publishers (who are incidentally Independent Publisher of the Year 2017!) who brought together some of their popular crime writers. A real identity parade of quality writers.

The crime scene was set. The photographer on hand. The backdrop of police tape marked the crime scene… and amongst all this were ‘some’ authors.

C_9nTFdXsAIxDlK.jpg-large

Photo courtesy Susanna Sangster

Now, we suddenly realised that there is no official collective noun for a gathering of authors. Could it be a “Block (or Bloque) of Authors” as someone suggested? No, too negative. A “Murder of Writers”, as in a murder of crows perhaps – too scary, I think. So I publicised my dilemma on one of the Facebook Groups to which I belong and WE HAVE A LIST of potentials!

We would like to now ask you to vote on the ultimate collective noun to denote a group of authors, it’s sorely lacking. Let’s remedy the situation. Oh, and meet the group of authors that prompted this post!

a collective noun for a group of authors

Featuring among others (and in no particular order) C J Box (loving his stetson, all the way from Wyoming); Adam LeBor; Lesley Thomson; Stefan Ahnheim; Clare Carson; Anthony Quinn; J S Monroe: and Mark Oldfield..

Vote now for the best collection noun, “a ….. of authors” (and goodness there are many to choose from, some are just so creative!!! I have however not included A BAR full… and WINE AFICIONADOS, CHATTERBOXES thank you for those!! LOL)

  1. A PEN of authors
  2. A CHAPTER of authors
  3. A LIBRARY of authors
  4. A QUILL of authors
  5. An EXCELLENCE of authors
  6. A PROCRASTINATION of authors
  7. A CONJUGATION of authors
  8. A CONJUNCTION of authors
  9. A STORY of authors
  10. A BOOK-LOAD of authors
  11. A REAM of authors
  12. A BLOG of authors
  13. A DRAFT of authors
  14. A SCRIBBLE of authors
  15. A CABAL of authors
  16. A VOLUME of authors
  17. A PERSUASION of authors
  18. An IMAGINATION of authors
  19. An EPIC of authors
  20. A BOUQUET of authors
  21. An OBSESSION of authors
  22. A SIGNATURE of authors
  23. A MUSE of authors
  24. A DESPERATION of authors
  25. A DASH of authors
  26. An ANTHOLOGY of authors
  27. A SCRIBE of writers
  28. A WRITHE/WRYTHE of authors (although for alliteration purposes it would A Writhe of Writers)
  29. A GHOST of authors (suggested in the context of gnats!)
  30. A CLIQUE of authors
  31. A QWERTY of authorsfau
  32. A PLOT of authors
  33. A SHELF of authors
  34. A CHATTERING of authors
  35. A LEXICON of authors

We had to limit the choice to the first 35 suggestions received!

VOTE NOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW! By Saturday, 27th May and we will announce the WINNER on Sunday 28th. And let’s get the people’s choice into common parlance thereafter.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

Come and join team TripFiction on Social Media:

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Comments

  1. User: Wordswordword

    Posted on: 04/10/2022 at 10:15 pm

    A scribble.

    Comment

  2. User: Gail

    Posted on: 25/08/2022 at 3:19 pm

    A SCRIBBLE of authors!

    Comment

  3. User: Denis

    Posted on: 08/03/2021 at 8:13 pm

    Anthology of writers

    Comment

  4. User: Kimberly Kelso

    Posted on: 05/06/2020 at 1:31 pm

    How about a Heard of word nerds?

    Comment

  5. User: Kay

    Posted on: 16/05/2019 at 2:40 am

    A clutch of writers

    Comment

  6. User: Sandra Orellana

    Posted on: 05/03/2019 at 10:05 am

    A shelf of authors

    Comment

  7. User: tripfiction

    Posted on: 28/05/2017 at 5:59 am

    Chapter it is!

    Comment

  8. User: Clare Flynn

    Posted on: 27/05/2017 at 6:01 am

    Chapter

    Comment

  9. User: Gill Burn

    Posted on: 20/05/2017 at 4:56 pm

    An anthology, definitely.

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: Catherine Turnbull

      Posted on: 20/05/2017 at 5:04 pm

      Definitely a scribble of authors

      Comment

  10. User: Laura

    Posted on: 19/05/2017 at 5:07 pm

    A ghost, of course

    Comment

  11. User: Mary

    Posted on: 19/05/2017 at 1:46 am

    An anthology of authors.

    Comment

  12. User: Lynne

    Posted on: 18/05/2017 at 11:28 pm

    A qwerty of authors!

    Comment

  13. User: Jessica Norrie

    Posted on: 18/05/2017 at 4:06 pm

    Chapter. No, qwerty. No, dash. An indecision of authors?

    Comment

  14. User: Martin Richmond

    Posted on: 18/05/2017 at 10:44 am

    Not a shelf, that would be shelfish – sorry.
    My choice is Chapter.

    Comment

  15. User: Audiothing

    Posted on: 18/05/2017 at 12:05 am

    I think QUERTY is just brilliant
    Who came up with that clever idea?

    Comment

  16. User: Lynne Shelby

    Posted on: 17/05/2017 at 10:13 pm

    QWERTY

    Comment

  17. User: Joanne Baird

    Posted on: 17/05/2017 at 9:42 pm

    So many fabulous suggestions! Hard to choose but I’m going for a scribble of authors.

    Comment

  18. User: Karen

    Posted on: 17/05/2017 at 8:54 pm

    No 2 Chapter

    Comment

  19. User: Sue Featherstone

    Posted on: 17/05/2017 at 7:17 pm

    I vote for chapter

    Comment

  20. User: Emma Welton

    Posted on: 17/05/2017 at 5:48 pm

    It’s got to be a SHELF, surely?

    Comment

  21. User: Sharon Maas

    Posted on: 17/05/2017 at 5:12 pm

    Hmmm .. I just posted but it didn’t appear. Trying again: my vote is for Chapter.
    Second choice Pen.

    Comment

  22. User: Sharon Maas

    Posted on: 17/05/2017 at 5:05 pm

    Chapter

    Comment

  23. User: Judith Works

    Posted on: 17/05/2017 at 4:51 pm

    I vote for QWERTY

    Comment