45 ways to avoid using the word 'very'. Three Telling Quotes About ‘Very’ Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain‘Very’ is the most useless word in the English language and can always come out. More than useless, it is treacherous because it invariably weakens what it is intended to strengthen. ~Florence KingSo avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy.
A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. If you enjoyed this, you will love: If you want to learn how to write a book, join our Writers Write course. by Amanda Patterson © Amanda Patterson. - StumbleUpon. 10 Most Commonly Misused Words. Think you’re the best writer or speaker in the world? After viewing this infographic of the 10 most commonly misused words, you may want to think again. Even though we learn how to spell and use words in properly in grade school, this information is often forgotten once we get older. Even worse, because we hear everyone else using a word a certain way, we tend to follow suit and do the same thing. For instance, how many times have you called something a “travesty” when referring to a tragedy or unfortunate event?
You probably hear the word used like that all the time, but it’s wrong. How about the word “ironic” or irony? Another biggie is the word “conversate.” 10 Most Commonly Misused Words | Advanced Marketing Strategies. How to Find Unique Names for Your Characters. Steps Method 1 of 2: Finding Your Own Unique Names 1Use a first name as a last name. Since first and last names usually sound very different, breaking this tradition would make your character stand ever so slightly apart.
(Ex. 8Look up names. Method 2 of 2: Starting with a Letter (or Letters) You Like 1List letters that you must/want to have in the name. 4Add a few more letters. Tips Don't make too many different or strangely spelled names or your readers could end up confused and have less motivation to finish the story.Make sure it's pronounceable. Ad Warnings Don't name your character after somebody who's already been invented, particularly if they have a similar personality.
117 Most beautiful words in the English language. Bad Creative Writing Advice (David Louis Edelman) March 18, 2006 @ 11:40 am The Internet is full of bad advice for creative writers. Here’s just a small sampling of the nonsense you can find if you look for it. “Show, don’t tell.” News flash: writing is telling. It’s a completely linguistic art form.
There’s no showing involved, unless you’re writing illustrated books like Dr. The ironic thing about most of these specious writing tips is that they work quite well for straightforward journalism. But when you’re writing fiction, the ground rules are different. The same probably goes for bloggers, too. Brain a 'creativity machine,' if you use it right. Scientists have long wanted to understand exactly how our brain allows us to be creative. Although there is still a lot left to learn, one thing has become clear in recent years: Creativity doesn't live in one spot.
There are sites in the brain dedicated to recognizing faces, moving your left index finger and recoiling from a snake, but having original ideas is a process not a place. "There is a very high level of cooperation between different parts, different systems of the brain so that they orchestrate this process," said Antonio Damasio, a neuroscientist and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California.
Damasio is leading a panel today on creativity and the brain to launch the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting in San Diego. There are differences, of course, between creating a painting and creating a new business strategy, writing a symphony or coming up with new ways to comfort a distraught child. Yet imagination depends on memory. » 5 Creative Cures for Writer's Block - World of Psychology. It’s stressful when the words don’t come, when you’re sitting at your desk staring at the blinking cursor or the barren page. Minutes feel like hours. Hours feel like days. Deadlines loom, and you’re still stuck and staring. A kind of dread begins building in your stomach and travels to your throat, and then peaks between your temples. It’s reminiscent of firecrackers exploding. “Writer’s block, or any creative block, is really about fear,” according to Miranda Hersey, a writer, editor and creativity coach.
The fear of not knowing where to start or we’re headed. Blocks are tough. 1. “Take the pressure off of your writing while you do something else that pleases you creatively,” Hersey said. Choreograph a one-minute dance. 2. If you’re writing fiction and you’re unsure about your direction, write some backstory for one of your characters, said Hersey, who also pens the blog Studio Mothers, a creative community for mothers. 3.
“Writer’s block is not a problem for me, ever. 4. 5. How to Eliminate "To-Be" Verbs in Writing. Every English teacher has a sure-fire revision tip that makes developing writers dig down deep and revise initial drafts. One of my favorites involves reducing the number of “to-be-verbs”: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, and been. At this point, even before I begin to plead my case, I hear the grumbling of the contrarians. One of them mutters a snide, rhetorical question: Didn’t Shakespeare say “To be, or not to be: that is the question:”? He used three “to-be” verbs right there! If it’s good enough for Shakespeare, it’s good enough for me. What’s So Wrong with “To-Be” Verbs?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Adapted from Ken Ward’s E-Prime article at Problem-Solving Strategies to Eliminate the “To-Be” Verb 1. 2. 3. 4. A Teaching Plan to Eliminate the “To-Be” Verb 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Also see How to Teach Helping Verbs for similar strategies to improve student writing. Be Sociable, Share! Max Barry | Fifteen Ways to Write a Novel. Every year I get asked what I think about NaNoWriMo, and I don’t know how to answer, because I don’t want to say, “I think it makes you write a bad novel.” This is kind of the point. You’re supposed to churn out 50,000 words in one month, and by the end you have a goddamn novel, one you wouldn’t have otherwise. If it’s not Shakespeare, it’s still a goddamn novel.
The NaNoWriMo FAQ says: “Aiming low is the best way to succeed,” where “succeed” means “write a goddamn novel.” I find it hard to write a goddamn novel. I can do it, but it’s not very fun. Some of these methods I use a lot, some only when I’m stuck. The Word TargetWhat: You don’t let yourself leave the keyboard each day until you’ve hit 2,000 words. 100 Mostly Small But Expressive Interjections. David Bier Thanks for this – what a fun post considering there’s no actual narrative in it! Cecily Some of these interjections are quite culturally and age specific, so if people need to be told what they mean, they should probably not be using them.For example, to many Brits, va-va-voom is not old-fashioned at all, but instead is firmly linked to the long-running ads that footballer Thierry Henry made for the Renault Clio. Himanshu Chanda Whoa ! What a biiiig list.
And yes this ones really great. Kurt Vonnegut -- troubling.info. Eight rules for writing fiction: 1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. 2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. 3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. -- Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P.
Kurt Vonnegut: How to Write with Style. Novni. What I Thought at 4 a.m. by Megan Grace. Poem: Just Because. Never fall in love with a poet... by A Thomas Hawkins. Sara Teasdale, "The Look". Moment_in_time.jpg (JPEG Image, 266x400 pixels) You deserve. Poetry 180 - Before the World Intruded. Elmore Leonard's ten rules of writing. Editor's note: Elmore Leonard gave the Detroit Free Press permission to post his rules for writing on November 6, 2010. These are rules I've picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I'm writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what's taking place in the story.
If you have a facility for language and imagery and the sound of your voice pleases you, invisibility is not what you are after, and you can skip the rules. Still, you might look them over. • Related: Legendary crime novelist Elmore Leonard dies at 87 1. Never open a book with weather. If it's only to create atmosphere, and not a character's reaction to the weather, you don't want to go on too long. 2. They can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. 3. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. 4. . . . he admonished gravely. 5.
You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. 6. 7. 8. 9. - StumbleUpon. CALLIHOO Writing Helps--Feelings Table. Character Feelings You can describe your character's feelings in more exact terms than just "happy" or "sad.
" Check these lists for the exact nuance to describe your character's intensity of feelings. SF Characters | SF Items | SF Descriptors | SF Places | SF EventsSF Jobs/Occupations | Random Emotions | Emotions List | Intensity of Feelings. How to Structure A Story: The Eight-Point Arc. By Ali Hale - 3 minute read One of my favourite “how to write” books is Nigel Watts’ Writing A Novel and Getting Published. My battered, torn and heavily-pencil-marked copy is a testament to how useful I’ve found it over the years. Although the cover appears to be on the verge of falling off altogether, I’ve risked opening the book once more to bring you Watts’ very useful “Eight-Point Story Arc” – a fool-proof, fail-safe and time-honoured way to structure a story. (Even if you’re a short story writer or flash fiction writer rather than a novelist, this structure still applies, so don’t be put off by the title of Watts’ book.)
The eight points which Watts lists are, in order: StasisTriggerThe questSurpriseCritical choiceClimaxReversalResolution He explains that every classic plot passes through these stages and that he doesn’t tend to use them to plan a story, but instead uses the points during the writing process: So, what do the eight points mean? Stasis Trigger The quest Surprise Climax Reversal. 25 Things You Should Know About Character.
Previous iterations of the “25 Things” series: 25 Things Every Writer Should Know 25 Things You Should Know About Storytelling And now… Here you’ll find the many things I believe — at this moment! — about characters: 1. Without character, you have nothing. 2. A great character can be the line between narrative life and story death. 3. Don’t believe that all those other aspects are separate from the character. 4.
The audience will do anything to spend time with a great character. 5. It is critical to know what a character wants from the start. 6. It doesn’t matter if we “like” your character, or in the parlance of junior high whether we even “like-like” your character. 7. It is critical to smack the audience in the crotchal region with an undeniable reason to give a fuck. 8. You must prove this thesis: “This character is worth the audience’s time.” 9. Don’t let the character be a dingleberry stuck to the ass of a toad as he floats downriver on a bumpy log. 10. 11. 12. 13.
The law of threes. 25 Ways To Fuck With Your Characters. As storyteller, you are god. And to be frank, you’re not a particularly nice god — at least, not if you want your story to resonate with readers. A good storyteller is a crass and callous deity who treats the characters under his watchful eye like a series of troubled butt-puppets. From this essential conflict — storyteller versus character — a story is born. (After all, that’s what a plot truly is: a character who strives to get above all the shit the storyteller dumps on his fool head.)
Put differently, as a storyteller it’s your job to be a dick. It’s your job to fuck endlessly with the characters twisting beneath your thumb. And here’s 25 ways for you to do just that. 1. Gods have avatars, mortal or semi-mortal beings that exist on earth to embody the deity’s agenda. 2. The audience and the character must know the stakes on the table — “If you don’t win this poker game, your grandmother will lose her beloved pet orangutan, Orange Julius.” 3. 4. 5. 6. This one? 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Great Character Descriptions from Science Fiction and Fantasy Books. 3 Steps to Writing a Novel with Unforgettable Characters.
How to Write Better: 7 Instant Fixes. Write & Get Paid. Self Publish a Book - Lulu.com. Write rhymes. The Publishing Process in GIF Form. Free eBooks - All Our Classic Books and Novels. 30 Day Drawing Challenge.