VocabSushi: The better way to build your vocabulary | Contextual Examples From the Daily News. UrbanLegendsOnline.com - Myths, rumors, scary stories and hoax emails from real life and the internet. 25 Things You Should Know About Word Choice. 1. A Series Of Word Choices Here’s why this matters: because both writing and storytelling comprise, at the most basic level, a series of word choices. Words are the building blocks of what we do. They are the atoms of our elements. They are the eggs in our omelets. They are the shots of liquor in our cocktails. Get it right? 2. Words are like LEGO bricks: the more we add, the more we define the reality of our playset. 3. You know that game — “Oh, you’re cold, colder, colder — oh!
4. Think of it like a different game, perhaps: you’re trying to say as much as possible with as few words as you can muster. 5. Finding the perfect word is as likely as finding a downy-soft unicorn with a pearlescent horn riding a skateboard made from the bones of your many enemies. 6. For every right word, you have an infinity of wrong ones. 7. You might use a word that either oversteps or fails to meet the idea you hope to present. 8. 9. Incorrect word choice means you’re using the wrong damn word. 10. 11.
5 Ways to Get Rid of Your Damn Empty Modifiers. I discussed the need to get rid of empty emphatics when I gave you 8 words to seek and destroy in your writing, but just saying that you should get rid of a thing doesn't say much about the right way to do so. Today I'm going to show you a few of my favorite ways to get rid of your empty modifiers. What exactly is an empty modifier? It's any word whose only role is to intensify the word it's modifying. The prime candidates here are "very" and "really," but "extremely," "intensely," "totally," "absolutely," "quite," and many other emphatic modifiers make the list. Further, many emphatics that shift meaning slightly or add some flavor (e.g., "just" or "damn") should be approached with skepticism, and it's easy to find flimsy "-ly" words that show us why the road to hell is paved with adverbs.
I'm not saying that empty modifiers should never be used. 1. Sylvia was very crazy. This is the easiest and often the best solution. 2. Bob was really ugly hideous. 3. Shane was really tall. 4. 5. Word Dynamo. Vocabla. VocabMonk. Storybird - Artful storytelling. Story Write - Publish your short stories : Story Write. Flipped Classroom. Writing Quality. Family tree of the Greek gods.
Family tree of gods, goddesses and other divine figures from Ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion The following is a family tree of gods, goddesses and many other divine and semi-divine figures from Ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion. (The tree does not include creatures; for these, see List of Greek mythological creatures.) Key: The essential Olympians' names are given in bold font. Key: The original 12 Titans' names have a greenish background. See also List of Greek mythological figures Notes References. MLA Formatting and Style Guide.
Summary: MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th ed.) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page. Contributors:Tony Russell, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli, Russell Keck, Joshua M.
Paiz, Purdue OWL StaffLast Edited: 2014-03-06 11:05:00 Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style are covered in chapter 6 of the MLA Handbook and in chapter 7 of the MLA Style Manual. Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good idea to consult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if you have a particular reference question. Basic in-text citation rules General Guidelines In-text citations: Author-page style Or. APA Style. APA, MLA, Turabian, and Chicago Citation Styles. 100 Time-Saving Search Engines for Serious Scholars (Revised)
Back in 2010, we shared with you 100 awesome search engines and research resources in our post: 100 Time-Saving Search Engines for Serious Scholars. It’s been an incredible resource, but now, it’s time for an update. Some services have moved on, others have been created, and we’ve found some new discoveries, too. Many of our original 100 are still going strong, but we’ve updated where necessary and added some of our new favorites, too. Check out our new, up-to-date collection to discover the very best search engine for finding the academic results you’re looking for. General Need to get started with a more broad search? iSEEK Education: iSeek is an excellent targeted search engine, designed especially for students, teachers, administrators, and caregivers. Meta Search Want the best of everything?
Dogpile: Find the best of all the major search engines with Dogpile, an engine that returns results from Google, Yahoo! Databases and Archives Books & Journals Science Math & Technology Social Science. Encylopedias. EyeWitness To The Middle Ages and Renaissance. Life in a Christian Monastery, ca. 585"When he was dead his body was not placed with the bodies of the brethren, but a grave was dug in the dung pit, and his body was flung down into it. . . " Crime and punishment in a medieval monastery: the monastery's Abbott provides insight into the monastic life. The Vikings Discover America, ca. 1000"There was no want of salmon either in the river or in the lake. " Five hundred years before Columbus, the Vikings discover a New World. Invasion of England, 1066The Norman conquest of Anglo-Saxon England described through the images of the 900 year-old Bayeux Tapestry.
Anarchy in 12th Century EnglandThe Anglo-Saxon Chronicle paints a sobering picture of life in 12th century England that contrasts strikingly with Hollywood's image of the Middle Ages. The Murder Of Thomas Becket, 1170The killing of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Crusaders Capture Jerusalem, 1099The assault and capture of the Christian "Navel of the World" Godchecker.com - Your Guide To The Gods. Mythology with a twist! Mythology Guide - A dictionary of Greek and Roman Myths. Word Count Tool - Free Tool to Count Number of Words. Word counter!
Smarter online research - annotate, organize & collaborate on web pages. Become a Better Writer with These Important Reading Skills First. Questionnaires for Writing Character Profiles. Enter your e-mail to get the e-book for FREE. We'll also keep you informed about interesting website news. "I have searched the web and used different worksheets, but none have come close to your worksheets and descriptions of (what to do and what not to do). Both courses I have taken have with Creative Writing Now have been amazing. Each time I have learned something new. The one thing I love, you take everything apart and give examples. " - Katlen Skye "As usual - I already love the course on Irresistible Fiction, rewriting a lot and improving greatly even after the first lesson. Thanks so much for the great courses.
" - Kitty Safken “Essentials of Fiction proved that I could indeed write and I wrote every day, much to my boyfriend's dismay (waa sniff).” - Jill Gardner "I am loving the course and the peer interaction on the blog is fantastic!!! " "I'm enjoying the weekly email course, Essentials of Poetry Writing. "Thank you for all the material in this course. "I'm learning so much. Character Profile Templates. Scrivener. Recursive outlining and writing. I am in the middle of writing my dissertation, and I’m constantly experimenting with my writing process flow and set-up.
I have two monitors, a 19 and a 22-inch one. The overall writing process appears to be a recursive process of alternating between outlining and writing (though the two are not always clearly separable). My actual writing started once I got to a point that I had so many outlines in different outliners that the only way out of that morass was to start writing them up. Let’s call that condition obsessive-compulsive outlining behaviour (OCOB), and the cure “writing.”
The reason for the many outlines is that I use outliners as part of a distillation process, for extracting and abstracting information by translating ideas from one outliner into another. To my surprise I have selected Word 2010 as my main writing tool. So, Word is open in my 19-in monitor that is facing me and where I do the final writing up (dictating with Dragon or typing with WordExpander). Like this: Things I’ve quit doing at my desk. Famous Writers' Small Writing Sheds and Off-the-Grid Huts. Previous image Next image Roald Dahl's writing hut, The Gipsy House When I hear the phrase "writing hut" or "backyard shed" my imagination practically squeals with delight. A small, intimate space furnished with the essentials. Low impact, high inspiration. This is probably why I love going to North Dakota and why I want to pull a Pollan and build my own little house. But until I get a backyard and some serious carpentry skills, ogling these famous writing sheds will have to do: Roald Dahl "The whole of the inside was organised as a place for writing: so the old wing-back chair had part of the back burrowed out to make it more comfortable; he had a sleeping bag that he put his legs in when it was cold and a footstool to rest them on; he had a very characteristic Roald arrangement for a writing table with a bar across the arms of the chair and a cardboard tube that altered the angle of the board on which he wrote.
Mark Twain George Bernard Shaw Dylan Thomas Henry David Thoreau Virginia Woolf. Inkle » inklewriter. Creating Characters. Character Flaw Index. To make characters realistic and relatable they are given flaws, because if there is anything a writer can be sure of it is that no one in their audience will be perfect. Flaws are character traits that have a negative impact in the narrative, unless they are simply informed. They can also be exploited. See Good Flaws, Bad Flaws for a scale of flaw acceptability. Compare Seven Deadly Sins, Ego Tropes. Abusive Parents: Habitually violent and cruel to their own children, often because that's how they themselves were raised. Physical Descriptions - List of Hair Colors.
Hair Color List (Note: an updated and expanded version of this list appears in my 15K-word book How to Describe Hair and Skin. See below.) [First, my profound apologies to the vast majority of readers who don't steal content, but I have to state the following. This article and all content on this website belongs to Val Kovalin, copyright © Obsidianbookshelf.com, except where noted. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without written permission from Val Kovalin is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Val Kovalin and Obsidianbookshelf.com with a return link to the original content.]
I'll admit it – hair colors are fun, even for someone like me who advocates keeping description to a minimum. The following list should give you some ideas for your character's hair color. Natural human hair color comes in these basic shades: blond(e), red, light brown, dark brown, black, gray, white. Don't forget about highlights! Character Archetypes. A List of Character Traits.
Character Qualities. Medieval Names - List of Medieval Names. Writing Tools. Unique Plots. The Writers Helpers. Using Psychology in writing. Plotting. Brainstorming. Character. Finding your voice - making your writing sound like YOU. Finding your voice by Christopher Meeks Developing a voice in your writing is a notion that passes over me every now and then like the "thung" sound of an error message on my computer. "I should develop a voice," I think. "My voice is off today," I think. "Maybe I should work on that voice thing," I think. To some people, the image of "voice" may be akin to a rotund person belting something out in Italian in front of a lot of penguin-suited people paying big bucks waiting for the crystal to shatter.
It's not a bad image, though, because a solid voice in writing should indeed stimulate and shatter. Or, if that metaphor's a bit too extreme, think of "voice" as simply like your own voice. Since most of the information on the Web is text, you want your text to have a real voice, like your own. I can recognize voice in other people's work. One of the great voices of the century is Ernest Hemingway. Is there a way to work on "voice"? OK, we aren't Hemingway... How do we do that? Boom. Writing.