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20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes. I’ve edited a monthly magazine for more than six years, and it’s a job that’s come with more frustration than reward. If there’s one thing I am grateful for — and it sure isn’t the pay — it’s that my work has allowed endless time to hone my craft to Louis Skolnick levels of grammar geekery. As someone who slings red ink for a living, let me tell you: grammar is an ultra-micro component in the larger picture; it lies somewhere in the final steps of the editing trail; and as such it’s an overrated quasi-irrelevancy in the creative process, perpetuated into importance primarily by bitter nerds who accumulate tweed jackets and crippling inferiority complexes.

But experience has also taught me that readers, for better or worse, will approach your work with a jaundiced eye and an itch to judge. While your grammar shouldn’t be a reflection of your creative powers or writing abilities, let’s face it — it usually is. Who and Whom This one opens a big can of worms.

Which and That Lay and Lie Moot Nor. Themes & Things To Keep In Mind When Writing Fantasy Stories and Adventures » Daily Encounter. This list is far from complete. It’s not even trying to be complete. It knows better than that. It just wants to be helpful and provide some inspiration here and there; you know, offer little suggestions that might lead to bigger ideas.

(Especially by using the words offered as Wikipedia searches!) Feel free to make suggestions in the comments! If I like it, I’ll add it to the list! If I don’t like it, well, hey, maybe someone else will! Weather Natural: sunlight, rain, snow, hail, fog, humidity, moonlight, wind, smoke, clouds, shadows, overcast skies, clear skies, lightning, hurricanes, tornadoes, moon in sky during daytimeFantastic: summoned weather, unnatural coloration (eg. green fog) Terrain Changes Landmarks Natural: stone outcropping, lightening struck trees, large boulders, waterfallsArtificial: lone buildings (eg. towers, houses, barns), statues, signs/markers, border wallsFantastic: large skeletons (eg. dragons, giants) After-Effects of Events Tricks Cultures Mysticism Events Unfolding.

Stocking Stuffers: 13 Writing Tips From Chuck Palahniuk. *Editor's Note: This column is part of a collection of 36 total essays on the craft of writing by Chuck Palahniuk. They were submitted starting in 2005, so this essay will refer to thinks in the past and therefore be on an older timeline. Twenty years ago, a friend and I walked around downtown Portland at Christmas. The big department stores: Meier and Frank… Fredrick and Nelson… Nordstroms… their big display windows each held a simple, pretty scene: a mannequin wearing clothes or a perfume bottle sitting in fake snow.

But the windows at the J.J. Newberry’s store, damn, they were crammed with dolls and tinsel and spatulas and screwdriver sets and pillows, vacuum cleaners, plastic hangers, gerbils, silk flowers, candy – you get the point. Each of the hundreds of different objects was priced with a faded circle of red cardboard. She said the perfect comment at the perfect moment, and I remember it two decades later because it made me laugh. For this essay, my goal is to put more in. 25 Insights on Becoming a Better Writer.

When George Plimpton asked Ernest Hemingway what the best training for an aspiring writer would be in a 1954 interview, Hem replied, “Let’s say that he should go out and hang himself because he finds that writing well is impossibly difficult. Then he should be cut down without mercy and forced by his own self to write as well as he can for the rest of his life.

At least he will have the story of the hanging to commence with.” Today, writing well is more important than ever. Far from being the province of a select few as it was in Hemingway’s day, writing is a daily occupation for all of us — in email, on blogs, and through social media. It is also a primary means for documenting, communicating, and refining our ideas. So what can we do to improve our writing short of hanging ourselves? 1. Don’t just plan to write—write. 2. [The] Resistance knows that the longer we noodle around “getting ready,” the more time and opportunity we’ll have to sabotage ourselves. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Eight Secrets Which Writers Won’t Tell You. Image from Flickr by Lazurite This is not particularly relevant to the post, but I’m getting an awful lot of comments telling me, often a little snarkily, “it’s ‘THAT’ not ‘WHICH’”.

The “don’t use which for restrictive clauses” rule comes (as far as I can tell) from Strunk and White. Plenty of authors, including Austen, have used “which” exactly as I use it in the title. It’s very commonly used like this here in England, so I’m guessing my comments are coming from US readers. There was never a period in the history of English when “which” at the beginning of a restrictive relative clause was an error.

I thought about putting “that” in the title – but I like the sound of “which” between “secrets” and “writers”. And with that out of the way, enjoy the post! A few years ago, I’d look at published writers and think that they were somehow different from me. They were real writers. I’m going to go through eight secrets. Secret #1: Writing is Hard The truth is, though, that writing is hard. Why Fiction is So Hard to Write. I’ve been blogging for a little over three years. I’ve been writing fiction since … well, pretty much since I could write. My blog posts are read by thousands of people. Only 1% of the fiction I’ve ever written has been published.

Fiction is incredibly hard to do well. Lots of people can write decent non-fiction. I’m going to say this, despite being an advocate of great writing: Non-fiction doesn’t have to be especially well-written. Of course, it needs to be competent. Fiction is very, very different. Why do you read novels? I believe we read fiction to escape the world for a little while – to escape the limits of our own experience, our own perspective, our own consciousness.

That’s why fiction writers have it so tough. When I’m writing a blog post, I don’t have too much to worry about. When I’m writing a single scene in a novel, I have a heck of a lot to do. And all those scenes need to tie together. With fiction, it’s impossible to get it right on the first pass through. Really hard. But… Writer's Block Help - Inspired Creative Writing Ideas and Techniques. Words of Wisdom: 101 Tips from the World’s Most Famous Authors. If you've ever wanted to sit down with your favorite writer and ask advice, then you should take a look at these tips from some of the most famous authors in the world. These valuable bits of information provide guidance on strengthening your writing skills, becoming a better fiction writer or poet, learning to tap into your creativity, advice on education and school, and even a few suggestions on success and living a meaningful life.

Of course, another excellent way of improving your writing is through traditional or online master’s degrees in creative writing. General Writing Tips Improve any type of writing you do with these solid tips from successful writers themselves. Ernest Hemingway. Use short sentences and short first paragraphs. These rules were two of four given to Hemingway in his early days as a reporter–and words he lived by.Mark Twain. Tips for Beginning Writers Stephen King. Fiction Tips Kurt Vonnegut. Poetry Robert Frost. Tips for Creativity Annie Dillard. Lifelong Learning. Story Structure Series. Writing Scene Transitions. Writing Tips – the actual scene changes (transitions)

Help with writing scene transitions. Scene Transitions « Becky Levine. Posted by beckylevine under Scenes | Tags: Revising, Scenes, Transitions | [4] Comments Remember, in the days when you were writing essays for English class, and a teacher would write the word “transition” in the margin of your paper? They wanted you to smooth out the jump from one paragraph to another, to use a phrase that would make the flow of text more clean. So you’d stick in something like “After Joe got home from the zoo…” or “Once Sally dug the pickle out of the pudding…” Then you’d hand the essay back in and hope for a better grade.

When we’re writing fiction, moving our readers from scene to scene, we need transitions, too. What we don’t want, though, is for our stories to sound like high-school essays, with the only goal being a higher grade. If we use an obvious, mechanical solution like the ones I showed above, the writing is not going to make an agent or editor happy. (It shouldn’t make your critique group happy, either.) So what do we do? We have to be elephants. Like this: Writer's Block: The Cause and the Cure. Why Writer’s Block is Your Secret Weapon. 500 Cliches to Avoid in Your Creative Writing. Cliches (properly spelled clichés, with the acute accent) are words and phrases, once interesting, which have lost their original effect from overuse.

They are considered trite and should be avoided in writing unless used purposely for effect. We all use them without thinking, sometimes because they fit the bill or are just the ticket (both cliches), but usually because they're metaphors, idiom, or truisms that have become so common we no longer notice them. If we say better late than never or speak of someone being down in the dumps , we likely won't register that we just used a cliche.

Speech is filled with shortcuts as we aim to make ourselves understood. Writing that relies heavily on cliches is considered poor or lazy writing. The list of cliches below is not meant to be comprehensive, but should help you catch some of the more common cliches in use. If some cliches slip by you and your editor, it's not the end of the world. Cliche list A-K: How to Cut the Waffle From Your Writing – and Grab Readers’ Attention. (Image from Flickr by Unhindered by Talent) Have you ever read a book that was way too wordy? (For me, Stephen Covey’s otherwise excellent 7 Habits of Highly Effective People comes to mind…) The content itself might have been good – but the substance ended up buried beneath a froth of unnecessary words. Perhaps you found it hard to stay focused, or you simply stopped reading.

When you write – especially if you’re writing online – it’s important to avoid waffle. At best, a vague and waffly piece won’t have a strong impact on the reader. So, how do you go about cutting the waffle from your writing? Step #1: Get Clear About the Topic Whatever you’ve written – whether it’s a novel, an ebook or a blog post – you need to figure out what belongs and what doesn’t.

Have you included a chapter in your ebook that should really be a separate blog post? This isn’t about how good your writing is. Do It: Write down a one-sentence summary of your post/book/etc.Skim through and ask yourself does this fit? Writing Tips - Publishers list of phrases for writers to avoid | authonomy writing community.

We have all met people who have the extraordinary ability to talk in clichés: Y’know, not to beat around the bush or hedge your bet, this section is a must-read because it calls a spade a spade and in a nutshell leaves no stone unturned to pull the rug from under those off-the-cuff, old-hat bête noires called clichés. These are the people who’ve given the cliché its bad name. We all tend to use them, of course. Sometimes that familiar phrase is the neatest way of expressing yourself and most of us can, in a flash (cliché), unconsciously call up a few hundred of them to help us out in writing and conversation.

But how aware are we of the irritation (or worse, sniggering) that the overuse of clichés can cause? Most clichés begin life as someone’s incredibly neat, timely or witty way of expressing or emphasising a thought. Because it is clever, a lot of people steal the phrase as their own. Many clichés are centuries old. The grammarian Eric Partridge identified four kinds of cliché. Fantasy world. Many fantasy worlds draw heavily on real world history, geography and sociology, and also on mythology and folklore. Plot function[edit] The setting of a fantasy work is often of great importance to the plot and characters of the story. The setting itself can be imperiled by the evil of the story, suffer a calamity, and be restored by the transformation the story brings about.[3] Stories that use the setting as merely a backdrop for the story have been criticized for their failure to use it fully.[4] Even when the land itself is not in danger, it is often used symbolically, for thematic purposes, and to underscore moods.[5] History[edit] Early fantasy worlds appeared as fantasy lands, part of the same planet but separated by geographical barriers.

Even within the span of mere decades, Oz, which had been situated in a desert in the United States when first written about in 1900,[6] was relocated to a spot in the Pacific Ocean.[8] Common elements[edit] Constructed worlds[edit] Examples[edit] 5 situations where it's better to tell than show in your fiction. Fantasy: Getting Started. By Sandra C. Durham © 2003, Sandra C. Durham his is a newcomer’s guide on how to get started in the genre of fantasy writing, from one newcomer to another. The majority of what is discussed here has come from the Forward Motion community as well as from occasional meanderings on the Web based on pointers given by members of that writers' community.

Writing fantasy, whether in the form of short stories or novels, does not necessarily follow a set pattern or formula. Contemporary and Urban Fantasy – Stories taking place in the real world, but with an element of magic or fantasy. The best approach to writing in any genre is to know your field. Once you have your book collection, read them carefully. A next logical step in progressing as a new fantasy writer might be to pick up a few good books on the subject. How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card The Writer’s Complete Fantasy Reference, from Writers Digest Books.

Books referenced : Creating the Fantasy World. How to write an excellent first chapter for your novel - Writing Tips. From philosophy to literature to learning a new language, Humanities 360 is a veritable fountain of knowledge on everything you’d like to know about the humanities. Resources for every level of writing Here at Helium Publishing, we pride ourselves on knowing a thing or two about writing. We are, after all, one of the largest online writer communities. So where better to look for all of your writing needs? Feeling writer’s block creeping up? The grand world of poetry and literature There’s nothing quite like opening up a great piece of literature.

Journeying across time and history If the old adage is true that history is bound to repeat itself, then find out what’s coming by boning up on what’s already happened. Learning new languages The intricacies of learning a new language can leave you tongue-tied, but in our Languages section, you can find out language learning tips, and discover the origins of new words you encounter. Writing Tips for Fiction Writers. 50 Strategies For Making Yourself Work. Written by Jerry Oltion Copyright © 2001 by Jerry Oltion Work avoidance is one of the major paradoxes of the writing profession.

Generally, writers want to write (or want to have written), but all too often we find ourselves doing anything else but. We’ll mow lawns, do the dishes, polish silverware–anything to keep from facing the blank page. At the same time we know we eventually have to get to work, so we come up with all sorts of strategies for forcing ourselves to the keyboard. Sometimes a single strategy works beautifully for an entire writer’s career (for instance: for over 40 years Fred Pohl wrote four pages a day no matter what, after which he was free to polish all the silverware he wanted), but in my own case I’ve discovered that any particular strategy only works for a couple of months before I learn to subvert it.

Set a quota of pages written per day. How to Write Thousands of Words Every Single Week. 23 Websites that Make Your Writing Stronger. 30 Skills for Writers. 6 Writers Who Broke the Rules and Got Away with It. 9 Editing Tips that Make Your Writing Sparkle. Exercises for Fiction Writers - Page 2. Writer’s Digest - Writing Prompts. Absolute Write Water Cooler - Powered by vBulletin.