11 Goal Hacks: How to Achieve Anything Goal-setting research on fantasising, visualisation, goal commitment, procrastination, the dark side of goal-setting and more… We’re all familiar with the nuts and bolts of goal-setting. We should set specific, challenging goals, use rewards, record progress and make public commitments (if you’re not familiar with these then check out this article on how to reach life goals). So how come we still fail? This psychological research suggests why and what mindsets should help us reach our goals. 1. The biggest enemy of any goal is excessive positive fantasising. 2. The reason we don’t achieve our goals is lack of commitment. One powerful psychological technique to increase commitment is mental contrasting. 3. You can use the Zeigarnik effect to drag you on towards your goal. What the Zeigarnik effect teaches is that one weapon for beating procrastination is starting somewhere…anywhere. 4. 5. When we miss our target, we can fall foul of the what-the-hell-effect. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Ali Smith: Style vs content? Novelists should approach their art with an eye to what the story asks Point 1: "What's it all about?" v "What's it all – a bout?" Fight! Fight! Or did he mean "Ulysses is a tweet"? Nothing is harmful to literature except censorship, and that almost never stops literature going where it wants to go either, because literature has a way of surpassing everything that blocks it and growing stronger for the exercise. Or maybe I'd read one of the most original writers at work in the novel in English right now, Nicola Barker. I was thinking how incredibly precise those first lines were, and yet how crazily effortless they seemed; Schaefer's style (his – ahem – 'voice') so enviably understated, his artistic (if I may be so bold as to use this word, and so early in our acquaintance) 'vision' so totally (and I mean totally) unflinching.' Then he sums up the power the literary styles we love have over us: I am putty – literally putty – in Schaefer's hands … To be manipulated, to be led, to be played, and so artfully. Let's just call it style. Point 3: style as content
Hollywonk 100 Exquisite Adjectives By Mark Nichol Adjectives — descriptive words that modify nouns — often come under fire for their cluttering quality, but often it’s quality, not quantity, that is the issue. Plenty of tired adjectives are available to spoil a good sentence, but when you find just the right word for the job, enrichment ensues. Practice precision when you select words. Here’s a list of adjectives: Subscribe to Receive our Articles and Exercises via Email You will improve your English in only 5 minutes per day, guaranteed! 21 Responses to “100 Exquisite Adjectives” Rebecca Fantastic list!
Average Faces From Around The World Added on Feb 08, 2011 / Category : StrangeNews / 228 Comments Finding the average face of people across the world was a tough job but someone had to do it. This guy basically takes a thousands and thousands images of everyday people from any city and the software makes an 'average' of the people, giving one final portrait. Take a look at this amazing project called "World of Facial Averages" If you like this article, Share it with the world: Culture - Michael Morpurgo on how to write for children Michael Morpurgo is one of England’s best-loved children’s writers. He discusses his fascination with historical subjects and how he writes for children with Razia Iqbal. Michael Morpurgo has written over 100 books, the most famous of which,War Horse (1982), has since become an award-winning and hugely successful stage play. It was adapted into a feature film by Steven Spielberg in 2011. Morpurgo has won several prizes, including the Whitbread Award. He talks with Razia Iqbal about preserving traditional values, the importance of historical accuracy in his novels, and how to tackle serious and disturbing subjects when writing for children.
75 Books Every Writer Should Read Whether you want to make writing your career or just want to know how to improve your writing so that you can pass your college courses, there is plenty of reading material out there to help you get inspired and hone your skills. Here’s a collection of titles that will instruct you on just about every aspect of writing, from the basics of grammar to marketing your completed novel, with some incredibly helpful tips from well-known writers themselves as well. Writing Basics These books address things like structure, plot, descriptions and other basic elements of any story. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers: You can improve the quality of your writing by adding a mythical quality to them with advice and insight from this book. Advice from Authors Who better to give advice on writing than those who have made a name for themselves doing it? On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King: This is widely regarded as one of the best books for any aspiring author to read.
Structuring Your Story’s Scenes, Pt. 8: Options for Reactions in a Sequel At the heart of every sequel* is the narrating character’s reaction to the preceding scene’s disaster. This is where the author gets the opportunity to dig around inside his character’s emotional and mental processes and find out what he’s really made of. The scene is about external action; the sequel is about internal reaction. Although the sequel possesses three basic and unavoidable parts, just like the scene, it is much more flexible in execution. Because the scene’s goal/conflict/disaster are an external expression, they are almost always easy to pick out once you know what you’re looking for. Don’t Be Afraid of Boring Readers Authors who lack a complete understanding of the scene/sequel structure can sometimes worry their sequels won’t contain enough action or conflict to keep readers’ attention. A soldier fighting in a war may be interesting from an intellectual perspective. Some stories will emphasize the action; some will emphasize the reaction. Options for Sequel Reactions 1.
What To Do When You Don't Know What To Do - Leonard A. Schlesinger, Charles F. Kiefer, and Paul B. Brown by Leonard A. Schlesinger, Charles F. Kiefer, and Paul B. Brown | 11:21 AM March 21, 2012 Are you frustrated? We know we are. Most of us prepared hard for the future we expected, and yet things aren’t working out as we had planned. All of this is extremely confusing and unsettling. This is not how we were told it was going to be. It hasn’t exactly worked out that way (even for those of us who are happy). We think the reason is pretty simple. You know the steps for dealing with a predictable universe: 1. We have become so indoctrinated with this way of thinking by our education and our organizations that it is more or less the only way we approach anything. But what is a very smart approach in a knowable or predictable future is not smart at all when things can’t be predicted. In a world where you can no longer plan or predict your way to success, what is the best way to achieve your goals? You need a different approach. We have one. Based on the research of Saras D. 1. 2. 3. 4. Act.
TEN SIMPLE KEYS TO PLOT STRUCTURE Structure is something that every agent and executive in Hollywood talks about, and that all of us teachers/authors/consultants/gurus/whatever go on and on about, to the point that it can seem complicated, intricate, mysterious and hard to master. So I want present plot structure in a way that simplifies it – that will at least give you a starting point for properly structuring your screenplay without overwhelming you with rules and details and jargon. Here are what I consider ten key elements of structure – ten ways of looking at structure that will immediately improve the emotional impact – and commercial potential – of your script. THE SINGLE RULE OF STRUCTURE I once got to work with long time television writer Doug Heyes, who used to say that there is only one rule for achieving proper plot structure: What’s happening now must be inherently more interesting than what just happened.
Short Stories: 10 Tips for Creative Writers