A Simple Novel Outline – 9 questions for 25 chapters « H.E. Roulo Just as every tree is different but still recognizably a tree, every story is different but contains elements that make it a story. By defining those before you begin you clarify the scope of your work, identify your themes, and create the story you meant to write. At Norwescon 2011 I sat in on a session called Outline Your Novel in 90-minutes led by Mark Teppo. I’ll give you the brief, readable, synthesized version. Here are the 9 questions to create a novel: 1.) 2.) 3.) 4.) 5.) 6.) 7.) 8.) 9.) Now, with those 9 questions answered to your satisfaction, try to fill in a 25 chapter, 75,000 word outline. Chapters 7-18 are the middle of your book. Chapters 19-25 depict the heroic act to victory. Wasn’t that easy? Okay, sure, the work isn’t done yet. Using the idea that there are 25 chapters, I outlined my current work in progress. I hope that was helpful. Tell me what works for you. Related 6 Steps to Masterful Writing Critiques June 7, 2013 In "Writing Tips" Writers love to write. In "News"
How I use OneNote for my Dissertation « ProtoScholar The question came up recently about how I am using OneNote for my dissertation note taking. Sometimes show is easier than tell. I have one OneNote notebook called Dissertation. Within it, I have 8 sections: A few things about this: The first 5 sections reflect the 5 chapters required in my dissertation: Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Findings, ConclusionI have a tab called Media into which I put less scholarly discussion around my topic. Within each section, I am creating multiple tabs with notes on specific sub-areas. Notice that the first tab is labeled structure. Below that, each 1st author has a tab. Within each tab, I take notes on the paper. Key things to notice: the bibliographic reference is at the top. In this case I copied the abstract in, since it did a good job of summarizing the paper. If I see a specific number or quote that I believe I will use, I include those in the page. I have done some playing around with tags, but find that to be OneNote’s weakest feature.
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.
50 of the Best Websites for Writers | Educhoices.org There are tons of reference sites on the web that can help you find a job or write a poem, essay or story. Here is a list of the best 50 websites for writers. Reference Websites Merriam-Webster Online - Merriam Webster is the perfect place to look up words and find information. The site offers a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, podcasts, word games and a lot of other things that may be of interest to writers and word-lovers. Bartleby - This site is good if you need a quote or if you want free access to encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, and other reference books. General Writing Websites Writer's Digest - Probably one of the best all-around websites for writers, Writer's Digest offers information on writing better and getting published. Fiction Writing Websites About.com - About.com publishes a Guide to Fiction Writing with general information about fiction writing and a number of community forums for both current and aspiring writers. Nonfiction Writing Websites
Mindmap 150 Resources to Help You Write Better, Faster, and More Persuasively It doesn't matter if you're a student or a professional writer: there's always something new to learn and ways to make your writing more refined, better researched, and more effective. Writing is essential for students who want to succeed, whether they're enrolled in one of the top online colleges or an Ivy League university. As essential as it is, learning to write well isn't easy. The best practices for writing and research can sometimes be subjective, and the finer points of syntax and style often take a backseat to looming deadlines and strict citation guidelines. Luckily, there are many helpful resources that make it easier to build on your existing skills while learning new ones. Blogs These blogs can help you learn more about the profession of writing, brush up your skills, and even see what it takes to get a book published. Copyblogger: On Copyblogger, Brian Clark offers tips on how to improve the content, marketing, and business of a blog. Business and Legal Matters Genres Rhetoric
English 50 Exercises for Story Writers English 50 – Intro to Creative Writing: Exercises for Story Writers Basic Theory: What is a short story? As soon as someone delivers a definition, some good writer will write a story that proves the theory wrong. Short stories have a narrator; that is, someone tells the story; have at least one character in them; have some action occur (or perhaps fails to occur); take place somewhere; that is, there is a setting for the action; and someone either learns something or fails to learn something (theme).With these five characteristics in mind, we can create an almost endless supply of exercises to help sharpen our techniques of story telling. Narrative Voice Twenty or so years ago, voice was the "rite of passage" into a successful writing career. Nevertheless, a narrative voice that sounds like it could be anyone's voice or is bland and boring, or riddled with pointless clichés will fail to capture and hold the reader's attention. If you've written a story in third person, try it in first.
The 4 Story Structures that Dominate Novels All stories contain four elements that can determine structure: milieu, idea, character and event. While each is present in every story, there is generally one that dominates the others. Which one dominates? Let’s take each element in turn and look at the structure that would be required if that were to be the dominant element in your story. STRUCTURE 1: THE MILIEU STORY The milieu is the world—the planet, the society, the weather, the family, all the elements that come up during your world-creation phase. Milieu stories always follow that structure. This structure is most common in science fiction and fantasy, but it also occurs in other types of novels. Likewise, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz doesn’t end when Dorothy kills the Wicked Witch of the West. As you conceive and write your own story, if you realize that what you care about most is having a character explore and discover the world you’ve created, chances are this structure is your best choice. You might also like: