Get Your Writing Fighting Fit Chapter 3 Logicians may reason about abstractions. But the great mass of men must have images.--Thomas Babington Macaulay In writing, empty calories come in the form of filler words, abstractions, redundancies, and oxymorons. Eliminate meaningless phrases. In speech, little conversational superfluities lighten the linguistic load for our listeners by filling time with material a listener can discount quickly, leaving the mind free to focus on meaty matters.In written text, these fillers require too much attention and cost money to put on the page.Every editor has a hit list of these useless phrases. Get rid of these empty calories and all their cousins. Make abstractions concrete. Concrete nouns name things we access through our senses. Abstract nouns are those that make no clear image in the mind. The farther you move from the concrete in your writing, the more uncertain your communication. Sometimes you must use abstract terms. Original sentence: People with a disability will have access issues.
36 Tips for Writing Just About Anything Basic tips for writing just about anything. There’s a lot more to writing than just typing words. Writing well takes years of study, practice, and experience. For example, when we’re writing fiction, we have one set of concerns (character, plot, and theme, to name a few) and when we’re writing poetry, we have en entirely different set of issues to deal with. Basically, writers have to keep a lot of balls in the air. Tips for Writing With that in mind, here are 36 tips for writing just about anything. Start with a plan. And that’s not all… This list might seem overwhelming, but it just covers the basics. But these tips for writing are a good start. Do you have any tips for writing to add to this list? About Melissa DonovanMelissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter.
Designing conference posters » Colin Purrington A large-format poster is a big piece of paper or wall-mounted monitor featuring a short title, an introduction to your burning question, an overview of your novel experimental approach, your amazing results in graphical form, some insightful discussion of aforementioned results, a listing of previously published articles that are important to your research, and some brief acknowledgement of the tremendous assistance and financial support conned from others — if all text is kept to a minimum (less than a 1000 words), a person could fully read your poster in 5-10 minutes. Section content • DOs and DON’Ts • Adding pieces of flair • Presenting • Motivational advice • Software • Templates • Printing • Useful literature • Organizing a poster session What to put in each section Below, I’ve provided rough tips on how many words each of these sections might have, but those guesses are assuming you have a horizontal poster that is approximately 3×4′. DOs and DON’Ts Adding pieces of flair 1. 2. 3.
I Write for Apples: Scrivener - Keywords Scrivener - Keywords There are all kinds of ways you can use keywords in Scrivener. And the beauty of it is that they’re so simple to use. For my latest project, I used keywords for three things. *The information panel is expanded on the right so you can see the keyword section. If you’d like to use keywords as you go, make sure you’ve clicked the appropriate choice in the binder (to the left) to tell the program if you want the keyword associated with the chapter or just the scene. Click the + button at the top of the keyword panel, type your keyword, and hit return. If you’d like to add more keywords or add the same keyword in other places, follow the same procedure. Or, once you have at least one keyword set up, you can click the gear button (next to the + and –) and chose Show Project Keywords. To add a keyword at the same level, choose the first button on the lower left of the keyword box, which will say Add Keyword as Sibling. Searching Good luck!
Where to Find Ideas for Writing a Story Ideas for writing a story It always seem like there are too many writing ideas or not enough. When you don’t have time to write, ideas come hurtling out of nowhere. Sometimes, they come so fast, you can’t even write them all down. Then, when you sit down, stretch your fingers, and lean over your keyboard to start typing, nothing happens. Chances are, you’re not really out of ideas; you’re just not in the mood to write. Luckily, ideas for writing a story are all around you. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. What kind of stories do you write? About Melissa DonovanMelissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter. Academic Phrasebank The Ultimate Student Resource List It’s back to school time, yet again. In the spirit of the season, I decided to gather together the best tools, websites, and advice I know of to help make you a more effective and relaxed student this semester. Since I know you’re broke, it’s all free! 10 Free Applications Every Student Needs Unless you have money coming out of your ears, you probably won’t want to shell out the cash you’ll need to get Office, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, EndNote, and so on — even with your student discount. OpenOffice.org: A top-quality, full-featured office productivity suite — word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, graphics editor, database, the works! 11 Online Tools Students Should Check Out Or 20, depending on how you count. Email: GmailRegister for a solid, plain-jane email address from Gmail, something like FirstnameLastname@gmail.com. 15 Websites for Students (Aside from Lifehack) 30 Pieces of Advice for Students from Lifehack.org 7 Online Research Resources
How to Improve Your Writing Are you ready to improve your writing? It’s not possible to improve your writing overnight, unless you hire an expert to do it for you. People study the craft for years, decades even, and still they strive to make each piece of writing better than the last. Sure, there might be some quick tricks and shortcuts you can pick up and apply immediately, but these only improve your writing in small increments. If you want to become a good writer (let alone a great writer), be prepared to make a long-term commitment to the craft. It might take time and energy to improve your writing, but it’s actually not that hard, especially if you love what you do. Be professional. Do you try to improve your writing on a regular basis? About Melissa DonovanMelissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter.
Rachel Aaron | Rachel Bach - Science Fiction, Fantasy, Writing Life newyorker The following is adapted from a speech the author gave at the Whiting Writers’ Awards on March 5th. When I had just finished my schooling and was looking for a job, a friend put me in touch with an absurdly well-connected British biographer who, she assured me, would help me find the professional position of my dreams. I wrote and asked him whether we might meet, explaining that I would appreciate his advice on securing literary work and enclosing some of my early efforts. He duly invited me for tea. The advice I had in mind sounded like this: “You must call so-and-so at this number and say I suggested it and he will publish you and give you loads of money.” While I, unlike that biographer, am an artesian font of utilitarian suggestions, I can now see that being asked to comment on young brilliance is an explicit invitation to pomposity. I want to take a moment to talk about the middle of things. Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.
23 Fiction Writing Ideas That Will Revitalize Your Story Refresh your story with these fiction writing ideas. Sometimes, our fiction writing projects dry up. The characters turn out to be flat, the plot becomes formulaic, and the story suddenly seems lackluster. This is when a lot of writers give up and file their half-finished manuscripts into a bottom drawer never to be seen again. What a waste of time and energy. But before giving up on a project, why not try to resurrect it? Fiction Writing Ideas Today’s writing ideas will help you enhance stories that are suffering from a variety of maladies ranging from boring plots to unrealistic characters. Give your characters more than a goal. Got Any Fiction Writing Ideas? Got any tips or ideas to add? About Melissa DonovanMelissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter.
: Quick and Dirty Tips ™ Mignon Fogarty is the creator of Grammar Girl and the founder and managing director of Quick and Dirty Tips. A magazine writer, technical writer, and entrepreneur, she has served as a senior editor and producer at a number of health and science web sites. She has a B.A. in English from the University of Washington in Seattle and an M.S. in biology from Stanford University. Mignon believes that learning is fun, and the vast rules of grammar are wonderful fodder for lifelong study. Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. To book a lecture event with Mignon Fogarty for your company or organization, contact Macmillan Speakers. Follow Mignon on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Awards Media The Oprah Winfrey Show, Grammar Girl Fixes Common Mistakes, March 2007 "Mignon has come up with clever ideas to help even the most grammatically challenged person remember the rules." New York Times, Book Not Ready for Print? Los Angeles Times
Orion Magazine | Live Event: Robert Macfarlane and Rebecca Solnit on Nature Writing Here are some of the books Robert Macfarlane and Rebecca Solnit shared during the event: Robert Macfarlane’s recommended books and articles: Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams Samuel Beckett, Waiting For Godot David Gessner, Sick of Nature Cormac McCarthy, The Road Edward Abbey, The Monkey Wrench Gang Rachel Carson, Silent Spring Rebecca Solnit, Hope In The Dark Rebecca Solnit, Savage Dreams Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings Callum Roberts, The Ocean of Life: How our Seas Are Changing Tim Robinson, Stones of Aran: Pilgrimage and : Labyrinth WG Sebald, The Rings of Saturn Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain Tim Dee, Four Fields Gilbert White, A Natural History of Selborne JA Baker, The Peregrine JG Ballard, The Drowned World Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac and Other Writings on Ecology and Conservation, ed. Curt Meine, Library of America edition (2012) …and articles: No Heaven on Earth by Verlyn Klinkenborg, Bookforum, 2008 Richard K.
10 Practices for Maintaining a Constant Stream of Writing Ideas Fresh writing ideas are always at your fingertips. Sometimes, we are overwhelmed with writing ideas. We work on multiple projects simultaneously and are constantly bombarded with new ideas that we’ll never have time to fully explore, let alone turn into active projects. Ideas and inspiration remain a mystery. Most of us cannot summon new writing ideas on command, and we’ve all experienced the random arrival of a magnificent idea, which often comes at an inopportune time, like when we’re driving, showering, or otherwise engaged. If you’ve ever struggled to find inspiration, you know how frustrating it can be when you want to write but the words, the ideas, just won’t come. Adopt a few of these practices to keep your imagination active and to keep your pen moving: Make time for creativity every day. Do you have too many writing ideas or not enough? About Melissa DonovanMelissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter.