untitled The technology we put between ourselves and others tends to always create additional strains on communication, even as it enables near-constant, instant contact. When it comes to our now-primary mode of interacting — staring at each other as talking heads or Brady Bunch-style galleries — those stresses have been identified by communication experts as “Zoom fatigue,” now a subject of study among psychologists who want to understand our always-connected-but-mostly-isolated lives in the pandemic, and a topic for Today show segments like the one above. As Stanford researcher Jeremy Bailenson vividly explains to Today, Zoom fatigue refers to the burnout we experience from interacting with dozens of people for hours a day, months on end, through pretty much any video conferencing platform. Anyone who speaks for a living understands the intensity of being stared at for hours at a time. “Videoconferencing is here to stay,” Bailenson admits, and we’ll have to adapt. Related Content:
The Daily Routines of 12 Famous Writers How many people die with their best work still inside them? We often assume that great things are done by those who were blessed with natural talent, genius, and skill. But how many great things could have been done by people who never fully realized their potential? I think many of us, myself included, are capable of much more than we typically produce — our best work is often still hiding inside of us. How can you pull that potential out of yourself and share it with the world? Perhaps the best way to develop better daily routines. As an example of what separates successful people from the rest of the pack, take a look at some of the daily routines of famous writers from past and present. At the end of the article, I broke down some common themes that you can apply to your daily routines — regardless of your goals. E.B. In an interview with The Paris Review, E.B. I never listen to music when I’m working. Haruki Murakami: “The repetition itself becomes the important thing.” A.J. 1. 2. 3.
6 Virtual Tours Of The Human Body For Free Interactive Anatomy Lessons When it comes to interactive virtual views, we have gone to space and around the globe. So, it’s not surprising that we are also going within ourselves on a virtual journey of the human body. One of the finest tools available online is Visible Body. Unfortunately, it’s not free anymore. But you can see the beauty of it thanks to the free demo that allows you to explore the head and neck. If you are disappointed that there aren’t any free interactive anatomy tools, worry not. Google Body You can trust Google to take you everywhere. The Google Body browser is a Google Labs project that renders on Google Chrome and any other browser that supports WebGL (like Firefox 4 Beta). MEDtropolis The interactive website aims to educate entertain both kids and adult on bodily health; understanding the human anatomical structure is just part of the process. For instance, check out the narrated tours on Virtual Body. eSkeletons eSkeletons isn’t only about understanding human anatomy. DirectAnatomy
15 unusual words that make writers swoon In a previous post, I wrote about the value of using simple words in place of complex words. Readers are not impressed by the use of complex words; they're frustrated by them. Though I strive to use simple, clear terms in my own writing, there are some words that I am just dying to use. Archaic, unusual words that I have stumbled upon in fiction. If I could only find a way to work them into my next article on surgical checklists. Vex. Example: You take delight in vexing me by deliberately using bad grammar. Portmanteau. Example: That portmanteau will not fit in the overhead bin and must be checked. Naught. Example: Her behavior tends to set propriety at naught. Foible. Example: She loved him in spite of his foibles. Parvenu. Example: He was treated like a parvenu at the country club dinner. Sentinel. Example: Bennett heard a strange noise and asked the sentinel to stay close. Moribund. Example: Kathryn was unsure how to save her moribund career. Beslobber. Nonplussed. Loquacious. Forbear.
John Steinbeck’s Six Tips for the Aspiring Writer and His Nobel Prize Speech Today is the 110th birthday of writer John Steinbeck, whose great novel of the 1930s, The Grapes of Wrath, gives an eloquent and sympathetic voice to the dispossessed. In 1962, Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." You can watch him deliver his Nobel speech above. And for insights into how Steinbeck reached that pinnacle, you can read a collection of his observations on the art of fiction from the Fall, 1975 edition of The Paris Review, including six writing tips jotted down in a letter to a friend the same year he won the Nobel Prize. “The following," Steinbeck writes, "are some of the things I have had to do to keep from going nuts." 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. "As you write," Steinbeck says, "trust the disconnections and the gaps. Related content: Writing Tips by Henry Miller, Elmore Leonard, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman & George Orwell
Turn Anything Into a Screenplay From Wired How-To Wiki If you follow the advice of screenwriting guru Robert McKee, almost anything can be made into a great story — even, say, Slashdot, the site run by Rob Malda (aka CmdrTaco). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. All humor aside, contemporary screenplays are pretty standard in style. A Computer Any word processor will do, but you'll have to tweak it to get the right margins and tab spacing. Once you have your finalized draft, you'll probably want to get to know the screenwriting process. The spec script is usually the hard copy you would show interested movie executives. Don't get too attached to your spec script. Once everyone is happy with it, the script becomes a "shooting" script. Additional Resources: How to Get an Agent by Eddie Burns and Aaron LubinScreenwriting Tips by Richard Tocsan This page was last modified 21:55, 4 August 2008 by thejwl.
How do you keep your readers reading? - Pro Writing Tips Mar 2nd, 2009 | By John Roach | Category: Big Picture I’m going to fail you today. I don’t have the answers. I’ve got some ideas. Without further ado, here are 10 tricks you can use to keep your readers engaged. Structure A good hook. Style Use the active voice and short, simple sentences. Substance Don’t make statements; ask questions and then answer them later.Let your passion for the topic shine through. What techniques do you use to ensure reader engagement? Related Posts Tags: active, lists, tips, verbs 101 Short Stories that Will Leave You Smiling, Crying and Thinking post written by: Marc Chernoff Email Since its inception eighteen months ago, our sister site Makes Me Think (MMT) has truly evolved into a remarkable online community. Every day, users share their thought-provoking life stories and vote on stories that other users have shared. Some are happy, some are sad, and others twist your emotions, pulling them in several directions at once. As stated on the MMT About page, sometimes the most random everyday encounters force us to stop and rethink the truths and perceptions we have ingrained in our minds. I believe the 101 stories listed below perfectly fulfill that description. What do you think?
Seven Tips From Ernest Hemingway on How to Write Fiction Image by Lloyd Arnold via Wikimedia Commons Before he was a big game hunter, before he was a deep-sea fisherman, Ernest Hemingway was a craftsman who would rise very early in the morning and write. His best stories are masterpieces of the modern era, and his prose style is one of the most influential of the 20th century. Hemingway never wrote a treatise on the art of writing fiction. He did, however, leave behind a great many passages in letters, articles and books with opinions and advice on writing. 1: To get started, write one true sentence. Hemingway had a simple trick for overcoming writer's block. Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. 2: Always stop for the day while you still know what will happen next. There is a difference between stopping and foundering. 5: Don't describe an emotion--make it.
12 Celebrated Novelists-Turned-Screenwriters And How They By The Playlist Staff | The Playlist October 24, 2013 at 2:10PM There was a time when everyone wore hats and screenwriting was a lot less respectable a specialization for a writer than it is today. Stories of “legitimate” authors and playwrights doing the “Barton Fink” and selling out to Hollywood were nearly as legion as the tales of their boorish mistreatment once there: the studios that commodified their creativity, the honchos who more or less paid for words by the pound, the seismic shift between being the author of a finished piece of work, however underappreciated, and being regarded as one pair of hands on an assembly line. There was a time when everyone wore hats and screenwriting was a lot less respectable a specialization for a writer than it is today. But in fact a great many successful novelists made that move, and of that number, quite a few went on to have what we can retrospectively see was a good influence over a number of the films that they wrote for screen.