» New York Times 50 Most Challenging Words (defined and used) The New York Times recently published a list of 50 fancy words that most frequently stump their readership. They are able to measure this data thanks to a nifty in-page lookup mechanism, which you can try here. Try double-clicking the word “epicenter”. Since the NYT didn’t include definitions of these words, I decided to post a job to MediaPiston to produce an article defining and using each word in the list. Voila! The New York Times 50 Fancy Words (defined and used) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50.
Write & Get Paid Get Paid $100 Do you want to earn money online? Listverse was built on the efforts of readers just like you. Readers who didn’t have any experience as writers but decided to put a list together and send it in. So here is the deal: We will pay you $100 for your efforts. You don’t need to be an expert—you just need to have English equal to that of a native speaker, a sense of humor, and a love for things unusual or interesting. It works like this: You write your list (10 items per list minimum), you send it in, we reply and say “Great—we’ll publish it” and send you $100 by PayPal (don’t have an account? Either way you win—your list will be read by us and reviewed, and if it’s amazing it will appear on the front page of Listverse to be read by millions of people a month! We can not accept lists from writers who do not have a PayPal account; this is non-negotiable. The Rules The rules are really pretty simple. Pictures and Video Please note that we publish original articles. Ready to start?
33 Genius Three-Ingredient Recipes | Posted by on Mar 24, 2014 in Food Hacks | 12 comments If you are looking for some New recipes, some new ideas that will make you happy, than you are on the right place. These 33 easy and amazing food recipes will make you happy and you will enjoy in your food. All you need to do is to chose one of this food ideas and try it, or you can try all of them.
Synonyms for 95 Commonly Used Words - A Mini-Thesaurus for Writers Synonyms for 95 Commonly Used Words in the English language Source for Comic Source for Synonyms Writers Write offers the best writing courses in South Africa. 10 Books Every Fantasy Author Should Read What an awesomely capacious list, what with the fiction and the non-fiction. (It's an even better list after I reread the title of the article and saw that it didn't say "10 Book Every Fantasy Author Should Read Daily.") I want to add an enthusiastic cheer for Mendlesohn book of criticism, which is rich with description, analysis, and not prescriptive or tyrannical in its breakdown. I almost want to separate out this list into its constituent parts: 10 Fiction books (everyone's list here might vary, so I leave that to your consciences), 10 Non-fiction history research books (which would greatly depend on what period your fantasy is set in), 10 Critical works on sf/f (with the caveat that some of these books are less easy to read than Mendlesohn's). Flagged I nearly fell over laughing at your misread — I picture fantasy authors going, "Oh dear, 11 AM.
50 greatest cult classic movies of all time 20. 'Blade Runner' Hey, look, Harrison Ford! 19. Terry Gilliam is one of the weirdest, cultiest filmmakers out there – what else do you expect from the dude who did the animation sequences for Monty Python’s Flying Circus – and Brazil is perhaps his masterpiece, a futuristic sci-fi movie that doubles as old-fashioned film noir. 18. John Carpenter and Kurt Russell team up to do sci-fi horror and, naturally, it kicks all kinds of ass. 17. It’s a movie about a cross country road race featuring mayhem, grizzly murder and a main character named Frankenstein played by David Carradine. 16. This is one of those movies that everyone knew would be a cult favorite as soon as it was released. 15. If you’re gonna do Blaxploitation, especially a good thirty years after it became, uh, socially unacceptable, you’ve gotta go balls out with it and make it as insane and as fun as possible. 14. 13. 12. 11. This mockumentary is so perfect that people actually treat Spinal Tap like a real band.
Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules for Writing Elmore Leonard — author of Get Shorty, Out of Sight, and Rum Punch — died today. What was it about his suspense thrillers that made them both popular AND critically acclaimed? Maybe his own writing rules will provide the answer. 10 things you should watch out for in your writing, according to Elmore Leonard 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. And his most important rule, to sum up all the others: “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” What do you think of those rules?
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.
The Cerebral Cortex The Cerebral Cortex The cerebral cortex is the most important part of our brain (at least in the field of psychology) because it is what makes us human. The cerebral cortex (sometimes referred to as called "gray matter", is actually densely packed neurons. We actually are born with more neurons in our cerebral cortex than we have now, but they are young and inexperienced. As you get older the neurons learn to work together forming what we call neural networks. Let's go back to when you were a kid and your parents taught you how to wipe your own butt. Now our cerebral cortex is pretty big and full of wrinkles- these wrinkles are call fissures. Now the cerebral cortex is divided into two hemispheres- the left and right hemispheres. Between the two hemispheres is a band of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum. Areas of the Cerebral Cortex We are going to talk about alot of places in the cerebral cortex-but there are also even more places that we will not talk about. Frontal Lobes
23 Writing Websites to Improve Your Writing We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. ~Ernest Hemingway How strong is your writing? No matter how good you think it is, there’s always room for improvement. In most cases, plenty of room. Luckily, there are some amazing websites that’ll help you improve your writing, and take it to the next level. (***By the way, have you seen this amazing online creative writing course, “Story Is a State of Mind,” created by Giller finalist Sarah Selecky? Want to strengthen your story, empower your performance, and beef up on the publishing business? Here are 23 sites (in no particular order) I look to for daily inspiration and advice: PS If you find this list useful, please share it on Twitter, Facebook or StumbleUpon – I’d really appreciate it! 4) Query Shark A query critique site you don’t want to miss. 5) Men with Pens Fantastic articles on copywriting and freelancing. 6) Ask Allison Writing and publishing Q&A by novelist Allison Winn Scotch.
Freelance Writing Jobs for Beginners: Getting Started Online - The Work at Home Wife This post may contain affiliate links. All opinions are 100% my own. Those looking to work from home have far more opportunities available than they may initially think. Freelance writing in itself, for example, offers dozens of shots for freedom to the right individual. From product descriptions to blog posts to expert articles and eBooks, there is a little something for every aspiring freelance writer. Skills Required for Freelance Writing You must have above par English and grammar skills. Recommended Tools I highly recommend signing up with Grammarly. It is also a good idea to start a website or blog to share links to published articles with those interested in your services. Google Drive is a popular choice for word processing and sharing files with clients. You need some type of accounting system to keep track of money in, money out and money owed. Getting Started Writing Online Make it easy on yourself and avoid trying to appeal to the masses. Get Writing Clients Important Tips
What Suffering Does Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself in a bunch of conversations in which the unspoken assumption was that the main goal of life is to maximize happiness. That’s normal. When people plan for the future, they often talk about all the good times and good experiences they hope to have. We live in a culture awash in talk about happiness. In one three-month period last year, more than 1,000 books were released on Amazon on that subject. But notice this phenomenon. Now, of course, it should be said that there is nothing intrinsically ennobling about suffering. But some people are clearly ennobled by it. But the big thing that suffering does is it takes you outside of precisely that logic that the happiness mentality encourages. First, suffering drags you deeper into yourself. Then, suffering gives people a more accurate sense of their own limitations, what they can control and cannot control. It’s at this point that people in the midst of difficulty begin to feel a call.
3 Steps to Writing a Novel with Unforgettable Characters Character development is one of the first essential steps of writing a novel and it involves creating the people who will carry out your story. There will most likely be a variety of characters needed for your story, but none as important as your lead character – your protagonist. A well-developed protagonist has much to do with the success of writing a novel. When writing a novel, the protagonist should be someone that your readers feel is a “real person” that they come to love (or at least like a whole lot), can relate to in many ways, and will care about and think about long after they’ve turned the final page on your novel. How to Create “Real People” for Your Novel When writing a novel, there are many ways to go about creating characters and much has been written about it in “how to write a novel books”, sometimes in great detail. Writing a Novel – Four Attributes of a Lead Character: 1. 2. 3. 4. Writing a Novel – Three Attributes Every Character Has: 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.
Tameri Guide for Writers: French Phrases When you want a character to sound pretentious, nothing beats a nice turn of French. Somehow, American writers (and readers) associate all things French with money, pretense, and culture. It’s quite the mix of responses, a “love-hate” relationship with France. affaire de coeur - love affair au contraire - to the contrary au fait - possessing practical knowledge of a thing au revoir - until we meet again autre temps, autres moeurs - other times, other customs avec plaisir - with pleasure bête noire - a thing especially disliked bon jour - good day; hello bon soir - goodnight bourgeoisie - middle-class, materialistic c’est-à-dire - that is to say c’est la vie - such is life chacun à son goût - each to his own taste coup de grâce - death blow coûte que coûte - cost what it cost dégagé - without emotional links de trop - too much or too many dernier ressort - last option Dieu avec nous - God is with us Dieu défend le droit - God defends the right en plein jour - In full daylight; openly n’est ce pas?