Archive for November, 2008

Write About Something That Will Change Your Life!

Posted on Nov 7, 2008 09:42:59 PM

It’s been said that you should “write about what you know”. It’s also been said that doing that condemns you to a life of boredom as you’ll never grow beyond your current limitations.

Not very helpful, is it?

It’s also been said that you should write about what you’re passionate about, interested in or otherwise taken by, as you’ll spend so much time researching it, writing it and rewriting it, that it had better light your fire, or it will drive you insane. And then again, others say don’t tackle a topic you know nothing about, you should write what you know….

And so we go around in ever decreasing circles.

I actually subscribe to the “write what you know” line of thought, but with a bit of a twist. I encourage writers to write about what they know on an emotional level.

Try writing a story that heals YOU. Emotions are the universal language. We all feel the same feelings, we may just experience them in different ways. We all recognize joy, love, peace, anger, resentment, jealousy and fear and when you tap into this universal language with your stories, you speak to the hearts of all readers. As you and your characters go on the roller coaster ride, your readers will go with you, and as you and your characters heal, so too will your readers see a way out for themselves.

Have you ever read a novel that’s changed your way of looking at the world? I certainly have. Try this simple tip, and you’ll soon be writing stories that change lives as well, including your own.

Write about something that will change your life.

Now by this I don’t mean sitting back and thinking, “What would change my life? I know! Divorcing my wife/leaving my job/selling my business and trekking across Africa/buying a ski lodge in Switzerland/running for President”. That’s not the type of change I’m talking about.

I’m talking about real change – the type of change that starts on the inside and works its way out. And while it may eventually manifest in divorce, resignation, liquidation, traveling, new businesses or political aspirations, it is not the way the change looks on the outside that matters as much as how it looks on the inside. And once you get the inside right, the outside takes care of itself.

As writers of fiction we are constantly living inside our own imaginations, aren’t we? True creativity occurs when experience meets imagination. The best way to write stories that resonate with others, that capture them from the first page and don’t let them go until the last, is for you, as the writer, to delve into your own basement of emotional experience and retrieve images of universal resonance to deliver to your readers.

JK Rowling said that the Dementors were definitely born of her own depression. The mirror of Erised was her own desperate desire to spend just five more minutes with her own mother, who passed away as she wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Harry’s search for a family of his own was paralleled by Jo Rowling’s desire for the very same thing in her own life.

You need courage to be a fiction writer. Courage to expose your own wounds, courage to go to the places you haven’t been before to heal them, and courage to decide you have the strength to go on the journey in the first place.

We have all had our ups and downs in life. And saved somewhere in our unconscious databases, are all the emotions, all the traumas, all the joys and all the images of our lives. As you access these buried emotions, a curious thing will happen. You won’t necessarily relive the actual events that happened to you. By drawing on the emotion, and allowing it to be your guide, your imagination will fill in the missing bits, and you’ll find yourself retrieving images, scenes and situations that may be very different to your own actual experience. Writing a memoir or autobiography is not the goal. Writing a story with emotional resonance that others will want to read is.

Try this simple exercise: Sit with your feet flat on the floor, hands resting on your thighs, your eyes closed. Take 3 to 5 deep breaths. Now in your mind’s eye, see a spotlight shining on a brightly lit stage. Step into the spotlight. Take a few seconds to grow accustomed to the shift in perspective. Now I want you to feel real anger. Feel the heat of it coursing through your body. How dare they? What right do they have? Ask yourself these questions over and over in your mind until you have worked yourself up into a white heat of fury. Now in your mind’s eye, allow an image to form around you, the source of your anger. What’s happening? Who is there? What can you hear? Coming up with a first sentence, write for 10 minutes on what happens next.

When you’ve completed this exercise, take a break, or come back tomorrow and try this next exercise. Following exactly the same process, feel forgiveness instead of anger. Allow the sense of true forgiveness to envelope you. Then when you are ready, allow an image to rise in your mind’s eye, and coming up with a first sentence, write for 10 minutes.

Did these two pieces of writing connect at all? Did the forgiveness relate to the anger, or vice versa? Don’t worry if they didn’t. Just know that as you utilize this process when writing a story, you will write a progressive story of great emotional resonance, and in so doing, you will be unconsciously training yourself to experience this journey in your own life.

This is a simple exercise to show you the power of accessing your unconscious through emotion. Once you become accustomed to using this method, you will find all kinds of magical thing occurring to your writing, and all kinds of wonderful healing occurring in your own life.

Writers of non-fiction are bound to an extent by the limitations of science and provable fact. They can speculate, philosophize and hypothesize, but until someone can come up with “proof in a test tube”, it is essentially speculation.

When you write a story, with a character confronting their issues, overcoming their obstacles, facing their demons and changing their lives, you are unconsciously writing a guidebook that shows others how to make those changes too. Fiction writers offer real solutions. Real emotional solutions. We may not show you how to fly to the moon, or how to crack the property market and walk off with millions, or how to build a successful e-commerce business from home, but we can show you how to really live your life, how to relate to others, how to relate to yourself, how to heal relationships and how to lead more blissful lives.

And that’s pretty terrific, don’t you think?

How To Write Well

Posted on Nov 7, 2008 07:46:15 PM

Raising your level of writing needs you to focus on bigger things, like having your work published for example. This is a surefire way to encourage yourself to go beyond your current limitations and weaknesses as a writer. Taking the step from writing as a hobby towards writing professionally and having an article or a piece published is indeed a big leap for anyone. It needs a long-term commitment, discipline and an almost endless source of inspiration to be able to write constantly and creatively. Not only does it entail having to do intensive research, but it also pushes the writer to find a certain niche from which he can excel.

Moreover, you have to be able to gauge your own work and consciously maintain a higher level of quality as compared to when you were just writing on a journal or your own blog. This leaves the question of how one learns how to write well. How can you raise your level so that it is up to par with what is asked and required of you as a professional writer?

There are different ways to find your way towards fulfilling your worth as a writer. Some of these are the following:

1. Find your niche. You have to be able to know what you are capable of writing about. You have to know where to focus your attention to, what topics to write about, and what genre of writing you are going to start with. Some may find poetry as your strongest area, while you may feel that writing feature articles are where you are at your best. The important thing is that you are able to decide where to concentrate. For a writer who is just starting, you have to be the master of your specialized craft before branching out to other areas and other genres.

2. Educate yourself. You were not born with all the information already lodged in your brain. Read and refresh your mind by going through printed materials about the topics close to your heart and the areas where your interest is more attuned. Learn from the best in the business; study their style and their delivery. From those lessons, you can create your own unique style.

3. Write from the heart. The next important step is to start writing. Pour out your soul and write from an intelligent yet emotional perspective. Show your strengths as a writer and highlight these in all the lines that you write.

4. Edit and correct your article. Check if the facts add up, review your references, and see to it that you don’t contradict yourself. Give others a chance to critic your work, and be open to suggestions without sacrificing the content of your work.

The above-mentioned ways are just rudiments of how to write a good article. These will help you get started towards your goal of being a good writer and being able to write well. Mastering all these things however does not necessarily mean producing a best seller or getting all the accolades you dream of. Perhaps the true measure of how good a writer you are is the patience and dedication you give towards writing a well written article or book, for even the great ones did not receive praise immediately. So hone your craft and be patient in doing so, as even the longest journeys start on a single step.

What Is Freelance Speech Writing?

Posted on Nov 7, 2008 11:21:46 AM

Freelance speech writing is the champagne of freelance writing; it offers a high degree of creativity, a high-profile clientele, and the chance to have your work heard among elite people. Of course, there are downsides as well: your style is restricted to that of the speaker, and the pool of jobs is substantially smaller than many other forms of freelance writing. But on the whole, the advantages make it very attractive to pursue gigs as a freelance speech writer.

Speech writing is one of the oldest forms of communication. Much of what we consider good rhetorical practice today goes back to the Romans and Cicero. Until the previous century, long rhetorically-polished speeches were a central (and enjoyable) part of serious literature, from the hieratic diatribes of Shakespeare’s Lear to the long burlesque flights of Dickens’s heroes and grotesques. Today, speech writing is mostly confined to large formal parties, serious events, and political careers, but something of the dignity of the art’s long history still adheres to people’s ideas about roaring good speeches. Speech writing is the art of making people appear both persuasive and dignified, of turning ordinary people into sources of entertainment and wisdom. As expected, writing speeches effectively can be difficult to do well.

The key to effective speech writing–as well as the key to effective writing in general–is to know one’s audience. In speech writing, the audience is a literal one: an employee pool, a group of wedding guests, or a rural electorate. The speechwriter should, before setting even one word to paper, find out who the speech is intended for and take this into account when structuring the work.

Once you know your audience, know your speaker. As Bernard Shaw once said, it’s impossible to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear — or at least, people don’t want to believe it’s possible. If the CEO you’re writing for is known as a good ol’ boy, down-to-earth businessman, it won’t ring true if your speech contains a number of high literary allusions and elaborate rhetorical constructions. If you’re writing for a museum curator, opening with an off-color joke and referring to “the folks back home” is not necessarily the best way to go.

You not only have to know about your client’s perceived character, but about his or her actual speech rhythms. Interview your client if possible, or if not possible, try to get access to videos, tapes, or other recordings. This should give you some idea of voice, and some understanding of how best to express your ideas in the “client’s words.” If a speech doesn’t sound natural coming from the client’s mouth, the speech won’t work and you won’t develop a good reputation that leads to more assignments. So put in the time, get a good idea of the client’s voice, and use it exclusively in your work.

Framing your speech around the subject matter can be tricky, but fortunately all the prep work you’ve been doing will make it a much simpler proposition. If you know your audience, your client’s speech style, and your client’s public perception, you’ll have a decent compass for navigating your speech through possible dead areas, out of dark, depressing moments, far to the lee of excessive frivolity, and generally on an even course from the first attention-getting moment to the conclusive point. It’s difficult to know exactly how a speech will play before it’s actually delivered, but you can get a rough idea by reading your drafts to a friendly audience (spouse, friends, children), or by tape-recording yourself delivering the speech into a mirror. A good speech doesn’t have dead moments, doesn’t bore, and reaches a series of short, conclusive points to keep the audience’s attention from wandering over time. If you do plenty of revision work and get a real idea of how your speech sounds when read aloud, you can fine-tune appropriately in order to ensure a successful speech, and a satisfied customer.

Of course, getting customers in the first place can be tricky: the speechwriting market is usually fairly small and fairly exclusive, since only the very wealthy can usually afford to have professional speechwriters work for them. The Catch-22 here is that the very wealthy typically only want established, proven speechwriters, a difficult preference for novice speechwriters to deal with. You can establish yourself and build a reputation, however, by advertising heavily in local papers, club newsletters, and anywhere likely to need a speech writer at some point in time: wedding planners, local organizations, startup corporations in your area. This may not be the best-paying work, but it’s essential to building a proven reputation as a good speechwriter. Once you have some gigs under your belt, start upping your level of advertising to include corporate newsletters and trade journals, and make sure to network at every event where you’ve written a speech. Word gets around, and eventually, if you promote yourself well, it’ll get to the right people.

In any case, it’ll be some time before your speech writing is well-known enough to command high prices, and to allow you to make it the exclusive focus of your freelance writing career. Keep up some other freelance jobs, write speeches whenever you get the opportunity, and keep up the self-promotion among the right circles. If you’re talented and you’re fortunate, you can make the switch to the champagne of freelance writing, and achieve that most satisfying of jobs: you can become a successful freelance speech writer.

The Movie Review Of Arrested Development Season 3

Posted on Nov 6, 2008 06:32:37 PM

Directed by Paul Feig, John Fortenberry, Robert Berlinger and produced by Chuck Williams, it stars Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, Jessica Walter, Jeffrey Tambor, David Cross.

Screenwriter: Mitchell Hurwitz, Jim Vallely, Richard Day, Sam Laybourne, Jake Farrow, Karey Dornetto, Chuck Tatham

It is no surprise that Arrested Development was a big hit as a magnificent sitcom . What is surprising is the abrupt end to all the fun and wit of screen writer Mitch Hurwitz. What seemed like a brilliant pick-up at the end of the second season, really ends in a whimper with the third. For one, Season 3 has only 13 episodes, instead of the usual 22 and there is no Season 4.

There is of course no dearth of good fun and laughter in those 13 episodes. The story line meanders through various hilarious situations in the once-upon-a-time rich but currently morally depleted Bluth family, which follows its leader, the good son Michael (Jason Bateman). In the Season 3, misty eyed Michael finds his soul mate in Rita (guest star Charlize Theron), an attractive woman holding a secret up her sleeves. As you go on watching it, you might just guess the secret and the dramatic revelation but the hilariously obvious clues will have you in splits.

According to FilmCritic.com’s Jesse Hassenger “Arrested Development is probably the most densely self-referential sitcom ever, but not in the sense that it goes for self-mocking meta-jokes like The Simpsons (though there are some of those too, especially in “S.O.B.,” where Michael tries to enlist help to “save” the floundering Bluths, hoping that maybe the “Home Builders Organization” &ndash HBO &ndash will come to the rescue).”

One of the most relieving part of Season 3 is that none of the jokes, motifs are repeated &ndash it is simply improved and by-passes the rest of the show in excellence.

In short, Arrested Development grows on you. Its end arrests everything. Here is what FilmCritic.com had to say “ everyone on this show is so damn good. That includes the writers, who, during the show’s run, had a virtual monopoly on verbal wit in TV comedy, and directors like Paul Feig (Freaks and Geeks) mixing a fast pace with a deadpan documentary style.”

FilmCritic.com review published with permission.

Writers Block: Writers Resources To End Writers Block

Posted on Nov 6, 2008 09:26:48 AM

Writers block is one of those mysterious ailments that is blamed for late assignments, missed deadlines, and failed dreams. Some people claim it is merely a myth while others find it plagues their writing.

As someone with more than two decades of professional writing, editing and teaching experience I feel quite strongly that in 99.9 percent of reported cases of writers block are nothing more than a chimera. In my opinion, far too many would-be writers spend far too much time and energy on finding the right computer, program, paper, pen, location, mood-setting music, and the like before they can begin writing when that time and energy would be much better spent on simply getting down to the business of writing. These would-be writers treat their muse as something delicate and breakable, something as elusive and fleeting as smoke.

I know from years spent in the hurly-burly of newspaper reporting and snatching moments to write between deadlines and dinner dishes that a muse worth keeping is made of much tougher material and in fact may benefit from some abuse.

Most often writers block, or what is commonly referred to as writers block, is caused by one of three problems–lack of preparation, lack of training, and lack of development. Lack of preparation is often caused by not creating an individual writing process that can take advantage of your writing strengths and help overcome your writing weaknesses. Lack of training is similar to athletic training–you need to warm up and work out on a regular schedule to keep your writing muscles in top condition. Lack of development simply means that your particular idea may need more time to percolate or perhaps you are not ready to tackle that particular topic at the time.

I have three recommendations to help you work through writers block. First is to simply write through it. Give yourself permission to write garbage and focus on simply creating a really rough draft. Often once you stop worrying over all that is wrong with your writing the words will begin flowing again.

A second method of dealing with writers block is to get moving. Take a walk or hike. Do something physical away from your office or desk and do not let yourself return to the scene of the crime (or writers block) until several hours have passed. You might be surprised what your brain works out in the interim.

Finally, exercise and challenge your writing muscles with writing prompts and exercises. Sometimes simply changing the pace of your writing or your subject matter can be enough to help you work through your difficulty.

Remember, every writer experiences some form of writers block from time to time but you do not have to make a mountain out of a molehill. Working out an effective strategy to circumvent writers block when it strikes is one of the most important skills a real writer can develop.

How To Get Started Writing Your Sales Letter In Just Minutes

Posted on Nov 6, 2008 07:51:55 AM

Anxious to get started writing your sales letter? Good. I strongly urge you to begin with a plan. With a simple plan or outline in place, you’ll be armed with all the essentials you need to create a powerful and persuasive piece.

It doesn’t matter what your writing project is &ndash book, report, or sales letter. Planning makes life easier. It organizes your thoughts. It gives you a roadmap to follow so you’re never stuck at a dead end. A sales letter plan forces you to think things through up front — before you write — making the actual writing much easier and giving it a smoother flow.

It doesn’t matter what your writing project is &ndash book, report, or sales letter. Planning makes life easier. It organizes your thoughts. It gives you a roadmap to follow so you’re never stuck at a dead end. A sales letter plan forces you to think things through up front — before you write — making the actual writing much easier and giving it a smoother flow.

When you get right down to it, a sales letter plan helps you:

• Gather Important Information

• Organize and Assess All Available Data

• Assemble Key Sales Letter Components

• Prioritize Benefits Based On Their Appeal To Prospects

• Confirm That The Important Ingredients Are All Present Before You Begin

A sales letter plan simplifies the actual writing. It gives you concrete material from which to work. It naturally dictates the direction you take, and it enables you to follow along a roadmap to the successful completion of your sales letter.

The more detailed your plan, the easier it is to write compelling sales copy. With a plan, you’re never left wondering what to write next. All the essential information is right before your eyes — making it quicker and easier to form interesting and persuasive copy.

“When it comes to writing copy, far too much attention is paid to the actual writing and far too little is paid to ferreting out facts about that which the copywriter is trying to sell.”

Gary Halbert

Planning isn’t just a means to an end, however. Yes, having a completed sales letter plan in front of you is very important. But the hidden value of your plan lies in the thinking processes that go into completing it. As even the most basic of plans takes shape, you’ll discover valuable ideas, key points, and concepts to employ. A plan literally forces you to think things through ahead of time.

After you’ve used this method to write a few sales letters, you’ll see how getting it all recorded on paper helps you tremendously.

Crafting a sales letter plan does take time — perhaps this is why so few do it. But the time and effort expended always pays a worthwhile dividend. A plan gives you direction, power, and focus. It puts you on a straight path towards your goal.

Notches

Posted on Nov 4, 2008 07:30:29 AM

When the verdict was read my client smiled broadly and rapidly turned toward me and shook my hand vigorously and patted my shoulder at the same time. His quickness of movement surprised me and as I stared into his smiling eyes and I saw no relief, only gladness. He again reacted when he saw my look and darted his eyes upward as if to thank the ceiling. He brought his gaze back down as open eyed innocence.

“Thank you much, counselor, thanks to you very much!” This time he spoke his congratulations as he continued to shake my hand. “I knew you were a good one, from what I heard and could see you calculate. You got a very good start and this only proves your worth. You have my utmost gratitude and I’m forever thankful.” He grinned widely then spun around to move toward his wife only a few steps away behind the rail.

A couple of other court observers came over to me but I kept a sideways glance at my client. With narrow eyes I could see their blank look at each other then a slight eye movement toward me from him to her that caused her to smile more yet unmoving her glance. They hugged one another as I turned my attention back to who was talking to me.

“For a youngster like yourself you did a meticulous job drawing the reasonable doubt. This was all circumstantial, and they knew it, but it was all they had. Just think they don’t like the couple, they’re kind of liberal with the kids. Nothing but bias, though a tragedy that kid got taken from their school. Good job, Hank.”

“Thanks, Ben; I really appreciate your opinion. It means a lot to me.” I told the older attorney. I figured he was here mostly to watch the proceedings.

As I gathered my paperwork I glanced over to the exit doors and they were already gone. They didn’t stay around for anyone else. They had just left.

The prosecutor nodded at me as he turned to head for the exit but said nothing. I went back to finish up when I noticed the detective standing at my table.

“At least we got them noticed. They’ll probably end up leaving the city to go further away. We’ll keep that trace on them, through the network, wherever they will land. These kind of people, once they got that taste they’ll have to do it again.” He kept his stare at me. “That kid was molested enough to have caused torture. Then they suffocated him. If we find the DNA match it’ll probably be a drifter they hired to ‘walk’ in around the same time. Then all he could say for the money he was paid they told him to pilfer through the living room to look for more cash and take pocket valuables. Just for an insurance claim, they would have told him. Too bad the living room led to the kitchen where the boy supposedly was making a snack. Holding the kid so hard to keep him quiet must of somehow cut off his air. Then to find the kid in the woods clubbed mercilessly with a log to create a messy distraction could have been anyone that carried him that mile. But it wasn’t.” He looked at the exit. “Didn’t you notice how they responded to the not guilty, counselor? It wasn’t with the stress of the falsely accused. You could see that, couldn’t you?”

“No sir,” I told him, “It was a random act. This city is dangerous.”

“They are,” he replied. Then he left.

As I left there was a couple more handshakes from people. Outside the courtroom I sat down on a bench after the court officer refused to look directly at me. I was young but sharp as I had been told and willing to dig through the details until I could make a point. But this was the first time my gut had started to react. And my observance has become keener. Yes, now I know there is something wrong with their story. Everything too pat in their telling and everything too smooth in what must have happened. I am getting better.

I got up to go back to my office for I know there will be more offers. This will help gain wider notice; these people had money and influence. This case will help me in the long run. What matters is the win.

What Gets A Book To The Top Of The Bestseller List?

Posted on Nov 2, 2008 10:31:22 PM

The business of books is big business with 172,000 new titles released in 2005 and sales in the United States of about $40 billion. But what makes a book successful? Are there any common characteristics that can spur on sales? As part of the research for “The Making of a Bestseller” Dee Power and Brian Hill, the authors, surveyed over 100 editors and agents to answer those questions.

*Previous Success is the Key Indicator of Future Success *

Editors and agents are in agreement that an author’s previous bestselling book is the key factor in determining future success.

*Quality of Writing is Paramount*

For writers yet to produce a bestseller, comfort can be taken in that both agents and editors rank quality of writing highly. Great writing wins out. However, there are no hard and fast criteria about what constitutes “great writing.” It comes down to subjective judgments made by individuals. Book reviewers may argue that a successful book by the very virtue of its sale’s success can not be considered great writing.

*Reviews, Whether Good or Bad, Don’t Count*

And speaking of reviews, the survey participants discounted the importance of reviews to nearly last place in sparking sales of a book. This contradicts the advice given to “new” authors that it is critical they get their books reviewed. These results could also indicate that as an author becomes more successful, has built a fan base and has had previous bestsellers, reviews decline in importance.

*Timeliness of Topic is of the Essence*

Old news is bad news when it comes to the subject of a book’s topic. Common sense dictates that there isn’t much interest in topics that have already been hashed over by the daily news media. Since book production takes from six to 12 months, it’s an amazing feat to get a book on a hot topic out to the market at just the right time.

*Word of Mouth and Fan Base*

Readers telling other readers about a fabulous book they’ve just read has a tremendous impact on success. Book buzz is priceless in the publishing industry. Authors on the upward sales track take their fans seriously.

*What’s Not As Important*

Reviews have already been mentioned as not having as great an effect on success. Promotional efforts whether those of the publishing house or the author’s, fall toward the lesser end of the scale in importance as well. Advertising doesn’t seem to be as important either.

*Money Doesn’t Count*

Contrary to popular belief, or perhaps it’s just wishful thinking on the part of the author, the size of the advance paid isn’t a significant factor to success.

The most important factors in a book’s success,

in order, are:

Previous book was a bestseller

Quality of writing

Timeliness of topic

Fan base

Word of mouth

Author’s promotion

Publicity

Reviews

Advertising

Size of advance

Brian Hill and Dee Power were inspired by their own publishing experiences to research and write “The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories From Authors and the Editors, Agents and Booksellers Behind Them,” 2005, Dearborn Trade. Hill and Power have also co-authored two other nonfiction books and a novel, “Over Time.” The drama of high finance, hostile takeovers and vicious venture capitalists is interwoven with an emotionally engaging, nostalgic football story about friendships that last forever.

The Long And The Short Of The Short Story

Posted on Nov 2, 2008 09:14:31 AM

Congratulations! You’ve spotted a great short story competition and decided to enter. You’ve had a go at a few short stories in the past and you’ve been wanting to tackle a novel for ages, but the idea was way too daunting so you’ve just shoved that to the bottom of your life’s “To Do” list. A short story is a much better idea, isn’t it? It’s just like writing a novel only shorter. Right?

Not exactly!

It’s been said that it’s not that a short story is long, it’s that it takes a long time to make it short. The idea that a short story is just a mini novel is an idea that will mean certain death to the success of your short story, before you’ve even written the first sentence.

There is an art, and a process to writing a short story, just like there’s an art and a process to writing a novel, a non-fiction book or an essay. Success is a matter of knowing the basic principles, and then applying these to write the best short story you’re capable of.

The question is, do you have the stamina to make your story short?

That question is easily answered by walking step by step through the writing process.

1. Planning

No matter what you are writing, you need to have a plan. Would you attempt to build a house without plans? Or would you set sail on the high seas without a map and compass? Writing stories is exactly the same. Set out without a plan and you will undoubtedly become lost in a forest of your own words.

Some simple questions to ask yourself at this early stage include:

* Who is your main character and what is their predicament?

* What do they want? How can they get out of their predicament?

* Who or what is stopping them getting what they want?

* How can you apply pressure to your character to force them into making tough choices in pursuit of their goal?

* What will your character learn over the course of the story?

Beginning by answering these few questions will help you know who your character is, what they want, and how they are going to go about getting it.

2. Writing

Once you have a plan for your story you are ready to write it. When you are writing, you are just writing. You are not editing and you are not planning, You are writing. This specifically means that you don’t stop to wonder if “this way sounds better than that way”. When you are writing you are capturing the essence of the action in your story. You are writing a draft, not a finished product. At this stage don’t even think about your word limit. Just write the entire story as you have planned it. We’ll take care of the word limit in the editing and rewriting stages.

The writing stage is similar to mining a diamond. When a diamond is mined it is a chunk of rock, with a few glittering pieces to show it is actually a diamond. You don’t mine a beautifully cut and polished diamond from the side of a mountain, do you? No, you have an amazing piece of raw material, which you then take to a jeweler who will cut and polish it to show its beauty to its greatest advantage. In the writing process, the jeweler is the editor.

3. Rewriting

Once you have completed the first draft, the very best thing you can do is walk away. It can be difficult to get any distance from your own work, but it is virtually impossible if you try to plan, write, rewrite and edit your story in one sitting. If possible don’t look at it again for at least another day. This allows your story time to rest and “breathe”, and when you return to it you will see it in a fresh light.

When you are ready, re-read it straight through once without stopping, and without making any changes or marks in the margins. Once you’ve finished the first read, ask yourself one question: did I write the story that I set out to write? If the answer is no, don’t panic. It’s amazing how the real story you are meant to write comes out in the writing. At this stage your main focus is to ensure that the intention of the story equals the result. In other words, the story has to make sense, and must flow from beginning to end, with all questions raised at the beginning being answered by the end. It is quite common to do comprehensive rewrites of the first few scenes, as the story you really wanted to write didn’t surface until after you’d really got cracking. That’s ok. Just go back and rewrite any scenes you need to, to make the story flow from beginning to end.

Some other important questions to ask at this stage are:

* Are there any great leaps in time or place? It is generally best to keep these leaps to a minimum in a short story.

* How many characters do you have? It’s never a great idea to have more than three major characters at the most, and I’ve read great short stories where there is only one. Save the huge cast for your novel.

* Does the story continually move forward? It’s very easy to have two or maybe even three scenes showing the same thing about your character. A scene is a unit of change &ndash if a scene doesn’t move the story forward, it needs to be cut or rewritten.

So rewriting is re-seeing and re-sculpting. The main purpose of this stage of the process is to make sure the story makes sense. There is a logic to story, and if there are any great leaps in time or place, you may need to add some small linking phrases. Once you are happy that the story flows in sequence you are ready to move to the final phase: editing.

4. Editing

You now need to step entirely out of your creative right brain and into your logical and analytical left brain, to refine and polish your story.

Firstly, look at your word count. Are you way over, way under, or pretty close to the mark? Never submit a story that is over the word limit. Respect the requirements of the competition and keep within the word limit.

Now read your story again, this time with your red marker in hand and a critical eye on the page. Some questions you need to ask at this stage are:

* When does the action begin? This is where your story begins. It’s tempting to “set the scene” and “show character” but the reality is, you don’t need to. The story always begins where the action begins. If there is anything that needs to be explained you haven’t written your action properly.

* Is all the action on the “spine” of the story? Edit out any superfluous material. Again, save it for your novel.

* Show don’t tell. This means, don’t tell us about someone, show us their character by putting them into difficult situations and let us discern their character by the choices they make.

* Edit out all explanation. As a general rule, ask yourself, “is it an image?” If it’s not it’s probably explanation and needs to be cut.

* Is there a “solution” to the story? Does the story deliver what it promised?

* Now is the time to ask, “is this the best way to say this?” If not, write it again, and say it better.

You may find yourself rewriting, editing, rewriting, editing over and over. This is completely normal! Most good short story authors do at least 15 drafts of their short stories before they are happy with the result.

So, you’ve made it through the process and you’re ready to send your story off to the competition. Make sure you double space it, that the font size is big enough to read easily and that you’ve put enough postage on the envelope!

And good luck!

Several Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills

Posted on Nov 2, 2008 07:49:28 AM

Studying process involves a lot of written assignments that are usually the deciding points of any course grade. They may be difficult and time-taking but the results you get afterwards are essential both in your academic life and in your future profession regardless the field. Looking over your essay, tutors evaluate your writing skills, your ability to analyze, to assess, to compare and contrast, to express an opinion and to sound persuasive and affirmative. As you can see, there are a lot of important factors that influence the grade the tutor gives to you for your written assignment. There are a lot of types of written assignments and as a good student you are supposed to know how to write them all.

One of the hardest essays to complete is a compare and contrast essay. From the first sight it may seem that it is very easy to compare and contrast things but this really depends on what things are you comparing and contrasting. It takes time to compare material objects like buildings or monuments; imagine how time-taking the process of comparison of philosophical currents is. It is very important to choose objects or events that can be put under the same category at least in one feature out of the others. It is impossible to compare orange juice and rocky mountain, isn’t it? But these are simple material matters that can be easily defined. What to do if you are given a number of matters that seem irrelevant in all the characteristics known to you? That means that you have to do a little research and evaluation. It will be a good thing to make a chart putting the things you want to compare and contrast on the top and the characteristic features aside. This way you have a possibility to see in which way they are similar and how they are different. After the evaluation process you may start actual essay writing. At the beginning you may also do a little research on possible essay formats, styles and structures, unless the requirements are set by the tutor. This really matters, for you have to show that you are intelligent, educated, well acknowledged in the subject, literate, creative, have ability to evaluate and to analyze and what is the most important, you are a unique individual with own point of view.

What sin also very important about essay writing is proofreading and editing. You may of course be exhausted by writing process and miss some mistakes, so it is better to postpone the proofreading process to times when you feel good and can attentively and step by step go over your creation and make some necessary corrections. After you are satisfied with what you have written you may submit your project and you may be sure that the result is quite possible.