200 Words Instead of 'Said' - WritersBeat.com
Not that anyone is asking me (but that has never stopped me before and it won't stop me now), but I do try to avoid using 'said' too much. It gets a tad tedious, I find. On the other hand, using a substitute simply for the sake of - well, using a substitute - can be ineffective. I thought your list was interesting, Somesh (beware whenever anyone says something is interesting
How to Write with Style: Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Keys to the Power of the Written Word
Find a Subject You Care About Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style. I am not urging you to write a novel, by the way — although I would not be sorry if you wrote one, provided you genuinely cared about something. A petition to the mayor about a pothole in front of your house or a love letter to the girl next door will do.
30 Incorrectly Used Words That Can Make You Look Bad
While I like to think I know a little about business writing, I often fall into a few word traps. For example, "who" and "whom." I rarely use "whom" when I should.
Teaching Myself How to Teach English
I panicked. It was only my second day teaching English in Tajikistan and I panicked. I sat alone in my room flustered and close to tears because I had no clue how I was going to come up with four hours of English lessons every day. I planned out what I thought would be my first four lessons the night I arrived in the village of Shing, but we whipped through everything on the first day. So after nearly five hours of lessons the previous day and over two hours of lessons that morning, I just froze. I literally sat there with twelve eager faces staring at me, unable to think of anything else I could possibly do.
CALLIHOO Writing Helps
Character Feelings You can describe your character's feelings in more exact terms than just "happy" or "sad." Check these lists for the exact nuance to describe your character's intensity of feelings.
Backstory: The More You Know, The Less I Have To
Just in from teaching in Seattle and have NO VOICE. Hubby is a little more thrilled than he should probably show O_o. Anyway, the wonderful Piper Bayard is here for some more writing tips for those who want to NaNo. Even if you don’t?
Data Mining Novels Reveals the Six Basic Emotional Arcs of Storytelling
Back in 1995, Kurt Vonnegut gave a lecture in which he described his theory about the shapes of stories. In the process, he plotted several examples on a blackboard. “There is no reason why the simple shapes of stories can’t be fed into computers,” he said. “They are beautiful shapes.”
45 ways to avoid using the word 'very'
Writers Write is your one-stop resource for writers. Use these 45 ways to avoid using the word ‘very’ to improve your writing. Good writers avoid peppering their writing with qualifiers like ‘very’ and ‘really’. They are known as padding or filler words and generally add little to your writing.
Reflections on Teacher and Student Motivation
Reflections on Teacher and Student Motivation By Sheree Rensel closeAuthor: Sheree Rensel Name: Sheree RenselSite: See Authors Posts (1)
I analyzed the chords to 1300 songs for patterns. This is what I found. (Part 3) Interactive Discovery
Last year, we discussed the first results of a long term effort to study the patterns found in the chords of popular songs. The reception that we got was incredibly positive, and we received a ton of great feedback. The two most common questions we’ve gotten from people have been: “I really like the sound of chords X Y Z together. What other songs use this same progression?““After I’ve written a few chords that sound good together, I need help knowing what a good next chord might be.
New Fiction Exercises, Brian Kiteley
Brian Kiteley Sample Fiction Exercises from The 4 A.M. Breakthrough
Kids explain how banned and challenged books helped them and even saved their lives / Boing Boing
By Joan Bertin and Millie Davis Banned Books Week has come and gone but we can be sure of one thing: the coming year will be marked by challenges to the same kinds of books that were controversial this year, and in years past. report this ad Controversies over what books are taught in class or shelved in the school library typically start when an adult—usually a parent or community member—feels that a book selected by teachers and librarians is inappropriate, offensive or objectionable. Most often, the objections relate to sexual scenes, offensive language, or depictions of drug and alcohol use.
Important Infrequently Used Words To Know
Paul V. Hartman (The Capitalized syllable gets the emphasis) alacrity a-LACK-ra-tee cheerful willingness and promptnessanathema a-NATH-a-ma a thing or person cursed, banned, or reviledanodyne AN-a-dine not likely to cause offence or disagreement and somewhat dull//anything that sooths or comfortsaphorism AFF-oar-ism a short, witty saying or concise principleapostate ah-POSS-tate (also: apostasy) person who has left the fold or deserted the faith.arrogate ARROW-gate to make an unreasonable claimatavistic at-a-VIS-tic reverting to a primitive typeavuncular a-VUNC-you-lar “like an uncle”; benevolent bathos BATH-ose an anticlimaxbereft ba-REFT to be deprived of something valuable “He was bereft of reason.” cynosure SIGH-na-shore (from the Greek: “dog’s tail”) center of attention; point to which all eyes are drawn.
