Active Voice Versus Passive Voice
Today's topic is active voice versus passive voice. Here's a question from Brian in Iowa. He writes, “It drives me crazy when people write in passive voice. How can I teach people how to tell the difference between passive and active voice and to stay away from passive voice?” Well, Brian is right, the first step is to help people understand the difference between active and passive voice, because many people believe they should avoid the passive voice, but fewer people can define it or recognize it. What Is Active Voice? I'll start with active voice because it's simpler. Another example is the title of the Marvin Gaye song “I Heard It through the Grapevine.” What Is Passive Voice? In passive voice, the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position. If you wanted to make the title of the Marvin Gaye song passive, you would say “It was heard by me through the grapevine,” not such a catchy title anymore. Next: Is "To Be" a Sign of Passive Voice? Is Passive Voice Always Wrong? 1.
How to Weave Backstory Seamlessly Into Your Novel
My first science thriller, Freezing Point, opens with the crew of a fishing trawler braving rough seas off the coast of St. John’s, Newfoundland: The wind howled around the solitary trawler like an angry god. Inside the wheelhouse, Ben Maki braced himself as an errant wave hit broadside and the trawler listed heavily to starboard. Who is Ben Maki? —by Karen Dionne Backstory refers to the characters’ history and other story elements that underlie the situation at the start of the book. But as authors, we need to be careful: Backstory by definition takes the story backward. Too Much, Too Soon One of the most common mistakes I note when I’m called upon to offer comments on aspiring authors’ manuscripts is that the author has included too much backstory in the opening pages. Including backstory in the opening pages is the same as saying to the reader, “Wait a minute—hold on. If you don’t have an experienced reader to look to for help, this solution might sound easier said than done.
Free English Grammar Lessons and Tests
Stephen King's Top 20 Rules for Writers
Image by the USO, via Flickr Commons In one of my favorite Stephen King interviews, for The Atlantic, he talks at length about the vital importance of a good opening line. “There are all sorts of theories,” he says, “it’s a tricky thing.” “But there’s one thing” he’s sure about: “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. We’ve talked so much about the reader, but you can’t forget that the opening line is important to the writer, too. This is excellent advice. Revision in the second draft, “one of them, anyway,” may “necessitate some big changes” says King in his 2000 memoir slash writing guide On Writing. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. See a fuller exposition of King’s writing wisdom at Barnes & Noble’s blog. Related Content: Stephen King Creates a List of 96 Books for Aspiring Writers to Read Stephen King Writes A Letter to His 16-Year-Old Self: “Stay Away from Recreational Drugs”
Citing Yourself - Citations - Academic Guides at Center for Student Success
If you cite or quote your previous work, treat yourself as the author and your own previous course work as an unpublished paper, as shown in the APA publication manual. For example, if Marie Briggs wanted to cite a paper she wrote at Walden in 2012, her in-text citation might look like this: Briggs (2012) asserted that previous literature on the psychology of tightrope walkers was faulty in that it "presumed that risk-taking behaviors align neatly with certain personality traits or disorders" (p. 4). And in the reference list: Briggs, M. (2012). If your original work contained citations from other sources, you will need to include those same citations in the new work as well, per APA. According to Briggs (2012), recent psychologists such as "Presley and Johnson (2009) too quickly attributed risk-taking to genetic factors, ignoring the social family issues that often influence the decision to explore pursuits such as tightrope walking" (p. 5).
Plots
Disciplines > Storytelling > Plots Different plots | The story structure | See also Stories have plots or storylines, by which the stories are told. One of the ideas in storytelling is that there are a limited number of plots. Different plots Booker's Seven Basic Plots: A modern perspective. The story structure Here are expositions of the classic heroic storyline, which many similarities, plus more general structures. The Five-Stage Story Structure: Common to many stories. See also Leadership
The Science of Scientific Writing | Style for Students Online
"The Science of Scientific Writing" is a thoroughly detailed and important article about scientific writing from the journal American Scientist. You will find practical advice on how (literally) to put sentences together and walk along with the authors as they methodically generate seven practical maxims for good science writing. In the article, the authors, George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan, develop seven maxims that will aid you as you write and revise your work. To open the article "The Science of Scientific Writing" within this page, click here. "The Science of Scientific Writing," by George D. This article, downloaded from Style for Students Online, originally appeared in American Scientist, journal of Sigma Xi, copyright © 1990 by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Science is often hard to read. The fundamental purpose of scientific discourse is not the mere presentation of information and thought, but rather its actual communication. Subject-Verb Separation Bibliography
Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling
These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coats, Pixar’s Story Artist. Number 9 on the list – When you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn’t happen next – is a great one and can apply to writers in all genres. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.Once upon a time there was ___.
