Coffitivity - Increase Your Creativity!
The Four Essential Stages of Writing
Image by photosteve101 In last week’s post, 7 Habits of Serious Writers, I mentioned the importance of actually writing, plus the need to redraft. I thought it’d be worth putting those stages into context – because they’re not all you need for an effective piece. Every finished piece of writing passes through four stages: PlanningDraftingRedraftingEditing Sure, you can publish a blog post without doing any planning, or any rewriting and editing. I wouldn’t call that “finished”, myself. The four stages don’t always have to be tackled in order. But it’s crucial to be clear about what each stage involves. Stage #1: Planning Image by Dvortygirl You’re already planning your writing – whether or not you realise it. Some written pieces don’t need any more planning than that: you’ve got the idea in your head, pretty much complete. When you’re working on a project where you already know the subject matter – an ebook, for instance, or a memoir – then it’s worth planning in some detail. Better Planning
How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly - StumbleUpon
Translations: Belorussian Introduction: Four Types of Discursive Writing From time to time people express amazement at how I can get so much done. I, of course, aware of the many hours I have idled away doing nothing, demur. Begin by writing - in your head, at least - your second paragraph (that would be the one you just read, above). But how do you write this paragraph? You have more options because there are four types of discursive writing. These are your choices of types of article or essay: Argument: convinces someone of something Explanation: tells why something happened instead of something else Definition: states what a word or concept means Description: identifies properties or qualities of things An argument is a collection of sentences (known formally as 'propositions') intended to convince the reader that something is he case. An explanation tells the reader why something is the case. A definition identifies the meaning of some word, phrase or concept. Organizing Your Writing
The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do.
Writing is a muscle. Smaller than a hamstring and slightly bigger than a bicep, and it needs to be exercised to get stronger. Think of your words as reps, your paragraphs as sets, your pages as daily workouts. Think of your laptop as a machine like the one at the gym where you open and close your inner thighs in front of everyone, exposing both your insecurities and your genitals. Because that is what writing is all about. Procrastination is an alluring siren taunting you to google the country where Balki from Perfect Strangers was from, and to arrange sticky notes on your dog in the shape of hilarious dog shorts. The blank white page. Mark Twain once said, “Show, don’t tell.” Finding a really good muse these days isn’t easy, so plan on going through quite a few before landing on a winner. There are two things more difficult than writing. It’s no secret that great writers are great readers, and that if you can’t read, your writing will often suffer.
Yarny
Write Like a Drunk Child | Owen Egerton
My five-year-old loves asking me to make up a name of an animal that doesn't exist, something like an orangashark or a poopapotmus. Then, without missing a beat, he'll describe in great detail the physical attributes, dietary needs, and mating habits of the rare and deadly poopapotmus. You ask your average adult to make up an encyclopedia entry for an as-yet-unheard-of creature and he'll sputter, cough, and say he can't think of anything. Of course, that's a lie. There're over eighty billion synapses firing across our brains every second. We are, quite literally, always thinking of something -- billions of somethings. So what's the difference between the five-year-old and the 35-year-old? Judgment. Somewhere around the age of puberty we develop a sense of judgment. Judgment is not a bad thing. As a writer I use judgment in my editing and revising. But when I'm facing that blank screen, I don't need the Bouncer slapping down every other idea. But I want those ideas from the back of my brain.
5 Ways to Develop a Book Idea
Having an idea and developing that idea into a marketable, publishable book are two different things. I learned this early in the process when trying to decide what kind of book I wanted to write. To win one of the five autographed copies of OH BOY, YOU’RE HAVING A GIRL, simply leave a comment on this post or any of the posts related to the “How I Got OH BOY Published” series. I will pick five random winners throughout the month of June. (Winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. Please note that comments may take a little while to appear on the site; this is normal. For an additional chance to win, click this CLICK TO TWEET button and post to Twitter. Like many writers, I’d always dreamed of writing a book—a super power all of us have. So I sat down and forced myself to develop an idea that I could turn into a book. 1. Like most writers, I come up with ideas for books daily. 2. Every genre and market already has many books associated with it. 3. 4. 5.
Write or Die 2
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We're nearly one week in to National Novel Writing Month. Have you been writing? Other than January, November is one of the most productive months for writers all across the nation (and the globe). Because of this, we have more practical advice in today's newsletter on writing a book in 30 days, as well as some excellent tips on writing a killer book proposal (which is almost as important as writing a great book). Also, for all the science fiction and fantasy writers out there, we have an amazing online boot camp starting on Monday that will put your writing right in front of literary agents. Finally, if you got to WritersDigest.com, you'll notice there's be a slight redesign.
5 Opportunities to Increase Your Writing Productivity (Without Actually Writing)
In an ideal world, you’d have many more hours to dedicate to writing. In reality, you carve out what meager “free time” you can, sacrificing things like sleep, a social life, exercise, a clean house, and quality time with friends and family. When your laundry pile resembles a laundry mountain and you haven’t hit the gym in a month, it’s hard to justify spending extra time working on something that doesn’t pay the bills (yet!). Until you can add hours to the day, what’s the solution? (Can writers query multiple agents at the same agency?) Guest column by Donna Gambale, Philadelphia-based YA writer andco-founder of the First Novels Club website. The key is in making the writing time you do have as productive as possible. Here’s how: Every day, there are numerous opportunities to brainstorm about your project to keep it fresh in your mind and allow you to progress more rapidly when you sit down to write. (How to Sell Pieces to Magazines and Newspapers.) Top 5 Brainstorming Opportunities 1. 2.
