New Year’s resolution: no adverbs
Nouns are what the world is made of. Verbs are how you put them together. Adjectives are straightforward. And adverbs are … monsters. Try this exercise: go through a piece of writing, ideally an essay of your own. Question 1: have you lost any content? Usually the meaning is still exactly the same but the piece is far easier to read. (Of course, you may have another problem if you were writing an assignment which needs to be, say, 500 words, and you realise that the removal of these words and phrases has lost you 30%. Whenever I see “surprisingly” or “interestingly” I always think: surprising to whom? Adverbs are the dustbin of English grammatical categories. The time adverbs I allow. Many adverbs of stance – emphasisers, hedges and so forth – have a job to do in dialogue, where they are used to manage the relationship between the speakers, indicating who is senior and who is junior, who wants to be friendly and who wants to assert themself, and so forth. Reference Paquot, M.
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. 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”
3 aptitudes anti-sociales pour améliorer son écriture
Drôle de programme me direz-vous! C’est ce que j’ai pensé de prime abord en tombant sur ce tutoriel de la désormais incontournable encyclopédie TED-Ed. Mais après visionnage, force est de constater que les conseils qu’il prodigue sont rudement sensés… Ne commencez pas à froncer les sourcils, chers lecteurs non anglophones, le tutoriel qui suit, signé Nadia Kalman, est bref et facile à comprendre, ne vous privez pas de ces trois minutes de sagesse… Des qualités d’observation et d’écoute sont en effet essentielles pour améliorer son écriture, notamment en ce qui concerne les dialogues qui doivent coller à la personnalité de chaque personnage, mais aussi à leur époque, leur milieu socioculturel. Ils ne sont pas de vraies personnes mais n’en doivent pas moins sembler crédibles aux spectateurs. Copyright©Nathalie Lenoir 2013 Auteur : Nathalie Lenoir Nathalie Lenoir est scénariste (cinéma/TV) membre de la Guilde Française des Scénaristes, blogueuse et écrivain.
The Adverb Is Not Your Friend: Stephen King on Simplicity of Style
by Maria Popova “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.” “Employ a simple and straightforward style,” Mark Twain instructed in the 18th of his 18 famous literary admonitions. And what greater enemy of simplicity and straightforwardness than the adverb? Though he may have used a handful of well-placed adverbs in his recent eloquent case for gun control, King embarks upon a forceful crusade against this malignant part of speech: The adverb is not your friend.Adverbs … are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. King uses the admonition against adverbs as a springboard for a wider lens on good and bad writing, exploring the interplay of fear, timidity, and affectation: I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. This latter part, touching on the contrast between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, illustrates the critical difference between working for prestige and working for purpose. Donating = Loving
"Françoise Giroud? La simplicité dans l'écriture et la profondeur dans la pensée"
Hano Bob : Pouriez-vous donner des détails sur l'origine de cette grande dame et les raisons qui motivaient son extrême discrétion en la matière? Jacques DUQUESNE: Françoise Giroud était d'une extrême discrétion, non pas parce qu'elle avait quelque chose à cacher. Elle pensait que les journalistes avaient pour devoir de raconter d'abord l'histoire qui se construisait et non la leur, personnelle. > Lire aussi notre dossier: Françoise Giroud, les petits secrets d'une grande dame Ourasi : Les journaux manquent-il d'engagements, à l'instar des prises de position de Françoise Giroud? Je pense qu'il y eut dans sa vie professionnelle à L'Express deux temps. Quand L'Express, pour des raisons économiques en partie, se transforma au milieu des années 60 en newsmagazine, il ne devait plus être partisan, ce qu'elle accepta plus difficilement. NouvellePH : Avez-vous travaillé sous la direction de Françoise Giroud? Certes. MarieMoretti : Françoise Giroud était-elle féministe? Et comment! Oh la oui!
