This 文章 contains suggestions for basic practices for being a good writer, and was last edited on 12 June 2009 (to add the admonition about backups).
How to be a Better Writer
If you're 阅读 this, chances are that 你 are interested in being a Good Writer: someone who is able to write well and convey ideas effectively through text. Note that we are not talking about being a Successful Writer here, nor a Widely-Read Writer; those are separate concerns. Before 你 worry about who's going to read your 写作 或者 what 你 can get out of your writing, 你 should concern yourself with making your 写作 worth reading. How do 你 do this? Below are some simple suggestions for practices that should improve your writing. Not all good writers do all of these things, but most do. Thus, it follows that if 你 want to emulate a good writer in the quality of his/her work, 你 should also emulate their practices. Each of these practices is important.
1. WRITE
This one should go without saying. To get better at something, 你 need to practice it. For a writer, that means 写作 all the time. No amount of mental composition, thinking about the 写作 你 plan to do, will enable 你 to put the words together as effectively as actually 写作 the words. A week of careful consideration will yield less than an 小时 of typing 或者 写作 由 hand will do.
Daily writing
Make sure that 你 write every day, not just on weekends 或者 weekdays when 你 "have the time". Write every day.
If 你 are at a loss for what to write, keep a journal and write in that daily. Carry a little notepad with 你 (or mobile device where 你 can quickly make notes), and jot down phrases, images, 或者 bits of dialogue that 你 see, hear 或者 imagine throughout the day. Commit yourself to 写作 a certain amount each day, either of time (I'll write for an 小时 with no breaks) 或者 length of product (20 lines of poetry, minimum). Consider setting aside a regular time for writing, and also consider setting up a dedicated place for writing. Both of those can get 你 into the habit of 写作 such that, just entering that time 或者 place, ideas start to flow.
Write a lot
Try to write as much as 你 can. There's an old aphorism that the first million words 你 write will be crap. The trick, then, is to get those first million words out of the way so that 你 can get to the good stuff. Of course, the process of 写作 those million words is how 你 actually get better, so there is some importance to making sure that 你 keep 写作 volubly as well as often.
Keep an archive of your writing
Mostly one writes to get the words out of the way of the 下一个 batch of words. That said, it's very useful to keep a backup of your writing: if 你 write on paper, file away your 写作 in a 安全 place. If 你 write on the computer, make sure to regularly back up your 写作 onto a CD 或者 other local storage. This is useful for a number of reasons: inspiration (you can return to your 写作 months 或者 even years later and be impressed with the ideas 你 had, and also how much better 你 are at 写作 after that time), copyright (you have some evidence that 你 wrote what 你 wrote), and just having something to 显示 for your efforts. If 你 write exclusively online in posting to sites like Fanpop, you'd better start going back and saving copies as soon as 你 can. There's no guarantee that those sites will keep your content intact - there are database failures, power outages, 饼干 attacks, and all sorts of other things that could cause the site to accidentally lose your 写作 - and if such a site goes out of business 或者 is purchased 由 another company, all bets are off as to what they keep. So your online 写作 could disappear overnight. Make sure to keep backups.
2. READ
Read a lot of the 写作 that others have done. While 你 should particularly read stuff that is similar to what 你 plan to write, 你 definitely should read widely, to give yourself broad exposure to different styles, voices, perspectives and approaches to writing. For this reason, constant 阅读 is a good practice for developing your own writing.
Style
Every writer has a distinctive way that they put words, sentences and paragraphs together. 阅读 更多 will expose 你 to 更多 writers' styles, which 你 can then bring to 熊 in your own style, or, if 你 become familiar enough with a 给 style, 你 can even imitate for comic effect 或者 as tribute to authors 你 particularly enjoy.
Voice
Well-written characters have clear behaviors, mannerisms, perspectives and attributes that define and illustrate who they are. Since this is all conveyed through words, it is referred to as the voice (either of the character - usually fiction - 或者 the 作者 - either fiction 或者 non-). This is often an extension of the author's style, which is specific to one character/narrator. Paying attention to character/narrator voice when 你 read will help 你 to be consistent in whatever voice 你 create for your writing.
Perspective
由 reading, 你 may see different approaches to perspective of the narrative, from a first-person omniscient to a third-person flawed. As 你 can tell from those examples, there are two scales that measure perspective: the orientation, and the trustworthiness of the narrator/authorial voice.
Orientation: This can be first person, in which everything is written from the perspective of yourself. An example: "When dawn broke, I rose and checked my gear. Then I walked downstairs and unpacked the grenades." A different orientation is 秒 person, in which everything is written from the perspective of the reader: "When dawn broke, 你 got up, pulled on those boots 你 like so much, and were halfway to the store before 你 realized 你 hadn't worn anything else." However, the most common orientation is third person, in which 你 write about someone else (not you, and not the reader): "When Dawn broke, Larry untied her and had the orderlies return her to her cell, where she would receive medical treatment as reward for her confession."
Trustworthiness: This relates to how much the narrator knows/how fallible the narrator is. Most common is the omniscient narrator (usually going hand-in-hand with the third person perspective), which presents the text as the factual truth, with no reason for the reader to doubt what is being communicated. Most journalism 文章 are written from an omniscient perspective. "President Obama today spoke to Congress about the bill." is an omniscient perspective, just as is "Henry pulled an arrow, nocked it, drew back to his chin and let fly all in one smooth motion, his eyes never wavering from Diane's." A limited omniscient narrator is similar, but tells the action only around one character with no jumping around in time 或者 place separate from the one character. If a story follows Ed the gameskeeper through 20 years of his life at the 城堡 and never shows us action that Ed didn't witness, but it is clear from the story that other stuff was happening that affects Ed - the narrator may even mention Ed's feelings, then that's a limited omniscience. A limited narrator is 写作 from the view of one who is actually a character in the story/narrative, and so stuff that happens in front of the character isn't necessarily conveyed accurately 或者 interpreted correctly. "Sam sat at the table, dealing cards. Sheila accused him of cheating, then all hell broke loose and I didn't see what happened next." Finally, an unreliable narrator is 写作 from the perspective of a character whose very accounts can not be assumed to be factual. "Paul sat there with a smirk on his face. 或者 maybe he cried. In those days, he did both with some regularity, so it could have been either."
Approach
This is a pretty broad topic, but 阅读 different approaches can really help a writer of any level. Approach can mean the broad strokes: am I going to tell the story in chronological order? Will I write it in rhyming verse? Will it work better as past, present 或者 future tense? But approach could also mean the specific tacks the writer takes for a particular scene 或者 paragraph: will I use alliteration here? Will I develop a theme of the color blue here? Seeing the approaches that other authors have taken may give 你 ideas on different ways to approach your own pieces.
Dialogue
阅读 a lot can help 你 with your dialogue: both how to write dialogue well, and in many cases how NOT to write dialogue well.
3. TALK WITH OTHER WRITERS
Having a 写作 group 或者 a regular get-together with other writers is key to 写作 well as well as improving your writing. Writers challenge each other, as well as energizing each other. Meeting regularly with other writers can:
1) Encourage discipline (making sure that 你 write regularly). If 你 have a writer's group and you're expected to bring some new writing/revision to each meeting, 你 are 更多 likely to do it than if 你 only had expectation on yourself to write regularly.
2) Reinforce the idea that you're not alone. Other writers can commiserate with 你 about the difficulties with writing. They can offer tips at handling problems with approaches 或者 blocks from times they've had similar experiences, and 你 can gain confidence 由 talking to them about your solutions to problems you've had in the past.
Sometimes a writer on his/her own will start to feel blah about their own writing, but sharing it with other writers can get 你 out of those doldrums when they express their enthusiasm for your story.
3) Inspire 你 with their work. 阅读 another author's work in progress can be thrilling, because the other 作者 will almost certainly have a different style and voice than 你 do. Just 阅读 new ideas and getting excited to see what happens 下一个 in a work in progress can really rekindle the 火, 消防 for your own work.
4) Help 你 with your work. Sometimes just trying to explain what you're trying to say in your 写作 is enough for 你 to realize problems with your narrative. When that isn't enough, though, the other writers can hear your work and then give 你 feedback which can help out your craft.
4. CRITICALLY ANALYZE WRITING
Feedback is vital to a writer. But 你 don't just give criticism of others' 写作 in the hopes that 你 will get criticism in return! The main value in critically analyzing others' 写作 is that it gets 你 in the habit of reviewing the craft that went in to a particular piece of writing, identifying what technical choices were made and how they worked for the piece. As 你 focus on the (mis)spelling of others, 你 become sensitive to your own mistakes, and can thus correct them 更多 easily.
What is critical analysis?
Critical analysis is reviewing a work, checking how it functions as a whole, as well as how each of the pieces contributes to that whole. Usually critical analysis is delivered to the 作者 of the work being analyzed, either in person 或者 in writing. This is so the 作者 can benefit, and so that 你 are organized and thorough in your criticism.
Some things to analyze
There are many things to consider when 你 critically analyze a piece, and that 列表 will be somewhat different based on the type of 写作 that you're reviewing. 诗歌 will be different than memoir will be different than reporting. Here's an example of some of the things 你 might consider when reviewing short fiction stories:
* spelling
* grammar (sentence structure)
* syntax (the order of words in the sentence)
* word choice (are the words being used correctly? Are the words repetitive 或者 limited? Do the words chosen enhance 或者 hinder the narrative?)
* punctuation
* dialogue (Is the vocabulary appropriate to the time period/social status/location of the character
* 描述 (how well are things described, when they're described?)
* character motivation (Does what the character is doing/saying make sense? Does it make sense for that character?)
* plot (does the action make sense? Does it flow from one event to the other in an appropriate, believable way?)
SUMMARY
There are four broad categories that all writers should do: write, read, discuss and criticize. The first is foremost, but all of the others are just as important as any of the others. Try to consistently do all four and 你 will find your 写作 improving.
How to be a Better Writer
If you're 阅读 this, chances are that 你 are interested in being a Good Writer: someone who is able to write well and convey ideas effectively through text. Note that we are not talking about being a Successful Writer here, nor a Widely-Read Writer; those are separate concerns. Before 你 worry about who's going to read your 写作 或者 what 你 can get out of your writing, 你 should concern yourself with making your 写作 worth reading. How do 你 do this? Below are some simple suggestions for practices that should improve your writing. Not all good writers do all of these things, but most do. Thus, it follows that if 你 want to emulate a good writer in the quality of his/her work, 你 should also emulate their practices. Each of these practices is important.
1. WRITE
This one should go without saying. To get better at something, 你 need to practice it. For a writer, that means 写作 all the time. No amount of mental composition, thinking about the 写作 你 plan to do, will enable 你 to put the words together as effectively as actually 写作 the words. A week of careful consideration will yield less than an 小时 of typing 或者 写作 由 hand will do.
Daily writing
Make sure that 你 write every day, not just on weekends 或者 weekdays when 你 "have the time". Write every day.
If 你 are at a loss for what to write, keep a journal and write in that daily. Carry a little notepad with 你 (or mobile device where 你 can quickly make notes), and jot down phrases, images, 或者 bits of dialogue that 你 see, hear 或者 imagine throughout the day. Commit yourself to 写作 a certain amount each day, either of time (I'll write for an 小时 with no breaks) 或者 length of product (20 lines of poetry, minimum). Consider setting aside a regular time for writing, and also consider setting up a dedicated place for writing. Both of those can get 你 into the habit of 写作 such that, just entering that time 或者 place, ideas start to flow.
Write a lot
Try to write as much as 你 can. There's an old aphorism that the first million words 你 write will be crap. The trick, then, is to get those first million words out of the way so that 你 can get to the good stuff. Of course, the process of 写作 those million words is how 你 actually get better, so there is some importance to making sure that 你 keep 写作 volubly as well as often.
Keep an archive of your writing
Mostly one writes to get the words out of the way of the 下一个 batch of words. That said, it's very useful to keep a backup of your writing: if 你 write on paper, file away your 写作 in a 安全 place. If 你 write on the computer, make sure to regularly back up your 写作 onto a CD 或者 other local storage. This is useful for a number of reasons: inspiration (you can return to your 写作 months 或者 even years later and be impressed with the ideas 你 had, and also how much better 你 are at 写作 after that time), copyright (you have some evidence that 你 wrote what 你 wrote), and just having something to 显示 for your efforts. If 你 write exclusively online in posting to sites like Fanpop, you'd better start going back and saving copies as soon as 你 can. There's no guarantee that those sites will keep your content intact - there are database failures, power outages, 饼干 attacks, and all sorts of other things that could cause the site to accidentally lose your 写作 - and if such a site goes out of business 或者 is purchased 由 another company, all bets are off as to what they keep. So your online 写作 could disappear overnight. Make sure to keep backups.
2. READ
Read a lot of the 写作 that others have done. While 你 should particularly read stuff that is similar to what 你 plan to write, 你 definitely should read widely, to give yourself broad exposure to different styles, voices, perspectives and approaches to writing. For this reason, constant 阅读 is a good practice for developing your own writing.
Style
Every writer has a distinctive way that they put words, sentences and paragraphs together. 阅读 更多 will expose 你 to 更多 writers' styles, which 你 can then bring to 熊 in your own style, or, if 你 become familiar enough with a 给 style, 你 can even imitate for comic effect 或者 as tribute to authors 你 particularly enjoy.
Voice
Well-written characters have clear behaviors, mannerisms, perspectives and attributes that define and illustrate who they are. Since this is all conveyed through words, it is referred to as the voice (either of the character - usually fiction - 或者 the 作者 - either fiction 或者 non-). This is often an extension of the author's style, which is specific to one character/narrator. Paying attention to character/narrator voice when 你 read will help 你 to be consistent in whatever voice 你 create for your writing.
Perspective
由 reading, 你 may see different approaches to perspective of the narrative, from a first-person omniscient to a third-person flawed. As 你 can tell from those examples, there are two scales that measure perspective: the orientation, and the trustworthiness of the narrator/authorial voice.
Orientation: This can be first person, in which everything is written from the perspective of yourself. An example: "When dawn broke, I rose and checked my gear. Then I walked downstairs and unpacked the grenades." A different orientation is 秒 person, in which everything is written from the perspective of the reader: "When dawn broke, 你 got up, pulled on those boots 你 like so much, and were halfway to the store before 你 realized 你 hadn't worn anything else." However, the most common orientation is third person, in which 你 write about someone else (not you, and not the reader): "When Dawn broke, Larry untied her and had the orderlies return her to her cell, where she would receive medical treatment as reward for her confession."
Trustworthiness: This relates to how much the narrator knows/how fallible the narrator is. Most common is the omniscient narrator (usually going hand-in-hand with the third person perspective), which presents the text as the factual truth, with no reason for the reader to doubt what is being communicated. Most journalism 文章 are written from an omniscient perspective. "President Obama today spoke to Congress about the bill." is an omniscient perspective, just as is "Henry pulled an arrow, nocked it, drew back to his chin and let fly all in one smooth motion, his eyes never wavering from Diane's." A limited omniscient narrator is similar, but tells the action only around one character with no jumping around in time 或者 place separate from the one character. If a story follows Ed the gameskeeper through 20 years of his life at the 城堡 and never shows us action that Ed didn't witness, but it is clear from the story that other stuff was happening that affects Ed - the narrator may even mention Ed's feelings, then that's a limited omniscience. A limited narrator is 写作 from the view of one who is actually a character in the story/narrative, and so stuff that happens in front of the character isn't necessarily conveyed accurately 或者 interpreted correctly. "Sam sat at the table, dealing cards. Sheila accused him of cheating, then all hell broke loose and I didn't see what happened next." Finally, an unreliable narrator is 写作 from the perspective of a character whose very accounts can not be assumed to be factual. "Paul sat there with a smirk on his face. 或者 maybe he cried. In those days, he did both with some regularity, so it could have been either."
Approach
This is a pretty broad topic, but 阅读 different approaches can really help a writer of any level. Approach can mean the broad strokes: am I going to tell the story in chronological order? Will I write it in rhyming verse? Will it work better as past, present 或者 future tense? But approach could also mean the specific tacks the writer takes for a particular scene 或者 paragraph: will I use alliteration here? Will I develop a theme of the color blue here? Seeing the approaches that other authors have taken may give 你 ideas on different ways to approach your own pieces.
Dialogue
阅读 a lot can help 你 with your dialogue: both how to write dialogue well, and in many cases how NOT to write dialogue well.
3. TALK WITH OTHER WRITERS
Having a 写作 group 或者 a regular get-together with other writers is key to 写作 well as well as improving your writing. Writers challenge each other, as well as energizing each other. Meeting regularly with other writers can:
1) Encourage discipline (making sure that 你 write regularly). If 你 have a writer's group and you're expected to bring some new writing/revision to each meeting, 你 are 更多 likely to do it than if 你 only had expectation on yourself to write regularly.
2) Reinforce the idea that you're not alone. Other writers can commiserate with 你 about the difficulties with writing. They can offer tips at handling problems with approaches 或者 blocks from times they've had similar experiences, and 你 can gain confidence 由 talking to them about your solutions to problems you've had in the past.
Sometimes a writer on his/her own will start to feel blah about their own writing, but sharing it with other writers can get 你 out of those doldrums when they express their enthusiasm for your story.
3) Inspire 你 with their work. 阅读 another author's work in progress can be thrilling, because the other 作者 will almost certainly have a different style and voice than 你 do. Just 阅读 new ideas and getting excited to see what happens 下一个 in a work in progress can really rekindle the 火, 消防 for your own work.
4) Help 你 with your work. Sometimes just trying to explain what you're trying to say in your 写作 is enough for 你 to realize problems with your narrative. When that isn't enough, though, the other writers can hear your work and then give 你 feedback which can help out your craft.
4. CRITICALLY ANALYZE WRITING
Feedback is vital to a writer. But 你 don't just give criticism of others' 写作 in the hopes that 你 will get criticism in return! The main value in critically analyzing others' 写作 is that it gets 你 in the habit of reviewing the craft that went in to a particular piece of writing, identifying what technical choices were made and how they worked for the piece. As 你 focus on the (mis)spelling of others, 你 become sensitive to your own mistakes, and can thus correct them 更多 easily.
What is critical analysis?
Critical analysis is reviewing a work, checking how it functions as a whole, as well as how each of the pieces contributes to that whole. Usually critical analysis is delivered to the 作者 of the work being analyzed, either in person 或者 in writing. This is so the 作者 can benefit, and so that 你 are organized and thorough in your criticism.
Some things to analyze
There are many things to consider when 你 critically analyze a piece, and that 列表 will be somewhat different based on the type of 写作 that you're reviewing. 诗歌 will be different than memoir will be different than reporting. Here's an example of some of the things 你 might consider when reviewing short fiction stories:
* spelling
* grammar (sentence structure)
* syntax (the order of words in the sentence)
* word choice (are the words being used correctly? Are the words repetitive 或者 limited? Do the words chosen enhance 或者 hinder the narrative?)
* punctuation
* dialogue (Is the vocabulary appropriate to the time period/social status/location of the character
* 描述 (how well are things described, when they're described?)
* character motivation (Does what the character is doing/saying make sense? Does it make sense for that character?)
* plot (does the action make sense? Does it flow from one event to the other in an appropriate, believable way?)
SUMMARY
There are four broad categories that all writers should do: write, read, discuss and criticize. The first is foremost, but all of the others are just as important as any of the others. Try to consistently do all four and 你 will find your 写作 improving.
♥ I've always mused about this significant quandary!
Here are some of the provided words that are in the English Dictionary and no other words rhyme with them.
♥
It is sometimes 说 that the words:
orange, purple, and silver ♥ are the only words which rhyme with no other words.
♥ Non-rhyming English words of two syllables 或者 fewer
杏仁
aspirin
bachelor
chaos
chimney
circus
different (whether pronounced as two- 或者 three-syllable word)
film
hostage
javelin
justice (only rhymes with proper nouns)
laundry
luggage
monster
月
citrus
office
橄榄
橙子, 橙色 (only rhymes with proper nouns)
pint
企鹅
比萨, 比萨饼
promise (only rhymes with proper nouns)
purple
shadow
silver
transfer
vacuum
Here are some of the provided words that are in the English Dictionary and no other words rhyme with them.
♥
It is sometimes 说 that the words:
orange, purple, and silver ♥ are the only words which rhyme with no other words.
♥ Non-rhyming English words of two syllables 或者 fewer
杏仁
aspirin
bachelor
chaos
chimney
circus
different (whether pronounced as two- 或者 three-syllable word)
film
hostage
javelin
justice (only rhymes with proper nouns)
laundry
luggage
monster
月
citrus
office
橄榄
橙子, 橙色 (only rhymes with proper nouns)
pint
企鹅
比萨, 比萨饼
promise (only rhymes with proper nouns)
purple
shadow
silver
transfer
vacuum
DOVEWING PVO
Tigerheart and Dovewing had finished playing around and were lying in the Great Oak together.
Dovewing was breathing in Tigerheart's soft muscular scent and playing with his tail gently. He was sharing tongues with her and talking about each other's life together.
Dovewing was content to be there with him, it had been ages and there were no other 猫 here, no Bumblestripe, no jealousy. No Ivypool and Toadstep, Cinderheart and Liomblaze and everybody telling her to get a mate, like Bumblestripe.
She was there with who she loved and who she cared about most.
TIgerheart began talking to her slowly, calmly, contently.
"Dovewing, I 爱情 你 更多 than ever!" He purred.
"I 爱情 你 too, Tigerheart." Dovewing murmured.
She crouched down and started to lick his smooth 毛皮 and he played around.
"Tigerheart..." Dovewing began.
"Yeah?" Tigerheart asked.
"Will 你 移动 to ThunderClan?" She asked.
Tigerheart and Dovewing had finished playing around and were lying in the Great Oak together.
Dovewing was breathing in Tigerheart's soft muscular scent and playing with his tail gently. He was sharing tongues with her and talking about each other's life together.
Dovewing was content to be there with him, it had been ages and there were no other 猫 here, no Bumblestripe, no jealousy. No Ivypool and Toadstep, Cinderheart and Liomblaze and everybody telling her to get a mate, like Bumblestripe.
She was there with who she loved and who she cared about most.
TIgerheart began talking to her slowly, calmly, contently.
"Dovewing, I 爱情 你 更多 than ever!" He purred.
"I 爱情 你 too, Tigerheart." Dovewing murmured.
She crouched down and started to lick his smooth 毛皮 and he played around.
"Tigerheart..." Dovewing began.
"Yeah?" Tigerheart asked.
"Will 你 移动 to ThunderClan?" She asked.