Posts by aparente001
P.G. Wodehouse succeeded with this. I don't think you can do better than Wodehouse as a model. Here's a thought: Think of how an artist starts with an outline of a house, and then conveys to the ...
I'll describe two memorable language books: 1) A slim volume printed on WWII thin paper, published I think by the U of Chicago. Each lesson (chapter) presented about a dozen vocabulary items and ...
A friend wrote an article. She was an employee of a medium-sized national non-profit organization (in the US). The article was published and was sold at a very affordable cost by the organization...
In wikipedia I read that Cary Elwes co-wrote a screenplay. I imagine that when you co-write a screenplay, the work might be just as collaborative, i.e. non-independent, as when you publish a book w...
I think it's easier to cut than to add. Therefore, since you seem to be very good at outlining and sticking to your outline (yay!), perhaps you would benefit from adding more branches to your tree...
I have written several guest blog posts for a website with a large readership. I didn't ask for payment because the site is set up primarily as a public service in the special interest area. Now ...
There are two kinds of density of text. It is common to find one author (e.g. Karl Marx) writing text that is dense in both senses, but let's tease the two types apart: One way of making text de...
You can set yourself a problem and then set out to solve it. Similar to how a modern composer might choose a 12 tone row and then start working with it. When you do this, as you play with your ro...
You will need two documents open at the same time, one on the left, one on the right. Let's say the manuscript in its current form is on the left. Now, on the right, jot down some notes about the...
When you're ready to submit your manuscript, try submitting it a couple of times with your actual name, and a couple of times with a more mainstream pen name. A non-scientific, albeit interesting,...
How does one go about finding and joining a critique group for nonfiction? I'm writing two different non-fiction books: A collection of pieces written by a relative, collected and edited by me. ...
I have found two ways of formatting a script for a play. Character names go in the middle of the page, on a separate line. Example: http://filmschoolonline.com/sample_lessons/sample_script_page....
In person would be great if you can find a class, or a person willing to help you. Do not neglect to consider auditing a class. This is much cheaper than enrolling. A community college Writing C...
I write occasional guest blog posts for a special interest blog with a very large readership. I don't get paid but that's okay, I have a strong interest in the special interest area, and it's very...
I do my writing in MS Word. I must incorporate some theater-like scenes into a book. In the theater-like scenes, there will be three to five characters speaking lines. Very, very occasionally a ...
Please distinguish between writing for yourself (e.g. a journal) and writing for readers. If you want to writ for readers, then imagine your target readers as you write, and communicate something ...
I just heard a Fresh Air podcast yesterday about this. (I'm a bit behind in my listening.) In 'You're The Worst,' Even The Most Flawed Characters Find Love The writer talks about using side char...
If you are drawing a house, and you want to convey a sense of the texture and detail of the building material used, you can draw three bricks in the middle of an expanse of wall. You don't have to...
Perhaps it would help if you had an image or a spreadsheet-style description of each character handy. Then you could dribble out bits of description as things are unfolding. For example, when int...
There is another option, and that is to go ahead and describe, describe, describe. A beautifully written natural history book or article is a pleasure to read. Here is some inspiration to help yo...
I think you're confusing being organized in persuasive or technical writing, where it's important to stick to the topic sentence, with creative writing. By the way, I wish you had given us a less ...
The toughest dilemmas I have faced are the ones where I spin my wheels, going around and around because of doubt. So you have to set it up in such a way that there is no satisfactory choice. The ...
Pretend you are writing an email, and that the recipient will read it as plain text. "To put spacing between sections, hit 'enter' instead of using the space bar.... To highlight subheadings, use ...
