Archives for October 2008

Preposterous Prepositions

I’m a fan of Sir Winston Churchill and his acidic quips. I was delighted to find a new Churchillianism as I was perusing The Cassell Guide to Common Errors in English by Harry Blamires. I wasn’t looking for Churchill but engaging in some grammatical self-improvement to pass the two extra hours spent at gymnastics on a Friday evening. My eldest daughter has developed “talent” requiring extra coaching. Only one word to describe that – “Bugger”!

Prepositions are are words such as “of”, “for”, “by”, “with”, “before”, and “after” and are used with nouns and pronouns to provide some grammatical context. These are the most common words in the English language and without them we would sound something akin to Tarzan leaping through the grammatical jungle in search of Jane.
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The Writing Process

There is a process to everything we do. When carpenters are ready to frame a house, they’ve already gone through important preparations. When a cook is in the kitchen, she’s already done her homework. Writing is the same as everything else.

Even though great writers might seem to skip a few steps or rearrange the order of steps when they are writing their masterpieces, it doesn’t mean that they haven’t done the preparations. Great writers are just so used to the steps that they’ve probably done a few of them in their heads.

When a writer begins to write a book without an outline, the organization of his book is in his head. I often do that when I know what I’m writing and I just want to get to it. Especially in this day and age where I have a computer and a word processor, the writing process is made so much easier.

Prewriting

Prewriting is the first step in any writing where the writer is trying to come up with ideas for what to write about. A good writer who is already familiar with the writing process might sit down in front of the computer and just start writing. I think of ideas all the time and when I’m ready to write, I’m ready to just roll with it.

But if you need to come up with ideas, there are plenty of ways. Do a little freewriting I wrote about in an earlier piece. Stimulate your brain with news or music. Look through your journals and pull something out that you’re interested in doing.
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Fighting Writer’s Block

I wrote about getting started in writing, that sometimes the beginning is the hardest part. But, writer’s block is a completely different monster. See, getting started is often difficult but at least the writer has something to say. Writer’s block is where you hit a mental wall and you have absolutely nothing at all.

Some people would look at you crazy and wonder why you would want to write if you have nothing to write about. But, a writer has a need to write. And sometimes, things just need said even when a writer can’t seem to form the words.

How do you get through it is the question? There are several ways to combat writer’s block. Force yourself through or gradually get back into it, there’s always a way.

Freewrite

You may have been taught this before, but it works rather well. Freewriting is a method in which you start writing all of your thoughts down on a piece of paper. You don’t think about grammar or spelling errors. You don’t worry about punctuation. You just write, and write, and write. Before long, you’ll actually have something to write about.

Anything and everything that comes across your mind, that’s what you write. Don’t censor yourself. And if you have absolutely nothing going on in your mind, write about that.
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Give Credit Where Credit is Due: Plagiarism Isn’t Even Cool

I was teaching English to high school freshmen and sophomores a few years ago when something threw me by surprise. Students were still trying to plagiarize. I had to sit one student down in particular and write the definition of plagiarism on the back of his paper so that we both knew it had been taught to him.

Later on in that same year, another paper I had asked him to write was completely copied from the Internet. I found half the paper on one website while the vice principal found the rest of it on another. I sat the student down and explained to him why his paper failed.

The next thing I knew, I was in a meeting with his mother, his father and my principal. Luckily, I had that earlier paper with the definition of plagiarism written on the back of it. While I was being questioned about my teaching methods, I simply pulled out the paper and slid it across the desk.
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Norman Mailer – In Requiem

I read The Fight by Norman Mailer in 1993, and quickly followed up with The Naked and the Dead and Deer Park.

I was hooked on his work from there on and moved on to other works of his and his peers, particularly Truman Capote and Tom Wolfe.

It was announced a little over an hour ago that Norman Mailer had died, aged 84.

I don’t feel anything personal for Norman, I never met him and never knew him so a feeling of loss is not something I can claim. However, as a practical example of how writing can reach out and touch someone, I can say I feel saddened that someone who wrote so eloquently and passionately on real topics of interest has indeed passed on.
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Why I Enjoy Being Wrong!

Getting things wrong is just a fact of life so build a bridge and get over it.

Thomas Edison failed over 1,800 times before suddenly he had a light bulb switch on inside his brain and guess what – he invented the working light bulb!

My greatest successes have always had deep roots in past failure and I have never allowed the odd mishap to derail me from producing something I consider to be up to scratch. While this is not going to be a post on how ERH has messed things up so very badly, there is a lot to be said for failure and making mistakes.

Treating your mistakes as learning experiences will help you appreciate the lesson far more deeply than if you just followed advice or a guide book. When you encounter a mistake, and often in my case it is brought to my attention after the event, analyse what has happened. After I have thrown my teddy in the corner and had a fit, I always consider what has happened, what led to the error, why I did whatever caused the problem and more than that, how do I make sure it doesn’t occur again.
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