What’s It All About Alfie? or Why Bother With Good Writing?
No pop metaphysical descriptions here on the life of a rake, my son is too young to really appreciate the humour and pathos in Alfie but he put me on the spot during half-term with some rebellious comments on homework.
"Why do I have to write good stuff anyway Dad?"
At the time I was busy with the hectic shuffling that ocurrs around dinner time so my initial response was along the lines of "Because I'm your Dad and I say so, now just get it done!"
During dinner, we talked about this a little more not least as #1 heir was in something of a strop over why he had to do some homework when his younger sister did not.
As I'm increasingly learning, the questions I get from my offspring are rarely less than thought provoking. I can picture my nan in heaven looking down with a knowing smirk on her face and thinking how poetic justice is particularly after all the grief I gave her when I was a sprog.
Aristotle, Aristotle was a Bugger for the Bottle….and Brainstorming
"Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle and could drink you under the table."
Monty Python
Brainstorming new ideas for scribbling is a key part of the composition process. In a practical sense, brainstorming is essential when you have a commission to produce 40 articles on the same topic and by the time you've gotten to the 10th you'll be scraping the barrel for off the top of your head approaches.
Now personally, if I drink I know perfectly well that there is an answer lying at the bottom of the bottle, it's just I've always been too drunk to read it and certainly never rememebered anything the morning after.
Aristotle, if Monty Python are correct, certainly was able to read the answer because he came up with an excellent summary for brainstorming that is as relevant today as it was a couple of thousand years ago when he wrote about Rhetoric.
Braoadly he came up with five main ideas to use:
- Definition
- Comparison and Contrast
- Relationship
- Testimony
- Circumstance
I'm going to cover definition here in this posting but we'll come to the others in future postings.
Definition
For a definition you can simply reach for a decent dictionary but there are other ways you can approach determining a definition by asking questions about what something is and how it interacts.
For instance:
A Personal eBook Project
I've written several eBooks of varying length and varying topics. They can be brilliant excursions into a topic that holds you or they can be a complete pain in the B-hind. They also don't tend to pay so well in my opinion but as a relative novice to the market, I haven't gotten enough eBooks under my belt to command the rises in fee that my shorter works seem to be getting...or maybe that's just a confidence thing with me.
I'm scoping out a project which is a personal one, indeed a deeply personal matter which I sincerely believe needs to be told.
The medium I have chosen to put this story together with is an eBook.
eBooks are cheap to produce and to prepare and this probably accounts for the huge number of works that are produced. As a ghost writer of some of these dubious works, I've been paid anything between $150 to $1,000 for works ranging in size from 10,000 to 25,000 words. Given that an advertisement in a local paper can cost a business anything from £30 for a small inch by inch box on tomorrows fish and chip wrapper and in this light, paying £100 is chicken feed for something someone can put their own name on and claim as their own.
Monday, Monday !
Well here we are again - Mondays are great as far as I'm concerned as yet another week beckons and though it's half-term the sprogs are pitch and putting with mum. It may be a damp day outside but the dogs are walked and I've already chucked 7,000 words into the PC and having my post-fresh air cup of Earl Grey. No fags though as I quite 6 weeks ago - "Yay!" for me.
I have been appointed as editor of a military website operating out of San Diego, California. The subject matter is slightly more interesting to me as I'm a former soldier, but what I'm finding more interesting than any of the content is the variation in presentation and writing style and the visible effects that is happening on the traffic both to and within the site.
Clive has posted up on some of the issue surrounding writing for the web and I'm going to add my opinion on this too. Supaproofread has a link to an article by Jakob Nielsen which you really should read as it contains some extremely good advice, and the most important point to grasp is that web surfers rarely read what you write, rather they scan it in a matter of seconds before moving on...unless you grab and hold their attention.
Blesse or Blessay?
Having an idyllic weekend i.e. no kids, I was able to do all the man type stuff normally reserved for such rare times. Watch rugby, drink beer, wake up with a hangover at what ever time of the day I damn well please!
After chopping a ton of firewood I retired to my living room and the mansize TV and slapped on "The Longest Day". There is a line in the movie "Blesse mon couer avec une langeur monotone" and in English "Wound my heart with a monotonous langour". Blesse being the French word for wound (pronounce the last "e" as "ay" or in other words as you would Blessay.
Now Blessay is not in the English dictionary ... yet!
My television fare into the late hours was Stephen Fry's QI and as coincidence would have it, I had drifted over to his blog for a read as he is also one of my favourite authors. Blessay is Stephen's corruption of Blog and Essay to describe his blogging efforts. If he's using Blessay as a word, surely it can only be a matter of time before it finds its way into some Oxford type dictionary?
Essay or Blessay writing can be fun and simple to do. I write them virtually every day for my own amusement and to practice with a medium I think many writers employ as a development arena for good ideas.
Here is a summary of Supaproofread's advice on writing essays and you can find the full info on their site here:
- Plan your work early - I think this is aimed at essay writers who are students working to assignments but I also find it applies when I have an idea; ideas zip around at neural speed so write it down as soon as you can before you lose it;
- Understand the question - my old law lecturer and I still meet up for the occasional brain cell hammering session and I mention him as he used to write "RTFQ" quite a lot on my papers - RTFQ stands for "Read The F*****g Question!" - if in doubt ask for clarification before you head off in the wrong direction;
- Organise your Research & Thoughts - again writing your ideas and reference materials down on a blank piece of paper will help you get everything into perspective and visualise how the essay will flow from point to point - I use a blank sheet of paper regularly and you will find me carrying around a hardback A4 notebook just for this purpose;
- Short is Sweet - unless your name is Stephen Fry, don't use a long word when a short one will do. If you are familiar with a word and understand its application in your particular context, that's fine but otherwise you are on a slippery slope which only results in loss of credibility and a poor reception for your work; and
- Stay On Topic - this is my own opinion, and it may seem obvious but veering away from topic is anaethema unless the direction you take is a logical extension of the ideas that have been developed and presented earlier. Sentences are units of sense, paragraphs also as they develop an idea which flows into the next while the essay stands as a coherent piece presenting your ideas as a unified whole - going off at a tangent is something reserved for geniuses or for your own fun so stick to your brief.
Irenooshka to the Rescue
After a mixed week which has seen England fall to the Springboks (and that was a TRY you blind Aussie 'erbert) as well as my own romantic escapades, I'm sitting here in my living room working on a numb bum while contemplating the week ahead.
Last week has seen the first draft on a companion guide to seduction churned out and it has been a labour of boredom. Honestly, I have been surprised at the sheer volume of material that appears to be available for the typically American male prepared to part with $9.99. Ordinarily, I wouldn't give any of this a second glance and would be surprised it was getting a first, nevertheless I've had a stack of reference materials thrown at me by my client who wants it noted in the text I've prepared. My client has reminded me that I am in no way allowed to claim any credit for the eBook I've drafted and he is the only one whose name will be allowed to be associated with the "work" - I feel like I should pay him to ensure my name is not associated with it.
Stopping readers in their tracks! Advice for internet writing
Internet writing is not as easy as it first appears. Writers who write articles for the internet have to keep some things in mind. It is essential for you to realize that you have 5-7 seconds to capture the attention of readers, otherwise they will move on. The internet, being the way it is, enables readers to go on and look for other articles and information from other sites. In this article I will be discussing some of the key areas that one has to look into when writing for the web.
Similar to all other forms of writing, the headline of a page or blog post is the most important. It either makes or breaks a reader’s interest - if readers like the headline they will carry on reading, otherwise they will just click onto something else. Don’t try to be cute when it comes to headlines and never use funny phrases, especially if they are confusing. You should write a headline that people can associate with, something that fits the topic you are writing in. Use key words such as love, anger, mistakes and truth. These words, when used properly, can actually be effective in grabbing the attention of prospective readers.