| Writing Tips, Practices, Suggestions and Ideas... "If you want to write good English, you will have to learn how to write bad English." -- Fido Dogstoevski A FEW NOTES ABOUT WRITING AND WRITERS "Books are the blessed chloroform of the mind." - Robert Chambers (1802 - 1871) "Have you ever rightly considered what the mere ability to READ means? That it the key which admits us to the whole world of thought and fancy imagination?" "To the company of saint and sage, of the wisest and the wittiest moment?" "That it enables us to see with the keenest hear with the finest ears, and listen to the sweetest voices of all time?" - James Russell Lowell (1819 1891) J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote LORD OF THE RINGS and who was one of the world's most brilliant students of language, once said about his writing (when asked what a particular passage meant): "I don't know. I'll try to find out." Tolkien did not see himself as the inventor of a story, but as a discoverer of something that was already there... Letters of Query, Submissions, et celery... If you are sending material to THE BIBLIOFANTASIAC (or any other publication) via "snail mail", please don't forget to enclose a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope... or at least enough postage for the receiver to be able to send mail back to you. Most small presses have no or little working capital, and with the increasing amounts of mail we receive almost on a daily basis, postage stamps are an expense we can't always afford. Besides, if you don't send postage, we won't be as quick getting back to you. Do you REALLY like to wait three months to get a reply? Didn't think so! If you don't have access to the internet (and you're looking at this via a friend's computer, etc.), you might want to hunt around for a service that offers free use, i.e. your local library or, if you're in Canada, a HRDC (employment resource) centre. Publishing It Yourself... You can always do your own thing. It's not difficult, but takes a LOT of time. You don't need much, though: a typewriter; steady, clear handwriting; or a computer or word processor (and printer). There are, though, some free public access places that provide a computer and printer - you may have to pay a bit for printing. It's best if you know what you want to publish, and why; then start putting it into a form that will photocopy easily. Then find a place that doesn't charge too much for copying! You might need an adjustable stapler if you're making a book or "zine" a size like 8-1/2" x 11", but for most smaller sizes a regular stapler will do... If you're using a pen - use black ink. A "Pilot" pen is best. Use glue sticks, but not cheap ones. Go to a stationery store, not a dollar store. Or, see-through tape is good, too. Cut stuff up and stick it down. If it turns out a bit crooked, say, you can tell people it's art. Why should everything have to look perfect? Life isn't perfect, and you're not doing it as a commercial venture, are you? Be yourself, and don't be afraid to make errors. E X E R C I S E S . . . . . . . . . Pick out a brief news item from a daily paper, and notice how it is presented and written. Following its guidelines, which you must figure out for yourself - write a similar piece, using different facts throughout. You may be surprised at the outcome. If you follow the procedure, using the original author's techniques, you should be able to write a piece on your own, about anything. Remember, reporting the news should be really a matter of organizing the facts in a logical manner, in an easily understood, generic way. ANOTHER EXERCISE - Materials Needed: Notebooks, pens, coffee, ideas, cookies, ideas... Preliminaries: The first requirement of any person who wants to write, for any reason - pleasure, business or because you have something to say - is that you read. Read, read, read. Read the good and the bad, the ugly, the profane, the wonderful, the awful, the stupid... Read, because you will have to know how others write. You'll read good literature that gets its meaning across in ways anyone can understand, you'll come across specialized works difficult to understand. And you'll read garbage, too... meaningless nonsense that will make you wonder how the author ever found a publisher. You'll read, even though you may not like it, things that are absolutely without foundation or truth, items that may be designed to mislead you into believing all sorts of craziness. But, even offensive material is often well written - that's why people sometimes fall for it, so you'll be learning, maybe not what was intended - but the use of language, instead. It's equally as important to learn how not to write well as it is to learn how to write well. That's the first step. Learn how to read. Then, you can learn how to write. We, however, aren't here to read. Everyone can do that on their own, though there are such things as reading circles. We're here, instead, to write, so let's get started. What should we write about? Well, I'm going to act as an editor, and put you on massignment. It's very short notice, I know that - but that's sometimes the way it is when you're dealing with a major publication like Time or Life or, in our case, Drift. When I say that I'm "editor" of Drift, for the sake of this exercise, this might be an outright lie - if you've done your research into this publication, as you should have if you expect to get anywhere with the story you're about to write and submit for publication, you'd know that Drift operates under an editorial collective, of which I am only one voice. For the purposes of this workshop, though, I'll ask you to assume that I am the only editor, and you've written me what's called a query letter or letter-of-enquiry as to what sort of articles Drift is looking for. You're hoping to sell me a story (though in real life, Drift cannot pay except in copies to put in your portfolio - you are building a portfolio, aren't you, of your published work?) - so, you've written to me asking what I'm looking for. Really, you should pick up a copy and find out what it is we publish - that would help you to know, possibly the sort of content and styles we accept. It turns out, however, that you've gotten lucky and don't have to go looking for a copy. When I read your letter, I was impressed with the way you expressed yourself. I liked the way you handled your words, the style you wrote in. And so, I decided to write back to you and tell you this: We are going to be doing a special issue on the theme of "Change", and since you've written such an interesting, well-thought out letter to me, I've decided to give you the opportunity to have a byline in the publication. I write you back and tell you this, and for the purposes of this workshop, I'll tell you also that the deadline is one hour from now and I expect you'll have a finished product to turn in to me at that time. If you don't, I'm sorry, I won't be able to publish your piece. I, too, am under a deadline and part of my agreement with my publisher is that I can accept no material after that time. I have to honour this agreement, and you have to honour the agreement you make with me, your editor. The story should have some human interest appeal, and the style is open. For a publication like Drift, humour is always a plus - but we're open to the stark realities of life, too - so don't be afraid to write about any event or series of events that you think would be of interest to your readers. Think of your readers, too, as you write. A good author must always bear in mind who he or she is writing to. Don't worry about spelling words properly - our collective computers will provide adequate proofreading. We also have automated grammar checks and the very latest model Editing Machine. We're fully equipped here, so all you have to think about is getting the best story down that you can come up with. It doesn't have to be a true story, but if it is, feel free to change the names of individuals or places if you like. Our readers don't care if you embellish the facts slightly, to give the story an added edge, but try to make it as readable or believeable as possible. |
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