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izz aty

Five Habits to Avoid in Fiction Writing | Scribendi.com - 0 views

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writing writing style english language learning education reference language esol

shared by izz aty on 05 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • By avoiding these habits, your fiction writing will be greatly improved.
  • 1. Generic verbs and nouns
  • People, places, and things (i.e., nouns) have names, and it's your job to know what they are. Precise nouns work wonders in fiction writing because nouns have connotations or meanings that go beyond their dictionary definitions.
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  • This information could hint at what time of year it is (tulips are pretty scarce in September) and could also tell us something about the character who gives the flowers.
  • There are at least 12 synonyms for the verb to laugh, and each one evokes a specific image. A character could express amusement by cackling, chortling, chuckling, giggling, guffawing, snickering, sniggering, tittering, crowing, whooping, simpering, or smirking
  • Precise verbs contribute greatly to characterization.
  • 2. The exception: He said, she said
  • Reading good dialogue makes readers feel like they're actually listening in on a real conversation. Because of this, it can be very disruptive if the author keeps butting in to tell readers that the speaker intoned or declared or asserted or retorted.
  • It may  seem like using "said" repeatedly in dialogue tags is repetitive, but in fact the little word is so inconspicuous, it just fades into the background—which is exactly what we want when we're trying to listen in on a good conversation. The rare deviation is fine (asked, in particular, seems to be okay once in a while), but if you find yourself using a colorful synonym for every dialogue tag in your manuscript or screenplay, you may be doing more harm than good.
  • Third-person narration can be either limited (an objective narrator tells the story by focusing on a particular character's thoughts and interactions) or omniscient (the narrator sees and hears all)
  • many writers, in a misguided attempt to make their fiction writing descriptive, overuse these words.
  • Carrying a steaming and fragrant mug, she walked angrily and loudly into his office. Why write that, when you could have simply said: Carrying her peppermint tea, she stormed into his office. The second sentence actually gives us more information using fewer words.
  • 3. Adjective/Adverb-a-rhea
  • ...and adverbs that introduce redundancy...
  • ...or contradict the meaning of the verb or adjective they modify.
  • 4. Inconsistent point of view
  • In first-person narration, one character tells the story in his or her own voice (using "I")
  • be especially wary of adjectives that don’t actually convey much
  • No single point of view is better than another, but once you have made a choice, be consistent.
  • there are some great examples of novels that experiment with point of view by switching between narrators. But even in these stories, some kind of predictable pattern is imposed for clarity, such as a change in narrator from one chapter to the next, but not within a chapter.
  • 5. Unnaturally expositional, stilted, or irrelevant dialogue
  • Read your dialogue out loud. Does it sound like the way people actually talk
  • Are they talking about the weather? Because if they're talking about the weather, you'd better have a good reason for it.
  • the worst habit a fiction writer can develop is the habit of giving up too easily. Keep writing every day.
izz aty

How to Write a Preface and a Foreword | Scribendi.com - 0 views

www.scribendi.com/...preface_and_a_foreword.en.html

preface foreword writing writing style education language learning

shared by izz aty on 05 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • Foreword
  • because you've accomplished something, you are already published, and your name is well known.
  • Your purpose is to introduce an author/work to the world, which can be accomplished in a variety of ways. You could, for example, write about a chapter in the book, the book as a whole (assuming you've read it!), or the author's work in general
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  • If you know the author personally, talk about this relationship
  • you could discuss how the author's work has affected your life or the importance of the work you're introducing
  • talk about what's different in the current edition.
  • discuss the historical impact of the book.
  • Describe the journey of writing the book
  • Consider including a few or all of the following ideas:
  • Discuss how the book came about. Why did you write it? Why did you choose the particular subject? What was your motivation?
  • Give a brief description of the book, the main characters, or themes.
  • State the purpose of the book, especially if the work is non-fiction
  • describe what the reader can hope to learn by reading the book.
  • A preface, which is included in the front matter of a book, is your chance to speak directly to your readers about why you wrote the book, what it's about, and why it's important
  • Talk about any problems that came up during the writing and how you dealt with these trials and tribulations.
  • discuss your research process. Talk about your sources. Why are they unique?
  • Include acknowledgements. Thank the people who were instrumental in the writing of your book. Depending on the level of formality of the writing, these could range from colleagues to editors to family members.
  • Talk about how long it took you to write the book, if it's relevant.
  • You don't want the preface to drag on and on. A good rule is to try to keep it to one page, two at maximum, and be sure it is free of spelling and grammatical errors
  • izz aty on 05 Jun 15
     
    Are you thinking about writing a preface for your book or have you been asked to write a foreword? A preface is a brief introduction written by the author, as opposed to a foreword, which is an introduction written by another person that usually comes before the preface.
izz aty

Independent Schools Council | Fact Sheets | Links between Independent and State Schools - 0 views

www.isc.co.uk/...-independent-and-state-schools

independent school state school english education private school england united kingdom ESTEkiv

shared by izz aty on 12 May 14 - No Cached
  • ,126 schools (over 93%) in ISC that are in collaborative work with their state sector colleagues
  • In 2013, 388 ISC schools opened access to pupils from maintained schools to attend lessons and other educational events
  • 78 ISC schools second teaching staff to maintained schools
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  • Around 520 of ISC schools offer A-Levels and, out of these, 123 schools helped prepare A-Level pupils at maintained schools for entry to Higher Education
  • Examples of types of partnerships and collaborative activities include: - Sharing knowledge, skills, expertise and experience with state schools Working together with state schools on projects to improve the quality of teaching and learning Hosting joint lessons with local schools Holding open sports’ coaching sessions Providing work experience for disengaged 14-16 year olds Lending minibuses to local scout groups Giving careers’ advice to 18 year olds Running collaborative workshops for everything from creative writing and singing to science experiment Opening up drama, music and sports facilities and hosting cultural and sporting events.
izz aty

BBC News - Free school £21m private contract plan - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...education-16160610

education english education united kingdom free school private school swedish education

shared by izz aty on 10 May 14 - No Cached
  • But the plans have raised political sensitivities about the boundary between free schools funded by public money and the involvement of the private sector in state education.
  • Free schools are funded from the public education budget - but the schools are run independently.
  • Alicia Rickards-Ottevanger, one of the group of local families supporting the free school plan, said the Swedish firm had been chosen because it seemed closest to the trust's ambitions for the school, regardless of whether they were a profit-making business.
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  • free school was a practical way of addressing the lack of a school for families in the area.
  • "Free schools are funded like all other state-funded schools - on a per pupil basis.
  • "Free schools founders do not and can not make a profit. "State schools and their local authorities have always been able to use companies to help them run services in schools - from human resources, to ordering stationery, to school catering and providing educational advice.
  • the Anti Academies Alliance said the proposals were a "clear signpost of the direction of travel" for the government's education policy. "Privatisation and deregulation, not system-wide school improvement, appear to be the destination."
izz aty

Making our students employable - 0 views

www.dmu.ac.uk/...g-our-students-employable.aspx

shared by izz aty on 12 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • From real-world placements to projects set and graded by leading employers, our courses are designed to equip students with the skills and experience sought after by today's employers.
  • Many of our courses are accredited by professional bodies
  • you can be confident that our students and graduates will have the professional skills and experience to add real value to your organisation.
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  • Our support extends beyond the classroom, and there are many ways that we help students to become highly employable
  • With employment fairs, graduate internships, enterprise support and a whole range of careers advice at their disposal, our graduates are ready to hit the ground running and embark on their exciting and rewarding careers, helping to support the needs of the professions
izz aty

Writing Tips from Masters - 0 views

www.writingclasses.com/...269

writing style literacy writing reference education learning resources teaching language language learning tips advice writers author literature

shared by izz aty on 06 Aug 11 - Cached
  • izz aty on 06 Aug 11
     
    Link to some useful writing tips.
izz aty

Advice to writers by Vonnegut: How to Write With Style - 0 views

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writing style literacy writing learning reference language learning teaching resources

shared by izz aty on 06 Aug 11 - Cached
  • In Sum: 1. Find a subject you care about 2. Do not ramble, though 3. Keep it simple 4. Have guts to cut 5. Sound like yourself 6. Say what you mean 7. Pity the readers
  • izz aty on 06 Aug 11
     
    Newspaper reporters and technical writers are trained to reveal almost nothing about themselves in their writings. This makes them freaks in the world of writers, since almost all of the other ink-stained wretches in that world reveal a lot about themselves to readers. We call these revelations, accidental and intentional, elements of style. These revelations tell us as readers what sort of person it is with whom we are spending time. Does the writer sound ignorant or informed, stupid or bright, crooked or honest, humorless or playful --- ? And on and on. Why should you examine your writing style with the idea of improving it? Do so as a mark of respect for your readers, whatever you're writing. If you scribble your thoughts any which way, your readers will surely feel that you care nothing about them. They will mark you down as an egomaniac or a chowderhead --- or, worse, they will stop reading you. The most damning revelation you can make about yourself is that you do not know what is interesting and what is not. Don't you yourself like or dislike writers mainly for what they choose to show you or make you think about? Did you ever admire an emptyheaded writer for his or her mastery of the language? No. So your own winning style must begin with ideas in your head.
izz aty

Adult ADHD: 50 Tips of Management « Dr Hallowell ADHD and mental and cognitiv... - 0 views

www.drhallowell.com/ult-adhd-50-tips-of-management

health ADHD attention psychology 'mental health' brain society social science science medicine

shared by izz aty on 09 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • the single most powerful treatment for ADHD is understanding ADHD in the first place. Read books. Talk with professionals. Talk with other adults who have ADHD. You’ll be able to design your own treatment to fit your own version of ADHD.
  • It is useful for you to have a coach, for some person near you to keep after you, but always with humor. Your coach can help you get organized, stay on task, give you encouragement or remind you to get back to work. Friend, colleague, or therapist (it is possible, but risky for your coach to be your spouse), a coach is someone to stay on you to get things done, exhort you as coaches do, keep tabs on you, and in general be in your corner. A coach can be tremendously helpful in treating ADHD.
  • ADHD adults need lots of encouragement. This is in part due to their having many self-doubts that have accumulated over the years. But it goes beyond that. More than the average person, the ADHD adult withers without encouragement and positively lights up like a Christmas tree when given it. They will often work for another person in a way they won’t work for themselves. This is not “bad”, it just is. It should be recognized and taken advantage of.
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  • it equally if not more important for those around you to understand it–family, job, school, friends. Once they get the concept they will be able to understand you much better and to help you as well.
  • Try to get rid of the negativity that may have infested your system if you have lived for years without knowing what you had was ADHD
  • Listen to feedback from trusted others. Adults (and children, too) with ADHD are notoriously poor self-observers. They use a lot of what can appear to be denial.
  • Consider joining or starting a support group
  • Give up guilt over high-stimulus-seeking behavior. Understand that you are drawn to high stimuli. Try to choose them wisely, rather than brooding over the “bad” ones.
  • Don’t feel chained to conventional careers or conventional ways of coping. Give yourself permission to be yourself. Give up trying to be the person you always thought you should be–the model student or the organized executive, for example–and let yourself be who you are.
  • what you have is a neuropsychiatric condition. It is genetically transmitted. It is caused by biology, by how your brain is wired. It is NOT a disease of the will, nor a moral failing. It is NOT caused by a weakness in character, nor by a failure to mature. It’s cure is not to be found in the power of the will, nor in punishment, nor in sacrifice, nor in pain. ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS. Try as they might, many people with ADHD have great trouble accepting the syndrome as being rooted in biology rather than weakness of character.
  • External structure. Structure is the hallmark of the non-pharmacological treatment of the ADHD child. It can be equally useful with adults. Tedious to set up, once in place structure works like the walls of the bobsled slide, keeping the speedball sled from careening off the track.
  • Make frequent use of: ◦    lists ◦    color-coding ◦    reminders ◦    notes to self ◦    rituals ◦    files
  • Color coding. Mentioned above, color-coding deserves emphasis. Many people with ADHD are visually oriented. Take advantage of this by making things memorable with color: files, memoranda, texts, schedules, etc. Virtually anything in the black and white of type can be made more memorable, arresting, and therefore attention-getting with color.
  • try to make your environment as peppy as you want it to be without letting it boil over.
  • Now that you have the freedom of adulthood, try to set things up so that you will not constantly be reminded of your limitations.
  •  Make deadlines.
  •  Break down large tasks into small ones. Attach deadlines to the small parts. Then, like magic, the large task will get done. This is one of the simplest and most powerful of all structuring devices. Often a large task will feel overwhelming to the person with ADHD. The mere thought of trying to perform the task makes one turn away. On the other hand, if the large task is broken down into small parts, each component may feel quite manageable.
  • Prioritize. Avoid procrastination. When things get busy, the adult ADHD person loses perspective: paying an unpaid parking ticket can feel as pressing as putting out the fire that just got started in the wastebasket. Prioritize. Take a deep breath. Put first things first. Procrastination is one of the hallmarks of adult ADHD. You have to really discipline yourself to watch out for it and avoid it.
  • Accept fear of things going well. Accept edginess when things are too easy, when there’s no conflict. Don’t gum things up just to make them more stimulating.
  •  Notice how and where you work best: in a noisy room, on the train, wrapped in three blankets, listening to music, whatever. Children and adults with ADHD can do their best under rather odd conditions. Let yourself work under whatever conditions are best for you.
  • it is O.K. to do two things at once: carry on a conversation and knit, or take a shower and do your best thinking, or jog and plan a business meeting. Often people with ADHD need to be doing several things at once in order to get anything done at all.
  • Do what you’re good at. Again, if it seems easy, that is O.K. There is no rule that says you can only do what you’re bad at.
  • Leave time between engagements to gather your thoughts. Transitions are difficult for ADHD’ers, and mini-breaks can help ease the transition.
  • Keep a notepad in your car, by your bed, and in your pocketbook or jacket. You never know when a good idea will hit you, or you’ll want to remember something else.
  • Read with a pen in hand, not only for marginal notes or underlining, but for the inevitable cascade of “other” thoughts that will occur to you.
  • Set aside some time in every week for just letting go
  • Recharge your batteries. Related to #30, most adults with ADHD need, on a daily basis, some time to waste without feeling guilty about it. One guilt-free way to conceptualize it is to call it time to recharge your batteries. Take a nap, watch T.V., meditate. Something calm, restful, at ease.
  • Many adults with ADHD have an addictive or compulsive personality such that they are always hooked on something. Try to make this something positive.
  • Understand mood changes and ways to manage these. Know that your moods will change willy-nilly, independent of what’s going on in the external world. Don’t waste your time ferreting out the reason why or looking for someone to blame. Focus rather on learning to tolerate a bad mood, knowing that it will pass, and learning strategies to make it pass sooner. Changing sets, i.e., getting involved with some new activity (preferably interactive) such as a conversation with a friend or a tennis game or reading a book will often help.
  • recognize the following cycle which is very common among adults with ADHD: Something “startles” your psychological system, a change or transition, a disappointment or even a success. The precipitant may be quite trivial. This “startle” is followed by a mini-panic with a sudden loss of perspective, the world being set topsy-turvy. You try to deal with this panic by falling into a mode of obsessing and ruminating over one or another aspect of the situation. This can last for hours, days, even months.
  • Plan scenarios to deal with the inevitable blahs. Have a list of friends to call. Have a few videos that always engross you and get your mind off things. Have ready access to exercise. Have a punching bag or pillow handy if there’s extra angry energy. Rehearse a few pep talks you can give yourself, like, “You’ve been here before. These are the ADHD blues. They will soon pass. You are O.K.”
  • Expect depression after success. People with ADHD commonly complain of feeling depressed, paradoxically, after a big success. This is because the high stimulus of the chase or the challenge or the preparation is over. The deed is done. Win or lose, the adult with ADHD misses the conflict, the high stimulus, and feels depressed.
  •  Use “time-outs” as with children. When you are upset or overstimulated, take a time-out. Go away. Calm down.
  • Learn how to advocate for yourself. Adults with ADHD are so used to being criticized, they are often unnecessarily defensive in putting their own case forward. Learn to get off the defensive.
  • Avoid premature closure of a project, a conflict, a deal, or a conversation. Don’t “cut to the chase” too soon, even though you’re itching to.
  • Try to let the successful moment last and be remembered, become sustaining over time. You’ll have to consciously and deliberately train yourself to do this because you’ll just as soon forget.
  •  Remember that ADHD usually includes a tendency to overfocus or hyperfocus at times. This hyperfocusing can be used constructively or destructively. Be aware of its destructive use: a tendency to obsess or ruminate over some imagined problem without being able to let it go.
  •  Exercise vigorously and regularly. You should schedule this into your life and stick with it. Exercise is positively one of the best treatments for ADHD. It helps work off excess energy and aggression in a positive way, it allows for noise-reduction within the mind, it stimulates the hormonal and neurochemical system in a most therapeutic way, and it soothes and calms the body. When you add all that to the well-known health benefits of exercise, you can see how important exercise is. Make it something fun so you can stick with it over the long haul, i.e., the rest of your life.
  • Learn to joke with yourself and others about your various symptoms, from forgetfulness, to getting lost all the time, to being tactless or impulsive, whatever. If you can be relaxed about it all to have a sense of humor, others will forgive you much more.
  • Make a good choice in a significant other. Obviously this is good advice for anyone. But it is striking how the adult with ADHD can thrive or flounder depending on the choice of mate.
  • Schedule activities with friends. Adhere to these schedules faithfully. It is crucial for you to keep connected to other people.
  • Find and join groups where you are liked, appreciated, understood, enjoyed. Conversely, don’t stay too long where you aren’t understood or appreciated.
  • Pay compliments. Notice other people. In general, get social training, as from your coach.
  • Set social deadlines.
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