Post: #26

(03-15-2015 04:17 AM)Sooth Wrote:  I would like to do that.

Don't know where I'm going to find the time, maybe get up 15 mins earlier and write with my morning coffee.

Right on. You may need a bit more than 15 minutes to crank out 1000 words though. lol

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Rudyard Kipling

Post: #27

(03-15-2015 04:08 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  By the way, I'm thinking it would be cool for some of us to do a 1000-words per day challenge.

I can start a thread on it, but should we do more?

1500 words maybe?

I'm a freelancer, so we'll have to make a stipulation that it must be your own property. Fiction, non-fiction, blog, whatever. 1000 words of new, raw content per day.

The idea is to make the habit of writing everyday a top priority.

What do you guys think?

That's a fantastic idea. 1000 words a day sounds reasonable. I can start it this Friday(after my finals are over).

Post: #28

(03-15-2015 04:08 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  By the way, I'm thinking it would be cool for some of us to do a 1000-words per day challenge.

I can start a thread on it, but should we do more?

1500 words maybe?

I'm a freelancer, so we'll have to make a stipulation that it must be your own property. Fiction, non-fiction, blog, whatever. 1000 words of new, raw content per day.

The idea is to make the habit of writing everyday a top priority.

What do you guys think?

(03-15-2015 04:17 AM)Sooth Wrote:  I would like to do that.

Don't know where I'm going to find the time, maybe get up 15 mins earlier and write with my morning coffee.

(03-15-2015 08:31 PM)Agastya Wrote:  That's a fantastic idea. 1000 words a day sounds reasonable. I can start it this Friday(after my finals are over).

Cool.

I went ahead and started a separate thread for this: /thread-45973-...#pid980454

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Rudyard Kipling

Post: #29

Paracelsus, why does Stephen King say not to use adverbs?

Thanks for the knowledge bomb.

Post: #30

(03-16-2015 01:58 AM)Sweet Pea Wrote:  Paracelsus, why does Stephen King say not to use adverbs?

Thanks for the knowledge bomb.

Most writing teachers will say the same. It's considered weak, lazy, and immature writing and there is usually a better way to describe something than with an adverb.

That said, you'll also notice that many prolific writers, even Stephen King, often use them.

That's one thing I didn't like about On Writing. I actually liked that book a lot - maybe because I've got a long history reading his work. But he breaks nearly every one of his own rules in his own books.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Rudyard Kipling

Post: #31

(03-16-2015 01:58 AM)Sweet Pea Wrote:  Paracelsus, why does Stephen King say not to use adverbs?

Thanks for the knowledge bomb.

Basically he believes they weaken the verb in all but exceptional cases. His specific advice was:

Quote:“The road to hell is paved with adverbs. They’re like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day.”

He's not alone. Mark Twain said he was dead to adverbs, and Elmore Leonard despised them too. It's a common piece of advice given in writing books, including the original (but still good) Bible of good diction, Strunk & White's The Elements of Style. If you're trying to write direct, strong prose, adverbs tend to weigh down the verb with a qualifier that generally isn't needed. It betrays an inability to think of the right verb.

Probably the most obvious use of shitty adverbs comes out in dialogue. Take Elmore Leonard's quote:

Quote:""Never use an adverb to modify the verb ‘said’" … he admonished gravely.”

Or let's look at this one--

Quote:Hearing a noise, he proceeded carefully across to the door.

Ugggggggh. Most of the time, adverbs creep in because we can't think of the right word. But another reason is because it's writing in the passive voice, the voice of bureaucracy, of politicians, of saying something without saying anything. "Proceeded carefully"? How about crept? Padded? Tiptoed? Slunk? Edged?

It's similar to Mark Twain's advice that "If you see an adjective, kill it." Qualifiers at best spice up a noun or adjective. At worst they're redundant.

Post: #32

Thanks, after reading those examples it became clear. Those made me cringe.

Post: #33

(03-16-2015 05:12 AM)Sweet Pea Wrote:  "Thanks, after reading those examples it became clear. Those made me cringe," Sweet Pea responded appreciatively.

haha Yeah, they're pretty ugly.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Rudyard Kipling

Post: #34

(03-16-2015 04:57 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:  

(03-16-2015 01:58 AM)Sweet Pea Wrote:  Paracelsus, why does Stephen King say not to use adverbs?

Thanks for the knowledge bomb.

Most writing teachers will say the same. It's considered weak, lazy, and immature writing and there is usually a better way to describe something than with an adverb.

That said, you'll also notice that many prolific writers, even Stephen King, often use them.

That's one thing I didn't like about On Writing. I actually liked that book a lot - maybe because I've got a long history reading his work. But he breaks nearly every one of his own rules in his own books.

I just read the book last month. What I got from it is that you have to set the bar high with your rules so that you will break them less often than if you had no rules at all.

I really liked the book overall.

Post: #35

^That's a good way to look at it.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Rudyard Kipling

Post: #36

I'm going to carefully consider all this advice elegantly.
My favorite book on writing is HOW TO GROW A NOVEL by Sol Stein. Stein wrote a book I read back in high school, THE MAGICIAN, which had a profound effect on me. It was a novel about a teen-aged stage magician who gets jumped by a local thug. The kid ends up in the hospital and the thug in court. Over the course of the book, we learn how a court room can be a theater of illusion.
I've just started this freelancing thing on Elance and Craig's List. The results have been mixed. From CL I have an article writing job that pays absurdly low. I'm going to do 10 articles for that company as a learning experience. From Elance I picked up a textbook proof-reading job which paid $20.00 for one hour of work. It might lead to more.