March 4th, 2010 — Thursday is Words Day
Many Americans (including me!) have bad eating habits. Too much junk food. Too much food, period! We’re overstuffed. We suffer health problems and image problems. We must cut the fat.
When our writing becomes overstuffed, our readers suffer through pages of boring narrative. And we suffer, too — our success is endangered. We must cut the fat!
Obese writing is nothing new. In The King’s English, published nearly a century ago, author H.W. Fowler begins the first chapter with these words:
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February 25th, 2010 — Thursday is Words Day
If readers never come back to your blog, all your promotional efforts have been in vain. Not only must a blogger entice readers to venture into individual blog posts, but to return again and again. This is accomplished by hooking the reader.
We recently had a post on how to write a good blog post lead, but today we’re going to discuss how to hook the casual passerby into a regular reader.
How to get readers to return to your blog:
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February 18th, 2010 — Thursday is Words Day
How many times have writers heard, “Using strong verbs and nouns makes good writing”? Yet, how many times have we heard, “Overuse of prepositions makes bad writing”? It does. Prepositions are essential to proper English usage. They show a relationship between words within a sentence. However, flinging them onto the page uncensored leads to sloppy, a.k.a. “bad,” writing. Prepositions must be controlled.
Gardeners prune trees to eliminate dead or diseased branches and prevent overcrowding, allowing healthy growth. The purpose of pruning prepositions in writing is similar: Continue reading →
February 4th, 2010 — Thursday is Words Day
We’re going to discuss “Breaking Bad Habits” in our writing during the next few Thursdays, beginning today with “Avoid Backing In.”
I gave my daughter’s friend a ride home once. We drove for several miles along a road that could almost be described as a pig trail. One narrow lane, deep ditches on either side, more dirt than gravel. Her home was perched on top of a low ridge. As we neared her driveway, she said, “How good are you at backing?” Continue reading →
January 28th, 2010 — Thursday is Words Day
As we continue our “Write for Story,” series, where we’re learning how to incorporate elements of fiction to make our blog posts more memorable, this post will take us behind the scenes, so to speak, and discuss the pre-writing process that takes up much of a novelist’s time — brainstorming.
The world is full of distractions that can prevent us from losing our focus. In order to write clear, concise copy, however, we need to maintain that focus. But often, just like Winnie the Pooh poking his head and urging his brain to “Think, Think, Think,” my poor mind needs help.
Karen Wisner, in her book First Draft in 30 Days, suggests that not only do we need to brainstorm an idea at its conception, but at each stage of the writing process. (If you’re not familiar with this book, the link I’ve inserted in the text goes to Karen’s web site and has a lot of information included in the book.)
Brainstorming is important whether you’re writing a novel, a magazine feature, a devotional, or a blog post. While Karen’s book deals with novel writing, the brainstorming prompts she suggests can be used in all genres of writing. She lists over 25 brainstorming exercises. Here are just a few that I’ve adapted from novel writing to blogging:
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