Tag: writing

The Use of ‘Few’ or ‘Less’

~ Philip Shepherd ~ Leave a comment

Getting less and fewer correct is not easy—unless you have a know-how up your sleeve to memorise which one is which.
Here’s how to fix the problem:
You may use two different procedures to get less and fewer correct. The first method is less precise, and the second is a tiny bit more tricky.
First strategy: If you can count it, just use fewer. If you can not figure it, then use ‘less’.

E.g., less desire; fewer hugs

less cash; fewer coins
Second strategy: Less and fewer describe names. If you are representing a singular noun (i.e., you can use ‘is’ after it), then use that a less amount. If you’re calling a plural noun (i.e., you can use ‘are’ after ‘it’), then use fewer. (This way is a bit more tricky but much more reliable.)
E.g., affection is; less affection;

hugs are; fewer hugs

money is; less money;

coins are;  fewer coins

Removal of Double Spaces

~ Philip Shepherd ~ Leave a comment

Double spaces may occur for a variety of reasons: Perhaps you’ve deleted a word but forgotten to remove the space before it, or maybe you’ve cut and pasted, and some spaces have been included where they shouldn’t be. Some readers may not notice, but to me, double spaces stick out.

Note: When I say ‘double spaces’, I mean between words, not between lines or anything like that. I mean when  you see   something like    this  .

So, how to fix the problem:
Get in the practice of searching for two spaces next to each other when you’ve finished your post.

Proofreading

~ Philip Shepherd ~ Leave a comment

Proofreading is at the centre of numerous—if not all—of these cases. If you want to make sure that your writing comes across as professional, then proofreading is such a necessary step.

Here’s how to fix the problem:
If you can’t support an editor to look at everything you write to guarantee that you find these sorts of simple errors, you still have several options.

You could:
* Develop your proofreading checklist that includes the words you know you get wrong often or the mistakes you make a lot.
* Get a proofreading buddy.
* Learn some proofreading tricks.
* Work with me to create your checklist. I can pinpoint the errors you make often and should watch out for, and then hop on a Skype call with you to go through them together and make sure you understand everything.

So, those are my tips for making your writing more professional by reducing simple errors. Let me know in the comments if you have been making any of these. Or, if you have noticed other mistakes that you think are unprofessional and have an easy fix, please let me know about those, so I can add those too!

The Winter Writing Contest

~ Philip Shepherd ~ Leave a comment

The Writing Short Stories by The Write Practice and join their Contest Here.

Maximum length: 1,500 words, — as Google Docs counts them. Many writing softwares count words differently; it’s to do with hyphens and apostrophes.

Contest theme: Countdown. Your character has a deadline. It might be a cancer prognosis giving him 6 months to live, a blackmailer giving her twenty-four hours to comply before a secret is revealed, a few more minutes until the clock strikes midnight and his one true love vanishes, or something else entirely. Whatever the case, your character is racing against the clock. Tell a story with a countdown.

Enrollment deadline:

To participate, you must enroll for the contest by Tuesday, October 24.

Your story will be due for workshopping on Monday, October 30.

Your final submission is due Monday, November 6.

Clichéd Scenes

~ Philip Shepherd ~ Leave a comment

1. Morning cliché
Clichés come in all sizes. There are as many clichéd scenes as phrases and words. For instance, how many times have you seen a book begin with the protagonist being “rudely awakened” from a “sound sleep” by an alarm? Have you written an opening like this? Where to start, you opt for the morning. Speaking of slipping into a cliché, I’ve been there and done that. We all have. Do not ever do it like that.
Joining that cliché is having the “bleary-eyed” character drag themselves from their bed, squinting against the intruding sunlight. Compounding that is showing the reader everything the character sees in that room. What happens next? They’ll pass or stand opposite a full-length mirror, and we’ll get the full rundown of the look and condition of the protagonist.
Are you cringing? I’ve made the same sort of clichéd scenes. Decide to leave that kind of morning-routine cliché to the writers who’ll begin to enter the writing like yourself. Do not start things in the morning or getting a cup of coffee/tea, but open in some action.

2. Answering the phone cliché scene
Another dangerous cliché scene is how people answer the telephone. This does happens even in the movies or on a stage. Be cognizant of yourself the next time your telephone rings. It’s such a common occurrence that we do not even think about it at all. But one thing you do not do is look up, surprised. You merely rise and answer it.
If your character gets a phone call and says, “Hello there?”
“Hi, Tom?”
“Yes.”
“This is Jane.”
“Hi, Jane. What’s up?”
Enough already.

3. The confusion of detail in a scene; the info dump
There may be a lot of information the reader needs to understand the following action. Listing all the information in one paragraph is awful. I do know about this as I have done it in my first chapter.

4. Coincidences
I do love coincidences. I’m fascinated by them, the happy ones and not the unhappy type. In fiction, if there is more than one in a novel that is too many, and even that one has to get managed well. The good coincidences and not realistic. They happen in real life, but in fiction, it is too convenient. Upsetting and unfortunate coincidences occur in life a lot, I know about that. Unhappiness is more realistic in fiction.

The Iambic Pentameter – Rythm of English

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Syllables

Many words are single syllables or many syllables. Each syllable is either stressed or unstressed.

Unstressed Syllable symbol: U 
Stressed Syllable symbol: /

In a sentence, these syllables ( unstressed = lower case, and stressed = uppercase letters) will string together to make a rhythm, and in the case of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, he used the Iambic Pentameter:
   U       /        U          /             U          /     U      /       U          /
“But SOFT what LIGHT through YONder WINdow BREAKS.”
       1         |        2            |         3               |       4        |        5

What is an Iamb? and example words:
Iamb: U /  –   Behold, Behind,  Destroy,  Desire,  Reserve
Trochee: / U   –  Sunny, Forest, Planet, Double,  Changes
Spondee: / /   –   Football,   Heartbreak 
Dactyl: / U U   –   Strawberry,   Scorpion
Anapest: U U /   –   Understand,   Contradict   

So, I’m sure you are thinking, “I’ve never heard of an Iambic Pentameter, and what’s its use anyway?”

Ok, I can ask you if you remember any dialogue from the James Bond film Goldfinger. I’m sure after some thought you come up with, “No Mister Bond I expect you to die!”

Funny that is the only line you remember from a film that had a run time of 110 minutes. Since that is a memorable line and now quite famous as it has over six youtube videos with that name, let’s look more closely:
  U     /   U        /      U  /    U       /     U     /  
“no MISter BOND i EXpect YOU to DIE!”

The Iambic Pentameter – Odd that that was a line that you remember. Find some more lines from films or tv programs that you still remember, and you will likely find they are ten syllables long with the perfect rhythm of the Iambic Pentameter.

Syllable Rates:
1. Single syllable rate: Monometer
2. Double syllable rate: Dimeter
3. Tripple syllable rate: Trimeter
4. Four times syllable rate: Terameter
5. Five times syllable rate: Pentameter
6. Six times syllable rate: Hexameter
7. Seven times syllable rate: Heptameter
8. Eight times syllable rate: Octameter

Shakespeare wrote a lot of his plays and Sonnets in Iambic Pentameter.

Common Activities of a P.I.

~ Philip Shepherd ~ Leave a comment

The following is a list of typical things a private investigator would be doing on a general week:

  • Finding a current or past address for someone.
  • Finding a date of birth.
  • The locating of death records.
  • The location of marriage records.
  • The task of going through someone’s dustbin rubbish for information on what they use an eat, drink, and general lifestyle.
  • Determine the current value of a property.
  • Tracking a wife/husband and finding evidence of a secret affair or lover.
  • Research family history.
  • Obtaining drug record history.
  • The location of past videos or News reports.

Editing

~ Philip Shepherd ~ Leave a comment
  • Do Not Edit Immediately Countless writers love to edit or line edit their work when they finish and feel as if they have accomplished something, before going on to the next chapter or scene. Yet, there is likely that you will be too fatigued from writing to devote your focus and concentration to every single aspect that needs checking. A useful way to edit would be to step aside from your work and take a rest or approach it several days later. An advantage of this technique is that you avoid the trap of falling in love with your writing at that time. Give it time to rest for a while before you look at it again.
  • Do a Summary Go over your text so you can spot a lot of the most obvious errors, such as glaring typos and misspelt words, also to make sure your words function in general. Pay attention to the pace, and make sure there isn’t any significant factual errors or logical inconsistencies. That is your chance to remedy some of the broader issues with your writing, given that there are any before you can move on to a more detailed editing or line edits.
  • Print Out Your Work One of the difficult things about editing is being impersonal when it comes to your writing. But there is a way you can bypass this issue and put some distance between yourself and your work. Always print out on paper and then go over it. That is plausibly the best way of reproducing reading someone else’s work, therefore being as objective as possible. You may prefer to write using a pen and paper, ( I do like a fountain pen and paper) or a laptop, but always print out the work.
  • Read it Out Loud (or Get Siri to Read it) When you are reading anything, the words should flow together, as if you were hearing to someone speak, so be the one doing the speaking or have it read to you by Siri or Alexa? Read your work out loud and see how it sounds. Having it read out loud will assist you in detecting sentences that sound a touch off so that you can identify them for editing or deletion. Also, try to write the way people speak, this is showing your inner voice and the way that you talk. It will present the readers with a sense that there is someone human behind the narration or dialogue they are reading and not a robot.
  • Do Not Add Filtering Words I’m are not talking about the filler words that add nothing to the story. If you find using constructions such as “repeating the same thing over”, then delete them, or just keep one. More words don’t suggest better writing; this is why you should try to be economical and use the right amount of words to express your ideas and thoughts. That is why I hate word count requirements. I found in a short story competition requiring 1000 words and I only had 700 at the end of my story. So, I added some filler sentences that didn’t add anything and were considered noise by the judges.
  • Powerful Verbs are More Acceptable than Adverbs If you use weak verbs or adverbs, you do risk appearing unconvincing and doubtful, as if you are not 100% confident with the words you are presenting. A way to fix this would be to replace those weak verbs or adverbs with stronger ones so that there is no quandary about what you’re saying. For example, you may use a phrase like “make it better”, whereas a more practical solution would be to use verbs like “increase”, “enhance”, “strengthen”. The replacement or the elimination of weak adverbs and adjectives.
  • Do Not Attempt to Save as Much as You Can Every writer finds it painful to abandon any of their work. But, you should think of it as striving to carve out a statue from a single piece of marble. The good material is already there; you have to cut the bits that are unnecessary. Nothing will save you as much time as dropping a paragraph or chapter that doesn’t add anything, instead of spending hours dtrying to save it. Discard it to find out if the story runs just as well without it.

Crime Fiction Good Advice

~ Philip Shepherd ~ Leave a comment

1. – On making the crime of the story matter to the sleuth. This is what is known as the inciting incident. 

Whether the crime is large and threatens the future of humanity, or small and only threatens a person’s reputation, it has to matter personally to the sleuth. How this fits into a series novel, I don’t know yet. Maybe there must be an inciting incident in the first book and not in the second, but inciting incidents could happen fairly often.

2. – On generating ideas 

I used to believe that I couldn’t write fiction as I wasn’t skilled at making up things. It turns out you don’t have to be because interesting ideas are all around you. Learn to tune in, and pay attention when your brain says. But the ‘What if…?” question is an ideal generator.

3. – On secrets that fuel your plot 

In a mystery novel: Everyone has secrets, and it’s the revelation of those secrets that propel the story forward within their situation.

4. – On basing your story on a real person and event: 

A real character or an actual event can make an excellent beginning point for a mystery novel. A large number of existing events are too bizarre and unbelievable for fiction.

5. – On advancing your character past cliché: 

Interesting characters startle the reader. Be sure to build a disconnect between your character’s physical demeanour and true capabilities. Then mine the rift, be it through plot and action, reveal who your character becomes.

6. – On profligate adverbs; 

“Oh, goody,” John said enthusiastically as he smiled radiantly. 
Eradicate as many of those ‘-ly’ adverb words and replace them with excellent descriptions of what a character does. It’s the: SHOW DON’T TELL.

7. – On the unlikely villain: 

Yes, you want to surprise the reader. But the surprise has to be believable and realistic. All the evidence has to bein the novel somewhere.

8. – On coincidence: 

If some major part of your plot hinges on coincidence, readers will cry foul. Sure, there are coincidences in actual life, but your fictional world is far more demanding. Only unfortunate coincidences are realistic in real life and fiction.

 

Improving Your Writing

~ Philip Shepherd ~ Leave a comment

Here are 19 tips that I have learned, that can improve the next piece you write.

1. Know your intended reader in a sub-genre.
2. This means more than knowing a few things like; how old they are, their average income. To know the readers means you understand their fears, frustrations, and aspirations. Writing from the reader’s perspective will dramatically change the way you write.
3. Know your purpose and goal.
4. Every time you write be it a blog post, press release, video script, or anything else, it must have only one objective. This objective is what forces you to write with crystal-clear focus.
5. Use short words.
6. To persuade, you need to be easy to understand. I hate words that are put in the text just to obfuscate the meaning, lol. Don’t show off with how many big words you know.
7. Use short sentences as these slow down the passage of time and are employed in scenes where a significant action is taking place.
8. Your thoughts can come across more clearly in small sentences.
9. Use short paragraphs.
10. If the reader turns a page and sees nothing but a grey text filled page, it will bring on a feeling of depression to read that page. Whereas if there are line breaks and paragraphs then there will be more white and the reader will be happy to read further.
11. Use active language.
12. Active language is dynamic and entertaining. Passive language is tedious. How do you know which is which? In active sentences, the subject is performing the action:
“Bob fixes cars.”
In a passive sentence, the purpose of the action becomes the subject of the sentence. For example, instead of saying, “Bob fixes cars,” It might say,
“The cars are fixed by Bob.”
Passive writing presents your idea poorly. It feels “backwards.” It’s also exceedingly difficult for many readers to understand. Write with power. Use active language.
13. Write recklessly, re-write ruthlessly.
14. When you are writing the first draft, it’s okay if it’s awful. In other words, right carelessly, taking no care about the line edits. When you have the first draft on the paper, filled with power and energy. Then you can clean up any “messes” you might’ve made in the text. Be ruthless while you re-write.
15. Have a writing routine.
16. You already have a “recipe” for the writing. You are perhaps conscious of it, although it may not be excellent, you do have a general procedure to follow when it’s time to write; it’s called an outline. The elements of that outline can include where you write, what time of day, with what tools and drinks, temperature and sounds, the software you use, such as Grammarly, Scrivener, Marked 2, Hemingway Editor, Cliche Finder, the Online Text Corrector, etc.
17. Let your writing “age with time,” and when you come back to it fresh, you may see the text more clearly.
18. After you have completed your first draft, then put it away for a week or two. Let it “age.” I know this is almost impossible as you may have been living the story and researching it morning, noon and night. On your return to it with fresh eyes, potential improvements will almost leap off the page.
19. Finish writing your first draft before getting feedback. I have written a few short stories and put the first draft, complete with grammatical errors, into a group of people who make comments.

Use these simple techniques, and I practically guarantee your writing should improve. I am currently looking at the Iambic Pentameter and will report my findings soon.