Writing, a practical guide

By Joan Curry

A manual for those who want to write short stories, articles, newsletters, press releases, family history, autobiography or a novel. Topics include: * useful writing aids * getting started * building confidence * work methods * preparation and construction of non-fiction * stories and novels, and how to put them together * writing for the media * overcoming writer’s block * getting the words right * useful information * writing family history and biography * interesting and enjoyable exercises.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joan Curry
• Release date: Sep 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9780473196141

Joan Curry

Joan Curry is a New Zealander. She has worked in bookshops and book trade organisations, and has been writing for nearly forty years. She has written mostly non-fiction (feature articles, essays and opinion pieces, book reviews, notes for book discussion groups) and some short fiction and poetry. She has researched and written two volumes of family history and an autobiography. The manual “Writing - a practical Guide” is based on teaching notes developed over two decades teaching creative writing to adult students.

Book preview

Reviews of this book:

… one of the best pocket courses in writing I have read …. The writing is bright, practical and logical; the instruction covers all aspects, from writing letters to news media articles and novels …. This one is good. (Freelance magazine)

A good many who already consider themselves to be 'writers' could learn from her book - professional journalists among them. (The Press, Christchurch)

… a commendably commonsense text to get you started and keep you restarting (Wellington Dominion)

WRITING

A PRACTICAL GUIDE

Joan Curry

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Joan Curry

http://joancurry.blogspot.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people, If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction: what this manual offers

Chapter 2: Give me a quill: useful aids to writing

Chapter 3: Jack fell screaming: getting started

Chapter 4: Easy does it: building confidence

Chapter 5: Bean by bean: discussion of work methods

Chapter 6: Facts are better than dreams: nonfiction introduced

Chapter 7: Nonfiction - how to prepare: the nuts and bolts of nonfiction writing

Chapter 8: Scissors and paste: putting nonfiction together

Chapter 9: Guided dreams: fiction introduced

Chapter 10: Something murky going on: the germ of the story idea and its development

Chapter 11: Incubation: some other ingredients of fiction

Chapter 12: The brightly lit stage: putting fiction together

Chapter 13: Twitching the veils: suspense, mystery and romance in fiction

Chapter 14: Writing for the media: press releases and writing for radio

Chapter 15: Sitting down & remembering things: writing family history & autobiography

Chapter 16: Head in the hands? writer’s block and how to ignore it

Chapter 17: Getting the words right: revision and polishing

Chapter 18: Bits and bobs: scraps of useful information

Chapter 19: Amuse yourself: projects and amusements to get you going

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

"I write in order to discover on my shelf a new book which I would

enjoy reading, or to see a new play that would engross me." (Thornton Wilder)

This manual has been prepared as a basic programme to help those who have always wanted to write but who lack the will, or the confidence, to start. It has been designed with the adult student in mind - he or she who has a desire, however modest, to take up writing either for personal pleasure or for wider recognition. The intention has been twofold. First, to urge the beginning writer into a new hobby or career, and second, to make the manual as useful and informative as possible for all interested writers and readers, including more experienced ones.

My approach is one of fellow feeling. I am leading from the front - but only because I have been in the writing business for quite a long time. We are all in the same boat. We have all procrastinated, sitting under trees on warm summer afternoons and feeling guilty because we were not huddled at our keyboards or scribbling away at masterpieces. We have all thought we had nothing to say and no skills to say it with. We have all told ourselves that we would be writers when we have the time, or the space, or the chance.

The manual is based on notes used in nearly two decades of teaching basic creative writing skills to adult students. So I should tell you about how I happened to be teaching writing at all. My working life has been mostly in the book business: bookshops, publishing houses and trade organisations. My writing experience has been generally of the bread-and-butter kind: book reviews, feature articles, short radio commentaries, reports for various organisations, editing, book discussion notes, short fiction. My family history is in two respectably sized volumes and the autobiography has been completed. The grandchildren, when they were small, were regularly showered with stories and poems, and those have been carefully saved. And like any other writer, I have a couple of unfinished novels in progress.

In class I was a benign bully. I prodded and goaded students into having a go at writing, at least for the duration of the course. I reasoned that they had bothered to come along, they had paid a course fee and presumably wanted to learn something in return. Part of the process meant accepting the fact that they had to take some responsibility for their progress. If they then decided that writing was not for them, at least they would have given it their best shot.

The same goes for this manual. You have presumably bought it and want something in return. If you have borrowed it, that’s alright too. You are at least going to the trouble of reading it. Either way, you should know that you can't learn to write without actually writing. No manual has magical properties. Nobody can wave a wand and make you a writer. Here is basic, unpalatable truth #1. Face it squarely and you might achieve something some day: we get nowhere waiting for someone to give us chances, we have to take them for ourselves. If we don't write, it is nobody's fault but our own.

Each week during a course I suggested projects that people could tackle at home, to limber up and experience different kinds of writing. Many of these projects are included here and you are urged to try them out for yourself. Most of them are fun and all are useful for one reason or another.

Anyone who attends a writing class, or reads a book on how to write, should know why they are doing it. At the beginning of each course I asked people to tell me what they expected and hoped to gain from the sessions. This broke the ice and gave me an idea of the range of talents and ambitions, and even personalities, of the participants. It also helped people to sort out in their own minds why they were there. Here are some of the common reasons that were given for attending a writing class:

I have always wanted to write but don't know how to start.

My friends say I write great letters and should write stories/novels/poems.

I want to express myself.

I want to improve my skills.

I want to know how to find subjects.

I need help with plotting stories.

I can't get started.

I keep freezing.

I don't know if I have any talent.

I'm shy about letting people see what I've written.

Most of the reasons for seeking help are based on lack of confidence or lack of determination, or both. People who are confident and persistent are not normally attending a writing class, they are at home writing. But we can be hesitant and unsure of ourselves and will snatch at any help that's offered, whether it is practical or inspirational. And even the confident, persistent ones sometimes feel that their work could be improved, or that there might be better ways of doing things. All of us can benefit from discussion about the business of writing. Because it is a lonely, solitary activity we seek each other out in clubs and work groups so that we can talk about the things that concern us, discuss problems, and give each other moral support. For the same reasons we are inveterate readers of biographies of writers, and of writing manuals. It seems we are never tired of trying to find out how other people do it, or how we could do it better or more easily. Bearing all this in mind, I have designed this manual to include practical hints, ideas and projects, such as:

Equipment useful to the writer

How to get started - and keep going

Work methods and organisation

Finding things to write about

Confidence building

Skill building

How to write stories

How to construct articles

Problems and pitfalls

How to identify faults and put them right

Bits and bobs of useful information

Projects to try

So, why are you reading this book? I assume that you want to write and that you feel uncertain about the process, just as those who attend writing classes do. It might help to spend a few moments thinking about what writing is and exactly why we want to do it. Here is W. H. Allen on the subject: Writing is ink, blood, tears, sweat, frustration, disappointment. And when you have finished, what have you got? A lot of words strung together. He might have been feeling a touch liverish that day because it doesn't have to be that bad.

Writing, in the practical, everyday sense of the word, is easy enough for most of us. We can string words together after a fashion, just as we can sit down at a piano and pick out a simple tune with one finger without having taken any lessons. But that isn't playing the piano, and writing a note and sticking it under the fridge magnet isn't writing in the creative sense. What we are hoping to do is a little more difficult and a whole lot more rewarding. And there is no point in doing it if we don't have an itch to play with words, to create something that gives pleasure both to ourselves and to others, to express ourselves, to communicate.

We should ask ourselves if we want to write, or if we want to be writers, with all that being a writer (presumably) implies: fame, fortune, status, a sense of being somebody. If we want those things, writing is probably not the way to go about it. In order to write happily it is necessary to enjoy the process, or if that is too much to ask, at least enjoy the satisfaction and sense of achievement at having written.

Would you write even if no-one is going to see what you've written? If so, then it is the writing that is important, not the effect the writing has on others. This does not mean that only writing that is done for personal pleasure is creative or valuable. But it indicates that writing is important to you for its own sake.

Most of us would rather write for a readership, however modest. If we also find fame and fortune we probably wouldn't object. But such rewards should be considered the bonus, not the reason for writing. The object of writing should not be to inflate the ego. If your ego needs tender loving care, it wouldn't be fair to expose it to the risk of public scrutiny anyway. Writing is for expressing your thoughts and ideas in a variety of ways, and it might be useful to consider the ways in which we might do that.

We write for several reasons: to inform; to persuade; to entertain; we can write as a form of therapy; we write because it is part of our job or our studies; and we write for fun. Needless to say these categories can, and often do, overlap. Let's take them one by one.

Information

Here the primary goal is to explain or discuss a subject. We might have expertise in some field, or we might wish to tell people about something we, or others, have seen or done or thought. Journalists, academics and people who write how-to books and articles are among those writing to inform. To do this we need expertise and some measure of credibility, otherwise no-one will take us seriously.

Persuasion

All sorts of people use writing to convince others to change their views, or pursue some course of action or accept new ideas. Politicians, conservationists, advertisers, preachers and propagandists are the persuaders of the literary world. Again, credibility is important, and so is good information.

Entertainment

This is the realm of fiction, although in the broadest sense all writing should be entertaining or readers will get bored. The fiction writer's main task is to entertain readers, provide enjoyment, excitement, escapism, romance and all the other pleasurable sensations sought by the reading public. You can also inform in fiction, by describing exotic settings or interesting occupations, but this should be delicately done. You can persuade in fiction, by making conservation such an agreeable cause that your readers will be motivated to rush out and save whales. But readers resent being hammered with a too-obvious moral these days so, again, be subtle.

Therapy

This is the ultimate in self-expression. This is when you let fly and write something out of your system in a flurry of self-indulgence. There is a danger here, though. As long as we see it for what it is, writing out anger or misery or spite might be good for the soul - providing we don't then post the letter or publish the article. But any piece destined to be seen by eyes other than our own should be better considered than that. Writing a passionate plea on our favourite cause is fine too - and comes under the heading of persuasion - providing we don't let our emotions get the better of our good sense. Otherwise we risk being dismissed as cranks and our efforts will have been worse than useless.

Profession

Here we write because we must. We write reports for our colleagues, essays for our lecturers, letters to business associates and customers, newsletters for our members. Even if we write reluctantly, it is easier to do the job if we have some of the tricks and tools of the trade to call on.

Fun

This is where we can truly be ourselves, when we write letters to friends, poetry for self-expression, a journal or diary to remind ourselves of how we feel or think, or to ramble over the events of the day. We can write a blog and share it via the internet. If we want to, we can take on other writing projects with a sense of ease and pleasure. It doesn't have to be ink, blood, tears, sweat, frustration, disappointment. It can be rewarding and fun too.

CHAPTER 2: GIVE ME A QUILL

"Give me a quill and ink and I will write such a tale as will

chill you to the marrow." (George Borrow)

He would also need paper, and perhaps a ballpoint pen might be more appropriate, but that's all you really need. However, a few other aids to writing can be useful.

Thesaurus

This comes in several forms, from a regular sized paperback to a fair sized hardback book, and can often be picked up in second-hand book stores. Great if you are the type to freeze because you can't think of a word, great for increasing the range of your vocabulary, and great even for suggesting angles and directions for your work. Browse around a word that roughly expresses the thought in your head and see what the thesaurus can come up with.

How do you use a thesaurus? Check the front of your edition to see details of how it is set out, but basically, a thesaurus works in two ways. One section is laid out in themes or categories of ideas, and each theme leads to the next in logical sequences. You can start with a concept like greatness, which will lead you to smallness, superiority, inferiority, increase, decrease, addition, subtraction.

The other section is an alphabetical index, like a dictionary, except that instead of definitions you are offered synonyms, together with reference numbers of the sections to which they refer. These in turn will give you a selection of synonyms and related ideas and yet more references. Once you learn how to handle your thesaurus and make a habit of browsing through it, you will find it an invaluable tool which is never off your desk. I couldn't function without mine.

Dictionary

Vital for spelling. And it's better to check on the correct meaning of doubtful words than to use words incorrectly in print. Get a medium sized dictionary rather than a pocket-sized one.

Dictionary of Quotations

Also great for browsing, for suggesting titles, even themes. And a quote or two in the body of an article can lend interest and variety. But beware, they are great time-wasters. Start reading anywhere and find yourself an hour or two later still happily skimming through the pages.

Any kind of guide to the language

For anyone who is a bit shaky on grammar and construction. There are several, such as Partridge's Usage and Abusage of the English Language or Fowler's Modern English Usage (although this is not very modern these days). They are dictionaries of information about the English language and its quirks and difficulties. You look up etc and find that Fowler frowns on its use in sentences of a literary character as being amateurish, slovenly and incongruous. Check on glimpse and you are advised on the difference between glimpse and glance: the glimpse is what is seen by the glance and not the glance itself, Fowler says firmly. Look up innovation and find that you should never say new innovation because that is a tautology – and you can look that up too.

Paper

I suggest that for drafts and note-taking you use scrap paper, old computer print-outs, pads of newsprint - anything that allows you to scribble without worrying about spoiling nice clean new paper with mistakes and false starts. Inhibitions like that can make anyone freeze and you'll never write anything. Final copies should be printed or typed on A4 white