In honour of spending the entire afternoon getting stuck on scene blocking, which required the creation of yet another note document to sort out--and to continue the ongoing series here on I Do Not Actually Own A Motorcycle of cynical and sarcastic posts about writer's block--my Top 10 Weird Note Document Filenames!
Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label editing. Show all posts
Monday, December 01, 2014
Saturday, June 21, 2014
It's Not Perfect, and That's OK
I just finished re-reading The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy this evening and, as with any book, the second read made me think about a lot of things. I always catch more of the little tricks, naturally. More importantly, my standards for authors are higher now, by virtue of my exposure to publishing and the "what it takes" of writing, than they were six or seven years ago when I first read it.
The important thing is how much it still worked. I still fundamentally enjoyed the book, I still nearly cried at the end and I still loved the writing and the slow build and release of tension, the battle construction, and so many other parts of the story and the style of its telling.
The important thing is how much it still worked. I still fundamentally enjoyed the book, I still nearly cried at the end and I still loved the writing and the slow build and release of tension, the battle construction, and so many other parts of the story and the style of its telling.
Monday, October 01, 2012
Comments on CBC's Omar Khadr Stories Should Be Pre-Moderated
The CBC has almost always allowed open comments on their online news site, cbc.ca.
In most cases, this makes sense. Open comments sometimes bring out depressing elements of society content to hide behind anonymity, but as Canada's leading journalistic institution CBC has a mandate to allow open and free discussion on its comments page.
The site occasionally closes comments, usually in stories about court cases, particularly when young offenders are involved. This decision makes a lot of ethical sense, but it also covers a media institution's liabilities.
It's curious, then, that in the case of Omar Khadr, the CBC has, for the most part, continued to allow open commenting. This is a mistake. The comment circus takes away from CBC's reasonably solid journalism on the story, obscuring the facts and research with vitriol and hate.
In most cases, this makes sense. Open comments sometimes bring out depressing elements of society content to hide behind anonymity, but as Canada's leading journalistic institution CBC has a mandate to allow open and free discussion on its comments page.
The site occasionally closes comments, usually in stories about court cases, particularly when young offenders are involved. This decision makes a lot of ethical sense, but it also covers a media institution's liabilities.
It's curious, then, that in the case of Omar Khadr, the CBC has, for the most part, continued to allow open commenting. This is a mistake. The comment circus takes away from CBC's reasonably solid journalism on the story, obscuring the facts and research with vitriol and hate.
Sunday, May 06, 2012
Revisions and Late '80s Pop Ballads
I spent an entire academic year this past school term in an advanced fiction-writing course. It gave me all sorts of ideas for blog posts, some of which I will likely even get around to posting at some point.
But for now, I'm going to leave those be. I don't want to derail what could otherwise be a useful evening by railing about the use or lack thereof of advanced writing workshops, nor the quality of "criticism" found within them.
I simply want to meditate briefly on the value of, say, Michael Bolton, as an antidote to trying to incorporate revisions that are increasingly inane.
But for now, I'm going to leave those be. I don't want to derail what could otherwise be a useful evening by railing about the use or lack thereof of advanced writing workshops, nor the quality of "criticism" found within them.
I simply want to meditate briefly on the value of, say, Michael Bolton, as an antidote to trying to incorporate revisions that are increasingly inane.
Monday, August 01, 2011
How To Make Bad Writing Good Writing in a Good Way (Or: A Rant About the Editing Process)
Rant time. I did mention there might be a few of those. And while we're on awkward openings, I'm falling into the habit of sub-titling my posts. I shall valiantly attempt to stop this from happening as soon as possible.
But it does segue nicely (uh oh) into a topic that's been bouncing around my head only slightly longer than guilt about not posting more frequently:
It's kind of fun--and it can make you sound way more intelligent than you actually are--to talk at length about the editing process like it's some kind of magic bullet. Like you can go from jot notes to polished product with a five (try 250) step plan. Partly it's been banging around in my head because I've spent a large part of my summer in the vicinty of another writer going through this process and all its assorted deadline angst, and partly it was motivated by a question posed to me about what to do with a really bad piece of writing.
But it does segue nicely (uh oh) into a topic that's been bouncing around my head only slightly longer than guilt about not posting more frequently:
It's kind of fun--and it can make you sound way more intelligent than you actually are--to talk at length about the editing process like it's some kind of magic bullet. Like you can go from jot notes to polished product with a five (try 250) step plan. Partly it's been banging around in my head because I've spent a large part of my summer in the vicinty of another writer going through this process and all its assorted deadline angst, and partly it was motivated by a question posed to me about what to do with a really bad piece of writing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)