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 rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rants. Show all posts
Monday, December 01, 2014
Monday, July 28, 2014
Monday, May 05, 2014
To Chapter 137 on the Occasion of Our Parting,
If I hadn't been sane, I would have written to you a long time ago.
As it was, our correspondence got off to a slow start. I mean, I knew you were out there some time back around January when the road to what I like to think of as the End began. You'll tell me it's silly, I know. It is. There is no end.
As it was, our correspondence got off to a slow start. I mean, I knew you were out there some time back around January when the road to what I like to think of as the End began. You'll tell me it's silly, I know. It is. There is no end.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Rant: Writing Clever Journalism
Today I learned how to write clever.
I learned that alliteration is cool and makes you look like a leader in light language. I learned that putting any metaphor--any metaphor at ALL!--into writing makes you Stephen Hawking (smart!--see what we're doing here. Nifty, eh? I thought so, too).
Simple language can be beautiful, and I've heard many examples of this over the course of going on five years in J-School. There's also nothing I hate more than reading some cooked-up, purple-prosed, overwritten piece of artistic drivel, whether it happens to be fiction or non-fiction.
Nor do I want to seem like I'm discouraging metaphor and writing techniques like alliteration in journalism. The CP Styleguide could certainly use the odd little flourish, and too often news writing is devoid of personality. Writing with feelings gives it back.
What I take issue with, in the discussion of trying to write, is that there is a lot more to this craft than throwing a metaphor in or trying a little bit of mood. I'm by no means a great writer, but I know I'd cringe if I ever threw anything into any piece of writing, non-fiction or fiction, without reason or reflection. There is a craft here.
I learned that alliteration is cool and makes you look like a leader in light language. I learned that putting any metaphor--any metaphor at ALL!--into writing makes you Stephen Hawking (smart!--see what we're doing here. Nifty, eh? I thought so, too).
Simple language can be beautiful, and I've heard many examples of this over the course of going on five years in J-School. There's also nothing I hate more than reading some cooked-up, purple-prosed, overwritten piece of artistic drivel, whether it happens to be fiction or non-fiction.
Nor do I want to seem like I'm discouraging metaphor and writing techniques like alliteration in journalism. The CP Styleguide could certainly use the odd little flourish, and too often news writing is devoid of personality. Writing with feelings gives it back.
What I take issue with, in the discussion of trying to write, is that there is a lot more to this craft than throwing a metaphor in or trying a little bit of mood. I'm by no means a great writer, but I know I'd cringe if I ever threw anything into any piece of writing, non-fiction or fiction, without reason or reflection. There is a craft here.
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.
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