Writing | The World's Festival of Books

Writing Book Reports

November 13, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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Book reports are a literary nightmare for students. Something that cannot be done overnight, no matter how good are you at performing under pressure. A few times the entire question of passing a subject hangs on this one book report. So stop cursing your teachers and your professors for your agony and get to work on writing that perfect book report.
To write a book report you need to slowly read the novel slowly section by section and find out exactly what your professor what’s you to pick up about the novel. Writing a book report is a time intensive process for which pressure has detrimental effect. Hence stop pushing the important book report for the last moment, because you will only end up ruining it. When writing a book report, focus on the whole book as whole and not particular sections. First create a clear outline of the book report that you are planning to make, this will give you good ideas as to the whole picture. Think about the way your professor thinks, if he is the kind of person who likes drama, or the climax or the characters. Focus on their needs and you are sure to get their point of view. The more that you and your professor’s point of view match here, the more the chances of you getting good grades. But if anything is written against his point of view, then consider you grades dropping. And yes never be lazy since your professors have dealt with probably hundreds of other reports on the same book and they have a better idea than you about her student’s minds. Proof reading anything before submitting is important because you will be reading like you are seeing the report for the very first time and any mistakes and changes that need to made will be easily located.

Filed Under: Education, Writing Tagged With: Arts, Book report, Book Writing, E-Books, English as a foreign or second language, Literature, Writers Resources, Writing

Writing Poetry

November 10, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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Poetry is the best way that one can express ones feeling in words. No matter how many essays you write to describe your feelings, a few lines of poetry is instead enough to make others feel the same way that you feel. Poetry is ones imagination put into well-defined words in an artistic manner. It is the most free and description-less form of writing known. Most of the things are left to the reader to fill up. This makes poetry appear different to different people in many different forms and meanings.
But writing poetry is not every ones cup of tea. Poetry comes from a part of the brain that is specialized for art, hence poetry too is considered to be an art. Look for inspiration at all the times, keep a pen and paper at you all the times, and wait for inspiration. Only when you least expect it in the oddest of situations will inspiration hit you, don’t miss these moments. These will start to fade away later if you are not able to get them on paper. Poetry requires the use of metaphors to a huge extent. Hence it is important that you know what metaphors are and learn to use them fluidly. Before beginning poetry writing in any language, you need to get proficient in the language of your choice. To learn words you need to read profusely and learn to incorporate them into your daily vocabulary. And yeah imagination is very important requirement for poetry. This is the only way you can look at ordinary things in extra ordinary ways that will make things look more vibrant and attractive. Also read as much poetry as possible and find the type of poetry you are comfortable with. When you are done, you need to get opinions from both other poetry writers and friends.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Anonymous, Arts, Literature, Online Writing, Poetry, Student, Writers Resources, Writing

Avoiding beginner’s whoppers

November 8, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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The first novel in any author’s life can make or break her career. If the first novel is a big blunder, the next time it will be extremely hard to convince a publisher to publish your book no matter how good your book is. Even if this is your first book, the reason for it get rejecting might be some whoppers that you have made as a beginner. Publishers’ are vary of these blunders and use them to separate good authors from normal street corner authors.

Look out for empty words that haunt your manuscript. Empty word such as blond bombshell, bloody idiots, guns blazing, etc. which are used in normal life and seen quite commonly used on the television are considered as beginners blunders. This makes that author steer away from the novel even before the plot begins to thicken. Avoid using clichés in your writing since these are considered as red flags by the editors and easy targets to be rejected among the numerous other submissions that are received. Avoid weak writing and use of vivid language that makes adverbs and adjectives into noun. Stick with English language, it is good. When writing stop the explosion of background information at the reader at any cost, even the most chaotic of situations, explain it in a structured and simple manner. Find innovative ways of storytelling and try not to confuse the reader with too much description. Choose the different viewpoints carefully, and pay close attention to their details. If you keep changing the point of view of your characters, it is only going to tell the publisher about you bad writing skills. In the end take care about the grammar and punctuation skills that you learned in your school. This can make or destroy your career in a few minutes.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Arts, Author, English language, Grammar, Publishing, Social Sciences, Style Guides, Writers Resources

Writing a perfect Screenplay

November 3, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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There are a lot of differences between writing a novel and a screen play. An experienced novel writer will have difficulty in writing a screenplay and will have to start from scratch. A screenplay is like watching a movie where every detail needs to be planned out. From the set where every detain needs to be noted in the screenplay with the paint of the room to the decorations the room has. Most of the time the details do not have anything to do with the story but have to be part of the screenplay. Sometimes more than 50 % of the screenplay includes the description part and the rest includes the conversation and the expression of the characters. The small details make a big impression on the people reading it be it a reader, production company, screenplay competition or even a movie screenwriter. Everyone loves details, its these details that get the reads entrapped in your screenplay world.
Characters need to have a personality just like in a novel and every bit of their detail needs to be put in. From the way she thinks, her fears, her guilt’s, inner doubts, imperfections, weaknesses, etc. The reader need to get into the character’s mind and help him overcome his weaknesses and the situations that fall in front of him. This will also give you a good idea as to how a character will react to his condition or his problems. Make your characters as alive as possible and try to imagine the play on screen, if anything does not add up, you will know about it. Don’t write dialogues which you think you would say, write dialogues what you think your character will say. Make them lead the way, if your character is afraid of the dark, she will not dare to venture out anywhere at night.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Arts, Contests, Filmmaking, Movies, Screenplay, Screenwriting, Script Consulting, Writers Resources

Leveraging Your Reading Skills

November 1, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Having the ability to read is one of the most basic, and most important facets of a life where you experience any kind of success. Obviously if you couldn’t read, you would have a pretty hard time making any sense out of this article. The ability to read is what allows you to do pretty much anything you want to do. It can also help you in a lot of ways to advance your life, such as through learning new things by reading them. Believe it or not, not every problem can be solved through a tutorial in a YouTube video. This might actually shock some people.

But the power of being able to read goes far beyond simply reading books about any given topic. While reading books is great, it is not the be all end all of how much reading can teach you. You can leverage your reading skills into a great life, through getting an education. If you go to sites such as EarnMyDegree.com, you have the ability to get an entire education (with a real degree that will garner you actual respect) from a respectable educational institution. This can help you get going in a whole different direction than you’re currently going in. You can change a lot through just reading and learning.

Just think, it all starts with picking up those first few books and getting the basics down. When our teachers teach children how to read, they are basically opening up an entire world to these kids that would otherwise be completely closed to them. There is a massive treasure trove of knowledge (and opportunities) waiting for people who not only know how to read but actually use that knowledge to their own advantage. While it might not seem like being able to read is that big of a deal, just try asking someone who doesn’t know how about it.

Filed Under: Education, Writing Tagged With: Education, Reading, YouTube

The Second Coming of the Book and Online Education

October 14, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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Ever since the printing press was invented and bookmaking was mechanized, books and the knowledge they hold have mesmerized people. Everyone can tell you about a book that in some way changed their lives or helped to shape the person they became. Books have been called the original escapism. Books are a way for us to explore our interests and broaden our horizons from our own home. They afford the luxury of a mental vacation to anyone, regardless of whether you can afford to reach far off destinations or not.

Due to modern technology, the written word and knowledge are more accessible than ever. The advent of the Internet has allowed countless books to be added to an ever growing online library. Project Gutenberg and Google Books are just two of the online libraries that offer great classics as well as textbooks for free over the Internet. Many people have chosen to take advantage of these online libraries. If you are contemplating a more comprehensive educational experience, then use sites such as www.onlineeducation.com to help you decide which online degree you want to pursue. This is another way that the Internet is revolutionizing learning and access to knowledge.

While reading books online and downloading PDFs onto your mobile device for free is quite revolutionary, there are many other ways that technology is being used to stimulate online education. In recent years, iTunes has allowed anyone with a digital camera or recorder to upload college and high school lectures and materials to the iTunes store for free. Other websites such as Academic Earth have taken this idea to a whole new level. The site gives access to some of the most prestigious universities in the country. They offer access to a whole semester’s worth of lectures. This allows all Internet users to enjoy and learn without having to pay a large tuition bill.

Filed Under: Books, General, Reading, Writing Tagged With: E-book, E-learning, Education, Google Books, ITunes, ITunes Store, Portable Document Format, Technology

What do you do when you get a writer’s block?

October 13, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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Writers block is that dreaded condition where a seasoned or inexperienced author cannot find a story for its next big novel. Even coming to road block in a novel which was so far coming along just fine is considered as a writer’s block. It is considered by psychologists as a mental condition where the mind just refuses to move around an incomplete thought or a thing that has to be done or even a bad thought.
To get over a writer’s block go through what you had written before, find the inspiration that you used to write article’s before. Find out the reason for your inability to focus on your novel. To begin from the start, you can go in a systematized manner to find the various aspects of your novel. First thing that you need to do is find out in who would you like to write your novel on? Find out the genre that you are most comfortable writing and based your novel on the same. Forget what you want the novel to be about, rather focus on your character. It is important that you built your novel from the bottom. Make sure what exactly your character is, his style of talking, wearing, the gender, sex, age, color, style and other aspects. Get into the shoes of your character, this will give you a good idea of the way he or she will react in a particular situation. Then start constructing your secondary characters, make then as vibrant and as different from each other as possible. Characters with the similar aspects makes the novel boring. The kind of secondary characters you built will give you an idea as to where would you like to take your story. Be true to the characters personality and never make them do things that their personality wouldn’t allow them to.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Arts, Fiction, NaNoWriMo, Novel, Writer, writers block, Writers Resources, Writing

Writing Novels of Your own

October 12, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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Do you have a great idea in your mind that you plan on turning into a novel and earning the same reputation as J. K. Rowling has? Then go ahead what are you waiting for. The problem with many writers is about where to begin. The biggest problem is finding a suitable story and the theme of the novel that is the hard part. A novel without a good climax and a great ending is sure to find some readers. So just start pouring all you have encapsulated inside you. The years spent imagining a novel with all its little turns and events need to be put in a note book, because mind is a static thing and these plots can change. Even dreams that you get can become interesting parts of your story, a change of perspective is what the reader asks. SO give them this remembers to thrill them and excite them every one in a while. Even if your story is good, people will not read it if it’s beginning is boring.
There are 2 types: One is a story driven novel and the other is a Character driven novel. In the story driven novel, all the characters come second to the story and it is the story which the author tries to convey to the reader and not the characters. For a story driven novel begin with setting up the plot, the environment and then begin defining the characters. For a character driven novel it is important for the story to begin with a character or multiple characters who play main roles in the story. Begin with the characters and then move on to building the plot and make the characters act according to their defined personalities. It is important here to perfectly define the characters.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Arts, Books, Fiction, JK Rowling, Novel, Online Writing, Plot (narrative), Short story

Hay Festivals: Another Kind of Hay Fever

October 9, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

In dozens of locations around the globe, you’ll find a Hay Festival. These are festivals that run the gamut from writers and book readings, to comedians and musicians. They are events that strive to provide a forum for an exchange of ideas, and imagination. Their stated goal is to renew a sense of wonder and excitement while presenting different ways of looking at our world.

This may be a strong statement and big job, but if you look at the number of Hay Festivals per year, it lends credence to the statement, if only through sheer numbers. There is Hay Festival: Wales, Cartagena, Beirut, Belfast, Zacatecas, Brecon, Segovia, Nairobi, Maldives, and Kerala.

Not every Hay Festival has writers and books as the central theme. Brecon’s festival, for example, which took place in August 2010, was called Brecon Jazz, and included such. Storymoja Hay Festival Nairobi, which takes place October 2010, will include storytellers, readers and thinkers of all types-providing a time and venue for the sharing and exchange of stories.

2010 was also the year for the first Hay Festival in Zacatecas, Mexico. For this festival, it was all about one particular topic: economics.

Beirut39, on the other hand, was an April 2010 Hay Festival which strove to provide a new look at Arab writers. Why called Beirut 39? Because the festival brought together 39 of what are deemed the best Arab writers under age 39. A clever marketing move, but perhaps also a smart way to introduce relatively new writers to a world that may be much more attuned to Arab writings of yesteryear.

With Hay Festival Maldives exploring climate change, Hay Festival Segovia all about the world’s best music, and Hay Festival Cartagena encompassing multiculturism and social change, it’s clear that Hay Festivals throughout the world may have one unifying name, but are as diverse as each of the cities and countries in which they take part.

Filed Under: Books, Reading, Writing Tagged With: Festivals, Hay Fever

Like to Write? An Accredited College Can Help You Get Started

October 5, 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

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If you love books, you may eventually decide that you’d like to write one of them. Whether you manage to get it published traditionally, you decide to self-publish, or you keep it only for yourself, you’ll have the satisfaction of completing it. If you want to get paid to write, though, it’s important that you have the proper education. Not every novelist or even every non-fiction writer has a degree in journalism or a related field. Some of them don’t have degrees at all. Having a good education from an accredited college can help you land writing jobs, though, and allow your work to be taken more seriously.

Too many people assume that writing a book is easy. They think that their writing is spectacular, so they send out query letters to agents and publishers. When they get nowhere, they’re astounded that people can’t see their greatness. It’s not necessarily that they aren’t good writers in their ability to tell a story and their dedication to the process, but it could be that they aren’t good writers when it comes to the concept of querying. If you have a good education and have taken classes on how to write business correspondence, you’ll be better able to send a proper query and cover letter that can get you noticed.

That’s true of books, newspapers, magazines, and online publications. No matter who you are or what you’ve been through in life, if you have a story to tell you need to be sure that you’re telling it the right way. Otherwise, you might miss out on an opportunity that you would have gotten had you known the right way to ask for it. Don’t let the world do without the book that you have to write just because you aren’t sure how to get someone to notice you.

Filed Under: Education, Writing Tagged With: Arts, Publishing, Writer, Writers Resources