Writing Gooder

Many a good writer has been ruined by reading James Joyce.  All of a sudden, the lack of punctuation and rambling sentence structure seems to become not only artistic, but desirable.

James Joyce is one of my favorite authors, but one of the many things I recognize is that I am not James Joyce.  Stuff he could get away with is stuff I could never get away with, and for good reason.  Once you begin to mess with the rules of grammar, the reader becomes disoriented and confused.  This is bad.  However, most grammar benders are not intentional, and that’s the focus of this article.

Obtaining clarity through format is often overlooked.  For some reason, we tend to forget that paragraphs, punctuation, and other devices are meant to make the text more comprehensible to readers.  Arguably, this movement to aid comprehension began with Julius Caesar.  In his time, there was no punctuation, including spaces.  Insteadtextranlikethiswiththereaderhavingtoguesswhereonewordendedandthenextbegan.  Caesar recognized the problems this entailed, and solved it by placing a dot under the first letter of each word.

Today, we are fortunate to have an incredibly well-developed system of grammar.  This system has been developed not only to aid the reader, but also to aid the writer in conveying their thoughts.  So what is the biggest mistake?

The Run-On Paragraph. In school, many of us learn the five paragraph essay method: one introduction paragraph, three body, and one concluding.  For most, this is their first introduction to real writing, and some never come to understand that the five paragraph method is simply a way to teach you how to develop ideas.

Breaking up paragraphs not only allows you to easily separate ideas, but it also presents a less imposing text to the reader.  Simply put, one page of text with no paragraphs will be less appealing to read than a book where the writer uses paragraphs.  So do yourself a favor and avoid the run-on paragraph.

I think he’s trying to say “This Much.”

hat-tip to wisemann210

Probably a bit late to be telling you, but JulNoWriMo starts in July. As in, tomorrow.

It’s exactly the same as NaNoWriMo (the National Novel Writing Month), only it’s in July instead of November. As usual, the aim is to write a 50,000+ word novel in only a single month. You can find the official site here.

I intend to join in – I really need to get the first draft of the Greatest Book Ever Written finished, and this is the perfect opportunity.

Anyone joining me?

[A hat tip to canislupis for posting about it on the forum.]

[Oh, and no, I didn't make that awsome Dragon Ball picture. Nabbed it from ICanHasCheezburger.com, which is another great site you should check out.]

Write down five consonants and two vowels.  Once you’re ready, hit the jump.

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For those who were members of The Writers Society (returning soon!), you might remember the Poetry Database.  This was a section of the site where you could read poems by published poets, provided that the copyright on the poem had expired.  The section included poems like “The Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll and “Churchill’s Grave” by Lord Byron.

The Poetry Database was a magnificent piece of work, and looking over it, I have no idea how I managed to pull it off.  It’s utterly complex, yet elegantly simple.  I also always intended to bring it to YWS, but never got around to doing so.  However, it is now fully a part of the new YWS, as is a brand new Short Story Database (which Snoink suggested).  Lets take a look:

YWS Poetry Database Homepage

This is the starting page for the Poetry DB, which is exactly alike the Short Story DB (just replace ‘Poetry’ with ‘Short Story’).  What’s really cool is that while searching the database, you never leave the front page.  It never refreshes or redirects you somewhere else; it’s completely seamless.

For poems and short stories, you can search in three ways: (1) by author, (2) by title, or (3) by first line.  Alternatively, you can also browse in any of those ways.  If you don’t know what you want to read, there’s a “Read Random” button.

You can also see in this screenshot that the sidebar has been changed to display your favorite poems.  Whenever you view a poem, you’ll see a link to add it to your favorites list.  Once enough people do this, you’ll eventually be able to compare your list with others.  That way you can see who has similar taste in poetry, and perhaps even find a new favorite poem.

Hit the jump to keep reading.

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The cover art isn’t bad in itself.  It’s the sticker, which reads “Bella and Edward’s Favorite Book.”  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book advertised as being the favorite book of a fictional character, much less characters from Twilight.

hat-tip to cottonrulz

Tears are of an international language. They mean the same thing, whether they are streaming down the faces of Africa, pit-patting on the porches of America, or saturating the tissues of Europe. It’s a funny thing.

I used to ask myself why, but now I understand. It is so unbearably simple, too—this answer, as it sits in front of your face, like a scratch in your glasses that has been there for years, but which you have only just noticed. It is so the whole world may know my sorrow—that is why.

As these hot droplets now leave salty, wavering trails down my face, it is this epiphany which comes to mind, and with this thought, I realize another—the world that knows my sorrow is not one that cares.

[Read the full story on YWS]

Just Jack – Writers Block (Alt End)

Hit jump for the lyrics to Writer’s Block by Just Jack.

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Orson Scott Card is one of my favorite authors; not just for Ender’s Game but for countless other books of his that I have read and greatly enjoyed.  Yet, this cover.