July 31st, 2009
I found this list of tips with quotes from famous writers — good for both laughs and insight.
- Cut the boring parts
I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~Elmore Leonard
- Eliminate unnecessary words
Substitute “d***” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain
- Write with passion
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth
- Paint a picture
Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton Chekhov
- Keep it simple
Vigorous writing is concise. ~William Strunk Jr.
- Do it for love
Write without pay until somebody offers to pay. ~Mark Twain
- Learn to thrive on criticism
You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance. ~Ray Bradbury
- Write all the time
Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you’re doomed. ~Ray Bradbury
The way you define yourself as a writer is that you write every time you have a free minute. If you didn’t behave that way you would never do anything. ~John Irving
- Write what you know … or what you want to know
If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Learn as much by writing as by reading. ~Lord Acton
- Be unique and unpredictable
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. ~G.K. Chesterton
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative. ~Oscar Wilde
Zest. Gusto. How rarely one hears these words used. How rarely do we see people living, or for that matter, creating by them. Yet if I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him along the road to where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto. ~Ray Bradbury
Posted in Writing | No Comments »
June 12th, 2009
I found this post at writerbynature.com and I thought this was a good way to determine which to use — who or whom?
This is one of those tricky rules that if you get it wrong, it makes you sound stuffy or pompous, but every once in a while you run across a place where you need to use the word whom, so I found this really helpful:
Who/Whom falls into my pesky words category.
I spent years reaching for my style manuals whenever confronted with these words. Until I learned a couple of neat tricks.
In the past, I might have told you to use who when you mean the person taking action and whom when you mean the person is having something done to them.
But there’s an even easier way to deal with who and whom:
Try substituting him or he (her/she) for who or whom.
For example: Who/Whom do you admire? Test: Do you admire him? Do you admire he?
Do you admire him? Is correct and as luck would have it, him and whom both end with the letter m.
Who/Whom broke the vase? Test: Him broke the vase. He broke the vase.
The answer: He broke the vase.
Try practicing with these sentences:
Who/Whom stepped in the mud?
Who/Whom do you trust?
Who/Whom is going to the concert?
To who/whom should I address this letter?
Use this test when in doubt and you will be able to see whether who or whom is the right word. (~ jj_murphy The Writing Life)
I really like this, since I have always used a similar trick to decide when to use I or me when saying for example “My mother and I went to the store.” Instead of “My mother and me . . ” If you can drop off everything and say I went to the store, then you would use the ‘___ and I’ form. But if you say, for example “Give that to your father and I right now!” “Give that to I” doesn’t work, so in this case it should be “Give that to your father and me . . .” (I once had to correct the principal at the first school I taught at in front of my whole class because he came in and told them wrong . . . I don’t know why he was doing it to begin with, but wow! LOL talk about choosing my words carefully!)
Posted in Grammar Questions, Writing | No Comments »
