Writing for Life

Mondays

Writing When You’re Not a Writer Who Can’t Not Write

sand writing

Today’s guest post is from freelance writer Ryan Urie, who has left the security of his “real job” behind to realize his dream of writing full-time.

Why do you write?

Over and over other authors tell me “I write because I can’t not write!” At which point I turn a little green with envy, duck my head, and slink away feeling a little self-conscious and completely unworthy as a writer because, let me tell you, not writing is the easiest thing in the world for me.

I can “not write” for days.  I can do it for weeks.  Sometimes I even pull it off for months or years at a time!  Between work, family, friends, pets, housework, hobbies, TV, and the Internet, I really can’t imagine anything simpler than not writing. Continue Reading…

Shoot Your Novel

Wednesdays

The Punch Is in the Details

cat hitting dog

As we examine the different stationary camera shots, we want to take a moment to look at the Insert Shot. This is a commonly used shot needed is screenplays when a continuous action is interrupted in order to focus on a detail. As mentioned in earlier posts, the main reason for using cinematic technique, and in specific choosing particular camera shots, is to make the viewer (or reader of a novel) pay attention to specific things. You, as the writer, want to reader to notice certain things in your scenes, and using the appropriate camera shot will give it the most punch. It’s said the devil is in the details, but I’ll say the punch is what’s really in the details. And an Insert shot may be just the punch you want. Continue Reading…

Say What?

Fridays

Pass the Collocations

saywhat2

Collocations. Isn’t that a neat word? It refers to regular pairings of words, and boy, there are many I use incorrectly and have to look up. Problem is, we get so lazy and weird in our speech that we’ve accepted many pairings that are just plain wrong, so I’m going to give you a list of the correct pairings for certain phrases we regularly use. There are myriad, but I’m going to pick the ones I like:

  • Abide with: I abide with my husband.
  • Absolve by: I was absolved by the judge.
  • Absolve from: And he absolved me from the penalties.
  • Accord with: I’m in accord with the new policies at work.
  • Account to: You will have to account to the principal for what you did.
  • Account for: He must account for his actions.
  • Advise of: She advised me of the rules.
  • Advise about: You need to advise me about the issue soon. (And be careful not to mix up advise and advice, which many do!)
  • Agreeable to: He’s agreeable to my plan.
  • Agreeable with: Your idea is agreeable with mine.
  • Answer to: You must answer to your parents.
  • Answer for: I have to answer for my crimes.
  • Averse to: He is averse to seeing scary movies.

As you probably noticed, I only covered the letter A—which should give you a clue about next week’s post . . .

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