How Do We Write?

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sixret
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by sixret »

Self-publishing have so many advantages although it still have some disadvantages.
I stand with justice and the truth. Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.

Learn the history. Do research.

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KEVP
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by KEVP »

My brother has written a children's book, which he is planning to self-publish.

(I will let you all know the details when he is ready to start taking orders!)

I encouraged him to submit it to a "real" publisher, but he ignored me. It seems to me that a writer, especially a new one like my brother, could get too close to their writing, and really should have a professional editor who can say things like "you know, this chapter isn't working, you need to change . . ." My brother's thought was that since his book was set in the town where he lives, that most readers wouldn't be interested. But I thought the story and characters and other ideas in the book were good enough that lots of people would read the book. Folks don't usually limit themselves to reading books set where they live, especially when the writer makes the place the book is set really interesting, as my brother has done. Also as Enid Blyton did.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Rob Houghton »

sixret wrote:Self-publishing have so many advantages although it still have some disadvantages.
I think sometimes a factual book might benefit from vanity publishing, when it is only a very 'niche' market, but I would never want my fictional books to be self published. the only person who makes money out of such deals is the publisher.

Just for fun - here are three of my 'self produced books - :-)

Image


KEVP - I think you're right. As a writer is difficult to 'sort the wheat from the chaff' and a publisher would help with this - suggest rewrites or alterations. One of the most important aspects that separates an amateur from a professional writer is the understanding that revisions need to be made.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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zaidi
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by zaidi »

I am sorry if i break the tempo of publication discussion but i would really need some help for quick review, and any new ideas or suggestions to the essay. As the deadline has been extended luckily to 3rd April.
I would apologise for any grammar errors that I wouldnt have noticed or
the babyish language :p


Prompt

What will you offer your peers (and adults) for responding to our current moment?

Maybe it’s a workshop curriculum, or maybe it’s a plate of cookies. A poster design, or a poem. A word of advice jotted on a napkin, or a step-by-step action plan.

In your essay, answer the following:

To what "emergency" will you respond? Clearly identify a social and/or environmental challenge posed by our current historical and political moment. This could be a longstanding issue/problem (e.g. poverty, scapegoating of immigrants, climate change), or something emerging (e.g. recent changes in policies or leadership).
What will you contribute to address this problem? How will your resource help yourself and others to confront it?
To further support your argument, choose one or both of the following to answer, building upon your response to the first two questions. This part of the prompt asks you to think about how the resource that you bring might achieve its highest purpose when used in collaboration with others:

3a. What do you need your peers to bring?
3b. What do you need older generations to bring?

Contest Details

Deadline: 11:59 PM CST, March 31, 2017.
***Deadline extended: Submit your essay by 5:00 PM CST, April 3rd, 2017.
Eligibility: Open to national/international high school students in graduating class years 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

There is no entry fee or monetary cost to participate. One essay contest entry per person—if more than one entry is submitted, only the first entry will be considered. Once an essay is submitted, it may not be edited in any way. Plagiarism will result in disqualification.

Guidelines

Provide a clear, specific answer to Question 1.
Provide a clear answer to either Question 3a or 3b, or both.
Use correct grammar, and proofread.
Your essay should stay between 1-2 single spaced,
typed pages (500-1000 words). Include your name, a title, and page numbers.
Foresight can only accommodate essays written in English.
Criteria

Entries will be evaluated based upon the following:

Quality of writing
Thoughtfulness: What consideration will you give to the complexities of the situations that face us, and your strategies for addressing them.
Coherence: Strive to tell an integrated story across the full length of your essay.
Creativity and originality. We'd suggest considering topics that are relevant to your own experience and unique contribution.




I will respond to Pakistan's mainstream destructive and negligent social behaviour issue against change and Interlinked mistreatment of the environment ( majorly throwing garbage everywhere) a common social behaviour.
I will contribute a motivational mind blog that will specifically aim to revolutionise how people think about themselves to how they think about the environment and the society while also how they reflect on their inner self. The motivational blog will further enhance my own positive vibes, it will create the energy needed to effectively communicate to people.It will be my platform to bring out people together for the longstanding issue and cultivate in them the hunger for change in themselves and their surroundings.
Most people often give up on bringing change or let alone follow their dreams, because there is that preconceived notion that, nothing can change even for their own personal life let alone, the social and environmental issues. If an individual cannot rise above the negativity in their own life, follow their passion and stay happy for themselves how can they believe in revolutionising or bringing change to the country and fight against injustice & corruption or why would they even bother about the environment. All that people will do is blame but not take a step themselves in fact they would further reach out to create more negativity taking out frustrations in multiple ways and creating destructive social behaviour in general.
On the other hand there people who might be positive , but they have subconscious negativity and abundance energy blocks that make them reluctant to bring change, stop them and therefore they do not believe in themselves.
So, the blog will provide a new twist to how people think , they will be attracted by the incentive of growing and achieving their dreams, when they learn they are enough they could be anything will they be able to think on the perspective of bringing an impact on their surroundings and their behaviours, it will make them be sensitive to social environmental issues and thus they would be able to perform change immediately.
As the blog, is used in collaboration with my peers. It will achieve its highest purpose as it creates a team. With multiple hands,altogether there is more ideas and more ways to achieve the one purpose.I need my peers to make posters with the quote" I can be everything, I can do anything and I will reshape many things" and with that they along with me, we need to upload pictures of us holding those posters doing any revolutionary act like picking up a wrapper,giving food, stopping a fight, catching bribery' with a hashtag transform yourself and revolutionise Pakistan. This will create a social uproar,prompting people to look for roots of the cause, as they find the Motivational Mind Blog,they will hence understand and many of them would start transforming and carrying forward the hashtag and the message will bring a massive support system as all these find one platform and discuss positivities and issues,there will start a great revolution socially and environmentally.This will affect the older generations and bring them together with the youth and change their perspectives.
Pondering for some years,I wondered why Pakistan having a 40% literate population had no change why is there corruption and bad omen in every field. I learnt the physical realities could never change until the nation stood together and the nation can never stand until there is social revolution and the mindset transforms. I learnt even water molecules transform shape in the influence of energy positive or negative.
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by pete9012S »

Image

Love those book covers Rob.Very impressive.I would like to read your work not published on this site if it was still available online?

Here's my magnum opus.
Very hard/almost impossible to find these days though due to its very small print run...
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

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Rob Houghton
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Rob Houghton »

Despite what everyone has said above (which for some reason didn't show up for me yesterday!!) I still wouldn't pay to have my books published. Apart from anything else, I can't really afford £3,000 - £5,000 + just to publish a few books!

I think we have to weigh up what's right for us as individuals, and at the moment this isn't what I would consider doing. I've known some people who have self published works of fiction and their books have ended up in charity shops selling for £1.50. And they paid for the privilege!! :lol:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Rob Houghton
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Rob Houghton »

pete9012S wrote:Love those book covers Rob.Very impressive.I would like to read your work not published on this site if it was still available online?
I'll have a look, Pete. None are available online but I do have some copies on disk/memory stick somewhere!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

Rob Houghton wrote:Despite what everyone has said above (which for some reason didn't show up for me yesterday!!) I still wouldn't pay to have my books published. Apart from anything else, I can't really afford £3,000 - £5,000 + just to publish a few books!

I think we have to weigh up what's right for us as individuals, and at the moment this isn't what I would consider doing. I've known some people who have self published works of fiction and their books have ended up in charity shops selling for £1.50. And they paid for the privilege!! :lol:
I think the best person to ask about self publishing would be Keith, as I believe Keith self published all his books.

I know my hubby looked into self publishing his third book and the price wasn't anywhere near the figures you've quoted Rob, and his books are made up of mostly photos which are expensive to print.

He looked into self publishing my own book, too, and the prices were not as much as £3k either, but I don't know which self publishing firm he looked for.

I think at the end of the day, if you self publish and it fails, so what. At least you've tried to get your work seen and read. We only have one crack at this life, and you just have to go for your dreams sometimes, nothing is lost really from my point of view. And with the internet so prominent in everything we do these days, I think the majority of self published are read on line on Kindle.

8)
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"See that? It's the black Bentley again. KMF 102!"

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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Rob Houghton »

I guess you're right, Julie - but at the moment I would be happier just putting my books online and seeing who read them! :-) Maybe one day I will change my mind but not just yet.

The prices I quoted weren't based on real figures...although I remember when I applied to a Vanity Publisher back in the late 1980's and received an information pack, their average cost was £900 - so I would think its gone up a lot since then! :-)

I'm also not the type who would want to hike my books around the country, asking shops to stock them, etc, as most self-published authors have to do. I'd prefer all that to be done for me. 8)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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KEVP
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by KEVP »

Zaidi, I think your writing would be stronger if you used shorter sentences. And shorter words.

Your teachers probably taught you a lot of longer and more obscure words, and encouraged you to use them. But all the great masters of the English language have known that the short and simple words are the more powerful ones.
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by pete9012S »

So true.
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Liam »

Zaidi:

I agree with KEVP. I myself am guilty of the same long sentences, but as advice is easier to give than follow, I will take a shot at reorganizing your first sentence. :) It is actually a full paragraph because there are quite a few different ideas. It’s fine to let your ideas come out in a rush, but most times you need to go back and tighten them up, so to speak.
Zaidi wrote:I will respond to Pakistan's mainstream destructive and negligent social behaviour issue against change and Interlinked mistreatment of the environment ( majorly throwing garbage everywhere) a common social behaviour.
I will respond to a common social behaviour in my home country of Pakistan. This is the problem of negligent disposal of garbage. It is a mainstream behavior, and suggests interlinked issues of resistance to change and mistreatment of the environment.
I decided to have a go at the second paragraph also.
Zaidi wrote:I will contribute a motivational mind blog that will specifically aim to revolutionise how people think about themselves to how they think about the environment and the society while also how they reflect on their inner self. The motivational blog will further enhance my own positive vibes, it will create the energy needed to effectively communicate to people.It will be my platform to bring out people together for the longstanding issue and cultivate in them the hunger for change in themselves and their surroundings.
I will contribute a motivational blog that will specifically aim at three things: to revolutionise how people think about themselves, how they think about the environment and the society, and also how they reflect on their inner self. The blog will also serve to enhance my own motivation. It will create the energy needed to effectively communicate to people. It will be my platform to bring people together for the long-term issue, and cultivate the hunger for change in themselves and their surroundings.
I should have added that the word “vibe” is at best informal language, and the word “majorly” is certainly slang. You should probably stay away from those. The difference between slang and informal language? Slang is very new, so less adopted by the mainstream. Informal language is used by the mainstream, but generally not for school writing.

I hope you don’t mind me going over your writings with a fine tooth comb. I couldn’t resist one more paragraph. I always think writing is like bricklaying - a lot of heavy lifting and rearranging - especially so for me since I write nonfiction. The below paragraph is a good example of this. I’m posting two versions of it, one with the edits in, and one without because it got so cluttered with all the edits.
Markup wrote:Most people often give up on bringing change or [let alone - delete or use “even”] follow[ing - to match “bringing”] their dreams, because there is that preconceived notion that[, - delete] nothing can change even [for=in] their own personal life[insert comma] let alone[, - delete] [the=with] social and environmental issues. If an individual cannot rise above the negativity in their own life, follow their passion and stay happy for themselves[insert comma] how can they believe in [revolutionising or bringing change - delete one of these as they’re saying the same thing] to the country[add comma] and fight[ing - to match “bringing”] against injustice [&=and] corruption[add question mark] [or=And] why would they even bother about the environment[.=?] All that people will do is blame[ others,] but not take a step themselves[insert period/full stop] [in=In] fact[,] they would further reach out to create more negativity[,] taking out frustrations in multiple ways[,] and creating destructive social behaviour in general.
No Markup wrote:Most people often give up on bringing change or even following their dreams, because there is that preconceived notion that nothing can change even in their own personal life, let alone with social and environmental issues. If an individual cannot rise above the negativity in their own life, follow their passion and stay happy for themselves, how can they believe in bringing change to the country, and fighting against injustice and corruption? And why would they even bother about the environment? All that people will do is blame others, but not take a step themselves. In fact, they would further reach out to create more negativity, taking out frustrations in multiple ways, and creating destructive social behaviour in general.
There are other things that might need change, for example the “will” in the sentence “All that people will do is blame…” might be “would”.

If I can, I will try to look at the whole post and the ideas side of it.
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by zaidi »

Thankyou KEVP, thats very helpful.
And thank you so much Liam for illustrating the fact. Helped me alot.
However the first editing changes my meaning, I want to say two things one is negligent and destructive social behaviour in general against change, and also the interlinked environmental issues(garbage throwing).How do i say that?
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Liam »

Zaidi, one thing I recently learned - believe it or not, from reading Enid Blyton - is to avoid more than one adjective (descriptive word) before a noun. Using multiple adjectives makes the meaning so much more difficult to get. The adjective (actually, adjectival phrase) I am thinking of is “mainstream destructive and negligent social behavior”. It’s really hard for your brain to process all that! So no wonder it threw me off. Follow Enid - the white cloud, the blue sea - you will never wonder what those are.

The first thing then is to reduce the adjective to the smallest it can be. How is this?
I will respond to Pakistan's deep-seated resistance to change. It is social behaviour that is both mainstream and destructive. This is plain to see in the negligent attitudes toward garbage disposal in particular, but in general toward tidiness in one’s surroundings.
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Rob Houghton »

What happened to the Black stallion? :wink:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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