You can write a story and present it as, Here’s some stuff I made up — hope you like it!
Or you can present it as, I’m going to tell you what happened — I know because I was there.
Even though fiction is obviously all lies, and the reader knows that, you can…
i made a thing
helpful as fuck
Are you a teacher because you should be one
Reblogging for future reference
This is very, very funny.
Benjamin Dreyer is the VP Executive Managing Editor & Copy Chief of Random House Publishing Group. Below is his list of the common stumbling blocks for authors, from A to X.
- One buys antiques in an antiques store from an antiques dealer; an antique store is a very old store.
- He stayed awhile; he stayed for a while.
- Besides is other than; beside is next to.
- The singular of biceps is biceps; the singular of triceps is triceps. There’s no such thing as a bicep; there’s no such thing as a tricep.
- A blond man, a blonde woman; he’s a blond, she’s a blonde.
- A capital is a city (or a letter, or part of a column); a capitol is a building.
- Something centres on something else, not around it.
- If you’re talking about a thrilling plot point, the word is climactic; if you’re discussing the weather, the word is climatic.
- A cornet is an instrument; a coronet is a crown.
- One emigrates from a place; one immigrates to a place.
- The word is enmity, not emnity.
- One goes to work every day, or nearly, but eating lunch is an everyday occurrence.
- A flair is a talent; a flare is an emergency signal.
- A flier is someone who flies planes; a flyer is a piece of paper.
- Flower bed, not flowerbed.
- Free rein, not free reign.
- To garner is to accumulate, as a waiter garners tips; to garnish (in the non-parsley meaning) is to take away, as the government garnishes one’s wages; a garnishee is a person served with a garnishment; to garnishee is also to serve with a garnishment (that is, it’s a synonym for “to garnish”).
- A gel is a jelly; it’s also a transparent sheet used in stage lighting. When Jell-O sets, or when one’s master plan takes final form, it either jells or gels (though I think the former is preferable).
- Bears are grizzly; crimes are grisly. Cheap meat, of course, is gristly.
- Coats go on hangers; planes go in hangars.
- One’s sweetheart is “hon,” not “hun,” unless one’s sweetheart is Attila (not, by the way, Atilla) or perhaps Winnie-the-Pooh (note hyphens).
- One insures cars; one ensures success; one assures people.
- Lawn mower, not lawnmower.
- The past tense of lead is led, not lead.
- One loathes someone else but is loath to admit one’s distaste.
- If you’re leeching, you’re either bleeding a patient with a leech or otherwise sucking someone’s or something’s lifeblood. If you’re leaching, you’re removing one substance from another by means of a percolating liquid (I have virtually no idea what that means; I trust that you do).
- You wear a mantle; your fireplace has a mantel.
- Masseurs are men; masseuses are women. Many otherwise extremely well educated people don’t seem to know this; I have no idea why. (These days they’re all called massage therapists anyway.)
- The short version of microphone is still, so far as RH is concerned, mike. Not, ick, “mic.” [2009 update: I seem to be losing this battle. Badly. 2010 update: I’ve lost. Follow the author’s lead.]
- There’s no such word as moreso.
- Mucus is a noun; mucous is an adjective.
- Nerve-racking, not -wracking; racked with guilt, not wracked with guilt.
- One buys a newspaper at a newsstand, not a newstand.
- An ordinance is a law; ordnance is ammo.
- Palette has to do with colour; palate has to do with taste; a pallet is, among other things, something you sleep on. Eugene Pallette was a character actor; he’s particularly good in the 1943 film Heaven Can Wait.
- Noun wise, a premier is a diplomat; a premiere is something one attends. “Premier” is also, of course, an adjective denoting quality.
- That which the English call paraffin (as in “paraffin stove”), we Americans call kerosene. Copy editors should keep an eye open for this in mss. by British authors and query it. The term paraffin should generally be reserved for the waxy, oily stuff we associate with candles.
- Prophecy is a noun; prophesy is a verb.
- Per Web 11, it’s restroom.
- The Sibyl is a seeress; Sybil is Basil Fawlty’s wife.
- Please don’t mix somewhat and something into one murky modifier. A thing is somewhat rare, or it’s something of a rarity.
- A tick bites; a tic is a twitch.
- Tortuous is twisty, circuitous, or tricky; torturous is painful, or painfully slow.
- Transsexual, not transexual.
- Troops are military; troupes are theatrical.
- A vice is depraved; a vise squeezes.
- Vocal cords; strikes a chord.
- A smart aleck is a wise guy; a mobster is a wiseguy.
- X ray is a noun; X-ray is a verb or adjective.
My view has always been that great first lines are overrated. Famous opening lines tend to become famous after the fact. Once a book becomes acclaimed or well-loved, the opening takes on a significance that it didn’t have to start with. Nobody read “Call me Ishamel”…
Writer’s Block
A picture says a thousand words. Write them.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
Download here.
PLEASE LIKE OR REBLOG IF YOU DOWNLOAD.
Tutorials:
reducing the file size of a gif
randomly changing sidebar image
Tips and Resources:
1. USE HIGH QUALITY IMAGES/VIDEO
Whether your making a gif or a graphic, high quality content is very important. It makes a tremendous difference in the final product.
2. SMART SHARPEN
I think it’s really important to sharpen your image. In my opinion, smart sharpen is a lot better than regular sharpen. It gives it a cleaner, clearer feel. I use these settings:
3. DON’T OVERSATURATE.
Seriously, dont.
4. TEXTURES, TEXTURES, TEXTURES
I love textures. They give your graphics an effect that you can’t create with just a bunch of raw images. You can get some great textures from here, here, here and here.
5. GRADIENT MAPS
Gradient maps are amazing. I love using them on pictures that are difficult to color. I like to use a dark brown/light brown gradient map or a grey/white one rather than just have a boring black and white one. It’s a good idea to put a brightness layer under the gradient map if the picture you’re coloring is dark.
6. PSDs
PSDs are the best. Whether you get it from a PSD blog or you make your own, it saves you so much time. If you find yourself editing the same scenes or movies then PSDs will be a life saver for you. You can get PSDs from here, here and here. I also use my own colorings that you can find here.
7. STROKE
This is just a personal preference, but when I put text on my gifs I always use stroke. It just helps the text stand out from the background.
8. MAKE SURE YOUR IMAGE IS THE CORRECT SIZE
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen images become distorted on tumblr because the person didn’t resize it correctly. If you’re uploading one image make sure it is 500px wide. If you’re uploading a photoset these are the sizes the pictures should be:
That’s all. I hope you found this helpful! :)
[shared via Google Reader from terribleminds: chuck wendig]
At the news Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James was publishing a writing guide, I tweeted the following because I am at at least a little bit of a dick:
A writing guide by the 50…
The blades were rusted.
Writer’s Block
In one sentence is the spark of a story. Ignite.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a memory about this sentence. Write something about this sentence.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
Writer’s Block
A picture says a thousand words. Write them.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
env0:
To me, this post might be just as important as the bible.
One of my classes. My elderly teacher taught us this because he really cared about books.
Why does no one teach us these things anymore?
I get so uppity when someone breaks the binding on my books.
