Grammar Punk Blog

Proofreading

You’ve heard me lament about the subjugation of writing for printing, spelling, and overused words, well, today let us discuss proofreading. Or the lack thereof.

Now I for one applaud the advent of progress when it comes to the act of writing. I not only emphatically embrace writing with a computer (my first novel was written entirely on a typewriter—which means, make a mistake, retype the page!), email, IM, Twitter, et al. I love it all. And my philosophy is: if it makes writing easier, yahoo! However, as with many things that are suddenly easier, complacency sets in. And with complacency…okay, I’ll just say it, carelessness follows.

Communication is communication, no matter its format, and thus should be clear, readable, and free from mistakes—at least the easily found and fixed ones. Yes, I’m talking about even the most casual of missives. And, yes, I’m harping. Because it is with casual communication that bad habits are developed. And even the most casual communication reflects its author.

Proofreading, people! Take that extra couple of minutes after you’ve typed out what you want to say to reread what you’ve just written. You’ll be amazed at the common mistakes that can be avoided: missing words, commonly misspelled words, lack of punctuation, etc., and you’ll be astonished at how much more impressive even the simplest message can be if it is error-free.

So before you hit the Send button, stop and proofread. All who read you will appreciate it. And want to hear from you again. ;o)

Write with purpose! Especially when it comes to writing your scenes.

Your scene might be in a short story or something longer; doesn’t matter, a scene is a scene. And every scene should have a purpose. And every scene should move the story forward in some way. And every scene should blend with the one before it—and the one following on its heels.

Scenes are the building blocks of your story. Think of scenes as what happens between the commercials of a television show. Remember, scenes should have a beginning, middle, and an end. Scenes should be like wee little mini-stories that when put together form the story as a whole. Don’t worry, that’s not as daunting as it sounds. Actually, I’ve always found that to be sort of comforting. Tackling a story—or gulp—a novel one scene at a time makes the journey much more manageable. And fun. I promise.

Begin at the beginning. Have an idea for a story? Something longer? Can’t seem to get past the idea of getting that idea down on paper and letting it do its thing? Think of it one scene at a time. How does your story begin? Write!

Commonly Confused’s

The English language is one of the most difficult languages to master—even for those of us who count it as their first, and only. Much of the complexity and redundancy of our language can be blamed on the fact that we’ve borrowed from so many other languages. The many, many commonly confused words, many of those homonyms, yet another reason our language presents such difficulties.

Once a week we’ll explore a pair of homonyms or commonly confused words and hopefully shed a little light on using the correct one in the correct places.

We’ll begin with one of my personal pet peeves of a pair of commonly confused words. Not only is this word often used incorrectly in print but it is astonishing how often it is misspoken aloud in movies, television shows, news broadcasts, you name it. Drumroll please…

Cavalry and Calvary.

Once and for all:

Cavalry: formerly, the part of an army made up of soldiers trained to fight on horseback. As in here comes the cavalry to the rescue.

And Calvary: a hill just outside the city walls of ancient Jerusalem where the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ took place, according to the Bible.

Yes, they sound similar but there isn’t even the excuse of two words that are spelled and pronounced the same—they’re not! They’re two completely different words! So why do so many people misuse them! Okay, tantrum over. All together now, cavalry—to the rescue; Calvary—a place in xxxx.

Grammar Punk Commonly Confused Sentence:

Grammar Punk Sentence: C A 2

Heaving a lofty sigh of relief, Stella saw the herd of caterpillars cresting the hill; The Butterfly Festival would go on: the cavalry had arrived!

Of all the places she’d visited on her vacation, the visit to Calvary was the most moving.

The teaching of Creative Writing has gotten a bad rap over the last several years. Or at least an overly complicated one. All writing, no matter its purpose or end result, should contain at least aspects of creativity. Otherwise, what would be the point?

The question then is: when should creative writing be introduced into the student experience?

Teachers say:

•       I’m just trying to get my students to write simple sentences, they’re not ready for creative writing.

Grammar Punk™ says:

•       They’re already writing creatively, now you just need to focus the skills they’re already exhibiting.

We also say: What creative writing isn’t…

•       Out of your student’s league

•       Too much to expect from middle school or even elementary students

•       Difficult to teach

•       Not necessary for struggling or reluctant students

•       Not fun to teach or learn

Grammar Punk™ says:

•       All writing begins with words

•       The Grammar Punk™ Dice make students more aware of the words they create

•       Using specific words (of their own creation) in sentences makes students use their imaginations to make the word fit

•       Creating an imaginative sentence makes students want to ask… What happens next?

Encourage your students to play with words.

•       Words about the 5 senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, sound)

•       Words that paint pictures

•       Words that set mood or convey emotion

•       Words that describe a location or setting

•       Words that fit a specific genre or theme

We’ll go into more detail about this subject. As you’ve probably noticed, we’re crazy about writing in all its wild and wacky formats.

It came to my attention not too long ago that the art—and yes I’m calling it an art—of cursive writing is dwindling fast.

This is an outrage, I cry!

There are many reasons put forth, I have no doubt. I’ve heard that it is felt that there are too many pressures on students and this is yet one more. It is a skill that is no longer necessary with the onslaught of computers and texting and keyboards and blah, blah, blah.

Excuses, excuses.

Cursive writing is a skill that should not, cannot, must not be lost, certainly not to entire generations to come.

If nothing else the act of cursive writing lends speed to ones communication.  This was in fact the very reason that the lack of cursive training came to my attention.  I was scribbling out a check at a grocery store and looked up to see the young cashier staring at me in something like fascination. When I looked askance, she commented that she’d never learned how to write in cursive and couldn’t believe how fast I could write.

And here I had no idea that cursive writing was not just a normal part and parcel of elementary education. I clearly remember practicing those first rudimentary swoops and swirls and strange shapes that I wasn’t entirely certain would ever resemble actual letters. We were living in Alaska at the time and I had a particularly clever teacher who made the repetition fun by having us create a drawing from our cursive capital letters. I still recall I had the letter F and I made it into a sailboat. And though drawing has never been my strongest suit (though oh, I wish it were) I’ve never forgotten that small awkward sail boat made from the letter F. Cursive was more than just writing, it was very near magical. And learning it felt like an accomplishment that never quite left me.

What do you think?

Expository writing is meant to inform the reader, to convey information in a clear, precise manner. Creative writing is intended to entertain the reader, though it too can inform. Because mastering both types of writing will make you a true writer, a better writer, a phenomenal writer, give expository writing a try.

There are many kinds of expository writing: personal narratives, persuasive essays, book reports, research papers, cause/effect essays, essays of comparison, how-to essays, journaling, etc. Expository is a fancy way of describing any kind of writing where the writer is informing the reader about something. The thing to remember with any kind of expository writing is accuracy, precision, and attention to detail. You’re trying to communicate something: make it clear.

We’ll talk more about the different types of expository writing in the following weeks.

Write something! Let’s try another scene, or go for an entire story. This time we’ll use prompts from the Grammar Punk™ GP Creative, our creative writing course. Choosing from the Genre, Location, Emotion, Character, and Situation cards here is a scene from a story I will share in a serialization over the next few weeks.

Try your hand at it too. And share!

Genre: Mystery

Location: Big City

Emotion: Confused

Character: Writer

Situation: person who is paranoid

Here is my effort. Title: The Man Who Would Be Poe

“I am a failure.” The writer said. The words were uttered without passion, barely stirring the air in front of the writer’s mouth.

“You’re not serious.” Said his agent, who was preoccupied with the plate of food being set before him.

“An utter and complete failure.”

            “Bah. Nonsense. Poppycock. Ridiculous,” said his agent, cutting into the ridiculously expensive steak.

            “An abysmal and incomprehensible failure.”

            “How can you even say the word when your latest book still sits at the top of the bestsellers list—where it has been sitting I might add for more than sixteen weeks! You’re just hungry. Eat, you’ll feel better.”

            The writer shoved his plate away, the mere thought of ingesting food abhorrent. He was a ghost and ghosts do not consume T-Bones. What a thought. Except of course he wasn’t a ghost, which would at least have some semblance of lingering horror, titillating terror, a smidgen of fright to it.

            Edward Allen Moore (whose rather unfortunate given name was Stanley Nelson Moorehouse) looked rather more like a professional athlete than the stereotypical writer with a lean muscular build, thick blond hair tended to fall into his blue eyes and a handsome face ruddy with glowing health. Gloom sat ill on his open, guileless face.

The writer pinned his agent with piercing blue eyes full of unsatisfied anguish. “Do my stories haunt your dreams?” He demanded. “Do my novels creep into your unconscious and play havoc with your nerves? Does my writing cause you to despair, mourn or wither at the thought of your own mortality? Of course it doesn’t. I’m a very bad writer. The worst.”

The agent, who tried very hard and whenever possible to read as little of his clients work as was humanly possible, sighed gustily. “This is that Poe thing again, isn’t it?”

“That Poe thing?” The writer’s ruddy face blanched. He shoved back from the table so fiercely expensive water goblets tipped and heavy china crashed to the floor as if in sympathy. “That Poe thing!”

The agent clapped a horrified hand over his mouth.  “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! I take it back!” The agent called vainly to the back of the writer’s retreating back. “Edward! Edward, come back! I apologize for—whatever it is I said.” The agent sighed again and sat back down to his pricey, expense-report lunch. No sense in wasting a perfectly good steak. Certainly not on a writer.

Brainstorming your brain

We’ve talked a bit about brainstorming, offered some thoughts, shared some ideas, pointed the way to that mysterious place where ideas hover, float, fidget, meander, wend, wiggle, gather, flitter, and live. And wait to be discovered. And pieced together in a gathering of words that will, with work, will, and a bit of luck become story. A story. Your story.

To winnow out those free-floating, often elusive bits of flotsam that are ideas is easier—and harder—than you think. But like any hard-won skill, it takes practice, as does anything worth doing.

Because the ultimate goal of brainstorming (in this application) is to formulate an idea that will grow and develop and hopefully resolve itself in the form of a story with a beginning, middle, and an end, it is helpful to at least attempt to tame the flurry of ideas that, once awakened, can bounce around your brain like a ping-pong ball in a wind tunnel. Which means outlining. Which we will cover in detail.

But first, more about the process of waking up those ideas. Ask them questions.

How?

What?

When?

Where?

Who?

Why?

As simple as that, you ask? Yes! How did the what happen when and where and to whom and WHY? Answer those questions and you have the beginning, possibly the middle, and even the end to story.

Cool, huh?

Give it a try.

Next week we’ll introduce you to some tools to further agitate those ideas and give them substance–and someplace to go.

Creative writing does not have a specific structure, style, genre or composition. Neither do creative writing instructors. Some instructors might assign creative essays while others may assign different types of structure, including poetry, character sketches, letters to the editor, screenplays, monologues, and essays. What makes creative writing different from other types of writing is that the writer uses his/her imagination to expand the topic and make it interesting—and make it their own. Therefore, the first thing you will need to get started is imagination.

 Last week we talked about words; remember, it’s all about the words. The longest stories, novels, epics (think Dostoyevsky—anything by Dostoyevsky) began with one word. Words are the building blocks of, well, everything. And the words you choose are where you’ll begin. Words are the very best part of writing! But what are words to do without sentences into which they will fit themselves?

 You knew we had to talk about sentences next. Like words, the concept of sentences—certainly to a writer—may seem excessively simplistic. Deceptively so. A subtle, but very effective way to make your writing deadly and monotonous is by never varying sentence length. 

Long ones, short ones, medium sized ones; sentences do—and should—come in all lengths. This is not to say you should suddenly become self-conscious about it. Nothing kills creativity quicker than OCD-ing about it, just be aware.

 Check out your favorite authors; notice how they vary their sentence lengths. You may even find cause to throw in a fragment here and there (don’t tell anyone we said that.) Your ultimate goal is flow. Good writing should read effortlessly. Not as easy as it sounds. As any writer will tell you, good writing is hard work.

 Read it aloud. Once you get the hang of this varying sentence-length thing, the best way to ascertain whether or not it’s working is to read your efforts aloud. Does it sound choppy and contrived? Do you find yourself running out of breath before finishing a sentence? Adjust. Then do it again. And again.

 “As with all other aspects of the narrative art, you will improve with practice, but practice will never make you perfect. Why should it? What fun would that be?” —Stephen King

Wednesdays will be all about writing. All kinds of writing, pertaining to all kinds of writers. 

Words. Just ask any writer and they’ll tell you any story, of any length begins with words. Of course, you’re a writer; you already knew that. But have you really thought of it that way. That it all begins with words. Words tell the story, words can paint pictures, evoke emotions, create mood, illuminate, motivate, and captivate. It all comes down to words. The trick is to choose theright words.

Don’t be afraid of words. Study them, explore them, play with them, pay attention to the ones used by your favorite writers. Remember to use:

• Words about the 5 senses (sight, smell, taste, touch, sound)
• Words that paint pictures
• Words that set mood
• Words that describe a location (setting)
• Words that fit a specific genre or theme
• Words that fit your character’s type
• Words that bring your reader into the story with your characters
• Words that bring the story to life, words that spring off the pages and stay with your reader
• Words that evoke, provoke, entertain, tweak, hum, chuckle, shriek, shine, shudder, and crow

In the coming weeks we’ll explore the many and varied types of writing, from expository, to non-fiction, to creative. And we’ll play with words. Lots and lots of words.

“Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”  —E.L. Doctorow