Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with writing and writer

Perhaps a chair coated with glue?

BitterOldPunk — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:09:03 -0800

With NaNoWriMo looming ever nearer, I would like to hear your best tips, tricks, habits, and techniques for staying chained to the keyboard. Realizing that the point is to get 50,000 words written, I've jettisoned all illusions of producing quality, publishable prose. My only goal is to finish without having to copypaste "All work and no play makes BOP a dull boy" five thousand times. I have a (rather vague) outline, I have some preliminary character sketches, and I have every expectation that the first ten thousand words will flow fairly quickly. But. I suck at follow-through. I have the attention span of the common housefly. So, writers: how do I stick with it, fight through discouragment and ennui, and produce 50,000 reasonably coherent words?

Note: I'm not looking for tips like "prepare moar" or "work your plan". I'm looking for how to stay motivated when the fun stuff stops and the hard work begins.

Updating my portfolio website and need help with web navigation, images, hosting and more.

mintchip — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:04:23 -0800

Updating my online portfolio and need help with web navigation, images, hosting and more. I would like to update my online writing portfolio, which is currently a blog hosted by Blogger. Each post is a thumbnail image along with some introductory copy. The thumbnails link to large jpg images
stored on Flikr. I want to spend a minimum of time updating my site, and I need to be able to make updates with ease. I have old versions of Photoshop and Dreamweaver at my disposal. Can you help me with these questions?

1. Navigation: On Blogger, new posts appear in date order rather than being organized by category. I am not happy with this navigation limitation. Is there any way around this without creating a whole new website independent of Blogger? I have been thinking about purchasing a domain name and then using an HTML template, but it would be easier if I didn’t have to do this. If I do need to move to a different site format, what would you recommend for a simple template and/or host?

2. Photo storage: My thumbnail images, which Blogger creates, link to Flikr photos. However, the type in these larger images isn't fully readable until the user clicks a second time (after clicking on the thumbnail), to enlarge the image to full size. I’m afraid some readers won’t do this. Is there a good solution to this? Where should I store my photos (if not on Flikr)?

3. Photo size and format: What are standard image sizes? If I abandon the blog format and create a new HTML site, how should I go about creating all of the JPGs I will need (full size, thumbnail)? What is the standard size for full size images and thumbnails and what do you recommend for a naming convention? Would PDF format be preferable? If so, what software should I use to create my PDFs, are there any standards to these, and where can I store them?

4. Should I allow people to download my writing samples, either as JPG or PDFs?

Improve your writing by imitating the greats.

ekpyrotic — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:10:41 -0800

Improve your writing by imitating the greats. I am a middling writer. I have won college writing awards. I once published two pieces in a national newspaper.

I am eager to learn. At night I often find myself scanning http://delicious.com/search?p=writing. The result is frequently the same, either (i) the articles are old, or (ii) the content is old news, Use the active voice, Delete unnecessary words, or other Shrunkian globules of wisdom.

I have read that there comes a time when you should turn to the masters: Hemingway, Nabokov, Chekov, Kafka. Read them; distill their lessons; imitate them.

How do I do that? Are there specific exercises?

How to professionally manage freelance writing about my industry?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:30:26 -0800

How do I successfully do freelance writing (my night job) about my industry (my day job)? I work in a high-tech industry that is a small, close-knit, incestuous community. As a result, I know most of the key players in it, including CEOs, startup founders, etc. I myself work for a high-profile startup. I'm incredibly passionate about this industry and it's been something I've been psyched about since I was in high school.

Along the way someone happened to notice I was good at writing, so I started being paid to blog about my industry. This worked out fine, and I was completely open about it with my employer, who just wanted any company-related material to be run past our PR folks before I posted it. Then I was asked to write for a somewhat related print magazine. Recently I've been asked to write for an industry analyst report.

This is all very cool, and I've discovered I really love the writing. It's also been a real success for me professionally, where others in the industry will recognize my (somewhat odd) name from the writing I do, and a new professional relationship starts from there. But what was early on an easy agreement with my employer has become occasionally awkward with my entire professional network. Now I'm being asked to speculate about a new company started by an entrepreneur I'm on a first-name, familiar basis with, or to interview a friend whose research project is press-worthy, or to put a writing colleague in touch with a higher-up at my company.

I know the basics -- I have told editors I will not write about my own company or its immediate competitors, and I know where there are lines not to cross when a friend has talked with me off-the-record, over drinks, about their new company or project, but the information is still considered business confidential. If I do need to talk to someone as a writer, I usually start the email/conversation by mentioning that I'm now wearing my "reporter hat". However, I'm starting to see where things could get more difficult to navigate in the near future.

So what I'm looking for is advice on how to manage friendly professional contacts when they're sometimes journalistic contacts. Alternatively, I'm interested in better ways to communicate boundaries to my editors, and how to identify those boundaries in the first place without compromising my usefulness. What are the best practices here?

Becoming a writer during my gap "year"

jeatsy — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:38:38 -0800

I have savings and, soon, no work. I want to do something interesting, write about it, and publish - ideally to kick-start a writing career. How should I go about these 3 things? I am a talented writer but have let my skills lie pretty much dormant since high school. Recently I took a fortnight's holiday and, having forgotten to take a camera with me, decided once home to write an account of my travels. It ended up many times longer than I had expected, I adored writing it, and all those who've read it seemed to really enjoy it. Hive mind: I'm hooked. I think I want to be a writer.

This desire coincides with the last few months of a research degree in computer science, about which I have become completely ambivalent and after which I have no plans other than to avoid programming for a living. (To the programmers out there: A great way to make a living. But not for me.) I have a lot of pent-up wanderlust, a desire to do something interesting in some interesting corner/s of the world, and a reasonable stash of savings with which to fund myself. I guess what I want is a worthwhile gap year, plus or minus a few months. And I want to be a writer.

So my logic is, let's go somewhere interesting, do something interesting, and write about it - ideally in order to kick-start a fruitful and enjoyable writing career, but in the worst case to have fun and to develop as a person and as a writer. That's about as specific as I get at the moment...

My question to the hive mind is: how should I go about (a) choosing what I'll do, and (b) writing about it, both with a view to getting published? Should I get talking to publishers right away? Do I approach them with an idea, or do they have ideas that they want people like (hopefully) me to work on - or a mixture of both? What kind of publishing format should I be targeting? Am I mad to even want to write for a living, in the age of blogs and tweets ten a penny?

I should add that the other genre of writing that particularly appeals to me, once I have satisfied my biting wanderlust, is popular science; and I'm 25 and based in the UK.

What should my freelance writer resume look like if I'm actually an engineer?

olinerd — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:02:12 -0800

What's the best way to change my engineering resume into one more appropriate for a freelance writer? I'm an engineer and have a wonderful job doing engineeringy things. On the side, though, I've started doing freelance writing for blogs and magazines -- mostly in technology, related to my day job, but I have some opportunities to branch out.

But now rather than word-of-mouth references, I have to actually submit a resume as a writer. How do I make a good one? On an engineering resume I'd list my relevant skills (engineering design software, machine tools, etc) but I'm not sure what the analog is for writing.

My biggest concern right now is that the list of stuff I *do* have (education, info on the writing I already do) is too short -- I'm used to a good resume filling a page. Advice please!

Who are the best feature writers out there?

reenum — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:21:10 -0800

Who are the best magazine and newspaper feature writers, past and present? I've been on a magazine and newspaper kick lately. I've gotten tons of articles by Michael Lewis, William Langewiesche and Jack Hitt. For sports, I love Gary Smith. I also like to read the in-depth articles put out by ProPublica.

Could you suggest others who write deep, delving pieces about a subject? The subject itself doesn't matter; I care more that the writer have the ability to engage a reader and explain a situation or subject in an interesting way.

Thanks!

Tell me about writing for the commercial web!

Miko — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:04:26 -0800

What do I need to know about writing for the web? I'm talking to some people who run a wonderful, small, independent web-development and design firm. They have had great success doing websites for regional and national companies and local businesses, updating image as they go with fresh design and new messaging. They do everything from toy stores and book stores to hospitals, advocacy groups, professional service firms, etc. Their business is increasing rapidly and they will probably be asking me to do some writing for them soon, on contract. They've seen my writing, which at this point is a very occasional moonlighting activity for me, in local newspapers (features, reviews) and magazines (food writing for the city mag). So they're confident I can put words together and deliver clean copy on a deadline.

However, I feel like there are some real specifics about writing for commercial web sites that I could stand to learn, and having some guiding principles going in would be really helpful.

So I'm asking a very, very open-ended question: what would you tell someone who has written for print, on mostly arts and culture topics, and for professional reasons (grant applications and museum labels and training manuals) about writing for the web on contract for a client who is trying to convey a specific image and message?

What jargon will I hear? What basic questions would I, as a content writer, need to ask at the beginning of a project?

What web resources would you direct a content writer to?

What is the range of fees for this service? How should I start the negotiations? I honestly have no idea what to offer here - print pays by the publication, usually a flat fee in a fee structure giving a range of compensation for type of article and word count. With web projects, do writers charge by the hour? By word count? By type of feature? By package? I have absolutely no idea what to ask. Of course I'm sure the range goes from 'peanuts/free' to 'sky high for the best companies,' but this company is doing very well and growing, they intend to pay, and I am a professional writer looking at this as an income source, not a hobby. So I would love some examples of fees and fee structures that web writers use for different situations and different levels. What are the industry standards?

What other advice do you have that I don't know enough to ask yet?

Thanks a lot. Writing/developing websites could be a really wonderful skill to add to my career bag-of-tricks, so I'm eager to be successful at it.

Are there successful multi-genre authors?

wackybrit — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:31:28 -0800

Are there any reasonably well-known (or even famous) writers who are truly multi-genre? It's very easy to find authors whose writing is predominantly in a single genre - horror (King, Koontz), fantasy (Tolkien, Rowling), crime (Crumley, Christie), romance, and the like. But are there any famous (or at least semi-known) authors who jump between genres regularly?

Variety doesn't seem to be a remarkable attribute in musicians (Sting, for example), but while I can think of writers who straddle or work with two distinct genres (Ballard, Dahl), I cannot think of any who have produced significant works in, say, all of horror, crime, romance, and sci-fi - and I would like to look into the works of any who have.

I want to put words in the mouths of politicians

orange swan — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:11:24 -0800

I would like to start working as a speech or letter writer for a political/government office. What advice do you have for me on how to best go about this? In terms of existing qualifications and experience, I have a B.A. in English, a community college diploma in publishing, a handful of college certificates (one in desktop publishing, the others in unrelated things), and I've spent my entire career so far (14.5 years) working as an editor in various publishing companies in Toronto. I have a book review website with something like 40 book reviews on it to offer a sample of my writing skills. My level of competency in the French language... eh bien, c'est juste triste. I'm not very open to relocation.

Of course the answer is likely to be "bone up on current affairs and apply already" but perhaps there is more I could do to better my chances and/or one of you works at Queen's Park and has an insider perspective. (I have a friend who's spent her career working in various ministries of the Ontario government and I've asked her to ask her contacts for advice.)

Hive mind, please let your sweet, honeyed words of wisdom flow.

Is Jack Vance hoaxing me? Does "The Lonton Times Historical Atlas" exist?

grumblebee — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:51:49 -0800

Is there such a book as "The London Times Historical Atlas"? Google and Amazon are clueless. In an interview published in 1986, Jack Vance stated that "the best way to teach someone to be a writer is to force them to read twenty books I would set out for them": he then names, in addition to Wodehouse and Baum, Cervantes's Don Quixote, Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, Richard Adams's Watership Down and The London Times Historical Atlas ("my favourite book - I don't know of anything more clutching for the imagination"). -- Wikipedia [emphasis added]

Comedic writer wants a shot

aleahey — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:20:05 -0800

How to get started writing comedically? I am a sort of casual-writer with the ability to write (supposedly) "hilarious stuff". I write situational kinds of little things, and whatnot, and constantly get barraged with compliments and friendly suggestions that I missed my calling.

So, my question is this: without risking too much (i.e. giving up my day job) what is a good way to get started in the writing (specifically comedic) field?

More specifically, what is a good place to shop for small resume-building gigs? What sort of stuff is a good idea to put together for a portfolio? Etc.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated, if you have any inside-tips you'd rather not give to the world, please do not hesitate to send them along to aleahey@gmail.com

Thanking any responders in advance.

What does a band sound like?

xo — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:07:17 -0800

I need help writing a bio for an indie band. I know all the "bios for dummies" stuff -- that the bio should include what the music sounds like, where the band is from, etc. But what I don't know is how to write descriptively about music in that jaunty way that makes the reader get a real sense for what the music sounds like. Anyone have tips for doing this well?

Alternatively, where would I find good writers who can listen to music and come up with such descriptions? People who are talented and enthusiastic enough to do the job better than I could, yet who are willing to write something as unglamorous as a band bio?

How can I become a funny writer?

nitsuj — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:36:27 -0800

How can I become a funny writer? I'm an average (professional) writer. I'm no Jim Gaffigan, but I have a relatively good (alright, fine -- above average) sense of humor in social situations. Problem is, I have a hard time injecting that humor into my writing.

What are some good books/resources/tips/tutorials/whatever that can help me transfer my sense of humor to my writing? I'm not interested in learning how to write jokes, or become a stand-up comedian. I want to spice up my normal, everyday writing with humor.

Here are some previous questions that are helpful, but didn't quite address my problem: 1, 2

What is Equitable in a Book Deal?

Anonymous — Sat, 26 May 2007 06:20:03 -0800

I've been asked to co-author a nonfiction book with a woman who is an expert in her field, but not a writer. I have some questions about contracts and rights to the material. She will be providing the book's content, based on experiences from her well established professional practice. But she has no professional writing experience. And after several failed collaboration attempts, she has brought me in to finally help her finish her book proposal, so her agent can shop it, at which point we will write the book together. I have six-plus years experience as a fulltime freelance writer and editor. My question is what should I expect from our contract? We have discussed a 60-40 or 70-30 split, with her getting the larger share because it is essentially her book. But I'm wondering if there is a standard for this type of collaboration. Also, am I entitled to a share of the royalties, or just the advance and a fee for my work? Thanks!

Can I get a job as a writer without a degree?

saileyn — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 00:18:59 -0800

I'm 23 and working as a sales assistant/helpdesk support/office admin/web designer/receptionist in my hometown. How do I go about getting a paying job as a writer, without formal qualifications? I've been working in this role for over 3 years and getting frustrated. My daily tasks are mundane and repetitive and, as our staff consists of five people (including my boss and myself), there's not a whole lot of room for growth. The low paying conditions of my town are terrible; a similar job in Melbourne (forty minutes by train) pays double my current salary. I’m planning on finding another position very soon, hopefully as a writer, or at least as something that will take me a step in the right direction to becoming one.

I have always planned to become a full-time writer. I worked hard to get excellent scores at high school (even taking on an extra subject) and got an awesome place at university in a professional writing course. Unfortunately due to financial difficulties I had to leave after first semester and have been in full-time employment ever since... As much as I'd love to, my partner and I have done our sums and there's no way finance-wise I can go back to university full or even part time.

Is there a way to get a position as a writer somewhere without a bachelor degree? Everywhere I look it says: 3 year bachelor degree essential. Could I apply for a position and hope my folio knocks a prospective employer off their feet and they don’t even notice/care I’m not “qualified”? Or will that just annoy them, and waste their time?

I've seen a lot of references to getting internships here on MF, but as far as I can tell, in Australia you have to be enrolled in some form of university course to be eligible. Cadetships at newspapers etc. are also aimed at school-leavers or graduates and have had their intake for next year anyway.

For those working as writers: What path did you take? Did you start in a company in a different position and work your way in? Or have you done the degree in order to secure a graduate position?

Any suggestions on how I may be able to get myself on the right track would be absolutely wonderful. Thanks in advance to all of you, MetaFilter is an amazing and supportive community.

Good dictionary for a writer?

hootch — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 10:33:55 -0800

Which dictionaries would you recommend as a gift for a writer friend? A writer friend of mine recently mentioned that she needed to get a new dictionary. I thought I'd get her a nice one as a gift since her birthday is coming up. Are there any particular editions that you would recommend? We'll pretend for now that price is no object.

Writers block: web burnout?

trbrts — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 13:25:19 -0800

I used to consider myself a decent writer. It was one of those things that I did well. Over the last few years though I can hardly seem to link two cohesive sentences together. Those last few years also seem to coincide with my entrance into working on the web. Does anyone have any tips for learning how to write again? I think that I just got burned out on writing. I was an English major in college. When I first started working on the web, I worked for a washed out online auction company, writing product descriptions. In my current position, I have to write a fair amount - new content, board member newsletters, emails to our members, etc... And I just can't seem to make it interesting. There is no reason that it can't be. I work in an industry I enjoy and I'm preforming well. But, when I go to write, I kind of just lock up until I finally spit out some boring crap.
Any ideas to help me overcome this and enjoy writing again?

It's Bad For You!

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 05 May 2004 20:41:09 -0800

I'm trying to write an essay on the current nostalgia for guilt-free (and information-free!) smoking, boozing and drug-taking and desperately need sources, whether web-based or bibliographical. [More inside.] For example, from 1933 to 1953 The Journal of the American Medical Association regularly carried cigarette advertisements and web sites like this one have several examples of smoking advertised as a health solution rather than a problem.

Does anyone know of 20th Century sources for recklessly irresponsible advocacies of drinking, smoking and experimenting with drugs? Or, more importantly, of how guilt and knowledge used to be dealt with? Specially of the "I don't want to know" variety.

Any help will be much appreciated.

How do you become an internet phenomenon?

adrober — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:34:19 -0800

How do you become an internet phenomenon? I am a writer who wants exposure and my friends keep telling me to start a website. I've started many a blog--all dismal failures--and need perhaps good advice on how to (a) construct a unique, functional website that is easy to post on and (b) get exposure. Figured this was a good place to ask. Thanks!