Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with writing

How can I talk to children?

meadowlark lime — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:16:01 -0800

How can I talk to children? I'm working on some writing projects that require me to know how children talk. I think I have a fairly good ear and memory for it from my own childhood, but you inevitably forget things, or you never would have noticed certain patterns when you were a child.

I would like to speak to children aged 6 - 13. I cannot think of a direct way to do this. Obviously, I'm not going to be the creepy guy lurking around a playground with an open notebook. I think observing classrooms would help, but I don't know any teachers who live near me.

What I'd like to do is to be able to sit down with some kids with a tape recorder running and just talk to them in a free-ranging way. How can I set something like this up? I don't want people to think that I am doing market research for some corporate product, or misrepresent my intentions in any way. Do you think there is some kind of school / church / community group that would let an outsider come in to talk to kids?

How can I find a school nurse to let me shadow her for an article?

rinosaur — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:21:09 -0800

How can I find a school nurse to let me shadow her for an article? For my final paper this semester in my health writing class I'd like to write a "day in the life of a school nurse" piece that focuses on the new/emerging responsibilities taken on by school nurses with the growing diagnoses of ADD/ADHD (and the subsequent medication) and the like. The trouble is that I do not know any school nurses personally. What's the best way for me to go about finding that resource?

I've made contact with several of the "community relations" personnel at surrounding school districts, and I see via google that there is a School Nurse Association and have emailed their main contact information. Is there more I should be doing, or a tactic that might be more direct to help produce results? Are there concerns that school districts and nurses will have that I'm not considering and should be prepared for?

Alternately, do you know a school nurse in the Philly area who might be interested?

I'm hoping this is an OK use of ask.me and I apologize if it's misplaced.

Thanks in advance for any help you could give!

There's no way I'm going to J-school: What can I read, instead?

AAAA — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:08:38 -0800

What books can I read that will give me some idea of what it might take for me to make my living as a writer or journalist? Before you ask, yes: I know what's happening with journalism right now. Clearly, this isn't the decade to be thinking about making a living with writing of any kind, but when I think about some of the alternatives, well... none of them are particularly attractive to me at this point in my life. I can write, I can perform research, and, what's more, I like to do both those things. I'd like it even better if those were the only things I ever had to do to make my way in the world.

So I think I should try becoming a journalist.

The trouble is, I don't really know where to start. I've published a few articles in different places over the course of the past year, and I've been paid--so I know I'm capable of writing professional (or near-professional) quality stuff.

But aside from the actual writing, most aspects of the trade are still pretty mysterious to me. I don't understand the business side of things (what's a "query letter" supposed to be like?), and I don't understand how a journalist behaves during the information gathering parts of the process. I've had to contact sources for some of my projects, but when I speak to them I'm never entirely certain that I'm doing it right (assuming, that is, there's even a "right" way).

I know some of you are journalists or journalism students. Can anyone recommend some good reading material that will help me learn some of the non-obvious aspects of the trade? I'd also be interested in personal stories, but I'm mostly looking for things to include on an independent reading curriculum. In other words, if J-school didn't exist, what would you, as a starting writer, choose for your personal textbook?

Innovative Book Designs

0bvious — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:37:46 -0800

Innovative Books: I am looking to compile a list of the most innovative uses of the book format. Books that break the mould in their layout and design, perhaps books that use online systems to extend their content value or push their form into new places. I am most interested in narrative and theory, but any book that is interesting (artist books etc.) would be really appreciated. I have a few examples, in order of publication, to set the ball rolling:

Compendium for literates : a system of writing by Karl Gerstner - A book about book form in an innovative form. Beautiful and still fresh

Dictionary of the Khazars: a lexicon novel in 100,000 words by Pavic - a 'dictionary novel' "written in two versions, male and female, which are identical save for seventeen crucial lines"

A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel by Tom Philips - an artist who has used one particular edition of one particular book as a space for his work for many years

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larson - extended use of footnote, side-note and illustration to give the narrative dimension

I would love any ideas you have!

Know any good blogs by high school or college age females?

Joe Beese — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:14:46 -0800

Know any good blogs by high school or college age females? It's character research for NaNoWriMo. Videos are fine too.

Long-Distance Friendship for Introverts

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:49:20 -0800

Introvert Filter: please help me revive a friendship! I have lost contact with an old friend, for no particularly good reason--I like this friend a lot, but I just never got motivated enough to call or write. My friend sent a couple emails, and I didn't reply to them. I kept meaning to write back, but I never got around to it, and now several months have gone by and I feel really guilty about it. It's especially hard for me to write back now because of the guilt, and because I don't know how to explain why I didn't write back before. This has gone on for several months and is only getting worse.

I feel like it takes a huge amount of energy to stay in contact with people, even when I like them. The longer I wait to reply, the harder it gets, until it seems nearly impossible. Yes, I know this is beyond normal behavior even for an introvert and procrastinator, but I don't think I can explain it any better. (If it helps, I'm a little like the author of this question, but she might not make sense either.)

Another factor to consider is that even when I manage to overcome my inertia and talk to one of my far-away friends, I don't necessarily manage to do it for another. This is just because I find it easier to keep in touch with some people than with others, and because some are more understanding than others of my not communicating (which has never gotten this bad before).

(TL;DR details: I was recently visited by another friend that I do talk to, who had stopped by friend #1's workplace. Friend #1 wondered what had happened to me, and Friend #2 felt awkward for having been in contact with me when I was ignoring Friend #1. I also feel awkward about emailing Friend #1 and claiming my behavior was nothing personal, when in fact I wasn't ignoring other people.)

I really want to email my friend. Unless my friend is extremely angry at me, which I doubt, it's worth whatever unpleasantness I'll have to endure; I just want to minimize that unpleasantness as much as I can. (I already know it's my fault and I deserve it, so please don't rub it in.) What should I say? Should I try to be honest even though it won't make sense? Should I lie? (I think there are times when a white lie really is better than the truth, but what lie would work here?) If your friend emailed you after a long disappearance, what could (s)he say that would minimize your negative reaction?

One final note: please do NOT say things like "just say what you said here, because anyone who's REALLY your friend will understand." Real people aren't perfect like this, and I'm not sure I'd even want friends who are endlessly forgiving.) Thanks for reading!

Words to money

schmichael — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:23:49 -0800

(Pro)sefilter: want to sell prose. Looking for advice. So I want to sell some work, get published. Now, for all intents and purposes, let's consider me to be unpublished. But I am confident in my words and confident in my ideas. Currently, I'm working on travel stories from my recent time in America - I'm a New Zealand citizen.

However I fear that the combination of the internet and the recession - and a generalised apathy towards the written word - means that it is particularly hard to make money writing these days.

Wise and generous denizens of Askme, I humbly request advice - preferably wide-ranging and learned - for a newcomer.

Political extremism in literature

thesailor — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:34:29 -0800

Novels where political extremism is an underlying theme. I'm looking for some novels that depict the protagonist descending into political extremism (any type) after some sort of extreme event or troubling past. I'm interested in the way the personalities and thoughts of these people are portrayed in writing. Something like Mishima's Runaway Horses would be good. Many thanks!

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.

Tell me about this sentence construction

peep — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:23:06 -0800

Tell me everything you know about this sentence construction: "Are you finished your lunch?" In the past few months, I've heard the following three sentences while watching cartoons with my son.

1. "Are you finished your lunch?"
2. "I'm all finished my book."
3. "I'm finished the decorations."

At first I thought the sentence must have been misdubbed or something - like it was written "Have you finished . . ." and there was an error in recording the voice and they just left it. But three times (and on different shows)?

I'm in the US. Is this a regional thing, or common in English speaking countries other than the US? I'm 33, and I had never before heard this construction, nor seen it in print or noticed it in anything I've read on the web.

Have you heard this? Do you use it? Where are you from and what languages do you speak? Any details appreciated.

What are the most well-written textbooks?

crLLC — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:19:59 -0800

What are the most well-written (i.e., enjoyable to read) textbooks and/or books written for an academic audience? I'm not looking for the "best" textbook on any given subject, but textbooks on any topic that are compelling to read because of the wit and lucidity of the writing style. I generally enjoy reading nonfiction about various topics, but I find the prose of many books that try to make academic or technical concepts accessible to popular audiences a little too simple and tedious. On the other hand, much academic writing is bad writing. But I have come across a few textbooks that really bring their subject to life through great writing. The one that prompted me to write this question was an older edition of Sidney Painter's Western Europe in the Middle Ages. Another example might be Gombrich's A Story of Art. I'd like to find more books along these lines, and they can be on any academic or technical subject, so long as you enjoyed reading them. What I'm not looking for are books that might be described as popular nonfiction, no matter how good they might be (e.g., Brian Greene or Bill Bryson). And I'm not necessarily looking for the book that provides the most comprehensive or most accurate analysis of its subject. My focus is on writing style -- the substance need not be perfect. Thanks!

Help me get a handle on this mass of writing!

sister nunchaku of love and mercy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:07:31 -0800

WriterFilter: I need help organizing this large, sprawling, and motley set of Word files into the first draft of a novel. I've written about 450 pages of what I hope will be a novel. I'm one of those people who has little trouble getting words onto the page, but organization and revision can be really difficult for me, especially with a longer piece of writing.

Right now the novel-to-be consists of dozens and dozens of separate files, each containing multiple scenes, single scenes, or even fragments of scenes. I also want to weave newspaper reports, interviews, and letters (all of which I've written) into the narrative.

In my mind I have a pretty good grasp of the content and flow of the whole. It's the process of organizing the mass of writing that has me cowed. I feel like I'm looking at a huge skein of yarn that I have to untangle before I can make use of it. I can see the beginning and the end of it, but the middle is a mass of knots.

Can you recommend ideas/techniques/strategies/software/how-to books to help me stitch this thing together into a draft? If I can do that, I think I can then revise it from beginning to end (as many times as necessary).

Bonus: fear of failure and the knowledge that this is going to be somewhat of a slog is paralyzing me to an extent, so I could use some suggestions to help with those issues, too.

FWIW I'm a Mac user and own the text editor Scrivener, which I think is awesome, though I haven't yet used it that much.

Thanks in advance, hive mind.

Who will educate the educators [Writing Class Ideas]?

eytanb — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:22:18 -0800

I have 2 hours to lecture to a bunch of 18 year-olds how to write well. The bulk of their work-load will be somewhere along the lines of position papers, research papers and summaries of conferences. How do I keep them glued to their chairs? More info in explanation. I have a pretty senior research and writing position where I work, with my work ranging from position papers to industry updates and as far as speech-writing. Due to my experience and the fact that I, unlike many of the other researchers in the company, am not reduced to a quivering blob of terror when exposed to larger social settings, I have been asked to give a two hour intro lecture on writing to the fresh-blood - a bunch of post-high school kids joining our ranks.

I would like to focus less on how to throw together a bibliography or how to research a topic and more on the conceptual idea of structuring a paper and other techniques which could prove valuable. I don't want to be boring though. The hive mind clearly has experience in writing and so I turn to you educated folk - what is the most important thing you know about writing non-fiction? What could I throw into a class on writing in order to save me from the fate of being relegated to the boring, monotonic teacher (Bueler? Bueler?)?

I'll have eight hours to write a screenplay from start to finish. Help!

Cantdosleepy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:23:12 -0800

Screenwriters - advice for coming up wirth effective short film scripts QUICKLY! I'm involved in a 48 Hour Film Challenge at the weekend. On Friday at 19:30 we will be given:

1) a genre
2) a prop
3) a line of dialogue that must appear in the film

(All teams have the same prop and dialogue line. Each team has a different genre, picked out of a hat.)

We have to submit an edited short film by 19:30 on Sunday evening.

The plan in the past has been: write on Friday, shoot on Saturday, edit on Sunday.

As you can imagine, going from a first concept to a shooting script in one evening, after a day at work, can be a challenge.

Any advice from people experienced in this would be gladly received. Length, drafting, idea creation, etc etc.

What can I do to prepare before the day? What things should I have at the front of my mind? There's obvious stuff - don't include expensive props that we don't have etc. What are other things that should be written on a piece of A4 and stuck above my monitor as I'm writing?

Short passages of particularly strong or weak nonfiction prose?

cymru_j — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:04:34 -0800

In search of short passages of especially strong or weak nonfiction prose! I’m hoping to build a composition class around short examples of effective and in effective writing. I'm thinking of passages of about 1-6 sentences.

We'll look at excerpted passages as a class and analyze what makes them more or less effective. Maybe we'll even try rewriting them in various ways to note the effect.

Passages from well-loved (or well-hated) prose stylists are very welcome, but bonus points for writing whose quality seems surprising or out of context, i.e. poor writing where one might expect strong (from a respected magazine, author, columnist) or good prose that pops up in off-beat venues (blogs, advertising copy, tabloids, etc.).

Any comments on why said prose is effective or ineffective are also welcome.

Thanks very much, guys!

need publisher, imagination will travel

gypseefire — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:49:06 -0800

I've recently begun work on a children's book. It is inspired by my granddaughter. I was wondering if anyone had any information on how to get a children's book published? Suggested Publishers? Also, any other information pertaining to this process, would be appreciated. ***I realize that children's books are a dime a dozen...but mine just might be spectacular ;)***

Book review work?

different — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:53:46 -0800

How can I get paid book review work? As a freelance writer, I've done the odd paid book review here and there. I now want to get more reviewing work, but (unlike general writing assignments) I'm not sure where to start. If you write or assign paid book reviews (however poor the pay is; even a token amount), what advice can you offer?

NB: I am interested in doing more reviews on a professional level, which is the reason for wanting paid work. I'm (fortunately) not trying to make a living at it. As a pro writer, I don't particularly want to do Amazon reviews, if for no other reason than that they'll most likely end up topping Google searches on my name which could make me look amateurish.

Some say I have a way with words.

the NATURAL — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:16:31 -0800

You are a paid writer/screenwriter/columnist/blogger. What can you tell me about how to best break into this profession? Now, obviously, talent matters, and whether or not I have any of that good stuff remains to be seen. But are there tips/secrets that you could offer to an aspiring writer as they look to break in to this realm?

For what it's worth, I'm 9 months removed from my B.A., and looking at going back next fall for my M.A. (probably in English, either Lit or Creative Writing) and looking to start freelancing for a local lifestyle magazine. I keep a blog, mostly for my own amusement (clipping entertaining passages from my reading).

Help me find vivid books about man in nature.

Stryke11 — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:55:04 -0800

Help me find books of a particular genre, or collection of similar genres. Specifically, books on living in or traveling through nature that have visual, picturesque language about the landscape/scenery/ecology. I just finished reading Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey, about his summer spent working in a ranger cabin in the middle of Arches National Park in Utah. While much of the book is preachy about the need for conservation (animals good, people bad) he did an excellent job defining the area and the associated ecology in very vivid, easily visualized terms - like you were actually there.

Randomly, a month or so ago I also read Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac which also had two scenes similar to this, where he worked a summer (similar to Abbey) on a mountaintop all alone watching for fires in a park in Washington state, and a hike of his with friends in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains.

Now these are two incredibly dissimilar in theme books, so while they have the one thing I like in common, they wouldn't normally be put together. When I do my best to search for these "kinds" of writings in Google or Yahoo! I invariably get travel guides, which isn't what I am looking for. Even Amazon's usually helpful "books of similar type" and "listmania" isn't doing the job.

They don't have to be about national parks in the US. I would love some that take place anywhere in the world, in any type of terrain, as long as it's natural and described in good detail.

Thanks!

What well-known novels lack any character description aside from names?

odinsdream — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:05:32 -0800

What well-known novels lack any character descriptions aside from names?

I can't think of any famous hellholes.

Jason Land — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:58:13 -0800

A friend of mine is writing a memoir about traveling to every country in Europe at the age of 23. He wants to compare being stuck in a crappy part of Romania to a well known literary or film hellhole. We can't think of any. In the book he's talking about being stuck in a crappy part of Romania for 20 hours, instead of the short layover he expected. He used the placeholder of Amity Island (Jaws). This obviously doesn't fit as it's a pleasant place with the exception of the killer shark in the water.

We can't seem to think of anything that most everyone (of the US literary audience) would be able to recognize. We're thinking of things like Silent Hill, Sleepy Hollow (in the story, not the real life place). I feel like we're both missing something super obvious. It can be from any pop culture reference, as long as most people will get it.

Would a suitable solution be something like "East Germany, circa 1960"?

Club Fundraising

Holygrail2 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:53:18 -0800

I'm trying to think of ideas for creative-writing-related fundraisers I'm involved in a college club dedicated to promoting and cultivating creative writing among members. We get together and have free-writes and brainstorming sessions, etc. I'm trying to think of some fundraising ideas for our club that will both a) be effective and b) incorporate creative writing.

I'm not great at this sort of thing. Any ideas?

(I'm trying to find a way to incorporate the upcoming NaNoWriMo too but, again, I'm not great at this sort of thing).

Copywriting Woes

ecorrocio — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:44:42 -0800

The A-B-C's of corporate collateral writing: I'm a graphic designer. How do I communicate to my client that willy-nilly editing procedures, and last minute proof-stage rewrites inevitably makes projects run to the last minute? Is there a "standard" procedure for writing/editing? The scenario: Small Company A takes a haphazard approach to writing key copy for brochures and material - a "design it first, then we'll re-do it again and again" methodology. This consistently makes projects run to the very last second, and incurs all kinds of rush charges from printers etc. Plus, it tends to result in disjointed copy.

Small Company B knows how to write/edit. They write copy, circulate, edit, THEN provide it for insertion into the design. The only edits that tend to occur are typos and layout.

How do I turn Company A's approach into Company B's?

Fiction for Dummies

Spurious — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:47:19 -0800

I am a non-fiction writer but have not read a fiction book since high school. What great fiction books will improve my writing? I am a researcher and write more than 4000 word a week for work. People often comment that I write well.

I read around 50 non-fiction books a year (plus hundreds of journal articles) but I have not read fiction in twenty years.

People tell me fiction has some of the most moving and beautiful prose. I am interested in reading some great works of fiction to help push my own writing to the next level.

Have any suggestions? Assume I have not read any fiction.

Bonus points for audiobooks I can listen to while I run.

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?