The Anatomy Of ConstructionThe Anatomy Of ConstructionWriting belongs to everyone, and anyone who can write at a highschool standard should be encouraged to share their stories- there is an endless fascination to be found in each and everyone of us 
Articles
Looking for the cow
2008-04-08 02:59:00 It's hard to believe you could come up with a story so fascinating that you could write one hundred thousand words in its telling. You?ll think of many other stories other people have written. Maybe you'll have ashamedly thought, ?What if I just take this story, and bend it like so? You might think on abandoning writing.Don't worry, you won?t come through with the story straight away. You will have tiny idea bursts that your brain swallows as fast as they appear.These go into the vat of your mind and are stewed until little ideas start to congeal into a story. This story is made up of hundreds of little events and circumstances; one hundred thousand words wont seem enough.Wrap these circumstances, people, and events- these little ideas- up in an overall story. Any story you like, just tell it well.
Looking for the cow
2008-04-08 02:59:00 It's hard to believe you could come up with a story so fascinating that you could write one hundred thousand words in its telling. You?ll think of many other stories other people have written. Maybe you'll have ashamedly thought, ?What if I just take this story, and bend it like so? You might think on abandoning writing.Don't worry, you won?t come through with the story straight away. You will have tiny idea bursts that your brain swallows as fast as they appear.These go into the vat of your mind and are stewed until little ideas start to congeal into a story. This story is made up of hundreds of little events and circumstances; one hundred thousand words wont seem enough.Wrap these circumstances, people, and events- these little ideas- up in an overall story. Any story you like, just tell it well.
Breathing life into characters
2008-04-07 02:39:00 Leave all the pretending to the page, but when you pretend, pretend earnestly.If your character is an outlaw motorcyclist, don?t affect a different voice and take on some bravado.As you are writing try to understand the character's life, what they feel, why they feel the way they do, and why it comes across the way it does.Experience things with the character. Don?t judge them; let their living inform your story.You are God to their Adam; form them of mere words and by your will, breathe life into their actions.Your breath of life to character is the words on the page; the words must be living things not a deathly dissection.You will be surprised how it changes your character?s behavior. More About: Life , Writing , Characters , Character
Owls and magic feathers
2008-04-06 04:31:00 It is easy to fall into hoping for inspiration borne in through the window by unseen hands. Or owls.It is a bad thing to want to be a writer, and write only a little. The great writers you read will make you wonder. ?What do they do different to me?? These great writers would say to most people who ask this question, ?We write books,? but many of us search for a magic feather, something that will make our writing fly. Anything but spending hours everyday writing. Inspiration , is often the magic thing that we think makes all the difference. We like to pretend Milton, Steinbeck, Rowling and Keats were better writers because of their inspiration. But it is just pretending. More About: Magic , Feathers
Writing is nothing about self deception.
2008-04-05 01:06:00 Sitting and talking to your friends about your great book that you?ve not yet started is self deception; nothing but writing will produce that book you long for. Self deception is revealed by an absence of writing; this absence is not writing by any measure, good or bad. There are some who believe a big owl will swoop in during the night and leave an almighty deposit on their desk. They would call that deposit inspiration, and it will solve all their problems of narrative and character and story. They will not have to sit for hours writing. This owl will have done all the work. Inspiration is what we name our influences after we?ve written a book; Big owls will not replace writing in the production of a book. Practice writing, not self deception. More About: Writing , Deception
The Rules of the Road
2008-04-04 01:43:00 Writing is an art. While there are rules to writing there is no formula to writing a good novel. These rules are simple. First, you must fall in love with a story Then, you must write a rough draft of that story. Finally, polish that draft, through successive drafts, to bring the story out. While doing this you will learn to write. Everything else is like worrying about gilding the frame of a mirror and hoping that this will somehow make the mirror reflect better. Each and every story requires us to learn anew, no one is an expert when it comes to a new story. You must learn to write according to the needs of each and every story; each story contains its own lessons on the art of storytelling and writing. Listen to the story, not your ego. More About: Writing , Rules , Road , The Rules , The Road
Love story.
2008-04-02 22:50:00 That is, of course, what you are doing when you write- expressing a great love for story. We write because we love the story so much we want to share it with others. There are many other reasons, all legitimate, but this is the most important reason. If you don?t love story, you?ve no business writing stories. It is like picking a sport, and pursuing it to be an Olympic gold medal winner. You simply won?t have what it takes. It?s is this passion that will bring you every other skill needed to write. Discipline. Determination. Strength. Ability. All these stem from passion, and a love for telling story. It follows that good writing stems from this same root. Love what you do, and what you do will be great. More About: Writing , Story , Love story
How to show your love for story.
2008-04-02 02:29:00 You mustn?t feel as though you are fighting for words- that?s not to say give up, walk away; just forget your expectations. Don?t get any big ideas, they?re not going to happen. Big ideas will lead to never writing a word. You won?t write a word if you have these big ideas because your body and heart both know that there is a lot more to writing than big ideas of success. Your body and heart know much more than your brain thinks it does. Let the story be your biggest, most important idea. Tell the story very well for the sake of telling the story well, and you will tell the story well. This is the only way to express love for story. More About: Writing , Love , Story , Show
All things in their place
2008-04-01 01:39:00 Each and every thing in its turn. You do not have to know what genre of story you are writing to write - story is not so mechanical as this. This subdivision is easy enough once the piece is done.To concern yourself with favoring an element of the story is to take away from the story.In each and every word you needn?t concentrate on effect; by concentrating on telling the story honestly and you will achieve effect in the words you use.A story is a symphony, of high notes and low notes, but each and every one in its place; leave off artifical emphasis.Our whole lives we are leaves carried along in the stream of story, our writing is just one more aspect of our lives; let it flow, don?t fight and struggle for effect. More About: Writing , Story , Place , Things , Cassidy
Writing with feeling
2008-03-31 02:11:00 When you are writing, do not write something cold and mechanical. Write with feeling, your feeling.Do not sit and ask, ?What is a good metaphor for this feeling?? because if you have to articulate in mechanical thought what you feel, you don?t really feel it. You are thinking it.A metaphor is a method of saying one thing, is equal to another. Her kiss was like the sweet summers dew; at once cold, and tender.A metaphor is a way of saying you know this to feel like that.The metaphor evokes a sensation, a feeling. Of course a girl?s kiss will never be like a summer?s dew, but the impression of the two may be very similar to your heart.Write with honesty- sincerity shines through. More About: Writing , Feeling
One
2008-03-29 23:26:00 Everything is written in the same fashion: One word at a time. This is not an academic point. Hallmark greeting cards, The Bible, every great novel were not started with intention, but one word written on the page. The Words you write, your first draft, is demonstration of your intent. Intention alone, with regard to writing, is only an idea. If every intention to write a novel was realized, everyone would be a writer. They are not, because intention is just a word. Start by writing just one word. Continue by writing another after it, and another, and another. This is how a novel is written. Intend nothing, write down the things you feel and imagine. More About: Writing
One word at a time.
2008-03-29 05:01:00 Every word you write is practice for the next. Knowing how to choose the next word, happily putting it on the page, happily letting it live on the page; all of these things take courage, and a certain skill. It?s not a big courage, it?s nothing more special than being confident enough to sit down and write, and accept the results as something that exists. It?s not a big skill; it?s a skill you acquire from repetition. Writing requires courage, because many people think it does. Writing is a skill, because you do have to invest time into developing it. Improve your writing, by writing. In what world can you imagine improving your writing by not writing? Write with diligence, and consideration for story and the words will flow in an endless stream. Don?t fear how you?ll feel about the results, don?t anticipate results. Just write. More About: Time , Word
Let your mind not abide
2008-03-28 01:34:00 Describe the forest and the tress and each and every leaf without lingering; the story must be complete without halting its flow. Let character nor leaves nor trees detract from the other. Description, dialog, scene, and character cannot be separate entities; in your writing there can be no dualism; each has to be a seamless part of a whole. Should you abide in one aspect you create an artificial separation. Story is the seamless melding of all things without creating elements. Be you hand, eye or foot? No, yet you have all these things in me. Story too must contain all things, but be not one. Control your pen, and thoughts, but in doing so, ensure you let story light on what it will. More About: Writing , Mind
The wonder of it all
2008-03-27 00:58:00 You must tell the story, your story, with your words, through new eyes; eyes that see all things as new. To bring life to a story you must see that which is fascinating in what you see as mundane. You see your face everyday in the mirror, but try and see it with a blank mind, a beginners mind. Unlearn all the things you know about yourself. Where did that scar come from? What pain caused your forehead to crease so? Discover the world again, without knowing, but asking. Reading should be a journey, a path you walk hand in hand with the author. Show your reader the world, help them understand what you see, but do not tell them all the things you know. We know so little, but understand so much more. More About: Writing
Not One Thing
2008-03-26 01:21:00 Don?t worry about ?Write what you know? and rules of that ilk. You can no more write what you don?t know than turn the tides by wishing.Story and you can no more be separate than the hand that strums guitar strings and that which fingers chords.To write what you don?t know would be to sit, for thousands and thousands of words, and tell in detail of something you know nothing of.Consider your writing a fine gold ring.It may slip upon but one finger, and encompass only that.Or at a turn of your will, when lifted to the sky, encompass the blazing sun and heavens, the source of all life.Your writing is an education, a practice, and a liberation.Enjoy all aspects of it. More About: Writing , Thing
Love not the secret chord
2008-03-25 00:46:00 The best you can ever do is to love what you do- but one cannot survive on love alone- one needs a little house for that love to live in This is story, or more specifically, your story telling. To be a writer, you must love your storytelling, and your stories. When you sit at the page, you sit beside a bright campfire, with marshmallows sizzling, and an audience that will never leave you- the page. Your story may take thousands of hours to tell; the page will always be attentive to you, and remember every thing you say. If you love story telling, this is a moment you can make last a lifetime, filled with a thousand different stories, each of which you can polish to be the story you have dreamed. More About: Writing , Love , The Secret , Secret , Chord
Writing makes neither God or Martyr
2008-03-24 00:19:00 You will not be vindicated or victimized for writing. You write, and your writing is an extension of who you are. Pay no mind to ideas of fame, fortune and notoriety. Your duty, as a writer, is to write, not to plant a tree and hope for it to become an aeroplane. The product of your writing efforts, is writing. Don?t ask any more of the practice than this; let your thoughts linger on the story, not a future not yet come. Write as best you can; put your heart and soul into your words when you are drafting; look to the story you are telling when you are editing, this is your reference; take steps to ensure you love what you do. If you love what you?re doing, you?ve got everything you need. More About: Writing , Success , Martyr
What are you improving your writing for?
2008-03-23 03:21:00 What are you improving your writing for? Success in the eyes of the world is not something you can set out to create. It is the pursuit of popular opinion, and an obsession that will take all your energy. You only have so much energy. Don?t waste energy explaining to people what you?re trying to do. Don?t explain to people how successful you want to be. Use all the energy you have for writing to produce the best piece of writing you can. Instead of focusing on being successful, focus on doing one thing very well. Improve your writing for the sake of communicating better.You don?t write to be loved.You write because you want to write.You?re loved because of your love for others. More About: Writing
Who are you?
2008-03-22 03:31:00 Who are you? Many people will tell you who you are, but that?s who they think you are, who are you, from your point of view? To write you have to explore who you are, you have to explore how you see the world, how you feel about things. When you come away from the page, you?re a different person. In the time between sitting at the page, and leaving the page, you undergo a change. You might frighten yourself with what you learn; you might discover you are a closet racist. You might discover you are a wonderful, caring person. Don?t take it too seriously though, because next time you sit down, you?ll find you are different again. You and your writing will be different. More About: Writing
The Original Writer
2008-03-21 01:21:00 William Shakespeare claimed there were only ever five stories to tell. If there are only five stories to tell, you don?t have to worry about originality. Original ity will come from the fact that you wrote it. It doesn?t matter who you are, you can only ever hope to tell the story as you see it through another character?s eyes. You, yourself, are a wonderfully intricate creation. You?ve had many thousands of experiences, and from each you?ve come away with an understanding of what it was about- your understanding. When you sit down to write, you?re creating a product of a lifetime of experiences. In this, writing and jazz are similar; you have to love what you?re doing, right now; you have to practice; and you have to put something of yourself into it. More About: Writing , Writer
Doing is being.
2008-03-20 01:49:00 Just because you?re a writer today doesn?t mean you?ll be a writer tomorrow.If you don?t write, and drink coffee and talk about writing, you?re not a writer, you?re a person talking about writing.You don?t have to be grand to write, you just need to have something to write with.John Lennon didn?t even have a computer and wrote Imagine .Even people who suffer from Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (The name of the condition that renders one afraid of big words) can write.If you?ve ever felt happy, or sad, or mad, or bad, you can tell people a story.It will be good or bad, but you control that by the amount you put into the story.In every sense. More About: Writing
Only do one thing
2008-03-19 00:53:00 When you write, just write and don?t think about being a writer. A person thinking about being a writer is different to a person writing, and you can only be one thing at a time.Being a writer is no big thing, it?s part of being a person; you choose to be a writer by writing.You don?t need to know a lot of big words; the words you use to communicate things to yourself and others are already enough.Nobody else is quite like you, and your writing will be quite unlike anyone else?s.That?s why we practice writing; to unlearn the idea of "trying to sound like ," and make our writing reflect more how we see the world. More About: Thing
To Be A Writer
2008-03-18 00:43:00 You are a human being, but a human being what? When you sit down and write, you are a human being a writer, and that?s all a writer ever is.When you stand up, and walk away from the page, you are a human being something else; a coffee drinker; a shopper; a laborer; an accountant.Writing is just an activity, one anyone can do. It doesn?t matter if you?re blind.It doesn?t matter if you suffer Cerebral palsy. There are writers who didn?t even think to overcome these things, and wrote anyway. Sometimes, your obstacles can help you to write.When you sit down at the page, you are a human being, writing about being human. More About: Writer
Initializing....
2008-03-17 07:09:00 A synthetic reality; a better type of car; television; credit cards; rooms lit by tubes of burning gases and maintained at a constant temperature to sustain people; refrigerators with internet connection and sixteen inch LCD screens; a better job for a bigger mortgage; buying, not making; never mending, always discarding; no understanding but knowing. The real world is not like this, it can?t be. It remains; sky and sun and moon; sweat on a hot day; walking, not sad scrambling; sleep without pills; youth, adulthood, aged; Gentle hearts; understanding, never knowing; reward consummate to effort; tender loves, burning hates; Agony and ecstasy; truth evinced by behavior, not argued; action and thought in resonance; rain, wind and sun, each and everything in its turn. Can a synthetic reality on basis of a majority vote override this world?Oh, what a glorious day it will be, when we finally live by manners and etiquette, rather than laws and threats.
Books are never finished...
2008-03-14 02:15:00 Click on the image to the right to see the full size page.Letting go is hard to do. Editing can be a very difficult thing to get into for some of us, the actual writing being so much easier (!?!). Once you get started editing though, you start to see fast changes in the quality, and the shape of the piece you are working on. It starts to shine, and your ambition will often make you ask, ?Just how good can I make this piece?? and so you polish more, and more, and more.You can keep polishing forever; there is no such thing as a perfect piece of writing. You will polish to a point where the work becomes sterile, but pushing beyond that, it comes to take on an intense and personal meaning with Zen like qualities. Beyond this point, you come to labor for hours over the semi-colon, the intricacies of quotation marks for dialog, and the artistic qualities of your grammatical structure.?Movies are never finished, they?re only ever abandoned,? said George Lucas , and he was right, you have to... More About: Books
The end is nigh!
2008-03-13 02:20:00 Click on the image to the right to see the full size page. I?ve threatened it for a while, but all good things must come to an end. The Anatomy of Constructions tarted out as a blog about the more esoteric side of writing. It was never about grammar, and punctuation, but more about the basics, and how to become inspired, how to activate your own writing ability. I think it?s served its purpose. Now, the pages are becoming samey, and quite honestly, I feel a little under whelmed by the quality of the work. I?ve rarely proofed the pages as I?ve put them up, and now look back and groan at some of the typo?s that litter the page. That?s ok; it was always a first draft. Starting as of Monday, next week, there is a relaunched Anatomy of construction; it still concerns inspiration, it still concerns it with the arts, and writing in particular. I won?t have the image with text emblazoned on, it, just a regular page of hopefully good advice. depending on my work load I might run up anoth...
Rumors of a secret chord.
2008-03-12 01:43:00 Click on the image to the right to see the full size page. The line between poetry, prose and lyric is a fine one indeed. Song writing is the art of telling a story (conveying an emotional chain of events) in a short period of time, using aural methods. I am not a musician; I couldn’t play an instrument (except for the harmonica) to save my soul. Nor can Leonard Cohen, who had his first book of poetry published in 1958, his first novel in 1963 and his first album, in 1967. Ironically he is known as a songwriter.You might know him best for the song Hallelujah, covered by some of the best names in the music business; Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, John Cale, k.d. lang and literally thousands of others. His lyricism is determined only by the fact that he adds a chorus, and puts music to his words. Hallelujah is a great case in point, it’s a shout at a lover leaving, a lament wept in the night, “I heard there was a secret chord, that David played to please The Lord, but you d... More About: Rumors , Secret , Chord
What is truth?
2008-03-11 01:11:00 Click on the image to the right to see the full size page. I’ve never been on the receiving end of a meme, until Stella Carter, sent me this one, the challenge of a six word memoir.A magpie, hoarding heavens lost treasures. It’s not a nice little Zen vibe to it, and would make as great subtitle to a book on my life. I think i'll pass it on to my fovrite writerly types- The Truth about Lies, The Writing Journey, A Time and a Place and Sharp Words What is truth? Stella’s comment on yesterdays post got me to thinking. When one is thinking on the nature of truth over a glass of Midori and fruit juice while carving up two kilos of potatoes for a hoard of abusive drunks, it starts to lead you down interesting paths. Lets go back a step; I even be a little precious at times, especially about my writing- it is, in essence, my own business, and to make a business succeed you must have some large degree of pride in it, especially if it’s your own and you have to motivate your...
Working with what you've got.
2008-03-09 23:12:00 Click on the image to the right to see the full size page. The other night, I was given ticket to see, and review, an event called ?Global Comedy,? for the Adelaide fringe festival. I went with the impression that I was going to see the best comedians from the world over. This, it turned out, was to be a most mistaken thought. Comedians are writers, and generally very clever, strong writers- Ben Elton comes to mind as an example of just how good they really can be as writers. Comedians are also subject to the whims of mangers and the needs of their bank account- the guys I saw perform at ?Global Comedy? were subjected, subjugated and then spat back out onto the street. It?s always a bad sign when the room starts to fill with heaving white media personalities, and the flier in front of you tells you it?s a show all about the ethnicities of the comedians performing. A closer look around the room reveals that every single attending person is white, hey, no biggy, r... More About: Working
Choose where you mention Banjo Carefully
More articles from this author:2008-03-09 00:07:00 Click on the image to the right to see the full size page. Let?s do something different today. I keep talking about writing that captures that spark, the essence of what the story is, and poetry is a great example of this. One Poem has always stuck with me, from my early childhood, so I thought I?d share it- Most people wont have read, or heard of it, but it?s a piece of Australian Poetry By Andrew Barton ?Banjo? Patterson, and tells of the chase for a horse. A brumby is the same as a Mustang in America, or a wild horse in Europe. A station is one of the farms, the rest, we?ll you?ll figure it out?. Let me know what you think. I still find it a stirring and inspiring piece that points to what great writing can be. Tom The Man from Snowy RiverA.B. Patterson THERE was movement at the station, for the word had passed around That the colt from old Regret had got away,And had joined the wild bush horses ? he was worth a thousand pound, So all the cr... More About: Writing , Choose 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
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