Dear Writers,
HABJ is leading a writing workshop in MLK 200 at 1 p.m. Plan on attending. I will have a sign-in sheet. Bring your notebook and take notes. Plan on writing something about the experience..
For example, you should find out who the teachers are and what their experience is.
Get some good quotes from them. Something that sticks in your mind. For example, as Stephen King says, “The adverb is not your friend.”
Dear Writers,
Starting today we’re going to meet in MLK 246.
MLK 119 is needed for a computer intensive RTF class. The computers in 119 have been loaded with the software needed. We don’t use the computers there much. Bring your laptops if needed.
Today we’ll talk about Comm Week and the possible stories you might write about it.
Here is a post from a useful newsletter on nonfiction called Delancey Place. This website sends a daily newsletter with an excerpt from a nonfiction book. I often find something interesting in the newsletter and of course this is a marketing scheme. But maybe you should consider ordering Stephen King’s book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. He knows something about writing books that sell, and his advice is worth reading. And consider subscribing to Delancey Place. The excerpts are interesting.
MB
Today’s encore selection from On Writing by Stehen King. In his book, On Writing, prolific fiction writer Stephen King argues for simplicity. Here he attacks the adverb:
“The other piece of advice I want to give you before moving on to the next level of the toolbox is this: The adverb is not your friend.
“Adverbs, you will remember … are words that modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They’re the ones that usually end in -ly. Adverbs, like the passive voice, seem to have been created with the timid writer in mind. … With adverbs, the writer usually tells us he or she is afraid he/she isn’t expressing himself/herself clearly, that he or she is not getting the point or the picture across.
“Consider the sentence He closed the door firmly. It’s by no means a terrible sentence (at least it’s got an active verb going for it), but ask yourself if firmly really has to be there. You can argue that it expresses a degree of difference between He closed the door and He slammed the door, and you’ll get no argument from me…but what about context? What about all the enlightening (not to say emotionally moving) prose which came before He closed the door firmly? Shouldn’t this tell us how he closed the door? And if the foregoing prose does tell us, isn’t firmly an extra word? Isn’t it redundant?
“Someone out there is now accusing me of being tiresome and anal-retentive. I deny it. I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day . . . fifty the day after that . . . and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. By then you see them for the weeds they really are, but by then it’s — GASP!! — too late.
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“I can be a good sport about adverbs, though. Yes I can. With one exception: dialogue attribution. I insist that you use the adverb in dialogue attribution only in the rarest and most special of occasions . . . and not even then, if you can avoid it. Just to make sure we all know what we’re talking about, examine these three sentences:
“Put it down!” she shouted.
“Give it back,” he pleaded, “it’s mine.”
“Don’t be such a fool, Jekyll,” Utterson said.
“In these sentences, shouted, pleaded, and said are verbs of dialogue attribution. Now look at these dubious revisions:
“Put it down!” she shouted menacingly.
“Give it back,” he pleaded abjectly, “it’s mine.”
“Don’t be such a fool, Jekyll,” Utterson said contemptuously.
“The three latter sentences are all weaker than the three former ones, and most readers will see why immediately. ‘Don’t be such a fool, Jekyll,’ Utterson said contemptuously is the best of the lot; it is only a cliche, while the other two are actively ludicrous. Such dialogue attributions are sometimes known as ‘Swifties,’ after Tom Swift, the brave inventor-hero in a series of boys’ adventure novels written by Victor Appleton II. Appleton was fond of such sentences as ‘Do your worst!’ Tom cried bravely and ‘My father helped with the equations,’ Tom said modestly. When I was a teenager there was a party-game based on one’s ability to create witty (or half-witty) Swifties. ‘You got a nice butt, lady,’ he said cheekily is one I remember; another is ‘I’m the plumber,’ he said, with a flush. (In this case the modifier is an adverbial phrase.) …
“Some writers try to evade the no-adverb rule by shooting the attribution verb full of steroids. The result is familiar to any reader of pulp fiction or paperback originals:
“Put down the gun, Utterson!” Jekyll grated.
“Never stop kissing me!” Shayna gasped.
“You damned tease!” Bill jerked out.
“Don’t do these things. Please oh please. The best form of dialogue attribution is said, as in he said, she said, Bill said, Monica said.”
author: |
Stephen King |
title: |
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft |
publisher: |
Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster |
date: |
Copyright 2000 by Stephen King |
pages: |
124-127 |
Dear Writers,
Starting today we’re going to meet in MLK 246.
MLK 119 is needed for a computer intensive RTF class. The computers in 119 have been loaded with the software needed. We don’t use the computers there much. Bring your laptops if needed.
Today we’ll talk about Comm Week and the possible stories you might write about it.
Those who missed the taking the midterm quiz will need to get in touch with me about taking it. I hope you have a good break and that you are digging into your blogs.
best.
MB
The quiz will be about the writing principles I’ve been presenting. Nothing will be on the quiz that I haven’t presented. Let’s go over the principles today.
I will make a brief presentation and we will discuss how to write the story. You must take notes. Get in the habit of taking notes.
Dear Dr. Michael Berryhill,
Thank you for your help sharing our job announcement with your students earlier in the season. We are beginning to wrap up our hiring efforts for summer teaching positions in your area. As we continue to fill our positions, we encourage all interested students to apply as soon as possible to be considered for this opportunity. With summer quickly approaching, we have established an application deadline of March 31st.
I’d appreciate your help sharing this information again with the graduating seniors or graduate students in your department so that those interested can submit their applications in time. I really appreciate your assistance. As always, please let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely, Christine Morando
Institute of Reading Development
(415) 884-8137
Teach Reading Classes to Students of All Ages
Now Accepting Applications for Summer 2019
The Institute of Reading Development offers summer reading skills programs in partnership with the continuing education departments of more than 100 colleges and universities nationwide. Each year we hire hard-working, encouraging people with a passion for reading to teach our summer programs.
As an Institute teacher you will:
We are seeking applicants from any academic discipline. All applicants must have an undergraduate degree or higher in their field before the start of our teaching season.
Successful Institute teachers:
Sound like you? Learn more about teaching for us and apply today: Summer Teaching Jobs
Reporting at Texas Southern University 