Monday, October 30, 2006
Ideas for Backgrounds
When Arlo Guthrie was asked where he gets his song ideas, he said he pulls them out of a creek that runs through his property. He added, "I'm just glad I don't live downstream from Bob Dylan!"
Where do you find your story ideas?
If you’re having problems coming up with fresh ideas, one of the best things you can consider is giving yourself a change of scenery. Whether it’s visiting an exotic section of your city, a drive in the country, a weekend in the mountains or a holiday at the seashore, any change is likely to tickle your brain in creative ways.
One of my favorite activities – one that I don’t indulge nearly often enough – is playing the Destination-Nowhere game. Open a map (real, not virtual), close your eyes, and put your finger down somewhere on the map. That place is your destination, and is to be treated with the same seriousness (or lack thereof) that you’d treat a planned trip to a vacation destination: it’s a field trip! Take off and notice everything that you can along the way – the countryside, the way people talk and dress, the architecture of the buildings. Eat at a local dive rather than a fast-food joint. Imagine the stories that can grow out of this place you’d probably never have thought to go otherwise!
Wherever you go, collect stuff. Take pictures of everything. Fill an envelope with brochures. Bring a notebook, jot down your impressions, and don’t worry about how you’re expressing them: just write.
When you do go to write about the place, you’ll have instant access to the impressions you formed during your trip. Take a lot of Destination-Nowhere trips, and you’ll never want for story ideas and backgrounds… and then you’ll truly be beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
Where do you find your story ideas?
If you’re having problems coming up with fresh ideas, one of the best things you can consider is giving yourself a change of scenery. Whether it’s visiting an exotic section of your city, a drive in the country, a weekend in the mountains or a holiday at the seashore, any change is likely to tickle your brain in creative ways.
One of my favorite activities – one that I don’t indulge nearly often enough – is playing the Destination-Nowhere game. Open a map (real, not virtual), close your eyes, and put your finger down somewhere on the map. That place is your destination, and is to be treated with the same seriousness (or lack thereof) that you’d treat a planned trip to a vacation destination: it’s a field trip! Take off and notice everything that you can along the way – the countryside, the way people talk and dress, the architecture of the buildings. Eat at a local dive rather than a fast-food joint. Imagine the stories that can grow out of this place you’d probably never have thought to go otherwise!
Wherever you go, collect stuff. Take pictures of everything. Fill an envelope with brochures. Bring a notebook, jot down your impressions, and don’t worry about how you’re expressing them: just write.
When you do go to write about the place, you’ll have instant access to the impressions you formed during your trip. Take a lot of Destination-Nowhere trips, and you’ll never want for story ideas and backgrounds… and then you’ll truly be beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Correct Grammar: Back in Style?
"Clauses and Commas Make a Comeback: SAT Helps Return Grammar to Class"
Yesterday's Washington Post (http://tinyurl.com/y62s8j) carried an article about grammar coming back into style. The teacher profiled isn't unique (and thank goodness for that – perhaps a new trend is starting!); and the article itself is full of generalizations and oversimplifications; but it's a trend worth noting and applauding. Anything emphasizing the value of learning correct grammar, usage, and so on can only be... beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
Yesterday's Washington Post (http://tinyurl.com/y62s8j) carried an article about grammar coming back into style. The teacher profiled isn't unique (and thank goodness for that – perhaps a new trend is starting!); and the article itself is full of generalizations and oversimplifications; but it's a trend worth noting and applauding. Anything emphasizing the value of learning correct grammar, usage, and so on can only be... beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
ARGH!
I've been spending a fair amount of time putting together a proposal for a feminist press that had put out an RFP for a project they're working on called Girls and Science, to try and get girls more interested in the area.
I was excited, because I've long noted the absence of women (and of people of color, for that matter) in software engineering. When my stepdaughter Anastasia was around eight, I wrote a book for her about Ada Lovelace, arguably first computer programmer, certainly first technical writer; and later I enlarged it with a glossary and anecdotal sidebars and activities, and tried to sell it, but to no avail. So I made it the cornerstone of my proposal, outlining a series of five such books highlighting women in computing, with the same collateral material. I did research to indicate how and why good role models can help change one's way of thinking about something. I put together all the studies about women and computing, how from a very young age girls are excluded from the boys' clubhouse (girls use computers to *do* things -- word processing, music, accessing sites like MySpace; but they're not terribly interested in *how* they work). All that. Sent the proposal in.
Answer came back almost immediately: we're not interested in proposals for elementary-aged children, we want high school and college level proposals.
Can I COUNT how many things are wrong with that?
First off, nowhere in the RFP was any age group mentioned. Secondly, if you really want to change the world you need to start with younger children. But, um, this is a feminist press, and they refer to high school and college-aged females as *girls*?
You've come a long way, baby.
Guess I’ll keep shopping my proposal elsewhere. It’s the perseverance that pays… and keeps me beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
I was excited, because I've long noted the absence of women (and of people of color, for that matter) in software engineering. When my stepdaughter Anastasia was around eight, I wrote a book for her about Ada Lovelace, arguably first computer programmer, certainly first technical writer; and later I enlarged it with a glossary and anecdotal sidebars and activities, and tried to sell it, but to no avail. So I made it the cornerstone of my proposal, outlining a series of five such books highlighting women in computing, with the same collateral material. I did research to indicate how and why good role models can help change one's way of thinking about something. I put together all the studies about women and computing, how from a very young age girls are excluded from the boys' clubhouse (girls use computers to *do* things -- word processing, music, accessing sites like MySpace; but they're not terribly interested in *how* they work). All that. Sent the proposal in.
Answer came back almost immediately: we're not interested in proposals for elementary-aged children, we want high school and college level proposals.
Can I COUNT how many things are wrong with that?
First off, nowhere in the RFP was any age group mentioned. Secondly, if you really want to change the world you need to start with younger children. But, um, this is a feminist press, and they refer to high school and college-aged females as *girls*?
You've come a long way, baby.
Guess I’ll keep shopping my proposal elsewhere. It’s the perseverance that pays… and keeps me beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
Labels: frustration, girls, proposal, RFP, science
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Contest in Honor of Halloween
Well, having survived Columbus Day (which I celebrate much as I celebrate the American version of Thanksgiving, by igoring it: who really has the heart to celebrate a genocide?), let's move on to something much more fun: Halloween!
In honor of the holiday, Echelon Press is sponsoring a contest. The deadline for contest submission is October 14th -- that's this coming Saturday, folks -- so get writing now! Specifics are below.
In honor of Halloween (and all the other holidays of fall) Echelon Press would like to publish your "Fast and Freaky" October story. The fast part means you have until October 14, 2006 to submit your story of 3000-6000 words. The winner will be notified by October 17, 2006 and have 5 days to edit/revise the story. Echelon Press will publish your story in its e-book division on October 23, 2006. Simple!
Our only real request is that your story be creepy! Creepy horror, Creepy romance, creepy mystery, you get the point. Stories must adhere to the following guidelines.
Standard Manuscript format:
File saved in Word format (.doc) or (.rtf)
8 ½ x 11 page
Times New Roman 12pt font/black
1-inch margin on all sides/ 1.5 line spacing
Align text left, do not justify (aligning text both left and right)
Header containing title, author name and page number
Capital letters at the beginning of sentences and proper nouns
Show new paragraphs by indenting first line of new paragraph. Do not add blank line between paragraphs.
Show scene breaks with * * * * centered in the appropriate line.
All cover letters must include:
Name (and pseudonym if applicable)
Mailing address
Phone number
Email address (if available)
Web address (if available)
Email your submissions to contest@echelonpress.com. The winner will be contracted and paid royalties.
So... go for it! Your chance to really have some fun with something short and creepy! And then you'll be... beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
In honor of the holiday, Echelon Press is sponsoring a contest. The deadline for contest submission is October 14th -- that's this coming Saturday, folks -- so get writing now! Specifics are below.
In honor of Halloween (and all the other holidays of fall) Echelon Press would like to publish your "Fast and Freaky" October story. The fast part means you have until October 14, 2006 to submit your story of 3000-6000 words. The winner will be notified by October 17, 2006 and have 5 days to edit/revise the story. Echelon Press will publish your story in its e-book division on October 23, 2006. Simple!
Our only real request is that your story be creepy! Creepy horror, Creepy romance, creepy mystery, you get the point. Stories must adhere to the following guidelines.
Standard Manuscript format:
File saved in Word format (.doc) or (.rtf)
8 ½ x 11 page
Times New Roman 12pt font/black
1-inch margin on all sides/ 1.5 line spacing
Align text left, do not justify (aligning text both left and right)
Header containing title, author name and page number
Capital letters at the beginning of sentences and proper nouns
Show new paragraphs by indenting first line of new paragraph. Do not add blank line between paragraphs.
Show scene breaks with * * * * centered in the appropriate line.
All cover letters must include:
Name (and pseudonym if applicable)
Mailing address
Phone number
Email address (if available)
Web address (if available)
Email your submissions to contest@echelonpress.com. The winner will be contracted and paid royalties.
So... go for it! Your chance to really have some fun with something short and creepy! And then you'll be... beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
There has to be a Purpose
"Move like you have a purpose."
This is an expression that I have heard comes out of the military, but it's not bad advice for writers as well. In both fiction and nonfiction, you need to make sure that everything you write has a purpose, and that you're clear about what that purpose is.
In nonfiction, you'll often find that your writing can be tightened just by removing those parts of it that are superfluous – that are not consistent with the PURPOSE of the sentence or paragraph.
In fiction writing, divide your work up into scenes. Does every scene have a purpose? What is it? Does it introduce or develop a character, introduce or worsen a plot problem, develop the setting, give the reader information (preferably through action of some kind), or create an atmosphere?
In both cases, make sure that you know exactly what your writing is doing. Your readers can only be clear about your purpose when you are. And then you'll be ... beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
This is an expression that I have heard comes out of the military, but it's not bad advice for writers as well. In both fiction and nonfiction, you need to make sure that everything you write has a purpose, and that you're clear about what that purpose is.
In nonfiction, you'll often find that your writing can be tightened just by removing those parts of it that are superfluous – that are not consistent with the PURPOSE of the sentence or paragraph.
In fiction writing, divide your work up into scenes. Does every scene have a purpose? What is it? Does it introduce or develop a character, introduce or worsen a plot problem, develop the setting, give the reader information (preferably through action of some kind), or create an atmosphere?
In both cases, make sure that you know exactly what your writing is doing. Your readers can only be clear about your purpose when you are. And then you'll be ... beyond the elements of style!
Jeannette Cézanne
Customline Wordware, Inc.
