Writing Exercise Guidelines
13 'Izzat 164 B.E. - Thursday, September 20, 2007 about 10:30 AM PDT
Everything we go in life has guidelines or rules. Some of these rules are well known and practiced by everyone in a community, while others are of a personal nature and effect only the individual using them. Judy Reeves in A Writer's Book of Days (page 8) gives twelve guidelines for writing exercises. In this entry I've adopted those guidelines to blogging writing exercises rather than typing or penning them into an off line journal.
First an individual must continue to write, you don't stop for anything until the exercise is completed. You don't rewrite, you don't backspace (this is one of my problems), and you don't read what you've written until the end. In addition you don't worry about spelling errors or grammar problems, you just write.
Second, the writer must trust her/his pen. In the case of the blogger who types directly into the blog trust your fingers and your thoughts as your words mover across the page.
Third, the writer doesn't judge, criticize, compare, or analyze her/his writing. This is held until the rewrite.
Fourth, allow the writing to find it's own shape and form. It doesn't matter if you're writing a poem, story, essay, etc. As your fingers move across the keyboard (I'm referring to bloggers here) it will acquire a form that is suitable to the theme and subject of the piece, as well as, the blogger's state of mind.
Fifth, don't worry about anything as you enter the writing exercise. Grammar, spell, syntax and other writing rules are for formal entries and not writing exercises. Writing exercise, even in blogs, are warm up to the real work of composing. Writing and blogging like any other form of action needs warm up exercises. It's important to do a short warm up to wake the muse up.
Sixth, relax your expectations. This is an exercise and it should surprise you, even if it is composed directly into the blog you should learn something about yourself in the process. While it is true that blog entries are read by millions of people (I have my own questions about that). If you're worried about who will read your entry, then choose another exercise for the blog and keep an off line journal for those exercises that you feel are too personal or revealing to write online. Most people know themselves well enough to decided the difference between a writing exercise that's too revealing and one that's not.
Seventh, "Kiss the frog." This is practice, even if it's composed directly into a blog. A little common sense (something I sometimes suspect isn't as common as people claim) will help in choosing writing exercises that are appropriate for blogs. Every one should keep an off line and/or pen and paper journal to keep ideas in.
Eight, "Tell the truth." This is sometimes easier with an off line journal than a blog, but the writer must always be honest with her/him self. A reader will know if the writer isn't being honest, even when the writing covers genres of science fiction and fantasy.
Nine, pay attention to details. If you're describing a castle in the clouds make sure the description of both the castle and the clouds are accurate.
Ten, be passionate and write about what you care about. Even if the exercise itself doesn't appear to have much in common with your writing style or life experience find an approach that matters to you as an individual.
Eleven, after the practice session read what you've written aloud. One of the beautiful things about blogging drafts. The writing is saved as a draft, before publishing the post read it aloud to yourself. Of course, if you're creating your entry in a coffee house or library it might be a good idea to use a whisper or low voice so as not to disturb other people.
Twelve, put the topic and date at the top of the page, with blogs this isn't a big problem because if you forget the date the blog puts a date in and if you forget a title then the blog software will let you know.
In addition to these guidelines it may be a good idea for a blogger to put in the theme/subject and genre at the beginning of the entry or the end. This is just for the reader's information. In some cases it's easy to tell the difference between fantasy and science fiction, but in other instances it's difficult.
Finally, when posting to a blog do a spell check before saving the final draft or publishing the entry. This is important if you want your writing to be understood and sound logical (within the context of the piece). Just because you know what you meant with the misspelled word doesn't mean all your readers will know. And be gentle with yourself because everyone forgets to spell check periodically.
Everything we go in life has guidelines or rules. Some of these rules are well known and practiced by everyone in a community, while others are of a personal nature and effect only the individual using them. Judy Reeves in A Writer's Book of Days (page 8) gives twelve guidelines for writing exercises. In this entry I've adopted those guidelines to blogging writing exercises rather than typing or penning them into an off line journal.
First an individual must continue to write, you don't stop for anything until the exercise is completed. You don't rewrite, you don't backspace (this is one of my problems), and you don't read what you've written until the end. In addition you don't worry about spelling errors or grammar problems, you just write.
Second, the writer must trust her/his pen. In the case of the blogger who types directly into the blog trust your fingers and your thoughts as your words mover across the page.
Third, the writer doesn't judge, criticize, compare, or analyze her/his writing. This is held until the rewrite.
Fourth, allow the writing to find it's own shape and form. It doesn't matter if you're writing a poem, story, essay, etc. As your fingers move across the keyboard (I'm referring to bloggers here) it will acquire a form that is suitable to the theme and subject of the piece, as well as, the blogger's state of mind.
Fifth, don't worry about anything as you enter the writing exercise. Grammar, spell, syntax and other writing rules are for formal entries and not writing exercises. Writing exercise, even in blogs, are warm up to the real work of composing. Writing and blogging like any other form of action needs warm up exercises. It's important to do a short warm up to wake the muse up.
Sixth, relax your expectations. This is an exercise and it should surprise you, even if it is composed directly into the blog you should learn something about yourself in the process. While it is true that blog entries are read by millions of people (I have my own questions about that). If you're worried about who will read your entry, then choose another exercise for the blog and keep an off line journal for those exercises that you feel are too personal or revealing to write online. Most people know themselves well enough to decided the difference between a writing exercise that's too revealing and one that's not.
Seventh, "Kiss the frog." This is practice, even if it's composed directly into a blog. A little common sense (something I sometimes suspect isn't as common as people claim) will help in choosing writing exercises that are appropriate for blogs. Every one should keep an off line and/or pen and paper journal to keep ideas in.
Eight, "Tell the truth." This is sometimes easier with an off line journal than a blog, but the writer must always be honest with her/him self. A reader will know if the writer isn't being honest, even when the writing covers genres of science fiction and fantasy.
Nine, pay attention to details. If you're describing a castle in the clouds make sure the description of both the castle and the clouds are accurate.
Ten, be passionate and write about what you care about. Even if the exercise itself doesn't appear to have much in common with your writing style or life experience find an approach that matters to you as an individual.
Eleven, after the practice session read what you've written aloud. One of the beautiful things about blogging drafts. The writing is saved as a draft, before publishing the post read it aloud to yourself. Of course, if you're creating your entry in a coffee house or library it might be a good idea to use a whisper or low voice so as not to disturb other people.
Twelve, put the topic and date at the top of the page, with blogs this isn't a big problem because if you forget the date the blog puts a date in and if you forget a title then the blog software will let you know.
In addition to these guidelines it may be a good idea for a blogger to put in the theme/subject and genre at the beginning of the entry or the end. This is just for the reader's information. In some cases it's easy to tell the difference between fantasy and science fiction, but in other instances it's difficult.
Finally, when posting to a blog do a spell check before saving the final draft or publishing the entry. This is important if you want your writing to be understood and sound logical (within the context of the piece). Just because you know what you meant with the misspelled word doesn't mean all your readers will know. And be gentle with yourself because everyone forgets to spell check periodically.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home