It’s time for another edition of The Insecure Writer’s Support Group, founded by Ninja Captain, Alex J. Cavanaugh.
The question for today: Since it's back to school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?
I can’t think of a writing rule, but just using proper, stifled, passive phrases and sentences-which works for school papers-doesn’t work for writing a story. Eliminating words such as “was”-I had to learn that.
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My last seminar/talk of the year is next Tuesday. It’s a webinar-online only-so anyone can register for free.
Book Publishing 102 – Marketing
6-8pm, Tuesday, September 10.
PowerPoint presentation and handout provided!
Register HERE
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Some of you may have seen this on Facebook, but since Dancing Lemur Press doesn’t have another event scheduled until next May, we are closing out our 11x14 art prints. They are $8.00 each (just above cost.) Shipping is $6.00 but that covers multiple posters. These are custom designed on the computer by our illustrator. If you are interested in any, let me know!
What writing rule messed you up?
24 comments:
Yeah, I freaked out when I learned "was" wasn't great for writing. Took me a while to learn how to write again.
Hope your seminar goes well!
As an English major, there was a lot I had to throw out! In dialogue, naturally, but in regualar narrative, too. Good luck with the seminar!
Good luck with the webinar and cool posters.
My "villain word" I had to eliminate from my writing was "just." I just can't seem to stop using it. It just pops up in stories AND articles. Thank goodness for the find feature in Word. I would love to attend the webinar. Will it be available in replay? I'm not going to be home on Tuesday evening. That organization has some wonderful topics scheduled in September.
It took me a while to come around about 'was.' I still use it, but not as much. Cool posters.
I have a whole list of words I have to edit out of my writing, but I developed it myself. I do remember one time in HS when we had to write a paper or story without any use of any form of the verb “to be.” It was hard, and then we read Hemingway—who was very fond of the simple declarative sentence: “It was good.”
JQ, I'm sorry, they don't record them. (I'd be out of a job if they did!)
There are many things we don't learn until we get real life experience
WAS! That is the true creative killer. Yes, I forgot that was the hardest to learn -- 'er unlearn.
I wish I could attend your webinar, but I already have a Zoom meeting that evening. Lovely posters and some of my favorite movies and shows.
Great posters. I loved Firefly and Stargate. No writing rules messed me up. I was just happy to get out of formal writing so I could write sentence fragments. Deliberately.
Whenever I read nonfiction, the writing style grates at my inner editor. All those passive voice phrases like "... by the 19th century, it was already finished ..." Argh!
'Was' isn't good? Oh noes...I'm doomed.
Yeah, the rules for formal writing go out of the window when it comes to fiction. In a way, the latter is much easier because it's more like how we think.
Was was and still is a word that's hard for me not to write. Another is that. And I have a cheat sheet for even more.
Hi Diane - thankfully not a lot of worries re writing ... but now I'm very relaxed and informal for all my writing connectedness ... good word?! However if I have to write correctly I can do so ... cheers Hilary
I'll be darn! I didn't know Dancing Lemur Press made and sold posters like the ones you showed above. That's really neat!
Passive verbs as a problem was one thing I never learned in high school English classes but definitely learned about in by college creative writing courses and was corrected on by my writing peers! And it's terrific advice that I follow to this day.
In school, I was more about poetry. It was for me and not to hand in, expressing and processing things I couldn't ask about. No doubt I would have been a goth at school. Death was on my mind a lot back then.
Oh yeah, those passive phrases have to be watched out for.
Sounds like another great seminar coming up:)
Hi Diane. It didn't mess me up, though I'm still inclined to input two spaces after every period. Ugh, still working on eliminating "was/is" too.
Have a great webinar.
As an English teacher I'm very interested in this. I'm annoyed that sentence fragments are frowned out when they can add suspense to a story.
Yes, hello, I'm back after a long hiatus.
I'm not a professional writer so I probably break all the rules. LOL That Black Panther poster is amazing. Thanks for sharing such a thoughtful question, and hope you have a great Monday!
Your illustrator did an awesome job on those posters.
I love "proper" sentences but they must be alternated with shorter punchy sentences, and even sentence fragments! Variety is the key.
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