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I will not slice my tail in two or rip out my voice box for you.
Literature
Writer's Tip: Show, don't tell.
Show, don’t tell (SDT). It’s one of the few consistent pieces of advice that all writers have heard at one time or another. Even the most amateur of writers parrot it back, but knowing the phrase doesn’t necessarily mean that we understand it, or how to implement it.
So what does “Show, don’t tell.” really mean? SDT is the idea that instead of telling your readers what’s happening in a story, you show them. This seems like an abstract concept to most of us, but what it boils down to is this: using words to give your readers an idea without having to directly state it. There are many ways good writers
Literature
Reading as a Writer
Have you ever set down a book for good because you found something in it you don’t like? If you want to write, I suggest that bad habit end now.
Why, you ask? Because everything you read—and I mean everything–has positive value for you as a writer. Stephen King, and any author worth his or her salt, is a huge advocate of writers reading massive amounts.
Again you ask, why? How can everything be useful? There are a number of reasons and I’ll cover as many as I can.
Reading bad literature teaches you about yourself and shows you what to avoid—or at least how not to do something—in your own work. If you run
Literature
Writer's Tip: Writing Effective Sentences
Sentences—if the plot is the backbone of a story, then sentences are the muscles and tendons keeping it glued together. Unfortunately, writing solid sentences isn’t easy for everyone. As Human beings, we don’t speak the same way we write. Unless you do a lot of writing, you may have trouble putting together even the simplest of sentences. The last time you took a good look at a sentence and broke it down into its individual parts was probably around 3rd grade. Don’t worry—I’m here to help.
There’s More Than One Type of Sentence
There are (roughly) four different types of sentences, and we’re g
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Just a little something to indicate that I'm alive--barely. Midterms are starting up, and the first one kicked me in the ass really hard (Needs Assessments are not for the weak stomached!). The fact that where I live is going to through one of the most brutal winters in years and that it's February (and every other commercial is about romance [read:sex], finding significant others, and sex) isn't helping. Because February is "Am-I-Weird-For-Not-Having-A-Boyfriend-Despite-Being-A-Heterosexual-Female-And-Liking-Not-Having-One" month for me. Which brings me to this.
This was made to silence that nagging voice in my head, brought on by date-crazy relatives who insist that I 'need' a boyfriend. Every time that voice rears its ugly head to mock me for being too 'ugly', 'weird', 'nerdy', introverted, etc. to land a decent man (and sometimes to mock me for not wanting to hunt down a boyfriend), I think of the Little Mermaid. Not the cute Disney movie, but the original tale (tail?
) by Hans Christian Andersen, where the foolish mermaid sacrifices her lovely tail and even lovelier voice just to please a man who barely acknowledges her (and eventually chooses a girl who isn't stupid enough to change herself to please a man). And thus this was born. Enjoy~
Btw, expect more rant prose/poetry about this topic in the future. I have enough anger/annoyance toward the idea of boyfriend/girlfriend relations to fuel me for a while.
This was made to silence that nagging voice in my head, brought on by date-crazy relatives who insist that I 'need' a boyfriend. Every time that voice rears its ugly head to mock me for being too 'ugly', 'weird', 'nerdy', introverted, etc. to land a decent man (and sometimes to mock me for not wanting to hunt down a boyfriend), I think of the Little Mermaid. Not the cute Disney movie, but the original tale (tail?
) by Hans Christian Andersen, where the foolish mermaid sacrifices her lovely tail and even lovelier voice just to please a man who barely acknowledges her (and eventually chooses a girl who isn't stupid enough to change herself to please a man). And thus this was born. Enjoy~Btw, expect more rant prose/poetry about this topic in the future. I have enough anger/annoyance toward the idea of boyfriend/girlfriend relations to fuel me for a while.
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I'm late, but I really appreciate your sharing this. 
Valentine's Day is tough for all of us, I think. 
Valentine's Day is tough for all of us, I think.