Introduction to the Prose Section: By Amber Farquharson
Dear Reader:
I welcome you to explore the world of Creative Writing. Not as something you are required to read for school, in any shape or form, but work by other classmates, synopses of work by famous authors, and articles on the whole writing process. This section of the online magazine will be dedicated to everything writerly, a tribute to the art of reading and writing, which are hardly done anymore for fun.
Here, you'll find articles on how to write a good book, the process of editing, how to publish your work, getting over writers block, and more. There will be scoops on new and famous authors' books, book reviews, must-read spotlights, and interviews with Co-op writers.
This section is open to student and faculty submissions. You can also send in suggestions of authors and titles you think deserve to be in the must-read spotlight; the person does not have to be famous. Don’t be afraid to send in your fiction, memoirs, scripts, quotes, and other prose. Give us a taste of the first page of a book you are writing.
I welcome you to explore the world of Creative Writing. Not as something you are required to read for school, in any shape or form, but work by other classmates, synopses of work by famous authors, and articles on the whole writing process. This section of the online magazine will be dedicated to everything writerly, a tribute to the art of reading and writing, which are hardly done anymore for fun.
Here, you'll find articles on how to write a good book, the process of editing, how to publish your work, getting over writers block, and more. There will be scoops on new and famous authors' books, book reviews, must-read spotlights, and interviews with Co-op writers.
This section is open to student and faculty submissions. You can also send in suggestions of authors and titles you think deserve to be in the must-read spotlight; the person does not have to be famous. Don’t be afraid to send in your fiction, memoirs, scripts, quotes, and other prose. Give us a taste of the first page of a book you are writing.
Revising using "ARCS": When to Add
By Amber L. Farquharson
"ARCS" (Adding/Rearranging/Combining/Subtracting) is a great tool for revising. Let's focus on "Adding."
When a person writes a first draft, they are writing nothing more than their thoughts for that idea at that time before they lose them. Going back over the work during the editing process, the writer often finds that she needs to add on to parts of her first draft. Adding doesn’t mean that she has to change what she originally wrote, it just means she needs to make the sentence or paragraph longer than what it is. There is no rule book that tells a person where and when they need to add onto something; that choice is up to the writer. During the editing process, it is good to find someone else to read the piece. A second pair of eyes is always good, because they can see what the writer cannot. It has a lot to do with seeing it for the first time, so the editor's mind doesn't automatically fill in spaces where things need to be.
In example one, one can see a small dialogue between two people. You do not know what the person looks like, or the emotional connection between the two people. This is not good, especially for a fiction piece, because of the fact that the writer is giving the reader too much to do. As the write,r you are the director of the movie that is going on in the person’s mind. If the person has to overthink what a character looks like and where they are and so on, then you, as a director, are not doing your job, and this will make the reader disinterested.
EXAMPLE 1:
“Almost there,” said her new legal guardian, Neal. He was a member of the family she had never met or even known about, before the “changes in her life” as her therapist liked to label it. Nevertheless there he was taking her in, a complete stranger, as if they had known one another for years.
“Great,” Amera said, looking up from her thick-bound, Edgar Allan Poe novel.
“I am so excited,” she said, dry sarcasm in her voice. She gave him an over-the-top eye roll before she looked back down at her book.
“Here, look.” He sighed, getting up from the seat of the compacted Jet. He rolled her window seat up. “I want you to see your new home from air level before we land.” he told her, astonished at what she saw.
In example two, there is a more in-depth description of one of the characters and the relationship that he has with the main character of the book. This is good, because the reader has less work to do in thinking about what he looks like, and what kind of relationship he has with her. Even though more could be added to this piece, this is a good example of a starting place.
EXAMPLE 2:
“Almost there,” said her new legal guardian, Neal. He was a member of the family she had never met or even known about, before the “changes in her life” as her therapist liked to label it. Nevertheless there he was taking her in, a complete stranger, as if they had known one another for years.
“Great,” Amera scoffed, looking up from the thick-bound Edgar Allan Poe novel she had been reading since they walked onto the small first class Jet that they were still in (even though someone named Neal promised her that it was going to be a quick flight).
“I am so excited.” Her tone was high pitched and dripping with sarcasm, as she gave him an over-the-top eye roll before looking back down at her book. she watched him from the corner of her eyes, re-taking in all of his features--the small little dimple on his right cheek, and the now toned-down barely-visible freckles.
Amera still couldn’t believe that she was now adopted by someone that she could consider her brother.The first time she saw him she couldn’t get over how tall he was. He wasn’t just tall; he was Goliath’s descendant. As soon as he walked into her house, and Amera had regained normal communication skills, the first thing she said to him was that he couldn’t be in her presence unless he was sitting.
Neal found it funny that she had such a big problem with his height, and stood around her for three days as a show of defiance to her rule. Finally, when she hid all his clothes when he was sleeping and took his remaining clothes when he was in a shower, he walked downstairs in his robe and sat down before talking to her. Only 25 years old, Neal seemed to take on a different way to live his life in the world, which Amera warmed up to no matter how much she tried to show her displeasure with him and everything he did.
He had sharp dark green eyes, with streaks of gray blending into them as in a painting. Amera liked watching him talk, because depending on the issue at that time, his dark solid eyes would slowly shift and become a stormy gray, blue or even all the colors mixed together. Amera burst into laughter one evening when she told him she was thinking of waiting until he was asleep to tie him down and take them. It was the first time she had laughed or shown any emotion since the death of her mother and friend.
"ARCS" (Adding/Rearranging/Combining/Subtracting) is a great tool for revising. Let's focus on "Adding."
When a person writes a first draft, they are writing nothing more than their thoughts for that idea at that time before they lose them. Going back over the work during the editing process, the writer often finds that she needs to add on to parts of her first draft. Adding doesn’t mean that she has to change what she originally wrote, it just means she needs to make the sentence or paragraph longer than what it is. There is no rule book that tells a person where and when they need to add onto something; that choice is up to the writer. During the editing process, it is good to find someone else to read the piece. A second pair of eyes is always good, because they can see what the writer cannot. It has a lot to do with seeing it for the first time, so the editor's mind doesn't automatically fill in spaces where things need to be.
In example one, one can see a small dialogue between two people. You do not know what the person looks like, or the emotional connection between the two people. This is not good, especially for a fiction piece, because of the fact that the writer is giving the reader too much to do. As the write,r you are the director of the movie that is going on in the person’s mind. If the person has to overthink what a character looks like and where they are and so on, then you, as a director, are not doing your job, and this will make the reader disinterested.
EXAMPLE 1:
“Almost there,” said her new legal guardian, Neal. He was a member of the family she had never met or even known about, before the “changes in her life” as her therapist liked to label it. Nevertheless there he was taking her in, a complete stranger, as if they had known one another for years.
“Great,” Amera said, looking up from her thick-bound, Edgar Allan Poe novel.
“I am so excited,” she said, dry sarcasm in her voice. She gave him an over-the-top eye roll before she looked back down at her book.
“Here, look.” He sighed, getting up from the seat of the compacted Jet. He rolled her window seat up. “I want you to see your new home from air level before we land.” he told her, astonished at what she saw.
In example two, there is a more in-depth description of one of the characters and the relationship that he has with the main character of the book. This is good, because the reader has less work to do in thinking about what he looks like, and what kind of relationship he has with her. Even though more could be added to this piece, this is a good example of a starting place.
EXAMPLE 2:
“Almost there,” said her new legal guardian, Neal. He was a member of the family she had never met or even known about, before the “changes in her life” as her therapist liked to label it. Nevertheless there he was taking her in, a complete stranger, as if they had known one another for years.
“Great,” Amera scoffed, looking up from the thick-bound Edgar Allan Poe novel she had been reading since they walked onto the small first class Jet that they were still in (even though someone named Neal promised her that it was going to be a quick flight).
“I am so excited.” Her tone was high pitched and dripping with sarcasm, as she gave him an over-the-top eye roll before looking back down at her book. she watched him from the corner of her eyes, re-taking in all of his features--the small little dimple on his right cheek, and the now toned-down barely-visible freckles.
Amera still couldn’t believe that she was now adopted by someone that she could consider her brother.The first time she saw him she couldn’t get over how tall he was. He wasn’t just tall; he was Goliath’s descendant. As soon as he walked into her house, and Amera had regained normal communication skills, the first thing she said to him was that he couldn’t be in her presence unless he was sitting.
Neal found it funny that she had such a big problem with his height, and stood around her for three days as a show of defiance to her rule. Finally, when she hid all his clothes when he was sleeping and took his remaining clothes when he was in a shower, he walked downstairs in his robe and sat down before talking to her. Only 25 years old, Neal seemed to take on a different way to live his life in the world, which Amera warmed up to no matter how much she tried to show her displeasure with him and everything he did.
He had sharp dark green eyes, with streaks of gray blending into them as in a painting. Amera liked watching him talk, because depending on the issue at that time, his dark solid eyes would slowly shift and become a stormy gray, blue or even all the colors mixed together. Amera burst into laughter one evening when she told him she was thinking of waiting until he was asleep to tie him down and take them. It was the first time she had laughed or shown any emotion since the death of her mother and friend.
Amber Shows How To Do Extreme Editing
You Cannot Write and Rewrite at the Same Time
By Amber Farquharson
Let us face the fact, Writing is hard. It’s complex--with different forms, and critical formulas to follow depending on what type of paper, article, short story, book, or poem you are trying to create. It is said that the first line is the hardest, but in actuality, it is a hard deal all around.
Reading, the work before it is done compels people to edit before they should. This makes people lose their train of thought and they find that writing becomes a lot more difficult. One of the number one rules to writing is...
You cannot write and rewrite at the same time!
Doing so creates more stress, and more chances to forget what you were going to say. Making changes is important, but keeping your place and train of thought is even more important in the beginning.
You can use charts to keep track of new ideas and changes in different sections of long written pieces. This way, they will not be forgotten and when it's time to edit, you can go back and make the changes. Also, sometimes going over your story showing it to someone else can help with the editing process.
For example, take a look at the photos to the right. There are two pages from the same book. They both start the same, but as you look closer, you can notice that they end very differently, because of the fact that the writer wrote the page and then went back and looked it over. The process does help in the long run though; it helps the writer keep their main idea consistent throughout the piece, whether is a short piece or a novel.
Let us face the fact, Writing is hard. It’s complex--with different forms, and critical formulas to follow depending on what type of paper, article, short story, book, or poem you are trying to create. It is said that the first line is the hardest, but in actuality, it is a hard deal all around.
Reading, the work before it is done compels people to edit before they should. This makes people lose their train of thought and they find that writing becomes a lot more difficult. One of the number one rules to writing is...
You cannot write and rewrite at the same time!
Doing so creates more stress, and more chances to forget what you were going to say. Making changes is important, but keeping your place and train of thought is even more important in the beginning.
You can use charts to keep track of new ideas and changes in different sections of long written pieces. This way, they will not be forgotten and when it's time to edit, you can go back and make the changes. Also, sometimes going over your story showing it to someone else can help with the editing process.
For example, take a look at the photos to the right. There are two pages from the same book. They both start the same, but as you look closer, you can notice that they end very differently, because of the fact that the writer wrote the page and then went back and looked it over. The process does help in the long run though; it helps the writer keep their main idea consistent throughout the piece, whether is a short piece or a novel.