Wednesday, November 21, 2007

A Writer's Alphabet of Concepts and Clues

FICTION
comes from the writer's imagination/person. It frequently appears in one of the following forms: a short story, a novel, a play, a poem, a pun, or a fairy tale.
Good fiction is no easier to write than is good nonfiction. A fiction writer must also be skilled in spelling, punctuation, grammar, usage, and diction, and be very self-disciplined. A good imagination is not enough to make a good fiction writer.

GRAMMAR
Accuracy of focus cannot be achieved without attention to grammatical details, including appropriate inflection (the changes of form that words undergo to mark such distinctions as those of case, gender, number, tense, person, mood, or voice) and syntax (the way in which words are put together to form phrases, clauses, or sentences).

KNOWLEDGE
Draw on and add to that which you already have. Listen. Read widely. Write constantly. Be open to constructive criticism.

LIMITS
Parameters for focus and development are requisite. In the beginning, you limit yourself via the thesis statement. In development, you limit yourself to that which will supplement and prove your thesis (allowing for differences of opinion). In concluding, you tie together the main points, which support the thesis.