Post by FalconX on Jul 24, 2008 10:18:39 GMT -5
Writing 101 Topic compiled and written by Admin [DANNIE} and Admin [JO} of Windy City Rendezvous
Stuck in a rut? Forgot everything your teachers taught you in grammar school? Just need a little refresher in writing? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, this topic is perfect for you!
Part 1: Spelling and Grammar: Any good writer knows that spelling and grammar are important. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to catch your own mistakes. Word and other typing programs are often fitted with spell checkers but those can only take you so far. When you’re typing a post, the first thing to do it either type it in Word or cut and paste it there to check everything for you. Because programs like this don’t always get everything for you, you need to read through your posts to make sure everything is what you wanted and you’ve used the right words. Here’s an online spell-checker for you. click me
Ex: “I went to meat you and couldn’t here a word you said. Ant time you talk, I can’t understand you.” comes out fine in Word but what you really meant was “I went to meet you and couldn’t hear a word you said. Any time you talk, I can’t understand you.”
Part 2: NTSBWSW (No two sentences begin with the same word [in a paragraph]): This one’s hard. Long story short, vary your sentence beginnings. Someone reading your post doesn’t want to read “she did this. She did that.” “He did this. He did that” they want a varied choice. Try using the same sentence beginning no more than twice in a paragraph.
Ex: “Dannie entered the cafeteria. She was hungry so she went to have a burger. She bought the food and sat down to eat it. She enjoyed the burger. She thought it was juicy and delicious. She finished and threw out the tray and left the cafeteria” doesn’t sound nearly as good as, “Dannie entered the cafeteria. Hungrily, she approached the serving area and ordered a burger. As she left the area and paid for her food, the black-haired girl looked around for a table. She found one and sat at it. As she ate, she felt the juiciness of the burger in her mouth and declared the meat delicious. When she was through, she got out of her seat and through her tray away. Fuller than she was before, Dannie left the cafeteria.”
Part 3: Sensory Images/Imagery: Everyone appreciated a nice, long, descriptive post, especially the writer. It gives writers a sense of pride to write something long and descriptive. That’s where Sensory Images/imagery come in; writing that involves all of the five sentences. When you write, think about the following:
What is he/she thinking?
What is he/she feeling?
How does the thing he/she is touching feel?
What does he/she see? What colors are there?
What sounds does he/she hear?
What can he/she taste?
What are they wearing?
Things like this give the replier something to work with. Also, your best frined is a thesaurus. Look up words that are different from the ones you usually use.
Ex: “Dannie walked into the cafeteria. She got a burger, sat down, and ate it. Getting up, she threw out her tray and left the cafeteria” doesn’t sound nearly as good as “Dannie walked into the cafeteria, wearing her ugly and uncomfortable school uniform. The ear-splitting (or droning) clatter of many other students chattering assailed (attacked) her ears as she whisked through the doors of the large room to the serving area. The entire cafeteria reeked of the special of the day: hamburgers. She paid for her food and looked around the overly crowded room for a table. Finding one, the voice student sat down and picked up the burger, which was nice and warm. The meat looked perfectly cooked. She took a bite and was overwhelmed with the juiciness of the patty. She finished the delicious burger and stood up to throw out her tray. Walking to the garbage can, she jingled from the change in her pocket. After the tray was placed on top of the garbage can, Dannie left the cafeteria, the annoying jingle of the change following her out.”
Part 4: Quotes: When you’re writing, quotes go into your paragraph. The only time a quote gets a new paragraph is if it is a new person talking. Seeing as your posts are all for one character, there should not be a new paragraph for a quote.
Ex: Dannie turned to the person next to her and said “Hi, I’m Dannie. What’s your name?” At that moment, her phone rang. Her ring tone, “Crazy Frog Goes to India” sounded through the room. Picking up the device, she answered the call. She spoke for a moment and turned back to the person.
“Sorry, it was my mom,” she said.
Is not right. Try this:
Dannie turned to the person next to her and said “Hi, I’m Dannie. What’s your name?” At that moment, her phone rang. Her ring tone, “Crazy Frog Goes to India” sounded through the room. Picking up the device, she answered the call. She spoke for a moment and turned back to the person. “Sorry, it was my mom,” she said.
There’s no new paragraph just because she started talking again.
Part 5: Capitalization: When writing anywhere, capitalization is a general rule to remember. The first word of a sentence should be capitalized, any proper nouns (the names of persons, places, and things), or “I” when referring to yourself. If your posts are typed in Word, things it knows should be capitalized will often be automatically capitalized. It’s still a good habit to get into capitalizing things yourself, though. It should not be sued excessively, either. If you wirte in all caps, people will think you are yelling. Unless yelling is what you really are looking for, emphasize words with bold, italics, or underline.
Ex: dannie walked into the store called jewel and asked for her friend alli to come and help her with something. “i NEED your to help me,” she whined.
This post has no capitalization except for the emhasis on need. What it should look like is:
Dannie walked into the store called Jewel and asked for her friend Alli to come and help her. “I need your help,” she whined.
Codes for bold, italics, and underline:
Stuck in a rut? Forgot everything your teachers taught you in grammar school? Just need a little refresher in writing? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, this topic is perfect for you!
Part 1: Spelling and Grammar: Any good writer knows that spelling and grammar are important. Sometimes, though, it’s hard to catch your own mistakes. Word and other typing programs are often fitted with spell checkers but those can only take you so far. When you’re typing a post, the first thing to do it either type it in Word or cut and paste it there to check everything for you. Because programs like this don’t always get everything for you, you need to read through your posts to make sure everything is what you wanted and you’ve used the right words. Here’s an online spell-checker for you. click me
Ex: “I went to meat you and couldn’t here a word you said. Ant time you talk, I can’t understand you.” comes out fine in Word but what you really meant was “I went to meet you and couldn’t hear a word you said. Any time you talk, I can’t understand you.”
Part 2: NTSBWSW (No two sentences begin with the same word [in a paragraph]): This one’s hard. Long story short, vary your sentence beginnings. Someone reading your post doesn’t want to read “she did this. She did that.” “He did this. He did that” they want a varied choice. Try using the same sentence beginning no more than twice in a paragraph.
Ex: “Dannie entered the cafeteria. She was hungry so she went to have a burger. She bought the food and sat down to eat it. She enjoyed the burger. She thought it was juicy and delicious. She finished and threw out the tray and left the cafeteria” doesn’t sound nearly as good as, “Dannie entered the cafeteria. Hungrily, she approached the serving area and ordered a burger. As she left the area and paid for her food, the black-haired girl looked around for a table. She found one and sat at it. As she ate, she felt the juiciness of the burger in her mouth and declared the meat delicious. When she was through, she got out of her seat and through her tray away. Fuller than she was before, Dannie left the cafeteria.”
Part 3: Sensory Images/Imagery: Everyone appreciated a nice, long, descriptive post, especially the writer. It gives writers a sense of pride to write something long and descriptive. That’s where Sensory Images/imagery come in; writing that involves all of the five sentences. When you write, think about the following:
What is he/she thinking?
What is he/she feeling?
How does the thing he/she is touching feel?
What does he/she see? What colors are there?
What sounds does he/she hear?
What can he/she taste?
What are they wearing?
Things like this give the replier something to work with. Also, your best frined is a thesaurus. Look up words that are different from the ones you usually use.
Ex: “Dannie walked into the cafeteria. She got a burger, sat down, and ate it. Getting up, she threw out her tray and left the cafeteria” doesn’t sound nearly as good as “Dannie walked into the cafeteria, wearing her ugly and uncomfortable school uniform. The ear-splitting (or droning) clatter of many other students chattering assailed (attacked) her ears as she whisked through the doors of the large room to the serving area. The entire cafeteria reeked of the special of the day: hamburgers. She paid for her food and looked around the overly crowded room for a table. Finding one, the voice student sat down and picked up the burger, which was nice and warm. The meat looked perfectly cooked. She took a bite and was overwhelmed with the juiciness of the patty. She finished the delicious burger and stood up to throw out her tray. Walking to the garbage can, she jingled from the change in her pocket. After the tray was placed on top of the garbage can, Dannie left the cafeteria, the annoying jingle of the change following her out.”
Part 4: Quotes: When you’re writing, quotes go into your paragraph. The only time a quote gets a new paragraph is if it is a new person talking. Seeing as your posts are all for one character, there should not be a new paragraph for a quote.
Ex: Dannie turned to the person next to her and said “Hi, I’m Dannie. What’s your name?” At that moment, her phone rang. Her ring tone, “Crazy Frog Goes to India” sounded through the room. Picking up the device, she answered the call. She spoke for a moment and turned back to the person.
“Sorry, it was my mom,” she said.
Is not right. Try this:
Dannie turned to the person next to her and said “Hi, I’m Dannie. What’s your name?” At that moment, her phone rang. Her ring tone, “Crazy Frog Goes to India” sounded through the room. Picking up the device, she answered the call. She spoke for a moment and turned back to the person. “Sorry, it was my mom,” she said.
There’s no new paragraph just because she started talking again.
Part 5: Capitalization: When writing anywhere, capitalization is a general rule to remember. The first word of a sentence should be capitalized, any proper nouns (the names of persons, places, and things), or “I” when referring to yourself. If your posts are typed in Word, things it knows should be capitalized will often be automatically capitalized. It’s still a good habit to get into capitalizing things yourself, though. It should not be sued excessively, either. If you wirte in all caps, people will think you are yelling. Unless yelling is what you really are looking for, emphasize words with bold, italics, or underline.
Ex: dannie walked into the store called jewel and asked for her friend alli to come and help her with something. “i NEED your to help me,” she whined.
This post has no capitalization except for the emhasis on need. What it should look like is:
Dannie walked into the store called Jewel and asked for her friend Alli to come and help her. “I need your help,” she whined.
Codes for bold, italics, and underline:
[b]wrap bolded text in this code[/b]
[i]wrap italics in this code[/i]
[u]wrap underlined text in this code[/u]