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title: Writing Resources
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<p>To be done</p>
<commit_msg>writing lessons<commit_after>---
layout: page
title: Writing Resources
modified: 2016-11-26
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---

<p>
Over the years I have gathered tips, advice and writing resources that I have found useful and which I often refer to. I have grouped them together under the following stages I typically follow when writing a post.
</p>

<b>Gathering Ideas</b>

The first step is gathering ideas for posts. There are any number of sources for ideas: newspapers, magazines, journals, radio, TV, tweets, conversations, the web etc. Other sources that can generate ideas are:  art exhibitions, museums, sport and theatre. The key point at this stage in the is to jot them down with a few lines about why they are interesting ( I use Google Documents on my smart phone but a pen and notebook is just as effective ).

<b>Selecting An Idea To Develop</b>

I set myself a deadline for each post ( I aim to publish a post every month ). Setting a deadline helps further in the process at the editing stage where time pressure can sharpen up a post. I use some questions that I find helpful:

- What is the central message of the post ?

- Why is the central message important, useful, new, counterintuitive, or build on previous work ? If the message is exploring a new idea ( whether technological, social, business etc ) then what is it going to change ?

- Who is the reader and why would they want to read the post ?

- What credibility do I have to support the views expressed in the message ? e.g. previous work, personal experience, academic or professional ?

At this point I would draft a single sentence about what the post is about and which will eventually be used as the summary. I would also start to think about an eye catching title.

<b>The First Draft(s)</b>

The purpose of the drafts at this stage is try and sharpen up the subject of the post. After several drafts it may not be clear but it is important to persevere. Sometimes it doesn't become clear and then the idea goes back on the shelf until it has developed more. It is important not to worry about editing the post - that will come later.

<b> Who Wants To Read It ( and Why ) ?</b>

Although this question should have been answered at the earlier stage, after a few drafts the target readership may have changed - always worth a quick check to make sure that the target audience is clear.

<b>Format</b>

In my blog I have experimented with different formats including letter, short story, and
journalistic reporting. The different formats are an attempt to portray the subject under
discussion in an interesting way. However, if the content is not interesting to the target reader then no tinkering with different formats are going to improve the post's changes of being read.

<b>[Point of View](http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/english/reading/character/revision/5/)</b>

It is important to be clear what the relationship between the author and the reader - what is the perspective that the post is being written ?


- First Person - you are writing about yourself and using words such as "I", "me","my" and "mine". But can also invovle "We", "Us" and "Our".

- Second Person - you are addressing the reader directly and using "you", "your" and "yours".


- Third Person - you are telling the reader and using words such as "he", "she","it" and "they".

<b>Style</b>

There are probably two extremes in style: one poetic and the other technical.

To illuminate the gap between the two types of writing style lets explore two examples at
each end of the spectrum.  In Laurie Lee’s
<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ZCCTt8meR7MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=cider+with+rosie&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=cider%20with%20rosie&f=false" >
<i>Cider With Rosie</i></a> he describes his new
home: “That was the day we came to the village, in the summer of the last year of the First
World War. To a cottage that stood in half-acre of garden on a steep back above a lake; a
cottage with three floors and a cellar and a treasure in the walls, with a pump and apple
trees, syringe and strawberries, rooks in the chimney, frogs in the cellar, mushrooms on the
ceiling, and all for three and sixpence a week”.  Compare with a report on the condition of
Hut 6 at Bletchley Park where the Enigma code was broken during the  Second World War: “Entering through the side door, a short transverse corridor joins the main central corridor, which runs from north to south. This corridor is broken by two fire doors, the southernmost containing the door from room 10. The wooden floor was covered in linoleum, some of which survives. The floor has rotted in places, making rooms 3, 4 and 15 inaccessible. The walls and ceilings are lined with boarding which has sagged and collapsed in places, revealing roof trusses comprising a king post and diagonal braces. Supporting the tie beams, under the ceilings, are small brackets with a sunken triangle motif on their
sides. Two types of door are used.” One gives a description of a place through young eyes
with a sense of excitement. The other is purely factual: describing the condition of a
building before restoration.  One appeals to the emotions the other is factual.  

<b>Language</b>

When using technical terminology it is important to be clear about the background of the reader. Will they understand the terminology or will you need to explain it ? - if so - what level of detail ?

For example, in <NAME>’s
<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mPLenAEACAAJ&dq=toulmin+the+philosophy+of+science&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMIzvzfgaf7yAIVwkIUCh2NEwBh" >
<i>The Philosophy Of Science</i></a>,  he describes the dichotomy between the specialized
and general reader: “one can distinguish between an account of a theory in the new terminology – in
‘participants language’ – and an account in which the new terminology is not used but described –
an account in the ‘onlookers language’. The key difference is between the person who uses a particular
technical language as part of their everyday work, and somebody has heard about the terminology
but doesn't understand what it means.

Toulmin goes on to describe another aspect of the problem: “For a layman wants to be told about
the theories of science in a language he can understand; and he also wants to be told about them
briefly, ‘in a nutshell’ These two demands are in conflict. For a major virtue of the language
of the sciences is its conciseness.” A good example of this problem is describing change. Most
people are aware of change whether it is the seasons, weather, interest rates, jobs etc. However,
when a mathematician, or a physicist, describes change they use a much narrower, more specialised
definition such as “an abstract representation of how a physical quantity changes over time” or
more specifically in the language of mathematics: $df(t)/dt$.

<b>Editing</b>

Now comes the interesting section. People can view editing as a 'slash and burn' process as their work is cut and changed. However, I view it as an other important part in the creative process by taking the raw text and shaping it into something worth reading.

- Grammar - is the thought being expressed in each sentence clearly expressed ? Are nouns, verbs etc. used correctly ? Are the aspects of time - past, present, and future - consistent ?

- Paragraphs - are the paragraphs clearly linked ?

- Title - is it eye catching enough for the reader to read further ?

- Single Sentence - does the single sentence that is displayed accurately cover the post ? Can the number of words be reduced further ?

- Tags - are the tags cover the key points in the post ?

- Length - my posts are aimed at a quick read ( maybe over a coffee ? ) therefore the length needs to be somewhere around 500 - 700 words.


<b>Feedback</b>

It is crucial to get feedback on the post. Therefore it will be sent to potential publishers
with the aim of getting feedback on areas that I can improve my writing. The feedback will
also be used to revise aspects of the process described above.

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