How Do We Write?

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zaidi
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by zaidi »

I know its not a good idea to do things before the deadline, but it takes so much time to first let the topic settle and as the deadline approaches, i feel this motivation to give it a go.
I dont know if this is true, but i think even if I try really hard i can still make a good go for this competition,( its a good idea to atleast make a try than not trying) most people dont try.
Even today,my brother was saying, there is no chance you are going to win, so whynot study maths than wasting your time. And that was demotivating. I still replied that it doesnt matter whether i win or loose, whats important is trying.
Thankyou so much Anita, I've searched all the internet nothing turned any relevant results, your explanation is so good,| think I can try writing now :))
Yes Daisy, you are right and Sixret I would definitely let you know, if there is a chance of getting in.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Rob Houghton »

zaidi wrote: Even today,my brother was saying, there is no chance you are going to win, so whynot study maths than wasting your time. And that was demotivating. I still replied that it doesnt matter whether i win or loose, whats important is trying.
When I was younger (and even today!) anyone telling me I wasn't going to win at something that I knew I was good at, would just make me MORE motivated, rather than less! I think as we get older, this is more difficult to achieve, because we have had more knock-backs - but certainly as a teenager I thought I could become whatever I wanted to be. Don't give up or feel demotivated - go for it! :D
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Good luck with your entry, Zainab! It's certainly worth a try!
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Courtenay »

zaidi wrote:I know its not a good idea to do things before the deadline...
Well, it's a better idea than doing them after the deadline. :wink: Good on you for giving it a go, Zainab — it sounds like a very interesting and thought-provoking idea for a writing competition and I hope you do well and enjoy the challenge.
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Daisy »

Good luck Zainab.. I'm sure you're right to have a go.
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.

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zaidi
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by zaidi »

Well thankyou everyone,
Robert you think im really good at writing ? :p
I think even as a child many of us receive knockouts,I've had a number of those,Ive been through consecutive series of failures and rejections in variation of things, sometimes i feel dejected and de motivated but then i regain confidence and try things again with a new twist :) Like I applied for 3 summer programme scholarships,( and i got rejected by all 3 of those) and today I cried with the third one as it was my last hope .It said we regret to inform you, you have not been selected :|
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Chrissie777 »

Zaidi, don't give up. I'm sure it will work out eventually! :D
Chrissie

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Rob Houghton
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Rob Houghton »

zaidi wrote:Well thankyou everyone,
Robert you think im really good at writing ? :p
I think even as a child many of us receive knockouts,I've had a number of those,Ive been through consecutive series of failures and rejections in variation of things, sometimes i feel dejected and de motivated but then i regain confidence and try things again with a new twist :) Like I applied for 3 summer programme scholarships,( and i got rejected by all 3 of those) and today I cried with the third one as it was my last hope .It said we regret to inform you, you have not been selected :|
Knock-backs mean you tried. As a child I had very few knock-backs - because I was too shy and too insecure in my talents to try. I'm still the same now, even though I've acted on stage hundreds of times, been in TV programmes, had a short story published, given presentations and sent loads of manuscripts to publishers! Knock-backs do make us stronger - I've only really learned that since I was about 30.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Moonraker
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Moonraker »

If that is indeed true, Rob, I should be stronger than the Incredible Hulk. :D
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

Have you started to re-write your own novel yet, Rob?

8)
Julian gave an exclamation and nudged George.
"See that? It's the black Bentley again. KMF 102!"

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Rob Houghton
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Rob Houghton »

Not yet, Julie. :D Thing is, I've sent it off so many times - well, around 12 times, and its been rejected so many times, that I don't really feel it's what publishers want! :-( I know I could try again, but I also uploaded it onto a site where people could give criticisms to your work, a few years back, and although some people loved it (as have most who I know who have read the paper copy) most people said it was way too slow.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Keith Robinson
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Keith Robinson »

Hello everyone! Anita drew my attention to this post, so I thought I'd chime in.
MJE wrote:      I agree with you, Rob, about the layout of the serials, and I would be inclined to alter the code to put in the indentations before printing out anything, to make it look "book-like". In fact, a puzzling thing I've noticed about the serial pages is that, while the chapters are coming out one by one, there is no indentation and there are empty lines between paragraphs (a format I heartily dislike, especially for fiction), but when the complete story is posted as a single file, indentations are put in and the empty lines eliminated. (It is possible to make this change very easily by using a different "style sheet" (coding technique for web pages), and the actual story files don't have to be changed - just a reference to a suitable style-sheet put in near the top (this is invisible to ordinary readers).) Does anyone know why these differences in layout appear at these different stages?
You're right, Michael, that this is all achieved using styles. The raw text file is literally just plain text with a few HTML tags, and with word-wrap turned off, that means each paragraph is on its own (very long!) line, with no spaces between. Oh, the horror! It looks like this:

<p>First paragraph here.<p>
<p>Second paragraph here, and so on, no matter how long the paragraph is...<p>

When printed to the website one chapter at a time, I went with standard web format. This means the default setting: blank lines between each paragraph, and no indentations. Actually, it's not a true blank line; it's just increased top and bottom paragraph margins to give the impression of a blank line.

Almost NOBODY uses indentations on standard web pages. Some people try to force it with extra spacing, but more than one space is ignored by browsers unless the website designer encodes them as hard spaces. Tabs are ignored, too. It takes a special kind of work to indent paragraphs. It's best done with styles rather than with spacing.

In the long, complete, downloadable version of the story, I went with a more traditional novel look and feel. If I had gone with the "web page" layout, the page would be probably 50% longer with all those "fake" blank lines. As I said above, I just used styles to format it. So, with the same text again:

<p>First paragraph here.<p>
<p>Second paragraph here, and so on, no matter how long the paragraph is...<p>

This time I would use styles and set the <p> tag so it has margin-top:0px and margin-bottom:0px, and I would set margin-left:30px or something like that. So, no change to the actual text or HTML tags, just a simple change to the way the HTML is displayed.

I agree that the traditional indented novel format looks much nicer for a complete novel, but I think it looks weird on a web page. Having said that, if the majority of you preferred the serial to be formatted like a novel, then I'll be happy to change it. It's a case of altering a few lines of code in the master template, and then ALL stories will be updated. So let me know! (But I'd have to check with my bosses first -- Tony and Anita!)
Anita Bensoussane wrote:I must admit I've no idea why the layout changes but I'm sure Keith must know. (Having thought about it, maybe it's because the weekly chapters will usually be read online - I myself appreciate extra spacing when reading from a screen - whereas the complete books are intended to be printed off.)
Exactly. It's a preference thing, and everyone is different.

Unlike Michael, though, I do NOT want to see indented paragraphs without blank lines for normal web pages. I think that's archaic-looking, somehow. Websites are modern, and while novels can (and should?) be shown with indented paragraphs, basic web pages should not. It goes against the grain. To me, it's rather like writing a slanted address on an envelope and using "Esq" after the man's name, or "Mr. & Mrs. Keith Robinson," or something like that. So old-fashioned. Or writing "Dear Michael..." and "Yours sincerely," in an email to a friend. Have you noticed how almost everyone starts an email "Hi [name]" these days? Oh, how times change.

Anyway, better get on.
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

None indentations doesn't bother me at all. I read the serial for the serial, not for how it's laid out. :)

8)
Julian gave an exclamation and nudged George.
"See that? It's the black Bentley again. KMF 102!"

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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Daisy »

Phew.... I'll leave others to comment on the main points, but your last paragraph about addresses has caught my eye. I have always addressed an envelope at the slope, so to speak. That is how I was taught and I have never seen anywhere advocating that this is no longer "right". I also start some emails as I would a letter, but that depends on the kind of email it is. (Obviously I am living in the past!)
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Re: How Do We Write?

Post by Tony Summerfield »

One thing I did notice about the current serial, which was not in any way Julie's fault, is that during the editing process we changed a couple of three or four word phrases into italics to give them more emphasis and they came out as one long word. I can't remember where they were, but Julie will know as she drew my attention to it.

We have learnt our lesson as the forthcoming new serial has no italics in it, and I offer our humble apologies to Julie!
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