Questions

I need to write an essay on my fave song (spoken poetry) due friday. I asked my teacher today what the difference was, and she said that the tone was how the author felt about something, and mood was how they portrayed their feelings about it. But I still don’t really get that. How do I find tone in poetry? Was that explanation right? If not, please explain clearly and PROVIDE EXAMPLES. thanks so much!!

For the essay, I have to analyze the song and show how the author shows mood and tone. My song is “Missing” by Evanescence.
C’mon, people, help me out here! This thing’s due in 3 days!
- whatevbookwrm687

I finally got it back…ahhh. It feels so nice. How about you?
- ÐIESE? ÐUB

I am trying to write a poem about how I feel about poetry, and I think it would help if I could ***?e some other ***?oples’ ***?rspectives. Thanks to answers in advance.
- *****.n Strips

I wrote my prologue already,but lost it and my first chapter when I cleaned my PC.

However,I’m having a hard time writing it again.

I know what to write,but I can’t seem to get my body to type it out.

How do I confront these feelings I get sometimes?
No,I want to write,it’s just I can’t seem to!

Must..Write..

Grrrr..
I shall try again!
- Meat is not tasty..

Before I said or did anything I took my hand and slowly,gently touched her face.
I move closer to her lips and whispered “I need you.”
She smiled and whispered back, ‘I need you too. I love you.”
I kissed her and life began. I finally could breath without being afraid. I finally could love without being told or shown how.
I finally could express my feelings to my one true soulmate.
- Isaiah-Grace

As I take my pen to express my pain
No words come through my mind
I can hardly talk
Or think of any words to say

a window into my soul—-
One that is now nailed shut
No words will come
Let alone stay
I just have nothing to say

Its horrible and hard
It just caught me off guard
A combination too difficult to decode
No cure, no answer

I could not possibly tell
When I fell straight into a hell
A hell with no words no feelings,
Writer’s Block.

and the most wicked thing is…
how wrong I was when I wrote this

i just want to know what you think if its good or bad and tell me what to do to improve it too!
- Lizzy Cullen

For some people creative writing is very hard. They have a hard time trying to put their thoughts and ideas on paper. For some no matter what they do, the writing is always of poor quality and the ideas seem jumbled and non-seneschal. People make the mistake of thinking that creative writing has to be off the wall, out of this world writing. That is not the cases at all.

There are ways in which you can improve your creative writing skills. These are simple and hardly require much effort at all. The most important thing about creative writing is that you write about things that have meaning to you. If you are writing about things that you know nothing about or do not care about then yes, the writing will be bad. When people write about things they care about the writing automatically improves because the reader can see the reader’s personality coming through in the words that they have written. The writer begins to capture the reader, and when this happens then you know you have written a good piece.

You should always carry a notebook or journal around with you. This way you can write down feelings and emotions. You can write about things that you see and how you felt. From these little notes you can expand and create fantastic stories. Some people even begin writing a book from these little sentences they write in their notebooks.

Another key to good creative writing is to organize your thoughts and ideas. If the writing is not organized, no matter what you do the writing will not be good. The reader will be confused and in some cases they will give up reading. You should always separate your ideas into plot, setting, characters and climax. Under each heading write you thoughts and ideas. Once this is done, you a begin putting together the piece of the puzzle, which is your story.


- James Hunt

During the industrial revolution what were the feelings of society that were being explored in science fiction? I need to do a quiz type of thing on this and I am desperately looking for an answer.
- sweetpea

Your story, be it novel, short story or novelette, is finished. Or is it? Before you send it to a publisher, check firstly that your story makes sense!

Maybe you read my article about The Final Draft. Well, before you reach that stage there’s this one to go through. It can be hard and you need to be tough with yourself, castings an editor’s eye - not that of a writer - over your work. So what is there to look for when editing and how do you go about it?

The first thing to do is to print your story out onto paper. Don’t ask me why but editing just doesn’t seem to work the same if you do it on your computer or word-processor. Then read your story. You might think this a waste of time - after all, you wrote it! - but I assure you that you’ll find mistakes, typos and a host of other little mistakes.

They’re easy to correct. Mark them in pencil as you go along. When you have finished your read through it’s time to begin editing in earnest. You will have almost certainly noticed plotting errors and the usual howlers present in every first draft (I speak from experience!) but here’s a rundown of vital points to check off during the editing process.

1. Do your characters behave as they should? Remember that, in fiction, people seldom if ever act ‘out of character’ - if your character has changed, this needs attention.

2. Do your characters react to each other as they should? Events in your story may well change the feelings and emotions your characters display towards each other. Do they mention events that have happened to them within the story? Real people would - your characters should follow suit.

3. Will it be obvious to the reader what the characters are doing - and why they are doing it? This needs to be made clear to the reader otherwise the ‘thread’ of the story may be lost altogether, your reader will become confused - and the story, for them, is over.

4. Do your characters react believably to circumstances? Again, this goes back to character action - don’t have a character brush off a situation if their character sheet says they would go berserk with rage at a given event - if this is evident, your plotting needs to be looked at. Don’t change your character’s reactions to paper over cracks in the plot!

5. Does your story timeline run true? It’s very easy to have someone in two places at once if you’re not in control of this critical thread. If you have a sub-plot, or, worse still, several sub-plots running, this can rapidly spiral out of control. Use a timeline record to help you control event timing, i.e. ‘10 pm Monday - Jake and Sally at Harry’s bar. Big Mike robbing bank.’ This ensures that Jake and Big Mike don’t ‘meet up’ somewhere at that hour!

Checking the above points will take time, effort and dedication. However, if you do not ensure that your story makes sense according to the points above, the only time you waste will be your own. Why? Simple. Editors today do not expect - and indeed will not tolerate - stories that simply don’t ‘hang together’. The days of droves of sub-editors making good your sloppy work are well and truly gone.

So - edit and re-edit. Be brutal. Be honest with yourself and your work and you will be streets ahead of those who do not take the time and effort that you do. Writing fiction is hard work - it’s up to you to make certain your work is the best it can be. I look forward to seeing you in print!


- Steve Dempster

If you’ve been sitting by your computer for days, weeks, months, or even years wringing your hands and wondering what’s stopping the words in your head from landing on the page, the following tips may provide some food for thought and quite possibly end your writer’s block:

1) Make sure you BELIEVE you are a good writer: If you harbor any limiting beliefs or self sabotaging feelings (even down deep in your subconscious), you may find it difficult to write. Do you ever find that when you make an effort to write, the inner critic (false voice in your head), starts tossing objections at you? Thoughts like “What are you thinking – you’re no writer! You don’t have time to write! You have no content left! No one will be interested in this thing you are trying to write,” flood your head, leaving you feeling so overwhelmed your hands seem paralyzed! In my case, I wanted to write articles and books on self-growth, but my inner critic had me convinced that without a degree no one would take me (or anything I wrote) seriously. First, I had to become aware of this constant negative tape that played in my head “You can’t write about self-help! You don’t have a degree!” Second, I had to be willing to believe otherwise - I went into the bookstore and looked at all different self-help books and was amazed at the number of books that were written by people without degrees! That really helped me to get past that limiting belief. I suggest you determine what your inner critic is saying to you and then choose to think differently or prove to yourself (as I did) that you have what it takes just like any other well known author.

2) Journal your inner pain and frustration: This is what I call “venting on paper”. If there is something your inner SPIRIT needs you to write in order to heal, you may find it difficult to write the things you want until you write the things you need. I was raised in an abusive home and never dared to fight back even when I was treated terribly. I felt I lost my “voice”. As an adult, I learned if I couldn’t confront the abuser, I could at least vent my pain via pen and paper. To certain individuals, I wrote letters that I chose not to send. Just the act of writing the letter and burning it was incredibly healing and enabled me to move forward with my publications to some degree. But it wasn’t until I finally worked up the nerve to stand up to a relative by actually mailing a letter that I noticed my writers block began to disappear! I wrote an honest, but firm letter out of love and not as an attack, and the moment I dropped the envelope off at the post office, I felt a freedom like none I’d felt before. Within a couple weeks I published 6 articles in electronic and hard copy magazines. I knew it was because I had finally written something that my inner spirit needed me to write (the letter). All that painful stuff had blocked my ability to write the stuff I enjoy writing! I encourage you to look inside and see if there is something your own spirit is yearning to release in writing in order for you to heal. Either in a journal or in a letter you burn…or best of all, in a letter you send. I assure you, the act of journaling your pain will free you up to write your desires.

3) Be aware of the “fear of success”: Could you harbor some fear way down deep that you may not be aware of? Fear that your writing will make you so successful you may offend someone (like a parent, or a husband, or a sister?) Fear of success means counting the cost. “What will I lose if I become successful?” Or better said - “WHO will I lose if I become successful”. Many successful people, who were raised in middle class families or families barely making ends meet, found it difficult to do something amazing (like write) for fear it would offend their parents on some level. I know a famous author (20 some books and still writing), who was raised by a family of little means whose values were “hard work is good for you!” This author started making so much money as a result of his writing, that he no longer needed to work long hours, but then he would hit financial plateaus and experience writer’s block on a grand scale. His dad’s values from childhood haunted him and he worried dad would think him lazy for not working much…or that dad would be offended by a son who did better in life than he did. The son became aware of this deep seeded fear and chose instead to believe his dad would actually be very proud of him for his accomplishments thus ending his fear of success and eliminating his writer’s block.

4) Procrastination VS Processing: This last tip is an excerpt of an article I wrote recently. Procrastination certainly causes writer’s block, but is actually the symptom, not the cause of writer’s block. The question to ask yourself is why are you procrastinating? Is it something easy to identify like time management issues - no time left in the day to write? Or is it something deeper that relates to things I’ve mentioned - limiting beliefs or fear of success? When you’ve ruled out those things, I encourage you to consider this. You might not be stuck, you might not be procrastinating, you might just be PROCESSING! Your internal “computer” brain takes in information every micro-second of every day – that’s a lot of information, ideas, energy and drama! Processing time is very important; think of it as a “download” of information into your brain. If you have ever downloaded new software on your real computer, you understand the need to turn off all other applications and restart your computer. Can you apply that same principle to your brain? Simply believe that even when things appear to be “stuck”, that something is really happening – filling you, refreshing you, and preparing you to move forward successfully. Be patient and don’t fight the process!


- Lynette Landing