A Writer’s Best Friend

Posted: 25 Mar 2012 09:51 PM PDT

I was bemused recently to read in the acknowledgments section of a book the author’s expression of gratitude toward someone who had read the manuscript before publication. The writer thanked the other person for “doing great proofreading,” but he followed that comment with “Not copy editing [sic]; we were both cautious about that, as our strongly held opinions don’t often match.”

My first impression was that the book’s author has — or had at the time — a fundamental misunderstanding of copyediting (since the book was published, the closed-compound version of that term has come to prevail), as he implied that such a process would interfere with his expression of his views. (The person who assisted him is an expert in the book’s subject matter.)

That’s absurd, because no editing role — certainly not copyediting — involves revisions of writers’ expressions of their beliefs or judgments. A developmental editor for a book publisher, or an assigning editor of a periodical, might discuss this issue with a writer but generally does not impose on the author’s convictions; presumably, the opportunity for the author to express these ideas is the reason the content is being published in the first place.

But then I considered that perhaps, by “strongly held opinions,” the writer meant his notions of what constitutes good writing. Perhaps he was referring to the fact that his ideas about how to construct prose conflicts with those of the person who reviewed the manuscript for him. This possibility led me to reflect on my long-held opinion, acquired through decades of painful experience, that there’s a strong correlation between good writers and good grace when it comes to responding to grammatical and syntactical revisions, concomitant with the disturbing degree to which many poor writers protest such improvements.

For in this case, the book suffered greatly not only from the fact it, at least before it was submitted to the publisher, was proofread but not copyedited. It also was compromised by the apparent lack of copyediting (or any editing) during the production phase of publication. The writing is verbose, repetitive, poorly organized, and clumsy — (barely) competent, but dull and tiring to read, and in dire need of attention from both a developmental editor and a copy editor. This mediocrity was all the more disappointing because of the anticipation with which I had approached the book, which covers a topic of great interest to me.

I was especially puzzled about the writing quality because the book dates to the early 1980s, the last period in which a reader could count on well-edited books before, for many but fortunately not all publishing companies, the bottom line became more important than the line edit. Ultimately, though, that this book is an exception to the rule is not the writer’s fault; the publisher let him — and me and other readers of this book — down.

But writers aren’t helpless in the face of this trend; if they lack a partner or other close associate qualified and willing to review a manuscript (or even if such an ally is put to work), they can resort to pre-editing. That’s the now-widespread practice of preempting a publishing company’s possible neglect or short-changing of the editing process, and/or improving the chance of the manuscript’s acceptance, by hiring a freelance developmental editor and/or a freelance copy editor to polish it before submitting it to publishers.

It’s unfortunate that the assembly-line model that now prevails in the publishing industry necessitates this step for one or both reasons stated, but though it requires a financial investment by the writer, it’s a wise strategy that enhances the likelihood both that the manuscript will be published and that the book will succeed.

Another wise strategy is to have a little humility about one’s writing ability and the value of one or more objective second opinions. I’m a good writer, though not a great one, but even if I did claim (and perhaps actually have) more talent, I would, as I do in reality, welcome both substantial and mechanical revisions that make me look even better. For me — and many good and great writers — it’s a no-brainer, but that indirect reference to my earlier comment about the correlation of writing talent to amenability to editing reminds me of another observation: Common sense isn’t as common as it should be.

Narrative, Plot, and Story

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 09:40 PM PDT

What’s the difference between narrative, plot, and story? Not much, but enough that it matters. Here are the distinctions, explained with aids of analogy, plus some details:

Narrative is the structure of events — the architecture of the story, comparable to the design of a building. Story is the sequence of events, the order in which the narrative occurs — the tour through the building. Plot is the sum of the events, told not necessarily in sequential order, but generally consistent with the story and often considered synonymous with the narrative — the building itself.

But these similar and even overlapping components of composition are further affected by the narrative mode — the techniques the author employs to tell the story. Among these strategies are narrative point of view and narrative voice.

Narrative Point of View

A first-person narrator relates the story by using the pronoun I (or, rarely, if two or more narrators are telling the story simultaneously, we). This device enables the reader to know the narrator’s internal thoughts and feelings as well. This narrative style may indicate that the narrator may or may not consciously be aware of a reading audience. Also, the first-person narrator is not necessarily the main character, or even central to the story.

Second-person narrative, rare in literature, is that in which the narrator refers to a character as “you.” The most frequent mode, third-person narrative, involves reference to characters as “he,” “she,” “they,” or “it.”

Variety is achieved by the author’s decision to narrate subjectively, revealing characters’ thoughts and feelings, or objectively, without internal insight into any of the characters, as well as choice of omniscient or limited point of view: The author either knows all that is occurring in the story or is restricted to sharing only what is known to the focal character. Narrative point of view can vary within the same story, either by section or chapter or even within the same passage.

Narrative Voice

Narrative voice is the style in which the narrative is presented — for example, a character’s recounting of events, or a privileged window into the character’s thoughts and feelings.

A narrator may be a participant, a character in the story who describes events, or a nonparticipant, an objective (but not necessarily accurate) observer who is not integrated into the story. Another technique is to feature an unreliable narrator, one whose narrative is initially or ultimately suspect because it contradicts what the reader learns from nonnarrated exposition or other points of view.

For instance, in the Japanese film Rashomon, based on two short stories, four characters give conflicting accounts of an event. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the title character’s naiveté, a plot device enabling author Mark Twain to demonstrate his gift for social satire, makes him an unreliable narrator.

Note that narrative applies to nonfiction as well as fiction, and even plot and story have a place in nonfiction, as reporters and authors often manipulate an account by constructing a narrative more sophisticated than the who, what, when, where, and why formula of traditional journalism. There’s even a term for this approach: creative nonfiction.

memoir: Autobiographical observations; reminiscences.

Anyone can write a memoir.

From what I can tell, just about everyone is writing a memoir.

ANGELINA Jolie is writing her memoirs.

Denise Richards to Pen a Memoir

The creative director of Vogue, Grace Coddington, is working on her memoirs

Charlie’s Angels star Kate Jackson is writing her memoirs

Justin Bieber is compiling all the living he’s done in his 16 years for a new ‘photographic memoir,’

Susan Lucci–Erica Kane of All My Children–is writing a memoir.

Salman Rushdie signs a deal for writing his memoirs

Palin signs deal for memoir to be published in 2010.

[Rob Lowe] is writing a memoir entitled “Stories I Only Tell My Friends,”

Ashley Judd To Write Her Memoirs.

Steven Tyler [Aerosmith] Is Writing His Memoirs

In her third memoir, Mary Karr gets sober and finds faith—with attitude.

Usage seems to prefer the singular memoir for a personal account of a limited period of time in one’s life, and plural memoirs for a recounting of one’s entire life up to the moment of writing.

Jaycee Dugard Writing Memoir About Her 18 Years in Captivity,

Sonia Sotomayor to write memoirs on life and law

NOTE: Some would say that a “memoir” that begins with the author’s birth and childhood and proceeds to the time of writing is an autobiography, while the account of a certain period of one’s life is a memoir. My own distinction between memoir and autobiography agrees with that of Gore Vidal:

a memoir is how one remembers one’s own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked.”

If you are writing a memoir, here are some questions for you.

1. Are you writing it because it’s good therapy for you and will be helpful to others?

2. Has the word count reached 100,000 and you’re only halfway through?

3. Are you including every single thing that you can remember about your life up until this present moment?

4. Do you expect a publisher to buy your memoir when you are finished with it?

If your answer to number 4 is “No,” then I say, “Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!”

If your answer to number 4 and at least one of the other questions is “Yes,” then you may need to rethink your idea of what a publishable memoir is.

A publishable memoir is a selective, crafted rendering of personal recollections. It is not a recitation of everything that ever happened to its subject. The ever popular celebrity memoir is usually the work of a professional ghostwriter who knows how to select and order events into a coherent work of structured prose.

Writing one’s memoirs may indeed provide the writer a therapeutic way of dealing with unpleasant memories by getting them down on paper. This aspect of memoir writing, however, is of no interest to an agent or publisher:

One of the biggest mistakes I see in query letters for the memoir is writers who spotlight how cathartic and therapeutic the writing of the work was and how they now need to share it with the world. –”Agent Kristin”

Kristin goes on to say that readers aren’t interested in any one person’s therapeutic story. They want an “inside look to a world they’ve never seen…a world that is unbelievable but true…a story that captures a universal feeling…”

Millions of people have experienced abusive childhoods, addiction, premature death of loved ones… What makes the account of one person’s experience of these things readable is the way in which it is written.

Although based on actual events, memoir is more like fiction than nonfiction. To be publishable, a memoir must make use of fiction techniques that pull the reader along and elicit an emotional response.

If you are not a celebrity, you need to be able to write extremely well in order to place a memoir with a publisher.

Here are some memoirs that have achieved lasting publishing success.

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
Home Before Dark by Susan Cheever
Personal Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant
The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

from http://www.dailywritingtips.com/are-you-writing-a-memoir/

English 11 week of March 19 (1st, 2nd, 7th hours)

Memoirs!

Students will be reading excerpts from memoirs to explore the genre.

Students will explore voice, writer behind the message, through memoir excerpts.

Students are assigned a 7 page journal - 14 entries - due after Spring Break.

English 11 4th and 5th hour: Kony 2012

Make an impact at http://www.kony2012.com/
Sign the pledge if you want
Tweet your personality - or have someone tweet for you


Visit the International Criminal Court at http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/About+the+Court/
to read about Joseph Kony and other criminals and their cases.

The Function of “The”

Posted: 11 Mar 2012 09:55 PM PDT

I found it interesting, when researching this topic, that the definition for the in Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary is nearly as long as this post — and that’s for just one set of functions for the word, as a definite article. The also functions, less often, as an adverb (“I like that one the best”) and, rarely, a preposition used in place of per (“Those cost ten dollars the dozen”).

And why should anyone feel the need to look the up in the dictionary? Isn’t it obvious? When it comes to meaning, yes, the role of the in a sentence is clear. But it’s not always clear whether the cast of characters in the sentence must include that role.

Consider the sentence “I looked out over the land.” The writer describes surveying a particular plot of land. However, “The price of land has gone down lately” omits the because no specific plot of land is being discussed; the topic is the concept of land in general.

But notice that in these nearly identical sentences, the difference in meaning seems to be the reverse of the difference in the previous paragraph: “I poured water out of the pitcher” explains what was poured, whereas “I poured the water out of the pitcher” emphasizes where the water came from.

Notice, however, that in those examples and the pair that follow, the is a marker for a second reference: “I put the shoes on and walked outside” emphasizes the particular pair of shoes, which presumably have already been referred to. “I put shoes on and walked outside” calls no special attention to the shoes; the sentence merely describes the writer’s routine preliminary to leaving the premises.

Sometimes the presence or absence or the in a sentence is irrelevant; the person quoted could have employed either usage: “She’ll have the strawberry cheesecake” identifies the particular dessert a diner wishes to be served, one either visible to the speaker or listed on a menu — a literal or implied second reference. “She’ll have strawberry cheesecake” means the same thing — with the subtle difference that the speaker is not directly alluding to the dessert selection visible in the form of a slice or a reference in text.

However, in the case of the pair of sentences about the shoes, the previous reference may be very important; these are magic shoes we’re reading about, for example. “I put shoes on and walked outside” presumably leaves the unusual footwear behind; “I put the shoes on and walked outside” moves the plot along.

The is deliberately omitted in many types of usage. For instance, most references to countries (“Afghanistan,” “Zimbabwe”) need no definite article, nor do references to their citizens (“Afghanis,” Zimbabweans”), unless, again, a particular subgroup is in question (“The Afghanis in the tour group kept to themselves”). Exceptions include use of “the Netherlands” and similar geographically influenced names. The same rule applies to names of other geographical or geopolitical features (“Mount Everest,” but “the Himalayas”; “Hawaii,” but “the Hawaiian Islands”; “Lake Tahoe”, but “the Great Salt Lake”).

Oddly, writers who would never make the mistake of omitting the before “Netherlands” or “Hawaiian Islands” frequently refrain from preceding names of organizations: “March of Dimes Foundation was founded in 1938.” Admittedly, some names do not merit the definite article, but they are usually obvious (“Project Reason,” “People for the American Way”). However, logic should override poor usage. The People for the American Way Foundation, associated with the organization named in the latter example, incorrectly self-identifies as “People for the American Way Foundation.” The rule of thumb is that any organizational name ending in a word referring to the entity (foundation, organization, project, etc.) requires the definite article, just as a generic reference such as “the foundation” merits it.

Adverse vs. Averse

Posted: 07 Mar 2012 08:58 PM PST

Adverse and averse share the root verse, which stems from the Latin term vertere, meaning “to turn.” But their meanings are distinct and, taken literally, antonymic: Adverse, from the Latin word adversus (“turned toward, facing”), means “antagonistic”; the original term conjures of image of confrontation. Averse, meanwhile, comes from aversus (“turned away”) and means “strongly disinclined” or “strongly unfavorable to.”

Other forms of adverse are adversary, meaning “opponent,” and adversity, referring to the quality of opposition. Adversary is also an adjective, but, perhaps because of confusion with the noun form of that word, adversarial came to prevail in that usage. Avert, meanwhile, is related to averse and means “to turn away, to avoid.” (Veer, though it has the same meaning, is unrelated; it’s from a Germanic word meaning “to slacken.”)

A whole family of other words with the verse root exist: Converse means “the exact opposite” and has the noun and verb form convert, meaning “someone who turns” and “to turn,” respectively, and the noun form conversion, referring to the act of converting. Converse also means “to speak with someone” (to “turn” speech) and leads to the adjective conversant and the noun conversation. (The latter used to also mean “living together” or “having sexual relations.”) Diverse, originally divers, means “distinct” and is the parent of diversity, divergent, divert, and diversion.

Extrovert, which means “turned outward,” is mirrored by the antonym introvert. (These also serve as noun forms.) Inverse means “turn about” or “turn over” and has the verb form invert and the noun form inversion. Obverse, meaning “turned toward,” is the opposite of reverse, “turned away,” which, unlike the more rarely used obverse, has a noun form, too: reversal. Perverse, which means “turned away (from what is correct),” has the noun forms pervert, for a person, and perversion, for the quality. Transverse means “turned across” (the rare noun form is transversal), and traverse means “to pass across.”

Versus also ultimately derives from vertere by way of, well, versus. (The Old English suffix -weard, from which we derive -ward — seen in toward, forward, and so on — is akin to versus.) Other related words include verse (from the idea of “turning” from one line of verse to another), versed (“knowledgeable” — literally, “one who knows verses,” with the connotation of one who “turns over” a subject of study), and versify, or “write verse.”

Anniversary, meanwhile, literally means “year turning,” and universe, originally meaning “all together,” is derived from the words for “one” and “turn.” University, referring to a place of learning, stems from the idea of “whole,” with the connotation of “community.” (Varsity, an alteration of a shortening of university, denotes the primary group of athletes in any sport who represent a university or other school.)

Gradable Words

Posted: 04 Mar 2012 08:19 PM PST

Many adjectives have degrees of grade or intensity: big (adjective), bigger (comparative adjective), and biggest (superlative adjective), for examples of varying grades, or loud (adjective), louder (comparative adjective), and loudest (superlative adjective) as various levels of intensity. Others, however, have no variation: You cannot (notwithstanding the poetic license of the US Constitution’s “a more perfect union”) be perfecter than someone else or be the perfectest of all.

Such terms, classified as nongradable adjectives, are called absolutes: Just as one cannot be the perfectest person, one cannot be very unique or more correct, or the most unique or correct.

Despite the definitive term absolute, however, there is a little wiggle room: When absolutes become modifiers or are themselves otherwise modified, the rules are relaxed: Someone can be more uniquely situated than someone else, or more politically correct.

Likewise, terms that seem absolute — something can’t be more excellent or more impossible than sometime else — aren’t necessarily so: You can say that an experience was quite excellent or that a task was nearly impossible. (These, however, are qualitative, not quantitative, grades. You can measure that something is hotter than something else, but you can’t quantify excellence or possibility. Probability, yes; possibility, no.)

Other absolutes include references to states of being, as with alive and dead and white and black, words that express extremes of size such as gigantic and minuscule, terms that refer to polar opposites of quality, like terrible and terrific, and those that indicate outliers of emotion: furious, overjoyed, distraught.

Some words that can be used in the same situations are not necessarily interchangeable: For example, as mentioned above, hot is gradable (hot, hotter, hottest, or “very hot” or the like), but freezing, even though it can be substituted, without modifiers, for hot, is nongradable: “It’s really freezing” is a plausible informal comment, but it’s not a factual statement, and “It’s more freezing than it was earlier” is illogical.

Some adjectives are gradable or nongradable depending on meaning. For example, though you can refer to an elderly man who owns property as a very old landlord, it’s incorrect to use the phrase “very old landlord” to refer to a landlord you had a long time ago; the phrase “old landlord” cannot be intensified to convey a significant passage of time since the pertinent state of “landlord” (as in “my landlord”) existed.

English 11 Monday March 5

Go to http://www.testprepreview.com/act_practice.htm at the bottom are video for math help

Writing an Essay video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFOX8mOB0i4

Reading actively at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS3nfwuMSeg&feature=related

Science reading at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5ui87YJaA&feature=related