Friday, August 24, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Feedback, the Beauty and the Bane
Feedback, the Beauty and the Bane
by: Harriet Silkwood
I use the words: feedback, review and critique interchangeably to mean the same thing in this article.
I love getting critiques. It makes me feel acknowledged and important. Someone took the time to think about my work and give feedback. What a precious gift.
An online writing group is the place to learn how to take and use criticism in a supportive environment. Criticism is the bane of every writer, but a novice is much more vulnerable. An unthinking, harsh review can discourage so badly, the writer may give it up right then and there. The writing group you choose should be helpful and nurturing. Criticism should be honestly encouraging along with being honestly helpful. If you find no encouragement, find another group as quickly as you can.
Don’t be discouraged if you feel you received a negative critique. If your work were totally hopeless, you probably wouldn’t have gotten a critique at all. The reviewer cared enough to spend time on you - that’s a good sign. A review is not negative just because it contains a lot of suggestions and corrections. It is negative only when it contains no encouragement and doesn’t point out the good areas. There are always good areas, and they should be expounded upon too.
Before revising a second draft, take some time away from your work, then pull it out and think long and hard about each comment. Some things that you may have assumed were clear may not be. Other things may be awkward or incorrect. You are so close to your work and emotionally wrapped up in it that you will naturally miss things. Your reviewers have no such ties - they can help you view your work from a fresh perspective. Pay attention to recurring comments. If more than one person is noticing a potential weakness, you know you’ve more work to do.
Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification of a comment. And don’t think you are obligated to use the suggestions. Just be open to other solutions - they might not be appropriate for one story, but they might spark other ideas. This is your work, but think of what’s best for the story.
If you are constantly feeling under attack, perhaps you’re not ready for critiques. Is it what they said that upset you, or the way they said it? Are they using rude words to describe the flaws or are you just not interested in any negative comments? Or worse, are the reviews always positive and vague, giving you no useful information? Perhaps they don’t even tell you what you did right?
If you are looking for only praise from your readers, you may not be ready for reviews. There’s nothing wrong with this, we’re all at different stages in our writing confidence. As your desire to write grows, you will soon progress to that next stage, and welcome the feedback. In the meantime, reading and offering your help to others is the next best thing you can do for your own writing.
Giving and receiving feedback makes you aware of the basic rules of good English use. If you think you don't need to worry about grammar, spelling, punctuation, rhythm, focus, syntax, and structure, think again. They are the key to clarity. Writers want to make sense. They want to take the reader into their fantasy world and make them believe. Learn the rules. Break ’em later.
The best rules can’t be taught or put into an easy list, but you can learn them by reading excellent writing. If you know what works, you’ll strive to emulate it. It’s also good to review bad writing. You’ll find that you’re learning and hopefully avoiding the same mistakes.
Reviewers use their time to carefully read an item and plan their review. They offer encouragement and helpful advice, but honest crits can sting. Before replying, think about what was said. A reviewer who has taken much time reading and writing isn't going to appreciate being told, "So and So read this, and his comments are completely opposite yours. I don't think you're qualified to comment on my work."
How a writer responds to the comments of reviewers will likely determine how he responds to prospective editors and agents. Editors aren't concerned too much with your feelings. They will rarely comment on submissions. If an editor doesn't understand a story he simply sends a rejection letter.
Think of the reviewer as your future editor, and listen closely to what they say. They aren't always right on their technical advice, you need to learn the rules yourself, but their views on the content are views of your future readers and buyers of your book. If they are your intended audience, pay attention.
Feedback provides the writer with something he or she cannot get for themselves: reaction to the piece by someone who doesn't have these characters and their world in their head, someone who doesn’t know this story inside-out. That’s the beauty of feedback.
by: Harriet Silkwood
I use the words: feedback, review and critique interchangeably to mean the same thing in this article.
I love getting critiques. It makes me feel acknowledged and important. Someone took the time to think about my work and give feedback. What a precious gift.
An online writing group is the place to learn how to take and use criticism in a supportive environment. Criticism is the bane of every writer, but a novice is much more vulnerable. An unthinking, harsh review can discourage so badly, the writer may give it up right then and there. The writing group you choose should be helpful and nurturing. Criticism should be honestly encouraging along with being honestly helpful. If you find no encouragement, find another group as quickly as you can.
Don’t be discouraged if you feel you received a negative critique. If your work were totally hopeless, you probably wouldn’t have gotten a critique at all. The reviewer cared enough to spend time on you - that’s a good sign. A review is not negative just because it contains a lot of suggestions and corrections. It is negative only when it contains no encouragement and doesn’t point out the good areas. There are always good areas, and they should be expounded upon too.
Before revising a second draft, take some time away from your work, then pull it out and think long and hard about each comment. Some things that you may have assumed were clear may not be. Other things may be awkward or incorrect. You are so close to your work and emotionally wrapped up in it that you will naturally miss things. Your reviewers have no such ties - they can help you view your work from a fresh perspective. Pay attention to recurring comments. If more than one person is noticing a potential weakness, you know you’ve more work to do.
Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification of a comment. And don’t think you are obligated to use the suggestions. Just be open to other solutions - they might not be appropriate for one story, but they might spark other ideas. This is your work, but think of what’s best for the story.
If you are constantly feeling under attack, perhaps you’re not ready for critiques. Is it what they said that upset you, or the way they said it? Are they using rude words to describe the flaws or are you just not interested in any negative comments? Or worse, are the reviews always positive and vague, giving you no useful information? Perhaps they don’t even tell you what you did right?
If you are looking for only praise from your readers, you may not be ready for reviews. There’s nothing wrong with this, we’re all at different stages in our writing confidence. As your desire to write grows, you will soon progress to that next stage, and welcome the feedback. In the meantime, reading and offering your help to others is the next best thing you can do for your own writing.
Giving and receiving feedback makes you aware of the basic rules of good English use. If you think you don't need to worry about grammar, spelling, punctuation, rhythm, focus, syntax, and structure, think again. They are the key to clarity. Writers want to make sense. They want to take the reader into their fantasy world and make them believe. Learn the rules. Break ’em later.
The best rules can’t be taught or put into an easy list, but you can learn them by reading excellent writing. If you know what works, you’ll strive to emulate it. It’s also good to review bad writing. You’ll find that you’re learning and hopefully avoiding the same mistakes.
Reviewers use their time to carefully read an item and plan their review. They offer encouragement and helpful advice, but honest crits can sting. Before replying, think about what was said. A reviewer who has taken much time reading and writing isn't going to appreciate being told, "So and So read this, and his comments are completely opposite yours. I don't think you're qualified to comment on my work."
How a writer responds to the comments of reviewers will likely determine how he responds to prospective editors and agents. Editors aren't concerned too much with your feelings. They will rarely comment on submissions. If an editor doesn't understand a story he simply sends a rejection letter.
Think of the reviewer as your future editor, and listen closely to what they say. They aren't always right on their technical advice, you need to learn the rules yourself, but their views on the content are views of your future readers and buyers of your book. If they are your intended audience, pay attention.
Feedback provides the writer with something he or she cannot get for themselves: reaction to the piece by someone who doesn't have these characters and their world in their head, someone who doesn’t know this story inside-out. That’s the beauty of feedback.
THE COLDEST WINTERS OF OUR LIVES: Using The Changing Seasons in Our Writing
THE COLDEST WINTERS OF OUR LIVES: Using The Changing Seasons in Our Writing
by: Maxine Thompson
I had not seen snow in 21 years, that is, until I recently rode through a snowstorm in Cheyenne, Wyoming mountains. Nor did I clearly remember how the leaves change in autumn on the east coast, and how they resemble flames leaping towards the sky in shades of persimmon, cardamom, amber, burgundy and rust. But I recently witnessed all this and more by going to the Baltimore Book Festival the weekend of September 27, 2002. Although I could write about having an exquisite dinner at the Renaissance Hotel overlooking the harbor or the workshop I conducted on "Writing Compelling Fiction," it was the seasons that spoke to me.
These two incidents-the snow and the leaves changing-reminded me how much I have missed the pageantry of the seasons. As I took a slow leisurely trip across the states, I thought of how living in the Los Angeles area for the last 21 years has blinded me to the changing seasons. Even so, I don't know if this would have helped me to recognize another passing season in my life. I am facing the impending loss of my last living parent. My father, age 83, who has crippling arthritis, has deteriorated since I saw him last year. Surprisingly, I do not feel sadness, but a resignation, a sense that this is part of the life cycle. Like the song, "Everything must change."
This is a very different reaction from when I lost my mother. I was so totally unprepared when my mother died of a sudden heart attack on December 1, 1993 that I felt a rage, almost a railing against God. How could You? How dare You take this woman, who I was just realizing was my root, who carried me inside of her, whose very hand movements I saw mimicked in my own? This period was to become what I later saw as the darkest winter of my life. Looking back, I think my reaction was part of what often marks the loss of the first parent, particularly the mother.
These are the things, we, as writers, must mark in our writing--the changing seasons of our lives, of our characters, of their journeys and how our characters react to them.
After the Baltimore Book Festival, I stopped in Detroit. While there, I took my father out from his new residence-a nursing home-to get a milkshake at McDonald's, and while pushing him in his wheelchair, I felt like the parent. I was no longer angry about his being human, his frailties, his failings, (which have been more glaring since my mother's death.) I just wanted him to feel the sun on his tissue-like skin, through which you could see the blue veins.
I immersed myself totally in the moment. We were enjoying the sunshine. No matter all the calls I'd received from my hometown, Detroit, about how horrible it is about Daddy, "He's in this new crisis," or "that new crisis"-I was no longer upset. In the manner of a former social worker, I decided to reframe the issue. Instead of looking at my father's slow demise as, "Isn't it awful how we grow old and die?" let's look at it as how the seasons in life change. As a writer, we often write from the premise, "What if ..." So I say, what if we reframe some of the issues of being part of the sandwich generation-dealing with children/grandchildren/elderly parents? What if this is a celebration?
I saw my father's mood lift as I told him how fortunate he was to have four sons who have looked out for him, as well as three daughters. How blessed he is as a Black man, to have children who have made his life better, financially, when we all went to work. I saw the relief in my brothers' eyes as I commended them for the good care they've provided for my father over the past nine years, which includes putting him in a nursing home in the past month, even if it has been against my father's wishes, but was for his greater good.
Then it hit me. My siblings and I are now the older generation. Moreover, as a writer, I am now a teacher-the young come to me for advice. I am responsible to hand down the stories from past generations to the next generation as to how we, as a people, survived, which is why I feel it is important for us to write down our stories. Sadly, for African-Americans, much history was lost because, although there was the oral tradition, many people failed to write their stories down on paper.
As a writing technique, I saw a pattern. In writing, a symbolic spring and summer generally connote an upward spiral in our characters' lives. For instance, the characters fall in love, buy a home, have a baby, and get promotions. They are happy.
Paradoxically, a figurative fall and winter generally depict a downward spiral, which is often called the "inciting incident," in a story. Someone no longer loves you and leaves you. Someone dies suddenly. Or perhaps a loved one is the victim of senseless violence. The character becomes sad. Like a sudden blizzard upsetting one's orderly life, the character's world is thrown out of balance.
This is the heart of fiction. No one wants to hear about how great your character's life is. Fiction is about trouble. So even the perfect life needs to get upset to keep your reader turning pages. At the same time, though, I think that we should learn to see the good in these downward spirals and make use of them in our writing. Although these bad times are what compel the reader on, we should show the upside of this, too. It is generally during the "symbolic" winter that our character's mettle will be tested, and the reader will find out what they are made from. As a writer, you might ask, how does the character change and grow through this wintry season? Does he go from cynical to optimistic? Mistrustful to trusting? Stingy to altruistic (such as Scrooge)? The character can also go through the reverse of these cycles.
Ironically, just as winter signifies death, (eg. death of a relationship, death of our youth, death of our illusions,) there is a certain element of resurrection in this final eventuality. For it is generally after we go through a disaster, we are plopped flat on our backs, sometimes literally, and forced, (even if against our will,) to reflect. What comfort or sustenance does the character find then? For instance, to this day, I marvel at how my mother is reborn over and over again on a wintry day when I drink a hot cup of soup, which was one of her many ways of nurturing.
Now I wonder. What memories will my father's last winter bring me? Will it be his love of a good anecdote or his story-telling ability that he handed down to me? I don't know. But this I do know. In the midst of life, we are in death, so as writers we must embrace those special, magical moments that make up our humanity. After all, as John Irving ended his novel in The World According To Garp, " ... we are all terminal cases."
Copyright (c) 2006 Black Butterfly Press
by: Maxine Thompson
I had not seen snow in 21 years, that is, until I recently rode through a snowstorm in Cheyenne, Wyoming mountains. Nor did I clearly remember how the leaves change in autumn on the east coast, and how they resemble flames leaping towards the sky in shades of persimmon, cardamom, amber, burgundy and rust. But I recently witnessed all this and more by going to the Baltimore Book Festival the weekend of September 27, 2002. Although I could write about having an exquisite dinner at the Renaissance Hotel overlooking the harbor or the workshop I conducted on "Writing Compelling Fiction," it was the seasons that spoke to me.
These two incidents-the snow and the leaves changing-reminded me how much I have missed the pageantry of the seasons. As I took a slow leisurely trip across the states, I thought of how living in the Los Angeles area for the last 21 years has blinded me to the changing seasons. Even so, I don't know if this would have helped me to recognize another passing season in my life. I am facing the impending loss of my last living parent. My father, age 83, who has crippling arthritis, has deteriorated since I saw him last year. Surprisingly, I do not feel sadness, but a resignation, a sense that this is part of the life cycle. Like the song, "Everything must change."
This is a very different reaction from when I lost my mother. I was so totally unprepared when my mother died of a sudden heart attack on December 1, 1993 that I felt a rage, almost a railing against God. How could You? How dare You take this woman, who I was just realizing was my root, who carried me inside of her, whose very hand movements I saw mimicked in my own? This period was to become what I later saw as the darkest winter of my life. Looking back, I think my reaction was part of what often marks the loss of the first parent, particularly the mother.
These are the things, we, as writers, must mark in our writing--the changing seasons of our lives, of our characters, of their journeys and how our characters react to them.
After the Baltimore Book Festival, I stopped in Detroit. While there, I took my father out from his new residence-a nursing home-to get a milkshake at McDonald's, and while pushing him in his wheelchair, I felt like the parent. I was no longer angry about his being human, his frailties, his failings, (which have been more glaring since my mother's death.) I just wanted him to feel the sun on his tissue-like skin, through which you could see the blue veins.
I immersed myself totally in the moment. We were enjoying the sunshine. No matter all the calls I'd received from my hometown, Detroit, about how horrible it is about Daddy, "He's in this new crisis," or "that new crisis"-I was no longer upset. In the manner of a former social worker, I decided to reframe the issue. Instead of looking at my father's slow demise as, "Isn't it awful how we grow old and die?" let's look at it as how the seasons in life change. As a writer, we often write from the premise, "What if ..." So I say, what if we reframe some of the issues of being part of the sandwich generation-dealing with children/grandchildren/elderly parents? What if this is a celebration?
I saw my father's mood lift as I told him how fortunate he was to have four sons who have looked out for him, as well as three daughters. How blessed he is as a Black man, to have children who have made his life better, financially, when we all went to work. I saw the relief in my brothers' eyes as I commended them for the good care they've provided for my father over the past nine years, which includes putting him in a nursing home in the past month, even if it has been against my father's wishes, but was for his greater good.
Then it hit me. My siblings and I are now the older generation. Moreover, as a writer, I am now a teacher-the young come to me for advice. I am responsible to hand down the stories from past generations to the next generation as to how we, as a people, survived, which is why I feel it is important for us to write down our stories. Sadly, for African-Americans, much history was lost because, although there was the oral tradition, many people failed to write their stories down on paper.
As a writing technique, I saw a pattern. In writing, a symbolic spring and summer generally connote an upward spiral in our characters' lives. For instance, the characters fall in love, buy a home, have a baby, and get promotions. They are happy.
Paradoxically, a figurative fall and winter generally depict a downward spiral, which is often called the "inciting incident," in a story. Someone no longer loves you and leaves you. Someone dies suddenly. Or perhaps a loved one is the victim of senseless violence. The character becomes sad. Like a sudden blizzard upsetting one's orderly life, the character's world is thrown out of balance.
This is the heart of fiction. No one wants to hear about how great your character's life is. Fiction is about trouble. So even the perfect life needs to get upset to keep your reader turning pages. At the same time, though, I think that we should learn to see the good in these downward spirals and make use of them in our writing. Although these bad times are what compel the reader on, we should show the upside of this, too. It is generally during the "symbolic" winter that our character's mettle will be tested, and the reader will find out what they are made from. As a writer, you might ask, how does the character change and grow through this wintry season? Does he go from cynical to optimistic? Mistrustful to trusting? Stingy to altruistic (such as Scrooge)? The character can also go through the reverse of these cycles.
Ironically, just as winter signifies death, (eg. death of a relationship, death of our youth, death of our illusions,) there is a certain element of resurrection in this final eventuality. For it is generally after we go through a disaster, we are plopped flat on our backs, sometimes literally, and forced, (even if against our will,) to reflect. What comfort or sustenance does the character find then? For instance, to this day, I marvel at how my mother is reborn over and over again on a wintry day when I drink a hot cup of soup, which was one of her many ways of nurturing.
Now I wonder. What memories will my father's last winter bring me? Will it be his love of a good anecdote or his story-telling ability that he handed down to me? I don't know. But this I do know. In the midst of life, we are in death, so as writers we must embrace those special, magical moments that make up our humanity. After all, as John Irving ended his novel in The World According To Garp, " ... we are all terminal cases."
Copyright (c) 2006 Black Butterfly Press
Writing Copy for Online Auctions
Writing Copy for Online Auctions
by: Patricia Michaels
The phrase writing copy comes from the advertising world, and it means a type of writing used to sell anything, from ideas to goods or services.
Copy writing is both an art and a science. You are trying to persuade as many people as possible to bid on your items by using words and phrases. While the art of writing copy may take years to master, the science of writing copy is a bit easier.
In order to place bids on your items, potential customers need to be able to find your items. Generally speaking, they find your auction item in one of two ways. They can either browse through pages of items in a general category or they can do a search on a specific type or brand of item.
Far and away, search engines play the leading role in getting your auction items seen by potential customers. Therefore, writing copy for the search engines is the ideal approach to take for writing copy for online acutions.
Titles
Title tags serve as the initial item identification tool. Generally speaking, short, accurate descriptions are the keys to effective titles.
Keywords, the most common words or phrases used for a search, are the most important aspect of writing titles for search engines. Typically all items can be broken down into three types of keywords:
Item Brands
Items Types
Item Names
For example, if you have a Royal Daulton Mad Hatter Toby Jug for sale, your title would say exactly that, Royal Daulton Mad Hatter Toby Jug. By using the brand, type and name of the item, you maximize the number of times your item will show up in search results. Any customer searching on the specific phrase Royal Daulton Mad Hatter Toby Jug, or Royal Daulton or toby jug would be able to find your listing.
By comparison, an inaccurate, incomplete or mispelled title such as, Royal Daulton Man or Royal Dalton Man, would decrease the number of potential customers because search engines are machines that match search terms with titles rather than interpreting titles to match search terms.
There are a variety of strategies employed to attract the browser to click through a listing. Some of the more prevalent, but often frowned upon strategies, are those titles that use innocuous phrases such as 'look' or 'must see'. Those phrases add nothing descriptive to the title and are generally considered nonprofessional.
Since the space allotted to titles is limited, descriptions that add only a few extra characters are always useful. For example, using dates, such as 1956 to describe a Knickerbocker Doll, or acronyms, such as LE (Limited Edition) and NIB (New in Box), at the end of titles are also effective ways to draw potential bidders to click through to your listing.
Finally, there may be times where bending these rules of title writing might be to your advantage. There are items whose names might be less salable than a substitute description. For example, a Norman Rockwell collector's plate called, "The Understudy", where the understudy is a picture of a clown, might not be as inviting a title as Norman Rockwell Clown.
As the folks on Madison Avenue continue to remind us, certain things, such as sex, puppies, kittens and clowns always sell. After some practice, you can get a feel for when using a description sells better than using the actual name.
Item Descriptions
A quick check of the search function in most online auction sites shows that they have an option for customers to search by both title and description. Therefore, many of the same rules of thumb that apply to writing titles equally apply to writing descriptions. The big difference between writing titles and writing descriptions is the amount of space provided for the tasks.
While there is limited space allocated for , there is almost an unlimited amount of space available to describe the item. Generally speaking though, a short paragraph is sufficient to provide accurate descriptions for the majority of items you will sell. All the items you write copy for should contain three basic elements
Item Identification
Item Measurement
Item Description
Just as in the title tag, the first part of your description should identify the item, again using the same key words that appear in the title.
Since pictures do not always provide a complete or even accurate representation of an item, measurements should be provided for all items. For example, a picture of a woman's wrist watch can show the basics of the watch. However, they can not show the length of the bracelet or the size of the watch face.
The most important aspect of describing the item is accuracy. To start, auction items can either be new, in their original box, or they can be used. All things being equal, used items have a higher potential of having a flaw that needs to be accurately presented to potential bidders. So, for example, on all the types of ceramic, porcelain, clay, crystal and glass items, there could be chips, cracks, scratches or crazing on the item.
Additionally, there are times when the flaws are apparent on the pictures you have posted. Do not assume that the customer sees the flaws on the picture. When you describe the item, you can add a phrase such as "see picture #1".
Finally, it's almost as important to know that the purpose of writing copy is to sell the item. Writing copy, just like any other type of writing, is intended for a specific type of audience. It's always a good idea to keep a series of questions in the back of your mind about the potential audience, as you plan on writing the description. Who is likely to purchase this item? For whom are they purchasing it? Is it for a collector? Is it for a family? Is it for an office worker? A sentence or two describing the item in a way that appeals to your audience is always a good idea. It takes time and practice to effectively integrate these types of sentences into your descriptions.
by: Patricia Michaels
The phrase writing copy comes from the advertising world, and it means a type of writing used to sell anything, from ideas to goods or services.
Copy writing is both an art and a science. You are trying to persuade as many people as possible to bid on your items by using words and phrases. While the art of writing copy may take years to master, the science of writing copy is a bit easier.
In order to place bids on your items, potential customers need to be able to find your items. Generally speaking, they find your auction item in one of two ways. They can either browse through pages of items in a general category or they can do a search on a specific type or brand of item.
Far and away, search engines play the leading role in getting your auction items seen by potential customers. Therefore, writing copy for the search engines is the ideal approach to take for writing copy for online acutions.
Titles
Title tags serve as the initial item identification tool. Generally speaking, short, accurate descriptions are the keys to effective titles.
Keywords, the most common words or phrases used for a search, are the most important aspect of writing titles for search engines. Typically all items can be broken down into three types of keywords:
Item Brands
Items Types
Item Names
For example, if you have a Royal Daulton Mad Hatter Toby Jug for sale, your title would say exactly that, Royal Daulton Mad Hatter Toby Jug. By using the brand, type and name of the item, you maximize the number of times your item will show up in search results. Any customer searching on the specific phrase Royal Daulton Mad Hatter Toby Jug, or Royal Daulton or toby jug would be able to find your listing.
By comparison, an inaccurate, incomplete or mispelled title such as, Royal Daulton Man or Royal Dalton Man, would decrease the number of potential customers because search engines are machines that match search terms with titles rather than interpreting titles to match search terms.
There are a variety of strategies employed to attract the browser to click through a listing. Some of the more prevalent, but often frowned upon strategies, are those titles that use innocuous phrases such as 'look' or 'must see'. Those phrases add nothing descriptive to the title and are generally considered nonprofessional.
Since the space allotted to titles is limited, descriptions that add only a few extra characters are always useful. For example, using dates, such as 1956 to describe a Knickerbocker Doll, or acronyms, such as LE (Limited Edition) and NIB (New in Box), at the end of titles are also effective ways to draw potential bidders to click through to your listing.
Finally, there may be times where bending these rules of title writing might be to your advantage. There are items whose names might be less salable than a substitute description. For example, a Norman Rockwell collector's plate called, "The Understudy", where the understudy is a picture of a clown, might not be as inviting a title as Norman Rockwell Clown.
As the folks on Madison Avenue continue to remind us, certain things, such as sex, puppies, kittens and clowns always sell. After some practice, you can get a feel for when using a description sells better than using the actual name.
Item Descriptions
A quick check of the search function in most online auction sites shows that they have an option for customers to search by both title and description. Therefore, many of the same rules of thumb that apply to writing titles equally apply to writing descriptions. The big difference between writing titles and writing descriptions is the amount of space provided for the tasks.
While there is limited space allocated for , there is almost an unlimited amount of space available to describe the item. Generally speaking though, a short paragraph is sufficient to provide accurate descriptions for the majority of items you will sell. All the items you write copy for should contain three basic elements
Item Identification
Item Measurement
Item Description
Just as in the title tag, the first part of your description should identify the item, again using the same key words that appear in the title.
Since pictures do not always provide a complete or even accurate representation of an item, measurements should be provided for all items. For example, a picture of a woman's wrist watch can show the basics of the watch. However, they can not show the length of the bracelet or the size of the watch face.
The most important aspect of describing the item is accuracy. To start, auction items can either be new, in their original box, or they can be used. All things being equal, used items have a higher potential of having a flaw that needs to be accurately presented to potential bidders. So, for example, on all the types of ceramic, porcelain, clay, crystal and glass items, there could be chips, cracks, scratches or crazing on the item.
Additionally, there are times when the flaws are apparent on the pictures you have posted. Do not assume that the customer sees the flaws on the picture. When you describe the item, you can add a phrase such as "see picture #1".
Finally, it's almost as important to know that the purpose of writing copy is to sell the item. Writing copy, just like any other type of writing, is intended for a specific type of audience. It's always a good idea to keep a series of questions in the back of your mind about the potential audience, as you plan on writing the description. Who is likely to purchase this item? For whom are they purchasing it? Is it for a collector? Is it for a family? Is it for an office worker? A sentence or two describing the item in a way that appeals to your audience is always a good idea. It takes time and practice to effectively integrate these types of sentences into your descriptions.
The Storyteller
The Storyteller
by: Martha Whittington
New Book Offers Supernatural Tales Involving Everyday People
Martha Whittington invites readers to take a break from the doldrums of daily routine and delve into a world where ordinary lives are blindsided by the bizarre. The Storyteller: Volume I (now available through AuthorHouse) provides a feast of paranormal delights that satisfy the imagination.
Comprised of six intriguing tales, The Storyteller delves into the lives of a colorful variety of people who suddenly find themselves in unsettling situations. In “The Fennigan Case,” two news reporters step across the threshold of a creepy house and into another dimension. “A Unique Team” follows another investigative journalist as he plunges into international intrigue. Readers explore the mind of a psychic teenager in “The Hidden Knowledge” and meet a wicked woman who holds an entire town hostage with her dark magic in “The Witch”. Two brothers endure tragedy in a remote corner of the world in “Sand,” and a couple experiences any parent’s worst nightmare in “The Gifted Child”.
Throughout The Storyteller, Whittington weaves a macabre tapestry of drama, suspense and fast-paced action. From the dangers of the Egyptian desert to the cold streets of New York, she takes readers on a thrilling journey along the knife-edge between this world and the unknown. A captivating read for fans of the disturbingly weird. The Storyteller delivers thrills and chills at each turn of the page.
For further review on this book, please go to: http://storytellersbookclub.com or e-mail us at: thestorytellers2121@yahoo.com.
by: Martha Whittington
New Book Offers Supernatural Tales Involving Everyday People
Martha Whittington invites readers to take a break from the doldrums of daily routine and delve into a world where ordinary lives are blindsided by the bizarre. The Storyteller: Volume I (now available through AuthorHouse) provides a feast of paranormal delights that satisfy the imagination.
Comprised of six intriguing tales, The Storyteller delves into the lives of a colorful variety of people who suddenly find themselves in unsettling situations. In “The Fennigan Case,” two news reporters step across the threshold of a creepy house and into another dimension. “A Unique Team” follows another investigative journalist as he plunges into international intrigue. Readers explore the mind of a psychic teenager in “The Hidden Knowledge” and meet a wicked woman who holds an entire town hostage with her dark magic in “The Witch”. Two brothers endure tragedy in a remote corner of the world in “Sand,” and a couple experiences any parent’s worst nightmare in “The Gifted Child”.
Throughout The Storyteller, Whittington weaves a macabre tapestry of drama, suspense and fast-paced action. From the dangers of the Egyptian desert to the cold streets of New York, she takes readers on a thrilling journey along the knife-edge between this world and the unknown. A captivating read for fans of the disturbingly weird. The Storyteller delivers thrills and chills at each turn of the page.
For further review on this book, please go to: http://storytellersbookclub.com or e-mail us at: thestorytellers2121@yahoo.com.
Writing A Book - Tips From An Author #7
Writing A Book - Tips From An Author #7
by: www.GetPlotted.com
Secrets of the Plot
The one overriding principle you have to remember when creating a blockbuster of a plot is to avoid randomness. A good story is a chain of events, and each link in the chain is bound to other links (otherwise it isn't a chain!). This is worth repeating - whether it is an event, a character or place name, or a motivation, think it through and create it for a reason, not randomly. Keep asking yourself 'why'. Your readers will certainly be doing the same, and if you have created it with a logical reason behind it, they will accept it, no matter how implausible it may actually be. Done correctly, this way of plotting will also steer the reader firmly towards the climax, and this, of course, is important if you want to write a 'page turner' bestseller novel.
Most plots are based on the idea of the character under pressure. Your hero has a problem, and how he/she solves it IS the story. You must always be careful to keep the character 'in character'. For example, if your hero is a violent vigilante, he probably doesn't solve the ultimate puzzle using his flower-arranging skills. Unless, of course, you have already prepped the reader by explaining, for example, that the hero's zen teacher helped him control his violent temper with Japanese flower-rituals... You can automatically create consistent character outlines at www.GetPlotted.com with just 1 click of a button. And you can keep on clicking till the character is perfect for your purposes!
You want your audience to empathize with your character. If you can't achieve this, you at least want them to understand the character. In the example above, revealing a traumatic childhood event may help the reader understand why the hero is a violent vigilante, even if they still don't truly empathize with him). The character's motivations, therefore, are prime. If the reader doesn't believe or accept the motivations you expose, they won't believe the character either, and you are wasting your time. No real motivation turns your drama into melodrama.
There is even a case for claiming that the plot of a top novel is the sum of the subplots of all the characters in it. The interplay between the individual existences of the characters is what moves plot forward. In terms of starting a plot, the rule of thumb is to begin as close to the climax as possible. In other words, there can be lots of 'history' before the story begins that can be revealed to the reader as the actual plot unfolds. The Lord Of The Rings is a classic example - the history of the story extends several thousand years before the opening scene. You also want to begin on an 'inciting incident'. A 'big bang' if you will, from which the plot stems. Bilbo giving Frodo the Ring in LOTR is such an inciting incident. This 'foreshadowing' is vitally important when writing a good plot. Anything important MUST be foreshadowed, be it a character, an event or location. Some writers go so far as to claim that the entire first half of a book is foreshadowing - a prophecy of what is to come in the second half of the book. The second half, of course, is the fulfillment of the prophecy. If you randomly introduce 'solutions' without foreshadowing simply to solve problems you have created, you will lose your audience fast.
Having said that, you must be subtle. If you give too much warning of what's coming, the reader will get bored. The standard way of doing this is to de-stress the importance of what you are foreshadowing so that when the surprise comes, the reader isn't totally 'gob-smacked'. And by the way, if the characters in the story can't see it coming, but your readers can, you may lose them.
That word - surprise - is important in good plotting. You should keep your reader guessing to some extent until you reveal a solution, and then the reader should be left with a 'doh' moment - an understanding that you gave him all the clues he needed and he STILL didn't see it coming. The '6th Sense' movie is a classic example of this. By the end, and final twist, everyone in the cinema had a 'doh' moment, because with HINDSIGHT it was obvious what was going on. Roughing out the plot with the unique Plot Cards (tm) system at www.GetPlotted.com will help you get the speed of the action right, as well as easily organize your idea into a consistent logical and readable structure. Setting the right pace will also help keep your readers in a mild sense of info-overload, so that surprises are easier to spring on them even though you have foreshadowed properly.
The role of the hero in your plot develops over time. At some stage, the hero must assert control (even in, for example, a tragedy, where the hero dies, the very death should be an act of control - the ending of 'Leon' is a prime example of this). Generally, the hero must be 'roused' i.e. he/she is subject to events at first but then is roused to take charge and asset control over events. The moment when the hero starts to take control is known as a 'counterthrust', and there may be many of them in a good plot as hero and villain struggle for control. A good scene will present some problem or obstacle for the hero, and how he solves it determines whether your reader goes on to read the next chapter. The solving of these challenges is the counterthrust. Often, a good plot features a problem, a counterthrust which fails, and then a new attempt to resolve the issues using the lessons learned.
Plots also server an ancillary purpose. The events that unfold should express some aspect of the character's personality, they should reveal something about our heros and villains to us. By putting your character under stress with plot, your characters come alive, with the opportunity to show bravery, resourcefulness, and all the other human traits. And this final tip is worth re-reading - if you give your characters characteristics without expressing them through plot, it is as meaningless to your reader as some braggart in a bar claiming to be a 'kung fu expert'. Believability is the condensation of characterization via plot consistency. Ignore that at your peril!
by: www.GetPlotted.com
Secrets of the Plot
The one overriding principle you have to remember when creating a blockbuster of a plot is to avoid randomness. A good story is a chain of events, and each link in the chain is bound to other links (otherwise it isn't a chain!). This is worth repeating - whether it is an event, a character or place name, or a motivation, think it through and create it for a reason, not randomly. Keep asking yourself 'why'. Your readers will certainly be doing the same, and if you have created it with a logical reason behind it, they will accept it, no matter how implausible it may actually be. Done correctly, this way of plotting will also steer the reader firmly towards the climax, and this, of course, is important if you want to write a 'page turner' bestseller novel.
Most plots are based on the idea of the character under pressure. Your hero has a problem, and how he/she solves it IS the story. You must always be careful to keep the character 'in character'. For example, if your hero is a violent vigilante, he probably doesn't solve the ultimate puzzle using his flower-arranging skills. Unless, of course, you have already prepped the reader by explaining, for example, that the hero's zen teacher helped him control his violent temper with Japanese flower-rituals... You can automatically create consistent character outlines at www.GetPlotted.com with just 1 click of a button. And you can keep on clicking till the character is perfect for your purposes!
You want your audience to empathize with your character. If you can't achieve this, you at least want them to understand the character. In the example above, revealing a traumatic childhood event may help the reader understand why the hero is a violent vigilante, even if they still don't truly empathize with him). The character's motivations, therefore, are prime. If the reader doesn't believe or accept the motivations you expose, they won't believe the character either, and you are wasting your time. No real motivation turns your drama into melodrama.
There is even a case for claiming that the plot of a top novel is the sum of the subplots of all the characters in it. The interplay between the individual existences of the characters is what moves plot forward. In terms of starting a plot, the rule of thumb is to begin as close to the climax as possible. In other words, there can be lots of 'history' before the story begins that can be revealed to the reader as the actual plot unfolds. The Lord Of The Rings is a classic example - the history of the story extends several thousand years before the opening scene. You also want to begin on an 'inciting incident'. A 'big bang' if you will, from which the plot stems. Bilbo giving Frodo the Ring in LOTR is such an inciting incident. This 'foreshadowing' is vitally important when writing a good plot. Anything important MUST be foreshadowed, be it a character, an event or location. Some writers go so far as to claim that the entire first half of a book is foreshadowing - a prophecy of what is to come in the second half of the book. The second half, of course, is the fulfillment of the prophecy. If you randomly introduce 'solutions' without foreshadowing simply to solve problems you have created, you will lose your audience fast.
Having said that, you must be subtle. If you give too much warning of what's coming, the reader will get bored. The standard way of doing this is to de-stress the importance of what you are foreshadowing so that when the surprise comes, the reader isn't totally 'gob-smacked'. And by the way, if the characters in the story can't see it coming, but your readers can, you may lose them.
That word - surprise - is important in good plotting. You should keep your reader guessing to some extent until you reveal a solution, and then the reader should be left with a 'doh' moment - an understanding that you gave him all the clues he needed and he STILL didn't see it coming. The '6th Sense' movie is a classic example of this. By the end, and final twist, everyone in the cinema had a 'doh' moment, because with HINDSIGHT it was obvious what was going on. Roughing out the plot with the unique Plot Cards (tm) system at www.GetPlotted.com will help you get the speed of the action right, as well as easily organize your idea into a consistent logical and readable structure. Setting the right pace will also help keep your readers in a mild sense of info-overload, so that surprises are easier to spring on them even though you have foreshadowed properly.
The role of the hero in your plot develops over time. At some stage, the hero must assert control (even in, for example, a tragedy, where the hero dies, the very death should be an act of control - the ending of 'Leon' is a prime example of this). Generally, the hero must be 'roused' i.e. he/she is subject to events at first but then is roused to take charge and asset control over events. The moment when the hero starts to take control is known as a 'counterthrust', and there may be many of them in a good plot as hero and villain struggle for control. A good scene will present some problem or obstacle for the hero, and how he solves it determines whether your reader goes on to read the next chapter. The solving of these challenges is the counterthrust. Often, a good plot features a problem, a counterthrust which fails, and then a new attempt to resolve the issues using the lessons learned.
Plots also server an ancillary purpose. The events that unfold should express some aspect of the character's personality, they should reveal something about our heros and villains to us. By putting your character under stress with plot, your characters come alive, with the opportunity to show bravery, resourcefulness, and all the other human traits. And this final tip is worth re-reading - if you give your characters characteristics without expressing them through plot, it is as meaningless to your reader as some braggart in a bar claiming to be a 'kung fu expert'. Believability is the condensation of characterization via plot consistency. Ignore that at your peril!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
