1,000 Words due Friday, 21 January!
Media Training : Follow these three rules for success:
1) You don't have to talk to the media.
2) Stop and think before you answer
3) If you mess up, ask for a "do-over." The reporter will almost always say, "sure!"
Revising is not editing
First Look at the First Sentence:
Make your opening an "Away We Go" sentence; it should be powerful and seductive. Make sure the verbs are "action verbs." Try to make the content unusual or surprising.
Famous First Sentences:
"Call me Ishmael." -- Moby Dick
"It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen." -- 1984
"The King was pregnant." The Left Hand of Darkness.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." -- Tale of Two Cities
Eliminate these useless words: actually; totally; completely; exactly; very; in fact; kind of; of course. (These words may belong in dialogue, but in your writing just get rid of them if they are not a direct quote.)
No L33T speak! Don't write it the way you would text it.
No Adverbs. Cut them. These words are flabby and weaken the writing (or are a sign that you haven't down the "showing" that they substitute for.
Don't repeat yourself. Don't say the same things twice in a row: See? It's redundant. It's repetitive.
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