If you’re reading this blog, then I think I probably know your answer to the above question and I suspect it’s the same answer I would give every time; books. Sure, the Kindle is a marvellous little gadget but it’s nothing more than a gimmick when you compare it to the long and fascinating history of the humble book. Can the Kindle claim to have revolutionised society by bringing literacy and political understanding to the masses?
Watching The One Show last night, it was the usual routine: two very happy presenters and various articles about things which we – the general public – are supposed to be interested in. One of the articles, typically, was quite downbeat, and the other was about bestselling authors and what it takes to become one.
Now, as an author myself, I can tell you two things: 1) harping on about how difficult it is to get noticed as a writer does no good whatsoever, and 2) knowing all the facts of the matter doesn’t make it easier.
And this particular One Show article about writing and bestselling authors irritated me immensely. First of all there was the familiar rant about how many manuscripts land on the desks of publishers every week (around 100 per publisher apparently) and then there was the whole thing about what it takes to become a bestseller, when, in fact, nobody really knows.
If you don’t write then there won’t be anymore books, let alone bestsellers, and wouldn’t that be the biggest shame of all?
I have one particular friend who loves hard-back books, and I know it’s pretty horrible but I quite like winding him up about it as often and as much as I can.
His reasons for loving hard-back books.
1) It’s like a precious gift worth cherishing.
2) It’s a great way of presenting a book so you can read it in comfort.
3) It feels nice to hold and looks good on the shelf.
4) And a million or so Read the rest of this entry »
It happens without fail every so often: I come across someone who believes, categorically, that language is a talent. That writing and language can not be learned, but are something that is deeply ingrained. While there is a certain truth in this – there are definitely some people who are better at picking languages up than others – there is also a large amount of evidence to suggest that most anyone can learn a language. Really it comes down to two things: 1) willpower to fight through those difficult first 6 months and 2) the ability to be patient and determined in equal measure.
Here’s an example of someone who came to the UK from Korea and excelled.
Jien was by no means an expert of the English language. She arrived in England in July 2010 with little to no grasp of English, with an entire year of confusion and perseverance awaiting her. You’d think this would make her nervous, but not Jien (pronounced Jen). This girl had a certain something about her which belied her shy demeanour. In simply terms, Jien possessed a quality which few people do: the ability to turn anger into productive energy.
Before long, Jien was reading complex things like Pride and Prejudice
Jien straight away signed up for the Peter School english course uk (this isn’t real, but I’m putting this in the place of the many real ones that do exist). To begin with she suffered from the same frustrations as her fellow students, but soon she was able to put these to one side and concentrate. Before long, Jien was reading complex things like Pride and Prejudice and blitzing through the dictionary.
Later that year, Jien took a creative writing course one evening a week. This was pushing it, as far as her peers were concerned — and many of them called her a show-off for it, misinterpreting her want to learn as a bigheaded attitude to look better than the rest — but Jien persisted, and within 3 months she had made real head way and even started drafting what would later become her first English novel. Something which many people never achieve, even in their mother tongue.
I say this with such certainty because Jien is a friend of mine, and this really happened.
So if you want to learn another language – want to write in another language – don’t let anything stop you. It’s all there for the taking, you just have to focus and decide you want to get it.
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Ask a hundred people their opinion on this question and you’re sure to get a wide and varied response – just as you should. Amongst those responses will be everything from “of course they can!” to “don’t be ridiculous!” to “I don’t know, I’ve never tried.” Then you’ll have the sceptics who’ll just laugh; having thought about the question carefully, they will have ascertained that Yes, you must have been joking!
Well, here are some facts which can’t be argued with. (Hence why they’re called facts, duh…)
1) If we’re just talking about putting words on a page, yes, anyone can write a book in just the same way as anyone can be taught to drive a car when trained properly.
2) Book writing is a massive show of persistence and determination over the kind of personal demons that haunt all of us – it’s not necessarily all about skill.
just sometimes, someone who hasn’t written a book or a novel or an essay, even, writes a classic which will be remembered
3) Have you ever tried to write a book? You should. It really is quite hard.
4) Sometimes, just sometimes, someone who hasn’t written a book or a novel or an essay, even, writes a classic which will be remembered for the next thousand years. And no, this is not a joke!
The real point of all this, of course, is to say that Yes, anyone can write a book, but it’s probable that not everyone should…
See, what a lot of people don’t consider when they think about book writing – whether it be non-fiction or novel writing – is the time spent thinking and imagining rather than actually romantically tapping away on their laptop in some café. It is this, really, which separates a novelist from the everyday person on the streets.
And we’ve all read a book which lacks imagining, haven’t we? (I know I have. Sorry Doug Hyde , I think that manuscript is going to need a fifty-second draft…)
The final question must be: can anyone learn to be a writer? Well, in theory I don’t see why not. Writing, when it comes down to it, is all about transporting the reader to another time or place…about making them feel like they are actually living the experience.
If you want to be a writer, practise writing stories which do this and you won’t go far wrong. There’ll be obstacles in your way, of course – not to mention a few hundred rejection letters from publishers and agents – but it’d be a real shame if you had the imagination for it and the negatives stopped you.
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All books have one thing in common: lots and lots of words. And no matter how much blank space there is on the page, some people find them harder to read than others. This can be for a number of reasons:
1) Typeface.
2) Density of words.
3) Colour of paper.
4) Number of words per page.
5) Complexity of language.
6) Writing style.
However, one thing which you can do, irrelevant of the kind of book you are reading, is learn to read faster. It may sound completely impossible to you right now as you read this, but there are ways to learn to read faster – ways which can be learned surprisingly quickly and are very little to do with ones IQ.
Skimming: I recently read a book about 4×4 cars in 4 hours. The book was 350 pages and dense with text. I say this not because I am bigheaded, but because I see no reason why you can’t do the same. Here is how I did it:
By looking at chunks of text it’s possible to sometimes read an entire line of words in one go
Rather than reading one word at a time as in the conventional sense, my new method of speed-reading involves reading two or three words at a time. By looking at chunks of text it’s possible to sometimes read an entire line of words in one go. That way, instead of flicking from side to side several times, I look at the text once, take it in, and move on down the page. Using this method I can increase my speed substantially. But of course, speed reading isn’t any good unless you’re actually absorbing what you are reading with your eyes. So this has to always be first priority, however fast you are able to read.
To give you some idea, the average person can read up to two words per second. That may not sound like very much, but bear in mind that plenty of people can read much faster than that and plenty of people are also much slower (and besides that, it’s extremely difficult to survey people, as it is so easy to lie about your capabilities!). You also need to take into account that not everyones eyes are fantastically good; in fact, many peoples'eyes aren’t up to standard and this is one of the biggest reasons why they struggle! So, don’t chastise yourself if your speed reading isn’t as good as it could be. Just make sure that you’re taking the information in and enjoying it – without that reading won’t be half as fun as it should be!
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For anyone who is into or wants to be into article one thing for sure is that for your article to red well, attract attention, and be interesting there are certain things that must do.
Use keywords throughout the article and even in the title. Keywords are those terms that people use to search for information on a particular topic in search engines. When using keywords, do so sparingly. It is widely believed that when using a keyword, say Rowan Read the rest of this entry »
Most book publishers won’t even look at your manuscript unless you have a literary agent. So how do you go about finding one? It won’t be as easy as an HRD person who goes to a website and responds to the “ click here for human rescoure software ” link. Here are a few tips.
First, you should have a complete manuscript ready. Don’t just write a couple of chapters and expect that to be enough to attract an agent. Read the rest of this entry »
Ego is one trait that a writer cannot afford to have. Mark Twain once said that there is no such thing as a new idea. A writer is just a person who looks at people surrounding him and her and borrows ideas from their lives. From the most unspeakable horror to the most unimaginable benevolent sacrifice – the world has seen it all. A writer who brings ’I'into the equation will end up getting distracted from the world and its Read the rest of this entry »
There are many things that bug me about writing – and by this I mean when somebody gets writing wrong, and being a professional they really should know better – but the number 1 thing after spelling mistakes has to be the abuse of dialogue tags. Listen up, people, there’s nothing to it. This is how it’s done.
“I hate you Jane,” said Elspeth. “I really really hate your pony, I wish it would stop biting me.”
This is how Read the rest of this entry »