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Tuesday
May 29, 2012
12:31am EDT


Recent Items
By Online Authors
Writing.Com Newsletter Archives: northernwrites
Writing.Com Newsletters Edited by Northernwrites .
#5003:Poetry  May 16, 2012
Playing on Reader Expectations
Bait and Switch: How to take the reader down the primrose path and make broken rules work effectively.
#4968:Poetry  April 18, 2012
Writing for an Inner Circle
Easy steps to being unintelligible to your audience. Or not.
#4785:Poetry  December 27, 2011
Strange Loops
What's so poetic about cycles of repetition?
#4416:Poetry  June 29, 2011
Dodging the Dominoes
An orderly approach to writing or rewriting a draft poem -- first things first.
#4414:Poetry  June 01, 2011
That Ringing in the Reader's Ears
Avoiding overusing chiming -ing wording.
#4413:For Authors  June 01, 2011
Navigating with the Writer's Compass
What roles do function and audience play in what you write?
#4387:Poetry  May 18, 2011
What's in a Word?
Picking the Perfect Word for your Poem
#4370:Poetry  May 04, 2011
Showing the Structure of Relationships
Structural techniques can emphasize the nature of the relationship and how it changes.
#4374:For Authors  May 04, 2011
Nominative Absolutes
What they are, why you might not want to use them, and how to rewrite them.
#4313:For Authors  April 06, 2011
Get Your Backstory In Motion
How to get your backstory and description off the starting block and integrated into the action.
#4308:Poetry  April 06, 2011
Using Stanzas To Add Structure
The number of stanzas and lines per stanza can be significant to understanding the layers of meaning.
#4260:For Authors  March 09, 2011
Writing Effective Flash Fiction--Pruning
Flash fiction uses wording that has been pared down to the absolute essentials. It is not wordy.
#4273:Poetry  March 09, 2011
Experimenting With Poetry
I have a topic for my poem. How do I choose the best form or techniques to use?
#4111:Poetry  February 09, 2011
Breaking the Form to Add Meaning, Pt. 2
The structure of a poem about something missing can be missing something, too.
#4178:For Authors  January 12, 2011
Writing Effective Flash Fiction--Showing
Flash fiction is vivid and shows what happens using precise details.
#4110:Poetry  January 12, 2011
Breaking the Form to Add Meaning, Pt. 1
The structure of a poem about reflected images can show some reflections, too.
#4109:Poetry  December 14, 2010
A Word To Unlock the Structure
Just as a map key unlocks the markings of a map, a word can unlock the structure of a poem.
#4108:For Authors  December 14, 2010
Flashbacks
How to handle flashbacks and when to avoid them.
#4076:Poetry  November 16, 2010
Memoir Poetry: More Than Me, Myself, & I
Like trompe l'oeil , memoir has the quality of seeming to be what it isn't really.
#4075:For Authors  November 16, 2010
Writing Effective Flash Fiction
Does your flash fiction have all its story parts?
#4010:Poetry  October 20, 2010
Moiré Patterns: Between the Lines
The interaction between two different patterns can create emphasis in certain places in a poem.
#3916:Poetry  September 22, 2010
Poetic Meter: Spondees
The spondee foot (two stressed syllables) adds variety to a poem's rhythm and marks places to pay attention to.
#3915:Poetry  August 25, 2010
Eating a Poem One Bite At A Time
Stanzas show what belongs together, when to process the material, and when to divide and separate ideas or combine them.
#3875:Poetry  July 28, 2010
The Poet's Pocket Notebook
Carrying a pocket notebook and a pen or pencil at all times lets you capture real experiences -- if you do it right.
#3796:Poetry  June 30, 2010
Counting the Cost of the Tower
What does it take to become a better poet? What is it really going to cost you in effort? Where is the finish line?
#3736:Spiritual  June 16, 2010
Writing Moral Fiction, Part 2
Writing moral fiction is one way to share what you believe. Because it's fiction, there are "do" rules to follow.
#3775:Poetry  June 02, 2010
Relevant for Today
A style is the common characteristics of what's being created and used by a group. Styles change. Some things don't.
#3735:Spiritual  May 19, 2010
Writing Moral Fiction, Part 1
Writing moral fiction is one way to share what you believe. Because it's fiction, there are "don't" rules to follow.
#3650:Poetry  May 05, 2010
You Expect Me to EAT That?
Imagery is one of poetry's common elements and provides flavor. Adding imagery to a poem is like creating a new recipe.
#3694:Noticing Newbies  April 28, 2010
Sliders and Snapshots
Detailed information about how to use the new Sliders feature.
#3620:Spiritual  April 21, 2010
Journaling About Mistakes
Considerations for when and how to write about mistakes. Process for Writing Personal Nonfiction, Part 4
#3660:For Authors  April 07, 2010
About Those Adverbs
Your prose will be stronger if you expand the little packets of telling information wrapped up in those -ly adverbs.
#3649:Poetry  April 07, 2010
Variable Contrast
The use of contrast makes the difference between a striking or a boring scrap quilt. Contrast in rhyme and description.
#3624:Mystery  March 31, 2010
The Lady or The Tiger?
Vonnegut's 8th Rule of Writing versus Stockton's "unfinished" story: Can readers deduce the end of the story themselves?
#3613:Spiritual  March 24, 2010
The Narrator Lost in Time
How does the writer make the prose invisible and the memoir come alive? Process for Writing Personal Nonfiction, Part 3
#3606:Poetry  March 10, 2010
Stopping the Stampede
Meter is the engine that drives a poem. Does it march the reader along pellmell like a rider trapped on a runaway horse?
#3583:Noticing Newbies  March 03, 2010
Annoying Word Repetition
How to figure out what's really wrong when writing repeats a word several times close together, and how to fix it.
#3568:Spiritual  February 24, 2010
Three Paths to Connect to the Reader
Help readers identify with a narrator when they have little in common. Process for Writing Personal Nonfiction, Part 2
#3544:Poetry  February 10, 2010
Compared to Rembrandt
Comparing drawings by the master artist to those of his students; applying to poetry what the master does differently.
#3516:Spiritual  January 27, 2010
Borrowed Expertise
Following a good checklist lets us bootstrap our expertise up a level. Process for Writing Personal Nonfiction, Part 1
#3499:Poetry  January 13, 2010
Sesame Street and Shakespeare
Today's reading public has the skills to understand the meaning of today's poetry that has been written for an audience.
#3465:Spiritual  December 30, 2009
The Perspective of Hindsight
Some things don't happen fast enough for us to notice that they're changing, or to understand their significance.
#3450:Poetry  December 16, 2009
Spiritual Poetry
Many ancient religious poems are masterwork. Those poets knew how to write spiritual poetry that makes an impact.
#3412:Spiritual  December 02, 2009
I Believe -- The Legacy of Your Values
An ethical will can be a particularly meaningful gift, a way to pass along our values, and can help us keep consistent.
#3387:Poetry  November 18, 2009
Measured Drawings
English has natural rules about structure, word order, punctuation: How noun phrases work (and don't work) in poetry.
#3369:Spiritual  November 04, 2009
Using Search and Replace
English speakers notice and react when words cross the line between respect and disrespect. Use appropriate words.
#3341:Fantasy  October 21, 2009
Prophecies
Decisions to make and elements to consider when you add a prophecy to your science fiction or fantasy story.
#3344:Poetry  October 21, 2009
Narrative Poetry
Effective narrative poems focus on the actions, include setting & character development, show with 5+senses description.
#3322:Spiritual  October 07, 2009
Why'd They Do That?
We can change how we feel about what has happened to us by going back and changing the story we tell ourselves about it.
#3285:Fantasy  September 23, 2009
Coping With Chaos and Change
How people react to massive, chaotic change can provide heroes with obstacles and the opportunity to invest in allies.
#3291:Poetry  September 23, 2009
The Blind Poets and the Elephant
How the poet can give the reader what he needs so he can unlock the puzzle created by the imagery in a poem.
#3266:Spiritual  September 09, 2009
Compliment, Praise, or Flattery?
What does it take to make an honest and effective compliment that's meaningful enough to make the recipient's day?
#3243:Poetry  August 26, 2009
Marching with Cadences
The rhythm of a poem is like the cadence played by the drumline in a marching band. Changing the rhythm is another tool.
#3216:Spiritual  August 12, 2009
Haibun Meets Haiga
Haibun is an ancient Japanese journaling tradition of prose plus haiku. Haiga is an artform of an image plus haiku.
#3191:Poetry  July 29, 2009
Beads, Links, or Both
Stanzas in a poem can use a strong string to connect them like beads, or can be beads that link into their neighbors.
#3166:Spiritual  July 15, 2009
The Purposes of Keeping a Journal
The primary function of a journal should be to be useful and of benefit to the person who keeps it. Three main benefits.
#3145:For Authors  July 01, 2009
Sounding Natural in Real Life Stories
Telling a story is one art. Writing it on paper is another with different rules, different tools. The writer's voice.
#3143:Poetry  July 01, 2009
Stretching Limited Resources
What if the rhyme you want to use doesn't have enough useful words? Then increasing the number of stanzas is a problem.
#3085:Poetry  June 03, 2009
Taking Up Space
Is your closet over-stuffed? We've all had the problem of finding space where common sense says there is none.
#3026:For Authors  May 06, 2009
Stories from Real Life
Telling a story verbally is one kind of art. Writing a story on paper is another, with different rules, different tools.
#3033:Poetry  May 06, 2009
The Shape of Change
A crossroads is an image for a decision. The roads represent futures we might have, like lines on a map represent roads.
#2987:Mystery  April 15, 2009
The Narcissistic Narrator
The inside of a first-person narrator's head is all the reader gets if you let him or her start monologuing.
#2986:Fantasy  April 08, 2009
Trust and Betrayal
One of the worst trials you can heap upon your character is a betrayal by someone he or she trusts completely.
#2934:Fantasy  March 11, 2009
Passing Along Wisdom
The methods that characters use to pass along wisdom can contribute to a story's sense of reality.
#2876:Poetry  February 11, 2009
Organizing Description with Movement
It takes time to learn to operate a video camera so that watching the result is pleasant rather than disorienting.
#2813:Poetry  January 14, 2009
Contagious Elements and Viral Copies
What if getting "infected" with a virus would make it easier to write metered verse?
#2780:Poetry  December 17, 2008
Wordplay: A Poet's Toys
Some poets see unusual possibilities when they look at things. Finding what they did is like playing Hide 'n Seek.
#2717:Poetry  November 19, 2008
Figure and Ground
Vase or faces? Which is figure, which is ground is the artist's choice; creating one creates the shape of the other.
Total 68 newsletters found.


For newsletters dating before June 2005, please see: "Writing.Com Newsletter Archives"