kittyradio.com



kittyradio.com » creativity » the written word » basic rule of interesting writing


Welcome to the kittyradio.com forums.

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. Remove these ads when you register. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 01-08-2008, 12:10 PM
kesh's Avatar
kesh kesh is offline
Du mußt Caligari werden!
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: vivian comma close
Posts: 9,435
kesh has a reputation beyond repute kesh has a reputation beyond repute kesh has a reputation beyond repute kesh has a reputation beyond repute kesh has a reputation beyond repute kesh has a reputation beyond repute kesh has a reputation beyond repute kesh has a reputation beyond repute kesh has a reputation beyond repute kesh has a reputation beyond repute kesh has a reputation beyond repute
basic rule of interesting writing

came across this while reading the philosopher jonathan wolff

plot: the chronological order in which events occur

story: the order in which events are revealed to the reader

wolff puts forward the view (not claiming it's his own or even very new) that "good writing captures its reader by means of creating a tension between the plot and the story"

obvious large scale examples are mystery (events essential to the plot are deliberately withheld from the story) and suspense (anticipation of future events that could follow from what is revealed), but the rule can be applied on a smaller scale, for example to dialogue or even sentence construction

he then applies this rule to academic writing, saying a detective novel written by a good philosophy student would begin: "In this novel I shall show that the butler did it." and laments that good academic writing is of necessity, in this sense, boring

Last edited by kesh : 01-08-2008 at 12:14 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 01-08-2008, 12:44 PM
cricket's Avatar
cricket cricket is offline
fizzy lifting drinks
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,279
cricket has a reputation beyond repute cricket has a reputation beyond repute cricket has a reputation beyond repute cricket has a reputation beyond repute cricket has a reputation beyond repute cricket has a reputation beyond repute cricket has a reputation beyond repute cricket has a reputation beyond repute cricket has a reputation beyond repute cricket has a reputation beyond repute cricket has a reputation beyond repute
Quote:
Originally Posted by kesh View Post
he then applies this rule to academic writing, saying a detective novel written by a good philosophy student would begin: "In this novel I shall show that the butler did it." and laments that good academic writing is of necessity, in this sense, boring
yeah, that's true, and actually kind of funny because when i write academic papers, i usually don't even come to what ends up being my real thesis until waaaay late in the process. then i have to rearrange things so that it reads more academic. but the natural tendency is to discover gradually what the hell it is i'm talking about.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 01-12-2008, 06:22 AM
sssh's Avatar
sssh sssh is offline
bluebirds
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: at the tragedy sale
Posts: 2,240
sssh has a reputation beyond repute sssh has a reputation beyond repute sssh has a reputation beyond repute sssh has a reputation beyond repute sssh has a reputation beyond repute sssh has a reputation beyond repute sssh has a reputation beyond repute sssh has a reputation beyond repute sssh has a reputation beyond repute sssh has a reputation beyond repute sssh has a reputation beyond repute
I used to try and make my introductions so that people would want to read my essay to find something out, but learnt at uni that's apparently completely wrong. It's horrible having to say 'I will conclude...', and made worse by the fact that the english department want you to write in a slightly different way. Often it's tempting to put some character into my philosophy writing, but I'm never sure how that will go down with the marker.

He sounds interesting. I will have to look him up after my exams thoughh, I think.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Writing about yourself RockitToTheMoon careers & education 6 08-20-2007 12:43 PM
Ireland's text-mad youth losing writing abilities Gold~Lion the written word 3 06-01-2007 07:12 PM
what is unspeakable? why? (it cage and monsoon) Starfish the void 0 03-10-2007 05:13 PM
RAWK SO WHO THE FUCK WANTS TO h aN g ouT? RULE RAWK b.P. RULE the void 17 02-28-2007 02:36 PM
RAWK WHAT THE d E uCe HAPPENED? RULE RAWK b.P. RULE the void 25 07-23-2006 11:14 PM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:22 AM.

Forum Stats:

Latest Threads:


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.5
Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
LinkBacks Enabled by vBSEO 3.0.0

Site content: Copyright © 2006-2008 kittyradio.com
Any unauthorized usage and/or quotations from this site on other web sites
or in the press are copyright violations and will be pursued as such.
Violators will be prosecuted under United States copyright laws.


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156