SOLECISMS TO AVOID

“Your” for you’re



“Impact” for affect


“Alternate” for alternative


“Prostrate” for prostate


“Walla” for voila


“Anticipate” for expect


“Tow the line” for toe the line


“Oversight” for overview


“I could care less” for I couldn’t care less.


“Peek” for pique


“Hoards” for hordes


“Corpse” for [army] corps


I could go on, but ...

“One of your first jobs, as you write for money, will be to get rid of your vocabulary.”
-- Jack Woodford, American novelist and best-selling author of books on the writing trade.

BLURRING FICTION NOVELS WITH FACTUAL HISTORY BOOKS.

Authors of historical novels are rightly proud of the fictional
characters and situations they create, and the accuracy of
the historical background included in their novels. Simply
defined, they write about fictional characters set in actual
historical atmosphere and military events during days gone by.

But something odd has happened in public libraries
gradually over time -- shelving historical fiction
titles amidst non-fiction history books. To come
across a book you know is a novel nestling amidst
History titles is jarring, to say the least.

Evidently, some librarians nowadays have a somewhat
wobbly grasp of what is factual history and what is
historical fiction, which results in blurred genres.

Three examples of fictional novels being mistakenly
shelved in the non-fiction History Section that I have
come across:

THE GREAT PACIFIC WAR, by Hector C. Bywater
SCHINDLER'S LIST (SCHINDLER’S ARK) by Thomas Keneally.
ROOTS, by Alex Haley

Likely, you have noticed a few others yourself. If
you do encounter these or similar historical novels
being mis-catalogued in libraries and well-meaningly
feel urged to tell a librarian about it, take warning
-- you are in for a frustrating experience. :-)

First, you are automatically assumed to be mistaken.
i.e., wrong.

Second, you will find yourself trapped into giving
an interminable explanation, in face of a bemused
librarian who likely just hears you out politely,
has not the faintest idea what you are talking about,
and will not correct the book's classification in the
slightest.

GET RID OF THE MYTH OF
“WRITER’S BLOCK”
AND START WRITING YOUR NOVEL.

If you ever feel stuck while trying to complete a short writing project, it is easy to deal with. Just put it on hold temporarily, and start writing another one. Simply writing something – anything – is the most effective way to instantly defeat writer's block! But first, before going on, let me state firmly – there is absolutely no such thing as “writer’s block.”
Now, read that sentence *aloud* to yourself -- There is absolutely no such thing as “writer’s block!”
Have you ever heard of “bricklayer’s block,” “lawyer’s block,” “surgeon’s block,” “truck-driver’s block”? Of course not. So-called writer’s block is at best an artistic affectation. It does not exist. At worst, it is a mental attitude that prevents a writer from putting the words down – nothing more. So the solution is simple. Write some words down – any words to start with – and you are by practical demonstration, no longer “blocked.”

Still, feeling “blocked” can be serious when it comes to novels. You may have invested weeks, months, or years in your opus, and giving up on it should not be an option. Instead, when you get stuck for ideas, do not know what to write next, or suddenly feel the whole book is a waste of effort, here is what to do:
Get some progress going by creating blank chapter headings for the next few segments. Then add two or three blank scenes to each. Don't worry about how long these are going to be, or whether you need one or four of them per chapter. You're just showing your brain the small incremental steps involved.

Starting at the “blocked” chapter, jot down one-line descriptions for the blank scenes. You are just filling empty spaces right now, so it does not have to be amazingly exciting. As you progress you might find yourself moving away from your plot. If that turns out to be more interesting - good. (The excuse of “writer's block” is often simply the result of trapping your characters in a dead end.)

If that is the case with you, more than likely you have not done any preparation in the form of a plot outline of what your novel is going to be about. You would not jump into your car to drive across country without at least looking at a map first to see where you intend to end up. Same with a book project. Writing down even the barest rough outline first will do wonders for your creativity. So, stop trying to write any scenes or chapters at all, until you write an outline.
Only then should you dive back in to writing your novel. Do not agonize over the very first line on the very first page. Start anywhere. Describe an incident or scene that particularly interests you, regardless of where it may end up in the manuscript. Suddenly, you will be able to write down a scene which excites you, interests you. Has some life to it. Some juice in it. You feel in your guts it is a good scene; one that makes your tale come alive!
Don't try to write it fully immediately, though. Just write some more detailed notes for it. Over the next day or two, it will stick in your mind, and you'll be able to refine it, add to it. Still hold yourself back and don't write it yet. If you like, you can stop outlining other scenes now. Just keep replaying this particular vivid scene through your mind. If you are itching to write it down... well, there goes that mythical writer's block! Never forget -- you are writing a novel, not reading one. What happens next is completely in your hands, but this new freedom can sometimes make you freeze like a rabbit in the headlights. Do you leap left or right? Who cares? Jump in any direction. The important thing is to keep moving the tale along.

After you sit down to write this great scene, it may not come out on paper reading as grand as it was in your imagination. As Ernest Hemingway said famously, “All first drafts are shit!” So do not worry at this stage. That final grandness will come after multiple revisions. You will probably rewrite the whole thing several times before your book is complete. The main thing at this stage is to unblock the creative juices, not expect to create a first draft which proves instantly to be the best novel the world has ever seen.

After you've written that pretty-good dramatic scene, you can go back to modify the events and descriptions leading up to it. As you're rewriting these descriptions, your imagination will create other scenes – before or after the current stage. Now you have another segment to develop.

The point is, write scenes which are busting to get onto the page, and skip the ones which seem like a chore. If you yourself feel bored while writing them, imagine how bored your reader is likely going to feel. Especially important for keeping a sense of swift progression, avoid long, overly-detailed transition scenes. For example, say you have a character in New York City who needs to travel to Calcutta. Unless something dramatic or relevant happens on the plane, you can end the NYC scene by hailing a cab for the airport. Then you can start the next chapter with a quick mention of Calcutta atmosphere, just to orient the reader. Use the same method throughout, to avoid any other discursive, needlessly-descriptive parts, and your novel will speed along – both while writing it and reading it.
Now, one more time: Read this sentence aloud to yourself:
“There is absolutely no such thing as writer’s block!”
Now, buckle down, and start writing some words on paper.

SALESMANSHIP IN ADVERTISING
David Ogilvy founded one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, Ogilvy & Mather International. (I had the privilege of working with him for six years as a creative director.) Everyone associated with David learned a great deal from his vast knowledge of copywriting and human nature. He synthesised much of his advice in his book, Confessions of an Advertising Man. Yet even he praised another great advertising genius, Claude Hopkins, who wrote an enduring classic of his own. Ogilvy once said of Hopkins’ book:
"Nobody should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times. It changed the course of my life."
Here are some excerpts from Claude Hopkins’On Salesmanship In Advertising
Advertising is salesmanship. Its principles are the principles of salesmanship. Successes and failures in both lines are due to like causes. Thus every advertising question should be answered by the salesman's standards.
The only purpose of advertising is to make sales. It is profitable or unprofitable according to its actual sales.
It is not for general effect. It is not to keep your name before the people. It is not primarily to aid your other salesmen.
Advertising is multiplied salesmanship. Therefore every ad should be a super-saleperson.
"There is one simple and right way to answer many advertising questions. Ask yourself, 'Would this help a salesman sell the goods?' 'Would it help me sell them if I met the buyer in person?'

On the lenqth of your ads:
Some say, "Be very brief. People will read only a little." Would you say that to a salesperson? With a prospect standing there, would you confine him to use only a certain number of words? That would be an unthinkable handicap.
So in advertising. The only readers we get are people whom our subject interests. No one reads ads for amusement, long or short. Consider them as prospects standing before you, seeking information. Give them enough to get action.

On the proper attitude:
When you plan and prepare an advertisement, mentally keep before you a typical buyer. Then in everything be guided by what you would do if you met the buyer face-to-face.
The advertising writer studies the consumer. He or she tries to place themselves in the position of that buyer. Success largely depends on doing that to the exclusion of everything else.

On offerinq service:
Remember that the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interest or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising.

On the lessons of mail order advertisinq:
Mail order advertising tells a complete story if the purpose is to make an immediate sale. You see no limitations there on amount of copy.
The motto is, 'The more you tell, the more you sell.'

It is far harder to get mail orders than to send buyers to the store. It is hard to sell goods which can't be seen. Ads which do that are excellent examples of what advertising should be.

Mail order advertising is traced down to the fraction of a penny. The cost per reply and cost per dollar of sale show up with utter exactness. [This principle applies to this day: all web-based ads should best be tracked for effectiveness.]

The most common way of comparing one ad with another [used to be] by use of a coupon. We offer a sample, a book, a free package or something to induce direct replies. Thus we learn the amount of action which each ad engenders.

But those figures are not final. One ad may bring too many worthless replies; another brings replies that are valuable to our final conclusions are always based on cost per customer or cost per dollar of sale.

On the proper use of headlines:

The purpose of a headline is to pick out people you can interest. You care only for those people.

People will not be bored in print. In print they choose their own companions, their own subjects. There may be products which interest them more than anything else in a magazine. But they will never know it unless the headline or the picture tells them.

The vast difference in headlines is shown by keyed returns. The identical ad run with various headlines differs tremendously in its returns. It is not uncommon for a change in headlines to multiply returns from five to ten times over.

Don't think that those millions will read your ads to find out if your product interests them. They will decide by a glance -- by your headline or your pictures.

On psychology:
Competent advertising people must understand psychology. The more they know about it the better. They must learn that certain effects lead to certain reactions, and use that knowledge to increase results and avoid mistakes.

"If you want to get rich from writing, write the sort of thing that's read by persons who move their lips when they're reading to themselves."
-- Don Marquis.

"When I want to read a good book, I write one."
-- Benjamin Disraeli.