The Pen Commandments - A Guide for the Beginning Writer

Zusatztext "A highly readable book that entertains as it instructs... Even veteran writers will find a new perspective on the whole writing venture... Almost anyone will find the book a delightful! useful tool for writing well."- Quill and Scroll “Steven Frank is the English teacher you wish you’d had in high school. That’s because he knows that education and humor make terrific team teachers. If thou wishest to become a better—and more joyful—writer! thou shalt follow The Pen Commandments .” —Richard Lederer! author of A Man of My Words "Frank's approach is fresh and irreverent... If writers absorb Frank's commandments! they'll reap a worthwhile reward: good writing."- The Advocate "Helpful... To be read as you write...Frank is generous; he doesn't want anyone to be frightened away from the sport because the don't know the rules."- Los Angeles Times Informationen zum Autor Steven Frank Klappentext With practical advice and compelling case studies! Frank unfreezes the pens of struggling writers all around him! from his mail carrier to a former student to his own mom! with this witty and accessible book that entertains as it instructs. Young Adult. Leseprobe One Thou Shalt Honor Thy Reader On the first day of school where I teach, the students all line up in the yard according to grade. They mill about, getting reacquainted after a summer apart, and they tell stories. One year I heard someone cry out, "Ewwww, that's disgusting!" I turned and saw a small crowd huddled around a boy named Jason who was describing the oral surgery he had had back in June. "They found out I had an extra tooth growing down from the roof of my mouth. If we did nothing, it would keep on growing till it touched my tongue. So the dentist said he'd have to pull it." "Did it hurt?" asked one girl. "Well, when he cut the hole around the tooth, that wasn't so bad. But then he took a pair of pliers and started twisting it back and forth, like a nail. That I felt." "Was there a lot of blood?" a boy asked. "That depends on how you define a lot. Let's just say I couldn't spit fast enough and kept swallowing instead. Finally he got the tooth out, jammed some cotton up there, and told me to hold it in place with my tongue." "What's it look like now?" Jason smiled a thin, wicked smile. Then he threw back his head and opened wide for all the kids to gaze at--and be grossed out by--the crater in the roof of his mouth. There was a roar of disgusted cries, and then one kid said, "Can I see that again?" That's when it hit me: a writing assignment designed to gross us out, to keep us gathered around a composition the way the kids had all gathered around Jason. The topic: "An Accident That Happened." The goal: include so many gory details that at least five of your classmates will either hurl their lunch or skip their dinner. Now you may ask how a writer who incites mass vomiting is respecting his reader, but I invite you to visit my classroom on the day these compositions are read aloud. People love to hear the stories behind scars just as much as they love to tell them. The Right Topic The leading cause of writer apathy among today's students is bad topics. "Write about your summer vacation." "Describe your room." "Describe your family." "Write a letter to the editor." "Write a plot summary." "Write a character analysis." "Write a report about the uses of zinc oxide in a developed society." Write a this, write a that, write a write a write a write--why write at all? If you're not inspired by a writing topic, ask to change it. Ask your teacher if you can describe your family from the dog's point of view, or the fish's. Ask if your plot summary can include blanks so that your classmates can try to guess the title when you read it aloud. Ask if your characte...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Steven Frank
• Editore: Anchor Books USA
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Tascabile
• Pubblicazione: 14.09.2004
• EAN: 9781400032297
• ISBN: 978-1-4000-3229-7
• Pagine: 336
• Dimensioni: 132 mm x 203 mm x 18 mm
• Categorie: Guide e manuali > Diritto, professione, finanze > Formazione, professione, carriera; Narrativa > Romanzi