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_______________________________ ? News4Writers ________________________________ Volume 1, Issue 2 March 15, 2006 ________________________________ Inside this edition VG'S GRAMMAR NOTES ARTICLE BY EZRA DEP'S CONTEST COLUMN SURY'S BOOK REVIEW _______________________________ Welcome to our newest members! We hope you enjoy our newsletter. Visit us on the web at http://www.writers4writers.com _________________________________ Nitpick Note--capitalizing common nouns by GINA (VG) Make sure you know when a noun is a common noun and when it is a proper noun. A word can be a common noun in one place and part of a proper noun in a different place. Words like president and king are only proper when paired with a name or the rest of the title. For instance, someone will write: "I spoke with the President this morning." There is more than one president in the world, there is ours, and then Russia's and the president of a company. You do capitalize it when it is put together with "of the United States" because there is only one of those. The same goes with king and queen. You only cap them when a name follows. There is only one King Phillip, but there are bunches of kings. ________________________________________ Painting or Photograph? Strengthening Viewpoint in Fiction by E.J. Hayes __________________________________ Point of view is more than choosing a narrator, and it??s more than deciding which corner of the room she??s standing in. Point of view means giving her a voice ?? and letting her sound off. This doesn??t only include her dialogue. She can show her colours in narrative, too. On the whole, boring characters recite descriptions. Interesting characters have opinions, and aren??t afraid to share them. Consider the difference between a photograph and a painting. A photo shows a scene. A painting describes the scene as the painter sees it. A photo is impartial, a painting is opinionated. Opinions are what make characters interesting. But a photograph??s more accurate, isn??t it? Sure, it might be ?? but does it tell us much about the photographer? To make the most of point of view, let the reader view everything through your character??s eyes. Different characters will notice different things. Describe the scene the way your character would see it. Give your character an attitude. Don??t be afraid to let her make value judgments. Consider the following: The door slid open, and Bruce walked out into the spaceport. The lounge was large and warm, the metal walls were hung with government notices, and hundreds of people sat in rows of grey plastic chairs, waiting for their flights. OK, so now we know a bit about what the spaceport looks like. But do we know anything about Bruce? Not really. The descriptions are too neutral. Bruce could be anyone. Now, imagine Bruce is a hardened rebel space captain: The door slid open, and Bruce stalked into the spaceport. As usual, the lounge was cluttered with fat tourists, slouching on shabby plastic chairs. The walls glared with Coalition propaganda. And they still hadn??t fixed the air conditioning. See what I mean about value judgments? ???Fat tourists??, ???shabby plastic chairs??, and ???propaganda?? are not neutral descriptions. They tell us as much about Bruce as they do about the spaceport. And don??t only concentrate on descriptors. Pay attention to verbs, too: ???stalked?? vs. ???walked??, ???slouching?? vs. ???sat??, ???glared?? vs. ???were hung??. Alternatively, this: The door slid open, and Bruce strode into the spaceport. The lounge was pleasantly heated, and lined with orderly rows of grey plastic chairs. Families of holiday-makers fidgeted in excitement, waiting for their flights. Bright lifestyle advertisements adorned the walls. Same spaceport, different eyes. What??s your impression of Bruce now? Put some opinion into your description. Let the world resound with your character??s point of view. Don??t just take a photograph. Paint a picture ?? with your character holding the brush. _______________________________________ Dep??s Contest Column ___________________________________________ GUIDELINES Southern Rose Productions is now open to submissions for a new online publication that will be published quarterly beginning April 2006. POETRY: Southern Rose Productions accepts poetry in the dark fantasy/horror genres to 20 lines, any style, rhymed or unrhymed. Reprints considered. Please state when and where the poem was published. Buys one time rights. Rights revert to contributors upon publication. Pays $5.00 per poem within two (2) months of publication and offers a $10.00 Shocklines Gift Certificate for the best poem published each quarter. Uses six poems quarterly. Include a brief bio (one to two paragraphs long) with your submission. Submit up to five (5) poems in the body of an email with the words "Poetry Submission" in the subject line to: editor@southernroseproductions.com FICTION: Short stories in the horror genre to 3,000 words. Pays $25.00 for best story each issue, $10.00 each for others. Uses three stories quarterly. Buys one time rights. Reprints considered. Pays within two (2) months of publication. Submit in .rtf file with the words "Fiction Submission" in the subject line of your email. Mail to: editor@southernroseproductions.net Shannon Riley, Editor and Publisher Southern Rose Productions http://www.southernroseproductions.net Contests 2006 Word/Work Prize for Fiction & Non-Fiction Writing. Awards total $1,500 in six categories. We are looking for work that is daring, inventive, and engaging - work that has critical appeal and the potential to find a wider audience if given the right push. Entry fee: $20 for one submission, $30 for two submissions, $50 for unlimited submissions (3 or more). Deadline: March 31, 2006. Info: www.mediadarlings.org/wordwork2/prize.html AuthorMania.com 3rd Annual Writing Contest for short stories up to 5,000 words. Prize: $1,000 (or less if not enough entries). Entry fee: $20. Deadline: March 31, 2006. Info: Cindy Thomas, AuthorMania.com Writing Contest, 1210 County Rd. 707, Buna TX 77612;? www.authormania.com/contests.html AuthorMania.com 3rd Annual Poetry Contest for poems of any length or topic. Prize: $400 (or less if not enough entries). Entry fee: $20. Deadline: March 31, 2006. Info: Cindy Thomas, AuthorMania.com Writing Contest, 1210 County Rd. 707, Buna TX 77612; www.authormania.com/contests.html ______________________________________________________________________ ? ? ? BOOK REVIEW Khaled Hoesseini??s Official Website: The Kite Runner Review by Bhaswati Ghosh I picked up the book as a gift for my brother. While my busy brother hasn't had the chance to flip through it yet, I am so glad I bought this book. Gladder yet that I read it. For wrapped within this gem of a debut novel is an Afghanistan long lost and yet to be found, the longing of a son for his father's love, the pathos of betraying one's most trustworthy ally, the pain of carrying the guilt of that betrayal, and finally the redemption that must be had to undo that burden of guilt.
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