This week: Exploring writing styles Edited by: THANKFUL SONALI Library Class!  
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Every time I think about what WdC means to me, I feel overwhelmed with gratitude at the number of ways the site has made me think about writing.
I mention just a few of them here. |
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Dear Reader,
If you are a newbie, you're probably exploring the various aspects of this site ... and maybe you're a bit confused about the nitty-gritties. This is a vast site, and offers many, many opportunities for a writer to grow. It's exciting how much you can do here, once you've got the hang of it. I've been a member since 2007 and logged on almost every day since then, to find something to challenge me each time.
Here, then, are a few thoughts on the types of writing to be found here. This is by no means exhaustive - it's just something I've gleaned from my personal experience.
1. 'Prompted' or Spontaneous
You can write what you feel like about anything that strikes your fancy -- or you can gear your writing to a contest prompt. Either way, you have to find your own voice as a writer, develop your own style.
The Official Writing Dot Com contests include ones with picture prompts, character-development prompts, quote prompts, genre prompts and musical prompts. There's also a contest at the beginning of each year urging the participant to write a letter to her / himself, setting goals for the year.
Contests like "The Writer's Cramp" have prompts which change every 24 hours.
2. With a word limit or without
If you're writing to a word limit, you need to fit in what's important and leave out what's not ... or, alternatively, learn to say everything in the number of words given.
It's a great exercise to try to fit in to a word limit - both minimum and maximum. There are times when I find I've finished my story without reaching the minimum limit, and there are times I have crossed the maximum limit and want to say more. Having a word limit makes you discipline yourself to thinking about what needs to be said.
3. Deadlines
Deadlines can be as tight as a day and as loose as a month.
I find that for daily prompts, I enjoy simply plunging in and seeing where the beginning of the story takes me. Often, I don't know where it's going myself when I begin writing, and I get an 'aha' moment somewhere along the way for the completion of my plot.
When it's a month, I like to spend some time to see how to interpret the prompt in a unique way. I like the ideas to slosh around in my mind before getting down to the actual writing.
4. Individual writing or shared
On Writing Dot Com, static items are most often written individually, while campfires and interactive stories are written by several members joining together. When writing with someone else, it's nice to find the balance between retaining your own voice and yet blending in with the team.
5. With or without restrictions
There are contests that allow you to write in the usual way - and there are some which place restrictions on you and force you to think out of the box. Some allow only dialogue, others allow no dialogue at all. Some have taboo words, some insist that any word you use be use only once ... and so on.
6. Form and Genre
There are contests for prose and those for poetry and other forms. Sometimes, a contest demands a particular form of poetry. I have explored forms I hadn't been aware of before, through entering contests.
Similarly, genres. I've attempted to write detective fiction and science fiction, something that's not in my comfort zone, thanks to Writing Dot Com.
7. Playing with words
There are activities that make you play with words - adding the next three, four, five or six words to a story, for example. Some have a twist to them -- like the words must be in alphabetical order or reverse alphabetical order. There are games to make sentences out of acronyms. There are word puzzles, madlibs and other forms of entertainment that help expand your horizons where the use of language is concerned.
Along with playing with words, there is playing with tales as well -- with prizes for purposefully bad writing! It's not easy to write badly on purpose! 
8. Reviewing
Reviewing is its own form of writing. It helps both the reviewer and the reviewed. The reviewer learns to look subjectively and objectively at a piece of work, analyse what clicks and what doesn't work, and express an opinion about it. When you review someone else's work, you gain a deeper understanding of what a reader feels, and this helps the next time you write something yourself.
So go ahead ... plunge in somewhere, and explore different types of writing!
Thanks for listening!
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Thank you for the responses to: "Story Ideas on the Newsfeed"
hbk16
Any author is constantly in a need for new story ideas. It is something that allows him to get inspired indeed. Interesting issue!
Jenstrying 
This is very fun and a very good idea! Thank you for putting this in the newsletter! |
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Noticing Newbies: March 17, 2021 Issue [#10651]
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