English Language Quizzes – UsingEnglish.com
Look under “Intermediate English”, then Adjectives and Adverbs. Take the Adjective or Present Participle? quiz (10 questions – no more than 2 minutes). I missed one answer. Tell me how you do.
There are a ton of other interesting grammar quizzes if present participles don’t float your boat. (you don’t have to register to take the quizzes).
Good luck!
I was browsing through the Writer Magazine links, and I found Blue Mountain Arts, Inc., a greeting card company. Blue Mountain Arts held a poetry contest; the 3rd place winner’s entry is pretty good (aside from the bulky title and use of hyphens).
The poem is short (just a few lines), it paints a picture of one place in time and the author uses descriptive words with unlikely nouns – a love of mine (when it works well).
I googled Tessa Zeng and found this Deviant Art page but it may or may not be the same author. Whereever she is in on the Web and in life, I hope she keeps writing. She’s a talent to watch.
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“disheartening epilogue to cold days” by Tessa Zeng |
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she’s hanging up the sheets outside, little kid shorts shirts and elusive socks long underwear from a long winter wearing nothing but a blue dress a wisteria-covered lawn well, she’s barely from a piled up basket of laundry short memories, a shorter romance, and of all |
However great a man’s natural talent may be, the act of writing cannot be learned all at once.
A popular question in the writing world from amateur and professional writers is “should I get an MFA in writing?”
There are programs galore offering this terminal degree; many are unaccredited money-makers that should be approached with extreme caution. There are also some famous ones that would jump-start anyone’s writing career.
The best advice I’ve gotten about this is to ask yourself these questions: Am I interested in teaching writing at the college level? Does my project need 2 years of dedicated attention to succeed? Have I tried other ways to learn about writing and to find a writing community and professional contacts and have had no success?
An MFA anywhere costs money. The general rule about getting any post-high-school degree is “Do I need it for my chosen career?” Higher education is a financial decision. If an MFA will help you make more money (relatively quickly) and the boost in income will make the loan payments more than manageable, do it. But there are many roads into Writing Town. An MFA is no guarantee that the degree will get you driving down Successful Street.
I personally would love to attend writing classes and get the help with my novel. Financially, though, it would be a poor decision for me. Also, I live in a big city and there are more than enough MFA’s looking for teaching work (for which most get paid a pittance). An M.Ed. in Educational Psychology and a B.S. in Psychology from major universities, both of which I attained years ago, will have to be sufficient for me. The financial debt (even if I had the time away from mommyhood) wouldn’t be justified.
It takes more work and self-discipline, but I am finding a writing community, and writing (slowly) in a bubble until I get my novel finished and published. I’ve heard around Writing Town (of which I am on the outskirts) that a writer needs to write her first novel on her own, but after that, resources open up. It’s the “foot in the door” conundrum. I joined a writer’s group a few years ago from which I gained contacts, and I attend local writers’ events and conferences. I read a lot about the art of writing, and try to practice that art everyday. Next I will try to start a book club for writers.
There are many roads into Writing Town. How will you get there? Some jump-start an MFA-mobile and (with luck) zoom in. Most of us just have to walk.
Unbeknownst to many readers, writers can spend an inordinate amount of time devising names for characters and places. Some writers buy baby name books, some use friends’ names, some randomly open the phone book twice, once for the first name, once again to find a last name.
Merriam-Webster.com offers a subscription service that I use daily for general word meanings, but it’s invaluable for name research. Merriam-Webster.com offers brief history descriptions for each word, and there are some jewels in the actual etymology; Latin or Greek or even Sanskrit roots of modern words make great names for people and places. Encyclopedias and wikis can also help in the search. BehindTheName .com is a site I use as a reference to look up general meanings of first names and surnames after I have imagined a list of possible character names. I’ve also turned to psycholinguistic texts and, of all things, astrology.
A common piece of advice for writers is to make sure that all of the characters’ names each have a different first letter; this helps the reader avoid confusing the characters. When constructing names, I like to concentrate not only on hidden meanings, but also on their sound, their phonemes and general flow. My poetry instincts drive me to find a cast of character names that work nicely together when read on paper and read aloud.
Another consideration is the character’s general personality and the character’s plot arc in the story. A character who is abrupt and grumpy and is going to stay that way shouldn’t be named “Dulcie” (meaning sweet) unless a writer is attempting irony. A union worker shouldn’t be named “Striker” unless you want your readers to chuckle at you; even if Striker does go on strike at one point, it’s just too corny; such obvious naming mechanics should be saved for parables or nursery rhymes.
Luckily, most readers give your writing the benefit of the doubt, and are generous with the space they give to suspend their disbelief. Readers want to sink into your story. Most character names won’t disrupt their absorption of your storytelling, but adding that little bit of effort to find the perfect monikers will give your writing a bit more depth and layers for the curious reader to explore. And that, my friends, will keep them coming back for more.
-PC
As always, I invite comments and questions. 
