Great hooks; #2

It was Mrs. May who first told me about them.
-Mary Norton
The Borrowers

Great Hooks; #1

"Where's papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
-E.B White
Charlotte's Web

A Blank Piece of Paper

A blank piece of paper is God's way of showing a writer how hard it is to be God.
~Joel Saltzman

Why We Write

Writers don't write because they want to say something. They write because they have something to say.

Fix It

If you are bothered, how ever slightly, by the way you've written something--fix it.
~Robert Kanigel

Too Long?

If you run out of breath while reading a sentence, it's too long.

Stuck!

This is an awesome paragraph from book called, Writing Magic, by Gail Carson Levine about what to do when you get stuck while writing a story. she says that she makes herself write down twelve options of what could happen next

I tell myself that I'm going to write down stupid options as well as excelent ones. I write down the stupid one because they are brave. This sounds crazy but ,it's true. Whenever I start a list, my stupid ideas surge forward, but the useable ones hang back. They're shy and want to see how the stupid ones get treated. When they see me behave respectfully to the dopes, they tip toe out into the open. I snag them and write them down, too.

Define Poem

Poem=Feeling

Bio Poem

A bio poem is a list of things that make up your life. Writing one is really easy. Just follow these steps:

On the first line write your first name.
On the second, four Discriptive words about yourself.
On the third,the names of any siblings. If you don't have any just write "none."
On the fourth,what you love.
On the fifth, what you fear.
On the sixth, what you need.
On the seventh,what you give.
On the eighth, what you would like to see.
On the ninth, where you are a resident of.
On the tenth, your last name.

when you are done, it should look something like this:

Corrie
Imaginitive,Laughing,Unorganized,Outgoing
Sibling of Ben
Lover of Snow,Chocolate and rollercoasters
Who needs friends and a good nights sleep
Who gives hugs and jokes
Who would like to see Australia
Resident of Oak Cliff
Coleman

proof-reading

When you write something that you are going to turn in to a teacher, you should always have some one proofread it. And I don't mean the computer's spell checker! You should always have another person check your writing. For example: If you were to type "There must have been some magic in that old black has they found." The computer wouldn't catch that. It wouldn't know that you really meant "hat" because "has" is a word. So always have someone read over your paper carefully before tuning it in.

Clear Nouns and Verbs

When writing a process (how to do something), go through your rough draft and underline all of the nouns and verbs. List them on a sheet of paper and try to find ways to replace them with words that are clearer. For example, you could have the sentence: "Wash the plate with soap." You could say"Scour the plate with a dollup of dishwashing soap." Note how it helps you to understand better how to wash the plate. The more clearly you write, the better your writing will be!

"Be Verbs"

"Be verbs" are words that are used so much that, when you use them, they take away from the quality of your sentence. Be verbs: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been. After you finish writing a paragraph, check through your sentences and if you find any be verbs, try to find ways to work around them.

Paired Adjectives

When you use paired adjectives it adds variety to your sentences. Instead of "The ball was big and blue." you could say" Big and blue, the ball sailed through the air." So every once in a while, switch up your sentences, and make it different!

Free Writing

Sometimes, when you start to write for the day, you need to open up your brain . Free writing is a really good way to do this. when you free write, set a timer for any where from five to ten minutes. Then find a comfortable spot , a notebook and and a pencil. Write anything that pops to your mind and don't stop until the time goes off.

Thesaurus

Thick and sturdy, the thesaurus is a writers best friend. you can look up words in it and find different words with the same meaning. Words are aranged in alphabetical order . This book is great when you have an overused word. for example, if you had the word "blue" and you looked it up, you wold get:azure,sky blue,prussian blue,navy blue,robins egg,powder blue,sapphire,indigo,aqua,aquamarine and turquise.

Hooks

When writing a story you should always start with a hook. A hook is when you start with something that grabs the reader and makes her want to keep reading. For example, if you start with." My story is going to be about some mounains." this does not keep the reader intrested, because she already knows what the story is about! But if you were to start with " The night was coming and so was the cold of the mountains." this creates suspention and keeps people intreiged.