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Comment from the book world in September 2017

September 2017

'A writer must not shift your point of view'

25 September 2017

Remember to never split an infinitive.
The passive voice should never be used.
Do not put statements in the negative form.
Verbs have to agree with their subjects.
Proofread carefully to see if you words out.
If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be by rereading and editing.
A writer must not shift your point of view.
And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.)
Don't overuse exclamation marks!!
Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
Always pick on the correct idiom.
The adverb always follows the verb.
Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague; seek viable alternatives.

William Safire, author of Full Disclosure, Scandalmonger and a long-running column "On Language" for The New York Times Magazine, from William Safire's Rules for Writers

Writing a hit TV script

18 September 2017

‘Write for your audience. By that I mean don't create something that is unfathomable, self-indulgent dross then be surprised when nobody watches. You need to take your audience with you, to help them to understand the world you've created and the characters that inhabit that world. Let them see what your characters are striving for and give them a reason to care if they succeed or not. Life on Mars, Hustle, Dickensian and now Hoot and the Lady are all worlds that you may not be familiar with, but I hope they're worlds that the audience understands and wants to revisit often.

Tony Jordan, whose scriptwriting credits include EastEnders, Life on Mars and Dickensian in The Times

'I can't understand why you like the short story'

11 September 2017

'If you had asked me a decade ago, I'd have said there was a distinction between how we and the rest of the world valued short stories. There is, however, a difference between what booksellers think we want and what the reading public want. I've been told, 'I can't understand why you like the short story' - but that's rare, and certainly not the opinion of BBC Radio 4 listeners. More than one million people tune in live - and that's not counting those who download it afterwards...

There was a time when media outlets to place stories were dying and BBC Radio 4 was valiantly going on. I've seen the landscape change. If I think about the number of short story collections that landed on my desk 12 years ago to now, we're getting more writers who are prepared to venture into the form.'

Di Speirs, BBC Radio's book editor, and long-time champion of the short story, behind the paywall in Bookbrunch. The shortlist for this year's BBC National Short Story Award Is announced on 15 September with broadcasts of the 5 shortlisted stories the following week.

'The people who don't read, who are they?'

4 September 2017

‘There are things about writing that can be taught. I would say there are fewer people who want to read seriously now, and more people who want to write. But if you can use writing to get people reading, that is exciting...

In the last few years I have come to feel that maybe in 50 years there won't be novels, that people won't have the attention for it. Then you feel it's like the last trace of a culture, like the Lascaux paintings or something. When I am teaching, I first give out Tolstoy's Childhood, his first published book. It is so transparent. It gives you exactly what it was like to be on a Russian estate on 1830. You are there. And that is the hope when you sit down and write still, I think - that you can transmit something of what life is like now...

If you took my reading and writing out of my head, I don't know who I would be. The people who don't read, who are they? How do they make sense of things?

Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's Children and just-published The Burning Girl, in the Observer