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Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/7160-The-8-Cs-of-Writing.html
For Authors: August 19, 2015 Issue [#7160]

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For Authors


 This week: The 8 C's of Writing
  Edited by: Vivian Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

         Sometimes when I'm reading a manuscript I know something is wrong, but I can't put my finger on the exact problem. However, once I go over the 8 C's of writing, I discover that one of the components is missing. Let's look at the eight components. Keeping the list close at hand will help us remember all the components we need to include for a well-written work.

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Letter from the editor

The 8 C's of Writing



         Each component listed and explained below must be found in fiction writing. Only the last, characters, may not be found in nonfiction, except for narrative or creative nonfiction.

          Clarity: the writing, plot, setting are all clear. Clear writing tends to be elegant, logically arranged, and easy to follow. Clear writing is so easy to read, follow, and digest that most readers won’t stop to think about the writer’s style at all. Clear writing promotes clear images in the mind of the reader. Improve the clarity of your writing by cutting unnecessary words, using action verbs whenever possible, and choosing concrete terms that not only help readers easily comprehend but remember what they are reading.

         Conciseness: When you write concisely, you express your opinions, give directions, or explain a scene using the best words, and often the fewest words, possible. Concise writing expresses essential ideas without unnecessary words that don’t add anything important and waste the reader’s time. Concise writing does not contain useless repetitions or wordy expressions, as explained below. Redundancy: Useless repetition weakens your writing and wastes the reader’s time; it may even be insulting. Concise writing is clean writing, using only the words needed to express an idea. When editing your prose for conciseness, aim to cut out words and phrases that are vague, repetitious or pretentious.

         Concreteness: Writers can achieve concreteness by choosing the specific over the abstract, the definite over the vague and the distinct over the uncertain. Although concrete writing is crisp, it doesn’t need to seem stilted; concrete writing uses words that paint pictures for the reader, which helps make facts, products, people and places more realistic and memorable. Concrete writing is creative because it shows the reader what is happening rather than just telling them. Concrete language avoids generalities (including clichés), steering clear from general nouns and pronouns that can easily confuse the reader. Granted, concrete writing takes more time and effort than general or abstract writing, but the rewards are worth it. Good writers deliberately steer away from generalities, spending the extra time to make their writing more concrete and authentic. Concreteness favors active, descriptive verbs and modifiers over words that are abstract or passive.

         Correctness: Grammar, sentence structure, spelling, and other problems distract from writing.

         Coherency: The writing makes sense, is understandable to the reader. The plot progresses logically without holes or unbelievable changes. The characters are consistent. The setting fits without taking over the plot. Everything written moves the plot forward or adds to characterization.

         Completeness: Remember the Ws of writing: Who, Where, What, Why, Where, When and How? Before you start writing, you should know where you want to go, how you plan to get there, why you want to write in the first place, and why anyone else (e.g. potential readers) would want to follow you. You want to cover everything needed for readers to understand what you mean.

         Research: Research is important with both nonfiction and fiction.

         Courtesy: Courteous writing applies to nonfiction writing as well as to fiction. A writer needs not to be preachy or demanding. A writer shouldn’t treat the reader as if he were stupid.

         Character: In fiction, writers need to watch that their “people” and/or other characters remain “in character” and don’t suddenly behave in a way that confuses the reader. In an effort to be entertaining and exciting, a budding author might write scenes where professional people are swearing and fighting, throwing punches and using language that’s completely out of character for them. Be sure behavior, speech, actions, and reactions are believable.



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Ask & Answer

Words from Our Readers


Quick-Quill Author IconMail Icon
Conferences are very important. I redesigned my cover after attending a workshop I almost passed by. Now my book is one people will pick up. Ive learned how not to write "A biography of a fictional character" and to recognize when others do. They are valualbe to me and others!

         Many people are missing needed help and information by not attending conferences. I realize that some can't afford to attend, and I hate that the one free online one I knew about has been dropped.

brom21 Author IconMail Icon
I just started a novel in June that I will work on for at least a year that I have chosen not to fully submit to WDC. My question is this. How does one know what to revise, cut and tweak if they are on their own without WDC? For that matter how did you revise your books?

         I'm a member of a writing group, and members critique each other's work. I also know three excellent editors who edit my writing to help me know what to revise. Of course, as an editor and publisher myself, I manage to have little that needs revising.

Patrece ~ Author IconMail Icon
Thank you for a very informational newsletter. Where can one find the different writers conferences that are going on? I'd love to attend one or two a year.

         Do an internet search for writing conferences in your state and in any states within driving distance. If you can afford to travel farther, search for writing conferences period.

Elfin Dragon-finally published Author IconMail Icon
You certainly get down to he nitty-gritty of things. I'd like to add that some types of conferences you can pay a nominal fee for if you go in conjunction with something like a ComicCon. That's how I went to my first writer's conference. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. There were so many writer's panels it was hard to choose which one to go to. As you said, some were for marketing & publishing. But others were question & answer type panels where we could get to know the authors a bit more and we could even do reviews of our own work (well small pieces of it) which helped tremendously. So, it may not be the intense level of an actual Writer's Conference. But having all those authors in one place for different panels was still very helpful.

         Good ideas.



Thanks for joining me for another edition of the For Authors newsletter. One message from a reader gave me an idea for possibly the next issue: a list of writing conferences.

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