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Avoid the pressure of the first lines


Photo: (c) | Helping Writers Become Authors


We consider ourselves writers. We have a thousand ideas in our mind that we would like to develop. We think about the end of the story (if you are a map writer) or the book already finished, however, we do not start writing.


And it is not that it is a blockage as such, but many times the pressure is in the first lines, that is to say, it is difficult for us to know how to start the writing. Well, here I am going to leave you some tips so that you can train that fluency when you start writing.


1. Find your moment. There are writers who feel more comfortable writing at night than in the day or vice versa. You must find that moment of inspiration for you, taking into account that it is your free period and you must be sure that you will not have interruptions when writing.


2. The place and setting are important. For the same reason of finding an environment that invites you to capture the ideas, you have in mind. It is not the same to sit and write with the sound of vehicles playing the horn to be listening to the sound of nature or a good piece of music.


3. No more distractions. The surrounding noises are not the only ones that can steal our inspiration but also an artifact that we always have at hand and yes, I talk about the phone. In the time you spend writing, disconnect from the world because you can lose the thread of your story by replying to the messages.


4. Write and then edit. This tip is one of the most important since many times when we start writing we don't like the result or it doesn't work out the way we wanted, so we delete it to rewrite it ... Turn off your editor! In that vicious circle, you will prevent the story from moving forward. It is better to have a written text, even if you know that you are not going to use it to have the page completely blank, so when you comply with your guideline of the day you will have an eraser that later. You will have the opportunity to edit. Good stories don't come out perfect at first.


5. Set up a goal... but don't overdo it. By this, I mean that you put a minimum of words per day or a week as a goal, but if you do better with time, you can also reserve a certain amount of hours to write. You must remember that the goal has to be within your abilities because if you put, for example, a minimum of 2.000 words when your achievements go on a smaller scale, what you are going to achieve is overwhelming yourself for not reaching your goal.


Text by:

AngélicaMerán

Usuario:@itsgalenica

Nov. 10, 2019, midnight 1 Report Embed 13
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Best ways for students to develop writing skills

Any student is perfectly aware that college life is not only fun and great parties. Whether you like it or not, you will receive various assignments during college. Your evaluation will go beyond taking exams and getting good grades. You can also prove that you are a good student. You can convince your evaluators that you have excellent writing skills and write unique papers. So, you should put all the possible efforts during college to develop your writing skills and become the best in your class. However, writing can be a very intimidating activity as not many students can discover its secrets and make it a fun activity.

When they think of writing, many students believe that if they write many details, they are on the safe side, and will get an excellent grade. While including much information is exceptional, you shouldn’t exaggerate. Your professors will immediately feel that you don’t know precisely what you are talking about. This is just an example of how you can improve your writing skills. Keep reading this article, and you will discover the best tips to improve your writing results.


1. Make sure you understand what you are writing about

When you receive a writing task from your professor, the first thing you should do is start the research. It is perfectly normal not to understand all the concepts you have to write about. This is why the research will help you have a clear picture of what you are writing about. Your professors will give you the structure and ideas. So, this is your starting point. Apart from the resources provided by your professors, you should also find new sources of inspiration and extract the necessary information from there as well. You should read as much as possible and start writing only when you understand the concepts very well.

As soon as you have a clear idea of the concepts, you will see how ideas will start flowing, and the writing process will become a piece of cake. When you know what you are writing about, you will also become more explicit and deliver a comprehensive piece of writing. A good understanding of the specific terminology will also help you define a clear purpose for your article. Thus, the chances to make mistakes and the risk of getting a bad grade are significantly smaller.


2. Create a clear structure

A highly-appreciated piece of writing has a very clear structure and flow of ideas. Apart from understanding the topic, you should also think of your readers. The ultimate goal of any college paper is to help readers improve their knowledge and appreciate your efforts. Whether you have to write about a complex subject or a simpler one, you will need a clearly defined structure. This exercise will help you develop your ideas and make sure that you don’t lose your focus. It is very easy to divagate from the subject when you are adding too many details.

So, creating an outline will help you include all the necessary details and respect the professor’s requirements. When you have an overview, you will discover how your writing will become more precise and natural. Also, your readers will immediately understand your message, and your chances to receive appreciation and good grades in class will increase significantly. If you are not sure how your structure should look like, you can do a simple exercise. Think, for a second, as your readers and try to understand what they expect from you. Once you have identified the response to this question, you refine your structure and offer engaging content to your readers.


3. Create an inspiring space for writing

Despite all your research efforts and exercises to put yourself in your readers’ shoes, you won’t write anything special unless you find a place in your room which inspires you. Some students write very well when they stay in a quiet and optimistic place. Some students are not able to start writing or studying unless their room is tidy. What is your preference for your writing room? Any object in your office can transmit you a different source of inspiration. So, you should stay away from any objects or places that distract you and make you lose your focus.

Apart from the way your room is organized, there are also mobile devices and gadgets which may distract you. Everyone loves to keep an eye on what’s happening on Facebook or Instagram. But, when you are writing a college paper, you should stay away from distractions and concentrate only on what you have to do. However, you shouldn’t force yourself to write in a specific environment only because the theory says so. If you don’t feel disturbed by anything, then you shouldn’t stress too much with this idea. Just get up and start writing without thinking about anything else.


4. Proofread your texts before submission

Even though you feel confident in your writing abilities, you shouldn’t submit your manuscript unless you carefully proofread it several times. Proofreading will help you identify any grammar or spelling mistakes. But, it will also help you notice any accuracy and comprehensiveness flaws. If you read your college paper before submission, you will still have time to make any corrections and identify whether you respected the theme and guidelines. There are also various online tools that you can use to proofread your text and identify any errors.


Conclusion

Many students are scared of the idea of writing college papers. In reality, it isn’t as complicated as many would think. Even though you have to respect some guidelines, you shouldn’t forget to have fun during the entire process. The tips detailed above will help you improve your writing skills and improve your college performance. As long as you stay comfortable and think of writing as a relaxing activity, then you will see how your ideas will flow smoothly, and you will remain clear and accurate.


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This is a guest post by Daniela McVicker (@danielamcvicker)

Nov. 4, 2019, 11:03 a.m. 0 Report Embed 10
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#NewWritingContest - From a single phrase, to a tale

There are phrases that let our imagination flow and inspire us to create great works. Therefore, the objective of this new contest is to write a short story, of maximum 1000 words, containing the following sentence:


"I was walking with my hands tied, with something dragging me to the sentence everyone wanted for me."



The phrase can be anywhere in the story, not necessarily at the beginning.


The story that gets the best score based on the development of the story, grammar, characters, popularity on Inkspired and rigorously complying with the rules will be the winner.



Start date: November 2, 2019

Closing date: November 28, 2019


How does the contest work?

1. You must publish a short story of maximum 1000 words that includes the sentence detailed above.

2. Once published, you can edit it until the closing day of the contest.

3. The work must be published as Short Story of the category that Thriller, Crime, Drama, Terror, etc. deems relevant.

4. You must tag your story with the hashtag #TheTale in the hashtags section.

5. The story must have a title, its own cover and a brief description.

6. It must be unpublished and exclusive of Inkspired during the whole contest.

7. Once the contest is finished, the work must remain published on the platform for a minimum of 6 months.

8. The contest will have only one winner. These will be announced in the first half of December.

9. The jury will consist of the Inkspired editorial team, which includes Jackeline Vargas-Content Manager and Gin Les, as the leading ambassador.

10. A minimum of 30 participants is required for the contest to be official.

11. To get additional points, you just have to upload and share your story on one of your Social Networks (Instagram or Facebook) and tag us at @getinkspired. In your story you must put the link of your Instagram or Facebook account so we can see it. (Remember to be public)


Competition rules

1. People from anywhere in the world can participate, but the story must be written in Spanish.

2. The story has to be published as Short Story.

3. The story must be your own, we do not accept any kind of plagiarism and there can be legal action if this is violated.

4. The poems must be exclusive for the duration of the contest.

5. If you are not a current Inkspired user and want to participate, you just have to register. It's free!

6. The work must have the hashtag #TheTale in the hashtags section. In addition, it must have a title, a cover and a brief description of the work.

8. This time you can participate with only one work. No more works by the same author will be accepted. If this happens, all the works of their authorship will be disqualified.

9. Anyone who does spam will be disqualified.

10. Contest deadlines must be met. No work that leaves this period will be accepted.

11. Stories can be edited only during the contest period. Once closed, no changes will be accepted.

12. Once the winners have been announced, they should write to [email protected] to coordinate the awards ceremony. If the winner does not pronounce within 15 days, the prize will be awarded to second place.

13. You do not need to participate from day one, you can do it whenever you want while the contest is open.

14. Participation in this contest means that the user knows and accepts the bases of it.

15. We also have contests in other languages ​​-Spanish and Portuguese-, you can see them in the contest section of each language.


AWARDS


BEST SHORT STORY


First place: A basic cover of any story of your choice and the appearance of your story as a featured story on our front page of the website for a week.


How to publish a story in Inkspired?

1. Go to www.getinkspired.com

2. Register as a user (if you are not already), you can do it manually or via Facebook

3. Click on CREATE A STORY

4. Choose the type of story you wish to publish, in the case of the contest it would be: SHORT STORY

5. Write the title of your story and the category. The title can be edited later if you wish.

6. Write your story as a single chapter.

7. Once written click on ‘save’ and then on ‘close and go to the profile of the story’.

8. Here you can add the hashtag #TheTale a, the description, the cover and the language.

9. Then you will have to go down to the title of your chapter or story to click on the publication status button that says ‘Draft’ and change it to ‘Published’.

10. You can watch a video tutorial on how to publish here: https://getinkspired.com/faq/



Nov. 2, 2019, 12:04 a.m. 3 Report Embed 11
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Don't be afraid to write about terror


Photo. Eter Digital | (c)



Terror is a fascinating literary element. I know people who love the feeling of fear/suspense and they seek something that keeps them attached to the screen while they tremble at the horror that causes that T series or movie. But we are talking about multimedia, which precisely takes advantage of what we watch and listen to put terror in our senses. But how about reading? Authors can only use WORDS. That's when a good narration needs to take place. Take the reader by the hand and make him walk along a dark path only with the use of words is admirable and we have many references that have created entire universes where terror is everything. That being the case, what does a horror story need to be memorable and cause real panic? Well, we can do a review:



SCENARIO

It is not the same to walk through the city center at noon than to do it in the middle of a cemetery at about three in the morning. The stage is one more character in the plot. The simple mention of certain location such as hospital, convent, abandoned hacienda, ruined building or the one already mentioned cemetery, immediately invokes in the reader an idea of ​​what can happen.


A ghost in a newly opened hotel is unconvincing, while a mansion built in the fifties could be more convincing. It may sound cliché, but gloomy and dark scenarios, abandoned locations or in ruins, have their own charm and do a good part of the job.



CHARACTERS

Let's leave the stoic characters for action stories, the characters in the stories of terror must be credible and that is achieved through complex and deep personalities. No one would like to face the appearance of a headless being that appears at night walking through the halls of the hotel where you just started working, nobody, ever.

No one will go to the nose to get into trouble, with an evil spirit. Unless you have some ghostbuster complex or similar. Fearing, moving away from the matter and only meddling when there is no other option is something you would do any of us. It's not a matter of creating funky characters, but at least cautious, aware of their human condition, morally ambiguous, with doubts and skepticism. These complex characters fit very well with psychological terror.



ANTAGONISTS

What would the heroes be without a good villain?

It happens that many times I let myself be seduced by the bad guy. In terror, depending on the sub-genre where you are, the specter, the demon that wants to torment the protagonist, the charismatic psycho who wants to kill them all, the corrupt policeman who you want to perform a human hunt just for fun ... A whole story can be an stand-alone with the ideas of his villain and the machinations of his disturbed mind.


Everyone remembers Pennywise from "IT", Dracula from Bram Stoker or Cthulhu from H.P. Lovecraft.



DON'T JUST SAY IT, PORTRAY IT

The best advice for anyone who wants to write.

It is not the same to say: "I was scared", to show it: His face became pale. His heart was beating so fast and with such force that he could feel it in the throat, which caused him some disgust. His legs were shaking and he clenched his fists hard, all this while hiding in a closet.


It is not the same to say: "I was bleeding", to show it: The bleeding was not long in coming, the wound was so deep that it would bleed to death in brief. The cold took hold of his body, dizziness and fatigue also made an act of presence. The character's condition is clear, since a "bleeding" does not answer other questions that could describe what happened.



PRACTICE MAKES MASTERS

Keep trying. Only by practicing all this, you can make your story have the elements that. They will make it a great horror story. You will not write a masterpiece without trying many times. I hope these tips are useful, I write them from what I myself have experienced, and with all the good intentions of the world.



Text by:

Baltazar Ruiz

@baltazarruiz154

Oct. 10, 2019, 12:01 a.m. 0 Report Embed 9
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