Master the Art of Persuasion for Your Essays

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” – was the begging of the greatest speech in the history of humanity. It was the speech that in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar turned the Romans against Brutus and helped justice triumph. Neither actions, nor events could change the wheel of history. The fact is that Antony’s speech was the sole force that made people change their mind.

That is what you have to achieve when writing a persuasive essay – persuade your readers to adopt your point of view and take a particular action. As it proved to be in Julius Caesar, you need to go through thick and thin in order to prove your case and utilize logic and reason to show that your idea is more legitimate than another. But the result is worth the efforts.

So, be sure to master the art of persuasion that will come in handy while writing persuasive essays. Below you will find helpful tips that will make writing persuasive essays as easy as pie.

1. Choose Your Persuasive Essay Topic

Pick up the topic that interests you and raises certain feelings within you. It is also important that your persuasive essay topic deals with urgent matters, and interests people round you. Before getting down to writing a persuasive essay make sure you have enough relevant information for the essay.

A good persuasive essay topic could sound like:

1. Hate should not be tolerated;
2. The status of women in Islam is rather ambiguous;
3. Boxing should be banned because it promotes cruelty.

No matter which topic you will choose, you have to approach essay writing with full responsibility, seriousness, and accuracy.

2. Brainstorm and Define Your Point of View

Before writing an essay, brainstorm! It will help you come out with the conclusion for your persuasive essay topic and define your attitude on the matter you’ve chosen. You can try free writing, clustering or listing—anything that will be effective and helpful for you.

After thorough consideration and brainstorming you must be able to express clearly and convincingly why you have chosen this particular position on the subject of your persuasive essay.

3. Test Your Thesis

Your thesis statement, that is your point of view, should be debatable. Otherwise, there will be nothing to prove and nobody to convince. The best way to check whether your thesis is right is to write down a thesis statement directly opposing your own. If you find that possible, you may be sure that the argument for your persuasive essay is right up the street.

4. Understand Another Point of View

Try to step in your antagonists’ shoes and figure out what makes them think different. It is the proven way to counter the opposite point of view, since you will be able to provide contrasting evidence or find mistakes and inconsistencies in the logic of the opposing argument.

5. Study the Prospective Audience.

Be sure to know who will be reading your essay, so that to know what to press on. Try to decide if your audience agrees with you, is neutral, or disagrees with your persuasive essay topic. This choice will help you incline people to your point of view.

6. Use a Pleasant and Reasonable Tone

Antony did not call Brutus names, nor did he accuse him of the Caesar’ death. Instead, he called Brutus “an honourable man,” what turned out to be a brilliant way to pull him down.
Follow the same strategy in your persuasive essays. Use a pleasant and reasonable tone and avoid referring to yourself or addressing your readers. Be careful not to fly into temper and mix up your emotional attachment with your beliefs. Set your emotions aside and analyze all aspects of the persuasive essay topic.

7. Examine Your Persuasive Essay Topic

You need to know your persuasive essay topic from cover to cover if you want to add credibility to your words and make the readers trust you. That goes without saying.

Thus, to be an adept of you persuasive essay topic, use as many legitimate sources as possible. In order to find reliable information, go to the library or interview people who are experts on your persuasive essay topic. It’s also necessary to go beyond your own knowledge and experience.

8. Structure Your Persuasive Essay

Think over the structure of your essay. Make sure that your ideas are well-organized, clear, concise, and up-to-the-point. Try to design your essay by figuring out the order in which you will present your evidence.

Remember to consider your purpose, audience, and your topic while writing an essay. Do your best to give the readers the feeling that you are well-informed about the subject you are dwelling upon.

9. Provide Evidence for Your Arguments

Arguments must always use sound reasoning and solid evidence. Otherwise, you will not establish credibility of your case and lose your readers’ support. Therefore, make sure to use the following evidence for your arguments:

1. facts that come from your reading, observation, or personal experience;
2. statistics that come from responsible sources;
3. quotes from leading experts that support your point of view;
4. examples that will make your ideas concrete and be a proof of your ideas.

No matter which one you will choose to use, make sure the evidence is reliable and comes from original sources.

10. Present a Strong Conclusion in Your Persuasive Essay

Conclusion has the profound impact on the reader. A good conclusion brings the persuasive essay to the satisfying end when your readers hold the same point of view and are ready to defend your statements.

As you close your persuasive essay, clearly redefine the topic and restate the most compelling evidence cited in original form. You should keep in mind that this is the last chance to remind the readers and convince them to accept your position.

Antony’s way to conclude the speech was to mention his devoted love to dead Caesar. It was the last stroke in his immortal speech that made Romans take drastic action against the conspirators. Use something as strong as that.

About the Author:

Linda Correli is a staff writer of Go2Essay.com - custom go2essay.com″ target=”_blank Essay Writing Help. She specializes in go2essay.com″ target = “_blank essay writing of argumentative essays, persuasive essays, narrative essays, and descriptive essays.

Is Article Marketing an Effective Technique?

Getting traffic to a website can be one of the most challenging issues a webmaster may face. Many people believe by putting a website up people will simply just turn up, by the masses. This just simply is not true. It is the equivalent of opening a water shop in the Sahara desert. Although Im sure people would love the water if they do not know about it they wont find your shop. Ok this is a slightly silly example as there are not that many people there to be potential customers but I hope you get the message.

So we have identified people don’t just turn up at websites. So how do we get them to visit? You have several options:

Paying for advertising

This can be very expensive and may not deliver the type of traffic you want.

Reciprocal link exchanges

Another technique is to exchange links with other sites. This provides virtual roads into your site, while many will not exactly be freeways they will still deliver you a bit of traffic. Also as you gain more links the search engines will start to increase your rankings so you will start to get free traffic from the search engines

Article marketing

This is a technique that is really starting to be in fashion now. The idea is your submit an article about your sites topic to various article directories. They publish the article with a back link to your site and this article is picked up by lots of sites. This gives you lots of back links and has the benefits of reciprocal linking and more. As you are not linking to the sites that link to you the links are one way. It is thought that one way links are much higher values in the search engines.

Through my tests I have found article marketing to bring me the largest benefits for the least effort and cost. Lets face it time is the one thing we cant get more of so anything that gets us the most gain for minimum effort has to be the winner!

For more information please see articlesnet.co.uk articlesnet.co.uk

Article Marketing 101: Good Old Fashioned Outlines

Over the past year alone, I have seen tons of new software and
tools come out to help article marketers. Article submitting
software, article creation software, private label articles,
and tons of ghostwriters to help get your articles flowing. But
I am still very old school when it comes to article marketing.

The best things that I use is the same thing I used over 15
years ago.

A notebook and a pen.

Nothing can replace fresh ideas that pop in your head and
having the ability to write them down.

I always carry a notebook with me. You never know when an
article idea will pop up in your head.

Standing in line at the bank, waiting to checkout your
groceries at the supermarket, etc. etc

Sometimes an idea for an article pops up, but you havent
written the entire article. Create an outline.

Remember outlines. We learned them in school and thought they
were huge time wasters. They come in so handy now.

Create a simple outline that will work

>>> Here is an example of an article outline that you can use
for every article you write online.

Article Title: write down an idea of the title you would like
to write. It has to be a catchy title, and sometimes you don′t
have the title until you have finished the entire article.

Subject: what do you want to write about in the first place.
What is the point that you are trying to get across.

Paragraph One:

This is your introduction, summary in one. Lead into the topic
with the first few sentences that will keep them reading.
Present your opinion or subject here and then reinforce it
throughout the article.

Paragraph Two

Give examples, and help to support your topic. People like to
see facts and/or real life solutions that have worked for you
that will work for them. Help and inform here. Remember to
emphasize your point. Anticipate any questions that people may
have when they read your article and answer them beforehand. A
true time saver is to have their questions already answered.

Paragraph Three

This is a summary of what you have focused on already. You want
to stand firm to what you’re talking about, give some words of
advice if needed, and be helpful and reassuring. By now, you
should know the title of your article. Half of the time you
will notice that you started writing one article, and it ended
up into another article altogether. That is why I suggest
waiting until the end to come up with a title for your article.

When people look for articles online, they are looking for
solutions. Remember most people can find a lot of information
already through the newspapers, libraries, television, and
books. Your articles have to grab their attention and get them
to remember you in the long run.

Happy writing.

Copyright (c) KDM Publishing

Donesia Muhammad has been doing business online since 2001.
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Keep on Truckin’

. . . as Eddie Kendricks used to sing . . . . . .

I realize I’m showing my age, but this is the perfect vision to get us off the dime with our writing skills. (baby!) (Motown, for you youngsters).

I’m in the Master’s Program with AWAI and recently heard quite a few of us don’t ever finish our courses!!!! (which we paid for with money we could most certainly use otherwise!) Good grief!

I was astonished!! My first thought was that folks must have signed up after they had a few beers. My second thought was that folks are a lot like me, who is 60, unpublished, know I can write, am too darn busy, and was getting both overwhelmed and discouraged by all the success stories and miracle copywriters sent to encourage our fledgling skills.

Are you in this category? Think you’re too busy, too thin, too fat, too old, too young, too tired, too uneducated, too educated, too ordinary, too scared, too depressed, too challenged, too . . . . . . . . whatever, to make that dream you started a reality?

So I want to send you hope so you will embrace the goals you already set for yourself, remembering that AWAI gives us all the time we want to finish a course.

I just attended the 3 CHIX seminar in Wilmington and was overwhelmed with their humility and determination to help new copywriters just plain get started making money. Without all the pitfalls they went through. 3chix.com/

These CHIX are accomplished whiz kids, if you know what I mean. They don’t need to teach us their secrets of what they’ve learned coming up through the confusion of “what to do next.” And they could have an attitude.

Boy, did I need their wisdom. I was needing to get myself a client before I finish the Master’s course, and I wasn’t at all sure the right way to start, short of buying into other “job-getters” out there, which I wasn’t willing to do because I didn’t want to spend any more money—before I made any.

Besides, I had nothing in my portfolio except my AWAI assignments. But one of the CHIX wrote 10 Success Tips for Freelance Copywriters (free from her web-site) copybydoyle.com/ and Donna’s Tip #5 solved that problem for me! (Donna was AWAI’s copywriter of the year last year, and was featured in the Monthly Copywriting Genius!)

I had had an inkling I was ready to set up a web-site and send out a portfolio to companies I wanted to work for, but didn’t have much of a clue how to begin. The seminar gave me so many web-sites to set it all up and actually make money with affiliates I may actually have more than I need to start!

Another one of the CHIX gave us her stunning portfolio. So we could take it home and copy the idea in our own presentation to clients! vbrosendahl.com/ Victoria writes novels, and gave us the scoop on how to publish and promote successfully without using the big publishing houses. And she told us in no uncertain terms how important it is to have a contract up front. And how to do them!

Beth is the 3rd of the CHIX: Filbert’s Publishing’s Queen Bee. She writes, “May our voices always remain true to our dreams, and may we leave this world a better place because we had the courage to broadcast our convictions.” She taught us how to write power queries to potential clients to build our business, and how to keep our chin and convictions up as we enter what often is a sometimes-lonely career. bethannerickson.com/ Beth′s wriiten books, too, on marketing, publishing, and writing, as well as fiction.

The CHIX will answer all your questions, too. And GIVE you CD’s of the seminar so you can just listen, listen, listen and not have to take notes!

Take their next seminar to help you get back or stay on the road you started.

PLEASE be a dream finisher. Cyndi White

I′ve been a writer all my life and have recently decided to become a copywriter. I′ve taken AWAI’s beginning six-figure course for copywriting and am in the middle of their Master’s Program. I have a degree in sociology and have done extensive graduate work in social work, psychology, English, and education.

I’ve worked for the Federal Government for almost 20 years; prior to this I worked in non-profits.

I’m also a born-again Christian and would be happy to send you my testimony, if you request it.

cynthia.white@mms.gov 202-208-3703

I’ll have a web-site in June. Cyndi White

Is Freelance Hiring Right For You?

Assume you were faced with the task of hiring a new group of talented individuals to handle a huge account you just landed. Are you up for the task? Or perhaps you have a small job that needs completing but no one on staff can handle the project. When you consider the process of linking a project with talented professionals it can be quite daunting, leaving a business owner or manager with a major challenge. But in today’s marketplace it’s becoming more common to use freelancers in every capacity and field of endeavor.

A Host of Industry Specialists!

The host of industry specialists ranges from web designers, writers and graphic people all the way to human resource specialists, managers, trainers, financial experts and other skilled professionals. The advantages to hiring a freelancer are many and can alleviate concerns that you may not have taken into account.

Immeasurable Benefits of Working With Freelancers!

While some employers still think the old way of hiring permanent employees is superior, there are many forward thinking businesspeople that are discovering the immeasurable benefits of working with freelance professionals. Companies and individuals are always seeking ways to keep costs down and productivity up and when choosing the freelance route, you are assured that great pains are taken towards completing a project on time, within budget and with great skill. A freelancer is eager to develop his own business, therefore he or she will often work more diligently than staff employees. And working with a freelancer means you don′t have to worry about training, insurance or supplies. You merely pay for the work delivered and when the project is complete, the freelancer goes away.

How To Choose the Freelancer!

There are a few things to consider when making your selection. As an example, many people claim to be terrific at what they do, yet when you review their work, you are not impressed. So how can you be sure that the person you are selecting is ultimately going to be the right person, the one who can truly handle the project effectively?

When selecting your candidates:

1. Be sure the freelancer is willing to provide references; two or three references should be enough.

2. Ask the freelancer if they will offer samples of their work pursuant to your needs. For example if the project requires writing, request a short sample paragraph.

3. Pay strict attention to the response you receive via e-mail or telephone; professionalism is the key.

4. Always be sure any contracts are clear and agreed upon from the start; if you’re concerned about time lines and completion, be sure the freelancer is willing to sign a contract that protects both you and the freelancer.

Perhaps you’re thinking that paying a freelancer will be more costly but think again. In actuality, it probably costs less to use freelancers compared to hiring full time employees. You only hire and pay for the freelancer when you need them, plus, you’re not responsible for providing any benefits or paying taxes. As many employers begin testing the waters of outsourcing and realize that the positive effects far outweigh any perceived disadvantages, it is predicted that outsourcing will fast become the wave of the future. Whether you are planning to create a dynamic new web site or hiring a professional freelance writer, your goal is to find a freelancer that will bring a fresh new approach to your company. When working with credible freelancers, you should be assured of nothing less than excellence.

Charlene Rashkow brings 15 years of experience as a Freelance Writing Stylist. She has successfully helped countless numbers of companies and individuals reach their objectives by writing outstanding website content, press releases, bios, articles of interest, business plans, resumes, and all other forms of marketing material. See what clients have to say: allyourwritingneeds.com/clients.html allyourwritingneeds.com/clients.html

To speak with Charlene you may contact her at allyourwritingneeds.com allyourwritingneeds.com

Article Marketing Basics – What Is So Great About Article Marketing? Part II

The next basic of article marketing is to create a short resource box that has links to your web site, copyright info, Unique selling Proposition, any special offers you want to give or any other relevant information that you want to share with the readers regarding the article you have written. Resource box is where you get paid to your knowledge that you share with the readers, so it is supposed to be rewarding. Regarding the links in your resource box, do not try to be too promotional. If you have more than one web site then it is always advised to give a link to the web site that is best linked to the topic. It is not advisable to list all the web sites and the list of the accomplishments that you own till date. Believe me, no one bothers about this fact. Also do not include the advertisement of the products in the resource box that are not relevant to the topic. The size of the resource box should not be more than one fifth of the size of the article.

The third basic of article marketing is to submit the articles to the directories and web site that are of high quality and those who have good traffic. It is always good to submit the articles in more than one directory. When you submit your article, make sure that your articles are according to the guidelines laid down by the publisher.

Hence article marketing is an easy tool that increases traffic to your web site. As you write good, content oriented articles, the traffic to your web site keeps on increasing.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Download it free here:

Tradeshows: Essential To Successful Book Promotion

This week I have been communicating with the authors at Nightengale Press, encouraging, cajoling, sweet-talking and pushing them to join with their publisher to rent a half booth at Book Expo America 2007 in New York City, June 1- June 2. We have 32 authors, and 15 have signed up for the event. Perhaps five or six will attend in person, which will allow them a chance to do at least one, if not two booksignings, go to workshops, attend talks and events, and have a great time in the Big Apple. They will get to know each other and their publisher in a completely new way. These authors will get an education they cannot get any other way. They will grapple with the clarity of just how many books, publishers and purveyors of the written word there actually are. They will wrestle with the feeling of smallness and insignificance that attending huge tradeshows can bring on for even the most stalwart of the self-confident personalities who write books. They will discover that their task to rise to a point of visibility is gargantuan.

But, they will be there. They will be promoting their books. They will be rubbing elbows with the literati and glitterati who inevitably arrive on the scene, reminding the rest of us mere mortals who we really are in the scheme of things. Every signed book they give away, every business card they take, every connection they have with others who love books will enrich them as writers and as people.

Will this experience help them sell more books? Hopefully. Will they spend a bunch of money doing this, only to go home with a sack full of handouts and a heart full of dreams overwhelmed by the power of the written word? Possibly. Will they be energized or drained by the realization that their book is only one of 200,000 or more published every year in the United States — that’s more than 500 books published every day? Hard to say.

I recall how it was for me the first time I attended Book Expo in 2004. As I lugged my rolling suitcase filled with my 50 books and handouts across the gravel parking lots and broken walkways leading to McCormick Center in Chicago, not quite sure if I was going the right way, two thirty-something men slowed their long-legged pace to ask if they could help.

“That thing looks heavy, could I help you pull it into the building?” The New York accent punctuated his question, as I welcomed his assistance with, “Yes, if you have an idea where you think I should go once we’re inside.” It turned out these fellows were jobbers, guys who buy back-listed books for resale to the likes of Wal-Mart, Costco and Sam’s Club. The conversation was pretty one-sided as they explained the purpose of their work to be “buying up the books that have been returned unsold from the bookstores, you know, the ones the publishers can’t sell any other way.”

From my limited experience at the time, I didn’t know, and my eyes probably gave that fact away. But they pulled that heavy baggage of mine all the way to the Publisher’s Marketing Association Section of the main floor, smiled, and bid me a good day. Looking back at that moment, I realize now they were helpful in a more than co-incidental way. I had a lot to learn about the business of selling books, and that Expo taught me a lot. I still have connections with people I met that first year. I have come to know some of them well. These associations build trust and credibility, and I hope my authors will all realize this is but one more step in their long journey along the road to recognition. It may not happen there. It may take years more work and persistence to succeed. But, they have the gumption to try, and that is the most essential ingredient in any success.

“What happens to the books of the other authors who have decided not to go to Book Expo?” you may ask. Nothing. And that is the problem.

Valerie’s talk show on Global Talk Radio is a popular program which targets writers worldwide to provide them a place to promote their books, discuss their experiences as writers, and learn from experts who also appear on the program. When Valerie goes into the Publisher’s Corner, an informative segment that highlights book industry trends and reveals important issues affecting writers and their books, she gives her listeners the publisher’s perspective on vital information they need to keep up to date on a wide spectrum of topics. She also teaches the essentials to successful book development and promotion for aspiring and published authors alike. Go to globaltalkradio.com/shows/callingallauthors globaltalkradio.com/shows/callingallauthors to listen to archives. Go to Valerie’s Blog at valerieconnelly.com valerieconnelly.com Learn about Publishing with Nightengale Press at nightengalepress.com nightengalepress.com

Article Marketing: The Value Of Original Articles

When I was in college, the metric was an idol. Students focused more on their G.P.A. and their test scores than on what they were learning. They were more focused on taking the right amounts of credits to complete their major, then on their field of study.

After college, no one asked me about my grades, and no one even asked to see my diploma; my potential employers only wanted to know what I knew and whether those skills would help their business.

Now that I’m making my living online, I’m seeing that phenomena once again, the metric is more important than the knowledge.

This is very obvious when it comes to article marketing.

The original idea is superb—sharing nuggets of your expertise to help others. As a marketing tool, it brands you as an expert. Over time, it creates an audience and a dedicated readership.

Yet article spam is threatening to kill the value of articles.

It’s possible to buy articles in bulk and put your name on it as an author. It’s also possible to trick the filters, the human reviewers and the search engine robots, by changing the headline and using a thesaurus to change the words.

The purpose behind this whole phenomena is to increase backlinks to your website, improve your search engine placement, and increase traffic coming to your website. These are the metrics.

However, just as the purpose of college is to gather knowledge, improving one’s understanding of self, world, and life, so too the purpose of articles is to disseminate knowledge.

Sticking to the purpose, the metric takes care of itself.

Yet when the metric becomes the focus, the result is an outlay of superficiality. The value of knowledge becomes diluted. When 2,000 other people are saying pretty much the same thing, there isn’t much value to the content.

Ultimately, this incorrect focus causes a series of collapses. As search engine robots become more refined and human reviewers become more wary, the articles are cast aside, rejected, and the instant expert status is quickly lost.

There is another way. Really becoming an expert, studying your interests, becoming knowledgeable about it, and passing on the information to others.

Thus, rolling out one article after another, and providing readers with thought-provoking content, you’re a purveyor of value. It’s slower, but the branding lasts, and over time, as your articles circulate, your metric improves all by itself.

Saleem Rana would love to share his inspiring ideas with you. Hunting everywhere for a life worth living? Discover the life of your dreams. His book Never Ever Give Up tells you how. It is offered at no cost as a way to help YOU succeed. theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html
Copyright 2004 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this
article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or
newsletter. It’s a shareware article.

Article Marketing: Getting Paid For Your Hard Work

If you are like me and you write articles for a living, then you know that you must get paid for all of your hard work. Payment can come through customers who have hired you to write, through pay per click advertising, or through banner or text ads you place on your site next to your articles. Regardless of your approach, a consistent and methodical plan is necessary to have in place in order to make a living for all of your hard work. Please continue reading for some helpful tips to help you survive in this highly competitive business.

Submit Freely. Much of the work posted online bearing my name is freely shared. I do not get paid for what I write. I look at article marketing as a joint partnership between me and the article directory. They get my articles for redistribution and I get healthy back links to my site. In addition, the article directory can make money off of ads that show up next to my articles such as Google AdSense or Yahoo! Publishing Network type ads. Furthermore, I get my name out there and can point potential customers to the article directories to show them how prolific a writer that I am.

Submit Jointly. Some of the articles I have posted online are for clients. They have my name on them as my name is more visible than their name. I write as a “contributing writer” but I am a freelancer, not an employer. I get paid for my work and they get some decent links.

Do Ghostwriting. The overwhelming number of articles I write are ghostwritten. In 2005, I submitted 450 articles to article directories, but another 1200 or so went directly to my clients. When I submit articles jointly, I retain the rights to having my name on the articles. When I ghost write, my customers get what I write and retain full rights to the articles. Guess who pays me more? Bring ‘em on!

Bill Immediately. You can write like crazy for paying customers but still end up broke. How? By not billing customers immediately. Whether you use direct billing, Paypal, or an “agent” such as Guru, you are penniless until the first invoice is paid. Come up with a plan to get your money as soon as possible too. You don’t want to have to wait for weeks unless you like being in the credit business!

Keep Marketing. I have busy times I have slow times. During the slow times, I catch up on my paperwork and I write. During slow times I submit many articles to the article directories to keep my name out there. Regular submissions keep me “front and center” and help build up SEO for my site. Yes, I have my own site at www.thearticlewriter.com where most of my best work is featured. Not every article, but those articles where I have full rights to them and ones I want my customers to look at when they review my portfolio.

So, that’s it. Five simple tips to help you make a living from article marketing. If you are good at it, you will make a decent living writing for others. I doubt you will get rich unless article marketing ends up being a stepping stone to something else — such as, writing your own Harry Potter style series of books!

Copyright 2006 – For additional information regarding Matt Keegan, thearticlewriter.com/service.htm The Article Writer, please visit his thearticlewriter.com/blog/ blog for wit, quips, and freelance writing tips.

Writing Chapters And Scenes

You don’t even need chapters anymore in some novels, but then you might simply have a lot of chapters.

Normally a Chapter in a Novel is three to five scenes. What then makes the difference between a chapter and its scenes? And why is this important in planning a novel?

In planning your novel or screen play, first you want to create every possible scene or event. Visualize putting each scene or event on a paper card, whether you actually do this or not.

The above exercise, even if you are not a writer, can show you if you can produce an exciting story out of your imagination and life experience. Take an evening and just writing on small cards a series of story-events and see what you come up with. You might be surprised at your creativity!

A scene-event is a dramatization, usually with characters, that happens in one place. It has one action, its reaction, reflection and developmental choice.

Keep this formula in mind and use it over and over again. The formula applies to both characters and plot developments.

The action may be from one of the characters or an outside event like a bank robbery. Thus developments happen both to and in characters but also in the time-line called a plot.

A plot is a time-line of character development and resolution combined with a time-line of action and event development and resolution. Keep this is mind as another primary writing structure for both the novel and the screen play.

The developed writer knows and uses over and over the writing craft structures that work in dramatizing story.

Know your fundamentals. You are the writer using craft tools to tell story. Your readers and viewers experience your story vicariously as real to them because you have used writing craft tools successfully in telling story.

Know your writing craft!

It’s a short and simple message, but true.

Story development and resolution is a time-line of scenes, one right after another. Each scene causes another scene to happen, usually sequentially. As a writer you are little different from a scientist. A scientist investigates cause and effect over and over again in his and her research area. You as a writer get to construct cause and effect sequences over and over again in creating dramatically your story.

Thus use scene development and chapter development to keep the story development happening in the most involving ways possible.

Do we need chapters if we have scenes? Do we need acts in plays if we have scenes?

A chapter is a collection of interrelated scenes around a common theme or sub-theme. A story theme is a life issue and life insight dramatized. All great story has a life theme that is dramatized. Story-goals and story-themes are elements of the dramatization of the main story-theme that the story is all about.

Love triumphs over hate, or does it?

In the movie about the theme: pay it forward, the boy who invents and practices this is killed in the end at school, almost accidentally in a knife attack by two other boys. The theme is a great one of good doing more good in the world despite evil that would destroy the good in life.

However, the writer of the novel and the movie is unclear how to write story to theme and so fails the story potential despite a new and strong theme.

In a nutshell, the boy who does acts of kindness in paying it forward gets killed for no reason. Why his attackers hate him enough to kill him is never developed, nor is a character behavior of the good boy dramatized in such a way as to cause murderous hate in another boy.

Killing the boy at the end makes no sense. It gives the wrong feeling to the viewer and reader. It makes one feel the message is ‘do good while you can for bad will eventually or quickly overcome you.’ I don’t really think this is the story message that the writer wanted to convey. If so it is interesting but contradictory to reality and to the story theme of pay it forward, which is to do good deeds to those in need because good deeds have been done to you by others.

Our point here is that you need to be aware of good story-craft in writing up your stories.

Events as scenes are singular. Chapters are families of scenes and so are multiples which cluster around sub-themes of your main theme and story.

In the full The Writer’s Interface, a 92,000 words document, you will find a lot more craft tools and ideas that go with scene and chapter development.

While scenes, one after another, give the stepping stones development of your total story, chapters give the cluster development of sub-themes dramatized and leading to main theme development in theme resolution.

Do the good guys win out over the bad guys, the main story archetype? Well, mostly the answer has to be yes because of reader and viewer psychology. Resolution to the tension of good versus evil, with good winning out over evil, is thought of in the human mind as positive and healing.

Thus again in the Pay It Forward novel and movie the hero boy getting stabbed to death as a resolution to the story does not make sense internally or externally in life. Are we supposed to think that in thousands of grade and high schools in the country there are killer boys with knives out to kill at least one other student before they fully grow up? Absurd, but here done and ridiculous. Thus again we say this writer has no good knowledge of story and theme and how it all works to produce and really important novel.

You don’t have to be as unconscious or stupid, do you?

Learn your craft then. This is what we also are devoted to. We give a few important ideas here. We give around 2000 writing craft ideas in The Writer’s Interface as a service to serious writers who want to do an effective job in writing their novels and screen plays.

Comments To Make

What are your views on writer imagination versus writer craft knowledge in creating novels, plays and stories? What now stands in your way as a writer from producing good work that will sell to lots of readers and viewers?

Strephon Kaplan-Williams is a well-published writer with over 350,000 of his books in circulation in eight languages. He is also a professional dreamwork psychologist and now specializing in writer creativity and writing craft tools. His The Writer’s Interface is the first comprehensive collection of writing craft tools ever published that is sure to gain wide acceptance among writers and in the field of writing software. He uses the WriteItNow software as his primary writing organizer for his novel, now with 100,000 words and undergoing a major revision. To learn more about how chapters and scenes go to make up an exciting novel you can visit him at

thewritersinterface.com thewritersinterface.com

store.esellerate.net/s.aspx?s=STR9161635290 The Writer’s Interface - Web Store

creativewritingandwriters.com creativewritingandwriters.com

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