• News sites bring up-to-the-minute developments, ranging from breaking news and sports scores to reports on specific industries, markets, and technical fields
• Weblogs, journals, and other personal sites provide a window on the interests and opinions of their creators
• Corporate weblogs, wikis, knowledge banks, community sites, and workgroup journals provide share news and knowledge among co-workers and supply-chain stakeholders

Some of these sites change every week; many change every day; a few change every few minutes. Daypop’s Dan Chan calls this the Living Web, the part of the web that is always changing.

Every revision requires new writing, new words that become the essence of the site. Living sites are only as good as today’s update. If the words are dull, nobody will read them, and nobody will come back. If the words are wrong, people will be misled, disappointed, infuriated. If the words aren’t there, people will shake their heads and lament your untimely demise.

Writing for the Living Web is a tremendous challenge. Here are ten tips that can help.

Write for a reason

Write for a reason, and know why you write. Whether your daily updates concern your work life, your hobbies, or your innermost feelings, write passionately about things that matter.

To an artist, the smallest grace note and the tiniest flourish may be matters of great importance. Show us the details, teach us why they matter. People are fascinated by detail and enthralled by passion; explain to us why it matters to you, and no detail is too small, no technical question too arcane.

Bad personal sites bore us by telling us about trivial events and casual encounters about which we have no reason to care. Don’t tell us what happened: tell us why it matters. Don’t tell us your opinion: tell us why the question is important.

If you don’t really care, don’t write. If you are a student and everybody is talking about exams and papers and you simply don’t care, let it be. If your job bores you, it will bore us. (If you despise your job with a rich, enduring passion, that’s another thing entirely!) Write for yourself; you are, in the end, your most important reader.

If your site belongs to a product, a project, or an enterprise, you must still find a way to represent its passion and excitement. If you do not understand why your product is compelling or comprehend the beauty of your enterprise, find the reason or find a new writer.

Write honestly. Don’t hide, and don’t stop short. When writing about things that matter, you may be tempted to flee to safe, familiar havens: the familiar, the sentimental, the fashionable. Try to find the strength to be honest, to avoid starting the journey with passion and ending it with someone else’s tired formula. The work may be hard, it may be embarrassing, but it will be true – and it will be you, not a tired formula or an empty design. And if you can be satisfied with that tired formula, you aren’t writing for a reason.

Never, for any consideration, publish a statement you know to be false.

Though you write with passion about things that matter greatly, always remember that it’s a big world, filled with people and stories. Don’t expect the world to stop and listen. Never expect any individual (or, worse, any quantity of individuals) to read your work, for they may have other things to do. At the same time, steel yourself to expect the unexpected visitor and the uninvited guest; the most unlikely people may read your work. Your mother, who never uses a computer, may read your intimate weblog one day in the library. To be honest with the world, you may need to be honest with your mother; if you cannot face your mother, perhaps you are not ready to write for the world.

Write often

If you are writing for the Living Web, you must write consistently. You need not write constantly, and you need not write long, but you must write often. One afternoon in grad school, I heard B. F. Skinner remark that fifteen minutes a day, every day, adds up to about book every year, which he suggested was as much writing as anyone should indulge. You don’t need to write much, but you must write, and write often.

If you don’t write for a few days, you are unfaithful to the readers who come to visit. Missing an update is a small thing – rudeness, not betrayal – and readers will excuse the occasional lapse.

If you are inconsistent, readers will conclude you are untrustworthy. If you are absent, readers will conclude you are gone. It’s better to keep religiously to a once-a-week, or once-a-fortnight schedule, than to go dark mysteriously.

If you cannot write for a time, and the reason for your absence is interesting, write about it. Your honeymoon, your kidney transplant, your sister’s gubernatorial inauguration – all these can be predicted and worked into the fabric of your writing so that the interruption, when it comes, seems natural. But avoid, if you can, sudden cryptic pronouncements: “I’ll be unable to post for a while” gives us nothing we can use or learn from.

Don’t assume that you will find something to say every morning. The day will come, sooner or later, when you need inspiration and find you have none. Store topics, news items, entire articles for slow times. Carry a notebook or a PDA and jot down reminders. You cannot have too many notes saved up, but you can easily find yourself with too few.

Since you write often, use good tools. Select them to fit your hand and voice. Learn to use them well.

Write tight

Omit unnecessary words.

Choose a visual design that fits your voice. Unless the design is the point of your site, select colors and visual elements that support without dominating. Resist the temptation to add features, for it is often best to use only those few technical and design elements that support your mission. Don’t rush to replace a good design: you will grow bored with it long before your readers do.

Read your work. Revise it. Don’t worry about being correct, but take a moment now and then to think about the craft. Can you choose a better word – one that is clearer, richer, more precise? Can you do without a word entirely?

Omit unnecessary words.

Make good friends

Read widely and well, on the web and off, and in your web writing take special care to acknowledge the good work and good ideas of other writers. Show them at their best, pointing with grace and respect to issues where you and they differ. Take special care to be generous to good ideas from those who are less well known, less powerful, and less influential than you.

Weblog writers and other participants in the Living Web gain readers by exchanging links and ideas. Seeking to exchange links without ideas is vulgarly known as blogrolling. Begging high-traffic pages or famous writers to mention you is bothersome and unproductive

Instead of begging, find ways to be a good friend. All writers thrive on ideas; distribute them generously and always share the credit. Be generous with links. Be generous, too, with your time and effort; A-list sites may not need your traffic, but everyone can use a hand.

Many prominent web writers travel a lot – to conferences, meetings, trade shows. Sooner or later, they’ll come to your corner of the world. Offer to feed them. Invite them to parties. Offer to introduce them to interesting people. They might be too busy. They might be too shy. But the road can be a lonely place, and it’s always interesting to meet thinking people.

Small, thoughtful gifts are nice. Share books you love, or that you’ve written. If you’re a photographer or an artist, prints and sketches can be unique and memorable. (Include permission to reproduce them on the web.) Join their cause. Donate to their charity.

Friends are vital for business sites as well, but business and friendship can be a volatile mix. Your prospects, customers and vendors are obvious friends, but both they and your readers will understand that your friendship is not disinterested. Unlikely friends, including your competitors, may prove more convincing.

Find good enemies

Readers love controversy and learn from debate. Disagreement is exciting. Everyone loves a fight, and by witnessing the contest of competing ideas we can better understand what they imply.

Dramatic conflict is an especially potent tool for illuminating abstract and technical issues, whether in software engineering or business planning. At times, choosing a communications protocol or adopting an employee benefits plan may seem an abstract task, barely related to the human crises that daily confront us. If each alternative has a determined, effective advocate, however, it may reveal the source of the conflict and to remind us of the consequences of the choice.

To make an abstract or difficult point more real, identify and respond to an advocate who holds a different position. Choose your opponent with care. If you choose a rival who is much less powerful than you, readers may see you as a bully. If your rival is a business competitor, you may seem unscrupulous. The best enemy, in fact, is often a friend – a writer you cite frequently and who often cites you, but with whom you disagree on a specific questions.

A handful of individuals seemingly live for controversy and seek out ways to create and inflame disputes. These so-called trolls are chiefly the bane of discussion groups but occasionally find their way into the Living Web. Never engage them; you cannot win. (Trolls, when ignored, will usually retire. If they cause danger or damage that cannot be ignored, the police and the courts will assist you.)

When beginning a debate, always have in mind a plan for ending it. Ill-planned arguments can drag on, lost in a mass of boring detail or irrelevant side-issues. Worse, the personalities of the advocates may become more engaging than the issues, obscuring your purpose entirely. Have in mind, from the outset, an idea of how long you want to engage the issue and how you expect the exercise to end (or reach a resting point). Plan a conclusion before firing the first salvo. You might devise an event – a final meeting, a live debate or online poll – that will provide a sense of closure. Write a joint communique for your readers or your management, summarizing the outstanding issues and highlighting progress. Then archive both sides of the exchange – perhaps with annotation from a neutral authority – so future readers may enjoy and benefit from the conflict.

When it’s over, try to make good friends with good enemies.

Let the story unfold

The Living Web unfolds in time, and as we see each daily revelation we experience its growth as a story. Your arguments and rivalries, your ideas and your passions: all of these grow and shift in time, and these changes become the dramatic arc of your website.

Understand the storyteller’s art and use the technique of narrative to shape the emerging structure of your living site. Foreshadowing hints at future events and expected interests: your vacation, the election campaign, the endless midnight hours at work in the days before the new product ships. Surprise, an unexpected flash of humor or a sudden change of direction, refreshes and delights. Use links within your work to build depth, for today’s update will someday be your own back story.

People are endlessly fascinating. Write about them with care and feeling and precision. Invented characters, long a staple of newspaper columnists, are rarely seen on the Living Web; creating a fascinating (but imaginary) friend could balance your own character on your site.

When the star of the site is a product or an organization, temper the temptation to reduce the narrative to a series of triumphs. Although you don’t usually want to advertise bad news, your readers know that every enterprise faces challenges and obstacles. Consider sharing a glimpse of your organization’s problems: having seen the challenge, your readers will experience your success more vividly.

Interweave topics and find ways to vary your pacing and tone. Piling tension on tension, anger on rage, is ultimately self-defeating; sooner or later, the writing will demand more from you than you can give and the whole edifice will collapse in boredom or farce. When one topic, however important, overshadows everything else in your site, stop. Change the subject; go somewhere new, if only for a moment. When you return, you and your reader will be fresher and better prepared.

Stand up, speak out

If you know your facts and have done your homework, you have a right to your opinion. State it clearly. Never waffle, whine, or weasel.

If you are not sure you are right, ask yourself why you are writing. If you are seeking information or guidance from your readers, ask them. Don’t bore them (and discredit yourself) with a hesitant, unformed opinion. If you are writing in order to discover your mind or to try out a new stance, continue by all means– but file the note in your desk drawer, not on your website.

If you believe you are right, say so. Explain why. It doesn’t matter that you are young, or unknown, or lack credentials, or that crowds of famous people disagree. Don’t hesitate or muddy the water. The truth matters; show us the right answer, and get out of the way.

Never lie about your competitors, and never exult in your rival’s bad news.

Try, if you can, to avoid inflicting unnecessary pain and humiliation on those who have the misfortune to be mistaken. People err, and you too will be wrong tomorrow. Civility is not mere stuffiness; it can be the glue that lets us fight for our ideas and, once we recognize the right answer, sit down together for drinks and dinner.

Be sexy

You are a sexual being. So are all of your readers (except the Google robot). Sex is interesting. Sex is life, and life is interesting. The more of yourself you put into your writing, the more human and engaging your work will be.

If your writing is a personal journal, and if it is honest, you will have to write about things that you find embarrassing to describe, feelings you might not want to share, events that you wouldn’t mention to strangers (or, perhaps, to anyone). Decide now what you will do, before it happens.

Undressing, literally, figuratively, or emotionally, has always been a powerful force in personal sites and web logs. Pictures don’t matter in the long run; what matters is the trajectory of your relationship with the reader, the gradual growth of intimacy and knowledge between you.

Use your archives

When you add something to the Living Web and invite others to link to your ideas, you promise to keep your words available online, in their appointed place, indefinitely. Always provide a permanent location (a “permalink”) where each item can be found. Do your best to ensure that these locations don’t change, breaking links in other people’s websites and disrupting the community of ideas.

The promise to keep your words available need not mean that you must preserve them unchanged. In time, you may find errors you want to correct. The world changes, and things that once seemed clear may require explanation.

Today, this permanent location is often a chronological archive, a long list of entries for a particular week or month. These archives are useful and easy to make. Many popular tools build chronological archives automatically. But chronological archives are limited: you might someday want to know what you wrote in May of 1999, but why would anyone else care? Topical summaries and overviews are much more helpful to new readers and to regulars alike, and if they require a modest additional effort every day, that effort pays dividends that grow as your archives expand.

New tools like Six Degrees and Eastgate’s Tinderbox can make it easier to keep track of categories, to find where new things fit and to find old things that need new links. Topical archives are Google’s natural friend. Remember that your old pages will often be read by visitors from search engines; introduce yourself on every page, and be sure that every page, however obscure, has links to tell people:

• Who you are, what you want, and why you’re writing
• Your email address
• Where to find your latest writing

Link to work you’ve already written – especially to good work that you wrote long ago. Don’t be shy about linking to yourself: linking to your own work is a service, not self-promotion.

Relax

Don’t worry too much about correctness: Find a voice and use it. Most readers will overlook, and nearly all will forgive, errors in punctuation and spelling. Leave Fowler and Roget on the shelf, unless they’re your old friends. Write clearly and simply and write quickly, for if you are to write often you must neither hesitate or quibble.

Don’t worry about the size of your audience. If you write with energy and wit about things that matter, your audience will find you. Do tell people about your writing, through short personal email notes and through postcards and business cards and search engines. Enjoy the audience you have, and don’t try to figure out why some people aren’t reading your work.

Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Do let your work on the Living Web flow from your passion and your play, your work life and your life at home. Establish a rhythm, so your writing comes naturally and your readers experience it as a natural part of their day or their week. But if the rhythm grows onerous, if you find yourself dreading your next update or resenting the demands of your readers, if you no longer relish your morning web routine or your evening note-taking, find a new rhythm or try something else. Change the schedule, or voice, or tone. Switch topics. Try, if you can, to resist the temptation to drop things entirely, to simply stop.

Don’t worry about those who disagree with you, and don’t take bad reviews to heart. The web is filled with caring and kindness, but thoughtless cruelty can and does cloud every writer’s spirit from time to time. Ideas matter, but name-calling doesn’t, and petulant critics wrap tomorrow’s virtual fish.

The trick to finding just the right sources for a story is creative searching. And with that in mind, here are a few ideas for source hunting:

Eyewitnesses

If you're covering an event, look at the people who have gathered to watch, since they might have seen something useful or important. Don't be afraid to strike up a conversation with them; you never know what you'll discover. You'll want to be careful to not believe everything eyewitnesses say, however, since they're notoriously unreliable. Check with more than one eyewitness, and try to verify their statements or observations with other eyewitnesses and public officials whenever possible.

Participants

People participating in an event can provide an insider's perspective, since they've been at the center of the action. Ask what they've seen, what they've experienced, and what they think.

People Affected by an Event or Issue

They might not think of themselves as sources, but the people in a community who are affected by an ordinance, disaster, or other event or issue are valuable sources. Think creatively about these sources, looking for unexpected effects and impacts.

Professional and Trade Organizations

Every profession and trade has its own organization, and often these can be contacted to find representatives of that profession.

Profnet

This is my favorite Web site for expert sources, including scientists, businesspeople, college professors, consultants, and many others. After registering, you can search the database using keywords related to your story, or you can request that a query detailing your specific needs be sent out to all experts on file. Within a day or two, you'll generally receive several replies directly to your e-mail address.

Public Officials

Depending on your story, law enforcement, the fire department, or elected officials might be good sources. Their offices will also have a wealth of public documents, which can be invaluable, as well.

Sources That Lead to Other Sources

When conducting an interview, you can always ask one source for other source recommendations. Most people will have good ideas for other sources.

Web Searches

Use keywords related to your story, and you'll many businesses, organizations, and people who might lead you to good sources. When you find a site that interests you, look for its “Press,” “PR,” or “Contact Us” page to find e-mail addresses and phone numbers. And remember, even if you're writing a story for a local publication, your sources can be anywhere; they don't need to be limited to your region.

Yourself

Sometimes, you're your own best source, particularly with first-person, participant, or immersion journalism. If you want an in-depth look at a place, event, activity, or issue that you're involved with, you might consider throwing yourself into it and seeing what you discover. After all, there's nothing like first-hand experience for writing colorful and realistic portraits of people and places. If you want to write about truckers, think about riding along with one or even becoming one. If you want to cover an underground group, you might want to get invited to few meetings. Just remember, this kind of reporting isn't appropriate for every publication, and you'll want to make sure you clear it with your editor before embarking on any immersion journalism project.

Benefits of Entering Writing Contests

First off, let's discuss the obvious and less obvious benefits for entering writing contests. The easy answer is that you can win. What can you win? That answer will vary depending on the contest you're considering. Some organizations offer publication in an anthology, while others may offer cash prizes as well as publication.

So far, the beneficial reasons for entering your work may seem quite apparent. Not so fast, Hotshot! Did you know that writing contests are another good way to promote yourself? If you're considering contests at this point, you may have your eye on a future of publishing your writing. Many authors are surprised to find out that it is very hard to get a foothold in the industry. Publishers and agents prefer writers who are proven, with tangible work history. That makes it very hard to break into print. How can you be proven if no one will let you test your mettle? The writing contest may be a great first step to adding notches in your belt.

Another reason to enter a contest is for feedback. Yes, it's true. Some contests will include personal feedback to all or some of the entries they receive. Professional feedback can be invaluable for a beginning author, and thus should not be scoffed at. If it helps you to improve your writing (or craft, as some may refer to it), it could be worth far more than monetary prizes in the long run.

Pitfalls? How could there be anything bad about submitting to a contest?!

Unbelievable! The obvious answer here is that a vast majority of writing contests require an entry, or "reading fee" for each submission. Some will accept multiple entries, but charge for each one. This can be hard for the beginning writer who never expected to have to pay someone to read their story or poem. Are there contests out there that don't require fees? Of course!

Some contests aren't really contests at all. That's right... everyone's a winner. That's great, right? Not really.

Some contests are not looking out for your best interests. Sounds like the rest of the world, right? Everyone's out for themselves, but how does that apply to a contest? These guys are generally very easy to spot, if you're not taken in by the prospect of being published over all else. It's easy to get caught up in the moment though, so if you've fallen prey to this swindle buck up and dust yourself off. Just don't let it happen again. So, what am I talking about? Let me explain. Some contests aren't really contests at all. That's right... everyone's a winner. That's great, right? Not really. Usually these "contests" are in place to accept all the entries they possibly can. When they have enough for an anthology they just start pooling for the next one. That's right! Everyone gets published. It's what you've been waiting for; finally someone appreciates your work! What's more, the anthology is highly publicized and the organization sends out a lot of advertising for people to buy the anthology. That's a good thing right? Their target market: the people whose entries have been published. These anthologies can cost $40 a pop and really, shouldn't you buy two or three? This is your big break, after all. Mom will want one, you'll need one for your writing desk or the mantle, and who wouldn't want to keep a copy underneath their pillow? When your copies arrive, you may find your story or poem has been hacked to pieces. The work is shoddy at best and it may seem it was edited for length or page format rather than for style. The goal of these operations is to fit as many entries as possible. Well! You'll never join that contest again, how can they stay in business? Some change their name from time to time, but for the most part... there's a sucker born every minute.

Another pitfall is, what if you don't win? An author's self esteem can be fragile at best. A beginning author may enter a contest feeling sure of herself, when she doesn't win she's devastated and throws in the towel. Maybe it's for months, maybe it's for years, unfortunately for some it can be the end altogether. That may sound extreme, but it's true.

That Sounds Horrible! Why Should I Bother? (Tips to Make it Worth the Effort)

Remember those benefits I mentioned at the beginning of the article? There are reasons to enter and the pitfalls are very easily managed in most cases. Allow me to start with the most important one.

So what if you don't win? Is this a true indication of your worth? Not necessarily. It simply means that maybe there were a few entries that were just a bit better than yours. Maybe it means that you were writing for judges with a slightly different palette than what you offered them. Maybe it means that your writing still needs to improve. Is that such a bad thing? What beginning writers need to understand is that you never truly "make it". You never stop improving. This is the beginning of your own unique story. Don't be melodramatic, pick yourself up and dust yourself off, and keep working at it. Not placing first in a contest is not the end of the world. The first time around you may not place at all, maybe by the second or third try you'll snag an Honorable Mention, then who knows? You'll find that the experience of writing for these venues may outweigh the benefit of actually winning on your first go. You may even find yourself getting one of your previous entries published before you ever win anything. Does that mean the judges were stupid for not seeing your brilliance? If that's the thought that keeps you writing, go with it.

Do your research. Don't just enter any contest you come across, be selective. Use google or your favorite search engine to research what other people have to say about the contest. It's better to learn from someone else's mistake than to learn it first hand, especially when it comes to writing. Sometimes writing blogs have contests and publish the winning entries on their blog for all their visitors to see. This could be a great way to increase your exposure with minimum risk. Take a look at the blog, get to know the author by reading their posts and sifting through the archive. If it looks like a good venue, go for it. If you find a mainstream contest that looks good and the reviews are positive, give it a shot.

Like I mentioned before, not all contests charge a fee. For the beginner, I would suggest this, try to avoid paying for someone to "read" your work. If the contest includes feedback with the reading, it may be worth a ten or fifteen dollar entry fee for the professional insight, but that's for you to decide. I've written a post about perspective and critiques on my blog, feel free to check it out.

These tutorials aren't meant to be all exhaustive. They're just simple pointers to put you on the right track to using proper punctuation.

 I'm sure you've seen examples of two different schools of thought.  One says that double inverted commas should be used for direct speech, while the single inverted ones are meant to be for quotations.  However, the other says the opposite. I don't think it matters which one you follow, as long as you're consistent throughout your writing so that your readers are clear about what you mean.

1. Use inverted commas to enclose speech

   •  Triond's editor said, "Your £1,000 cheque is in the post."

   Notice that the comma comes before the start of the direct speech.  Next, comes the first part of the inverted commas, followed by the person's direct words.  Once you've written down what the person actually said, remember to put a suitable punctuation mark, then end off with the second half of the inverted commas.

   Any punctuation like a question mark, exclamation mark, full stop etc., are always enclosed within the inverted commas.  For example, you would not write,

   •  My Dad said, "Stop it now"!

   Dad's entire speech needs to be inside the quotation marks and this includes the exclamation mark which relates to what he said. 

   •  "Are you going to finish that?" Shrek asked Fiona.

   Shrek's question - including the question mark - are all nicely encased within the inverted commas.  ‘Shrek' the word that follows the inverted comma, is a proper noun so it naturally begins with a capital letter (and it also follows a question mark).  However if you wrote,

   •  "Yes, you can have it," answered Fiona.

   ‘Answered' would not be capitalised after the inverted commas because it is not a proper noun, it came after a comma (not a full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark), and it does not start a new sentence. A different way to write the above sentence is set out below.

   •  Fiona answered, "Yes you can have it."

   The reason ‘Y'  in ‘yes' is capitalised is because it starts a direct speech.  The first word of a direct speech is always capitalised - proper noun or not. Notice again that all punctuation marks are enclosed within the inverted commas

2. Use inverted commas to enclose quotations

    Shakespeare did not know how popular he would make Hamlet when he penned that mighty phrase, ‘To be or not to be.'

    Remember to stick with whatever (double or single inverted commas) you've chosen, so that your writing is consistent throughout.

When to Use Brackets

1. Use brackets to enclose a statement inserted into a sentence

   •  He complained for hours (even though I expressed no interest) about his wife's love of reality TV.

    If you're having problems in placing brackets correctly, check to see if removing the phrase you inserted would leave you with a sentence that makes complete sense.  If this is so, then you've placed the brackets in the right place.

    Brackets are especially useful if you wish to add extra (though not crucial) information to your sentence.

2. Brackets are useful for enclosing numbers in your writing

   •  A first-time camper should possess two types of skills.
     
     1. Indifference to comfort
        • (i) There are no indoor toilets.
        • (ii) Bedding get soaking wet when it rains.
        • (iii) There are no reading lights.
        • (iv) The nights get colder than you think.
     2. Indifference to privacy
        • (i)Changing rooms are always filled with staring people.
        • (ii)You can't let off wind in the cramped toilets.
        • (iii)Someone is always waiting outside the shower room you're using.
        • (iv)Cramped conditions means that you sleep within shouting distance of strangers.

I think that I've now beaten this one to death, so we'll move on.

When to Use Capital Letters

1. Always start a sentence with a capital letter.
   
2. Always write the pronoun ‘I' as a capital letter.
   
3. Always begin proper nouns (Lincoln, China, Cassie) with a capital letter.
   
4. Use a capital letter to start days of the week and months of the year.
   
5. Use a capital letter to begin reporting a direct speech.
   This has to be done even when the direct speech is not the beginning of a sentence.
   
6. Use a capital letter for the main words in titles of films, books, poems, songs etc.
   ‘Jack and the Beanstalk' or ‘Bleeding Love' (for example). Conjunctions (with, to) and articles (the, an) in titles need not be capitalised, unless of course, they appear first in the title.
   
7. Use a capital letter for abbreviations if they are also used for the full words.
   For example ‘FBI' is always capitalised because if you write ‘Federal Bureau of Investigation' you would need to use capital letters.

We have now come to the end of our refresher courses, and I hope that you've enjoyed this series.  I plan to come back some time in the future and do some work with spelling rules. Happy writing until then.

Here are the rest of the lessons in this series.

• Lesson 1 - The Apostrophe
• Lesson 2 - The Comma and the Full Stop
• Lesson 3 - The Colon, the Semi-colon and the Hyphen
• Lesson 4 - The Dash, the Exclamation Mark and the Question Mark

In short, newsworthiness is whatever an audience wants. And what people will read, view, or watch is determined by what they care about, what they want to know, what will help them in their daily lives, what will speak to them in some way about things they care about.

Traditional journalists have a set of criteria they use to evaluate the newsworthiness of a particular story: timeliness, proximity, impact, unusualness of the event, conflict, prominence of the people involved, necessity, and currency. Newsworthiness is not necessarily determined by an event or issue having all of these attributes. In fact, it might only have one, but you'll decide that makes it important enough to cover.

Let's go through each of the criteria for newsworthiness, focusing on the ways citizen journalists might use them:

Timeliness

Timeliness means that something has happened recently - the more recently something happened, the more newsworthy it is. Thus, something that happened this morning is more timely - and more newsworthy - than something that happened last week. Timeliness has come to mean something much different in the age of the Web, when people expect to have their news updated each second. A news item can quickly become out of date with the posting of someone else that offers more recent information. It's therefore vital that the news you post on your blog - or submit to news organizations - be as timely and as frequently updated as possible.

Proximity

The fact is, people care about things that happen nearby more than they do things that happen far away. The proximity of something is a large factor in determining its newsworthiness. Proximity is generally considered geographical - something that happens in one's town, county, or state, for instance. But it can also be emotional - something that happens in a distant place but has an effect on people locally, such as a soldier who grew up in your hometown and was killed in Iraq. What counts as “local” has also been changing with the development of the Web. As a citizen journalist, you have the opportunity to cover hyperlocal news - news not just about your town, but about your neighborhood, your workplace, your street. In fact, you are in a better position to cover such news than many professional reporters, since you live in these communities and you know what's happening in them.

Impact

The more people affected by an event or issue, the more newsworthy it is. How much does something impact people? And how many people does it impact? Even when you're covering hyperlocal, neighborhood news, you'll want to think about impact when you consider what to cover and how to cover it. A lost cat, in other words, might impact only one family in the neighborhood, but a broken water main could affect everyone. The broken water main, then, would be considered more newsworthy. On the other hand, a house fire might affect just one family, but it would affect them so significantly - would have so much impact on them - that you might consider that newsworthy even though it might not affect the whole neighborhood.

Unusualness

Whenever something happens out of the ordinary, it's got news value. People, towns, and cities all have a sense of routine, dailiness, and normality - and anything that disrupts that routine is potentially newsworthy. Thus, to take the example above, a broken water main would be newsworthy not just because of its potential impact but also because of its unusualness. Keep your eyes out for other unusual events; they happen all the time, and they're almost always interesting to your audience.

Conflict

People like to hear about a good fight, and for that reason conflict is one of the criteria for newsworthiness. This can be as significant as a war, or as relatively minor as a conflict between neighbors. Conflicts come up in court, in town council meetings, at school board meetings, and on soccer fields. And wherever they come up, there's a potential news story.

Prominence

This criteria refers to how well known someone is. The more prominent a person is, the more newsworthy their actions and words will tend to be. Prominence is relative to the community involved; prominent people might be anyone from the President of the United States to the mayor of a small village. So it's important to know the prominent people in your community, and to keep an eye on them. What are they doing? What are they saying? Most likely, your readers or viewers will want to know.

Necessity

Perhaps you, as a citizen journalist, think the public really needs to know about your city's new tax code, or the fact that a factory has been fined repeatedly by the Environmental Protection Agency. These sorts of stories come under the criteria of “necessity.” Such stories often involve other criteria for newsworthiness, but they might just come from your sense that the public needs to know, and you need to investigate.

Currency

Currency refers to an ongoing issue - such as a long court case, or poverty, or domestic violence - that suddenly comes into the public spotlight because of a new event - a judge's decision, or a family evicted, or a person killed. Journalists say, in this case, that the issue has gained “currency.” Look around your community and come up with a list of ongoing issues, long-standing but important topics. Keep this list on hand, and look for current events that might warrant bringing these issues to light again.

As a citizen journalist, you're not required to satisfy any of these criteria for newsworthiness. The fact is, though, you'll have more readers, viewers, or listeners if you think about the newsworthiness of the stories you cover. There's no magic equation with these criteria; not all stories meet all of them, though most good stories tend to meet at least one.

The more you think in terms of newsworthiness, the more you'll be on the road to building an audience for your work.

This character is Count Dracula, the quintessential vampire, the “Lord of the Undead,” the “Prince of Darkness” and the main antagonist in Dracula (released in the UK as The Undead) who wrecks nocturnal havoc on the world of the living by seeking out innocent victims (voluptuous females, for the most part) for their warm and vibrant blood. The point here is that Stoker, who also served as acting manager and personal secretary for the great British thespian Sir Henry Irving, unwittingly created one of the most memorable literary horror characters of all time that ranks with Victor Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll (and Mr. Hyde) and Mary Shelley's “Creature,” the unnamed monster created from cadavers rifled from some long-forgotten graveyard.

This raises an important question-what exactly is it about Count Dracula that makes him so memorable as a literary/cinematic character? First of all, Bram Stoker did most of his writing during late Victorian times when it was still possible to create an original character simply by conducting research on obscure historical persons and events or by reading ephemeral novels and stories. In today's world, the ability to create an original character is heavily burdened by the absence of source material which has not already been read, studied and researched by scholars and other interested parties. In other words, a character like Count Dracula is memorable because he was drawn from a primitive, deep well of mythological ideas and representations, i.e. Count Dracula is an archetype, a symbol of man's deepest fears, the primitive “id” of his subconscious mind.

So how does the modern horror screenwriter go about creating memorable characters if this “primitive, deep well” has dried up? There are two specific solutions to this problem-first, one can “copy” or “borrow” characteristics and personalities from literary horror archetypes, or second, one can use the oldest writing tool known to mankind, namely, the human imagination.

The first method is undoubtedly the most common, due to the fact that screenwriters of horror, such as Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont (both wrote scripts based on Poe material for director Roger Corman), Jimmy Sangster (Hammer Studios), Milton Subotsky (Amicus/AIP), Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), John Carpenter and many others, have relied greatly on these archetypes with three leading the way-the vampire (Count Dracula), the “changeling” or “shape shifter” (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and the pseudo-human being (the Frankenstein monster). The number of

memorable characters that have been created using one or a combination of these archetypes is vast and stretches back many centuries; in Western literature, Beowulf is a prime example, circa 900 A.D. However, utilizing these archetypes does not guarantee that a character will become “memorable,” for many have simply faded into obscurity.

The second method holds much more promise for the horror screenwriter, especially when under the influence of the power and sustainability of the three major archetypes. It would be best to listen to the words of two giants of Western thought concerning their personal views on the human imagination-the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung and American author of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe. Jung points out that “Without playing with fantasy, no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable,” meaning that a writer seeking to create a unforgettable character must “play with fantasy” by visualizing in the mind, aided by the power of imagination. Poe's view is more cerebral and penetrating, for he asserts that “It will be found. . . that the ingenious are always fanciful, and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic.”

And there's the key word from Poe-analytic. Use the power of the imagination to analyze the key components of a character, such as motivation, desires, actions/ reactions to specific situations, emotional responses and physical appearance. Also, analyze the physical setting in which the character exists, for this can often lead to new insights and ideas. But most importantly, try to analyze yourself and then transpose that self via fantasy into the soul of your character. This is exactly what Bram Stoker did so

beautifully with his arch-fiend Count Dracula, the world's most “memorable” bloodsucker.

As might be expected, today's horror films generally lack truly memorable characters, yet some have managed to overcome this by using either one or both of the solutions mentioned above. For instance, Darren Lynn Bousman's Saw II (2005) continues the sadistic and torturous activities of Jigsaw, the main antagonist who delights in placing his victims in horrifying life-or-death games; Alexandre Aja's High Tension (2005) involves schoolmates Marie and Alexia who are taken on a terrifying journey of survival at the hands of a sadistic psychopath; Eli Roth's Hostel (2006) relates the tale of two American college buddies vacationing in Europe, where they encounter an orgy of sex and drugs which evolves into madness and brutality, mixed with copious amounts of blood and gore, and lastly, Jonathan Liebesman's Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006) which details in extreme violence the origins of Leatherface and his family of murderers, first introduced by Tobe Hooper in 1974.

However, the main characters in these films, like Jigsaw and Leatherface, are conglomerates of older horror models and are based on forms of the three major archetypes, yet Leatherface, due to being created some thirty years ago, remains a rather memorable character for those who appreciate the “slasher” sub-genre. Thus, it seems that in order to create a memorable horror character, the screenwriter must know his genre better than his audience and be willing to walk that thin, bloody line between originality and duplication.

Upon deciding to sit down and begin the rather long and tedious process of writing a screenplay, most writers have a good idea as to whether to create a script which is character-driven or action-driven. Obviously, some writers are more skilled at developing terrifying characters, while others are more adept at creating excellent page-turning action. Of course, the best writers are skilled in both of these areas, usually because of much practice and refinement and the ability to use their imaginations to the fullest possible extent.

Generally, screenwriters who prefer action-driven stories tend to focus on logical thinking, rational analysis and accuracy and approach the process of writing as a linear movement, meaning that they progress from point A to point B to point C while often using some kind of plot outline which defines the action. Thus, these types of screenwriters are addicted to structure and often rely on proven techniques to move the action forward, such as the ancient Greek model of storytelling utilized by the great tragedians Aeschylus, Homer, Sophocles and Euripides. Also, screenwriters who prefer action-driven stories are usually excellent wordsmiths and have no trouble expressing their ideas on paper.

In contrast, those who prefer to write character-driven scripts tend to focus on aesthetics (i.e., sensory traits), emotions, creativity and the imagination and find it very enjoyable to manipulate the inherent beauty of words and language. These writers are also much more intuitive, meaning that they imbue their characters with traits and ideals that are recognized by everyone. Also, character-driven writers usually create their characters at a very slow yet methodical pace, adding and subtracting traits and characteristics as the story progresses.

Many of those who teach the craft of screenwriting at major universities or on the Internet generally use a test to determine if a writer is stronger at developing action-driven or character-driven scripts via their protagonist/antagonist. Basically, there are ten parts to this test-the overall goal of the protagonist, the obstacles which stand in the way of achieving the goal, what the protagonist stands to lose if the goal is not achieved, the protagonist's “fatal flaw” or greatest fault and/or greatest strength, and the protagonist's hates, loves, fears, secrets and dreams. As a result of this test, writers who can answer the first three parts with ease usually prefer to write action-driven scripts and those who can easily answer parts four through ten prefer to write character-driven scripts. However, those who answer all of the parts without having to think real hard about it are adept at writing both types of scripts, and not surprisingly, tend to mix the two together.

With horror screenwriting, a character-driven script is superior to an action-driven script, mainly due to the fact that horror characters tend to propel the story forward from a specific perspective. However, all horror screenplays must also contain dramatic action, for without it, there is no excitement present on the page. For those who read scripts for a living, such as for screenplay competitions or literary agencies, there must be some type of human element within the story to keep the reader's attention. In Hollywood, character-driven screenplays are somewhat frowned upon, mostly because the present-day industry (which is run by business people instead of artists as in the “old days”) “would rather invest in a commercial film, whether or not is character-driven.” However, a close look at the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Most Memorable movies “include many of Hollywood's most successful character-driven films, for not only are the stories compelling and crafted flawlessly, but the characters are memorable and engaging.” Also, while the modern trend in Hollywood seems to be “more interested in mindless movies that play well on the screen. . . character-driven screenplays are honored year after year at the Oscars.”

Obviously, with the success of such horror films as the Saw trilogy which are independently-produced, this has placed much pressure on Hollywood to improve the quality of its films made for distribution in the United States. In addition to making the so-called big budget action-adventures vehicles, Hollywood studios “are actively developing lower-budgeted character-based films,” particularly horror, sci-fi and fantasy. As Frank Leroy so astutely points out, “To succeed these days, screenwriters cannot follow standard formulas, for they must learn how to create true and original characters."

In his book Screenwriting From the Heart: The Technique of the Character-Driven Screenplay, James Ryan maintains that action or plot-driven scripts are usually developed “from the outside in, meaning that writers generally “start with a one-sentence idea then creates the story and the characters around it (which) dooms the writer to a disastrous script peopled by contrived characters in predictable situations.” The process of discovery is absent from scripts of this sort “because the writer is forcing the characters to fit the script. He is writing from the head and not from the heart" which results in scripts filled with cliches and unoriginal thinking.

In contrast, the character-driven writer “starts from the inside and expands outward” which allows for characters to be developed via the “unconscious imagination.” This process “may explain why character-driven stories are more personal, edgy, quirky and bizarre, like most subconscious thoughts and dreams.” Thus, for the horror screenwriter, tapping into the subconscious mind often helps to create very strange yet compelling characters. A straightforward viewing of the classic Universal horror thrillers or even a number of B-movie horror films from the 1950's and 1960's should be sufficient proof that character-driven horror screenplays are superior in all respects.

One of the best tools for the aspiring (or even professional) horror screenwriter which might help to decide which path to take, i.e. plot or character-driven, can be found in Norman Friedman's excellent book Form and Meaning in Fiction. In Part Three of “Archetypal Patterns,” Friedman states that the archetypal pattern is threefold-the birth and creation phase, the initiation and death phase (the journey, quest, descent, exile) as found in many ancient folklore tales and fables, and the rebirth phase (imagery of the return, ascent and victory). As to character archetypes, Friedman mentions “the male-female polarity,” such as the wanderer and rebel (Odysseus) “and that of the witch, mother, maid or enchantress (Homer's Sirens, Circe, Penelope, etc.). Although Friedman's book is very dense at certain points, it should be required reading for all horror screenwriters/scholars.

Horror Cliches to Avoid Like The Plague

The following list is meant as a guide for all horror screenwriters in order to avoid the use of worn-out and highly-familiar clichés which seem to find their way into the best horror scripts by some of the most talented writers working today. The reason for this is quite simple-when pressed for time or approaching some kind of a deadline, most writers panic and use clichés to fill in the blanks which only results in boring and tedious stories that do not hold the reader's/viewer's attention. Of course, for those under the age of ten or so, certain clichés will not be that familiar, but for those over thirty, clichés remove all of the excitement and often cause the viewers to squirm in their seats and long for the predictable conclusion so they can just go home and watch an old classic horror film on DVD. One may be asking, “How do I avoid using these clichés in my screenplay?” The answer is to use the power of your imagination by developing alternatives to these clichés which must be avoided like the plague.

1. Too many times, a cat (not necessarily black) springs from nowhere or a bird swoops down from the darkness, both aimed at increasing the tension. These types of devices can be used at times, but one must be very inventive to pull it off.
2. One of the main characters saves the day after being apparently killed or severely injured, or the “monster” suddenly re-appears, even after being shot, stabbed, burned, etc. (Michael Myers in Halloween). This device, like the one above, can also be used effectively but only by those with very inventive minds.
3. The main antagonist explains some type of evil plan, such as to take over the world, destroy society or a group of people which he finds despicable or immoral. Obviously, the plan will fail and the “good guys” will come out on top.
4. A slamming or creaking door; a window that suddenly fall shut by itself; creaking floorboards; a slowly-turning doorknob. Under special circumstances, these clichés work effectively, but should be avoided whenever possible.
5. While being chased by a marauding “monster,” a group of people decide to split up or one person sneaks off, attempting to save his/her companions.
6. Mark and Mary are being chased by a “monster”; they head for the car, jump inside and. . .it does not start. Try to avoid using all types of vehicles if possible; however, under certain circumstances, vehicles can be used to increase tension and suspense.
7. Avoid like the plague any and all suggestions of some kind of spirit/mind transfer, such as Satan transference to Regan in The Exorcist.
8. The use of thunder and lightning must be kept to a bare minimum. Why not have something terrible occur on a bright, sunshine-filled afternoon? Also, characters that slip in the dirt, mud or over rocks should be avoided like the plague, especially when the “monster” is ten feet behind them. Never allow one of these characters to say, “Go on! Leave me behind!”
9. NEVER use escaped convicts, escapees from an asylum, traditional “mad scientists,” shy, loner types that react violently; try to avoid using clothing that stands out from all others, like a mask, a cape or denim coveralls (Jason in Friday the 13th). Of course, if your villain/antagonist is based on an historical/literary character like Count Dracula, certain styles of clothing would be mandatory, unless the story is set in modern times.
10. Do not have your main characters explore a creepy or deserted building simply because it is there unless the building plays a major role in the plot (Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre).
11. Avoid like the plague all instances where a character ends up in a shower or a bathroom (Psycho). However, if your story depends on erotic images/situations, a bathroom may be appropriate, yet always attempt to be as creative as possible.
12. NEVER use an item, such as an ancient book, a game or some type of puzzle to move the story forward or as devices to summon the devil or evil spirits. If your main character is a vampire, NEVER use bats, rats, scorpions or similar creatures as symbols; if your main character is female, avoid like the plague any and all images that refer to her as a buxom blonde or so pretty that no one will suspect that she is crazy or insane.
13. NEVER use a mother figure as a supportive character for another character that is obviously “out of the mainstream” (Norman Bates' Mother in Psycho, for example); also, NEVER have a main character that is fixated with his/her mother, father, uncle, etc. But once again, using a mother figure may be a necessary device in the overall plot of your story, and if so, try to be imaginative and inventive.
14. Avoid like the plague any and all characters that stand around wearing sun glasses at night or drive big, black cars; also, no dark suits or clothing that indicates “These guys are real bad men!”

These are just a few examples of horror clichés to avoid like the plague. There are many others out there, but the secret is to recognize these clichés immediately and leave them out. As previously mentioned, the power of the human imagination must not be underestimated, for it is the foundation of all creativity. If you are tempted to use one of these or some other worn-out, trite cliché, just think about it for a few moments and you might surprise yourself at how truly imaginative your mind can be.

The Basic Elements of Horror Screenwriting

According to American author H. P. Lovecraft, a writer “must never state a specific horror element when it can be suggested.” Exactly what does the “Father of Modern Horror” mean by this simple statement? Basically, Lovecraft is pointing out that it is best to leave as much to the reader's imagination as possible, especially pertaining to the description of events and situations involving an emotional response. However, as William Patrick relates, “what worked for Lovecraft in the 1920's and 1930's, Richard Matheson and Ray Bradbury in the 1950's and Stephen King in the 1970's and 1980's does not necessarily work with readers and movie-goers today.” In order to discover what works with horror fans today, Patrick asked thirty-two undergraduates at Moravian College in Pennsylvania two crucial questions-first, “What are the elements that make for a good horror story?” and second, “What ruins a horror story for you personally?”

Patrick was curious as to whether their answers would reveal “a difference between standards that critics have set for contemporary horror versus the personal criteria that readers use” before purchasing a horror novel or attending a horror film. Prior to asking these questions of his students, Patrick examined in detail a list of horror bestsellers from the past which revealed “striking differences between popular taste (or what sells at the bookstores and on-line) and critical taste (or what is praised by the critics).” Patrick's conclusion was that any horror writer “who adheres to the results of a market survey is bound to write perfunctory and uninspired drivel.”

Patrick adds that the results of this survey of his undergraduate students was quite surprising, especially after reading and discussing more than forty novels and short stories from commercial and independent publishers by such authors as Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House), Richard Matheson, Peter Straub (Ghost Story), Dean Koontz and Stephen King. Apparently, all of Patrick's students agreed that a good horror story requires lots of suspense, a satisfying conclusion, believable characters, vivid settings, good pacing, an adequate amount of gore and the use of suggestiveness in descriptions, rather than a blunt, full force gross-out.

Patrick's survey showed that “almost one hundred percent of the students listed suspense as the primary ingredient of a good horror story” which indicates that true horror entertainment must contain elements of anticipation, dread and uncertainty, the three key traits of suspense. In addition, Patrick's students “preferred for this unrelenting suspense to lead to an unexpected, even shocking ending,” one that will leave the reader “scared shitless.” According to Dean Koontz, in order to be read (or viewed), the writer “had better make sure he tells a suspense-packed story that leads to a dynamite ending.”

Also, most of Patrick's students stressed the importance of strong and believable characters, the “engines of a story's power.” Koontz acknowledges that “suspense. . . results primarily from the reader's identification with and concern about the lead characters” which must be complex and convincing as well as appealing. For one student, “a really good horror story occurs when the author is able to make the reader feel for the characters-their pain, fear, happiness and wanting.” A third requirement is that a good horror story “must be anchored solidly in a believable setting” that provides room to explore the natural world and the supernatural and one that “accentuates the grotesque.” In essence, all good horror fiction, particularly that which has been adapted for the screen, requires “a balance between the realistic and the bizarre” and must embrace “the ordinary so that the extraordinary will be heightened.”

The pace of a good horror story is also important, meaning that the action must be level throughout the tale which provides for a fast-paced and suspenseful horror ride. This desire on the part of Patrick's students may be a sign of the times, for no doubt “much could be made of the shortened attention spans of this generation that has never known life without television.” As to the use and abuse of gore, it is generally accepted that gore is expected to be a major element in today's horror fiction and films, particularly if they fall within the sub-genre known as “splatterpunk.” Of course, the overall job of the horror writer “has always been to assault social taboos, broadcast unspeakable urges and show the nauseating possibilities that lie within” every human being. However, a thin line separates effective from ineffective gore, for such a thing “must be justified by the story's content, tone and theme.”

Lastly, all good and effective horror fiction must exhibit the author's “preference for suggestiveness in description,” also known as “narrative blurring.” As one observant student put it, “Description should be only enough so that the reader can get a picture, but not so much that there's nothing left for the imagination.” A prime example of this can be found in Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” wherein he describes the dismemberment of a body as such: “First of all, I cut off the head, and the arms, and the legs. There was no blood spot to wash out. . . I was too wary for that-a tub had caught it all!” Very short yet extremely effective!

In the end, a good horror story must contain all of these elements woven together in such a way that the reader/viewer will come back again and again to be “scared shitless” as one of Patrick's students related in the survey. One of the best quotes related to horror writing comes from the mind of H.P. Lovecraft who once remarked, “Good horror writers merely collaborate with our minds,” meaning that the writer puts down on paper what is already in the mind of the reader/viewer, a task which at first seems relatively simple.

The Future of Horror Film

So, what does the future hold for the horror film? Many are convinced that the genre has already reached a saturation point where original material and ideas are non-existent. This is not surprising, considering the fact that the horror film has been around for almost a hundred years, going back to the days of Thomas Edison's 10 minute-long version of Frankenstein in 1910. In contrast, some argue that in the future, much like in the past, horror films will continue to reflect the social and cultural landscapes in which they are produced and presented on the silver screen. This viewpoint is especially relevant when we consider the events that transpired on September 11, 2001 when 3,000 persons were murdered by so-called terrorists linked to a number of very radical Muslim extremist groups. Scott Tobias, a horror film researcher and historian, points out that the 9/11 event created “a deeper fear among young people,” based on the idea that they no longer have control over their individual destinies. Thus, “death could come at any time, and even if they can see the gears at work, they can't do anything to stop it.”

As a supportive note, Tobias provides some examples, such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1959 original version) which symbolizes “the height of McCarthyism” and the fears associated with the Cold War and nuclear annihilation and Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) which “echoes these same themes, but is more direct and much simpler-that something is out to get us.” In essence, Body Snatchers is conveying the suggestion that one must not trust his/her neighbors, while Night of the Living Dead explicitly says, “Don't trust anyone.”

Many of today's horror films are far different than their predecessors, films like the Saw trilogy and Hostel which are basically nothing more than “torture-fests in which the protagonists live in constant fear of death-a very post 9/11 concept.” Also, many modern horror films have unfortunately been “stripped of psychological depth. The loss of identity and uncertainty in whom one might trust” has been replaced with “a simple aversion to pain and dismemberment.” However, such horrific traits as cinematic pain and dismemberment have been around for decades, beginning roughly in the early 1960's with such fright flicks as Mario Bava's Black Sunday and Hitchcock's Psycho. In addition, many contemporary horror films appeal to today's mass audiences just as they did in the “old days” prior to 9/11 and reflect a myriad of social and cultural manifestations. Basically speaking, the future of the horror film rests on relatively firm ground, for as long as audiences express the desire to be frightened out of their wits, the horror film will survive and flourish regardless of societal flux and changes.

Alan Green, writing in “The Future of Horror,” observes that “Good horror movies come along so rarely” and that when they do, they “all have. . . that elusive confluence of character, plot and theme” that is completely lacking in contemporary slasher/shock films. Noel Murray, another popular horror film scholar, asserts that horror films of the future “ will continue playing on our fears of death and pain” while also, perhaps for the first time in cinematic history, relying on things for their horror effect which we in the present have not yet even considered as possible sources for terror.

Tobias adds that today's horror film writers are far below par when it comes to talent and the ability to use the human imagination. His concerns include the suggestion that “there are no great horror auteurs emerging from the pack. . . There are no Romeros, Carpenters or Argentos that we can count on to put their distinctive stamps on horror cinema and carry the genre to new places.” Since we do not have the gift of premonition, it is unclear whether writers and directors like Romero and Carpenter will emerge from this futuristic pack, but even if they do, the requirements for horror will still be the same, being a “command of craft and life experience needed to create a “Story,” for without compelling characters and universal themes, the plot, no matter how sensational, will ring hollow.”

One of the most unfortunate aspects of modern horror films is that they tend to be more and more explicit with each production, due perhaps to “the need of the writer to stand out in a very large crowd” of screenwriters. Another unfortunate scenario is related to the writers of the past who are now, for the most part, dead and buried or too old to sit up at a desk. “Long gone is the subtle interplay” between actors and actresses from the 1940's and 1950's as are “the writers with the learned craft needed to fashion” true horror films. These facts take us back to the very foundations of writing, for despite the presence of tantalizing and novel sub-genres in future horror scripts, if they lack “compelling characters, (they) will not engage a thinking audience.”

To make matters worse, Murray declares that “the average young writer (especially those that try their hand at horror) appear incapable of producing finely-crafted “Story,” due to not being exposed to the “Horror Masters” of the past and a lack of interest in classic horror films which many young writers view as trite, boring and uninteresting. In the future, such writers as these will certainly be responsible for creating future horror stories, and depending on how much they lack in imagination, horror film audiences may be content with films that “lack depth of character and finely-crafted turning points.”

The implications are thus very frightening, for in the future, horror film audiences, if not audiences in general, might not be capable of understanding nor be able to appreciate classic storytelling techniques. Thus, future audiences might not see the differences between great “Story” and simple entertainment which may be “mindless, even nonsensical.” According to Robert McKee, paraphrasing Aristotle, “When the storytelling goes bad in society, the result is decadence.”

Of course, the above scenarios could all be wrong and the future of the horror film may be much brighter than expected. Nevertheless, as long as there are writers, directors and producers who fervently desire to create art instead of trash, there will always be excellent horror films for those who require pure terror over simplified nonsense. In essence, do not become too disappointed by what you have read in this article, for the future is generally unknown unless you have the gift of prophecy or even better the insight to see into the future, thus making your own career in horror cinema a definite and worthwhile goal.

A few common expressions revised:

I have an outgoing personality.
I am outgoing.

I found the insurance settlement to be very reasonable.
The insurance settlement was reasonable.

I am happy that I went to the dentist.
I am happy I went to the dentist.

What I like about my cell phone is the ringtone.
I like the ringtone on my cell phone.

For some reason, I just don't like credit cards.
I don't like credit cards.

As the night comes to an end, I would like to announce the winners of the contest.
The winners of tonight's contest are:

The fact that I won money made me very happy.
I am happy I won money.

I would like to thank you for the loan.
Thank you for the loan.

Can you offer any legal advice to me?
Can you offer any legal advice?

Listen to what I have to say.
Listen to me.

This is a boy who needs your help.
The boy needs your help.

She spoke in a rude manner.
She spoke rudely.

His brother is a nice guy.
His brother is nice.

My brother has a skin condition that causes him to get acne.
My brother is acne prone.

Take your medication on a daily basis.
Take your medication daily.

It is a good idea for everyone to have life insurance.
Everyone should have life insurance.

David Taub submitted a nonsense bit of fluff that no sane editorial panel would have accepted. In fact, he tried his damndest to get rejected. Instead his poem, Flubblebop:

flobble bobble blop
yim yam widdley woooo
oshtenpopple gurby
yip yip yip
nish-nash nockle nockle . . .

and signed “Wergle Flomp” touched a seeming chord with the editorial panel. “Wergle” (David) was informed that his poem, after careful review, had made it to semi-finalist status. What followed was the sales pitch, the usual drivel touting a “highly acclaimed” anthology where the work would appear-all available at David's expense.

Following on the heels of this the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest, via the Winning Writers site, was established. Poems that have been sent to vanity contests as a joke are judged and can win actual prizes.

If you are looking for information about Contests to Avoid and the Warning Signs of a Bad Poetry Contest, check out the site offerings.

It pays to be forewarned so you don't waste your time or talent chasing after expensive dreams.

Our thanks must go out to the enterprising “Wergle Flomp.”

Further Reading

Winning Writers is one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers

“Well”, we warmed up for news when they returned. “How was it?”

“Fine,” one of them said.

“What exactly did you see?” we asked, noticing that there wasn't much coming forth naturally.

None of them was able to describe what exactly they saw.

Traveling is a Learning Experience

It turned out that these friends of ours had gone to Kenya in a group, carrying with them German medicines, foods, water and so forth. They had stayed in a German-owned hotel and kept to themselves as a group thus missing all the fun of travel.

Travelling should be a fun-filled learning experience. When you leave your home and you familiar culture to visit others, you are actually saying you are a special person who is willing and eager to learn. Traditional Africa recognized this special character of travelers. Men had a special fire place near the entrance to their homesteads where they would welcome and learn from travelers. Travelers brought to them stories about other peoples and cultures, animals, insects, folklore and economic opportunities. To travel is to sample foods, to wear different clothes, to sing different songs… to experience new ways of life.

Travelling to Africa as my German friends did encourages misconceptions about our continent. And worse, if they are writers, they miss a wonderful opportunity to learn and gather materials for their writing. Yet for anyone, writers included, the continent offers plenty of opportunities to learn, plenty of opportunities make your soul grow and plenty of opportunity for the travel writer to make money writing.

Gather Article Materials as You Enjoy Yourself

The following tips can make your travel to Africa much more fun, meaningful and a profitable source of your writing materials:

1. Remember that traveling is a learning experience. Don't go with preconceived ideas about what you will see. Be curious and engaged, always ready to learn something new.
2. Focus on the positive in order to gain more from your travelling experience
3. Determine to truthfully share what you have learned with others. Not everyone is lucky or rich enough to travel. But we are all eager to listen, to read and to know and to understand how people other parts of the world live. If you have the privilege to travel, then you have the duty to truthfully share your experience and education with others.

If you are a writer, write articles and share your experiences. Publish the pictures you took and show them to your friends and family. Of course, you can earn money giving speeches on what you learned to schools, universities, clubs and other organized groups.

After living in Europe for a few years, I wrote the novel, The Surface Beneath, which describes my experiences in Europe and especially in Germany. I believe the book has been very helpful to those travelling abroad for education.

• Determine to become a change agent. Most travelers - and travel writers - are looking for what they think they audience back home will be anxious to hear or read about. But you should be different. Great travelers such as the North African Ibn Battuta (1304 - 1369) took learning from travelling seriously and devoted more than 30 years of his short life to travelling, learning and writing about what he learned. From him, the world has learned a lot and many “souls have grown” from his experiences.

You too, can do the same for your own sake, for the sake of your audience and for the sake of your pocket.