The following books are listed in no particular order. If you normally buy from a different Amazon site (e.g. Amazon.co.uk) or other on-line store, simply copy and paste the ISBN (e.g. 097522980X) into the site’s search box.

The Elements of Style, William Strunk
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/097522980X

On Writing, Stephen King
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/0671024256

On Writing Well, William Zinsser
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/0060891548

Grammar Girls Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, Mignon Fogarty
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/0805088318

100 Ways to Improve Your Writing, Gary Provost
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/0451627210

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anne Lamott
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/0385480016

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, Natalie Goldberg
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/1590302613

Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/1592402038

Grammatically Correct, Anne Stilman
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/1582973318

Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing, Claire Kehrwald Cook
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/0395393914

The Well-Fed Writer, Peter Bowerman
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/0967059844

Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer, Jenna Glatzer
~ http://TheNile.com.au
~ http://amazon.com/dp/097220265X

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but one that may lead you in the right direction with your writing. So why not grab yourself a few early Christmas presents.

The creation and use of characters gives an innate plot personality and poise. Over time, characters have become unique and simply by mentioning the name the reader knows about him or her. Take Samson and Delilah, for example many English-speaking people know their characteristics through stories in their youth.

Here is a list of 10 symbolic characters:

• The fair maiden is a symbol of innocence and purity and the hero has no option but to rescue her from the evil lord. She may also represent redemption and repressed sexuality.

• The dark woman is a symbol for lust and temptation. She is often depicted as being out of control and governed by her natural sexuality. She is wild and wily. Often the hero must overcome the forces of the dark woman.

• The wise old man provides sage advice when all is not well. He is the hero’s mentor and has an answer for every situation because he possesses all knowledge. He may have been the hero when he was young.

• The not so smart assistant ambles along with the hero and allows that hero to explain the situation. This character is usually either young, innocent, inexperienced or simply a little slow. In many detective series, the assistant is the foil to the real character. However, see how the tables can turn over time!

• The joker creates a happy and festive mood and relieves the tension. Be wary of relieving the tension at the wrong time!

• The impostor is the character who pretends to be someone else that he or she really is. The first major evil character in many novels is an impostor.

• The underdone hero deprecates himself and appears less than he really is. He continually achieves even though his peers do not think highly of him.

• The hero’s helper is the one who is self-giving and perhaps loves the hero more than the hero realises. The character may be a subservient character or one at a higher level.

• The hero’s double is often the antithesis of the hero. He represents the dark side.

• The party killer is the character who shuts things down. Some would call him the straight man but he is nothing more than a killjoy.

Most works of fiction do not have all these characters. However each type, if used will add insight to the reader. Maintaining politically correct characters makes for a wider audience.

Remember, you are the writer. You can create whatever character you choose. There are as many characters as there are people, each one with its own foibles. However, the use of symbolic characters enhances the story. Give them a try!

Reading and writing are two great pastimes. I enjoy them both. My works are now available in Kindle and Paperback editions. They can be found through http://vur.me/giver2000/DNBOOKS
If you have any comments, please email me at DNivala@gmail.com.

The writer’s persona influences the reader’s reaction by helping the reader to feel close to or distant from the characters. All writers are humans and all have arrived at their writing desk through individual journeys. These journeys will influence the writer’s persona.

However the writer has four challenges when developing his or her persona that may be deleterious to the work:

1. The writer’s mannerisms. Every one has unique mannerisms. Some are likeable and others are not so likeable. If a writer is essentially a shy introvert, his or her writing will most likely reflect that unless a conscious effort is made to eliminate it. Writers need to remember that their persona is not as important as the story. Show the reader what is going on and he or she will enjoy the journey. If the writer is a gregarious outgoing personality who likes to make sure that everyone is having a good time, he or she may find it easier to write first person narration because the reader has no trouble understanding. This same person may find it difficult to write excellent third person narrative.

2. The writer’s trivialization impacts his or her writing. It may also confuse the reader. If the writer has built up a character and the narrator makes fun of him or her, it confuses the reader. The narrator should remain impartial and even though he may mislead, he should not outright lie! This is more noticeable in objective forms of writing.

3. The writer’s sentimentality may influence the way that he or she writes in the third person narrative as a commentator. The reader may think that the narrator is willing the wrong horse to win the race. Most readers quickly form a view on how the story is unfolding. Sentimental remarks detract from the story and may confuse the reader.

4. The selection of the tense of the verbs. Most stories use the past tense however when recalling flashbacks the writer needs to be careful not to confuse the reader. The best advice is to make the narrator remain consistent with the tense. The present tense is sometimes used by writers to convey a sense of immediacy. However the overriding preference by readers is the past tense. Avoid passive verbs because action verbs show what is happening.

The management of the writer’s persona is a challenge for some. The few points above are a guide to some of the common pitfalls.

Reading and writing are two great pastimes. I enjoy them both. My works are now available in Kindle and Paperback editions. They can be found through http://vur.me/giver2000/DNBOOKS
If you have any comments, please email me at DNivala@gmail.com.

Writer’s block is one of the most common conditions that limit authors and other professional writers from writing creative and quality content. From university students to professional writers, writer’s block can be found at any level. Some such cases have become public knowledge but the rest have been covered by the dust of history. Let’s have a look at some of the famous authors who have suffered from writer’s block for various reasons.

George Gissing is one of the early cases for writer’s block. He lived between the years of 1857 and 1903 and produced 23 novels. Due to some reasons, such as being separated from his first wife, alcoholism, and poverty, he ran into writer’s block and later recovered, as some of his later work was successful enough to give him a morale boost.

Samuel Coleridge became one of the victims of writer’s block even earlier to Gissing. Samuel lived between the years of 1772 and 1834 and was a romantic poet, a critic, and a philosopher in his own right. Although he was one of the most radical writers in the era, he became a victim of writer’s block in the later life of his career due to drug use.

Joseph Mitchell had one of the most famous and mysterious cases of writer’s block. He had been a famous writer and one of the most influential media people as well. Mitchell has served as a member of the board of directors for many organizations and groomed many young writers. The last decade of Mitchell’s life was shadowed by writer’s block and he was not able to write anything significant during the period. As one of his close colleagues describes, Mitchell walked into the office every morning and closed the door. At lunchtime, the door opened and remained that way for another half an hour until it was closed again till evening. In the evening, Mitchell walked out of the office with no sign of what he was going though. During the daytime, no typing was heard from his room.

If you have ever suffered from writer’s block there is help available.

When writing an article for publication, it is very important to check your facts. This might seem obvious, but it is still worth mentioning. If readers complain because they disagree with your opinion… well, that’s part of the job. But if they complain because you have your facts wrong, that could hurt your credibility as a writer.

It will also hurt the credibility of the magazine, which is why most magazines are so strict with facts. Some of the larger magazines hire a team of fact-checkers, going over every sentence in every article to ensure it’s error-free. Many ask for a complete list of your sources, so you should keep details of all the books and articles you used. Some will even ask that you include footnotes in your articles, even if they don’t intend to publish them. It is best to use a reliable source, even if it means looking up some books in your library rather than simply checking WIkipedia. (Most magazines, I’m afraid, believe that internet sites are too unreliable.) Yes, it’s a bit like writing a school essay!

Even if you think that you know certain facts by heart, it is still worth checking. In my experience, you can’t always be certain of a year, a date, or the spelling of a name or place. If you’re like me (and most other people), you’d be surprised at the facts you were “sure” you knew, but didn’t.

You never know when errors will enter a piece. I once wrote a magazine article about (fittingly enough) historical inaccuracies in the movies. I mentioned a scene in “Ben-Hur” (1959) in which the Roman governor Pilate announces the big chariot race, and mentions competitors from Carthage and Corinth. “Apparently, he momentarily forgot that Rome destroyed both cities back in 146 BC,” I cleverly wrote. “Yes, that would be BEFORE the birth of Christ – at least a century and a half before ‘Ben-Hur’ takes place.”

After reading this on a website, I checked and re-checked the information. Yes, the info was correct: Carthage and Corinth were destroyed in 146 BC. The information was included in my article.

The complaints, I was told, rolled in. I’d forgotten about other cities of more recent history: London, Hiroshima, San Francisco. All had been destroyed by war or disaster – and all had been rebuilt, within less than 100 years. The same happened with Carthage and Corinth (and if I’d only remembered my Bible – namely, Paul’s letter to the Corinthians – I would have known that). They could easily have competed in “Ben-Hur”‘s big chariot race. I had checked my facts, but this one had not occurred to me. However diligent you think you have been, you must never be satisfied with just a basic fact-check!

Fortunately, that magazine forgave me (eventually). These days, it asks all contributors to list not just one, but TWO sources for each fact! While this is a headache for writers, it’s great that a magazine is willing to treat the facts so seriously. (Fortunately for writers, however, most magazines are happy with just one source per fact.)

Recently, I had a call from another magazine, for which I write a regular quiz (and yes, I am asked to name a source for each question). They had a query about one of my questions: “What unfortunate honour was accorded American Christa McAuliffe in 1986?” The answer – which is perhaps obvious to Americans, but perhaps less so to the magazine’s Australian readers – is that she was the first schoolteacher selected for a space mission. (She perished in the space shuttle Challenger explosion.)

But the editor wasn’t comfortable with that question. It was announced in 1984 that McAuliffe would fly in the Challenger mission – so really that’s when the honour was “accorded” her. She did her training with NASA for the mission in 1985, and the ill-fated Challenger took off in 1986.

Fortunately, the editor was happy when I re-worded the question: “American Christa McAuliffe suffered a terrible fate in 1986, after being selected for what honour?” That left no room for ambiguity, and no room for pedantic readers to write in and complain.

When they see your work, magazines want to see the facts, and nothing but the facts. It’s good for their reputation – and of course, it’s good for yours.

Children’s magazines were very popular pre 1980s. However, when television and computer games took over, children’s interests refocused. Young imaginations and literacy skills also took a downhill slide and haven’t yet managed to recover. The importance of magazines, with their variety of stories, short enough to maintain interest, poems and rhyme, colourful illustrations, puzzles, crafts and competitions to captivate and entertain young minds has sadly been forgotten.

In the past, children’s magazines originated from the United Kingdom and were distributed worldwide. Today, those available are still mainly published in England and the United States. Sadly Australia is lagging behind in this creative field. Is it because of a lack of interest in publishing or marketing magazines, cost, or a lack of contributors? Surely not a lack of contributors! An annual Australian mentoring competition recently attracted 500 budding children’s story writers and illustrators, all trying to get a foothold into the market!

Publishers more often than not have their doors closed to new unknown authors. Traditional publishing is profit driven and new authors have not yet proven themselves as revenue generators, therefore they will not take the risk on them. Heaven forbid the manuscript they turn down might be another Harry Potter that slipped through the net! How then do emerging authors and illustrators get a foot in the door of the competitive publishing world? Self publishing is one way, but is costly. Success is limited unless you are a self-promoting marketing wiz. Partner publishing meets the author/ illustrator halfway, with marketing and publishing costs shared between publisher and author, but is restricted to books.

Many magazine publishers are willing to assess and take the risk on new authors. They often publish weekly or monthly, so their needs are ongoing. This gives newcomers a chance to showcase themselves and gives readers a variety of writing styles and ideas to keep their interest. Work by the same limited number of authors becomes very predictable. It is essential that reading material, particularly for children, remains fresh and vital to challenge young minds and is interesting enough to keep their interest. It is also important that children are exposed to non commercial related stories. Stories about popular TV and toy characters are well and good, but shouldn’t be promoted and used exclusively to attract sales. Children also need to read stories related to their own culture. Several newly formed Australian children’s magazines are now available, both in hard copy format and online.

Online magazines reach a wide audience and the stories and activities can also be selectively printed out.
Bring back the magazines! They are inexpensive and easy to read. Children can look forward to something new each week or month and it encourages parents and children to share reading together.

Jennifer Melnik ©