Saturday, August 01, 2009

A lol approach to thesis writing

A pleasant wet Saturday afternoon at Borders, nice comfy chairs, read the book...buy the book, seduction. I have been reading and lol(ing)the latest Janet Evanovich, finger lickn fifteen. In Borders was the How to write a book by said author, so here's some wisdoms that I take on board for the thesis.

Show up for work every day.
Write.
Dont try for perfection in the first instance, rewriting comes later.
(This is my third worst fault, my first two are not taking the first two pieces of advice seriously enough)

Don't fall into the trap of rewriting chapter one until it's perfect. And don't discard everything you write halfway through because you're sure it sucks. Writing stuff that sucks is part of the learning process!

Show dont tell, the impact in first person is stronger than it is when describing.
Instead of stating a situation flat out, you want to let the reader discover what you're trying to say by watching a character in action and by listening to his dialogue. Showing brings your characters to life.

(If I take this piece of wisdom, i escape my trap of having an inarticulate research participant, I just need to describe the scenario, it is its own story)
And some nuts and bolts advice on structure;
Map the story; tell it with small arcs, there should be ups and downs, there should be mini moments of suspense; use a storyboard so everything keeps progressing the plot.

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