Narrative tension is the tension characters in a novel feel about unresolved and unfulfilled events and needs. That’s why it’s so important to suggest a story’s promise in a dramatic context, so that a storyteller creates characters who have a need to act, and to act in spite of obstacles. When characters in a story […]
A Series of Articles on Autobiography
ESSAYS ON AUTOBIOGRAPHY: NUMBER 1 Preamble: Nearly seven years ago I wrote my first essay on the nature of autobiography. It was some two years after completing my initial draft, the first edition of my own autobiography. I am now working on the 5th edition of that autobiography some twenty years after the inception of […]
Writing a Flawless Research Paper in 4 Easy Steps
When it comes to writing a good research paper, you can learn many of the latest methods in research and report writing from your professors and librarians. Assuming you don’t wait until the last minute, most research papers can usually be completed by following a few general guidelines. For detailed reports, you can write a […]
Analysis of Dostoevsky’s Idiot
Dostoevsky is a Russian writer known for his penetrating insight into character and espousing the philosophy of existentialism. His famous books are the Karamazov Brothers: Crime and Punishment and the Idiot. In the idiot he portrays characters with ironic stoicism. There is a rich pageantry of literary thought. The idiot aims to bring out the […]
Essay – How to Write it Perfectly
A good essay must have this permanent quality about it; it must draw its curtain round us, but it must be a curtain that shuts us in not out” -Virginia Woolf The word essay has been derived from the French word ‘essayer’ meaning “to try” or “to attempt”. An essay is thus, a literary initiative […]
Plot: A Main Ingredient for a Well Made Story
Some so-called experts insist that a story doesn’t require a plot. However, whether found in a short story or a novel, a story requires a plot, otherwise the “story” is like bread without yeast – flat. A writing without a plot may be a narrative, a scene, or perhaps a descriptive essay, but anything without […]
Looking For Online Writing Jobs?
Need to go shopping? Want to watch the latest blockbuster? Want to listen to Mariah Carey’s new release? Want to read the latest installment to the Harry Potter series? No matter where you are in the world and no matter what time of the day, these activities are possible with just a click of the […]
Shantytown Poem (Anonymous)
Shantytown (Stanza 1) High on the veld upon that plain And far from streets and lights and cars And bare of trees, and bare of grass, Jabavu sleeps beneath the stars (Stanza 2) Jabavu sleeps. The children cough. Cold creeps up, the hard night cold, The earth is tight within its grasp, The highveld cold […]
Laugh Lines – Comedy Genre Poetry Forms – PART 2 – Witty Words
Whether you’ve got them, in denial about them, or way too young to care about them, I’m not talking about those crinkly crow’s feet that grow around your eyes, or the grooves around your mouth. While laughter may be the cause of those lines, we really will be talking about various poetry forms that start […]
Novel Writing Techniques – On The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a true Great American novel. What is even more amazing is that F. Scott Fitzgerald did it in little more than a short story. How did he do it? Essentially, he wrote a Great American Story. Fitzgerald was able to create what may be the fundamental story structure of 20th Century […]