making another list - Writers Forum

huxley · 07-10-2006, 10:41 AM

what would be some questions ? to help paint the picture of a landscape or the mood of the (outside) . for exemple a character walkes acroos a landscape either it was sunny or cloudy ,rain ,stormed ,wind. but questions
like what tempature ?
how did the wind blow ,was there a breeze,
was there sound( i'm sure this question can be more complex )
what was the ground made of ?

plus all types of words that relate to nature . tips to help to describe nature and interact nature with character.

please add your questions or tips .thanks

Mike C · 07-10-2006, 10:45 AM

My question?

Why make lists instead of writing?

Fantasy of You · 07-10-2006, 10:48 AM

OOOO How witty but unhelpful Mike lol.

You don't need to make a list of everything that is around the character. As you write, just tell the reader what he notices, what he feels ect.

Mike C · 07-10-2006, 10:51 AM

Not witty, not unhelpful.

Just write it. Or sit around all day wondering how you might have written it had you had the time. Nobody ever wrote anything of any note by talking about it, or by committee. Just by sitting down, focussing the inner eye and transposing thoughts and feelings onto paper.

Fantasy of You · 07-10-2006, 10:59 AM

I agree completely- huzley you seem like the type of person who would prepare for something and never do it.

FrankBlissett · 07-10-2006, 10:59 AM

Don't forget the sounds of the place. Bird song, chickens, dog barking, traffic, train, wind through trees, radio playing in the distance (or nearby), babbling brook.

If appropriate, scent can be quite good at setting a mood too.

-Frank

Scarecrow's Arrow · 07-10-2006, 01:32 PM

Sit and think about it for a couple of minutes, thinking about the main things you want to show. (E.G. the smell of the place, or the wind) and then write them. You can always go back and change things!

starslight · 07-10-2006, 02:18 PM

The answers are all either on your bookshelf or at the library. Read lots of novels and short stories by lots of different authors and see how they do it. Borrow from the styles you like until you form a style of your own.

mammamaia · 07-10-2006, 06:11 PM

mike and starslight are showing you the way... heed them!

huxley · 07-11-2006, 10:09 PM

i find making list helps me see things much clearer , it helps me ,well not write faster but a more clarity , instead of staring at the page not knowing where to take the next phrase , i like to make list of questions ,then i answer them ,

like the list i made of description of room/place/area, was realy helpful, i would look at the list and anwser the questions ,making unconected phrases on a small piece of paper and then wrote it in the scene.

i quess list shows me all the possibility.

thanks for the help ;however i would like some people to add to the list of questions ,about nature description.

huxley · 07-13-2006, 10:04 AM

grammar question what is the name for the group of word that sound similar
ex: then,than, were ,where ,ect.....

plus what is the rule of : which - that

because i find sometime i can pic either which or that
but other times i can only use that .

thanks .

mammamaia · 07-13-2006, 09:54 PM

words that sound the same but are spelled differently are called 'homophones'...

here's a good rundown on the 'which/that' prob:

Quote:

That versus Which. According to the more quibbling self-styled grammar experts, that is restrictive, while which is not.

Many grammarians insist on a distinction without any historical justification. Many of the best writers in the language couldn't tell you the difference between them, while many of the worst think they know. If the subtle difference between the two confuses you, use whatever sounds right. Other matters are more worthy of your attention.

For the curious, however, the relative pronoun that is restrictive, which means it tells you a necessary piece of information about its antecedent: for example, "The word processor that is used most often is WordPerfect." Here the that phrase answers an important question: which of the many word processors are we talking about? And the answer is the one that is used most often.

Which is non-restrictive: it does not limit the word it refers to. An example is "Penn's ID center, which is called CUPID, has been successful so far." Here that is unnecessary: the which does not tell us which of Penn's many ID centers we're considering; it simply provides an extra piece of information about the plan we're already discussing. "Penn's ID Center" tells us all we really need to know to identify it.

It boils down to this: if you can tell which thing is being discussed without the which or that clause, use which; if you can't, use that.

There are two rules of thumb you can keep in mind. First, if the phrase needs a comma, you probably mean which. Since "Penn's ID center" calls for a comma, we would not say "Penn's ID Center, that is called CUPID."

Another way to keep them straight is to imagine by the way following every which: "Penn's ID center, which (by the way) is called CUPID. . . ." The which adds a useful, but not grammatically necessary, piece of information. On the other hand, we wouldn't say "The word processor which (by the way) is used most often is WordPerfect," because the word processor on its own isn't enough information — which word processor?

A paradoxical mnemonic: use that to tell which, and which to tell that.

that's from...

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/index.html ...

which you should keep in your favorites for any sort of grammatical quandary! [now, can you tell if i used 'that' and 'which' properly, or not?... this is a test!

]

love and hugs, maia

Dawnstorm · 07-14-2006, 05:00 AM

Sample sentence from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary:

A house which overlooks the park costs more.

"Which" is restrictive in the sentence, yet I wouldn't use "that", really. Now, if it was "the house" I'd prefer "that".

But then said dictionary also has this sample sentence:

Read the passage which I referred in my talk.

So obviously "which" would be possible, too.

I'd be careful to judge a restrictive "which" as wrong on the above rule.

***

Btw, your test is devious.

***

While words that sound the same are called homophones, I'm unsure what words that sound similar are called.

huxley · 07-14-2006, 12:30 PM

thanks for the help.another grammar question .
when do i use : I and ME (I vs ME)

mwd · 07-14-2006, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by huxley

thanks for the help.another grammar question .
when do i use : I and ME (I vs ME)

http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#34

or: http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexper...grammar/meandi