On writing, thoughts to help perfect your writing Options

[McGonagall's Cat]

Found in the writing-world.com newsletter this week:

ABFFE distributes Potter censorship flier
-----------------------------------------
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE)
is inviting booksellers to insert a flier about the efforts to
censor books in the Harry Potter series in the new "Harry Potter
and the Half Blood Prince", which goes on sale July 16. From 1999
to 2003, the Harry Potter books were challenged more than any
other titles, according to the American Library Association. The
ABFFE flier tells the story of a 2002 banning in Arkansas that
was successfully challenged in court by two parents. The flier
also invites kids to learn more about censorship by visiting the
ABFFE online resource for children's involvement with freedom of
expression, kidSPEAK! To print copies of the flier, go to:
http://www.abffe.com/HarryPotterBan.pdf

[pinkpanther]

They should read Areopagitica. Milton could tell them a thing or two . . .

[zymurgy]

AutoCrit
No replacement for a good Beta exists, but this makes a stab. It will analyze your text and give you stats about:

Weak Words
Repeated Phrases
Repeated Words
Chapter Analysis
Repeated Phrases Summary
Sentence Lengths
Dialogue Tags
Unusual/Common Words
First Words
Names and Pronouns

Of course, it's just a numbers cranker and a good beta spots these types of things as well as grammar and spelling. (And Canon, and style, and ...) Still, when you need some numbers in a hurry, it's a good thing to have - especially since it can analyze 2000 words in a second!

[McGonagall's Cat]

U.S. Writers Beware!

Congress is thinking (hmmm... can we use that word in conjunction with our government at the moment?) about passing a law concerning "Trademark Infringement" if writers use name brands in their stories.

Thanks to Writing World Issue 6:03

According to the Author's Guild, this bill, known
as H.R. 683, would drop express protection for "noncommercial
use" of a trademark and would weaken the protections for those
who use trademarks in news commentary. Until now, writers and
journalists have had the ability to write about trademarked
products without incurring liability -- I.e., your character
could drink a Coke while revving his Harley with his Nikes,
without you, the author, risking being sued by any of the holders
of the trademarks for those products.  Should such protections be
removed, you'll have to imagine your character sipping a
"carbonated beverage" while revving his unidentified "hog" with
his "athletic shoes." The bill has already passed the House and
has now passed on to the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

See article at: http://www.authorsguild.org/news/threatens...e_expresion.htm

[zymurgy]

http://www.hopkins.k12.mn.us/pages/north/c...s/homonyms.html
There are two times when Zym ends up looking like that Very Angry Man in the picture. When she sees somebody else make one of those mistakes in fanfic, and when she realizes that she's goofed herself.

So ... read that list. Refer to it. Love it.

Prevent all that Ear Smoke from clouding the atmosphere. Seriously.