Ellipsis is represented in any piece of writing by a row of three periods or full stops (...). At times, it may overlap with the use of em dash (—).
Ellipsis is useful for omitting certain words in long speech writing, citations or quotations. When using ellipsis, however, the writer must be careful not to change the meaning of what the speaker is actually saying. This is a basic journalistic rule and ethical practice for any kind of writing. When ellipsis is used at the end of a sentence, it usually signifies something is 'to be continued ...'. If used somewhere between a sentence, it is considered an omission to shorten a sentence, often to remove words that are not critical to the objective point at hand. For example:
Before Jane went about looking for the dog again and again, but was unable to find it.
After Jane went about looking for the dog again ... but was unable to find it.
According to the MLA and AP style guideline, ellipsis should precede and proceed with a space for correct usage as shown above. There is a tendency for many writers to omit the space after a word, and this is not a correct usage following the standard style guides.
Em dash is represented by a longer dash (—), and should not be mistaken as figure dash (-) or en dash (–). Figure dash is used as a hyphen and en dash in a range, for example 'three to ten people' or 3–10 people.
Em dash is used in two ways, one as a break between a continuing sentence and the other at the end of sentence.
When used as a break between a continuing sentence, it sets off from the parenthetical information to indicate a break in character thought or speech. For example:
Every single thing we do — big or small — is significant in the sight of God.
When facing tough situations, the best thing to do is to first know God’s will through His word — the Bible.
When used at the end of a sentence, it usually refers to an aposiopesis — a sentence deliberately broken off and left unfinished which ending is supplied by your imagination or to give impression of unwillingness or inability to continue. For example:
"Get out, or else —!"
Em dash is frequently used without a space around it. Even with universities and various educational sites, many in practice advise no space before and after the use of an em dash as a house style. Certain newspapers use a dash in place of em dash or en dash because of the limited space within the columns.
According to the MLA and AP style guide, the em dash should precede and proceed with a space in all uses except at the start of a paragraph or for sports agate summaries.
One of the text that come highly recommended on writing is the book by Kathryn Lindskoog, Creative Writing: For People Who Can’t Not Write. In this book, the author suggested a number of areas writers should pay attention to in order to reach out to their readers.
First, write creatively, because the world will never be starved for want of wonders.
Second, write simply and correctly, not necessarily with large vocabulary, but with untangled thinking to keep sentences from going awry.
Third, avoid pitfalls and pratfalls, as they can make the writer look foolish, sidestepping into the booby traps of misspelling or overwriting.
Fourth, show instead of tell. Make familiar things new and make new things familiar.
Fifth, write something funny or at least interesting. Write things that please the ear, tease the brain or ease the heart.
Sixth, think up ideas that can make some earnings out of writing. Get published, paid and read.
Seventh, let the readers see and hear what is going on for themselves instead of interpreting and summarizing it for them.
Eighth, continue to strive to do better and stretch the limits, because with each new piece of writing, it usually gets more difficult than easier.
All the pointers mentioned above are good advices for writers to put into practice. However, if our wish is to be really good writers, we will need to look into other pointers as well. Here are some pointers from me.
Ninth, get to the heart of the matter. In order for us to get to the readers’ heart, we must write with a heart that cares enough to want to know what matters to them.
Tenth, don’t just write what ease the readers’ hearts or what they like to hear. Share what we have seen and heard that our readers may understand plainly and also learn from us. Even if we are writing fiction, our plot can include true to life examples, like our own experiences or those of other people we know.
Eleventh, understand your target readers, their background, their culture and practices. Remember, if our target is to the masses, then we must write in a way everybody can understand.
Twelfth, use references to substantiate claims if writing non-fiction, and use identifiable traits to describe the behavior of characters in the story when writing fiction.
There are of course many other areas we must also consider as writers. This blog entry merely touches the tip of the iceberg what’s involved in the writers’ craft. In the real world, writing skills are very much dependent on one’s own flair for writing, the degree of our creativity, the inspiration, and the talent given to us as individuals.
One of the many ways for freelance writers to survive the irregular demands for their writings is to become technical writers.
A good article detailing the criteria of a good techical writer can be found in the following link.
What Are the Characteristics of a Good Technical Writer?
Ever heard of a wordle? A wordle is a tool for generating 'word clouds' to analyze and create greater prominence of words frequently used in a source text, such as blog.
The following image shows he frequently used words at this blog. The larger the size of the word is displayed, the greater the number of times the word has been used.
Not too long ago, I was tasked by a corporation in the technology industry to come out with an Editorial Style Guide for its marketing communication team and internal technical writers. As documentation in the corporation involves various genres of writings, I decided upon using the standards or guidelines set by two of the world's most accepted editorial styles: Modern Language Association (MLA) and Associated Press (AP).
Documentation with content primarily consisting of story writing style will follow the guidelines by MLA, while documentation associated with news or media will follow the guidelines by AP. This essentially means documentation using MLA editorial style will include technical paper, white paper, solution brief, solution guide, user guide, sales guide, product data sheet, magazine, newsletter, presentation, proposal, release note, report, training material and web content. Documentation using AP style, on the other hand, will include press/media/news release, media kit, news wire and other related stuff.
One of the key differences between the two style guides is in the way a heading or title is written. While MLA style guide recommends de-capitalizing all conjunctions, prepositions, and articles in headings or titles with the exception of the first and last word, AP style guide recommends capitalizing all principal words including verbs, prepositions and conjunctions with more than three letters.
Editorial style guides are essential tools for writers looking into writing for corporations and businesses. If you are planning to look into writing for the commercial world, you will need to understand some of the standards required in writing practices for the industry, including the usage of capitalization, abbreviation, punctuation, quotation and numbers.
More information on Editorial Style Guide available: MLA / AP
There are many ways to write a story, and depending on the point of view or the angle the story is written will decide how readers respond to the story or be drawn to continue reading the story.Take a scenario description in a solution guide of a computer networking company for example. The scenario may be described in three different ways:
Option 1
A company with 5 to 50 computer network nodes hopes to achieve more efficient information-sharing among employees. Budget and IT expertise are key constraints. The company wants a network infrastructure solution that is cost effective, easy to deploy, and simple to manage.
Option 2
Alex is the owner of a company with 5 to 50 employees. He hopes to have his employees share information more efficiently. Budget and IT expertise are key constraints, and Alex hopes to have a network infrastructure that is cost effective, easy to deploy, and simple to manage.
Option 3
Your company is made up of 5 to 50 employees with each having a computer, and you hope to have your employees share information efficiently and securely. Budget and IT expertise are key constraints, and you hope to build a network infrastructure which is cost effective, easy to deploy, and simple to manage.
Which of the three options above do you think is more customer-centric? Option 1 is not the one, because it does not draw customers’ attention to desire to read further. Option 2 is not too bad as a narrative and is perfectly normal for novel reading, being written from a third person’s perspective. Option 3, however, is usually preferred for business writing because it draws the reader into the scenario.
Customer-centric writing is in some way similar to marketing writing or copywriting, where the AIDA principle applies. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. AIDA is usually achieved in sequence, first to draw readers’ attention especially in the headlines, then the interest to continue reading, bring the customer to desire the product or solution before taking final action to purchase.
In the example mentioned above, when it comes to writing about the solution, therefore, rather than emphasize what the company can offer as a solution, write to show the customer how the solution can help meet their needs and provide benefits.
Peace and quiet is a must-have for most writers, in order for them to think and write creatively. These days, however, peace and quiet is almost impossible to achieve. Whether as a passenger onboard public transport, a driver in a car, a pedestrian walking on the street, or a worker at the workplace, there are noises, sounds, and chatter everywhere.
Take public transport for example. In a bus or train, we hear people talking over the phones or to one another, people playing music on their mp3 or mp4 out loud, parents teaching their children or telling stories from story books to their children, among other noises. One of the ways for writers to get away from all these s to go a place of quiet peace, such as in a room of your house, or out at sea, or to a nature reserve or park some distance away from the noises of vehicles, mobile devices and the kinds.
If time does not permit for the writer to go to the world of nature or to be away from the daily hustles and bustles of life, however, the next best thing to do is for the writer to have his or her own mp3 or mp4 player plugged in with soothing music, such as the instrumentals. One audio CD which I particularly like that helps me put my mind to rest is Peace Instrumental by Integrity Music. If you, like me, need to calm your mind before you write, you can try listening to this CD.
With noises surroundings us almost every moment of our lives, it is important for us to find peace and quiet in the midst of all these. Without a heart of solitude and an environment of calm, it is often hard to produce good writings, and good writings are what we must have if we want to be good writers.
