Creative Writing: Every Sentence Counts

New York Times

Image via Wikipedia

Scanning a paragraph and moving on to the next one is not proofreading.

Hello, bloggers, students and writers.  I’ve done it and you have done it.  You write something and then go over it and then send it off.  Bad news.

Are you serious about being a better writer?  If you answer yes, you must not scan any longer.  You must look at each sentence and ask yourself these questions.  Is this the right word?  Is this word spelled correctly?  Is it the right word in the right place?  Are all the words in the sentence in the right order?  Does the sentence have the right punctuation?  Is the meaning of the sentence clear?  Does the sentence flow into the next sentence?

This is how you proofread a story, an article or your homework.

Ha ha ha.

Being a good writer means you do more than just throw a bunch of words down and scan them and send them off.

I’m the Old Soldier, your host on this blog.  This blog is about blogging and writing and flash fiction.  Oh, and the nude female form.  Welcome to the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette.

You may be interested in the flash fiction story “A Porn Star Is Born” at the top of the page.

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Writing: Enjoy These Great Erotic Stories

The Old Soldier is proud of the great sexy short stories on this blog.

Hello, my Flash Fiction Fanatics.  Who says flash fiction is too short to be sexy?  Not the Old Soldier.  That is because you will find on this blog some of the best sexy flash fiction on the Internet.

Now if you like a bunch of dirty words and unrealistic behavior and fantasy storylines in your erotica, these stories are not for you.

But if you like your characters to act like real people, like real college students and real boyfriends and real girlfriends and real husbands and real wives, then you have come to the right place.

Click on the Sexy Stories tab at the top of the page.

And for those of you who like hardcore sex, click on A Porn Star Is Born at the top of the page.

It’s all good.

This is the Old Soldier blogging near the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.

Writing Fiction: How Well Do You Know Yourself?

Penguin Modern Classics 0 14 000.746 6

Image by scatterkeir via Flickr

Do you write fiction?  What’s your subject matter?  What’s your specialty?  I would say my specialty is sexuality. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a lot about money, what having it did to people and what not having it did to people.

A writer can have more than one specialty.  Fitzgerald wrote a lot about youth and romance, too.  He would mix youth, romance and money all together for what the world came to know as the classic Fitzgerald short story.

I write about more than just sexuality; but sexuality is definitely one of the ways that I explore the lives of my characters.

Even if you think you don’t have a specialty, you probably do.

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Hello, it’s the Old Soldier with flash fiction stories and articles for you along with a running commentary on life and writing in general.  I hope you like my little blog.  It’s for bloggers, readers and writers.  Make it your home for flash fiction entertainment.

This is the Old Soldier blogging near the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.

“A Porn Star Is Born” is at the top of the page.

Writing: The Mysteries Of The Human Heart

Jenna Jameson, Culver City, CA on March 11, 20...

Image via Wikipedia

We writers are so damn lucky.  It is our job to capture life, in all its ugliness and beauty, and pin it to the wall.

And I mean pin it.  A fair maiden is not captured by a faint heart.  A good story is seldom written by a timid writer.

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Night descends on the city
Where is the hope?

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If you are a writer, know that your words have power.  Learn to use them well.  Then use them often.

Welcome to the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, the most dynamic flash fiction blog on the Internet.  Tell all your friends about the excitement that is flash fiction.  Devour the world 900 words at a time.

Check out “A Porn Star Is Born” at the top of the page.

Writing: Mastering The Tools

St. Augustine writing, revising, and re-writin...

Image via Wikipedia

For the serious writer, mastering the tools of writing is a life time goal.  It has to be.

Aspiring writers sometimes have the feeling that passion will sustain them and give their writing value.  I agree that passion can give heat to your writing, but it cannot give clarity, insight and control.  For these things a writer needs control of written language.  One way to get control of written language is to read good writers and to learn correct spelling, grammar, punctuation and the exact meaning of words.

An interesting thing happens to a writer who is constantly working to master the tools of writing.  The writer is able to think more clearly and understands better what words can do and how to get them to do these things.

A writer must understand the basics of writing.

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Blogging allows the blogger to communicate with the world.

Check out “A Porn Star Is Born” at the top of the page.

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