Basic Writing Refresher: Fill & Download for Free

Without knowing your personal preferences and taste, it’s difficult to recommend you anything specific, but I’d recommend following the Yen Press, which seems to be a good resource to be in the know of what’s the latest trends in manga.Reading your question in detail, you seem to be particularly frustrated by Marvel and DC refactoring their content. I, too, used to be a Marvel fan but recently began to realize they’re basically writing the same story over and over with a different hero in each one. The lack of new ideas and the lack of new ideals really bother me. I’ve recently created my online graphic novel, SURPASS. I recommend you to check it out. I update rather infrequently, but I hope this will at least give you a refreshing breeze of entertainment.

Well, I’ve written 10 or so books non-fiction under my name and fiction using a another name (and secret). I have only four suggestions. The most important is to read good stuff. Not the crap that passes for much fiction these days, but writing that everyone agrees is distinguished. (EB White, Wm James, almost anything in the New Yorker). I prefer non-fiction for that even when I’m working on a short story or novel. Read and read a lot. You’ll pick up some lessons even if you don’t know you have. I rarely get stuck when writing but when I do I stop writing and read - I usually read several hours a day anyway, but when this happens I read a lot more. When I go back to writing after a day or so, I feel refreshed.Write and write and write. Rewrite and rewrite. Some of us are slow writers and some fast. In my case my first drafts are usually only ok at best, often somewhat incoherent, and I rewrite. I’m guessing at least 20 drafts before I’m more or less satisfied. I actually envy folks who can turn out great first drafts but I can’t. But even when I’m not sure where I’m going I still write. I may spend a day writing basically unfocused crap, and I end up discarding almost all of it; but after an exercise that seems pointless I find that the next day I’m back on track . Why I don’t know.I must say that word processors have had both good and bad effects. The good is that it’s easy to write and then clean up. The bad part is that at least for me, first drafts are generally less coherent now. My first book (and it was a large one) was written entirely on yellow pads. I then gave the drafts to someone to type and I had to pay for this. I was not then and still am not a touch typist so it was quicker for me to write longhand than try a typewriter. I had little money and used most of the advance paying typists, so I was very careful in what I wrote in my first draft. Sometimes would pause a half minute or so and think through the next sentence. Now I just pour out the words so first drafts are generally a lot less coherent now than then,.A corollary to that is that you should write every day. And it probably helps to write at the same times. I’ve had the luxury of having big hunks of time available to me and when I do I write, I find that setting goals works for me. You might want to set a goal of so many words or pages. If that works fine. In my case I record the time I spend doing everything during the day in 15 minute increments. When you do that it’s amazing how much time you waste. And I set a goal. Maybe 30 hours writing a week, maybe more, maybe less depending on what other obligations I may have. And if I meet my goal I get a reward, say a new CD. I learned that strategy from Fred Skinner - he used a chess clock but I prefer to use paper and pencil, perhaps a program or app at this point.This may sound like awful. But it’s necessary to have discipline. If you love writing you look forward to it. If you don’t then you shouldn’t be trying. Of course, there are times when writing feels like a burden, but I at least generally looked forward to it.Finally read the stuff you write. Read it aloud. Obviously the ways we speak are quite different than they ways we write, but I’ve always found that speaking my writing reveals awkward and sometime unclear passages.If it sounds stilted or silly when you say it, it will scan the same when someone reads it. Generally writing should be crisp.When I was a college freshman I got placed in a special English course that required a lot of writing. Naturally I thought I was already the best writer ever — that’s what my high school teachers had told me. When I got my first paper back it was marked up in blue ink (the professor had been a former copy editor), and at the bottom of the last page he had written. “You have a lot to learn about writing the English language, Mr. Schneider, Grade D”. After checking out whether it was too late to transfer to another university I buckled down. I certainly improved, and I think he (a Mr Harvey who subsequently was a friend of sorts) taught me a lot about writing. But then as I indicated earlier I read good stuff — college professors generally don’t assign crap. Mr Harvey had a lot of rules most of which I have abandoned, but one stuck with me. No sentence should be longer than 15 words, and every sentence could be improved by deleting one or more words. Now that’s crisp. I generally do write longer sentences than what he recommended, but I do find that pruning almost always improves flow.There are some other mechanical tricks. With professional books, I kept abstracts of all the papers I wanted to cover close at hand. Some people use outlines but they never have worked for me. Maybe they would for you. With most fiction you have to keep track of the characters. I usually kept a bunch of index cars, one for each character, and noted what chapters they had appeared in and a brief description of why, maybe dates or times. That works for me. A good editor or copy editor will find inconsistencies, but it’s always good to have it down pretty much first.These things help me. Every writer has a different method. Just find something that works. Just write and write and write, and if you’re diligent and disciplined you’ll find your own rules. But to repeat nothing improves writing more than reading good writing.

I’m a 10 years CCP member, I don’t feel much different from normal Chinese people. The major differences are:Party membership dues are 2% of my salary.Every half year, we need to write a short summary about our political thought. Such as what we have learnt from recent political events, do we have new understanding about Communist.Criticism and self-criticism. We will organize some offline sync, to discuss about Socialism, Communist and Capitalism; and refresh our understanding.Basically I’m proud to be a member of CCP. I think most members are nice people, and open minded.