talkmagic.co.uk

From Paper to Brain...

well, dont hog it Mr. Chelman, light it up and then pass it around...

you could always close your eyes, describe what you see and have your phone recording it all...then transcribe it that way...

thing is though, everyone has their own writing style/voice - so how to structure and lay it out is difficult to advise on...

you can also look at peoples work that you enjoyed, and see how they lay out their work...you like cassidy dont you? see how he does it, then follow the same rules...

IAIN wrote:everyone has their own writing style/voice

Writers can have more than one 'voice', though, and professional ones have to. They choose the most appropriate according to the intended readership. For example, if you wrote an article for Computer Arts magazine you'd be expected to use a quite different tone than if you wrote for something more high-brow. Or for the CBeebies website.

Copying a style is dodgy, I reckon, but not because of the often-used "copying is evil" ethos found on this forum (I refer to copying style, not stealing content from Bittorrent). It is bad news because you can easily come across as an inferior knock-off of the person you are copying. Say you wrote a book about Mentalism in the style of Docc Hilford. It would be obvious, unnatural and to my mind would put those people off who had read some of Docc's stuff.

My advice would be to consider your readership first and bend your words accordingly. And then get someone to edit the work. I edited a Mentalism book recently that was written by an excellent and popular author and let's just say that it benefited from a second pair of eyes.

ah - i wasnt saying copy their style, i meant copy how they structure their work...do they tell you what gimmicks are needed first, or do they just hit you with what the spectators see, then the reveal?

that kinda thing...

wasnt saying "copy someone's writing style"!

Fairie, it's well worth knowing that there are a few recognised structures for a piece of writing, depending on what it is. The standard ones for magazine writing might light your candles and spark your imagination because writing up an effect is a little like writing a feature article. In fact, using a structure people aren't used to seeing in a magic book might be more interesting to read and make people like your work more. Take Naked Mentalism, for example. I showed the development of my use of priming and of the Naked Book Test. You deliberately get to see what's going on "under the hood" to understand why the principles work rather than simply being presented as finished effects.

Here's a clip from Google Books of my favourite book on magazine writing (The Magazine Article by Jacobi) giving some information on standard structures: http://tinyurl.com/ya3q8am Also grab yourself a cuppa and have a look at the chapter beginning on page 78, especially the examples on page 79 and 80. You clearly don't need clever language to get your point across - no one does. One or two loquacious and obfuscated posters to TM could do with remembering that when they next try to strangle language.

And finally, here's George Orwell's advice to writers, from his 1946 essay Politics and the English Language. It's as true now as it's always been:

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Never use the passive where you can use the active.

Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

And remember that along with people like Iain, Dale and Paul, who are successfully publishing work on their own terms, there's a professional magazine editor, a professional proofreader and a working freelance writer contributing to this thread. You can certainly send me what you have if you get stuck or need some fresh eyeballs to look over what you've written.

Tomo wrote:Fairie, it's well worth knowing that there are a few recognised structures for a piece of writing, depending on what it is. The standard ones for magazine writing might light your candles and spark your imagination because writing up an effect is a little like writing a feature article. In fact, using a structure people aren't used to seeing in a magic book might be more interesting to read and make people like your work more. Take Naked Mentalism, for example. I showed the development of my use of priming and of the Naked Book Test. You deliberately get to see what's going on "under the hood" to understand why the principles work rather than simply being presented as finished effects.

Here's a clip from Google Books of my favourite book on magazine writing (The Magazine Article by Jacobi) giving some information on standard structures: http://tinyurl.com/ya3q8am Also grab yourself a cuppa and have a look at the chapter beginning on page 78, especially the examples on page 79 and 80. You clearly don't need clever language to get your point across - no one does. One or two loquacious and obfuscated posters to TM could do with remembering that when they next try to strangle language.

And finally, here's George Orwell's advice to writers, from his 1946 essay Politics and the English Language. It's as true now as it's always been:

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Never use the passive where you can use the active.

Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

And remember that along with people like Iain, Dale and Paul, who are successfully publishing work on their own terms, there's a professional magazine editor, a professional proofreader and a working freelance writer contributing to this thread. You can certainly send me what you have if you get stuck or need some fresh eyeballs to look over what you've written.

Me Do Magik.

the Curator wrote:Me Do Magik.

I maked you sum magic but I eated it. Lolz.

EDIT: could "lol magi" be a new internet meme like "lol cats"?

Tomo wrote:

the Curator wrote:Me Do Magik.

I maked you sum magic but I eated it. Lolz.

EDIT: could "lol magi" be a new internet meme like "lol cats"?

Can haz TT?

Tomo wrote:And remember that along with people like Iain, Dale and Paul, who are successfully publishing work on their own terms, there's a professional magazine editor, a professional proofreader and a working freelance writer contributing to this thread. You can certainly send me what you have if you get stuck or need some fresh eyeballs to look over what you've written.

I know and you are all adorable and have helped me with this or that in the past and i have been and am grateful for you all... x

F x

Tomo wrote:
And remember that along with people like Iain, Dale and Paul, who are successfully publishing work on their own terms, there's a professional magazine editor, a professional proofreader and a working freelance writer contributing to this thread. You can certainly send me what you have if you get stuck or need some fresh eyeballs to look over what you've written.

And a Belgian...

Tomo wrote:And remember that along with people like Iain, Dale and Paul, who are successfully publishing work on their own terms, there's a professional magazine editor, a professional proofreader and a working freelance writer contributing to this thread. You can certainly send me what you have if you get stuck or need some fresh eyeballs to look over what you've written.

And I am around too.

the Curator wrote:And a Belgian...

And a Belgian. Absolutely.

Tomo wrote:

the Curator wrote:And a Belgian...

And a Belgian. Absolutely.

Never forget the Belgians...

the Curator wrote:Never forget the Belgians...

Indeed. My favourite painter, Rene Magritte, was a Belgian.

I think Stuart Hall said it best. I've no time to find the appropriate YouTube clip, but I'm thinking "It's a Knockout" will bear some fruit.