#miniassignment

Overcoming Writers Block

Within the article featured on ‘Flavorwire’, a highlight of ’13 famous writers’ advice, offers different view points on what writers block is to them and how they have tackled it. It is important to understand your unique problem and seek for some diagnostics from each of these writers to find a solution that works for you. The following is what I feel can personally help me write and I have brushed over the points that I find discouraging.

A tip I first came across when watching the film Ruby Sparks (A film about a man with writer’s block) is… Just write, even if it’s shit, write. Emphasised in the article by Anne Lamott and Maya Angelou, eventually you’ll get into a rhythm of things and you can go back after to edit, but you can’t edit or progress if you don’t get anything onto the page. Your first piece of writing doesn’t have to be gold, it just has to exist, the process has to exist.

To better refine this writing process, if you can’t even write a single thing about what you want to write about, then take time to write a few hundred words of your memories or dreams or thoughts about something you feel passionate about. Use this exercise daily to create a habit of writing, and eventually you’ll feel more at ease and unconsciously want to write more and more.

However, if you know you’re already able to write, and find yourself writing a story or article and suddenly come to a halt then perhaps Ray Bradbury’s piece of advice is for you. Ray Bradbury has expressed that if you can’t write about a particular subject, then you’re not passionate about it, you’re not enjoying it and if you want to pursue something you enjoy doing, then do that instead of putting yourself through the stress and struggle. “I don’t write things to benefit the world. If it happens that they do, swell! I didn’t set out to do that. I set out to have a hell of a lot of fun.”

Perhaps you struggle with who you might be aiming the writing for. If it’s work, personally I have noticed that I’m trying to conform to particular rules and it’s far outside of my norm. I’m not following my natural and independent way of speaking. John Steinbeck may be the golden nugget I’ve been mining for “Pretend that you’re writing not to your editor or to an audience or to a readership, but to someone close, like your sister, or your mother, or someone that you like.” Perhaps it has been the fear of what an academic might think of my writing that has held me at bay, but when writing to family or friends I don’t fear such things, and can talk and write to no end, albeit often nonsense.

Try breaking down task at hand into smaller, more manageable pieces. There is a constant battle between conscious and subconscious thought, and by breaking things down, you’re finding a middle ground resolution between the two. Take time out between these tasks to do something inspirational and fun as a reward to your conscious level.

These are the solutions I have chosen for myself to put to use, as an amateur writer who has always struggled putting pen to paper I cannot offer anything more. Hopefully this advice has been the answer. Appropriately I have adhered to many of the advice that I have just read and written to help me with this piece, and to my joyous surprise I have ended up writing far more easily than I could have imagined.

Enhancing Print for the Web

Readers will often find it difficult to hold focus on long articles when looking on the web, a comprehensive study about the gaze pattern of online content concluded that users predominantly scan an F shape. This means two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe, our eyes scan for the headlines first to see what is of interest to them.

Online speed over substance has overruled, with such social media platforms as Facebook and Twitter, our minds are encouraged to scout for the most enticing headlines, so the more controversial the headline, the more likely the reader is to continue reading.

One way which might be good would be to break up the article into different pages, and on each page have a small chunk of writing with an appropriate photograph. Another study has taken place that concludes putting information with a picture increases its believability.

The understanding of the importance of reading and research is a key skill being developed throughout the literature reviews and mini assignments. All the knowledge is out there and written in unambiguous, concise texts, and should be recognised that it is easily attained off the back of the students.

Delayed Gratification is one of the more inspirational publications introduced, the well thought out and clear info-graphics highlighting the most important stories and how they developed is halfway like reading a novel.

To further enhance the experience, easier access to a multiple of obscure publications would be desirable. Perhaps there should be an emphasis on really breaking down magazines to better understand the process in which they come together. Much like film students must break down films to understand them, journalism students should do the same with publications.

VOTER APATHY AMONG YOUTH; IS EDUCATION TO BLAME?

According to a poll carried out by YouGov last year, a surprising 60 per cent of 3.3 million first-time voters said they would not participate in this years General Elections on 7th May 2015. Why are such a large number of votes going to waste?

The last UK general election saw a surprising 65.1 per cent average turnout, although an improvement from the record low in 2001, 59.4 per cent, these numbers have slowly been declining since 1950, which saw an 83.9 per cent vote.

Many of the young first-time voters interviewed complained “One voice doesn’t matter, you need a collective group to make a difference” and “Most people stay with who they know, never give new parties a chance”. When asked what they knew about the parties policies were, they responded with “I’m not sure, I have little involvement with politics”

Bethany, a current primary school teacher, believes an informed electorate is the key to a strong democracy; “We should implement the education of politics as early as possible so our children understand how and who to vote for in the future” Without such education people grow to become apathetic and misinformed about politics. However, Bethany’s peers argue that “it is the parents duty to inform their own children” and worry that its unfair to force politics in school fearing it would be boring.

The British Social Attitudes Survey revealed that 60 per cent of britons claim to be working class, so how can parents be enthusiastic about politics with their children if they were raised the same way?

Hello [Commissioning editor],

As a nightlife and event photographer, I follow a lot of forums and chats with others alike, and feel like a concise dedicated publication to those in my field would be a niche success.

There’s an abundance of club photographers spanning the UK alone, but this magazine could cross waters as a worldwide publication. There’s a real passion that resonates within the community, and a biannual mag showcasing peoples works, containing guides, relatable ‘banter’, and upcoming events is sure to become a hit.

The City Talking

The City Talking is a free monthly newspaper published for Leeds.

The paper consists of stories from within the city and will interview appropriate restaurants, artists, musicians, and just generally interesting people.

The overall tone is very upbeat and intends to inspirational and resonate love for the people in the city.

A headline will often be a quote from within the story as most of the features are interviews, because of this it is atypical to find a standfirst.

A majority of pages are images that are representative of the interviewee.

An example of headline for my article in this newspaper would be…

“WHEN THE SUN KISSED THE HORIZON, OUR ACHES WERE FORGOTTEN”

Not much information is revealed about the story and should arouse the curiosity of the audience to read on.

GQ Magazine

GQ Magazine is aimed specifically at men aged 18-35, and will often include a successful male celebrity endorsement to entice readership.

The colour scheme consists of masculine colours, as a well as a sophisticated black and white consistency throughout for writing.

My article could fit into this magazine as a fitness tip piece as well as a potential ‘shocking’ story, an example of headline would be:

“A POWER GUIDE TO WALKING LONG DISTANCE”

National Geographic Magazine

Being one of the most well known wildlife and nature magazines the audience for NatGeo is non gender specific and aimed at an older generation 40-50-year-olds, however the content can appeal to a much broader audience. The features cover very specific, yet broadly interesting topics, written with as much factual basis as possible.

House style and page design consists of considerably high quality photography work covering the vast amount of pages printed on high quality glossy paper stock and perfectly bound.

Although the stories featured are about much more challenging feats (An example, peaking Everest in winter conditions) than my article offers, an example of my headline would be:

“HOW A GRUELLING WALK CAN ALTER YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE”

Metro Newspaper

The audience for metro newspaper are ‘urbanites’ a particular group of people who live or work in cities, the news exposes stories of worldwide politic interest and uplifting viral stories. 

Like the majority of daily newspapers it consists of poor paper-stock and because it’s free it’s riddled with advertisements to upkeep its production. Black and white print, and some colour photographs typical of tabloids.

My story could easily find itself in this publication, and an example headline would be: