Good morning,
It’s difficult to
write an introduction to a newsletter on September 11 – one feels tempted to try
to say something grand or conciliatory, for writing is (isn’t it?) a political act. But suffice to say that by expressing
anything honestly at all we are doing something better for ourselves, our
people, our world.
Elisabeth
PROCESS: ACTIVE VOICE
Forgive me while I turn English teacher for a moment. According to
Strunk & White’s Elements of Style,
one of the best-known writing guides, “The active voice is usually more direct
and vigorous than the passive.” Passive
verbs (defined as any form of the verb “to be” and including: is, am, are, was,
were, be, been, being) are perfect when the subject is a passive subject, such
as “We were patient prisoners.” But when the subject is doing something
(anything at all!) active verbs help that “doing” along. Compare:
“The dog bit me.” (active – the
subject, dog, is doing something)
“I was bitten by the dog.” (passive
– the subject, I, is doing nothing, while the object, dog, gets to bite)
Try this: Choose an older piece of writing and scan it
for passive verbs. Change five of these “to be” verbs into more interesting
active verbs.
FEATURED VENUE: AGNI
AGNI, an established literary journal with an exciting history,
publishes work in several genres (fiction, essays, reviews, poetry) in addition
to work in many languages. Offering both a print and an online component, AGNI has a reputation for publishing
important writers (writers we’ve all heard of) early in their careers (before
we’ve heard of them).
Submission guidelines here: http://www.bu.edu/agni/submit.html
PROMPT
“It was the strangest story I’d ever heard.” (10min)
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