Author Archives: sdgibson
GASCAP
There are at least six ways of effectively linking evidence and claims. Richard Fulkerson’s Teaching the Argument in Writinghas a chapter devoted to them. They are argument for a Generalization, from Analogy and Sign, Causal arguments, and arguments from Authority … Continue reading
Concession in the wild
From Atul Gawande’s compelling essay “Hellhole” in the 30 March 09 New Yorker: The main argument for using long-term isolation in prisons is that it provides discipline and prevents violence. When inmates refuse to follow the rules—when they escape, deal … Continue reading
Revising openings
Never underestimate your opening. From the always excellent Metro: Journeys in Writing Creatively,this exercise suggests eight useful options for you to consider as you revise. Remember that while the most important opening begins your draft (whether novel, novella, or story), each chapter … Continue reading
Global revision and characterization
First, an example of global revision. Barry Hughart’s Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was was published in 1984. Here’s a brief excerpt. Also available online, a PDF of the first draft. What do you notice when … Continue reading
Annotated bibliographies and rhetorical strategies
Consider these three examples of how the first sentences of an annotated bibliography can address a source’s use of rhetorical strategies: Crucial to Spunk & Bite’s persuasiveness is Plotnik’s ethos as a friendly iconoclast, which he begins to establish with … Continue reading
Abraham Lincoln
Adam Gopnik’s “Angles and Ages” is an excellent essay about influences on Lincoln’s language and how his language has since influenced our culture.
IVY LEAGUE REVISION
If you know the source of these links and this commentary, please let me know so I can offer proper attribution. Harvard’s set of revision tips: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/Revising.html An original <moderately amusing> contribution from Harvard: the “Backward Outline.” Check it out. … Continue reading
Freaknest
I finished Lance Olsen’s Freaknestlast week. Very interesting. It’s easy to call it experimental speculative fiction. It takes place, for example, in a future full of astonishingly Godish technology that doesn’t seem to have solved a single enduring human problem. … Continue reading
Chapter strategies
“Four Approaches to the Chapter” by Paul Graham and Mary Atwell from the Writer’s Chronicle suggests interesting strategies for chapters. As writers move from a rough to revised draft, they have an opportunity to use these and other strategies while building … Continue reading
The Behavior Book and The American Woman’s Home
An important way to increase your understanding of a text is understand its historical and discursive contexts. By historical contexts, I mean answers to questions like what sorts of events were taking place around the time the text was being … Continue reading
Metaphor by Metaphor 