101a Introduction to Writing & Publishing

Writing Techniques & Tips

If you want to enter the world of writing and publishing in the digital age download a free trial of DeskTop Author then go to Publish and Sell Your E-book. 

offers the following video series for viewing free online!

Literary Visions

Literary Visions Video Series  (24x30") 

A video instructional series on literary analysis for college and high school classrooms and adult learners; 24 half-hour video programs and coordinated books

Noted critics, authors, scholars, and actors enliven this exploration of literature and literary analysis. Dramatizations, readings, and discussions build skills in critical thinking and writing. Illuminating excerpts of short fiction, poetry, plays, and essays — both classic and contemporary — highlight standard literary forms and devices including plot, myth, setting, and character. This series can also be used as a resource for teacher professional development.   Produced by Intelecom & Maryland Public Television, 1992.

 1. First Sight: An Introduction to Literature
This overview introduces the course content and approach.

2. Ways of Seeing: Responding to Literature
A focus on critical approaches to literature is presented by the scholars who will appear throughout the series. This program also previews selected dramatic scenes from upcoming programs and excerpts from the author interviews that highlight the series.

3. A Personal View: The Art of the Essay
A documentary segment traces the development of the formal essay and the birth of printing technology and their impact on the growth of political democracy. An interview with essayist Willie Morris focuses on the informal essay.

4. Reflected Worlds: The Elements of Short Fiction
A dramatization of Frank O'Connor's "First Confession" and an interview with Ernest Gaines demonstrate the elements of fiction.

5. The Story's Blueprint: Plot and Structure in Short Fiction
A dramatization of Stephen Crane's "The Blue Hotel" exemplifies the relationship of plot, structure, and conflict.

6. Telling Their Tales: Character in Short Fiction
Techniques of characterization and the importance of point of view become clear in a dramatization of Tillie Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing."

7. In That Time and Place: Setting and Character in Short Fiction
Setting reveals character in Susan Glaspell's "A Jury of Her Peers" while it magnifies meaning for contemporary short story writer Stephen Dixon. Both authors appear in the program.

8. The Author's Voice: Tone and Style in Short Fiction
An interview with Maxine Hong Kingston highlights this examination of the impact of style on meaning.

9. Suggested Meanings: Symbolism and Allegory in Short Fiction
Symbolism is prominent in a dramatization of D. H. Lawrence's "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," while myth predominates in the work of Native American writer N. Scott Momaday, who is interviewed.

10. The Sum of Its Parts: Theme in Short Fiction
Multiple themes are uncovered in "Everyday Use," a dramatization of Alice Walker's short story.

11. The Sacred Words: The Elements of Poetry
The role of poetry for the individual and the culture is suggested through visual essays. An interview with James Dickey includes his reading and analysis of his poems "The Performance" and "The Lifeguard."

12. A Sense of Place: Setting and Character in Poetry
The historical settings of "My Last Duchess," "Theme for English B," and "Dover Beach" convey much about the characters and ideas of these poems. The New England landscapes of Maxine Kumin echo the themes of her poetry.

13. Tools of the Trade: Words and Images in Poetry
Poetry readings, visualizations of poems, and an interview with Lucille Clifton, who reads two of her favorite poems, "This Morning" and "Homage to My Hips," reveal the beauty and the workings of poetic language and imagery.

14. Seeing Anew: Rhetorical Figures in Poetry
The power of metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech becomes clear through dramatizations of Anne Bradstreet's "The Author to Her Book," Nikki Giovanni's "Woman," and Daniel Halpern's "Snapshot of Hue." Gary Soto is interviewed and reads and comments on his poem "Oranges."

15. An Echo to the Sense: Prosody and Form in Poetry
X. J. Kennedy discusses and demonstrates the importance of rhyme and meter in his poetry. Dramatic readings of poems by Shakespeare, Dickinson, and Hopkins and contemporary poets like Dudley Randall and Leonard Adame are analyzed to show how prosody and form contribute to meaning.

16. Distant Voices: Myth, Symbolism, and Allusion in Poetry
Four poetic versions of the Icarus myth — those of Sexton, Spender, Williams, and Field — are dramatized and compared. Marge Piercy discusses the role of myth in her poetry.

17. Artful Resonance: Theme in Poetry
Dramatizations of six poems that share the same subject help clarify the difference between subject and theme. Close analysis of poems by John Donne and Donald Hall explore the interrelationship between poetic form and meaning.

18. Playing the Part: Characters and Actors in Drama
The development of dramatic character, by playwright and by actor, is illustrated through several interpretations of a single scene from Hamlet and an interview with Shakespearean actor John Vickery.

19. Patterns of Action: Plot and Conflict in Drama
A dramatization of Oedipus Rex demonstrates the classical plot structure. Dramatist A. R. Gurney discusses conflict and plot in contemporary American theater.

20. Perspectives on Illusion: Setting and Staging in Drama
An interview with set designer Chris Barecca and a documentary overview of types of theaters demonstrate the intertwining of text and technique in dramatic setting.

21. The Vision Quest: Myth and Symbolism in Drama
Alaskan playwright David Hunsaker's dramatizations of Eskimo myth and his productions of Eskimo translations of Greek tragedies, together with scenes from Oedipus Rex, demonstrate the enduring power and meaning of myth in drama.

22. A Frame for Meaning: Theme in Drama
Dramatist David H. Hwang discusses the themes and structure of his plays, which include M. Butterfly. Scholars consider thematic interpretations inherent in the production of a single act of Hamlet.

23. Casting Long Shadows: The Power of Literature
This summary of major course themes reviews the impact of literature on the individual through excerpts of series dramatizations and interviews.

24. Continuing Vision: The Uses of Literature
This program explores the impact of literature on the society and culture in the past and present. It then looks into the future to see what forms literature may take and to assess its possible influence on society.

Also view programs on demand at  Web site or on the Annenberg Channel

 when on the Annenberg web site.

If you want to enter the world of writing and publishing in the digital age download a free trial of DeskTop Author then go to Publish and Sell Your E-book. 

The following videos available for free online viewing on the Annenberg web site are also of interest to writers:

 Conversations in Literature

Conversations in Literature Video Series  (8x60")

Conversations in Literature Web Site

In this video workshop, teachers, academics, and authors gather as a “community of readers,” immersing themselves in classic and contemporary literature from Hamlet to works by Langston Hughes, James Dickey, and Alice Walker. These participants, led by Dr. Judith Langer, model the habits of effective readers in an approach known as “envisionment building.” The readers develop interpretations by stepping into and moving through the text using their own unique perspectives. Develop your own reading community using these video programs with coordinated Web site and print guide, and learn how intuition, background experiences, and personal involvement construct meaning for readers. Return to the classroom with inspiration to guide your students toward engaging with literature in the same way. Produced by Maryland Public Television. 2002.

 Workshop 1. Responding As Readers

In this session, the audience meets the readers in this workshop — including Dr. Langer — and their varied literary backgrounds. Dr. Langer introduces the major concepts of her work in understanding the processes through which effective readers interact with literary texts.

Workshop 2. Envisioning

Dr. Langer explains the four vantage points that effective readers take as they build “envisionments,” and the research process through which she identified them. She explains how each vantage point, or “stance” — being outside and stepping into an envisionment, being in and moving through an envisionment, stepping out and rethinking what one knows, and stepping out and objectifying the experience — contributes to an evolving and expansive understanding of the text. The stances are demonstrated as the readers discuss Gary Soto’s poem “Oranges.”

Workshop 3. Stepping In

In a discussion of James Dickey’s “The Lifeguard” and Frank O’Connor’s “First Confession,” the group talks about their impressions, intuitions, and hunches that help them gather information as they first enter a text. They also talk through sticking points when the information they encounter in the text fragments their envisionments, and demonstrate how they work collectively to rebuild them. Throughout, Dr. Langer clarifies and explains content and suggests ways to apply techniques in the classroom.

Workshop 4. Moving Through

In this session, the community of readers shows how they create an envisionment as they are in and moving through a text, a time of great personal involvement in the action and character motivation. The group works with two texts, Cathy Song’s poem “Lost Sister” and Stephen Dixon’s short story “All Gone,” building on their initial impressions to examine motives, feelings, causes, interrelationships, and interactions as they create a more complete envisionment of these texts. At this point in their reading, the community steps inside each text virtually, living through it as it unfolds.

Workshop 5. Rethinking

The group demonstrates another important vantage point that competent readers adopt: that of stepping outside the text and using what they find there to rethink what they know. As they discuss Shakespeare’s Hamlet, they plumb the familial relationships included in the text to find points of congruence between the text and their own lives, and lessons they can take away from this examination. Dr. Langer stresses that, while not all texts speak explicitly to readers in this way, seeking the places where one’s life intersects with the lessons of literature is important for all readers.

Workshop 6. Objectifying the Text

This session showcases the reader as critic, as the readers step out of the text to reflect on what it all means, how it works, and why. From this stance, the readers look at Alice Walker’s “Revolutionary Petunias” and Langston Hughes’s “Theme for English B” to examine the authors’ craft, the structure of the text and its various literary elements, and the choice of language. Dr. Langer reminds readers of the importance of personal evaluation of the text and encourages teachers of readers to include the techniques explored here in their classrooms.

Workshop 7. The Stances in Action

This session shows how readers move into and out of each of the stances as they build their envisionments. This program serves as a model of effective reading habits for the viewer, focusing on two extended discussions as the onscreen readers individually and collectively enter and become immersed in their reading, and step back and reflect on its lessons. Viewers will learn to discern the various stances used and how they can influence work with students.

Workshop 8. Returning to the Classroom

In the concluding session, the readers in this community talk about the ways in which these processes can affect the language arts classroom, sharing their success stories. The audience is also given the opportunity to eavesdrop on classrooms throughout the country to see how teachers can encourage their students to become active and involved readers, creating rich and complex envisionments as they interact with literature.

If you want to enter the world of writing and publishing in the digital age download a free trial of DeskTop Author then go to Publish and Sell Your E-book. 

SOFTWARE

BOOKS

Inspiration & Motivation

Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Language & Reference

Sub-title of book above is Guide to Library & Internet Research

Specific Writing Techniques

Non-Fiction

Link above is MS Guide to Writing about Computers

Fiction

g g