Getting the 'Write' start!

Advantages: fun and educational
Disadvantages: none

...My four and a half year old daughter is just at that age where she is starting to be fascinated by writing. She can now write her own name and a few important words like 'mummy' and 'daddy'! Most of all though, she just loves to 'write' her own stories which can go on for pages and pages. For people who don't know any better, they might just think these are just squiggles on the page but don't be fooled for a minute! As far as my daughter is concerned this is real writing! For Christmas she was given a writestart kit which is actually going to help her with the mechanics of writing and should hopefully help her a lot when she starts school after Easter. The kit contains a 24 page wipe clean book, a mark on/ wipe off pen, a triangular pen grip, a cloth and some dinosaur stickers! The booklet is spiral bound and all the pages are quite...

kingfisher111 05.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Living and Learning WriteStart

Light up your desk or not

Advantages: Can move the light into any position
Disadvantages: Gets way to hot

...Just before Christmas I brought myself I new desk for my computer and I decided that I would also get myself a lamp for the desk as I only had the main light of the room, so I had a look round and found this one, it looked ideal. ~Product~ It is an adjustable lamp. You have the option of moving 3 different parts of the lamp. At the top you have the head which you can move up and down or from side to side depending where you want the light to shine, you as have a metal stick that comes out of the head so you can move the head to where you want it. Then you have the mid section, this part just goes up and down so you can adjust the height of the lamp, which again I found very helpful. Then you have the bottom section this you can move round 360 degrees to suit you, so you have the light exactly how you want it. It came with a GU...

Maxlarndison 20.03.2007 · Read review
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Review of GU10 Desk Lamp

On Writing

Advantages: There are worlds inside you you that you can lose yourself in, and they're wonderful places to visit.
Disadvantages: There's a lot more work and effort involved than anybody who hasn't been through the process can appreciate.

...There's a popular saying that everyone has a novel in them. What's less popular is the notion that many of these masterpieces should stay there. Of course, that's overly harsh to those many people who are writing purely for their own pleasure. These folk should relax, get on with it, get the most out of it, and enjoy themselves. No problem there. For everyone who wishes to write professionally, producing novels to unleash upon the unsuspecting public, this op may or may not be useful. A lot of what I see written about novels, and how to write them, makes me squirm, so forgive me if I seem a little critical here. Many people forget that writing is a craft, and it takes years to get really good at it. I wouldn't expect to be a neurosurgeon without a fairly comprehensive training period. Don't expect to be a novelist...

RichardW 17.02.2001 · Read review
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Review of Writing novels

Write a bestseller

Advantages: Fulfilling, fun
Disadvantages: Possibly no return

...I’m not a published novelist (yet!), so it has taken me a while to pluck up the courage to write in this category. First my qualifications for doing so – I have written for a living (in PR), I have done creative writing courses, I was an only child with few friends and an over-active imagination, I have written a children’s book which has been favourably assessed by a publisher and I have been taken on as a prospective author by that publisher (they like to commission books rather than take them on spec., and they are going to commission me). So here are my – amateur – tips on writing a novel. READING Check any author’s biography and you will quickly see that they read a lot, and advise would-be writers to read, read and read some more. The recent television documentary/interview with J...

MichelleScott 11.01.2002 · Read review
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Review of Writing novels

Writing a review on what?

Advantages: See text.
Disadvantages: See text.

...I have been a member on Ciao now for quite some time, and in this time I have seen many different authors -or should I say, many different styles of writing. There have been many reviews on writing a review, as well as themany comments and ratings that people give in the process. However, I would just like to write one now on the new layout of the writing page processes. I wasn't a huge fan of it at first because of the change, but now that it has been here for a while I have grown increasingly fond of it. Once you have found the name of whatsoever it is that you wish to write a review on, you then have to click on the button marked 'Write a Review' - this then takes you to the relevant page. You will then see the page laid out in the following manner: (the top of the page from where you begin is marked up start here) My...

dynamicnurse 22.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Member feedback on Write a Review

A Writer Writes About Writing

Advantages: Interesting ideas; range of literary references
Disadvantages: Mainly for writers of fiction and poetry

...Having read and been so impressed by several of Margaret Atwoods works of fiction, I imagined that a book written by her about the art or activity of writing would prove to be an interesting read. As explained in the introduction and prologue to the book, the chapters here are based on the Empson Lectures given by the writer at the University of Cambridge in the year 2000. Chapter 1, entitled Who do you think you are? is mainly autobiographical, tracing Atwood's early years from her birth in Ottawa in 1939 up until her undergraduate student days at Victoria College, the University of Toronto. I found it an enjoyable read that eased me into the book, as I learned how Atwood and her brother whiled away the hours taking turns at storytelling, and how she became an avid reader of everything from Edgar Allan Poe and Jane Austen to True...

denella 26.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing - Margaret Atwood

A Step In The Write Direction?

Advantages: Simpler single page design which has pics on same page, auto-saving
Disadvantages: Sliders not necessary, ill-thought comments on writing, no disabling auto-save

...February 11th 2009 saw the introduction of an 'improved' new page for writing reviews on Ciao. As if publishing a review wasn't easy enough already previously, a simplified single-page design ('How to write' and 'How to format' links open in new window) allows for product pictures to be uploaded on the same page. Then there's the auto saving every few minutes (no disabling it unfortunately) for those that don't prepare their reviews offline. With regards to switching the drop down menus for the sliders in the specific criteria this still seems to be a work in progress, but if anything, it's unnecessary work they've given themselves since it's not really an improvement as such. Also the odd option here and there seems to have been lost in transition. Ciao knows not what qualifies for a quality review and this is showing in the comments...

scream4bruce 20.03.2009 · Read review
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Review of Member feedback on Write a Review

Writing Speculatively

Advantages: Entertaining, extremely useful
Disadvantages: The publishing advice aimed at Americans

...How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy was published in 1990 by Orson Scott Card. Card is an American sci-fi and fantasy author probably best known for his story Ender's Game. The advice in the book is based on his own experiences and he clearly knows something because he's written numerous novels and been very successful as a writer. This book is an excellent guide for those who wish to write stories in the science fiction and fantasy genres. This book was my first encounter with Card's work. It was given to me as a Christmas present a few years ago, and I came to the conclusion that if he could write a 'how to' book this interesting, I should try his fiction. The book is intended for those writing speculative fiction (a different term for 'science fiction and fantasy'). While it includes some general information...

87degrees 04.10.2006 · Read review
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Review of How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy - Orson Scott Card

A few (hopefully) helpful hints on this review writing lark

Advantages: Seems to work for me
Disadvantages: Might not for you

...Having spent a few years away from the site I thought that I?d lost the Ciao bug, but once more I find myself regularly writing reviews about all my favourite and most loathed products. Once more I?m struggling to find the balance between information and opinion and now I?m going to share my opinion of how I try to write ?good? reviews. The first thing I do is make sure that I?ve really had experience of using whatever it is that I?m going to review. I recently got a new mobile phone, but I refused to even put finger to keyboard until I?d used it for over a month. I don?t think a day or even a week is long enough to have found any niggles in a product like this, in fact the longer you?ve owned and used something like a phone, computer, DVD player or the such before reviewing them the better. It?s the same with a shop, I wouldn?t think...

sandemp 08.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of How to write opinions

A few tips for play writing

Advantages: a very flexiable medium
Disadvantages: Numerous practical limitations

...Play writing is quite unlike any other form of creative or functional writing, and moving into it is surprisingly difficult. At school, we are introduced to story writing and probably a bit of poetry. The odds are you will be at least moderately advanced in years before you look at play writing. Don't be surprised then if it doesn't come easily. As with all things literary, one of the best ways to learn is to read the work of others. I would strongly recommend a combination of reading plays and seeing the same ones performed on the stage. The production of a play is a collaboration between writer, director and performers but by the time you reach that point, you have little say and the script is at the mercy of others. You need to convey your intentions well, or take the risk that your work will be 'radically reinterpreted." No...

Bryn_Pearson 19.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of Writing plays