L.G. Estrella's Blog, page 64

Public Speaking Can Be Hard

When I was a university student, I remember being part of a group that had to deliver a presentation. Each member of the group (there were three of us) would have to talk for at least five minutes. We would get two scores: one for our group as a whole and another for our individual performance. I can only assume that the group grade was there to encourage us to help each other instead of focusing only on our part of the presentation.

One of the members of my group was a boisterous, outgoing Au...

The Importance of Internal Consistency

In psychological testing, internal consistency refers to how well items on a particular test measure the same construct. In principle, items that purport to measure the same construct should strongly correlate to each other. We can make use of a similar idea when writing fiction.

A story is made up of multiple components, and it has internal consistency when all of these components operate and abide by the rules and logic that govern the world the story is set in. In other words, internal cons...

Proofreading and Editing

Proofreading and editing are skills that all writers should try to develop. Of course, there are people who specialise in these areas, but it never hurts if a writer is able to do some – perhaps even all – of that work.

However, not all kinds of proofreading and editing are the same. Throughout this and subsequent discussions, I will be distinguishing between three main forms of proofreading and editing:

Copyediting
Compositional editing
Conceptual editing

What separates each of these forms of edi...

Good Dentists Are Worth Their Weight In Gold

I had a dental appointment today to have a filling put in on one of my right upper molars. It’s been years since I’ve had a filling put in, and I’m generally quite fastidious about taking care of my teeth. That said, I have had problems in the past when it comes to dental care, problems that led to my being somewhat anxious in the lead up to today’s appointment.

As a child, I was dropped on my head on more than one occasion. Indeed, it seems to have been something of a sport amongst my relativ...

Some Thoughts On Writing Humour

I’m quite fond of including humour in the stories that I write. That’s not to say that everything I write is supposed to be funny. Indeed, I think it’s a good idea to learn how to write both humorous things and serious things. But a lot can be gained from knowing how and when to adopt a more light-hearted approach.

But how can you make humour work in a story? There isn’t any one answer – and humour is such a subjective thing – but here are some of my thoughts on the matter.

There are multiple w...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! May 2015 be a wonderful year for all of you.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, everybody.

It’s been an interesting year. There have been twists and turns, knee surgeries and meddlesome neighbourhood cats. Oh, and the Spurs won a championship.

I hope you’ve all had a great year, and I hope you all have a great year next year. May your Christmas be a warm and loving one and may you spend it with your friends, family, and loved ones. Give them all a hug and a smile and try to avoid excessive consumption of eggnog.

Merry Christmas.

P. S. Keep an eye out for tha...

MMA Gloves Are Not The Same As Boxing Gloves

One of the most common mistakes I see people make in MMA is to try to cover up using their gloves. Standard MMA gloves are simply not large enough to effectively cover up with, particularly against the varied striking allowed in MMA.

Even if both hands are brought up to cover the head, too much of the head is left exposed due to the small size and lack of padding on MMA gloves, relative to boxing gloves. Furthermore, MMA allows knees and kicks – strikes which are not allowed in boxing.

If the g...

Addition and Subtraction

One of the hardest things about writing is identifying when you need to add material and when you need subtract material. Even small additions or subtractions can make a very big difference to the overall success of a piece of writing. Here are a few tips to help you decide whether you need to add or subtract some material.

Purpose Matters

Every piece of writing has a purpose. For an essay, it might be making a particular point about a subject. For a chapter in a story, it might be covering an...

Getting Started

One of the hardest parts of writing is getting started. It’s not unusual for people to get stuck on getting started. Here are a few things that might make getting started easier for you:

You don’t have to start at the beginning.Although a finished story is made up of a sequence of events, stories are rarely put together right from the start. Instead, it’s quite common for stories to develop around particular scenes or pieces of dialogue. It’s okay to pick one of these pivotal moments and start...