Cloud^’s Tips for Anime Journalists: The RD2k2 Method
For lack of nothing better to post, here are some tips for newbie anime journalists with or without the anime part.
1. Shift+F7 is not a literary technique. Sheesh! You don’t really think that using the MS Word thesaurus just so you can insert a high-sounding word every few sentences will make your work look better do you? The only time you should ever rely on the theseaurus is if you need to reuse a certain word without sounding redundant.
2. Gawd! Please stop being so high-faluten! Higher and more complex words all have appropriate connotations and they can make your work look better only if you know how to use them, but they can also highlight your amateur style if you don’t (especially if your work contains obvious grammatical errors).
3. Punctuation don’t mean nothin. Well… actually it does matter, but there’s no need to be anal-retentive. Good punctuation helps make your work more readable and that’s that. We’re not native-speaking westerners y’know.
4. Never be afraid to use simple words. In fact, using the simplest word possible often makes your work look more appealing and less awkward to the common reader.
5. Be Organized. Spontaneity is good but you must still use some level of organization if you’re going to keep your reader’s attention. So if you’re going to be chaotic about your work, make sure that its totally organized chaos. (like your generic kung-fu movie)
6. Get your own freakin style! Don’t be a copying machine and try to imitate someone else’s style of writing. A writer’s work should be the reflection of his soul so don’t be a soul stealer you vampire! Just write what you feel in the words that you feel most comfortable with (That’s YOUR style in case you didn’t know).
That’s all I can think of for now. Hope this helps you make more memorable pieces… and I’m hoping you’ll submit some of your works so I can feature them in http://animerd2k2.freewebsites.com ne? ne?
Covert verbal abuse is so uniquely satisfying…aaaah!
