Latest news with #OnWriting
Times
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
25 years on, Stephen King's memoir is still the best guide for writers
H ow does one become a better writer? There are online courses, writing retreats, even coaches available, but the obvious solution to most literary-minded people is simply to read a book about it. Forget Creative Writing for Dummies, though, the first port of call has been, for the past 25 years, Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. 'His advice is sharp and practical,' John Grisham raves in the front matter of the new 25th anniversary edition. 'If you dream of writing novels, start with this timeless book.' And King does have the credentials to back up his advice. The 77-year-old has written more than 60 novels. The best known are firmly in the horror genre — such as It, The Shining and Carrie — but he has also delved into crime, sci-fi and fantasy. Many of them have been adapted for the big screen and together they've sold over 350 million copies.
Scoop
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
The Beths Announce New Album 'Straight Line Was A Lie' & Release New Single 'No Joy'
The Beths — the Auckland based quartet of vocalist Elizabeth Stokes, guitarist Jonathan Pearce, bassist Benjamin Sinclair, and drummer Tristan Deck — announce their new album, Straight Line Was A Lie —their first for their new label ANTI —out August 29th, and share the new single/video, 'No Joy.' The Beths know the futility of straight lines. Existential vertigo serves as the primary theme on the indie heroes' fourth album. The Beths posit that the only way round is through; that even after going through difficult, transformative experiences, you can still feel as though you've ended up in the same place. It's a bewildering thing, realising that life and personal growth are cyclical and continual. That a chapter doesn't always end with peace and acceptance. That the approach is simply continuing to try, to show up. 'Linear progression is an illusion,' Stokes explains. 'What life really is is maintenance. But you can find meaning in the maintenance.' The path from The Beths' critically celebrated and year-end-list-topping 2022 album Expert In A Dying Field to Straight Line Was A Lie was anything but straightforward. For the first time, Stokes was struggling to write new songs beyond fragments she'd recorded on her phone. She'd recently started taking an SSRI, which on one hand made her feel like she could 'fix' everything broken in her life, from her mental and physical health to fraught family dynamics. At the same time, writing wasn't coming as easily as it had before. ' I was kind of dealing with a new brain, and I feel like I write very instinctually,' she says. ' It was kind of like my instincts were just a little different, they weren't as panicky.' While Stokes felt a huge relief from taking an SSRI, she articulates the emotional trade-offs on today's single, 'No Joy,' which thunders in with Deck's vigorous percussion and drops another classic Beths soundbite: 'This year's gonna kill me/ Gonna kill me.' Ironically, though, the stress Stokes sings about can't touch her, thanks to her pharmaceutical regimen. She wants the feeling back. " It's about anhedonia, which, paradoxically, was there both in the worst parts of depression, and then also when I was feeling pretty numb on my SSRI,' Stokes says. ' It wasn't that I was sad, I was feeling pretty good. It was just that I didn't like the things that I liked. I wasn't getting joy from them. It's very literal.' In writing Straight Line Was A Lie, Stokes and Pearce broke down the typical Beths writing process. For inspiration, they read Stephen King's On Writing, How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner, and Working by Robert A. Caro. Liz broke out a Remington typewriter (a birthday gift from Beths bassist Benjamin Sinclair) every morning for a month, writing 10 pages' worth of material — mostly streams of consciousness. The resulting stack of paper was the primary fodder for an extended writing retreat to Los Angeles between tours, where Stokes and Pearce also leaned heavily into LA's singular creative atmosphere, went to shows, watched Criterion classics from Kurosawa, and listened to Drive-By Truckers, The Go-Go's, and Olivia Rodrigo. Opening themselves up to a wave of creative input, plus Stokes' free-flowing writing routine, proved therapeutic. ' Writing so much down forced me to look at stuff that I didn't want to look at,' Stokes says. ' In the past, in my memories. Things I normally don't like to think about or I'm scared to revisit, I'm putting them down on paper and thinking about them, addressing them.' Already a celebrated lyricist, Stokes has long impressed fans and critics with wryly knowing song titles like 'Future Me Hates Me' and 'Expert In A Dying Field' — catchy, instant-classic turns of phrase that capture the personal and ladder up to the universal. But Stokes' intentional deconstruction and rebuilding of her relationship to writing, however, has resulted in a complete renewal. Her songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability, making Straight Line Was A Lie the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date. Following Liz Stokes's recent, sold–out solo show at Largo in Los Angeles with special guests Roz Hernandez, Courtney Barnett and Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords), The Beths announced a world tour across North America, the UK and Europe this fall. They'll headline some of their biggest venues to date, including The Wiltern in Los Angeles, The Fillmore in San Francisco, The Salt Shed in Chicago, Brooklyn Paramount in New York City, Union Transfer in Philadelphia, 9:30 Club in Washington, DC and more. A full list of dates is below, and tickets are now available here.
Straits Times
28-05-2025
- General
- Straits Times
Why we must save the semicolon from extinction
The utility of this much maligned punctuation mark in contemporary prose has been called into question. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PEXELS Why we must save the semicolon from extinction The utility of this much maligned punctuation mark in contemporary prose has been called into question. A recent study has found a 50 per cent decline in the use of semicolons over the last two decades. The decline accelerates a long-term trend: In 1781, British literature featured a semicolon roughly every 90 words; by 2000, it had fallen to one every 205 words. Today, there is just one semicolon for every 390 words. Further research reported that 67 per cent of British students never or rarely use a semicolon; more than 50 per cent did not know how to use it. Just 11 per cent of respondents described themselves as frequent users. These findings may not be definitive. According to The Guardian, the Google Books Ngram Viewer database, which surveys novels and non-fiction, indicates that semicolon use in English rose by 388 per cent between 1800 and 2006, before falling by 45 per cent over the next 11 years. In 2017, however, it started a gradual recovery, with a 27 per cent rise by 2022. Yet when you put the punctuation mark itself into the database, rather than the word 'semicolon', you get a quite different result – one that looks very much like a steady decline. Virulent detractors The semicolon first appeared in 1494, so it has been around for a long time. So have arguments about it. Its detractors can be quite virulent. It is sometimes taken as a sign of affected elitism. Adrian Mole, the pretentious schoolboy protagonist of Sue Townsend's popular novels, says snobbishly of Barry Kent, the skinhead bully at his school: 'He wouldn't know what a semicolon was if it fell into his beer.' Kurt Vonnegut (whose novels are not entirely free of semicolons) said semicolons represented 'absolutely nothing' and using them just showed that you 'went to college'. Other writers have expressed pure animosity. American journalist James Kilpatrick denounced the semicolon 'girly', 'odious', and the 'most pusillanimous, sissified utterly useless mark of punctuation ever invented'. The utility of this much maligned punctuation mark in contemporary prose has been called into question. British author Ben McIntyre has claimed Stephen King 'wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch with a semicolon'. He obviously has not read page 32 of King's wonderful book On Writing, where King uses semicolons in three sentences in a row. Impeccable balance Before I defend the semicolon, it is worth clarifying what it actually does. Its two uses are as follows: It separates independent clauses, but establishes a relation between them. It suggests that the statements are too closely connected to stand as separate sentences. For example: 'Speech is silver; silence is golden.' It can be used to clarify a complicated list. For example: 'Remember to check your grammar, especially agreement of subjects and verbs; your spelling, especially of tricky words such as 'liaison'; and your punctuation, especially your use of the apostrophe.' Semicolons have long played a prominent role in classic literature. Journalist Amelia Hill notes that Virginia Woolf relies heavily on semicolons in her meditation on time, Mrs Dalloway. The novel includes more than 1,000 of them, often used in unorthodox ways, to capture the flow of its protagonist's thoughts. Other supporters of the semicolon include Salman Rushdie, John Updike, Donna Tartt, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. Novelist Philip Hensher has celebrated the semicolon as 'a cherished tool, elegant and rational'. In 1953, theatre critic Kenneth Tynan called it 'the prize-winning supporting crutch of English prose'. In his essay Semicolons: A Love Story, Ben Dolnick refers to William James' deft use of semicolons to pile on the clauses. He claims this is like saying to a reader, who is already holding one bag of groceries, 'Here, I know it's a lot, but can you take another?' 'The image of the grocery bags,' observed Mary Norris, a highly respected copyeditor at The New Yorker, 'reinforces the idea that semicolons are all about balance.' Harvard professor Louis Menand has praised as 'impeccable' the balancing semicolon on a public service placard (allegedly amended by hand) that exhorted subway riders not to leave their newspapers behind on the train: 'Please put it in a trash can; that's good news for everyone.' The poet Lewis Thomas beautifully captures the elegance of a well-used semicolon in his essay Notes On Punctuation: 'The semicolon tells you there is still some question about the preceding full sentence; something needs to be added. It is almost always a greater pleasure to come across a semicolon than a full stop. The full stop tells you that is that; if you didn't get all the meaning you wanted or expected, you got all the writer intended to parcel out, and now you have to move along. But with a semicolon there you get a pleasant little feeling of expectancy; there is more to come; read on; it will get clearer.' As Australian novelist David Malouf has argued, the semicolon still has a future, and an important function, in nuanced imaginative prose: 'I tend to write longer sentences and use the semicolon so as not to have to break the longer sentences into shorter ones that would suggest things are not connected that I want people to see as connected. Short sentences make for fast reading; often you want slow reading.' We cannot do without the semicolon. The Apostrophe Protection Society is going along very strongly. I would be more than happy to join a Semicolon Supporting Society. Roslyn Petelin is honorary associate professor in writing at The University of Queensland, in Australia. This article was first published in The Conversation. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
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First Post
24-05-2025
- General
- First Post
Do you remember the last time you used a semi-colon? Here's why it is disappearing
A new study has found that use of semicolons has declined by half over the last couple of decades. Once known as the 'prize-winning crutch of English prose, the punctuation mark was used every 90 words, but now has dropped to every 390 words read more A recent study has found a 50 per cent decline in the use of semicolons over the last two decades. Imag for Representation. Pixabay A recent study has found a 50 per cent decline in the use of semicolons over the last two decades. The decline accelerates a longterm trend: In 1781, British literature featured a semicolon roughly every 90 words; by 2000, it had fallen to one every 205 words. Today, there's just one semicolon for every 390 words. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Further research reported that 67 per cent of British students never or rarely use a semicolon; more than 50 per cent did not know how to use it. Just 11 per cent of respondents described themselves as frequent users. These findings may not be definitive. According to the Guardian, the Google Books Ngram Viewer database, which surveys novels and nonfiction, indicates that semicolon use in English rose by 388 per cent between 1800 and 2006, before falling by 45 per cent over the next 11 years. In 2017, however, it started a gradual recovery, with a 27 per cent rise by 2022. Yet when you put the punctuation mark itself into the database, rather than the word 'semicolon', you get a quite different result – one that looks very much like a steady decline. A brief history of semicolons The semicolon first appeared in 1494, so it has been around for a long time. So have arguments about it. Its detractors can be quite virulent. It is sometimes taken as a sign of affected elitism. Adrian Mole, the pretentious schoolboy protagonist of Sue Townsend's popular novels, says snobbishly of Barry Kent, the skinhead bully at his school: 'He wouldn't know what a semicolon was if it fell into his beer.' Kurt Vonnegut (whose novels are not entirely free of semicolons) said semicolons represented 'absolutely nothing' and using them just showed that you 'went to college'. Other writers have expressed pure animosity. American journalist James Kilpatrick denounced the semicolon 'girly', 'odious', and the 'most pusillanimous, sissified utterly useless mark of punctuation ever invented'. The utility of this much-maligned punctuation mark in contemporary prose has been called into question. British author Ben McIntyre has claimed Stephen King 'wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch with a semicolon'. He obviously hasn't read page 32 of King's wonderful book On Writing, where King uses semicolons in three sentences in a row. It's all about the balance Before I defend the semicolon, it is worth clarifying what it actually does. Its two uses are as follows: it separates independent clauses, but establishes a relation between them. It suggests that the statements are too closely connected to stand as separate sentences. For example: 'Speech is silver; silence is golden.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD it can be used to clarify a complicated list. For example: 'Remember to check your grammar, especially agreement of subjects and verbs; your spelling, especially of tricky words such as 'liaison'; and your punctuation, especially your use of the apostrophe.' Semicolons have long played a prominent role in classic literature. Journalist Amelia Hill notes that Virginia Woolf relies heavily on semicolons in her meditation on time, Mrs Dalloway. The novel includes more than 1000 of them, often used in unorthodox ways, to capture the flow of its protagonist's thoughts. Virginia Woolf, semicolon enthusiast. Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons Other supporters of the semicolon include Salman Rushdie, John Updike, Donna Tartt, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. Novelist Philip Hensher has celebrated the semicolon as 'a cherished tool, elegant and rational.' In 1953, theatre critic Kenneth Tynan called it 'the prize-winning supporting crutch of English prose'. In his essay Semicolons: A Love Story, Ben Dolnick refers to William James's deft use of semicolons to pile on the clauses. He claims this is like saying to a reader, who is already holding one bag of groceries, 'Here, I know it's a lot, but can you take another?' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'The image of the grocery bags,' observed Mary Norris, a highly respected copyeditor at the New Yorker, 'reinforces the idea that semicolons are all about balance.' Harvard professor Louis Menand has praised as ' impeccable' the balancing semicolon on a public service placard (allegedly ) that exhorted subway riders not to leave their newspapers behind on the train: 'Please put it in a trash can; that's good news for everyone.' The poet Lewis Thomas beautifully captures the elegance of a well-used semicolon in his essay Notes on Punctuation: The semicolon tells you there is still some question about the preceding full sentence; something needs to be added. It is almost always a greater pleasure to come across a semicolon than a full stop. The full stop tells you that is that; if you didn't get all the meaning you wanted or expected, you got all the writer intended to parcel out and now you have to move along. But with a semicolon there you get a pleasant little feeling of expectancy; there is more to come; read on; it will get clearer. As Australian novelist David Malouf has argued, the semicolon still has a future, and an important function, in nuanced imaginative prose: I tend to write longer sentences and use the semicolon so as not to have to break the longer sentences into shorter ones that would suggest things are not connected that I want people to see as connected. Short sentences make for fast reading; often you want slow reading. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD We cannot do without the semicolon. The Apostrophe Protection Society is going along very strongly. I would be more than happy to join a Semicolon Supporting Society. Roslyn Petelin, Honorary Associate Professor in Writing, The University of Queensland This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Scroll.in
24-05-2025
- General
- Scroll.in
Semicolons are becoming increasingly rare; their disappearance should be resisted
A recent study has found a 50 per cent decline in the use of semicolons over the last two decades. The decline accelerates a longterm trend: In 1781, British literature featured a semicolon roughly every 90 words; by 2000, it had fallen to one every 205 words. Today, there's just one semicolon for every 390 words. Further research reported that 67 per cent of British students never or rarely use a semicolon; more than 50 per cent did not know how to use it. Just 11% of respondents described themselves as frequent users. These findings may not be definitive. According to The Guardian, the Google Books Ngram Viewer database, which surveys novels and nonfiction, indicates that semicolon use in English rose by 388 per cent between 1800 and 2006, before falling by 45 per cent over the next 11 years. In 2017, however, it started a gradual recovery, with a 27 per cent rise by 2022. Yet when you put the punctuation mark itself into the database, rather than the word 'semicolon', you get a quite different result – one that looks very much like a steady decline. Virulent detractors The semicolon first appeared in 1494, so it has been around for a long time. So have arguments about it. Its detractors can be quite virulent. It is sometimes taken as a sign of affected elitism. Adrian Mole, the pretentious schoolboy protagonist of Sue Townsend's popular novels, says snobbishly of Barry Kent, the skinhead bully at his school: 'He wouldn't know what a semicolon was if it fell into his beer.' Kurt Vonnegut (whose novels are not entirely free of semicolons) said semicolons represented 'absolutely nothing' and using them just showed that you 'went to college'. Other writers have expressed pure animosity. American journalist James Kilpatrick denounced the semicolon 'girly', 'odious', and the 'most pusillanimous, sissified utterly useless mark of punctuation ever invented'. The utility of this much maligned punctuation mark in contemporary prose has been called into question. British author Ben McIntyre has claimed Stephen King 'wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch with a semicolon'. He obviously hasn't read page 32 of King's wonderful book On Writing, where King uses semicolons in three sentences in a row. Impeccable balance Before I defend the semicolon, it is worth clarifying what it actually does. Its two uses are as follows: It separates independent clauses, but establishes a relation between them. It suggests that the statements are too closely connected to stand as separate sentences. For example: 'Speech is silver; silence is golden.' It can be used to clarify a complicated list. For example: 'Remember to check your grammar, especially agreement of subjects and verbs; your spelling, especially of tricky words such as 'liaison'; and your punctuation, especially your use of the apostrophe.' Semicolons have long played a prominent role in classic literature. Journalist Amelia Hill notes that Virginia Woolf relies heavily on semicolons in her meditation on time, Mrs Dalloway. The novel includes more than 1000 of them, often used in unorthodox ways, to capture the flow of its protagonist's thoughts. Other supporters of the semicolon include Salman Rushdie, John Updike, Donna Tartt, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. Novelist Philip Hensher has celebrated the semicolon as 'a cherished tool, elegant and rational.' In 1953, theatre critic Kenneth Tynan called it 'the prize-winning supporting crutch of English prose'. In his essay Semicolons: A Love Story, Ben Dolnick refers to William James's deft use of semicolons to pile on the clauses. He claims this is like saying to a reader, who is already holding one bag of groceries, 'Here, I know it's a lot, but can you take another?' 'The image of the grocery bags,' observed Mary Norris, a highly respected copyeditor at the New Yorker, 'reinforces the idea that semicolons are all about balance.' Harvard professor Louis Menand has praised as ' impeccable ' the balancing semicolon on a public service placard (allegedly amended by hand) that exhorted subway riders not to leave their newspapers behind on the train: 'Please put it in a trash can; that's good news for everyone.' The poet Lewis Thomas beautifully captures the elegance of a well-used semicolon in his essay Notes on Punctuation: The semicolon tells you there is still some question about the preceding full sentence; something needs to be added. It is almost always a greater pleasure to come across a semicolon than a full stop. The full stop tells you that is that; if you didn't get all the meaning you wanted or expected, you got all the writer intended to parcel out and now you have to move along. But with a semicolon there you get a pleasant little feeling of expectancy; there is more to come; read on; it will get clearer. As Australian novelist David Malouf has argued, the semicolon still has a future, and an important function, in nuanced imaginative prose: I tend to write longer sentences and use the semicolon so as not to have to break the longer sentences into shorter ones that would suggest things are not connected that I want people to see as connected. Short sentences make for fast reading; often you want slow reading. We cannot do without the semicolon. The Apostrophe Protection Society is going along very strongly. I would be more than happy to join a Semicolon Supporting Society.
