Submitted by Suraya Dewing on Thursday 13 August 2015
World Skills New Zealand
Up-date Number 5
Daily up-dates on the World Skills New Zealand (WSNZ) team’s experience as representatives of 15 trades at the World Skills competitions in Sao Paulo. Seventy four countries are competing in 49 skill categories.
World Skills New Zealand
Up-date Number 5
A tour of the facilities
Submitted by Suraya Dewing on Monday 10 August 2015
From August 6-19 Suraya is travelling to Brazil, with her husband Bruce, to the world competition for Trades Apprentices (Worldskills NZ). Bruce Howat is the CEO and Suraya Dewing is reposnible for press coverage of the event.
Competiors have to be no older than twenty three years old when they enter.
Each day, as part of this trip Suraya is posting daily reports for Worldskills New Zealand which they are distributing through their media and social media networks. These will also be posted on The Story Mint's social media and website.
Submitted by Suraya Dewing on Wednesday 5 August 2015
I am enjoying working with our writers from India. There are many reasons for this. I remember how I was when I started…when I thought writing was easy, until I tried to give it to other people to read and they told me truthfully, what they thought of it.
I recall some very painful moments throughout that process. But they were turning points. They made me work on my writing until I feel confident that what I write is worth reading.
Submitted by Ray Stone on Friday 31 July 2015
I just finished a re-edit of one of my books and was given some sound advice on a whole list of things that agents are looking for in order to reject your work. Don’t get me wrong. They are still looking for that book that will be a gem. It is much easier, though, to look for pet hates. If they’re there, it normally means a one liner rejection note.
So what is it they are looking for on the hate list? I’ll pick a few.
Ever heard of a writer’s crutch?
Submitted by Suraya Dewing on Thursday 30 July 2015
I was working with a writer this week and I asked him to add details to a character so that it became more recognisable. I often find that writers assume we know their character simply through what they say.
Submitted by Suraya Dewing on Thursday 23 July 2015
Submitted by Suraya Dewing on Wednesday 15 July 2015
Does every story need to be neatly tied up with every loose end accounted for? In her blog ‘Loose ends in a story’, KM Weiland talks about this and it makes very good reading.
It also set me to thinking about my own storytelling. The serials have taught me to write more open ended stories. As I pondered the question of whether all stories need to be neatly tied up, I realised they do not. Life does not come in neatly tied packages, so why should stories?
Submitted by Suraya Dewing on Wednesday 8 July 2015
One thing the serials reveal immediately is change in tense. If one chapter is in the past tense and the next in present it stands out and causes the reader to pause to figure out what is going on. It can be quite confusing.
We all have writing challenges. Mine is where to put the commas. Other people try too hard to be clever instead of letting the story tell itself. Others struggle with tense.
Submitted by Suraya Dewing on Friday 26 June 2015
The EDTech for Export one day conference at Te Papa, Wellington, was the first gathering I have been to where every speaker said something that was relevant to what we are doing at The Story Mint. The content was engaging and inspiring. There are some remarkable people exploring ways to make education relevant to students and using these solutions around the world. It is truly exciting.
Submitted by Suraya Dewing on Friday 19 June 2015
Metro (a popular NZ magazine) editor, Simon Wilson, recently produced an excellent list of tips for writers.
There are some that are stand out must do’s in my view so, while the reader of this blog can go to the list through the hyperlink provided, I would like to choose some that stood out for me and explain why they resonate with me.
Pages
