Commonplace
  • Home
  • About Us
  • News
  • On Writing
  • Photo Albums
    • Flashback 2018
    • Flashback 2017
    • Flashbacks 2016
    • Flashbacks 2015
    • Flashbacks 2014
    • Flashbacks 2013
    • Flashbacks 2012
    • Flashbacks 2011
    • Flashbacks 2010
    • Flashbacks 2009
    • Flashbacks 2008
  • Thesis Resources
  • Archived
    • Archived Blog
  • Blog

Commonplace

"Commonplaces are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. Such books are essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas. Commonplaces are used by readers, writers, students, and scholars as an aid for remembering useful concepts or facts they have learned. Each commonplace book is unique to its creator's particular interests." -Wikipedia-

"Where Do Sentences Come From?"

2/21/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
Same place that ideas come from, of course: Schenectady. (That's what science fiction writer Harlan Ellison used to say whenever anyone asked him where he got his ideas.)

Essayist Verlyn Klinkenborg has a more erudite and complicated answer about the origins of sentences in this New York Times "Draft" column:

Now try turning a thought into a sentence. This is harder than it seems because first you have to find a thought. They may seem scarce because nothing in your education has suggested that your thoughts are worth paying attention to. Again and again I see in students, no matter how sophisticated they are, a fear of the dark, cavernous place called the mind. They turn to it as though it were a mailbox. They take a quick peek, find it empty and walk away.
 Klinkenborg offers a few notions about how to become more comfortable with that scary dark place so that you can turn your interesting thoughts into interesting sentences. (Note: The New York Times has a paywall, but you can read a certain number of articles for free each month, so choose wisely. "Draft" is usually worthy of your clicks.)
1 Comment
Lisa
2/28/2013 06:35:47 am

This is certainly helpful across genres.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Steven | Alan, daz smith, kkimpel, mikecogh, Cecily Michelle, ralph and jenny, dennis, kate*, Kim-Leng, mrstg, rearl, fr4dd
  • Home
  • About Us
  • News
  • On Writing
  • Photo Albums
    • Flashback 2018
    • Flashback 2017
    • Flashbacks 2016
    • Flashbacks 2015
    • Flashbacks 2014
    • Flashbacks 2013
    • Flashbacks 2012
    • Flashbacks 2011
    • Flashbacks 2010
    • Flashbacks 2009
    • Flashbacks 2008
  • Thesis Resources
  • Archived
    • Archived Blog
  • Blog