golge011/writing

"Uyurun Laneti" adlı öyküm Gazete Odtülü'de. Modern Fantastik seviyorsanız bir bakmanızı tavsiye ederim :)

From Guardian:"Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who captured the absurdity of war and questioned the advances of science in darkly humorous works such as ``Slaughterhouse-Five'' and ``Cat's Cradle,'' died Wednesday. He was 84.

Vonnegut, who often marveled that he had lived so long despite his lifelong smoking habit, had suffered brain injuries after a fall at his Manhattan home weeks ago, said his wife, photographer Jill Krementz. "

From the page: "They are the Rodney Dangerfields of the publishing industry: Readers love them, but critics give them no respect.

Variously called popular or mass-market or genre fiction, such books sell by the truckloads but are rarely reviewed in newspapers and magazines. Yet recent research by Romance Writers of America shows romance novels make up about 40 percent of the $1.2 billion in sales of popular fiction, with mystery/thrillers close behind at nearly 30 percent. Science fiction is another major component of this market.

At the recent annual meeting of the National Book Critics Circle at the New School in New York City, which preceded the organization's 2007 awards announcements March 8, a panel of writers and reviewers tackled the issue at a discussion called "The Mandarin at the Minimart: What We Talk About When We Talk About Mass Market Fiction.""

İstanbul'da geçen büyülü bir hikaye.

Sayfadan: "Topkapı sarayının altında loş bir büroda çalışıyordum. Harem dairesinin altında az kişinin bildiği bir yer altı deposunda 3 numaralı odadaydım. Üniformamın boğazı sıkıyordu, karşı masada oturan binbaşı olmasaydı kravatımı gevşetirdim. Yanındaki üsteğmen hanım geldiklerinden beri ne bir kelime laf söylemişti ne de oturduğundan beri hareket etmişti. Kimin önce konuşmaya başlaması gerektiğine emin değildim. Eğitimde böyle bir durumda ne yapmam gerektiği öğretilmemişti. Üç aydır çaycı Tarık dışında kimse odama gelmemişti. Onu çağırıp çay söylesem askeri protokole ters mi olurdu bilmiyordum."

From the page: "George expressed a strong dislike of totalitarian governments in his work, but he was also passionate defender of good writing. Thus, you may want to hear some of George%u2019s writing tips.*

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:

1. What am I trying to say?
2. What words will express it?
3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

And he will probably ask himself two more:

1. Could I put it more shortly?
2. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

* From %u201CPolitics and the English Language%u201D by George Orwell."

From the page: "Wasted day. Wasted life. Dessert, please.
- Steven Meretzky"