Posted on 04 September 2016 - 01:19 PM

@Morsinius
Out of curiosity, how old are you?

Posted on 04 September 2016 - 01:23 PM

Kinda like what cringecake said, but tips on using more precise language? I want to sound a lot more mature when I need to.

Last edited on 05 September 2016 - 03:34 PM by Morsinius

When I first decided to start putting effort into the way I wrote, I had the newspaper and journal style in mind (mainly Wall Street Journal and NYTimes, all I ever read). I'd always wanted to be able to write in that fashion: something I'd considered fluent and rhythmic. I still admire these journalists' ability to condense so many ideas in a small sentence.

Take a look at some of these examples I pulled off of WSJ's front page:
"Unconventional policy in the immediate wake of the financial crisis undoubtedly helped to boost confidence in markets. But the longer such policy persists, the less confidence it inspires."
"Turkey’s military has flushed Islamic State from its 60-mile foothold along the Syrian border after launching a second front against the jihadist group over the weekend."
"The bottoms of the infinity-edge swimming pools are plated in 24-carat gold, while the raised pool decks are set with an Egyptian limestone with cooling qualities, to prevent scorching your feet on a sweltering Gulf day."

See what I mean? I'd say that third sentence implemented the concept best, having eloquently illustrated a vivid scene through precise and descriptive language. As I set out to adopt that sense of tone and style, I took note of what made sentences like those so great:
- they were often longer
- they condensed a greater amount of concepts into a single sentence
- they were not redundant, as every word would contribute to the sentence
- they never use passive language
- they often described nouns with appositives, non-restrictive phrases, and introductory phrases

Of course, I didn't physically write down all that, and nor did I really research what these phrases were called. They're just things you'll begin to recognize and take advantage of the more you write!



But eventually, I got to a point where I figured adding something of my own wouldn't hurt. I began concentrating on removing restrictions from the way I wrote; I started using em dashes more, stopped repeating nouns and adjectives I'd already used before in a paragraph, connected sentences I thought fit together with a semicolon, and got bored of the English language's limited vocabulary. Beyond that, I had a larger goal in mind: to use my lingual and musical skills as often as possible. To tame my boredom, I began to exploit the language to really make my writing something I could be satisfied with.

In order to do that, I had to first expand my own vocabulary. I pulled out old medical dictionaries, thesauruses, rhyme websites and occasionally generated lists on http://listofrandomwords.com/ to look for words that sounded nice and tried my best to learn them. And I don't mean garbage words like "enterobiasis" and "cirrostratus," but neato words like "epistle" and "fipple." It's all about what sounds right!


There you go!!

I was talking to lab recently and he slipped me a little something that I didn't realize before: I don't think in words, but rather in sounds.


Simple alliteration


This was almost progressive alliteration if I continued with /tr/ sounds and perhaps added some /r/ sounds at the end




So in the end it’s all about finding your own style based on what you like, but if you’re into the nonsense I like to write, try following my progression.


In order to sound mature, I think you can just follow a lot of what I said to cringie, but also keep in mind that maturity is most often reflected in how well you understand concepts, and that writing style is only there to reinforce what’s there.

Posted on 05 September 2016 - 03:37 PM

16

Posted on 06 September 2016 - 09:45 AM

@lmBlitz @cringiecake
Another thing to note is a good balance of shorter and longer words is usually effective in storytelling if that's what you're doing. It can sound strange in some conversations, so whatever you do, make sure it sounds good. Wordsmithing isn't about following rules, it's about utilising methods and intuition to create phrases and sentences that are structurally appealing.

Posted on 06 September 2016 - 10:16 AM

Thank you so much to Morsinius for making this thread. It's probably one of my favourite threads on the Badlion network.

One more question; Why did you change your name to Ifiritsa (if that's how you spell it)?

Posted on 06 September 2016 - 11:32 AM

How do you check skype??

Last edited on 06 September 2016 - 07:40 PM by McNerdx

Tutorial on administrating a Minecraft server? Preferably step-by-step with illustrations.

Posted on 10 September 2016 - 02:54 AM

@Morsinius I ain't lettin dis shit die

Posted on 10 September 2016 - 12:28 PM

Don't advertise a fake version of yourself in your application
Focus on your better qualities instead of your drawbacks
If you want to talk about your drawbacks, don't justify yourself
Be honest and get your message across

These tips aren't exclusive to your badlion application as they can also be used for all of those neat open-ended interviews, forms, and applications you're going to come across later in your life

Posted on 10 September 2016 - 12:49 PM

i'm really really bad with procrastination too and i still have a long way to go with getting rid of it but i've noticed that there are a few things that really help:
- take interest in your assignment as way to motivate yourself
- set hourly quotas with your tasks and punish yourself (not physically, but take away a luxury you find essential to your well-being) if you fail to meet it
- alternatively, reward yourself for doing the assignment within a certain amount of time

Posted on 10 September 2016 - 01:23 PM

Automatically Deleted

Posted on 20 September 2016 - 09:03 AM

Any tips to make friends and boost my self esteem?

Posted on 20 September 2016 - 12:25 PM

I'd like to know, too!

I want all the details!

How about you put it in the seven languages you claim to know fluently?

Posted on 20 September 2016 - 02:10 PM

Count me in as well! The people want answers!

Posted on 21 September 2016 - 12:33 AM

Why did you change your name to Ifitrisia?