how can the practice of professional writers inform ... · how can the practice of professional...
TRANSCRIPT
How can the practice of professional writers inform academic writing?
Inspire, HEA Conference, 3 March 2016
Trevor Day & Katie Grant, Royal Literary Fund
Royal Literary Fund
British charity founded 1790
Promoting and supporting writers of high literary merit
Royal Literary Fund
In recent decades benefiting from the literary
estates of historically important writers e.g.
Somerset Maugham A.A. Milne
readtoleadtoday.org
Educational impact
RLF Writing Fellows
Scheme started in 1999
Established writers of literary merit & appropriate attitude & aptitude
One-to-one tutoring of HE students & staff
A ‘free’ offer to universities complementing existing provision
Currently 80 Fellowships across more than 50 universities
RLF Consultant Fellows
Scheme begun in 2013
RLF Writing Fellows with an aptitude for group work
Intensive one-year training
Offer interventions such as: essay-writing workshops; writing for
non-academic audiences; raising your academic publication profile;
immersives and retreats
Complementing in-house provision
Collaborating with HE partners: writing, facilitation, research and
development
Trevor Day
Katie Grant
'a subversive and thrilling gothic tale, it will keep you up all night’ The New York Times
What do novelists and academic writers have in common?
Writing is … emotional, can be lonely, needs clarity, needs a plan, needs a voice, needs momentum, needs a READER
Helen Sword (2009)
Express complex ideas clearly and succinctly
With originality, imagination and creative flair
Convey enthusiasm, commitment and a strong sense of self
Tap into a wide range of intellectual interests
Avoid excessive jargon
Employ plenty of concrete examples and illustrations
Demonstrate care for their readers
Tell a good story
Effective and engaging academic writers
(survey results)
Who or what is the protagonist?
Narrative … • theme of each paragraph? • use of rhetoric (ethos, pathos, logos)?
• use of traditional narratives? three-act model (character/idea in zone of comfort; challenged; resolution)
seven-part story line (the protagonist’s ordinary life; inciting incident; course of action; turning point; low point; final challenge; return to normal but the protagonist changed forever)
• points of tension, and how and if they are resolved?
Why bother? Who cares?
How to Win Friends and Influence People …
• what is the writer doing in the first paragraph?
• what effect does he want to create?
• what words/phrases would you pick out as clues to what he’s doing in the first paragraph?
• same questions for second, third and fourth paragraphs
empathy, interest, authority, information
impact information interest tension clarity momentum
energy enjoyment vigour empathy distinctiveness authority
Contact us
Trevor Day
[email protected] https://rlfconsultants.com/consultants/trevor-day/
Katie Grant
[email protected] https://rlfconsultants.com/consultants/katie-grant/
Consultant Fellows’ Programme https://rlfconsultants.com
Selected references Booker, C. (2004). The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. Bloomsbury. Day, T. (2013). Success in Academic Writing. Palgrave Macmillan. Grant. K. (2014). Sedition. Virago. McKee, R. (1998). Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. Methuen. Phillips, M.A. and Huntley, C. (2004). Dramatica: A New Theory of Story. Write Brothers. Pinker, S. (2014). The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. Penguin. Sword, H. (2009). ‘Writing Higher Education Differently: a Manifesto on Style.’ Studies in Higher Education, 34(3): 319–336. Sword, H. (2012). Stylish Academic Writing. Harvard University Press. Whitchurch, C. (2008). ‘Shifting identities and blurring boundaries: The emergence of third space professionals in UK higher education.’ Higher Education Quarterly, 62(4): 377–396.