Posts Tagged ‘arts’

Does Each Element of Your Story Further The Theme

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Creative Writing Tips -

Whichever theme you choose, all the elements, which make up your story, dialogue, conflict, scenes, etc should be written with the theme in mind.

Your theme should progress the story.

If you find that anything in your story doesn’t progress it, it should be cut when you are in the editing stage.

Before we see an example of elements written with a theme in mind, let’s think of a theme and a story.

The theme is

‘Arrogance Leads To Humiliation’

Very briefly, this story is about a character that believes he is better than his colleagues.

His goal is to get promoted to a managerial position. What will prevent him from reaching his goal, is the fact that management are aware of his arrogance and they don’t believe, with his attitude, he is the right person to manage the staff.

To meet his goal, the character will take on more work than he can handle. He will do this to prove to management, that he is the right man for the job. But in the end, he will make a grave error and his arrogance will lead him to humiliation.

Now let’s take a look at the elements of this story

Dialogue

The character’s dialogue will show his arrogance, by the tone of his voice and the words he chooses to express himself.

Characterization

I will show my character is arrogant by the way I describe him and from how other characters see him.

Motivations

I will explain what makes him think he is better than everyone else.

Goal

I will state his goal and show how it arises from the fact that he believes himself better than everyone else.

Setting

The setting is going to be in an office environment. I can show his arrogance through the setting by perhaps describing the contents of his desk (trophies) and his desk area in general (diplomas on the walls.) etc.

Conflict

The conflict will come from himself. He is the one that creates it by doing and saying things, which create dislike.

Climax

The climax is the highest point in my story where the conflict and his arrogance will come to their peak. Here we will see how he tries to overcome the conflict and reach his goal by taking on more work.

Ending

I will end my story with my character’s humiliation. He takes on more work and makes an error in judgement. Which not only prevents his promotion but also gets him fired.

My theme here would have run its course.

Does each element of your story further your theme?

About The Author

Besides his passion for writing, Nick Vernon runs an online gift site where you will find gift information, articles and readers’ funny stories. Visit http://www.we-recommend.com

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Writing Hit Songs

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

There are a lot of factors to writing a hit song. First, you should focus on writing a good song. Once you’ve done that, you are not far away from writing a hit.

Like most other things in life, it takes persistence, patience, drive, knowledge, belief and maybe some luck.

Stop and think about your favorite songs. Really analyze them and figure out what it is that you like about those songs.

Different factors may come to play here. Maybe it is the good beat, lyrics that hit home, a beautiful melody, something spiritual or patriotic, or maybe even that it is humorous.

If you include one of these elements in your songwriting you are well on your way. If you combine two or more of these elements, you may have yourself a hit.

A Good Beat

Rhythm is important in music. I have to laugh and think of Jerry Van Dyke on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” years ago trying to play the banjo and sing, “I’ve got rhy-rhy-thm, I’ve got mah-mah-music…”

But, unless you are very funny like Jerry Van Dyke, your audience is not very likely to stay with you.

Your music not only needs to have a good beat, but must fit the genre of music you are trying to write. A Metallica beat in a George Strait type song may not get you very far. A song with a good enough beat might be a hit even with no melody and no lyrics. Remember “Green Onions?”

Along with the beat is the tempo. Country music is easy to write (I did not say it is easy to write well) because it is about people’s lives and everyday experiences. However, too often people write slow songs for country music, when in fact the industry is starving for upbeat country material like “Country Roads” and “Rocky Top.” It is much harder to write a good up-tempo country song than it is a tear jerker.

Lyrics in popular music can range from broken relationships to political issues, and just about any point in between. Those that tend to be the most popular are about situations you and I may encounter in our everyday lives; “Workin’ 9 To 5,” “I Just Called To Say I Love You,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “God Bless The USA” (which ingeniously incorporates spiritual, political and patriotic views).

A beautiful or interesting melody can get you into the ranks of hit songwriter with no lyrics required. Going back in time to prove a point about beautiful melodies, you might consider songs like “Last Date” and “Sleepwalk.”

Songs with great melody lines are very easy to be found in many hit TV show themes like “Peter Gunn,” “Hawaii 5-0,” along with many of the 60’s surfer songs like “Wipe Out.”

Well done humorous songs usually find an audience, such as Ray Stevens “The Streak,” and Jerry Reeds “She Got The Goldmine, I Got The Shaft.” If you have a knack for both humor and music, you might make a fortune.

Spiritual and patriotic songs, if they are well done and come out at the right time, are easy hits. Every time the U.S. gets involved in any type of world conflict, the songwriters get their pens out.

Keep your ears and eyes open, and keep a shoe box to put your ideas for songs in. Every time you think of an idea for a song or a song title, write it down and drop it in the box. It could be your first, or your next, big hit.

Michael Russell
MgrCentral.com
Established 2001
Home Business Training and Information Guides

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Writing Personal Statements – Top Tips

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

WRITING THE PERSONAL STATEMENT TO GET INTO UK UNIVERSITY

HOW DO YOU DO IT?

And the only way to do that has been largely ignored or is unknown by most students.

The failure of the vast majority of students to get admission to their chosen university is one of the great unpublicised stories of our time.

Why do they fail?

Because they think in their terms and do not consider the reader: the admission officer.

They don’t even know they are doing it.

But THAT is why they fail.

IN THIS ARTICLE

.

  1. SECRETS TO SUCCESS

  2. MAKING A POWERFUL FIRST IMPRESSION

  3. AVOID AMBIGUITY

  4. MAKING A PROFESSIONAL IMPRESSION

SECRETS TO SUCCESS

Your first aim is to make sure that your personal statement gets read; start with a powerful selling point that catches the admission officer’s eye. Admission officers usually give each personal statement a quick scan before picking the best for a more thorough reading.

Your personal statement must therefore clearly show the most perfunctory reader what you have to offer.

This means that your words need to be short and punchy. See http://www.getintouni.com for examples.

MAKING A POWERFUL FIRST IMPRESSION

The first and main section of your personal statement will almost certainly be a career and achievements, as this is the crucial area that shows that you can do the course on offer. Within each paragraph of your personal statement, put details of your most impressive or relevant achievements at the top of each section.

Always end your personal statement on a high note so that you leave the reader with a final positive image of you as they put the personal statement down. Make sure you describe yourself in a way that does you justice:

  • Give evidence supporting your claims

  • Quantify your achievements

  • Show that you are a high performer in the most important aspects related to your course

  • Use clear and positive language

AVOID AMBIGUITY

Phases such as ‘I supported the change process’ or ‘I assisted with financial planning for the company’ leave the admission officer none the wiser as to what you were actually doing. Make it clear what your contribution was. For example:

‘..The position involved analysing past financial performance to identify areas for future improvement and preparing budgets to ensure sound financial planning’

MAKING A PROFESSIONAL IMPRESSION

Your personal statement should have a highly professional image.

  • Be clear and easy to read

  • Draw attention to the most important points

  • Be attractive and professionally presented – utilise the online UCAS form!

Your personal statement is crucial to your application. Planning your personal statement is therefore your fist step to success. Gain competitive advantage and order the best editing service on the web.

Our qualified professional writers will edit your statement to perfection – ensuring your application gets noticed. We recognise that you are unique and, therefore, you will receive customised advice from your personal writer. Increase your chances today!

Wishing you great success,

About The Author

Elaine

FREE personal statement samples? Sign up for our newsletter visit http://www.getintouni.com

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Can Your Theme Be Proved In Your Story

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

Creative Writing Tips -

Your theme has to be something you can prove in your story – It doesn’t have to be a universal truth. This means that your theme doesn’t have to be something that happens in real life all the time (providing our logic can accept it, in order for us to believe it).

Whatever story you choose to write, be it a contemporary or a story which requires elements of fantasy such as in horror, science fiction etc the events of that story have to appear logical.

What is not logical and consequently not believable is

A character that has no knowledge of computers and overnight becomes a computer whiz

A car that goes over a cliff, bursts into flames and the character manages to escape unscratched

Etc

These are not believable because they can’t and don’t happen in real life and our logic doesn’t accept them.

Your theme will be believed when you prove it (providing of course you can.) Let’s see how you can do that.

We’ll start with a theme

“Hard work leads to success.’

Our story is about a character whose goal is to reach a managerial position within the company that he works. For the reader to see how the character will reach his goal I will show him

  • Working hard

  • Working long hours

  • Using his initiative

  • Being responsible

And all those qualities, in the end, will secure him the promotion he has been aiming for.

So my theme here will be proved that ‘Hard work leads to success’ because my character succeeds in the end.

>From the examples I have given so far, you may have noticed that my stories end on a happy note. Yours don’t have to. The ending will depend on the story you are writing and how you, the writer, prefers to end it.

I could have done the reverse with this theme. I could have said,

“Hard work doesn’t lead to success.”

My story will be the same but in the end I will have the character missing out on the promotion. Both themes will be proved because I have proved them in my story.

Any theme can work in a story providing you can prove it.

Have you proved your theme?

About The Author

Besides his passion for writing, Nick Vernon runs an online gift site where you will find gift information, articles and readers’ funny stories. Visit http://www.we-recommend.com

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The Spectre Hound

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

And a dreadful thing from the cliff did spring,

and its wild bark thrill’d around,

His eyes had the glow of the fires below,

’twas the form of the spectre hound

One of the most chilling omens of death in English folklore is the large, spectral demon dog called Black Shuck. A death omen comes to collect souls and if you have the misfortune to see Black Shuck – expect death to come within a year.

Ghostly Black Dogs are distinguished from normal flesh and blood black dogs by their large yellow or red glowing eyes (sometimes only one), and their ability to appear out of thin air, or into and out of the ground. The demon dog is about the size of a calf and sometimes even appears headless !

When the Black Shuck comes to claim his victims his bone-chilling howls can be heard rising above the wind. His feet make no sound, but people can feel his hot breath on their necks.

A common place to see the Black Dog is at a boundary. He lurks where people move from one locality to another, roads, footpaths, old trackways, bridges, crossroads, gates, doors, stairs and corridors. He can be seen near graveyards and barrows, along Leylines, and running down Corpse Ways or Spirit Paths. Folklore tells us that these ancient paths used to run to churches and spirits would travel along them from graveyard to graveyard.

In the 1890s, a teenage boy rescued from the North Sea told how he had been forced to swim further and further from the shore by a huge dog that chased him through the waters, its teeth gnashing at his neck and shoulders. In the 1920s and 30s, fishermen off Sheringham told of hearing the hound’s howling on stormy nights. And as recently as the 1970s, he was seen pounding over the beach at Yarmouth.

Black Shuck is not confined to Norfolk. Another location is along the Sussex Downs with its old burial mounds, once the principal means of travel before the weald was cleared of its inpenetrable forest. And once, on a summer afternoon in 1577, he made a fateful trip across the border into Suffolk and attacked the congregation of St Mary’s Church in Bungay. As the dreadful dog flew from the church, sated with blood, he is said to have left deep scorch marks on the door.

In 1933 the door was cleaned and burn marks were there for all to see. They remain there to this day.

There are many names for this terrifying visitor. Galleytrot, Shug Monkey, the Hateful Thing, Hell beast, Skeff or Moddey Dhoo and in the south of England you will hear names like Yeth or Wish Hounds. In Yorkshire he is known as The Barguest.

The name Shuck seems to go back to Old English (at least pre-1000 BCE). The Old English epic poem Beowulf describes the monster Grendel and his mother. Grendel is called a Scucca (demon)- and Scucc would have been pronounced pretty much then as it is today. The poem also says of Grendel that him of eagum stod ligge gelicost leoht unfaeger , ‘a fire-like, baleful light shone from his eyes’, Sounds like the Black Shuck to me.

The origins of the Black Dog have been lost in the mists of time but most likely originated from the Vikings who feared the hound of their god Odin All-Father, and brought their tales and lore to England. The word Barguest comes from the German ‘Bargeist’ meaning ’spirit of the (funeral) bier’.

In the folklore of old Europe, the dog is seen as both the guardian and consumer of dead spirits, as in the ‘Wild Hunt’ where a pack of dogs with a master of the hunt flies through the sky looking for lost souls. He also turns up in Egypt, Siberia, and North America. According to the Vedic mythology of ancient India, the dead must pass by the four-eyed dogs of Yama, king of the dead, and Greek mythology tells of the dog Cerberos, popularly endowed with three heads, who watches the entrance to Hades and there is the Egyptian Anubis, with the head of a dog. The Celts have their legends also, of white, red-eared hounds. But the concept of the underworld watchdog reached its fullest and most complex expression among the Germanic peoples.

Whatever the origin of the Black Dog, beware of him, he is still to be found in the wild lonely places of North England today.

About The Author

Susanna Duffy is a Civil Celebrant, folklorist and storyteller who creates rites and ceremonies for the milestones of life www.funeral.yarralink.com

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How To Write A Song

Monday, March 31st, 2008

Did you ever wish that it was your song playing on the radio? It could be. It is not that hard once you know the formula. With a little creativity, a little knowledge, a little luck and a good formula to follow, your song could be one of the next biggest hits.

Songwriting comes easy for some, and is very difficult for others. I have actually written songs in my sleep, and immediately upon awaking, written it as quickly as I could get the words on down on paper.

What I want to discuss here is popular songwriting, like the songs you hear on the radio. A good pop song, whether rock, country, middle of the road, is composed of two things: a catchy tune and some good lyrics.

There is a formula that most great songwriters use to write great songs. It regards the structure used to write a song. Granted, it is music and it is art, so the rules are not hard and fast. But if you want to increase your chances of getting your song on the radio, it is a good starting point.

Here is the formula. Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.

Write that down on paper leaving plenty of space between each word and this will be your script.

Verse

The verse is the part of the song that tells the story, the part that leads to the chorus. Each verse is usually different, telling a different part of, or adding to, the story. It usually explains how you got to the things you are singing about in the chorus.

Chorus.

The chorus is the part of the song that is repeated after each verse. The lyrics are usually the same each time the chorus comes around. The verse usually leads to the chorus, and the chorus is usually the pay off for listening to the verse. Does that make sense?

Here is a lame example (you did not think I would give you my best work, did you?):

(verse)
My dog is sick, he’s got a tick
He’s my best friend, don’t let it end

(chorus)
Oh, woe is me, can’t you see
Woe is me, will I ever be free

(verse)
My car broke down, just out of town
It got towed in, but it’s broke again

(chorus)
Oh, woe is me, can’t you see
Woe is me, will I ever be free

Now, if you would kindly stop laughing at my lame song for a minute, I want you to think about whether or not you understand my point. Songwriting is story telling. The verse tells the problems, the chorus expresses the results or the emotions.

All right, now that you have that mastered, let’s tackle the bridge. Ah, yeah, there is more to the song than the pain and the release. We need the diversion. That is what the bridge is; it is the diversion from the verse and the chorus.

The bridge may have a slightly different melody to it, or it could even have a different rhythm or a different tempo (Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds” did a great job on this technique).

Let’s go back to the lame song and add a bridge:

(verse)
My dog is sick, he’s got a tick
He’s my best friend, don’t let it end

(chorus)
Oh, woe is me, can’t you see
Woe is me, will I ever be free

(verse)
My car broke down, just out of town
It got towed in, but it’s broke again

(chorus)
Oh, woe is me, can’t you see
Woe is me, will I ever be free

(bridge)
Tomorrow is a better day, I’ve got a new truck on the way
My dog just had a flea it seems, so once again I’ll live my dreams

(chorus)
Oh, woe was me, can’t you see
Woe was me, but now I’m free

The bridge offers a solution to the problems I was having. You don’t want to leave your listener on the edge of suicide, you want to give them hope.

Notice, I also changed up the wording of the chorus. This was done to reflect my new found joy.

One more thing on formula. It can be anyway you want, but most verses and chorus come in lines of 4. So, instead of this:

(verse)
Oh, woe is me, can’t you see
Woe is me, will I ever be free

(verse)
My car broke down, just out of town
It got towed in, but it’s broke again

it would be:

Oh, woe is me, can’t you see
Woe is me, will I ever be free
My car broke down, just out of town
It got towed in, but it’s broke again

The same goes for the chorus. Again, if you are creative, do it however you want. But for a new songwriter, this gives you some guidelines to scratch out and start carving out your new creation.

One more thing, do not make the notes to the melody so high that your fans cannot sing along. We are certainly all not Stevie Wonder.

Michael Russell
MgrCentral.com
Established 2001
Home Business Training and Information Guides

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Pakistani Pop Music

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Pakistan is blessed with talent and when we talk about Pakistani Music, you can never stop picking up one of the best Pakistani pop song uptill now because there are number of such hit songs nobody can judge the best one in past decades such as “Dil Dil Pakistan” , “Huwa Huwa”, “Mehndi ki Raat”, “Na Kaho”, “Dil Haray”, “Ankhain Milanay Walay”, “Wakt”, “Neeli Neeli Ankhain”, “Jaisay Chao Jeo”, “Garuj Burus”, “No More”, “Ankhoun ki Sagar”, “Na Tu Aigi”, “Addat” left the audience agape and many more. Our artists’ are popular all over the world. Many new talented artists in Pakistan are still working hard to bring quality Pakistani music.

We can easily judge Alamgir as the pioneer of music industry who’s first big hit was “DEKHA NA THA KABHI HUM NAY YEH SUMMA”, and remains the song he is still most identified with, though later songs such as “Yeh Shaam Aur Tera Naam” and “Mein Ne Tumhare Gagar Se Kabhi Pani” continued to add to his composition. Alamgir, it must be said, laid the groundwork that countless others used to break into the music industry. He not only sang well, he was a performer in the true sense of the word. There is no denying Alamgir’s contribution to the evolution of the pop music genre in Pakistan.

NAZIA HASSAN was the first one to cross the forbidden Pakistan-India border to sing in an Indian film called “Qurbani” which was “APP JAISA KOI”. And later this song became a youth anthem in both India and Pakistan. And next NAZIA, ZOHAIB and BIDDU (an Indian composer) teamed up to release “DISCO DEEWANE” which became the biggest pop selling album till then in Pakistan. The Hasan siblings released one more album, “Boom Boom”, in 1984. This second collaboration with Biddu, the undisputed king of Indian filmi disco music, was also a huge success. Their success marked a turning point in the pop history.

And later Vital Sign ventured on to Pakistani television screens with their guitars and a catchy, patriotic song named “Dil Dil Pakistan” in 1986. Their album released in 1987 with gems like “Yeh Shaam” and funky “Goray Rung Ka Zamana”.

Then came Jupitars with their evergreen hit songs “Yaroun Yehi Dosti Hai”, continued with Hassan Jehangir’s “Hawa Hawa” in 1990, “Sanwali Saloni” by Vital Signs in 1991, “Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar” in 1992 by the Strings, Sajjad Ali’s “Didi” ripoff “Babia” in 1993, Najam Shiraz’s “In Se Nain” in 1995, Junoon’s “Saeein” in 1996 or Awaz’s “Mr. Fraudiye” in 1997. Junoon came into the race with their World Cup Hit song “Jazaba-e-Junoon Tou Himat na Har”. This is only to be expected in a growing industry.

Perhaps the biggest unexpected success of an experimental song, however, was Sajjad Ali’s street-wise 1995 hit “Chief Saab”. Full of Karachi slang and tough imagery, “Chief Saab”, perhaps more than anything else signified the coming age of pop music. It showed that one did not necessarily have to remain within pre-determined saccharine-sweet boundaries to be popular, and that people liked hearing of issues other than puppy love. Partly, as a result of this expansion of the pop market, established musicians from non-pop genres such as qawwali maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan were also drawn towards experimenting within it. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan gave numerous hit one after another and he gave the music for Hollywood movies and as well as for many Bollywood movies too.

The pop band that most successfully seized upon this idea was, of course, Junoon, which used its success with the haunting “Saeein” to recast itself as a completely different sort of band. Here we saw pop again intersecting with folk and vice versa.

In 1994, FM radio brought about another mini-revolution in Pakistani music. From Landhi in Karachi to Krishan Nagar in Lahore, names like female vocalist Hadiqa Kiyani and young Shehzad Roy suddenly became household names. Even iconoclastic recluse virtuosos like guitarist Amir Zaki (whose almost purely instrumental album “Signature” did well in the market) were receiving the kind of airplay the big bands of the ’80s could only have dreamed of.

Pop industry had big turnaround when private channels came into the scene, Like IM which became the medium to introduce young talents in the pop industry names like Fuzon, Aaroh, noori, Aks, Ahmad Jehanzaib, Mizraab, Karavan, Ali Zafar, Jal which not only rock the Pakistani pop music but also made their names worldwide. The new arrivals made their presence felt through remarkable individual songs, even though full albums for now seemed beyond most new acts. Ahmad Jehanzaib’s Ek Bar Kaho, Fuzon’s Ankhon Ke Saagar and Schehzad Mughal’s Bas Yunheen were each excellent. The first two were carried by soulful, ardent vocals and the last shone through affecting lyrics. Hot on their heels, honourable mentions must also go to Aks stunningly understated Neela Aasman, noori’s jangle-pop perfection Tum Hans Diyae, Junoon’s excellent Garaj Baras, Sajjad Ali with Teri Yaad, Aamir Zaki’s insightful and incisive People Are People, EP’s piledriving Hum Ko Aazma, Najam’s infinitely catchy !

Jaisay Chaho Jiyo and Aao Wahan Chalain, Ali Zafar’s startling Chanoo ki Ankh, Jal’s splendid addat and yes even Ali Haider’s insipid but still memorably melodic Chandi Ratain. Abrar’s Preeto was the novelty hit of the year. The Pepsi Battle of the Bands did a great job in throwing up a wealth of talent. EP, Aaroh, Brain Massala, Messiah, Schahzad Hameed and others all have Pepsi to thank. The Pepsi Battle of the Bands got all these fledgling bands great exposure.

Recently, a team of talented Pakistani musicians and artists took the long road to Mumbai, via Dubai, possibly to make history, for this was the first time in recent memory that Pakistanis had gone to India to create the background score for a Bollywood film. The film in question is Pooja Bhatt’s Paap, and former Vital Sign Shehzad ‘Shahi’ Hasan, cinematographer Faisal Rafi, singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and studio session player and keyboardist Faiz Ali Naqvi, were the foursome representing the world of Pakistani music in India.

Strings enjoyed considerable success with Dhaani. Probably the most hyped album of the year, with lead single Chaaye Chaaye being the standout favourite. String gave the soundtrack for Spiderman 2 which was a remarkable effort.

Junaid Jamshed’s Dil Ki Baat was understated but assured and notwithstanding JJ’s quite public and tortured ruminations over religion and music, the album showed that JJ is still competent at middle of the road pop and that Shoaib Mansoor still has the magic touch. Shahzad Roy’s Rab Jane was hobbled by his illness and yet catches the fire while Karavan’s Gardish seems to have suddenly picked up and was sold like hot-cakes. Schahzad Mughal’s Jhoom Lay was one of the most pleasant of surprises of the year.

So this proves that our music industry has dared to move forward with hope rather than skepticism.

About The Author

Faiza Kamal

Hi, i am a student of BS Software Engineering in first year from Karachi University and i am 19 years old.

siddiqi_fai@hotmail.com

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