Writing is like Flying

Writing is like Flying

Anna Maria Carbone
June 2008

The Flying Stages

Planning

Taking off

Flying

Landing

Anna Maria Carbone - June 2008

Plot a Course

Key Questions

Who are the readers?

What is the subject?

What are my goals?

Anna Maria Carbone – June 2008

Planning the Flight

Collecting information

Having all the data

Checking the issues

Verifying the facts

Creating a logical outline


Planning – Checking the Aircraft

1. Identify the text’s features

Goal

Reader

Topic

Length

Type


Planning – Checking the Aircraft

2. Gather ideas:
What are information and ideas
of the topic which I am going to
write about?

3. List ideas in an outline:
Which clusters of ideas and concepts
can I create and what is their
logical sequence?


Taxying to the runway

Sort topics

Create the sequence

Confirm concept’s course


The perfect take-off?

Summary:
You can start with a summary that presents
the topic and why it is important.

Anecdote:
You can introduce your text with a fact, a
story, curiosity.

Short phrases:
Use journalistic language, few words having
effect.

Answers:
You can introduce your topic with a direct
answer about it.

Analogy:
You can compare your topic to another
similar one.

Quotations:
They are very effective to catch the reader’s
attention. It can be a proverb, a verse or
a famous quotation.


Taking off

Clearance, full throttle,
accelerate, take-off.


Taking off - airborne

The start

This is the first approach for readers.
You have to phrase it carefully.
It introduces the topic.
It has to capture the reader’s attention.

Anna Maria Carbone - Giugno 2008

A comfortable flight

Develop and separate individual topics
Use clear language
Use short sentences and phrases
Avoid jargon


A comfortable flight: In-Flight Service

From the ship’s log of “Kansas City Star”
written by Captain Ernest Hemingway

1. Use short sentences.

2. Use short first paragraphs.

3. Use vigorous English.

4. Be positive, not negative.


A comfortable flight: In-Flight Service

From the essay “Politics and the English Language”
written in 1946 by George Orwell

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or another figure of
speech which you often see in print.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to remove a word, then do it.

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.


Preparing for Landing – The Approach

The conclusion
You have to conclude your text in a clear way.
Do not leave anything unanswered.


Preparing For Landing – Final Checks

Copy edit:

Review of topics

Clarity

Effectiveness

Grammar

Spelling

Punctuation


Touching down

The final paragraph is a farewell from writer to readers .

It has to summarize the topics and confirm the thesis


Thank-you for flying with us

Now our written work is completed.
If it is good
our readers will have had a good flight!

Anna Maria Carbone
www.scriverebene.it
www.scriverebene.blogspot.com
amcarbone@scriverebene.it


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