New Paradigms in the Study of the Civil War Essay Example for Free

New Paradigms in the Study of the Civil War Essay A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies. Civil wars since the end of World War II have lasted on average just over four years, a dramatic rise from the one-and-a-half year average of the 1900-1944 period. While the rate of emergence of new civil wars has been relatively steady since the mid-19th century, the increasing length of those wars resulted in increasing numbers of wars ongoing at any one time. For example, there were no more than five civil wars underway simultaneously in the first half of the 20th century, while over 20 concurrent civil wars were occurring at the end of the Cold War, before a significant decrease as conflicts strongly associated with the superpower rivalry came to an end. Since 1945, civil wars have resulted in the deaths of over 25 million people, as well as the forced displacement of millions more. Civil wars have further resulted in economic collapse; Somalia, Burma, Uganda and Angola are examples of nations that were considered to have promising futures before being engulfed in civil wars. Formal classification James Fearon, a scholar of civil wars at Stanford University, defines a civil war as a violent conflict within a country fought by organized groups that aim to take power at the center or in a region, or to change government policies. The Correlates of War, a dataset widely used by scholars of conflict, classifies civil wars as having over 1000 war-related casualties per year of conflict. This rate is a small fraction of the millions killed in the Second Sudanese Civil War and Cambodian Civil War, for example, but excludes several highly publicized conflicts, such as The Troubles of Northern Ireland and the struggle of the African National Congress in Apartheid-era South Africa. That the Party in revolt against the de jure Government possesses an organized military force, an authority responsible for its acts, acting within a determinate territory and having the means of respecting and ensuring respect for the Convention. That the legal Government is obliged to have recourse to the regular military forces against insurgents organized as military and in possession of a part of the national territory. That the de jure Government has recognized the insurgents as belligerents; or That it has claimed for itself the rights of a belligerent; or That it has accorded the insurgents recognition as belligerents for the purposes only of the present Convention; or That the dispute has been admitted to the agenda of the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations as being a threat to international peace, a breach of the peace, or an act of aggression. That the insurgents have an organization purporting to have the characteristics of a State. That the insurgent civil authority exercises de facto authority over the population within a determinate portion of the national territory. That the armed forces act under the direction of an organized authority and are prepared to observe the ordinary laws of war. That the insurgent civil authority agrees to be bound by the provisions of the Convention. Causes of civil war in the Collier-Hoeffler Model Scholars investigating the cause of civil war are attracted by two opposing theories, greed versus grievance. Roughly stated: are conflicts caused by who people are, whether that be defined in terms of ethnicity, religion or other social affiliation, or do conflicts begin because it is in the economic best interests of individuals and groups to start them? Scholarly analysis supports the conclusion that economic and structural factors are more important than those of identity in predicting occurrences of civil war. A comprehensive studies of civil war was carried out by a team from the World Bank in the early 21st century. The study framework, which came to be called the Collier-Hoeffler Model, examined 78 five-year increments when civil war occurred from 1960 to 1999, as well as 1,167 five-year increments of no civil war for comparison, and subjected the data set to regression analysis to see the effect of various factors. The factors that were shown to have a statistically significant effect on the chance that a civil war would occur in any given five-year period were: Availability of finance A high proportion of primary commodities in national exports significantly increases the risk of a conflict. A country at peak danger, with commodities comprising 32% of gross domestic product, has a 22% risk of falling into civil war in a given five-year period, while a country with no primary commodity exports has a 1% risk. When disaggregated, only petroleum and non-petroleum groupings showed different results: a country with relatively low levels of dependence on petroleum exports is at slightly less risk, while a high-level of dependence on oil as an export results in slightly more risk of a civil war than national dependence on another primary commodity. The authors of the study interpreted this as being the result of the ease by which primary commodities may be extorted or captured compared to other forms of wealth, for example, it is easy to capture and control the output of a gold mine or oil field compared to a sector of garment manufacturing or hospitality services. A second source of finance is national diasporas, which can fund rebellions and insurgencies from abroad. The study found that statistically switching the size of a countrys diaspora from the smallest found in the study to the largest resulted in a sixfold increase in the chance of a civil war. Low per capita income has been proposed as a cause for grievance, prompting armed rebellion. However, for this to be true, one would expect economic inequality to also be a significant factor in rebellions, which it is not. The study therefore concluded that the economic model of opportunity cost better explained the findings. Population size The various factors contributing to the risk of civil war rise increase with population size. The risk of a civil war rises approximately proportionately with the size of a countrys population. Gleditsch et al. did not find a relationship between ethnic groups with polygyny and increased frequency of civil wars but nations having legal polygamy may have more civil wars. They argued that misogyny is a better explanation than polygyny. They found that increased womens rights were are associated with less civil wars and that legal polygamy had no effect after women’s rights were controlled for. Duration of civil wars Ann Hironaka, author of Neverending Wars, divides the modern history of civil wars into the pre-19th century, 19th century to early 20th century, and late 20th century. In 19th-century Europe, the length of civil wars fell significantly, largely due to the nature of the conflicts as battles for the power center of the state, the strength of centralized governments, and the normally quick and decisive intervention by other states to support the government. Following World War II the duration of civil wars grew past the norm of the pre-19th century, largely due to weakness of the many postcolonial states and the intervention by major powers on both sides of conflict. The most obvious commonality to civil wars are that they occur in fragile states. Civil wars in the 19th and early 20th centuries Civil wars through the 19th century to early 20th century tended to be short; the average length of a civil war between 1900 and 1944 was one and half years. The state itself was the obvious center of authority in the majority of cases, and the civil wars were thus fought for control of the state. This meant that whoever had control of the capital and the military could normally crush resistance. If a rebellion failed to quickly seize the capital and control of the military for itself, it was normally doomed to a quick destruction. For example, the fighting associated with the 1871 Paris Commune occurred almost entirely in Paris, and ended quickly once the military sided with the government. The power of non-state actors resulted in a lower value placed on sovereignty in the 18th and 19th centuries, which further reduced the number of civil wars. For example, the pirates of the Barbary Coast were recognized as de facto states because of their military power. The Barbary pirates thus had no need to rebel against the Ottoman Empire, who were their nominal state government, to gain recognition for their sovereignty. Conversely, states such as Virginia and Massachusetts in the United States of America did not have sovereign status, but had significant political and economic independence coupled with weak federal control, reducing the incentive to secede. The two major global ideologies, monarchism and democracy, led to several civil wars. However, a bi-polar world, divided between the two ideologies, did not develop, largely due the dominance of monarchists through most of the period. The monarchists would thus normally intervene in other countries to stop democratic movements taking control and forming democratic governments, which were seen by monarchists as being both dangerous and unpredictable. The Great Powers, defined in the 1815 Congress of Vienna as the United Kingdom, Habsburg Austria, Prussia, France, and Russia, would frequently coordinate interventions in other nations civil wars, nearly always on the side of the incumbent government. Given the military strength of the Great Powers, these interventions were nearly always decisive and quickly ended the civil wars. There were several exceptions from the general rule of quick civil wars during this period. The American Civil War was unusual for at least two reasons: it was fought around regional identities, rather than political ideologies, and it was ended through a war of attrition, rather than over a decisive battle over control of the capital, as was the norm. The Spanish Civil War was exceptional because both sides of the war received support from intervening great powers: Germany, Italy, and Portugal supported opposition leader Francisco Franco, while France and the Soviet Union supported the government . Civil wars since 1945 In the 1990s, about twenty civil wars were occurring concurrently during an average year, a rate about ten times the historical average since the 19th century. However, the rate of new civil wars had not increased appreciably; the drastic rise in the number of ongoing wars after World War II was a result of the tripling of the average duration of civil wars to over four years. This increase was a result of the increased number of states, the fragility of states formed after 1945, the decline in interstate war, and the Cold War rivalry. Following World War II, the major European powers divested themselves of their colonies at an increasing rate: the number of ex-colonial states jumped from about 30 to almost 120 after the war. The rate of state formation leveled off in the 1980s, at which point few colonies remained. More states also meant more states in which to have long civil wars. Hironaka statistically measures the impact of the increased number of ex-colonial states as increasing the post-WWII incidence of civil wars by +165% over the pre-1945 number. While the new ex-colonial states appeared to follow the blueprint of the idealized state centralized government, territory enclosed by defined borders, and citizenry with defined rights -, as well as accessories such as a national flag, an anthem, a seat at the United Nations and an official economic policy, they were in actuality far weaker than the Western states they were modeled after. In Western states, the structure of governments closely matched states actual capabilities, which had been arduously developed over centuries. The development of strong administrative structures, in particular those related to extraction of taxes, is closely associated with the intense warfare between predatory European states in the 17th and 18th centuries, or in Charles Tillys famous formulation: War made the state and the state made war. For example, the formation of the modern states of Germany and Italy in the 19th century is closely associated with the wars of expansion and consolidation led by Prussia and Sardinia, respectively. Such states are considered weak or fragile. The strong-weak categorization is not the same as Western-non-Western, as some Latin American states like Argentina and Brazil and Middle Eastern states like Egypt and Israel are considered to have strong administrative structures and economic infrastructure. Historically, the international community would have targeted weak states for territorial absorption or colonial domination or, alternatively, such states would fragment into pieces small enough to be effectively administered and secured by a local power. However, international norms towards sovereignty changed in the wake of WWII in ways that support and maintain the existence of weak states. Weak states are given de jure sovereignty equal to that of other states, even when they do not have de facto sovereignty or control of their own territory, including the privileges of international diplomatic recognition and an equal vote in the United Nations. Further, the international community offers development aid to weak states, which helps maintain the facade of a functioning modern state by giving the appearance that the state is capable of fulfilling its implied responsibilities of control and order. The formation of a strong international law regime and norms against territorial aggression is strongly associated with the dramatic drop in the number of interstate wars, though it has also been attributed to the effect of the Cold War or to the changing nature of economic development. Consequently, military aggression that results in territorial annexation became increasingly likely to prompt international condemnation, diplomatic censure, a reduction in international aid or the introduction of economic sanction, or, as in the case of 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, international military intervention to reverse the territorial aggression. Similarly, the international community has largely refused to recognize secessionist regions, while keeping some secessionist self-declared states such as Taiwan in diplomatic recognition limbo. While there is not a large body of academic work examining the relationship, Hironakas statistical study found a correlation that suggests that every major international anti-secessionist declaration increased the number of ongoing civil wars by +10%, or a total +114% from 1945 to 1997. The diplomatic and legal protection given by the international community, as well as economic support to weak governments and discouragement of secession, thus had the unintended effect of encouraging civil wars. There has been an enormous amount of international intervention in civil wars since 1945 that served to extend wars. While intervention has been practiced since the international system has existed, its nature changed substantially. It became common for both the state and opposition group to receive foreign support, allowing wars to continue well past the point when domestic resources had been exhausted. Superpowers, such as the European great powers, had always felt no compunction in intervening in civil wars that affected their interests, while distant regional powers such as the United States could declare the interventionist Monroe Doctrine of 1821 for events in its Central American backyard. However, the large population of weak states after 1945 allowed intervention by former colonial powers, regional powers and neighboring states who themselves often had scarce resources. On average, a civil war with interstate intervention was 300% longer than those without. When disaggregated, a civil war with intervention on only one side is 156% longer, while intervention on both sides lengthens the average civil war by an addition 92%. If one of the intervening states was a superpower, a civil war is extended a further 72%; a conflict such as the Angolan Civil War, in which there is two-sided foreign intervention, including by a superpower, would be 538% longer on average than a civil war without any international intervention. Effect of the Cold War The Cold War provided a global network of material and ideological support that perpetuated civil wars, which were mainly fought in weak ex-colonial states, rather than the relatively strong states that were aligned with the Warsaw Pact and North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In some cases, superpowers would superimpose Cold War ideology onto local conflicts, while in others local actors using Cold War ideology would attract the attention of a superpower to obtain support. Using a separate statistical evaluation than used above for interventions, civil wars that included pro- or anti-communist forces lasted 141% longer than the average non-Cold War conflict, while a Cold War civil war that attracted superpower intervention resulted in wars typically lasting over three times as long as other civil wars. Conversely, the end of the Cold War marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 resulted in a reduction in the duration of Cold War civil wars of 92% or, phrased another way, a roughly ten-fold increase in the rate of resolution of Cold War civil wars. Lengthy Cold War-associated civil conflicts that ground to a halt include the wars of Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua . See also The Logic of Violence in Civil War War of Independence Wars of national liberation References

Dougy :: Free Essay Writer

Dougy Before we look at whether James Moloney effectively uses characterisation to convey Aboriginal issues we must look at the issues themselves. In Dougy, the issue of black and white prejudice is strongly present in the plot. The stereotyping of Aborigines and white Europeans play an important role in the events and the outcome of the story, as is individuality and the breaking of the stereotypes. The book also touches on the old Aboriginal superstitions that are still believed in by some today, though one of such superstitions plays an important role in creating the mood of the resolution. These issues impact most heavily on the character Gracey. Possibly the most important factor in Dougy is the racial prejudice and stereotyping between the Aborigines and the white Europeans. All the complications and obstacles the main characters encounter, especially Gracey, are due to these issues. In the remote country ton setting of the book, the whites all feel that the Aborigines do not do their part for society but still get more benefits from the Government than anyone else. The anger that the whites feel at this so-called ‘unfairness’ that has been held back bursts free when Gracey receives a chance to compete in the state athletics championships. All the children at the local school were celebrating on the school bus the first day, but the white children divided themselves from the blacks the next, because their parents feel that Gracey had an advantage because she was Aborigine. â€Å"It just didn’t make sense that it all changed so quickly, over just one night†¦ Abo kids knew there was something wrong a nd all the time they waited for the bus, the black kids stood together in one spot and the white kids in another.† From this quote we can see that the rift between blacks and whites has been widened because Gracey is talented enough to run in the state championships. Similarly, the blacks feel dominated by the whites, who, in their minds, own everything. This concept is conveyed by the characterisation of Gracey’s brother, Raymond. The stereotype is evident through his speech, â€Å"Whities will still be in charge, tellin’ us what to do. Everything will still be theirs, even the footy†¦ I’m fed up with being black. I hate it.† Though the stereotyping and alienation is strong in Dougy and Gracey’s community they manage to break away from it. The whites feel that the Aborigines get everything free from the government and never do any work of their own, and according to the book, most of them do just this.

Holmes

Herman Webster Midget was the first American serial killer the terrorized Chicago in the late sass's, yet he was a slave to his own mind and his own disorders. Herman, who Is also famous as H. H. Holmes had two personality disorders that drove him to commit the actions that he committed. Evidence shows that Holmes had personality disorders Like narcissistic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. H. H Holmes shows signs of antisocial personality disorder in many ways. To begin with, Midget started at an early age torturing animals (CNN).He used to be afraid of actors but one day he had an experience with a skeleton and after that he was changed forever. Also in his famous castle there was remains of bodies in the basement with pure evidence of torture. It is evident that Dry. Holmes tortured these young women with no evidence of any remorse. (How Stuff Works). Dry. Holmes himself that he was slowly and slowly turning into the devil since he didn't feel any remorse o r anything of such towards his victims (H. H. Holmes; Master of Illusion, chapter 17).The treatment for antisocial personality disorder Is very tricky but usually most actors use operant conditioning-rewarding the good actions and punishing the Illegal ones-(Notational Library of Medicine). Of course such treatment was not present In the time of Dry. Holmes so he had no way of getting help. Another personality disorder Dry. Holmes had was narcissistic personality disorder. Narcissistic personality disorder is when a person has an inflated self image and inflated goals that he will stop at nothing to achieve them.This was the case with Midget, as a matter of fact, Herman killed his con-partner in order to perfect a con on an insurance company to get some extra money. H. H. Holmes; Master of Illusion, chapter 3). Having shown that he doesn't really care about his friend or anyone he supposedly had an emotional attachment with, he proved that he has narcissistic personality disorder. T his might be caused by his father's beating to him and his abuse. The only way to truly treat that Is through talk therapy so he can try to form deeper connections with people he should be familiar Walt(Notational Library of Medicine).Again, this kind of treatment wasn't available in the time of Dry. H. H. Holmes so he had no opportunity to seek help. Some people might argue that Dry. Midget had a form of fetishism paraphernalia since he picked out his victims to be young blonde women. Thyrotrophic, or attraction you hair could have been the reason for his choice of victims (Right Diagnosis). The treatments of this include psychoanalysis, hypnosis, behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, drug therapy(Relight Diagnosis). It's very unclear whether he had this disorder or not. All In all Dry. H H Holmes had a lot of personality disorders that led him to become the monster he was.

Myths And Reality Of Crime Essay

a. Imagine asking 100 strangers to describe a criminal. Predict whether those descriptions would be likely to focus on street criminals, or the variety of topics covered in this video. With everything that’s going on nowadays I would say that it’s a combination of both, although it is more likely that those 100 strangers will choose the street criminals. Most people don’t know too much about the white collar or corporate crimes until it happens and maybe because it something that affects them or they think will in the future. b. Describe how society defines crime. Do not provide a definition – instead, explain how the definition is reached. Society defines crime in different ways. What that mean is some people see crime as someone who violates the law. Killing, stealing and raping someone are some of the things that people and society defines as a crime behavior that violates law. It can be defined through laws, through official police reports of crime, or through victimization surveys of persons who have been involved in crime but perhaps not involved with the police department. c. Discuss how society decides what to define as a crime. Society decides that crime is defined as an unlawful act that to the state is punishable by jail time. Society also thinks that crime modern criminal law does not have a simple or universally definition when it comes to criminals, although there have been different definitions that some people have been using for centuries that they believe is form of crime. The most popular thing that people view as a crime is if it’s declared by a relevant and applicable law. Another way that society defines crime is that a when an offence is an act that’s harmful not only to an individual person but also to a the community, society and the state as what they think is a public wrong. d. Present a clear statement about a particular crime, something we know to be absolutely true. Illustrate how we know that this is an accurate statement. The Atlanta Child Murders, known as the â€Å"missing and murdered children cases was murders that was committed in my home state of Atlanta, Georgia, beginning in the summer of 1979 and going on until the spring of 1981. Over the two-year period there were 28 African-American children, adolescents and adults that were killed. During this time many parents were keeping a close eye on their children or just keeping them indoors in order to keep them safe. I know because I was one of those children who had their parents keep them indoors during that time. We were only allowed outside to go to school, and our parents walked us to and from the bus every day to make sure that we were safe. Schools were also taking precautions too; either keeping the students in the schools or making sure that no child was left alone. It has been said that a native of Atlanta, Wayne Williams, who was 23 years old when the last child was murdered was arrested and convicted of two of the adult murders. It i s aid that the murders started on July 21, 1979 with the last being on March 12, 1981. In 1979, Edward Hope Smith and Alfred Evans were both 14 and disappeared four days apart. It was said that they were the first victims with the last victim being a 27 year old named Nathaniel Cater. e. Present an example of a widely held myth or misconception about crime and society. Determine how we know that this is a myth. Explain why this myth is so difficult to abandon. Myth 1: Mass murderers snap and kill indiscriminately. That’s not true. What I have found out is that Mass murders carefully plan out their attacks, months in advance. Myth 2: Mass shooting are on the rise With all the school shootings happing today, is it no reason why people are saying that mass shootings are on the rise and people wanting there to be some kind of solution to the mass killings. Myth 3: Violent entertainment, such as video games and movies are linked to mass murders. I believe that there are some games that can lead to mass murders. Myth 4: Restoring the federal ban on assault weapons will prevent these horrible crimes. I think that when the ban on military-style assault weapons expired in 1994 it should have been restored. Having this ban will not stop all the killings but it can slow them down. Myth 5: Increasing physical security in schools and other places will prevent mass murders. Although increasing security in schools is a good idea and it being said that it may cut down on the mass murders that’s going on in the world today, if a killer wanted to kill a large group of people he will find a way around all the protection that people are putting up these days, the security is not going to stop him. References: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3zuAbqY6Hw https://secure.films.com/OnDemandEmbed.aspx?Token=47476&aid=18596&loid=137445&Plt=FOD&w=320&h=240

50 Pieces of Stephen Kings Greatest Writing Advice - Freewrite Store

50 Pieces of Stephen Kings Greatest Writing Advice - Freewrite Store Over his decades-spanning career, Stephen King has written an astounding 54 novels that have sold over 350 million copies. His work has been adapted into films, miniseries, television shows, comic books, video games, and more. It is no wonder Stephen King's writing advice is so frequently sought after. King has the unique ability to make readers feel every emotion on the spectrum: love, joy, rage, terror, disappointment, and sorrow. When he talks about writing, aspiring authors should sit up and pay attention. As writers, we want to make people cry, laugh, and wipe their sweaty palms on their shirts so they can better grip their books. Stephen King has mastered this. Though he’s an incredibly gifted writer, King shed blood, sweat, and tears to get where he is today, and was gracious enough to share his advice in his book,  On Writing- a must-read for aspiring and established authors - as well as multiple interviews and appearances throughout the years. His advice is the no-bullshit version of all those rejection letters writers receive, probably because King got a truckload himself.  As he put it, â€Å"By the time I was fourteen the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing.† In his own words, here is Stephen King's greatest writing advice: On Getting Started  1. The Scariest Moment  2. Starting Out in the Industry  3. Writing Short Stories On the Writing Process  4. The Best Advice He Ever Got  5. Avoiding Distractions  6. Starting the Day Writing  7. The Process  8. Write Like Yourself  9. Go Where the Story Leads You  10. Make Stories About People  11. Break Up Thoughts  12. Kill Your Darlings  13. Avoid Too Much Backstory  14. The Purpose of Symbolism On Grammar and Parts of Speech  15. Don’t Sweat the Grammar  16. Passive Sentences  17. Sentence Fragments  18. Avoid Adverbs  19. Grammar is Simple  20. Two Types of Verbs On Description  21. Don’t Over-Describe  22. Keep It Simple  23. A Learned Skill  24. Again, Don’t Over-Describe On Reading  25. Read A Lot  26. Duplicating the Effect of Good Writing  27. The Purpose of Book Genres  28. Technology and the ‘Death’ of Books  29. The Importance of Literacy  30. Good People On Inspiration  31. Amateurs Vs. Professionals  32. On New Ideas  33. Love it  34. Fulfillment  35. Perseverance  36. Take Risks!  37. Getting Happy  38. A Way Back to Life  30. Your Job is to Show Up  40. A Support System  41. Talent Renders Rehearsal Meaningless  42. Don’t Wait for the Muse On Editing  43. Rewrite  44. Finding Cultural and Thematic Implications  45. Reality in Fiction  46. Doors On Telling the Truth  47. Rudeness  48. Bad Writing  49. Don’t Let Others Shame You  50. The Most Important Things Are the Hardest to Say On Getting Started 1. The Scariest Moment "The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better." 2. Starting Out in the Industry "You don't always have to take the editor's advice. Sometimes the way you see it is the way it should be. I assume that every writer was a lot smarter and a lot craftier than I was. That turned out not to be the truth." 3. Writing Short Stories "The novel is a quagmire that a lot of younger writers stumble into before they’re ready to go there. I started with short stories when I was 18, sold my first one when I was about 20 and produced nothing much but – well I wrote a couple of novels but they were not accepted and a lot of them were so bad that I didn’t even bother to revise them, but the short stories were making money and I got very comfortable in that format. And I’ve never wanted to leave it completely behind." On The Writing Process 4. The Best Advice He Ever Got "It boils down to what Satchel Paige said: 'Don’t look back, something might be gaining on you.' There will be people who like what you do and people who don’t. But if they’re picking over the last thing and you’re working on the next thing, that’s all yours." 5. Avoiding Distractions "It's pure habit. I write from probably 7:30 till noon most days. I kind of fall into a trance. It's important to remember that it isn't the big thing in life. The big thing in life is being there if you're needed for family or if there's an emergency or something. But you have to cut out the unimportant background chatter. That means no Twitter. That means not going to  Huffington Post  to see what Kim Kardashian is up to. There's a time for that – for me, it's usually before I go to bed. I find myself sitting hypnotized and looking at videos of funny dogs, that kind of thing." 6. Starting the Day Writing "I wake up. I eat breakfast. I walk about three and a half miles. I come back, I go out to my little office, where I've got a manuscript, and the last page that I was happy with is on top. I read that, and it's like getting on a taxiway. I'm able to go through and revise it and put myself –  click  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ back into that world, whatever it is. I don't spend the day writing. I'll maybe write fresh copy for two hours, and then I'll go back and revise some of it and print what I like and then turn it off." 7. The Process "For me the fun of writing novels isn’t in the finished product, which I don’t care about. There’s a guy over there looking at all the books on my shelf and to me those are like dead skin. They’re things that are done, but I love the process." 8. Write Like Yourself "I love D.H. Lawrence. And James Dickey's poetry, Émile Zola, Steinbeck... Fitzgerald, not so much. Hemingway, not at all. Hemingway sucks, basically. If people like that, terrific. But if I set out to write that way, what would've come out would've been hollow and lifeless because it wasn't me." 9. Go Where the Story Leads You "When I started [Salem’s Lot] I thought to myself, 'Well, this will be the opposite of Dracula where the good guys win and in this book the good guys are gonna lose and everybody’s gonna become a vampire at the end of the book.' And that didn’t happen. Because you go where the book leads you." 10. Make Stories About People "I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event, which is to say character-driven." 11. Break Up Thoughts "You might also notice how much simpler the thought is to understand when it's broken up into two thoughts. This makes matter easier for the reader, and the reader must always be your main concern; without Constant Reader, you are just a voice quacking in the void." 12. Kill Your Darlings "Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings." 13. Avoid Too Much Backstory "The most important things to remember about backstory are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting." 14. The Purpose of Symbolism "Symbolism exists to adorn and enrich, not to create an artificial sense of profundity." On Grammar and Parts of Speech 15. Don’t Sweat the Grammar "The object of fiction isn't grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story." 16. Passive Sentences "Two pages of the passive voice- just about any business document ever written, in other words, not to mention reams of bad fiction- make me want to scream. It’s weak, it’s circuitous, and it’s frequently tortuous, as well. How about this: 'My first kiss will always be recalled by me as how my romance with Shayna was begun.' Oh, man- who farted, right? A simpler way to express this ideasweeter and more forceful, as wellmight be this: 'My romance with Shayna began with our first kiss. I'll never forget it.' I'm not in love with this because it uses with twice in four words, but at least we're out of that awful passive voice." 17. Sentence Fragments "Must  you write complete sentences each time, every time? Perish the thought. If your work consists only of fragments and floating clauses, the Grammar Police aren’t going to come and take you away. Even William Strunk, that Mussolini of rhetoric, recognized the delicious pliability of language. 'It is an old observation,' he writes, 'that the best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric.' Yet he goes on to add this thought, which I urge you to consider: 'Unless he is certain of doing well, [the writer] will probably do best to follow the rules.'" 18. Avoid Adverbs "The other piece of advice I want to give you before moving on to the next level of the toolbox is this:  The adverb is not your friend. Adverbs, like the passive voice, seem to have been created with the timid writer in mind. With the passive voice, the writer usually expresses fear of not being taken seriously; it is the voice of little boys wearing shoe polish mustaches and little girls clumping around in Mommy’s high heels. With adverbs, the writer usually tells us he or she is afraid he/she isn’t expressing himself/herself clearly, that he or she is not getting the point or the picture across." 19. Grammar is Simple "One who does grasp the rudiments of grammar find a comforting simplicity at its heart, where there need only be nouns, the words that name, and verbs, the words that act." 20. Two Types of Verbs "Verbs come in two types, active and passive. With an active verb, the subject of the sentence is doing something. With a passive verb, something is being done to the subject of the sentence. The subject is just letting it happen. You should avoid the passive voice." On Description 21. Don’t Over-Describe "In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it 'got boring,' the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling." 22. Keep It Simple "One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones." 23. A Learned Skill "Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It’s not just a question of how-to, you see; it’s also a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can learn only by doing." 24. Again, Don’t Over-Describe "I’m not particularly keen on writing which exhaustively describes the physical characteristics of the people in the story and what they’re wearing... I can always get a J. Crew catalogue... so spare me, if you please, the hero’s 'sharply intelligent blue eyes' and 'outthrust, determined chin.'" On Reading 25. Read A Lot "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut." 26. Duplicating the Effect of Good Writing "You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you." 27. The Purpose of Book Genres "As far as I’m concerned, genre was created by bookstores so that people who were casual readers could say, 'Well, I want to read romances.' 'Well, right over there, that’s where romances are.' The thing about genre is, so many people are like little kids who say, 'I can’t eat this food because it’s touching this other thing.'" 28. Technology and the ‘Death’ of Books "The book is not the important part. The book is the delivery system. The important part is the story and the talent." 29. The Importance of Literacy "Reading is more than a door opener to a better job. It’s cool, it’s a kick, it’s a buzz. Plain old fun. Non-readers live just one single life. It may be a good one, it may be a great one, but a reader can live thousands. Sometimes when the right book falls into the right pair of hands, it lights a fire that leads to others." 30. Good People "You know what I like? When I go into someone’s house and ask to use the bathroom and see a bunch of books beside the commode. When I see that, I know I’m with my peeps, you know what I’m sayin’? People who read on the toilet, as far as I’m concerned, good people." On Inspiration 31. Amateurs vs. Professionals "Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work." 32. On New Ideas "Particularly in the Horror genre there are only three or four good ideas and we’ve all done them before. And it’s really – okay, I mean like, how many times in your life have you eaten eggs? But there’s always a new way to fix eggs and, you know, I look at it that way. You can always find a new way to do it. I think there are as many ideas as there are probing talented minds to explore those ideas." 33. Love it "I did it for the pure joy of the thing. And if you can do it for joy, you can do it forever." 34. Fulfillment "I’ve written because it fulfilled me. Maybe it paid off the mortgage on the house and got the kids through college, but those things were on the side – I did it for the buzz... You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair – the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page. " 35. Perseverance "Stopping a piece of work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Optimism is a perfectly legitimate response to failure." 36. Take Risks! "Try any goddamn thing you like, no matter how boringly normal or outrageous. If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it." 37. Getting Happy "Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy." 38. A Way Back to Life "Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life." 39. Your Job is to Show Up "Let's get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up." 40. A Support System "It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around." 41. Talent Renders Rehearsal Meaningless "Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless; when you find something at which you are talented, you do it (whatever it is) until your fingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head. Even when no one is listening (or reading or watching), every outing is a bravura performance, because you as the creator are happy. Perhaps even ecstatic." 42. Don’t Wait for the Muse "Don't wait for the muse. As I've said, he's a hardheaded guy who's not susceptible to a lot of creative fluttering. This isn't the Ouija board or the spirit-world we're talking about here, but just another job like laying pipe or driving long-haul trucks. Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you're going to be every day from nine 'til noon. Or seven 'til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later he'll start showing up." On Editing 43. Rewrite "I cannot emphasize the importance of rewriting." 44. Finding Cultural and Thematic Implications "In terms of work, once I sit down to write and I’m in the story, all that falls away. I’m not thinking about cultural implications, I’m not thinking about genre, I’m not thinking about any of those things that have to do with what critics would talk about when they analyze fiction - all those things go away. But they only go away in the first draft. And then you put stuff away. When you come back to it, you read it and you say, these are the important things, this is where lightning struck for me. Those are almost always things that are cultural and thematic, and I just try and highlight those." 45. Reality in Fiction "You can never bend reality to serve the fiction. You have to bend the fiction to serve reality when you find those things out." 46. Doors "Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open." On Telling the Truth 47. Rudeness "If you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway." 48. Bad Writing "Bad writing is more than a matter of shit syntax and faulty observation; bad writing usually arises from a stubborn refusal to tell stories about what people actually do―to face the fact, let us say, that murderers sometimes help old ladies cross the street." 49. Don’t Let Others Shame You "I have spent a good many years since―too many, I think―being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction or poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all." 50. The Most Important Things Are the Hardest to Say "The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings – words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out." BONUS:          More Resources: "The Last Word: Stephen King on Trump, Writing, Why Selfies Are Evil" - Rolling Stone   "The Blue-Collar King: An Interview with Stephen King" - LA Review of Books "Stephen King, The Art of Fiction" - The Paris Review "Stephen King talks about his writing process" - Bangor Daily News And most importantly, On Writing by Stephen King.

Word Choice Hoard vs. Horde - Proofeds Writing Tips Blog

Word Choice Hoard vs. Horde Word Choice: Hoard vs. Horde Although they may sound the same when spoken, hoard and horde have distinct meanings. As such, mixing them up in your writing will look bad. But you can avoid confusion by learning their definitions and usage. Hoard (A Stockpile) The word hoard can be used as either a verb or a noun. As a verb, hoard means to accumulate and store a stockpile of something for future use. This will usually be something valuable and therefore closely guarded, such as a hoard of treasure: The mad king hoarded gold, determined to keep it all to himself. Sometimes, hoarding has a negative meaning, especially if the thing being hoarded is considered worthless or unpleasant: The old man would hoard old newspapers, keeping them in his basement. We can also use hoard as a noun to refer to a stockpile that has been collected and guarded. We would use it in a sentence like this: The pirate returned to the hidden cave to retrieve his hoard of stolen booty. Horde (A Mob or Crowd) Horde is a noun meaning a large group or crowd. It originally described nomadic warrior tribes, but it is now more commonly used to refer to large, rowdy groups of people: A horde of drunken baseball fans crowded onto the subway carriage. As well as describing groups of people, we can apply horde to swarms or packs of animals, especially wasps, mosquitoes, and other flying insects: A horde of mosquitoes ruined the picnic. Remember not to confuse horde with herd in this context, as herd is simply the group name for hoofed mammals. Hoard or Horde? Although these terms sound similar, theyre different enough in meaning that it should be easy to tell them apart. Remember: Hoard (verb) = To collect or stockpile something Hoard (noun) = A collection or stockpile Horde (noun) = An unruly mob If you would like more advice about word choice, or to have a 500-word sample of your work proofread for free, get in touch with the professionals at Proofed today!

Sociology (see question in the sources or references box) Term Paper

Sociology (see question in the sources or references box) - Term Paper Example (Redda, Walker and Barnett, 1989, p.1) Drug abuse is also known as substance abuse or chemical abuse. Drug abuse interferes with the health of an individual and also causes hindrance to the normal functioning of a person in the society. The concept of drug abuse should not be confused with drug misuse. The difference between drug abuse and drug misuse is that the former involves intake of inappropriate substances whereas the latter means taking of prescribed drugs in inappropriate proportion. (Redda, Walker and Barnett, 1989)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A number of cross-sectional studies have shown that the experimentation of drugs begins in the adolescent years and reaches its peak between the age of 18 and 22. It has also been found that the use of drugs is surprisingly more among the minority youth population. A lot of focus has been provided to the drug abuse among the youth because drug abuse among the young people can cause a number of problems like, school dropouts, family dysfunction, truancy, delinquency, poor performance in the school and exhibition of unconventional behaviors in the form like drinking, taking of risks and early sexual activity. (Kopstein, 1998)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the article, â€Å"Canada now a major drug player: Report†, the issue which has been discussed was that Canada has become a major player in the world market of drugs. A bulk amount of drug seizure has taken place in Canada in the year 2007. And the article also reported that the motor cycle gangs were mostly engaged with the drug marketing in Canada which gives us evidence of the fact the participation of the youth in drug abuse are increasing in Canada and it is becoming a social problem in the country. (Lake, 2009)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Ontario should continue to fight menace of Marijuana† is an article which debates that it would be profitable for Canada to legalize