How can the practice of professional writers inform ... · How can the practice of professional...
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How can the practice of professional writers inform academic writing?
Inspire, HEA Conference, 3 March 2016
Trevor Day & Katie Grant, Royal Literary Fund
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Royal Literary Fund
British charity founded 1790
Promoting and supporting writers of high literary merit
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Royal Literary Fund
In recent decades benefiting from the literary
estates of historically important writers e.g.
Somerset Maugham A.A. Milne
readtoleadtoday.org
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Educational impact
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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
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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
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Trevor Day
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Katie Grant
'a subversive and thrilling gothic tale, it will keep you up all night’ The New York Times
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What do novelists and academic writers have in common?
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Writing is … emotional, can be lonely, needs clarity, needs a plan, needs a voice, needs momentum, needs a READER
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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)
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Who or what is the protagonist?
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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?
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Why bother? Who cares?
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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
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empathy, interest, authority, information
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impact information interest tension clarity momentum
energy enjoyment vigour empathy distinctiveness authority
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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
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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.