Writing Tips

Concern WritingCompetition

Concern Active Citizenship

Concern Worldwide is a development organization that works in 25 countries with theworlds poorest people to transform their lives. Concern also works with teachers andstudents in Ireland and the USA on development issues highlighting the inequalities thatexist in the world and empowering people to become active citizens in the fight againstpoverty and hunger. Through our debates program, annual writing competition, campaignacademy, Concern global classroom, workshops, volunteer programmes, campaigns andeducational resources, Concerns active citizenship team deepens public awareness,understanding and engagement in development issues.

Concern Writing Competition

In 2008, we launched the writing competition to mark the 40th anniversary of thefounding of Concern. Originally set up to give secondary students an opportunity toresearch and write about global issues, the competition has since attracted over 2700entries from 37 countries including Australia, Canada, Ireland, India, Japan, Niger,Uganda, UK and the USA. Through the years our writers have envisioned the future ofa child born today in the developing world, reflected on how world hunger could beeradicated, gained insight into living on less that $2 a day, envision the life of a childlabourer, analyzed affects of climate change, shared important lessons they learnedfrom the developing world and prepared speeches for the United Nations GeneralAssembly expressing their views of the Millennium Development Goals.

For this years topic and form check out www.concern.net/writingcompetition

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I am just a reporter, doing my job, reporting on what happens in the world but itis also my job to enlighten people. We have to realise that there are manylessons we can learn in life but one of the most important ones is that we areone world, all brothers and sisters. No one is superior, whether its to do withage, race, nationality or whether you have money or not. I am only a reporter,but together we are a community of brothers and sisters. Its up to you whetheryou turn the next page of this newspaper and forget all about this article, but nomatter how many pages you turn, or newspapers you throw into the bin, povertyisnt something that can be gotten rid of that easily. You cant forget about it andhope for the best. Poverty is always going to be there whether you try andforget about it or not. Leah Geoghegan, Ireland, Dispatches from the DevelopingWorld, Concern Writing Competition 2011 Jr. Passages

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Writing Process

For this years topic and form check out www.concern.net/writingcompetition

DraftingPut ideas down on paper

Write

RevisingHave a friend read your draft

Make major changes to the draftSee how your piece will measure up (Page 10)

ProofreadingMake minor changes Correct errors in

SpellingGrammarUsage

Mechanics

PublishingShare your writing

Submit your piece online www.concern.net/writingcompetition

PrewritingChoose a topic and form

Choose a styleChoose a purpose & audience

Gather Ideas Research (Page 11)Free writing (Page 4)

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Free writing - Prewriting Strategy

You have the topic, you know youre going to enter Concern Writing Competition this year,whats next? Are you stuck? Can you think of lots to say but dont know how to say it? Doyou have writers block? Try free writing! Free writing resembles the warm up you might dobefore going for a run. If you have an idea in the back of your head but just cant quite pin itdown, this is the technique that will pull that idea out and transform it into a fully-grown one.

How do you use free writing? Its very simple. Set a time for yourself. Try five to tenminutes. Longer times may not be that productive since free writing is a warm up formore focused writing. Begin to type or write about anything that comes into your head.Dont stop until the time is up. Write things down that seem to be related to the topic. Thepoint of free writing is flow, not correctness, not grammar, just flow. When time is up, lookover what you have written. Pick ideas and phrases you can use later. Feel free to changetopics or areas of focus, but try to follow the writing where it wants to go. Trust yourselfand your writing.

Free writing is writing with the critic button disengaged. Free writing may be focused orunfocused. Unfocused free writing is looking into random thoughts in your mind just to seewhats in there. If you discover a potential idea, you can pause to examine it more closely orreturn to it later. Focused free writing involves writing about a particular topic as a means ofdiscovering what you already know or think about it. Write as fast as you can; the faster thebetter. Dont worry how messy it gets. The only rule to follow is to not stop writing! If youcant think of anything to say, write down that you cant think of anything to say and maybewhy. Form no judgment about what you write. Just dont stop writing.

The key to making free writing useful is to always go back and read what you have written.Its in the reading that you see the possibilities for further development. Many people find ituseful to read their free writing out loud when finished with it. Often the ear will pick upsome pattern or great idea that you hadnt noticed, even as you wrote it. Make note of thegood ideas or words that stand out to you. You can generate successful free writing nomatter how little time you have or wherever you are.

There is debate on whether it is better to free write on paper or on the computer. Youshould use whichever medium you are more comfortable with. If you are going to use acomputer, turn off or dim your monitor so you cant see what youre writing, and thereforecant worry about your mistakes.

Dont give up on free writing after one exercise. Many writers think that its boring, butcome to love it after a week. Free writing is like any other kind of activity: you will get betterat it. Eventually, the exercise will become liberating. Free writing can help to break even thetoughest writers block and is a terrific memory stimulator!

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Free writing doesnt suit you? Try these other great prewritingtechniques and prompts

1. List Ideas. Lists are a great way to gather material. The idea is to generate ideas.Dont worry if some ideas are better than others. And dont worry too much aboutgetting the ideas in the right order.

2. Make a Web. You may have done this before. Put the main idea in the centre, andmake a spoke for each connected idea.

3. Make a Simple Time-line. I find this idea very helpful for writing stories. Jot downwhen each important event happened. Now, where do you want to start thewriting? At the beginning of the timeline? In the middle? At the end?

4. Three by Three by Three. Give yourself three minutes to write three ideas on threedifferent topics. Great for generating ideas.

5. Write a story of exactly 100 words, no more, no less. Then cut the story down to50 words. Can you do it in 25? 6?

6. Write a scene in dialogue-only first, then go back and fill in the action - but onlywhere its necessary to understand whats going on.

7. Write the first sentence of a story today. Write the second sentence tomorrow.Continue until youve finished the story. Dont cheat, you can always edit later.

8. Write about your day from the point of view of your shoes. Then write about it againfrom the point of view of your eyes or ears. Notice the difference?

Think outside the box

I am offering my help. Please, Barack, help me to help our planet. If you decideto help me, and if this change happens, I will no longer have so much unwantedgunk passing through me every day. When people draw a breath from me, it willbe clean and will do them no harm. Nature as a whole will be much healthierand more fruitful. This dream, if realised, could potentially prolong the lives ofmany seriously endangered animals. It would save everyone money in the longrun; countries would no longer have to buy oil or coal. It would definitely createa cleaner, less polluted environment for every living thing on planet earth, and, itcould help to avoid our planets ultimate downfall. You and I, Barack, togetherwe can. Yours Sincerely, The Air. Niamh Burke, Ireland, Letter to PresidentObama, Concern Writing Competition 2009 Sr. 1st place

Style

Readers want the person who is talking to them to soundgenuine, therefore be yourself. Relax and haveconfidence, believe in your own identity and your ownopinions. When choosing words and stringing themtogether think of how they sound. Constantly use athesaurus to find the right word that sounds the best too.

Nesrine is curled up on the floor of her dark hut,the freezing sweat pouring down her face, her ivory-white teeth clenched together with the unbearablepain coursing through her. She reaches for thetable-top, trying to get up from her pitiful positionbut she falls, defeated. She knows her child isarriving. She screams, scared and all alone. GavinTucker, Ireland, Dispatches from the DevelopingWorld, Concern Writing Competition 2011 Jr. 1st Place

Research and the subconscious mind

The Concern Writing Competition annually focuses ondevelopment issues. Make sure you have the hard factsto emphasise your argument or stance, please see thelist of development resources on page 11.

Always collect more material than you will use. Look formaterial everywhere not just the obvious sources. Alwayslook for a way to convey your information in a narrativeform. Narrative is the oldest and most compellingmethod of holding someones attention.

A writer is always at work. Stay alert to the currentsaround you. Much of what you see and hear will comeback to you long afterwards through your subconsciousmind, just when your conscious mind, labouring to write,needs it.

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Quick Tips

Verbs: Verbs are the mostimportant of your tools. Use activeverbs unless there is no way toget around using a passive verb.Use precise verbs. Active verbspush the sentence forward andgive it momentum. Active verbsalso enable us to visualize anactivity because they require apronoun (he) or a noun (the boy)or a person (Ms Lawless) to putthem in motion. Verbs also carryin their imaginary or in their sounda suggestion of what they mean.

Adverbs: Most adverbs areunnecessary. Strong verbs areweakened by redundant adverbs.Dont use adverbs unless they donecessary work.

Adjectives: Most adjectives arealso unnecessary. Make youradjectives do work that needs tobe done He looked at the greysky and the dark clouds

Little Qualifiers: Prune out thesmall words that qualify how youfeel and how you think or whatyou saw: a bit, a little, sort of, kindof, rather, quite, in a sense. Beconfident: dont be a bitconfused, be confused, Sort oftired, youre tired! Readers want awriter who believes in themselvesand what they are saying. Dontdiminish that belief. Dont be kindof bold. Be bold.

Mood Changers: Learn to alertthe reader as soon as possible toany change in mood from theprevious sentence: But, yet,however, nevertheless, still,instead, thus, therefore,meanwhile, now, later, today,subsequently

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Show your thought process

So often, we discuss the developing world in terms of what they can learnfrom wealthier, more industrialized, more technologically advanced places, orthe developed world, as we call it. Perhaps, in some ways, the developedworld is actually at a disadvantage, moving further away from a natural state andthe enjoyment of the simple things in life. The old adage less is more wouldseem to be true of life in the developing world, the biggest lessons to belearned from them; To be happy with what you have, to utilize creativity andingenuity, and to be present in the moment. Incidentally, all lessons stemmingfrom their being poorer, less industrialized, and less technologically advanced.Sarah Maguire, Ireland, Dispatches from the Developing World, Concern WritingCompetition 2011 College Shortlisted.

Structure

Give as much thought to your last sentence as your first. Bring the story full circle to strikeat the end of a note that was sounded at the beginning. Readers want to know that theyare on a journey. Does your lead sentence/paragraph work? Does it capture attention?Provide hard details that tell the reader why the piece was written and why they ought toread it.

You can use a quotation to start or end your story. You can start by using a remark that isso far from left field that nobody could see it coming. Find some remark that has a senseof finality or that is funny, or that adds an unexpected closing detail. Surprise is the mostrefreshing element in nonfiction writing.

Close your eyes and count to six. A child in the developing world has justdied. Caoimhe Ni Chorcora, Ireland, Mr Secretary General, Ladies and Gentlemen,Concern Writing Competition, 2010 Senior Shortlisted.

Continue to build: every paragraph should amplify the one that precedes it. Take specialcare with the last sentence of every paragraph - it is a critical springboard to the nextparagraph. Make the reader smile and you have them for at least another paragraph.

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Rewriting and Editing

There are wars going on in every corner of the world and innocent children arekilled. Landmines are left behind after conflicts, hospitals are destroyed bywarring parties, health agents are forced to abandon their health centres, andmany children are orphaned. Children in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia knowwhat I mean.How do we hope to reduce child mortality when our actions area hindrance to this objective? Ndifor Elves Funnui Zinder, Niger, Letter toPresident Obama, Concern Writing Competition 2009 Adult 1st place

Rewriting is the essence of writing well. Yourfirst version will still not initially say what youwant it to say, or as well as you could. It will notbe clear, logical, verbose, clunky, pretentious,full of clutter, clichs, lack rhythm or just beboring. Writing is an evolving process not afinished product. Reshape, tighten and refinethe raw material of your first draft. Keep puttingyourself in the readers place. Is theresomething that should have been told earlier inthe sentence that you put at the end? Is itobvious when you shift mood, tense, subject,tone emphasis? Alter the sequence, tighten theflow, and sharpen the point.

Above all do not be afraid to experiment with what you have writtenRemember, it is not sign of weakness or defeat that your manuscript ends up inneed of major surgery. This is a common occurrence in all writing, and amongthe best writers. William Strunk Jr. and. B. White, The Elements of Style

Read your article aloud from beginning to end, always remembering where you have leftthe reader in the previous sentence. Watch the connecting links, watch where you mightconfuse or lose the reader. Have you told them the same thing twice or forgottensomething they needed to know? What you must do is make an arrangement- one thatholds together from start to finish and that moves with economy and warmth.

Revision/Rewriting

Energy

Style

Re-sequence

Add a section

Prune/Cut

Emphasis

Editing

Fluency

Fine details: bringout the thesaurus

Spelling/CapitalLetters

Grammar

Punctuation

Paragraphing

Put brackets around every component that isnt doing the useful work Unnecessary preposition appended to a verb Adjective that states a known fact An adverb that carries the same meaning as the verb Little qualifiers that weaken any sentence they inhabit Phrases that dont mean anything like in a sense

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The quickest fixOften a difficult problem in a sentence can be solved by simply getting rid of it. Askyourself if you need it at all. Remove it and watch the afflicted sentence spring to lifeand breathe normally. Its the quickest cure and often the best.

Paragraphs Writing is visual-it catches the eye before it has a chance to catch the brain.Paragraphing is a subtle but important element in writing. It is a road map telling yourreader how you have organized your ideas. Each paragraph has its own integrity ofcontent and structure.

The periodKeep a sentence short and to the point. Dont express two dissimilar thoughts. Makesure the sentence is under control from beginning to end, in syntax and punctuation,so that the reader knows where they are at every step of the winding trial.

The Exclamation Point!Dont use it unless you must to achieve a certain effect. Construct your sentences sothat the order of words will put the emphasis where you want it. Resist using an ! tonotify the reader that you are making a joke or being ironic. Humour is best achievedby understatement and there is nothing subtle about an !

The semicolon ;The semicolon brings the reader if not to a halt at least to a pause. So use it withdiscretion. Rely instead on a period and the dash

The dash -The dash can be used in two ways, to amplify or justify in the second part of thesentence a thought you stated in the first part or use two dashes, which set apart aparenthetical thought within a longer sentence or use one dash when an explanatorydetail that might otherwise have required a separate sentence is neatly dispatchedalong the way.

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Concern Creative Writing Competition Marking Scheme

Marks should beawarded underthe followingheadings

Clarity ofPurpose

Coherence ofDelivery

Efficiency oflanguage

Accuracy ofmechanics

TOTAL

Does it meet thefollowing criteria?

Does the writer stickto their chosen topic?Does the entry have apoint? Is the entry inthe appropriate form?

Did the writersufficiently developthe points they weremaking over theirentire entry?

Did the writercommunicate in a way that was clear,effective andengaging?

Specific factors toconsider:

Relevance, focus, originality,freshness, clear aim,understanding of subject

Continuity of argument,sequencing, managementof ideas, use ofreferences/quotes/sources,use of examples (its ok touse factual/real examplesor fictionalstories/characters)

Accurate vocabulary,syntax, sentence patterns,paragraph structure,appropriate punctuation,use of lively interestingphrasing, energy, style,fluency

Proper spelling, grammarand sentence structure(NB: some entries may beusing British/Irish spellingand some may be usingAmerican spelling)

Mark

/30

/30

/30

/10

/100

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Know the Facts on Development Issues

www.developmenteducation.ieBroad range of materials exploring a variety ofdevelopment issues and topics.

www.guardian.co.uk/global-developmentThe Guardians news, comment and analysisof global development; comprised of videos,podcasts, data, blogs, interviews, web picksand debates.

www.alertnet.org Is a news website run by Reuters whichfocuses on global issues and emergencies.

www.newint.orgWith over 30 years of publishing under itsbelt, the New Internationalist is renowned forits radical, campaigning stance on a range ofworld issues, from the cynical marketing ofbaby milk to human rights in Burma.

www.undp.orgUNs global development network.

www.worldbank.orgThe World Bank is a vital source of financialand technical assistance to developingcountries around the world.

www.cyberschoolbus.un.orgUN site loaded with information, country data,issue briefings and activities.

www.socialwatch.orgInternational Social Watch, backgroundinformation, reports on a range of issues,tables, graphs, interactive maps etc.

www.pambazuka.orgNews-based site from South Africa. Weeklyupdates on human rights, conflict, health,environment, social welfare, development,and other topics in Africa.

www.civicus.orgAn international alliance for citizenparticipation, great toolkits and resources.

www.concern.netConcerns stance on topic development issues.

www.unhcr.orgUN High Commissioner for Human Rights, up todate details on all UN member countries, keytopics, issues, international human rights law andinternational human rights bodies.

www.hrw.orgHuman Rights Watch. Huge database of reportsand resources on human rights around the world.

www.madre.orgWomens rights network, great for issue-basedresearch.

www.oneworld.netBrings together the latest news and views fromover 1,600 organizations promoting human rightsawareness and fighting poverty worldwide

www.un.org/millenniumgoalsThe eight Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) form a blueprint agreed to by all theworlds countries and all the worlds leadingdevelopment institutions.

www.globalissues.orgThis web site looks into global issues that affecteveryone and aims to show how most issues areinter-related.

www.crin.orgCRIN empowers the global child rightscommunity through the exchange of informationand the promotion of childrens rights. There are14,540 resources on the site.

www.ilo.org/ipecResources and statistics on child labour.

www.eldis.orgInstitute of Development Studies, Sussex, topicguides, country profiles and recent news onalmost every development topic.

Concern Writing Competition over the years

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