how can the practice of professional writers inform ... · how can the practice of professional...

How can the practice of professional writers inform academic writing?

Inspire, HEA Conference, 3 March 2016

Trevor Day & Katie Grant, Royal Literary Fund

Royal Literary Fund

British charity founded 1790

Promoting and supporting writers of high literary merit

Royal Literary Fund

In recent decades benefiting from the literary

estates of historically important writers e.g.

Somerset Maugham A.A. Milne

readtoleadtoday.org

Educational impact

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

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

Trevor Day

Katie Grant

'a subversive and thrilling gothic tale, it will keep you up all night’ The New York Times

What do novelists and academic writers have in common?

Writing is … emotional, can be lonely, needs clarity, needs a plan, needs a voice, needs momentum, needs a READER

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)

Who or what is the protagonist?

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?

Why bother? Who cares?

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

empathy, interest, authority, information

impact information interest tension clarity momentum

energy enjoyment vigour empathy distinctiveness authority

Contact us

Trevor Day

trevorday@ndirect.co.uk https://rlfconsultants.com/consultants/trevor-day/

Katie Grant

katiemarygrant@gmail.com https://rlfconsultants.com/consultants/katie-grant/

Consultant Fellows’ Programme https://rlfconsultants.com

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.