Wednesday, July 29, 2015

How to Use Microsoft Word


Friday, July 24, 2015

Common Logical Fallacies

1. Anecdotal Evidence




2. An Appeal to Emotion



3. Begging the Question (It means taking for granted)

Example: Apples are healthy because they grow on trees.


4. Evading the Question (to evade means run from)




5. Ad Hominem Attack

This includes name calling, but can be more psychological:



6. Guilt by Association



7. Ad Populum

 8. A Non Sequitur:



Non Sequiturs can be really funny when obvious:




9. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (False Causation)






10. Oversimplification



11. False Dichotomy (The Black & White Fallacy)


They can also take an if-then format:


Sometimes someone will make it three options, instead of two:


12. The Middle Ground Fallacy



13.  Argumentum Ad Ignoratum


Reality: Lack of proof is not proof.

14. The Bandwagon


15. The Trick Question

If you say no: You're still beating your wife.

Another Example: "How do you spell HIV?"
You answer: "H-I-V."
The Trick Question: "Are you positive?"

16. Burden of Proof Reversal


17. Slippery Slope


18. Personal Incredulity


19. The Gambler's Fallacy



20. The No True Scotsman Fallacy


21. An Appeal to Nature


22. An Appeal to Authority


         later claims he/she was wrong.


         common with quotes on DVD boxes.




23. The Straw Man Fallacy




24. An Appeal to the Highest Authority


How to Write an Essay 4 - Arguments

Notes from The Practical Stylist, by Sheridan Baker, 7th edition













Comparison & Contrast




"It's raining cats and dogs outside.




Examples: "It's hot as hell out today."
 "Your socks smell like moldy cheese."






Cause & Effect



Classification & Definitions

2. Another great thing to classify are problems:








            1. What is it?
            2. What is it not?
            3. What is it like?
            4. What is it not like?




Hypothetical Examples



How to Write an Essay 3 - Structure

Notes from The Practical Stylist, by Sheridan Baker, 7th edition

1. Every essay should have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

2. The opening paragraph sets the tone and direction of your essay, and should clearly state your thesis, usually at the end.

Example Comparison:

A Bad Opening Paragraph:
"All people think they are good drivers. There are more accidents caused by young drivers than any other group. Driver education is a good beginning, but further practice is very necessary. People who object to driver education do not realize that modern society, with its suburban pattern of growth, is built around the automobile. The car becomes a way of life and a status symbol. When teen-agers go too fast they are probably only copying their own parents."

A Good Revision:
"Modern society is built on the automobile. Children play with tiny cars; teen-agers long to take out the car alone. Soon they are testing their skills at high and higher speeds, especially with a group of friends along. One final test at extreme speeds usually suffices. It is a sobering experience, if survived, and can open one's eyes to the deadly dynamics of driving."

3. The middle, or body, of your essay is your chance to defend your thesis with arguments. A common mistake for students is to skip a solid beginning and go straight into argumentation. "It's all chaotic middle . . . with no structure. It has no beginning, it just starts; it has no end, it just stops, burned out at two in the morning."

4. Organize your arguments, from least to most important, saving your best for last. This will keep people interested - remember boredom grows with every passing paragraph.

5. If your least important arguments aren't very strong, cut them out altogether.

6. Run your comparisons and demolish the opposition point by point. Don't dwell on just one side. The second you concede an opposing view, strike it down with a logical retort. And don't spend three pages talking about cars, and then switch to motorbikes. You'll have to repeat yourself.

7. The final paragraph is your summation and reassertion of your thesis. "You need to imply, 'I told you so,' without saying it . . . and leave them convinced, satisfied, and admiring."

8. Essays are made up of paragraphs, and while each paragraph should focus on one idea, writers have some freedom as to how and when to make them. The purpose of a paragraph is to organize your thoughts, so that it's easier for the reader. Every paragraph is a resting place and a marker, to help readers find their place when they have to pause, or to find some quote they liked, maybe a few days earlier. Every paragraph is also like a miniature essay, with its own beginning, middle, and end.

9. The size of your paragraphs depends on what you're writing. Newspaper articles traditionally fit in narrow columns, so small, one-sentence paragraphs are common. Paragraphs in books are often longer, though not always. In essays, paragraphs are typically longest, breaking only to lead the reader in a new direction.
10. The first sentence of every paragraph is the "topic sentence". It introduces the thought. Every other sentence in that paragraph should support and expand on it.

How to Write an Essay 2 - Choosing a Thesis & Title

Notes from The Practical Stylist, by Sheridan Baker, 7th Edition

1. A thesis is the main argument of your essay. It's what you want to debate. A thesis is key to a good essay. It keeps you focused, and helps you plan your essay's structure.

2. A thesis is not a subject. A thesis is an attack. Someone, somewhere must disagree with you, and your job is to prove them wrong. An essay without a thesis, for example the history of cats, from Persia to Siam, would be all description––all subject, and no argument. The result is boring trivia with no context, no reason why it should matter. A thesis is what makes your subject important.

3. When forming a thesis, focus on what you know, and what you need to learn before you can speak about it. Make a list of what you need to research.

4. Steer your thesis toward the truth. Debate something you can prove. Limit your words to what you know is true. Don't make bold claims (odvážne tvrdenie) with no evidence. Use the words "may" and "might" and "perhaps" when you don't really know. You need to show people that you're reasonable, or they'll dismiss you.

5. Look for logical fallacies in your thesis. Short, simple statements might need to become more specific:


A Bad Thesis: The answers to crime are longer sentences and more prisons.

Revised: Since the death penalty has proven both ineffective and, to many, repugnant, the only remaining answer to serious crimes is longer sentences and more prisons.

6. The less popular your stance, the more exciting your thesis. Imagine, "Cats are a man's best friend." Many people will disagree with this, so they'll want to hear your arguments.

7. Think of ways to personalize a subject, so you can use what you know to illustrate arguments.

8. At the same time, learn how to generalize your personal feelings and experiences, remembering how we all share common experiences.

9. Choosing a thesis actually helps you, because it narrows and partitions your subject into something manageable. And, it removes all the subtopics that aren't relevant.

10. At the same time, don't make your thesis so narrow that no one cares. If it's only relevant to a handful of people, again, think of your audience, and what they care about, and modify your thesis.


A Narrow Thesis: The tourist trade only brings financial gain to a few lucky landlords.

Revised: Although the tourist trade contributes to the state's economy, and provides recreation for many people, the benefits of tourism are not evenly distributed, and there are many downsides that must be addressed.

How to Choose a Title

1. Your title is your first impression, and the first step in persuasion. It's an opportunity to explain your thesis and show your attitude to the reader.

2. Your title helps you focus and stay on track as you compose arguments.

3. Don't get stuck on a title, you can always change it later.

4. Don't make it sound like a newspaper headline.

5. Don't make it a full sentence.

6. Titles don't take periods, but they can use question marks and exclamation points.
7. Your title and opening sentence must be independent of each other - If your title is "Polluted Rivers," don't begin with "This is a serious problem." Start with, "Polluted rivers are a serious problem."

How to Write an Essay 1 - General Advice

Notes from The Practical Stylist by Sheridan Baker, 7th Edition

Why Writing Matters:

1. Writing is a way to organize and clarify your ideas.

2. You learn as you write, because it helps you think.

3. Writing is a chance to impress and persuade people––it can be powerful. Good writing shows people your intelligence and education.

General Essay Writing Advice:

1. Good writing is meaningful. Write about what you care about, and learn to care about what you write.

2. The biggest opponent in every essay is boredom. Your challenge is to make whatever you write important, whether it be topical, exciting, funny, or just plain interesting. The longer a piece of writing, the harder it is to keep one's interest, so keep your work as short as possible, while maintaining clarity and accuracy. You'll never win an argument if you put your readers to sleep.

3. Establish a firm viewpoint. Have a point to make, even if your essay is mostly informative.

4. Acknowledge and dispose of the opposition. In some essays, for example, when you describe a poem or story, there won't be much to argue about. But, on controversial topics, you must show your understanding of the opposition, or it will seem that you haven't really studied the subject.

5. Also know that your opposition will vary. "Some of your audience will agree with you but for different reasons. Others may disagree hotly. You need, then, to imagine what these varying objections may be, as if you were before a meeting in open discussion."

6. Consider your readers, and prepare your writing for "the invisible public." An essay is not a letter to your teacher or a diary entry. Think about the questions these readers might ask you, or what they might object to. "You imagine yourself addressing slightly different personalities when you write about snorkeling and when you write about nuclear reactors."

7. Never talk down to your audience. Don't assume they're inferior, don't insult them. Assume they're just as intelligent as you.

8. Don't lose your personality or voice in an overly-serious attitude. Work like a scholar or scientist, but write like a human being. Organize it logically, but keep the tone and movement of a good conversation, in your own voice.
9. Plan to Rewrite. Your writing always improves with each rewrite and it helps you as a speaker and test taker. Ideally, you'll write four drafts for every essay. Take some time between each draft, so you return with a fresh mind. Then, it will be easier to see mistakes. Your essay is your voice. If you don't take it seriously, why should anyone else?
10. Don't take yourself too seriously. No one knows everything. Don't act like you do, and don't be embarrassed that you don't. Your job is simply to present evidence, enough to show that what you think is probably true. Treat your investigation like a science experiment, with your thesis being the hypothesis. Draw your own conclusion, then leave it for others to debate.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Creative Writing 3 - Proof Reading & Revision

·        "If you're a beginner, let me urge that you take your story through at least two drafts; the one you do with the study door closed, and the one you do with it open."

·        The first draft is all about the story. Write it out quickly, before it gets stale. Writing fiction is "like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a bathtub. There's plenty of opportunity for self-doubt. If I write rapidly, . . . only looking back to check the names of my characters and the relevant parts of their back stories, I find that I can keep up with my original enthusiasm and at the same time outrun the self-doubt that's always waiting to settle in."

·        Don't think about theme, symbolism, or irony, and don't show it to anyone until the first draft is done! Keep it private and, "No one can ask you 'What were you trying to express with Garfield's dying words?' or 'What's the significance of the green dress?' You may not have been trying to express anything with Garfield's dying words, and Maura could be wearing green only because that's what you saw when she came into sight in your mind's eye. On the other hand, perhaps these things do mean something (or will, when you get a chance to look at the forest instead of the trees). Either way, the first draft is the wrong place to think about it."

·        "All novels are really letters aimed at one person," an ideal reader (IR). It helps to focus on your IR and wonder, what will he/she think of this part? Is there anything my IR wouldn't understand, that I need to clarify? "This is perhaps the best way of all to make sure you stick to story."

·        "It's rare that incoherence or dull storytelling can be solved by something so minor as a second draft." You can't polish a turd.

·        After your first draft is done, put it away and leave it for awhile––six weeks minimum. "If it looks like an alien relic bought at a junk-shop or yard sale where you can hardly remember stopping, you're ready." Read it, looking for underlying patterns. Find the themes and symbols that stand out, and then revise your story to fit them better. One of the jobs of revision is making any themes or symbols more clear.

·        Also, look for any plot holes that ruin the logic and consistency of the work. The most common plot holes have to do with character motivation - people acting out of character.

·        2nd Draft = 1st Draft - 10%. "If you can't get out ten per cent of it while retaining the basic story and flavor, you're not trying very hard." "Never keep a passage on the grounds that it's good; it should be good, if I'm being paid to do it. What I'm not being paid to do is be self-indulgent." The story is boss. "If it works, fine. If it doesn't, toss it. Toss it even if you love it. Sir Arthur Quiller-Cough once said, 'Murder your darlings,' and he was right." This is why it's so important to wait six weeks between drafts. It's easier to cut things out when you don't remember it all––when it feels like someone else's story instead of yours.

·        Now that you've completed your second draft, it's time to show it. Choose four or five people you respect and ask for their input - find people who will tell the truth, even if the work is bad. Some critiques will be factual, for example, Winchester .330's don't exist, only Remington made a .330. These are the easiest fixes. Subjective crits are harder to merit, so if all your friends hate one part, you should probably change it. If at least half of them like it, then it's probably good enough.

Creative Writing 2 - a Writer's Toolbox

from On Writing, by Stephen King

A Writer's Toolbox:

A writer needs a mental toolbox to keep from getting discouraged, every time he or she encounters a problem.

1. The top level of your toolbox should have:

vocabulary  - "It ain't how much you've got, honey, it's how you use it." Don't dress up
                       your vocabulary, using words you don't really know. Use the first word that
                      comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colorful." Build your           
                      vocabulary through reading.
                    - vocabulary includes slang, shouts, and noises that aren't standard English.
                    - ". . . vocabulary is not the same thing as feeling." So, copying another
                       writer's words and style won't guarantee a success.
                    - vocabulary also includes profanity, which is sometimes necessary. People
                      often say, swear words are a sign of ignorance. Well, ignorance is a
                      common characteristic, so if you want realistic characters, they have to
                      speak like real people. And besides, sometimes a swear words can be quite

Example: "I'm busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest."
                "Wish in one hand, shit in the other, see which one fills up first."

grammar  - "The best writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric. But, unless he is
                   certain of doing well, he will probably do best to follow the rules." - William
                - Proper grammar can sometimes stiffen a sentence.
                - Avoid the passive voice! It's weak. Too much of it annoys the reader.

Example: The body was carried from the kitchen and placed on the parlor sofa.
Better: Freddy and Myra carried the body out of thekitchen and laid it on the parlor sofa.

                - Avoid using adverbs! They're like weeds. The worst kinds are for dialogue attribution -
                  they explain how a writer says something:

Examples: "Put it down!" she shouted menacingly.

Better: "Put it down!" she shouted.
            "Give it back, he pleaded, "it's mine."

            Why are these words so bad? Because, if you know how to write, we already know how your
            characters sound, and these extra words get in the way. They can even become a joke, known
            as "Tom Swifties".

Examples: "I made this basket all by myself," Tom said craftily.
                   "My pencil lead is broken," Tom said pointlessly.
                   "I'm sort of fond of modern art," Tom said abstractly.
                   "You got a nice butt, Jill," Tom said cheekily.

                - Watch out for pronouns! Too many creates confusion.

Example: "He did it to him before he could do it back."
Better: "Patrick did it to John before he could do it back."

                - Don't use extreme verbs for attribution, like "grated, gasped, jerked out".
                  Simple words like "said, told, shouted, pleaded" are fine.

2. The second level of your toolbox is for style:

style  - Every writer has his/her own style or voice. Some are wordy, some are poetic,
            some may remind you of a certain colour or flavour. Style reflects the mood of the
            writer - serious, comical, nostalgic, bitter, and this mood colours the story.
         - Telegraph style: Some writers use sentence fragments "telegraph style" to explain
            what they see. It adds variety of style, speeds up the pace, and creates clear
            images, but don't overuse it.

Example: "The boat was thirty feet of sleek white fiberglass with gray trim. Tall masts, the sails tied. Satori painted on the hull in black script edged with gold." - Survival of the Fittest, by Jon Kellerman

         - Journalistic style: This writing is short, to the point, factual, and unbiased.
         - You can also add different forms of writing: personal letters, diary entries,
            newspaper articles, etc.

paragraphs  - paragraphs are maps of intent (účel), and are almost as important for how
 they look as for what they say. You can tell how hard a text is just by   
 looking at the paragraphs on a page.
 - Every paragraph should start with a topic sentence, followed by support- 
    and-description. Don't wander off topic!
 - In fiction, paragraphs are less formal, and should flow naturally, like
                      talking. "It's the beat instead of the actual melody."

narration - Narration moves the story from point A to point B and finally to point Z.
                 - Narration should be graceful. What does this mean? It means telling what
 happened, respecting the story and the intellect of your audience. Graceful  
 narration is tactful, understated, and accurate.

description  - Description creates a sensory reality for the reader. It's not just a question
  of how to describe, but how much to. "The key to good description begins
  with clear seeing and ends with clear writing."
- "Thin description leaves the reader feeling bewildered and nearsighted.
  a happy medium."
- "It's also important to know what to describe and what can be left alone."
  For example don't go into detail about all your character's clothes. "If I
- "I can't remember many cases where I felt I had to describe what the
  people in a story of mine looked like––I'd rather let the reader supply the
  wardrobe, I think you can do the rest, can't you?"
- Overdescription slows down the pace of a story and can bore your reader,
  and worse, it can ruin the bond between you and your readers. The more
  these characters match the picture in your head, the less the readers can
  create their own interpretations. "Description begins in the writer's
  imagination, but should finish in the reader's." A few details will do, and
  the best are usually the first that come to mind.
- Physical descriptions of characters are no shortcut to personality. So, don't
  mention "sharply intelligent eyes, a determined chin, or arrogant
  cheekbones." It's lazy writing. A cardinal rule of good fiction is, "never tell
  us a thing if you can show us, instead . . . I tried never to come right out
  and say 'Annie was depressed and possibly suicidal that day' . . . If I have
  to tell you, I lose. If, on the other hand, I can show you a silent, dirty-
  haired woman who compulsively gobbles cake and candy, then have you
  draw the conclusion that Annie is in the depressive part of a manic-
  depressive cycle, I win. And if I am able, even briefly, to give you a
  Wilkes'-eye-view of the world––if I can make you understand her
  madness––then perhaps I can make her someone you sympathize with or
  even identify with."
- Locale and texture are more important than character's physical features,
  but follow the same rule as above––enough detail to put a picture in the
  reader's head. "If I think longer I can come up with more stuff . . ., but
  there's no need for more. This isn't the Taj Mahal we're visiting, after all,
  and I don't want to sell you the place."
- There are two ways to describing things: straight (literal) and poetic. both
  can be great. Be careful with poetic descriptions, because a bad simile
  (without a logical connection) can ruin a story.

Example: "He sat stolidly beside the corpse, waiting for the medical examiner as patiently as a man waiting for a turkey sandwich."

  What does that mean? Men don't always wait patiently for turkey
  sandwiches. Everyone is different, and sometimes you're in a hurry. And,
  what is the writer really saying? That the man waiting for the doctor is
  bored, or could care less about who died? This is not clear writing.
- Poetic language can be a lot of fun when done right, even when vulgar:

Example: "It was darker than a carload of assholes"

  Here the meaning is clear, and it gives you a clue as to the kind of person
  telling the story.
- "The most common pitfall of figurative language is the use of clichéd
  similes, metaphors, and images. He ran like a madman, she was pretty as
  a summer day, the guy was a hot ticket, Bob fought like a tiger . . . don't
  waste my time (or anyone) else's with such chestnuts. It makes you look
  either lazy or ignorant."

dialogue  - Dialogue brings your characters to life, through speech. It defines them, the
good and the bad. People reveal themselves by what and how they speak, often  completely unaware. Let your characters speak freely, and you'll learn about them organically, just as your readers do.
- "The key to writing good dialogue is honesty . . . the dialogue has to ring true
to our ear." This will often get you in trouble with critics who can't see the difference between a flawed character and a flawed writer. Never let the "Legion of Decency" dictate what or how you write. Stephen once wrote about a character who killed a dog. He then received hate mail from people wondering why he hates dogs so much. These are people to ignore.
- Dialogue tells us about characters, little bits at a time, like solving a puzzle.
This is much more engaging for the reader than simply telling her, "this character is smart, while this one is stupid, and this one is short tempered."
- A big part of the readers' enjoyment comes from believable characters - their
behaviours, surroundings, and their talk. The more realistic a character, the more it echoes with the readers' own lives and beliefs. There's a guilty pleasure we get from reading good dialogue, like we're eavesdropping on an interesting conversation.
- "Bad dialogue is deadly . . . Dialogue is a skill best learned by people who
enjoy talking and listening to others––particularly listening, picking up the accents, rhythms, dialect, and slang of various groups. Loners such as Lovecraft often write it badly, or with the care of someone who is composing in a language other than his or her native tongue." One can forgive a writer for bad dialogue, so long as it's scarce. Stephen King praised H. P. Lovecraft as a genius while noting, of the millions of words he had written, fewer than five thousand were dialogue.

3. The third level is for:

plot  - "I won't try to convince you that I've never plotted any more than I'd try to
  distrust plot for two reasons: first, because our lives are largely plotless . . . and
  compatible. . . my basic belief about the making of stories is that they pretty much
  make themselves."
- "I believe stories are found things, like fossils in the ground . . . The writer's job is to
use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible. Sometimes the fossil you uncover is small; a seashell. Sometimes it's enormous, a Tyrannosaurus Rex with all those gigantic ribs and grinning teeth. Either way, . . . the techniques of excavation remain basically the same.
- The century's greatest supporter of Developing the Plot may have been Edgar
Wallace, a best-selling potboiler novelist of the 1920's. Wallace invented––and patented––a device called the Edgar Wallace Plot Wheel. When you got stuck . . . you simply spun the Plot Wheel and read what came up in the window: a fortuitous arrival, perhaps, or Heroine declares her love.

situation - "The situation comes first. The characters––always flat and unfeatured, to
  begin with––come next."
 - The most interesting situations can usually be expressed as a What-if question:

Examples:  What if vampires invaded a small New England village? (Salem's Lot)

- Situation is much more intuitive and organic. "I want to put a group of
characters (perhaps a pair; perhaps even just one) in some sort of predicament and then watch them try to work themselves free. My job isn't to help them work their way free, or manipulate them to safety––those are jobs which require the noisy jackhammer of plot––but to watch what happens and then write it down."
- "What happens to characters as a story progresses depends solely on what I
discover about them as I go along––how they grow, in other words . . . If they grow a lot, they begin to influence the course of the story instead of the other way around." This kind of writing is called "character driven". You decide which characters are most important to the story as the situation develops, and that's how you determine which will be the protagonists, and which will be supporting characters.

Note: "character driven" is different from a "character study" in which the whole book revolves around the life and thoughts of one character, without any important situation. Virginia Woolf and James Joyce wrote character studies, using stream-of-consciousness.

believable characters - avoid cardboard characters! In real life, "no one is 'the bad buy'
or 'the best friend' or 'the whore with the heart of gold' . . . In real life we each regard ourselves as the main character." Treat all your characters this way, and remember, "every character you create is partly you."
                                    - "I have never demanded of a set of characters that they do things
my way. On the contrary, I want them to do things their way. In some instances, the outcome is what I visualized. In most, however, it's something I never expected. For a suspense novelist, this is a great thing . . . if I'm not able to guess with any accuracy how the damned thing is going to turn out . . . I can be pretty sure of keeping the reader in a state of page-turning anxiety. And why worry about the ending anyway? Why be such a control freak? Sooner or later every story comes to an end somewhere."
                                    - "Make sure these fictional folks behave in ways that will both
help the story and seem reasonable to us."
                                    - Believable characters are crucial, but it's not enough. They also
need to be vivid and interesting. This is typically much easier with villains than with average heroes.

pacing - "Pace is the speed at which your narrative unfolds. There is a kind of unspoken
(hence undefended and unexamined) belief in publishing circles that the most commercially successful stories and novels are fast-paced. I guess the underlying thought is that people have so many things to do today, and are so easily distracted from the printed word, that you'll lose them unless you become a kind of short-order cook, serving up sizzling burgers, fries, and eggs over easy just as fast as you can."
"Like so many unexamined beliefs in the publishing business, this idea is largely bullshit . . . which is why, when books like Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose or Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain suddenly break out of the pack and climb the best-seller lists, publishers and editors are astonished. I suspect that most of them ascribe these books' unexpected success to unpredictable and deplorable lapses into good taste on the part of the reading public."
"Not that there's anything wrong with rapidly paced novels. Some pretty good writers––Nelson DeMille, Wilbur Smith, and Sue Grafton, to name just three––have made millions writing them. But you can overdo the speed thing. Move too fast and you risk leaving your reader behind, either by confusing or be hearing him/her out . . . Nevertheless, you need to beware––if you slow the pace down too much, even the most patient reader is apt to grow restive."
"The best way to find a balance is your IR."

back story  - is all the stuff that happened before your tale began but which has an
impact on the front story. Back story is always an important element to a story, because even when you write all the events in chronological order, "every life is in medias res." "How much and how well you deal with those years will have a lot to do with the level of success your story achieves, with whether readers think of it as "a good read" or "a big fat bore."
- Back story helps define characters and establish motivation. "Get it in as
quickly as possible, but it's also important to do it with some grace." Giving back story isn't simply about giving information, it's about building a drama. It's an art.

Example: "Hello, ex-wife," Tom said to Doris as she entered the room.

Better: "Hi, Doris," Tom said. His voice sounded natural enough––to his own ears, at least––but the fingers of his right hand crept to the place where his wedding ring had been until six months ago.

- "The most important things to remember about back story is that (a)

research - "Remember that word back. That's where research belongs: as far in the
background and the back story as you can get. You may be entranced with what you're learning about flesh-working bacteria, the sewer system of New York, or the I.Q. potential of collie pups, but your readers are probably going to care a lot more about your characters and your story."
- There have been very successful writers who rely on fact and research. But,
for every one, there are a hundred wannabes. "story belongs in front, but some research is inevitable; you shirk it at your peril."
- "Also, enough details––always assuming they are the correct ones––can stem
the tide of letters from picky-ass readers who apparently live to tell writers that they messed up (the tone of these letters is unvaryingly gleeful)."

4. The fourth level of your toolbox is for theme and symbolism - things to develop after the story is complete.

theme  - Theme and symbolism are decorative ornaments to your work. They might be
present in the story, and they might not. But, the story always comes first. "Starting with the questions and thematic concerns is a recipe for bad fiction . . the only possible exceptions to this rule I can think of are allegories like George Orwell's Animal Farm (and I have a sneaking suspicion that with Animal Farm the story idea may indeed have come first; if I see Orwell in the afterlife, I mean to ask him)."
- Themes can also be a handy tool in your kit, working like a magnifying glass.
When done right, a theme can give your work resonance - a memory that lingers in the heart and mind of the reader.
            - "Writing and literature classes can be annoyingly preoccupied by (and
pretentious about) theme, approaching it as the most sacred of sacred cows, but (don't be shocked) it's really no big deal. If you write a novel, spend weeks and then months catching it word by word, you owe it both to the book and to yourself to lean back (or take a long walk) when you've finished and ask yourself why you bothered––why you spent all that time, why it seemed so important. In other words, what's it all about, Alfie?"
            - In Stephen's book The Stand, he determined the theme to be, "violence as a
solution is woven through human nature like a damning red thread."
"Near the end of the novel . . . Fran asks Stuart Redman if there's any hope at all, if people ever learn from their mistakes. Stu replies, "I don't know," then pauses. In story-time, that pause lasts only as long as it takes the reader to flick his or her eye to the last line. In the writer's study, it went on a lot longer. I searched my mind and heart for something else Stu could say, some clarifying statement. I wanted to find it because at that moment if at no other, Stu was speaking for me. In the end however, Stu simply repeats what he has already said: I don't know. It was the best I could do. Sometimes a book gives you answers, but not always, and I didn't want to leave the readers who had followed me through hundreds of pages with nothing but some empty platitude I didn't believe myself. There is no moral to The Stand, no "We'd better learn or we'll probably destroy the whole damned planet next time"––but if the theme stands out clearly enough, those discussing it may offer their own morals and conclusions. Nothing wrong with that; such discussions are one of the great pleasures of the reading life."
            - Some other common themes in Stephen Kings works include:

"How difficult it is––perhaps impossible! ––to close Pandora's technobox once it's open."
"Why, if there is a God, such terrible things happen."
"There is a thin line between reality and fantasy."
"Why is violence so terribly attractive to fundamentally good people?

symbolism   - "Symbolism does serve a useful purpose, though––it's more than just
chrome on the grill. It can serve as a focusing device for both you and your reader."
- "Symbolism doesn't have to be difficult and relentlessly brainy. Nor does it
have to be as consciously crafted as a kind of ornamental Turkish rug upon which the furniture of the story stands."
- Your story doesn't have to have symbolism. If it's there, great. "If it isn't so
what? You've still got the story itself, don't you?"

irony - Stephen King didn't offer advice on this, but mentioned it as something to look
for and develop, along with theme.