Sunday, May 24, 2020

Christina Rossettis Poetry Controlled and Passionate Essay

Christina Rossettis Poetry: Controlled and Passionate Rossettis poetry has been described as both controlled and passionate. Making clear what you understand by the terms discuss which of these two views you have more sympathy with and why. Refer closely to at least three of the set poems. Christina Rossetti poetry uses concise structures but through these she expresses immense emotion; in this respect her poetry can accurately described as both controlled and passionate yet the two words are almost a paradox as passion is frequently seen to be at odds with controlled tight structures. Other poets have also followed in Rossettis footsteps by combining tight structured poetic forms with emotion e.g. Dylan Thomas.†¦show more content†¦The poem sits easily on a page and is visually satisfying, although this is in part due to the visual rhymes previously mentioned. This appearance though is false as the poems content is analysed but reinforces the theme of appearance and reality in the 4th stanza. Again, the controlled use of structure can be seen as adding to the poems passion showing a masterful combination of the two. The repetition of and permutations on the line: my heart is breaking for a little love is another structure that reinforces the poems meaning and show the despair that the poem communicates. The move away from the 1st person in the last two stanzas serves to provide a different perspective on the emotions discussed allowing a broader view than if the whole poem was in the first person, again this use of structure emphasises the underlying emotions. Although the structure of the poem contributes to its emotiveness the language is also essential to exhibit Rossettis passion. The natural imagery in the last three lines of each stanza contrast Rossetti to the natural world, they demonstrate how she feels left out of natural cycles by having no mate. There appears to be a longing to bear children in the last stanza, possibly Rossetti wishes not for the love of a partner but for the love of a child. Nature is usually associated with the idea of mating forShow MoreRelated Comparison of Remember and Sonnet Essay3207 Words   |  13 PagesRemember by Christina Rossetti and Sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, however at the same time there are distinct contrasts apparent. The title Sonnet -or often commonly known as How do I love thee- obviously introduces the piece in sonnet form. A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme. The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet, named after Francesco Petrarch, an Italian poet from the thirteenth century was introduced into English poetry in the

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Company Outsourcing Literature Review - Business Dissertations - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2046 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Outsourcing Robert and Gordon (1996) claims that outsourcing has expanded considerably over the last two decades. The reason behind this expansion is that economies of scale became more apparent in the recent years than it was earlier. Outsourcing is a management approach that involves delegation of an activity to an external service provider which was previously performed internally (Lankford and Parsa, 1999). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Company Outsourcing Literature Review Business Dissertations" essay for you Create order The activity must have been performed internally before outsourcing to third party. If the activity is delegated to another vendor without performing internally then it would be externalization rather than outsourcing. The term outsourcing itself shows from out source (i.e. external source). In the earlier phase of 1960, outsourcing was merely considered as contractual agreements wherein a supplier does processing or is providing services for another company. But, it is different from regular purchasing agreement as outsourcing is not selling off a part of the business. The Out-contracted services or processes must be replaced by the supplier in outsourcing. This is the basic difference between regular purchasing agreement and outsourcing. Outsourcing is not simply a make it or buy it decision, the activities outsourced must be of significant interest for the company (Bryce and Useem, 1998). The term outsourcing often leads to confusion in what is meant by outsourcing, when used in place of a more specific term (Andrade and Chapman, 1998). According to Johnson (1997): Contracting-out, contract manufacturing, employee leasing, sub-contracting, consulting, contract services and contract programming, are often mistaken as mere outsourcing as all of these items are similar to outsourcing. But, on the other hand these items bear different characteristics as well which differentiates them from outsourcing. 3.1.1 Motives for outsourcing A company will decide to outsource an activity when such an activity can be performed by other companies at a lower cost by using economies of scale (Kakabadse Kakabadse, 2002). Nowadays, companies use common sourcing strategy of outsourcing as a tactical quick fix at the times of financial difficulty and rely on outsourcing strategy to come out of financial crisis or provide cash infusions (Johnson, 1997). Outsourcing decision also erupts from the search for competitive advantage. Porter (1980) views that a company needs to identify its competitive advantage. Once the company identifies its core business activities then it can outsource other non-core activities to focus more on core businesses. According to Jumah and Wood (2000), smaller companies are likely to gain the best results from outsourcing. Their main motive is to prosper from the advantage of economies of scale. Smaller companies often find it difficult to achieve economies of scale within their internal activities and functions as they lack the ability. But, they are more flexible in absorbing change and innovations into their organisation. Thus outsourcing may come as a saviour for small companies to achieve functional efficiency similar to those of large companies (Jumah and Wood, 2000). Jumah and Wood (2000) argue that larger companies theoretically benefit less from outsourcing as compared to smaller companies in terms of cost reduction as large companies already enjoy the benefits of economies of scale in many cases or at least possess the capability or expertise to achieve it internally. In despite of this, the most frequent users of outsourcing are larger companies. There are apparently other reasons underlying for outsourcing other than realizing benefits of economies of scale from competitive advantage. According to Fan (2000) the other motives to outsource are: reduced costs, improved managerial focus, improvised quality, enhanced flexibility to facilitate change. Fill and Visser (2000) identifies the same drivers with some additions such as: increased knowledge and capacity, potential for creating strategic business alliance, reduction of investment, technical considerations, increased access to functional capacity, and fewer internal administrative problems. Outsourcing is generally accepted as a view of contracting out or disposing parts of business to achieve tactical benefits. However, Johnson (1997) in contrast cited a new view on outsourcing: viewing outsourcing as a way to offer structural change. According to the new approach, the company undertaking the activity (outsourcee) is viewed as being brought in by the outsourcer rather than contracted out. The author further developed these views and classified reasons to outsource into tactical and strategic reasons. Both these reasons differ from each other on the basis of their focus on short-term (tactical) and long-term (strategic) benefits. The tactical reasons for outsourcing comes from the functions outsourced which are beyond the control of the company and difficult to manage. Smaller companies generally go for outsourcing with the view of achieving economies of scale while large companies often benefit from outsourcing activities which are out of their control. Another reason of this category may be that the company outsource activity at times of financial distress to obtain capital funds for core activities. But, these tactical reasons to outsource are of short term nature (Douglas and Meehan, 2001). Apart from tactical reasons, there are other strategic reasons to outsource which focuses on longer term and are associated with gaining access to world-class knowledge and expertise, the risk sharing and the focus on core competencies. An organisation can reduce its risk significantly by means of outsourcing. The foremost strategic reason for outsourcing is to increase company focus on core competencies of the organization (Douglas and Meehan, 2001). Problems with outsourcing Outsourcing poses a number of rewards to an organisation such as cost reduction, focus on core competencies, improved quality. But, there are number of disadvantages also underlying to outsourcing namely enhanced dependency on supplier, employee redundancy, loss of control, increased expenditure due to hidden outsourcing costs (Douglas and Meehan, 2001). According to Prahalad and Hamel (1990) every organization needs to identify, cultivate and exploit their core competencies in order to grow. Competitive advantage might be lost if core business are outsourced. Therefore, it should be seen by the company that no mistakes are made in identifying core competence. Significant Knowledge of the company will fade off if core activities are outsourced which is difficult to rebuild once lost. Bonifaziet al.(2004) views ten traps in an outsourcing project that should be taken into consideration during the implementation of the project. To begin with, lack of management commitment; lack of communication plan; minimal knowledge and experience of supplier; failure to recognize outsourcing risks by companies; failure to obtain outside outsourcing professionals; failure to utilize internal resources by organizations; rushing through vendor selection; ignoring cultural differences; minimizing vendor productivity; the last trap described is the failure caused by not understanding the ongoing outsourcing relationship with the vendor. Diminishing quality service and insufficient flexibility in achieving the desired results also contributes towards outsourcing risks. All these risks should be considered at the time of contract formulation. By designing a proper contract outsourcing risks may be well protected (Andrade Chapman, 1998). The whole structure of the organization can be affected by a single outsourcing agreement. 3.1.3 Common Outcomes Outsourcing is a powerful corporate strategy that requires flexibility in the sense global business takes place. Used effectively, outsourcing can very well live up to the standards set in the beginning of the agreement (Bonifaziet al.,2004). But, if used ineffectively the agreement may culminate in search of another vendor or by bringing the outsourced activity back in-house (Andrade Chapman, 1998). Backsourcing Backsourcing currently lacks a common definition. However, Andrade Chapman (1998) gives a definition which is easier to understand once the term outsourcing is understood. He defines backsourcing as process of bringing back outsourced functions in-house. When an activity originally performed internally by the company and then contracted out to a vendor, is brought back in-house is referred to as backsourcing (Andrade Chapman, 1998). Backsourcing is often mistaken as insourcing. But, both of them deviate on the aspect that insourcing is bringing back the functions in-house that were never outsourced but initially contracted out while in backsourcing the functions that were outsourced is brought back home. In other words, in backsourcing the activities must have been previously outsourced. 3.2.1 Motivesfor Backsourcing A company may end an outsourcing contract even if everything was all right. The reasons being behind this may be that the company would have restructured its organization, might have entered a new market or would have been affected by law changes (Andrade Chapman, 1998). Some companies solve the problem of poor outsourcing results by bringing the outsourced function back home. Kakabadse Kakabadse (2002) points out that such a remedy is often costlier to the outsourcer and discomfit to the vendor. Despite, of heavy costs for reabsorbing many companies still choose to undergo for backsourcing. Reverting back the outsourced functions also raises finger on the organizations previous decision and judgement. However, press reports show that backsourcing is becoming common now-a-days (Wong, 2008). The various risks and problems associated with outsourcing explode motives for undertaking backsourcing. Deteriorating quality service and minimal elasticity in the agreement to respond to such deterioration is the single most common motive for backsourcing (Andrade Chapman, 1998). Loss of control, increased cost and trustworthiness are also drivers of backsourcing (Wong, 2008). According to Wong (2008) power and politics may also be a motive for backsourcing. He explains that power and politics among senior executives of the organization might play an important role at the time of outsourcing. When this set of executives are replaced by new executives who believe in internal development of an activity previously outsourced, then the strategy inside the company will change once again from outsourcing to backsourcing. In other words, embedding of knowledge about the outsourced function within the company may lead to backsourcing. Changes in vendor organization may also trigger backso urcing. If the vendor organization merges with other organization to form a new entity, then there is a possibility of change in perception of new entity. The changed perception of the new entity on ongoing outsourcing contract may create disputes between the parties leading towards backsourcing (Wong, 2008). Table 1.1 Illustration of Backsourcing cases Company Vendor Contract Reasons for Backsourcing Value Length Backsourced after (yrs) Change in orga nization structure Service Quality Loss Of Cont rol Cost Power politics Change in Vendor organisation JP Morgan Chase IBM $5b 7 2 x x x Mc Dermott ATT $600m 10 2 x x Lehman Brothers Wipro $100m Multi-year 1 x MONY CSC $210m 7 3 x x Sainsbury Accenture 1.7b 10 5 x x x Prudential Cap Gemini 55m 5 5 x Farmers Group IBM $150m 10 8 x x x 3.2.2 Backsourcing Implications The process of backsourcing can be a significant endeavour, but its activities are very intricate and require lot of attention together with hard work. If backsourcing plans are not formulated diligently, then it can easily cause employee fatigue (Azzouqa, 2008). According to Andrade Chapman (1998) staffing is the main issue since competence can rarely be found back-home. This is because at the time of outsourcing an activity, the staffs related to the activity is often either transferred to the vendor company or is resigned from the company. Therefore, one implication of backsourcing is to hire staff from the contractor or from the market. The process of hiring might not be successful as the personnel might not have preferred competence as required by backsourcing company (Andrade Chapman, 1998). As a result of backsourcing, companies have to pay huge compensation to the vendor company to reabsorb the outsourced activities back into the organization, if the contract is terminated before its expiry. The strategy of backsourcing can also be adopted after the expiry of contract. However, in this situation also the company has to bear high cost for re-insourcing (Wong, 2008). Thus, in the both the circumstances organizations have to incur huge expenses. For example, Farmers group paid $4 million as termination fees to IBM to extricate itself from its agreement (Overby, 2003 cited by Wong, 2008). Technology procurement is also a significant matter that should be addressed at the time of backsourcing an activity. When the activity is outsourced, the technology used to perform those activities is often sold since it is rarely of any use to company after discontinuation of activity. Therefore, bringing an activity back in-house whether in terms of backsourcing or insourcing would almost require acquiring new technology. This may again be a costlier practice for the company and can take long time to internalize technology within the organization (Andrade Chapman, 1998). However, reducing costs and control of operating costs are considered as most significant drivers of outsourcing (Fan, 2000).

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Neither Black Nor White Free Essays

When focusing on racial identity, the use of appearances as signifiers of group membership is not always clear cut.   This relationship between appearances and individual identity choice becomes even more complex when we examine bi-racial identity.   Research on bi-racial identity has often cited the reactions of whites to bi-racial individuals, but with Joseph E. We will write a custom essay sample on Neither Black Nor White or any similar topic only for you Order Now Holloway’s novel Neither Black Nor White the politics of shin color among African Americans are look at.   His novel is an historical account of the Hadnot family whose migration from Gloucester England in 1585 to New Orleans describes a family that were never slaves, but owners of slaves.   They never thought of themselves as whites or as blacks, one parent that was white and one black to create a whole new identity. It is clear that there is only speculation as to the relationship between appearance and racial identity among bi-racial individuals.   There has been little to no theoretical development on this relationship.   One important distinction is that color is both a personal and a social characteristic.   That is one who perceives their skin color and one that interprets their appearance through the eyes of others within any given interactional sphere. Such as the Hadnot family, they interpreted their sense of belonging within their family structure.   It would be difficult for a person to choose an exclusively Black or exclusively White identity if their physical appearances do not match their chosen identity.   In the end literature on the appearance identity link is sparse and seriously underdeveloped. There is a love and hate relationship with this group on the one drop rule with skin color.   The argument is that a three leveled society existed in the South with the following hierarchy from highest to lowest status.   White, Mulattos, and Blacks, mixed race individuals often served as a buffer group between Whites and Blacks through which cross color interactions and business transactions could happen. This situation caused a preferential treatment of Mulattos by Whites and a generational advantage for Mulattos. Perhaps this was true for the Hadnot family in England but there were problems they had to face in New Orleans.   The foundation for a social and cultural system of color classisms within Black America was laid.   The author provided strong evidence that those members of the community with the lightest skin color and the most Caucasian looking features have been allowed the greatest freedoms and achieved at higher rates. There is argument that goes further to display the ways that darker-skinned members of the Black community discriminate against mixed-race individuals in the workplace, how patterns of dating with the community are tangled up with phenotype, how networks are constructed or dismantled on the basis of color classism and how culturally, Blacks use unique cultural coding, such as hair or first names, to distinguish between those who are black and those who are not. This is so because a bi-racial individual’s understanding of their own appearance seems to be rooted in others perceptions and assumptions of appearance and its link with identity. Appearance is distinctly more social than phenotypes because it is created by the bi-racial individual’s understanding of their skin color as conditioned through the judgments of others in interactions.   So we expect that it is appearance, not skin color, which will influence the racial identification of bi-racial, and that skin color works through one’s appearance to affect identity.   Mutual identification is critical to both identity construction and maintenance.   If an individual exists within a social context where bi-racial has a meaningful existence, then they may cultivate a border identity. If this cultural category does not exist and one becomes accustomed to and adept at switching from Black to White they will cultivate a protean identity, I think was evident in the novel Neither Black Nor White.   If their appearance is White then members may develop a transcendent identity, but only if their social context does not demand categorization.   If none of these options are available to an individual then the existing cultural norms dictate the racial identity above and beyond their appearance. Reading the novel and researching the meaning of the novel, colorism.   I love history and this historical novel put into perspective an issue I really had never thought of.   It gave the reader a good sense of what it was like being in limbo with your identity.   I was impressed with the research that went into writing this historical novel and with the detail to genealogy.   I recommend this book for all undergraduates to help understand racism and all of its hidden secrets. Reference: Davis, F.J. (1991)   Who is Black? One Nations Definition.   University Park, P.A.:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pennsylvania State University Press. Holloway, J.E. (2006)   Neither Black Nor White.   C.A.: New World African Press. How to cite Neither Black Nor White, Essay examples

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Compare and Contrast Two Renassaince Paintings Essay Example For Students

Compare and Contrast Two Renassaince Paintings Essay Chose for my Italian Renaissance painting the Birth of Venus. It was painted by Sandra Bottling, who lived from 1445 to 1510, with Tempera on canvas around 1484-86 and is currently located at the Galleria dogleg Fizz, Florence, chose tort my Northern Renaissance painting the Urination Wedding by Jan van Check, who lived from 1395 to 1441, Oil on oak panel of 3 vertical boards in 1434 and is currently located in the National Gallery, London. Bottling uses a more two dimensional background in his painting while van Check uses light and linear perspective to add a sense of depth to the room. Bottling does use some limited atmospheric perspective to the land mass in the distance but it still feels very flat. Bottling uses light to highlight certain items but does not use shadow consistently throughout. Van Check on the other hand uses the window as a light source and bases shadows off of that. Both paintings use posing that was popular for the time. In Birth of Venus however, Venus is posed in a very awkward position that would be difficult to hold, not to mention she is balancing on the edge Off clamshell in water. In Reincarnation Wedding the two main subjects are posed with his right hand raised ND her holding her dress in front Of her abdomen. She gives the appearance of being pregnant but numerous art historians state that was a popular pose during the period indicating her desire to bear children. Botulisms work is more of a mythical fantasy whereas van Check is more of an everyday scene rich with symbolism. Many art scholars have debated on the meaning of these items but only van Check knows for sure, While both works are amazing to look at, they show a significant difference between the Northern Renaissance artists and the Italians.

Sunday, March 8, 2020

How To Use Your Blog To Tell A Story

How To Use Your Blog To Tell A Story A story can prick a conscience. A story can motivate into action. A story can cause outrage or empathy. A story can take a reader off of her sofa and on an adventure across the world. We often talk about using story in content marketing as a way to tell about our brand, our team, our product, or our service. We discuss how to use storytelling for businesses as a way to make themselves more human. We give pointers on how to write copy  in a story-like manner that would make it interesting to read. But what about telling a genuine story, free of the responsibility of overtly furthering your brand? In an age of long form content, it makes sense to delve into telling stories online. Our brains like stories. It makes them active, and if the story uses the right words, it causes our brain to respond as if what we were reading was really happening to us. Words that speak of action make our motor cortex buzz. Words that speak of textures get our sensory cortex alight. In other words, when we read a story, our brains light up like a meteor shower on a dark winter night. Our brain, on a diet of stories, is intense. The Plays the Thing, wherein Ill catch the conscience of the King. Hamlet What Makes A Good Story No one will agree on what makes a good story completely. We all have our own tastes that dictates which kinds of stories we are drawn to, and the kind of language we prefer to read. But there are a few ways to consider good story as you create your own. There are also a few generalizations that can tentatively be applied across the board, no matter which approach to story you take. 1. Simplicity is best. A simple plot is ideal. It is the convoluted plot that allows a soap opera to go on endlessly for 30 years. A simple plot, with simple motivations, will always be easier for you to write and a reader to follow. A simple plot can be deceptively complex, depending upon how you tell the story. Unique and conflicting points of view, jumping back and forth in time–these all make a simple plot compelling and deep. Can you sum up the plot in a sentence or two? Simple language that is clear and concise is also best. 2. Boring words dont work. Cliches  don’t work. Phrases that have become common don’t work. Our brain skips over phrases it is used to seeing without registering them as anything special. Common phrases (tough as nails) dont light up our brain. This isnt a license to write purple prose that is extravagant and excessive.  In his 10 Rules Of Writing, author Elmore Leonard ended his list with this: Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. Leonard understood how people read books, whizzing by solid paragraphs of purple prose to get to the dialogue. The dialogue, after all, is where the characters develop, where they interact, where the action happens. Avoid cliches, but dont turn to purple prose to do so. Look for concise and unusual word pairings that readers brains havent become accustomed to yet. 3. Get familiar with literary devices. When telling a story, you cant avoid using literary elements, even if you wanted to. These include things like  plot, dialog, setting, narrative, characters, mood, theme, and so on. Without them, there is no story. You could, however, avoid using literary techniques, though that would be a shame. These include things like allegory, irony, personification, metaphor, etc. They make your story richer. Even the simplest story becomes a real story when you use literary techniques. In The Old Man And The Sea, the plot could be summed up as an unlucky fisherman finally catches a marlin. Of course, Hemingway made that simple idea into much more than that, using conflict and allegory and imagery to tell something completely different. Use classic  literary devices  in your story if youre not sure how to make a boring story interesting. Once you realize how many  literary techniques  you can use to tell the same story, you wont suffer from the I dont have a story to tell syndrome that keeps you from giving storytelling a try. 4. There must be conflict. Without conflict, your story is not a story. It is an article. A listing of facts. It is informative but not dramatic, readable but not eminently so. Conflict is what propels and pushes a story forward, what keeps a reader guessing and reading. Though there has been disagreement on what kinds of conflicts are truly legitimate (depending upon your philosophy), here is a list of possible  narrative conflicts  you might use in a story: Man against man. Man against society/institution. Man against nature. Man against machine. Man against self. Man against God. Even a superhero cannot be so super that there is no conflict, no thing that could stand in the way. There must at least be Kryptonite. Conflict, in stories, is the engine that keeps them going forward.5. Have characters your readers can cheer for. Along with having conflict, you need characters that your readers can cheer for. Ever read a book and disliked the main character? You end up disliking the book, even if the story was good. Its tough to be sympathetic with characters we dont like. Readers want to be able to root for someone. They want a character that at some point is a fill-in for the heroic or the noble or the daring or the adventurous–the things they dont experience in daily life. Sometimes the best way to tell your reader about a character is to create another character who acts as a  foil. A foil contrasts another character in such a way that it highlights qualities that you could otherwise not reveal. For example, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. You learn more about these two characters by how different they are when contrasted with each other. How To Approach Storytelling Lets look at a few different approaches that people have used to understand story, a kind of crash course on some storytelling basics. The 7 Basic Plots In 2006, after 34 years of writing, Christopher Booker published  The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. In it, he proposed that all stories can fit into one of seven basic plots: Overcoming the monster. Protagonist vs. antagonist. The antagonist is threatening the protagonist and all that the protagonist holds dear. Rags to riches. Poor protagonist acquires vast wealth, loses it, then finally gets it back when he/she has grown as a person. The quest. Protagonist (and friends) set out to find something, facing many challenges along the way. Voyage and return. Protagonist travels to a strange place, faces challenges, and returns with nothing but valuable experience. Comedy. Protagonists are destined to be together, but something keeps getting in the way. By the end, it is all resolved. Tragedy. The protagonist becomes the villain, falling from grace. His/her death at the end is a good thing. Rebirth. The protagonist is a villain or unlikeable. By storys end, though, has completely turned around. Others have come up with their own efforts to diagram story in a similar manner to Booker. Ronald Tobias wrote 20 Master Plots And How to Build Them, coming to a different conclusion than Booker and going into more detail (get a PDF checklist of these plots).  Georges Polti created a list of 36 Dramatic Situations in which he came up with every possible situation that might occur in a story. These are not quite the same as categorizing an overall plot; they could be used in many combinations within one of Bookers plots. Whether you agree with Booker or Tobias understanding of plot, the key is to be able to familiarize yourself with available plots.  Understanding these plots may help you tell your story better just by knowing how you are approaching what you are trying to say. Brands can also  use these basic plots as a way to understand how to tell a story about themselves (and maybe understand they are not relegated to just being funny and inane). The Heros Journey In 1949, Joseph Campbell wrote a book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, that proposed that almost all mythical stories across culture followed a similar pattern. This monomyth was known as The Heros Journey. Everyone from musicians, video game makers, writers, and movie makers have used The Heros Journet as a model for their stories. Blogger Lisa Paitz Spindler has done an excellent job explaining and illustrating The Heros Journey. While Campbells theory on how to interpret myths has come under fire as being an oversimplification of complex myths, many writers still turn to his theory for their stories. You can see several of Bookers seven plots as possibly fitting into The Heros Journey (quest, rags to riches, monster, etc.) Modern mythology, such as Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, reflect elements of this Heros Journey.  If youre a Star Wars fan, youll recognize the plot almost immediately. George Lucas all but followed Campbells approach to monomyth to the letter.  Movies have further refined and simplified The Heros Journey into a formula of sorts; you are likely quite familiar with the pattern you see here, even if in a simpler form. The Inverted Pyramid The Inverted Pyramid method of telling a story is most commonly associated with journalists and news articles. In it, you tell the most important part of your story right at the beginning and then gradually break it down with details as the story progresses. This is because people might not read the full news story, but instead rely on the headline and the first paragraph or two to get a summary of the story. It is also a way to play your hand up front, trusting that the dramatic and explosive beginning will securely hook a reader and keep them reading. Pennsylvania State University, Newsletter, January 2011 The important questions–who, what, when, where, how–get answered in the first paragraph. The why is explained later in the article, as less important details and backstory trickle out. Letting Readers Decide Do you remember the delightful Choose Your Own Adventure books? As a kid, I loved reading them. A while back, I attempted a kind of CYOA on the Todaymade blog in the form of a social media adventure. A bit corny, yes, but readers had fun with it. When you let the reader decide how the story unfolds, you get to write several alternate endings (a bit of fun) but have to keep everything organized (a bit tricky). Youll write several types of plots, conflicts, and endings with the same characters, which can be a challenge. You will also write so that the main character is the reader. There are other ways to make your story interactive. Michael Lutzs story My fathers long, long legs is clever as a story and incredibly creative in how interactive it is for the reader (follow it through all the way to the end). Lutz uses methods you could only use in online storytelling. Recommended Reading: The Hero With A Thousand Faces  by Joseph Campbell Save The Cat!  by Blake Snyder The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories  by Christopher Booker 20 Master Plots And How to Build Them  by Ronald Tobias 10 Rules Of Writing  by Elmore Leonard Putting Story To Work: Snowfall Snowfall.  You’ll either think of this as something from winter, or you’ll think of an avalanche and a 2012 online article from the New York Times. With Snowfall, the Times put forth an amazing effort to tell a story online like no one else had done before. They followed up their Pulitizer Prize-winning Snowfall with The Jockey and A Game Of Shark And Minnow; other publishers followed suit, covering stories about Greenland and the Iditarod. Big and flashy stories seemed to be the direction the web was heading. Dissecting How Snowfall Worked Lets take a look at Snowfall. In this classic man vs. nature true story, the Times started with the climactic moment of the avalanche. They got you hooked because you met characters in danger and distress and would hopefully keep reading to know what happened to them. Next, they filled in the backstory, introducing new characters and telling us more about all of the characters in a personal way so that we could identify with their humanity. After revealing the climax, they started back at the beginning so that the reader could put what they just read in context. They broke the story up into chapters, which helped keep the reader from getting confused. Snowfall is a long piece, and chapters help guide the reader through it. The Times used interactive maps and graphics, pull quotes, photos, and video to flesh out the story in an attempt to create extra content that was related, but not necessary, to reading the story. Readers could plow on through the text and read just the story, or they could venture into these extra elements and learn a bit more. This was no article. It was a story,  a true one, and the Times meant to put you right there, on the mountainside, to experience it.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Joan of Arc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Joan of Arc - Essay Example This clearly shows that she was set up and convicted of the offence of heresy (Halsall, 2013). The trial shows that Joan was merely set up by the religious leaders who were merely after political power who organized how she could be sentenced on trumped-up charges. The bishop had also made sure that he chose biased and timid assessors who misquoted the defense of Joan with the sole aim of finding her guilty (Halsall, n.d).. This also included the falsification of evidence and the threatening of the assessors, which just led to her conviction despite her pleas to be tried by an unbiased tribunal headed by the pope. After being found guilty, the court further prepared for her execution through burning at the market place. Joan therefore died a martyr as recorded on May 30 by Maugier Leparmentier who writes... â€Å"And in the fire she cried more than six times "Jesus,". The usher Jean Massieu also weighed in that Joan had died to â€Å"proclaim and confess aloud the holy name of Jesus†. This clearly shows the conviction that Joan had in whatever she had carried out as t hat bordering on martyrdom. Therefore, it can be seen from the trial that it was carried out through intimidation and putting her under duress in order to swear allegiance to the church as it was then constituted. It is also important to note that the trial of Joan of Arc was mainly inspired by the interests of the English to claim that the coronation of Charles as king had been under the guidance of the devil and so they convicted her of witchcraft. This development in the trial process was also informed by the desire of the English troops to demoralize the French troops who had made some victories in some wars while at the same time curtail the dwindling fortunes of the English troops (Halsall, 2013). These were confirmed by the confirmation of Joan as a saint as an inquiry ordered by the Pope found that the sentence made by Cauchon