The Write Practice: The Online Writing Workbook

Book Writing Software (2024): Top 10 for Writers

by Joe Bunting | 20 Comments

Writing a book is hard. I’ve written seven books and at some point during each one I had the thought, “There has to be a tool, a piece of book writing software, that would make this easier.”

Bad news/good news: writing a book will always be hard, and the best piece of writing software in the world won’t write your book for you. But the good news is there is book writing software that can make the process a little easier.

In this post, we will cover the ten best pieces of software for writing a book and look at the pros and cons of each.

14 Valentine’s Day Writing Prompts

by Sue Weems | 0 Comments

Valentine’s Day has a complicated history depending on who you ask. It’s been called a celebration of a martyr, a festival heralding a coming spring, and a holiday for lovers.

But you don’t have to frame it as a romantic holiday to have fun with one of these fun writing prompts today.

Author Email List: How to Sell Books Through Email

by Joslyn Chase and Sarah Gribble | 0 Comments

Whether you’re self publishing or you have a traditional publisher, it’s up to you to sell your books. Email marketing is the number one way to sell books. But in order to use email marketing effectively, you first have to gather a list of email addresses, a group of readers who want to hear from you.

Struggling to build your list? Try this.

Anachronism Examples: How to Avoid Time Inaccuracies in Your Story

by Robert Harrell | 0 Comments

Imagine writing a story set in Dickens’ 19th century, Victorian England, and your Scrooge spin-off answers his cell phone, “Wassup?” Or your knight in 13th century France uses phrases like, “spilling the tea.” Those are anachronisms, and they would likely startle contemporary audiences out of the story.
Let’s look at the definition of anachronism, types of anachronism, and anachronisms in your story.

9 Key Elements of a Short Story: What They Are and How to Apply Them

by Sarah Gribble | 1 Comment

If you’re new to short story writing, it can be intimidating to think of fitting everything you need in a story into a small word count. Do you need to apply certain elements of a short story in order for it to be great?

Writers like you struggle with this all the time.

You might want to develop deep character backgrounds with a huge cast of characters, amazing settings, and have at least two subplots. And that’s great. But that wouldn’t be writing a short story.

You might try to cut some of these things, and then all the sudden you don’t have a character arc or a climax or an ending.

Every story has basic elements; a short story’s basic elements are just more focused than a novel’s. But all those elements must be there, and yes, they need to fit into a short word count.

In this article, you’ll learn what you need to make sure your short story is a complete story—with three famous short story examples. These story elements are what you should focus on when writing a short piece of fiction.

Write a Great Memoir: How to Start (and Actually Finish) Your First Draft

by Joe Bunting | 1 Comment

What does it take to write a memoir? Not just any memoir—a great memoir, one that people love and talk about and share with their friends?

In this guide, I want to talk about how you can start writing your memoir, how you can actually finish it, and how you can make sure it’s good.

If you read this article from start to finish, it will save you hundreds of hours and result in a much better finished memoir.

February Writing Prompts

by Sue Weems | 0 Comments

The shortest month of the year is here, and with it we have some creative writing prompts to keep you warm and writing all month long. Check out our February writing prompts today.

How to Write a Book While Working Full-Time

by Jeff Elkins | 1 Comment

I dream of a day when I can wake up, sip my coffee, write some morning pages, and then work on my latest novel until dinner. Unfortunately for me, and for many of you, that day is not today.

I’ve got kids and a house and bills, so I have to work full-time. Even so, over the past four years, I’ve published five novels, three novellas, and countless short stories.

How do I write books while working full-time? There are five things I’ve had to do to make this a reality.

James Patterson MasterClass Review: Is This What You Need to Write a Page-Turning Thriller?

by Joslyn Chase | 0 Comments

James Patterson has held a top position on the list of best-selling thriller writers for the better part of two decades, so I jumped at the chance to take his MasterClass, learn his secrets, and add to my thriller writer toolbox. You may be wondering if taking the class would be a good move for you. Stick around for my James Patterson MasterClass review and see what you think.

Past vs. Present Tense: Choose the RIGHT Tense for Your Novel

by Joe Bunting | 75 Comments

One of the first decisions you have to make when you’re writing a novel or short story is which tense to use. There are only two viable options: past tense or present tense.*

Which tense should you choose for your novel?

Here to learn? You’re in the WRITE place!