New Daily Writing Guides from The Write Practice

Plot and Structure: How to Use Structure and Subplot to Add Suspense

You can’t write a great story if you don’t master plot and structure. But what is the best structure for a novel? How do you plot a novel?

Figuring out your plot and structure is essential for your story’s success. Even if you have an exciting idea for a story, great characters, and a memorable setting, you need to put your protagonist through events that have high and escalating stakes.

Without a sound plot and structure, you won’t thrill your readers. Today, we’ll look at story structure and learn how you can build an effective plan for a story packed with suspense, with all the right twists in all the right places.

Em Dash Shortcut: What Is an Em Dash and How Do You Use It?

by Liz Bureman | 48 Comments

An em dash is a versatile punctuation mark that looks like an extended dash. It is used to break up a longer sentence, usually to insert a phrase into the middle or end of a sentence, to add modification phrases to a list, and sometimes to show a break in narration or conversation. Let’s look at when to use an em dash, and learn the keyboard shortcuts to make them!

Writing Workshop: Can a Writing Workshop Help You Become a Better Writer?

by Joe Bunting | 0 Comments

How do you write beautiful, award-winning novels, memoirs, and short stories? One tried-and-true way is through a writing workshop, a program with other writers who can give encouragement, feedback, and support as you write, edit, and publish your writing.

In this post, I’m going to share what a creative writing workshop is and how you can use it to improve your writing habits, get feedback on your creative writing, and go on to publish award-winning writing. Then we’ll talk about how to find a writing workshop, whether online or locally, and how to get the most out of it.

The Only 10 Creative Writing Prompts You Need

by Joe Bunting | 55 Comments

You get better at any skill through practice, and creative writing prompts are a great way to practice writing.

At the end of every article on The Write Practice, we include a writing prompt so you can put what you just learned to use immediately. And we invite you to share your writing with our community so you can get feedback on your work.

The Write Practice is more than just a writing blog. It’s a writing workbook, and we think it’s the best one on the Internet (of course, we’re a bit biased).

Writing Sprints: A Simple Exercise That Benefits Every Writer

by Joe Bunting | 0 Comments

How do you defeat procrastination, write more in less time, and do it with less struggle? Two words: writing sprints.

Word sprints are an amazing writing tool that you can use to improve your writing. Sprinting pushes you to write more words fast, by forcing you to start writing and ignore your inner editor.

They also get you to concentrate on one of the most important ways to improve your writing life: consistent practice.

With continuous practice, word sprints can even help you develop a writing habit that will empower you to write and actually finish a novel or a screenplay—and maybe even develop a career as a writer.

But what are writing sprints? And how can you use them effectively?

I’ll teach you in this post!

Book Cover Design Tips: How to Sell Books by Optimizing Your Book’s Cover

by Joslyn Chase and Evelyn Puerto | 1 Comment

Hooray, you finished writing your book! But now, it’s time to figure out how to sell it. And perhaps the biggest thing you need to nail is your book cover. To help you do that, here are our top book cover design tips to grab your reader (and get your reader grabbing your book!).

Delight Your Senses: Synesthesia Literary Definition and Examples

by Robert Harrell | 0 Comments

Synesthesia describes a specific sensory experience whether lived or literary. Today we’ll explore a synesthesia literary definition and examples to help you understand this fascinating sensory phenomenon.

The Writing Goals Workshop: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Progress

by Joe Bunting | 198 Comments

If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you already have some goals: fitness goals, goals for your family, maybe even a goal of writing a book or to become a better writer.

But how do you write goals that actually work, that actually help you accomplish the things that you set out to do?

In this guide, I’ll share the step-by-step goal writing process that I’ve used to finish fifteen books, publish over 2,000 blog posts, hit the Wall Street Journal bestseller’s list, and reach over twenty million people with my writing over the last ten years.

No matter what your goals are, I believe this process will help you get clear on what you want to accomplish this year.

Write About Yourself: Tips and Prompts

by Joe Bunting and Sue Weems | 199 Comments

Several scenarios might require you to write about yourself from personal essays to job applications and biography blurbs.

The key for each is to think about the purpose and the target audience. Then shape your personal history or life experience into a well-crafted piece of writing that meets those needs of purpose and audience.

Let’s look at a few of the most common scenarios where you have to write about yourself.

N. K. Jemisin MasterClass Reivew: Will This Take Your Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writing to the Next Level?

by Elizabeth Nettleton | 0 Comments

Thinking of diving into worldbuilding and character creation with one of the most successful writers in speculative fiction? Here is my unfiltered N.K. Jemisin MasterClass review, where I’ll share what I really thought about the course–and whether I think it will help you with your own science fiction and fantasy writing.

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