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At The Write Practice, we publish a new article each day designed to help writers tackle one part of their writing journey, from generating ideas to grammar to writing and publishing your first book. Each article has a short practice exercise at the end to help you immediately put your learning to use.

Check out the latest articles below or find ones that match your interest in the sidebar.

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Sympathetic Character: 10 Writing Techniques That Make Readers Care

Sympathetic Character: 10 Writing Techniques That Make Readers Care

Recall a time you made an effort to get someone to like you. Did you try to get them to relate to you, or want to spend more time with you? It’s kind of the same way with the main character in your book. Readers finish books when they care about what happens to the protagonist. To accomplish this, you need to craft a sympathetic character. 

When you write a book, you’re asking readers to invite your character into their homes, their hangouts, their lives. It’s important to create a protagonist your reader wants to spend time with and that they care about enough to stick around to find out what happens to them.

Without that vital concern, suspense cannot be sustained. And without suspense, the reader will lose interest in your story.  I talked about this in depth in my post on suspense.

Today, let’s talk about how to make your readers like—if not love—your characters so that you can sustain suspense in your book.

Points of a Story: 6 Key Plot Points That Every Story Needs

Points of a Story: 6 Key Plot Points That Every Story Needs

One thing writers have told me consistently is that knowing story structure and the major plot points—or points of a story—makes writing great stories easier. But what are the main points of a story? How can you get them into your books?

I’ve personally found story structure to be incredibly helpful, not just in writing novels and screenplays, but also in memoir and even, sometimes, writing nonfiction books.

In this guide, we’re going to talk about the basic points of a story and how to use story structure to make your writing easier and more effective. I’ll share the six major plot points and talk about a few other points you might look for when writing a book that will give you a general roadmap to writing your story.

Writing Prompt: How to Choose Your Own (Writing) Adventure

Writing Prompt: How to Choose Your Own (Writing) Adventure

When I was a kid, I loved reading Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novels that had alternate paths written into the story. If you aren’t familiar with them, they were elementary or middle grade chapter books that begin a story and at key moments, offer the reader a choice: “To go through the portal, turn to page 37. To run away, turn to page 45.”

I loved seeing the story change with the choices, and I reread the books making different choices each time to experience a new story. I’ve channeled my inner adventurer to put together a fun prompt.

Deep POV: 6 Ways to Master Character Voice

Deep POV: 6 Ways to Master Character Voice

So, you’ve got an intriguing story idea and you’re picturing some of the scenes in your mind, eager to get them down on paper and begin wowing readers. But unless you ground your reader with deep POV, you’ll have a hard time getting them to care or like your book. 

There are specific techniques that master writers use to draw readers in and keep them engaged. In this article, I’ll be teaching you about the first and fundamental—absolutely indispensable—technique that pulls readers in and makes them forget they’re reading.

So get out your notebook and prepare to level up your writer’s toolbox. This will be a game changer!

Do You Italicize Book Titles? And Other Title Conundrums

Do You Italicize Book Titles? And Other Title Conundrums

Italics, quotation marks, underlines, plain old capital letters—when it comes to writing titles, the rules can feel like a confusing mess. Do you italicize book titles? What about movie titles? And for goodness’ sake, what should you do with pesky things like TV shows, short stories, or Youtube videos?

With so many different kinds of media, it’s easy to get lost in all the rules. Let’s demystify them, shall we?

Subtext Examples: 7 Simple Techniques to Supercharge Your Scenes

Subtext Examples: 7 Simple Techniques to Supercharge Your Scenes

As writers, we are always working to make our stories the best they can be. One of the more advanced techniques that can help you do this is by giving an underlying meaning in a scene—otherwise known as subtext. 

In a story, subtext  can be implied by the surface action and dialogue.

When you think about the books and stories that you most enjoyed reading, chances are that story’s scenes were woven with something deeper than what appeared on the surface.

Today I’d like to teach you seven simple techniques for using subtext in your story, which I’ll also teach with some subtext examples. 

February Writing Prompts

February Writing Prompts

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 Transformation Story

How to Write a Transformation Story

One of the foremost reasons people read is to experience a character’s arc of change, their transformation, in other words, and transformation stories are among the most powerful and popular in literature and film.

That’s because the human experience is all about change. Each of us is a work in progress—growing, changing our perceptions and how we think—shaping our character.

These stories involve the reader in the course of the character’s change, helping them explore their own potential and desire for transformation, along with the limitations, possibilities, and price attached.

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