New Daily Writing Guides from The Write Practice

How to Write a Good First Chapter: A Checklist

For the writer, there’s nothing harder than writing the first chapter and final chapter of a book. It is here that all of your perfectionism rears its ugly head calling for a full halt to your progress.

I’ve written and rewritten my first chapter dozens of times, and I’m not alone. Most writers struggle figuring out how to start their novel, and it makes sense. Your first chapter can make or break your book: with readers, agents, and publishers.

So then how do you do it? How do you write a good first chapter? In this post, I’m going to walk you through the ten things you need to accomplish in your first chapter, and give you a checklist that you can use in your novel.

Tragedy Story Structure in the 7 Basic Plots

by Liz Bureman and Sue Weems | 13 Comments

The two best known of the basic plots outlined by Christopher Booker are comedy and tragedy, These two basic plot types make up the two halves of the drama masks that represent classic theatre, and you can categorize most of Shakespeare’s plays into one of the two. Today we look at tragedy story structure and examples.

What’s Characterization? What a Writer Really Needs to Know

by Joe Bunting and Abigail Perry | 474 Comments

How do you create memorable characters? What’s characterization, and how does a writer turn a name on a page into a person so vivid and compelling that you imagine they’re real?

In this article, you’ll learn what characterization is, when it matters, and how to apply it to your characters and stories. You’ll also see some examples of characterization, and explanations of when not to prioritize characterization over other story elements.

How to Identify Irony: Types and Examples to Delight Readers

by Robert Harrell | 0 Comments

Irony is one of those literary devices that you feel before you know how to talk about it. Irony is the difference between what you expect and what happens. But what does that mean and can you learn how to identify irony? Let’s learn about irony today.

Sympathetic Character: 10 Writing Techniques That Make Readers Care

by Joslyn Chase | 2 Comments

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

by Joe Bunting | 0 Comments

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

by Sue Weems | 0 Comments

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

by Joslyn Chase | 3 Comments

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

by Alice Sudlow | 41 Comments

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?