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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A few months ago Joe suggested that I take a writing class at a local university. I looked at the classes they offered: business writing, intro to creative writing, memoir writing, and a poetry class. I told Joe about the business one, thinking he would say that would...
There are many ways we can learn to write more expressively. We can read all of the posts on The Write Practice and join Becoming Writer, or we can take writing lessons from Benjamin Franklin. What Benjamin Franklin Can Teach You About Writing Benjamin Franklin wrote...
Think you know your story's main character? You might not know as much as you think. A great character is as complex as a living, breathing human being. That means she or he has an extensive galaxy of history, opinions, experiences, and feelings running through...
As a writer, it’s easy to fixate on your mistakes, like a poor first draft or your inability to find that perfect word when you need it most.
Fortunately, the solution to your writer’s block is easy—you just need to go for a walk in your pajamas. Let me explain.
My elementary school experience included three years of Latin in fourth through sixth grade. Believe it or not, that language learning actually came in handy when middle school French rolled around. It has also come in handy when breaking down literary terms, many of...
Over the years I’ve written about my journey trying to get my first novel published. There’s an emotional aspect to it all, of course (The struggle! The triumphs!), but documenting the steps I’ve taken has also had a practical outcome. I've been able to see the...
Yesterday I was looking over some of my writing from the last couple years and as I read it, I shuddered and asked myself, “Did I really write this?” Guys, it was bad. Not just the “oh it could be better” bad, but the “this isn’t even in the right tense and barely makes sense” bad writing.
Thankfully, I’m a much better writer today. I improved so much in such a short period of time and I wanted to share with you how it happened.
It’s a rule of thumb for any writer to follow Strunk’s advice and “omit needless words.” That’s easier said than done. Sure, you know which filler words to cut, and you know how to hunt down those pesky weasel words. But sometimes, sheer editing isn’t enough.
Your writing can still suffer after you’ve gone through your piece seven times. Why? Because you’re likely using crutch words and have become blind to them. While this doesn’t seem like a big deal, it can bog down your writing.
Have you ever thought about becoming a full-time writer? If you’re reading this blog, I’m guessing that you have. Or maybe you’re already writing professionally, but would like to 1) find writing work you’re more passionate about or 2) earn more.
The question is, why haven’t you done it yet?
Starting a new story is hard, whether its a short story or a full novel. After all, a story is made of a million moving pieces, all developing and coming into focus with time and hard work. How to Start Your Next Story When you’re ready to start a new story, it’s...
