A hero is no hero at all unless there is something to stand against. That’s where villains come in.
villains
We love to hate them, but they serve a critical function within the anatomy of a story, the yin to your protagonist’s yang.
Here to learn? You’re in the WRITE place!
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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3 Essential Tools To Discover Who Your Readers Really Are
Sometimes, the readers you think you have actually turn out to be someone else. Knowing who they really are can be pivotal…not just in your writing, but in your marketing as well.
Why Grammar Matters
If there’s one significant thing that Joe and I have historically disagreed on, it’s the role of grammar in a writer’s toolbox. We complement each other well because as much as I love grammar and sentence structure, he equally embraces the dismissal of commas and the implementation of run-on sentences for art’s sake. When you get down to brass tacks though, I have to admit that he kind of has a point: grammar is somewhat arbitrary.
Follow These Rules To Write Conditional Sentences Correctly
Of all the nuances of grammar in the English language, this is my greatest pet peeve. No, it’s not “its vs. it’s.” It’s not “there, their, and they’re.” It’s not even the Oxford comma.
Let’s talk conditional sentences.
Breathe Your Story
Your story is going to be great. Your book? It’s going to be great. It’s going to get written. Don’t worry.
Breathe your story in. Breathe your story out.
Google Docs Vs. Scrivener for Writers: An Interview with Simon Whistler
Simon Whistler embodies the spirit of the do-it-yourself writer. In this Scrivener Superpowers interview, Simon and I talk about his editing process and how he came to book writing.
How Twitter Changed My Writing Life & a Writing Contest
Twitter is a social media outlet that allows its users to send and read short messages up to 140 characters long. It’s perfect for the world we live in. Quick, easy, and simple for our constant moving lives.
Story Ideas from a Cat
This is a guest post from Harper Hodges. She writes at thecatwhowrites.com. Harper took over the cat who write’s blog when Pooh Hodges, a regular columnist for The Write Practice, died. Pamela Hodges, the regular writer today, is not a cat —so she asked Harper to help her write today’s post.
The Most Important Question for Plot Development
Let’s be honest. Plot development is not always fun. Sometimes it’s really hard.
Sometimes, your story gets stuck in a rut, backed into a corner, or just gets flat and boring.
But I’ve found that a single question is enough to get my creativity going again. This one question got my story back on track every single time.
Interview with Joanna Penn on the Writing Process and Scrivener
I’ve read dozens of books and hundreds of blogs on writing advice over the years, and if I could distill just one piece of wisdom from all that effort studying, it’s that every writer has a unique process for putting words on the page. However, we all have room for growth, so, today, we’ll hear about how scrivener can help us improve our writing process.