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.
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I was in the third grade when I received my first journal. And, while I couldn’t articulate at the time, that was when I discovered writing as mechanism to self-soothe. Writing helped me, and it still does.
But that doesn’t mean my journals are worth reading. When I’m journaling, I’m an “indulgent writer.”
Storyboarding as it pertains to novels and short stories is the process of mapping out your story, often using index cards, in a high-level way that allows you to see your story visually and rearrange it.
Scrivener’s corkboard view provides the perfect interface to do this digitally, with a method to transition to a physical medium.
We’re now knee-deep in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), the ambitious writer’s one-month sprint to 50,000 words.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of writers take on the challenge, and thousands succeed, saying adios to November with a first draft of a shiny new novel in tow.
It’s a truly amazing feat. But it’s not for everyone.
For a year and a half, I studied as a creative writing major at a tight-knit private university. I wrote poetry under the guidance of a published poet, learned how to develop a narrative arc, and attended readings by local authors.
Now, I’m a professional freelance writer and English major at a different school. But as I look back on my creative writing studies, I see many mistakes that I made (and that other students made, too).
I’ve been teaching and coaching writers for four years through the Write Practice. I did the math recently and realized that in the last twelve months, we’ve helped over 2.5 million people become better writers.
As a writer and ghostwriter of four books myself, I’ve learned that there are a few common lies that writers tell themselves.
Here’s the deal: if you don’t like your character, your reader won’t, either. Fortunately, I have three quick tips to help you fix that unlikable character.
If your readers don’t like your character at least a little, then they won’t care what happens to that character in the story. If your readers don’t care about the character, you’ve already lost them.
Fortunately, there’s a way out. Three ways out, in fact.
Happy Day Three of NaNoWriMo 2015! How’s that word count so far? I’m allowed to ask that, because this year I’m actually participating. I’ve written a book in four months before, but one month? Insanity, but here is what I’ve learned and struggled with so far: the beginning and getting started.
![The Affair [writing prompt]](https://thewritepractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/The-Other-Woman.jpg)
Have you seen The Affair on Showtime? One of the most aspects of the show is it’s format. It’s a great device that will make a wonderful practice!
Let’s overcome creative block by playing Shiritori, a Japanese word game, where the first letter of a word is the last letter of the previous word.
Just as we dress up in costumes at Halloween, our fears often disguise themselves, too. It’s natural to have fears when it comes to your writing. After all, we make a business of pouring our heart out onto the page and sharing it with the world.
But don’t let these fears hold you back!