Have you ever tried to write about a personal tragedy or painful experience? How did it make you feel? What complications arose?
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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Top 5 Reasons You’re Not a Good Writer
Last week I asked you what you think the basics of writing well are, and today, I thought I’d ease into the subject of how to write well by talking about the five biggest pitfalls that are hurting your writing.
Five Ways to Fuel your Imagination
As the The Write Practice implies, we write (and read) to become better writers. But what other unexpected activities can help boost our imagination? Read on for a few new ones to try!
Is Your Protagonist a Thinker or a Feeler?
I just started reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, having already seen the movie and feeling that I would like to do the work justice by also reading the book. I’m maybe 20 pages in and I can already tell that Charlie, the narrator and protagonist, has a lot of feelings. To be fair, he’s also undergoing some pretty intense stuff, so that’s understandable, but it seems like he’s very in tune with his emotions. One might say that he seems like he’d be a Feeler in the context of the Myers-Briggs type, but you’d have a skewed idea of what Feeling actually is.
The Captain Jack Sparrow Method for First Drafts
Getting through that first draft is one of the toughest part of writing—and one of the most important. I’ve often felt while drafting that I’m not so much writing as much as I am weathering my way through it. No matter how carefully I set my sails, there’s inevitably...
What are the Basics of Writing Well?
How do I become a better writer? Nearly every day people email me questions like this. The questions come from the most unlikely places, from fourteen year old aspiring novelists, from corporate and government leaders who want to help their colleagues hone their writing skills, even from people trying to improve their English.
“Practice,” I often tell them. But what do you practice? What are the basic skills you need to learn to write well?
The War Of Art
How many times have you wanted to write, but just couldn’t get anything out? How many times have you procrastinated, coming up with some seemingly valid excuse to avoid writing?
We’ve all been there. The challenge is getting out of our funk. The solution is simple: action. The book that taught me how to take action as a writer was “The War of Art.” Let’s skim over a handful of my favorite quotes from Steven Pressfield’s epic kick-in-the-arse.
Writing Introverts and Extroverts
Sunday night at an Easter potluck dinner, a group of my friends and I were talking about our Myers-Briggs personality types. I'm an ESFJ, and have been since I first took the test in high school, but in the course of the conversation, one of my friends mentioned that...
How to Write the Perfect First Page: Part II
Recently I attended a workshop called “American Author” inspired by American Idol. People anonymously submitted the first pages of their novels, which were read aloud to a panel of editors and agents. The panel then provided their immediate, brutally honest feedback for all to hear.
Given my past post on how to write the perfect first page, I thought it was important to add to it by sharing what I learned from hearing the perspective of people who have read hundreds, if not thousands, of first pages.
Warning: tips are easier said than done.
How to Emotionally Move your Readers
When a book moves you emotionally, you can’t help but tell others about it! But how exactly does a writer move his or her readers to take action in the form or reading, buying, sharing?