New Daily Writing Guides from The Write Practice

Theme of the Day: Pain

Some time ago, we did a speed writing session for one hour. Actually, compared to the usual 15-minute writing practices here, an hour might seem glacially slow. But we all know how fast an hour can speed by, especially when we’re wandering around aimlessly in the land of social media while our cursor blinks wistful and lonesome on our WIP in the background, buried multiple browser windows in.

Today, we’re going to do it again. But this time we have a theme. That theme is PAIN.

Before you click away from this page, worried that writing about pain will weigh down your bright and shiny day, think about it for a nanosecond. What is it that most great stories have? CONFLICT. TENSION. Antagonist (force) pushing the protagonist to evolve, grow, learn, progress, or erupt in gratuitous fill-in-the-blank.

Pain is part of conflict and part of life. Embrace it.

Why Grammar, Spelling, and Usage Matter

by Liz Bureman | 17 Comments

Anyone who has been following The Write Practice since day one knows how I feel about the semicolon, sentence structure, spelling, and other grammatical foibles. If a writer lacks any of these things in his or her work, it drives me crazy. I’ll start railing on about the destruction of the English language, the dumbing down of society, blah blah blah.

But why would any writer care about what I think?

Photo Writing Prompt

by Monica M. Clark | 77 Comments

Take fifteen minutes to write a paragraph or two based on this photo.

Let Me Be Your Muse

by Guest Blogger | 77 Comments

You’ve been working on your novel. You know you have strong characters and a great plot. You’re even excited to plan about your book promotion. The problem is, you still have dozens of chapters yet to write. Where are you going to find inspiration?

Your Next Creative Breakthrough Is Only a Breakdown Away

by Joe Bunting | 53 Comments

Years ago, when I imagined the lifestyle of a writer, I envisioned myself sauntering along the streets at dusk, sitting at cafés while stories unfolded magically in my imagination, the whole world seemingly at the tip of my pen.

Now that I’ve been writing for a while, I’ve realized that creative breakthroughs do happen, and when you experience them, they’re better even than how you imagined them to be. But they come at a terrible cost.

Bring Your Setting to Life

by The Magic Violinist | 46 Comments

I’m sure you’ve heard a thousand times before that not only must your characters live and breathe like real people, but your setting has to, as well. Your setting should have a personality just like your protagonist if you want your story world to leap off the page.

But how do you do that?

What to do with Criticism?

by Marianne Richmond | 35 Comments

If we’re writing for humans, we need to accept that some won’t like our writing, our style, our topic, our work. It’s a momentary sting to the soul for sure, but don’t let it de-rail you from your passion and prose.

4 Steps to Give This Editor No Choice But to Publish Your Story

by Emily Wenstrom | 14 Comments

Getting published. It’s a goal almost every writer shares. But how do you get your story from slush pile to publication?

Purging Your Writing Fear

by Guest Blogger | 40 Comments

Writers experience a ridiculous range of emotions throughout the writing process: excitement when a new idea comes along; satisfaction and joy when a work-in-progress is completed; and fear at varying intervals between.

Sadly, for every person reading this post, fear is an issue that must be addressed. It stifles creativity, encourages negativity, and exponentially increases our chances of failure. It’s a toxin that poisons us on a basic, human level. And it’s death to the writing process.

Write As You Would Vomit

by Guest Blogger | 94 Comments

I hate vomiting. It’s scary and unpleasant to expel the contents of your stomach. Also, the feeling that goes along with it should be banned worldwide. But vomiting has taught me an important lesson:

How to write!

Here to learn? You’re in the WRITE place!