New Daily Writing Guides from The Write Practice

How to Paint Tangerine Dream and Marmalade Sky Word Pictures

by Joe Bunting | 125 Comments

A few years ago I taught at a high school with a strong Arts program. At the end of the school year, the fruits of students’ labour were put up for sale in a silent auction. I remember walking through the room, mouth agape and eyes bulging in awe of the talent I saw.

Later in the staff room a colleague and I, both of us English teachers, both aspiring authors, were fawning over the accomplishments of our students and I remember saying, “I wish I had talent like that.” My colleague assured me that I did. When I protested that I couldn’t even draw a wiggly line, she said to me, “You’re an artist; you paint word pictures.”

It was a moment of epiphany, one that’s stayed with me to this day.

Write About Life and Death

by Joe Bunting | 83 Comments

The day Marston was born, we found out my wife’s grandmother had cancer. They said she had six months to a year to live. Three weeks later, she was in critical condition, and my wife was flying up to see her. It’s now four weeks after my son was born and I’m here in Pennsylvania, Amish country, for the funeral.

Never before have I seen life and death in such close proximity. Cormac McCarthy once said these are the only two subjects worth writing about, life and death. After experiencing it first hand this month, I get it.

Three Ways to Make Your Protagonist More Realistic (and More Lovable)

by The Magic Violinist | 73 Comments

The sign of a great character is when you can’t believe the character isn’t real. Your protagonist should most certainly be just this realistic, especially since she’s the star of the show!

The surprising truth is that if you make a character realistic, she’ll also be more lovable. People relate to characters with depth and humanity more than an alien robot with no emotion.

Here are three ways to make your protagonist more realistic…

Visualize Your Writing

by Joe Bunting | 120 Comments

Are you using photographs as a tool in your writing? No matter how good your imagination may be, looking at the setting, the character or the mood you’re describing can only enhance the task at hand. A nicely taken portrait can reveal much about the character – his/her vulnerabilities, moralities, moods and feelings, origins – and suggest a story behind it. By looking into the eyes of a photographed subject, you’re looking into this person’s soul. You, as a writer, are to catch this and put it into your art: words.

Three Rumors About Dialogue

by Katie Axelson | 62 Comments

Dialogue is one of those tricky things that can make or break your book.

Energize Your Writing with this Easy Trick

by Melissa Tydell | 18 Comments

If your writing seems a little dull, tap into this easy trick—focus on the verbs. Using direct, precise, and active verbs instantly makes your writing stronger.

These verbs move your story forward, create powerful imagery, and convey a confident tone.

3 Reasons Critiquing Will Improve Your Writing

by Joe Bunting | 16 Comments

ou’ve been told over and over that we writers must read to improve our craft. Over at the Write to Publish course, we’ve been practicing critiquing. I’ve learned writers can’t just read, we must critique!

Should You Write Nonfiction or Fiction?

by Joe Bunting | 111 Comments

In allegiance to Stephen King’s writerly maxim, “The only requirement is the ability to remember every scar,” I’m considering writing a new series of stories about my father’s five year struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrom.

I was ten when my father had to quit work go on disability. His body was hurting all the time and he couldn’t think he was so tired. Ten is an age you need a father, but for five years he was largely absent, both physically and mentally. My mom was preoccupied and stressed bearing our family’s financial burdens. I went through the first, confusing years as a teenager all but alone.

But the question is: should I write the stories from this period of my life as non-fiction or channel them into my fiction?

How to Satisfy Your Reader With a Great Ending

by Guest Blogger | 84 Comments

Author John Irving is notorious for writing the last line of every novel first. What we can glean from this daunting factoid is that Irving has a clear picture of where he wants the story to end up. The work is “simply” writing the book.

Would that we all be so lucky!

The Immobilized Man in Noir Fiction

by Joe Bunting | 41 Comments

It seems that Noir fiction has penetrated literature, even though nobody is really sure what it represents. It’s become a buzzword, used for a stylish touch. Coined in France, the term Roman Noir (Black Novel), signified the Gothic literature of the 18th century originating mainly from England – ‘Frankestein’ by Mary Shelley and ‘Les Miserables’ by Victor Hugo, for example. The meaning and use of the word in fiction has, obviously, shifted over the years.

Whereas Noir can denote various fictive genres – starting from crime, detective and thriller genres to hard-boiled fiction, Gothic and terror novels – and takes many forms, one feature of Noir stands out: the one of the immobilized man.

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