New Daily Writing Guides from The Write Practice

3 Things You Need to Know Before You Start Writing

by Joe Bunting | 46 Comments

“My secret to writing is to never create at a keyboard,” says Thomas Steinbeck, the author and son of John Steinbeck.

You have to know something about your book before you begin to write your story. I think this is true whether you like to plot your novel before you write or not. You don’t need to know everything, but you do need to know something.

For those of you participating in NaNoWriMo, this is especially important. You don’t want to spend your first days plotting or doing characterization exercises.

How to Give and Receive Constructive Criticism

by Joe Bunting | 92 Comments

Part of writing is asking for feedback. At some point you have to let go of the precious baby and let someone take a look at it. Pick someone you trust but also someone who will challenge you to do better.

Blindside Your Readers With Deus Ex Machina

by Liz Bureman | 33 Comments

Let’s say that you and your friends are watching a spy film. The hero is in restraints and staring down the business end of a laser gun that is threatening to fry off his face. The plucky sidekick is trapped in the middle of a nearby lake, and the spy headquarters has no idea that the hero is even in Abu Dhabi because he was supposed to be in Bucharest, but got sidetracked by a lady. It sure looks like the end for our hero. All of a sudden, a bright light beams down onto our hero, and he disappears, only to rematerialize on Mars. A man in white walks up to him, and says, “Welcome to the space headquarters of the Alliance’s spy network.”

Wait a minute. No one mentioned anything about the Alliance having a space headquarters. The entirety of this plot has been about kidnapping a biological engineer. There hasn’t been any mention of anything outside the Earth’s atmosphere in any context whatsoever. What just happened?

You’ve been blindsided by a deus ex machina

6 Ways to Shake Up Your Storytelling Style

by Melissa Tydell | 62 Comments

Stories teach us, inspire us, and allow us to experience worlds we would not otherwise know. We learn about each other through sharing stories. We watch stories unfold on TV and in movies, read stories in books and magazines, and tell each other stories about our days, our childhoods, our travels.

Two weeks ago, I attended a panel presentation called “Storytellers: The Power of Perspective” during Chicago Ideas Week. While listening to the speakers, I was inspired by their different perspectives on storytelling—where they find inspiration, how they communicate stories, why they think stories are important and need to be told.

If you want to explore a new style of storytelling, here are six creative approaches to try:

How to Turn Your Favorite Books Into Writing Prompts

by Joe Bunting | 46 Comments

Sometimes, when I’m having a terrible, horrible, no good, really bad day, I’ll look up from the blank word document on the computer screen in front of me, glance over at the neat, colorful row of Harry Potter books on the shelf, and collapse into a black hole of despair over the fact that I’m not J.K. Rowling.

This is not healthy behavior, I know.

Four Ways to Control Your Inner Editor

by Joe Bunting | 93 Comments

If you are a writer, you know about the voice inside your head that talks non-stop while you try and work on your writing. It may give you advice on how to fix what you just wrote. It may tell you you’re no good at writing and that you should take up a different hobby. It may just distract you.

This voice is your Inner Editor. Here are four ways to control your Inner Editor and keep it from distracting you as you write.

How to Use Anthropomorphism in Your Writing

by Joe Bunting | 52 Comments

This weekend, a friend of mine invited me to brunch at her house with her roommates and some other folks. We had crepes, and they were delicious (I would recommend everyone make them at their own brunches). We ended up spending a good chunk of the afternoon discussing cards from this Table Topics deck. Most of the questions were terrible conversation starters (“How would you go about ending homelessness?” Really?). But we found one that dealt with movies, and someone mentioned the Toy Story trilogy, which immediately sent all of us into the nostalgia zone. This also brings me to today’s writing tool: anthropomorphism.

Ready Or Not, Here It Comes: NaNoWriMo

by Sophie Novak | 123 Comments

What if you can write a novel in 30 days? That’s right, you’ve guessed it, the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is coming up.

Regardless of all haters spreading their argumentative ‘against’ energy around the net like viruses, NaNoWriMo is a shoutout to all writers. It’s like a kick in the butt by your best friend in an attempt to throw reality in your face.

Any writing initiative should be encouraged, and when it’s accompanied by thousands of people who are thrown in the same boat with you, fighting the dragon, climbing the magic mountain, then even better.

6 Steps To Choosing Your Next Writing Project

by Joe Bunting | 25 Comments

Choosing what to write next is the most important decision you can make as a writer. If you choose poorly, you’ll finish your piece and realize no one is interested in reading what you’ve written. Worse, you might have to abandon it in the middle, realizing you never should have started it in the first place.

How do you choose the right project to work on next?

Build a House with Your Pen

by Katie Axelson | 70 Comments

Writing is like building a home in that good writers view from the work of others. They learn, copy, and expand.

Simply put: good writers read.

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