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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An em dash is a versatile punctuation mark that looks like an extended dash. It is used to break up a longer sentence, usually to insert a phrase into the middle or end of a sentence, to add modification phrases to a list, and sometimes to show a break in narration or conversation. Let’s look at when to use an em dash, and learn the keyboard shortcuts to make them!
Valentine’s Day has a complicated history depending on who you ask. It’s been called a celebration of a martyr, a festival heralding a coming spring, and a holiday for lovers.
But you don’t have to frame it as a romantic holiday to have fun with one of these fun writing prompts today.
Imagine writing a story set in Dickens’ 19th century, Victorian England, and your Scrooge spin-off answers his cell phone, “Wassup?” Or your knight in 13th century France uses phrases like, “spilling the tea.” Those are anachronisms, and they would likely startle contemporary audiences out of the story.
Let’s look at the definition of anachronism, types of anachronism, and anachronisms in your story.
I dream of a day when I can wake up, sip my coffee, write some morning pages, and then work on my latest novel until dinner. Unfortunately for me, and for many of you, that day is not today.
I’ve got kids and a house and bills, so I have to work full-time. Even so, over the past four years, I’ve published five novels, three novellas, and countless short stories.
How do I write books while working full-time? There are five things I’ve had to do to make this a reality.
James Patterson has held a top position on the list of best-selling thriller writers for the better part of two decades, so I jumped at the chance to take his MasterClass, learn his secrets, and add to my thriller writer toolbox. You may be wondering if taking the class would be a good move for you. Stick around for my James Patterson MasterClass review and see what you think.
You have just opened your email from the magazine you submitted your article to. You read the email you have been hoping for and dreaming of: “Hey there, we want to publish your article. Please reply with a fifty-word killer bio. We will post it at the end of your article. You can include up to three links.”
Wow, your writing has been accepted! Now you have to say who you are.
Writing your biography can seem almost as challenging as writing the piece you submitted. But it is a necessary part of publishing your writing. How will your readers know who wrote your wonderful article if you do not tell them?
Children’s books often use animals as main characters, giving them human-like characteristics to connect with readers in real life. Did you know there’s a name for that? Let’s look at anthropomorphism’s literary definition and some examples.
There’s no shortage of writing prompts out there. We even do them with every post here on the Write Practice blog.
Prompts have a place in writing, whether it’s overcoming writer’s block or simply as a warmup to get your brain moving. Writing prompts are awesome.
Until they’re not.
What do you do if you hate the writing prompt you’re given?
You may have seen posts across social media on January 1, 2024 celebrating Public Domain Day with pictures of Disney's Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse animation. What is Public Domain Day and how does it affect writers? Public Domain Day was on January 1st, but it is...
You’ve written a children’s book. Great work! Now, have you thought about marketing your children’s book? Do you wonder if this is even important, or how to do it?
One of the most important considerations you, as a children’s book author (or book author in general), need to address along with the creative side of things is: Who is your target reader? Or, who is your target market?
As a book writer, we like to imagine that everyone will love our book. But this is unrealistic, nonstrategic and a quick way to experience the disappointment of sluggish sales.
Truth: We don’t want to be all things to all people. We want to be the choice for specific, potential readers.
If we write a book without knowing exactly who we’re writing for, we end up writing for our own enjoyment. This is fine and good unless you wish to make money from your book writing efforts.
