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.
And make sure to subscribe to get a weekly digest of our latest posts, along with our free guide, 10 Steps to Become a Writer.
If you’ve ever wanted to write a book, you might have heard the term “beta readers.” But what are beta readers? Do you really need them? Are they just free editing, or something different?
A couple hints: yes, if you’re going to publish a book, you need beta readers. And no, they’re not a replacement for hiring a professional editor.
English is full of homophones, words that sound the same but mean different things. Often, they are spelled differently. Everyone is aware of the problems with there, there, there; too, too, two; and carat, caret, carrot. (Well, maybe not that last one so much.)
Forward and Foreword are two more homophones that cause problems. So, let’s take a look at them.
So you've been assigned a persuasive paper and you're staring at a blinking cursor. What do you do first? How do you pick a good topic? Today we're going to learn how to write a persuasive essay, so you can get that assignment done. As we continue our back-to-school...
Students are heading back to school this month and next, and if you’re like me, you remember that old standby back to school writing prompt: “What did you do over summer”. If you’re looking for some new ideas to get students back in the habit of writing while you have a little fun developing skills, try one these fun writing prompts!
Are you the kind of writer that loves writing a first draft but has no idea what to do once you’re done with it? Do you worry that you don’t know how to edit a novel, and freeze up because of this?
Editing is hard, but luckily there are strategies you can take when editing your first draft (and others), or even if it’s your first time.
In this article, I’ll teach you the process I’ve learned after years of struggling to edit. But first, there’s one thing we have to get out of the way:
You craft your story, scene by scene and sentence by sentence, stringing one word to the next with loving care. But what if, when your reader picks it up, the whole thing falls apart?
You don’t want that happening. Continuity is the thread that stitches your story into a coherent package, holding it together and making it a pleasure to read. So how do you make your writing flow?
Most full length books or films will have multiple storylines, a primary plot and at least one secondary plot that impacts the outcome of the story. But keeping all those storylines straight can be a challenge. What are multiple storylines and how can you manage them to tell a terrific story?
Chuck Wendig says writing the middle of a novel is the hardest part. He calls it the Mushy Middle. Others call it the Sagging Middle. Or even the Middle-of-the-Novel Mud.
Many writers know how to begin their story and how it will end, but what’s supposed to happen in the middle?
Do you want to write a short story, but are unsure about how to develop a short story plot?
Short stories rarely require extensive plotting. They’re short, after all. But a bit of an outline, just to get the basic idea down, can help you craft a strong plot.
Plotting your short stories will give you an end story goal and will help you avoid getting stuck in the middle, or accidentally creating plot holes. You’ll have fewer unfinished stories if you learn to do a little planning before you start writing.
And in this article, you can learn how to take your short story’s primary conflict, and build a plot around it.
Do you struggle to finish writing your book, or really anything you start? If you said yes, you’re not alone. In a poll we conducted (with real people!), seventy-two percent gave us the same answer.
Finishing writing projects can be tough! That doesn’t mean you can’t do it.
Here’s an important truth: you don’t have to be the next Ernest Hemingway or Stephen King in order to finish writing a book. It’s possible for you to find the writing time you need. But before you tackle your creative project, it’s worth examining why you haven’t been able to finish your story idea in the past.
In this article, I’m going to share three giant reasons most writers don’t finish writing their books—and how you can carve out everything you need to complete your current project.
