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.
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When someone asks you, “How are you?” how should you respond? Should you say, “I’m good,” or, “I’m well?” Which is correct grammatically: good or well.
Since “how are you?” became a standard greeting, the use of good vs. well has been hotly disputed. Let’s straighten this confusion out.
So you want to become a writer.
Perhaps you write because it makes you feel alive. Perhaps you read a book that made you think, “It must feel amazing to write something like this. Maybe I could be a writer.” Perhaps you feel like you can’t not write.
So then, how do you do it? How do you become a writer?
Can book writing software replace an editor? Nope. But it can help you improve your grammar and readability.
You were born to tell stories and share your message with the world. But you sit down to type and something terrible happens. Your fingers misspell things. Verbs switch tenses as you type. Nothing works quite like it did when it was still just a compelling idea in your head.
You reread and catch a few errors, but what if you’ve reached the end of your grammar prowess? Need some book writing software to help improve your writing?
Think of one of your favorite authors, maybe a children’s book author, since that’s what I write. For little ones, it might be Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. And for for older kids, perhaps you like Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
When you purchase one of these books, you know what to expect. Eric Carle offers soothing rhymes and stories with bright and cheery collage artwork. Jeff Kinney, on the other hand, gives readers funny, endearing stories featuring his signature cartoon protagonist, Greg.
An author brand is what makes your work unique or distinctly you. It’s the collection of impressions you make across your interactions with readers, including your books, social media, and face-to-face meetings. Your brand tells readers what to expect from you as an author as well as what to expect from your books.
When I was a kid, I loved reading Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novels that had alternate paths written into the story. If you aren’t familiar with them, they were elementary or middle grade chapter books that begin a story and at key moments, offer the reader a choice: “To go through the portal, turn to page 37. To run away, turn to page 45.”
I loved seeing the story change with the choices, and I reread the books making different choices each time to experience a new story. I’ve channeled my inner adventurer to put together a fun prompt.
Have you ever felt a rush of writing anxiety when trying to finish your story?
Whether you view this as resistance or low self-esteem, writing anxiety can prevent you from finishing that beautiful, unique story that only you can tell. Here are four common problems that feed writing anxiety and tips on how to overcome them.
Haiku are a type of traditional Japanese poetry. Only three lines long, haiku are fun to write and share. Let’s find out what a haiku poem is and what we need to write our own!
Here’s the underlying principle: your characters are people. People are complicated; I suspect you might know a few. Characters are much the same way. Your reader will relate to them if they behave like people, and for characters to behave like people, they need to be built like people.
You need to know your characters like you do other humans, and these six prompts will help you pull that off.
For those of us who’ve been in the writing biz a while, there is a quote by Stephen King we’ve all seen a thousand times (and if you’re new to writing, fear not: you’ll see this quote a thousand times, too).
I love Joseph Campbell’s monomyth theory. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s the idea that every hero, and hero’s journey, uses many of the same characters, symbols, and themes.
So in honor of Thanksgiving, let’s write a story with the Noble Gobbler in the role of the hero, or Pro-turk-onist!
