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5 Christmas Writing Prompts to Tickle Your Holiday Spirit

It’s Christmas Eve! The Write Practice will be taking a brief break from the blog for the next week, but in the meantime we’d love to inspire your writing this holiday season with some Christmas writing prompts.

Maybe you’re looking for some creative writing activities for the last day of school before winter break. Or you’re craving a handful of creative writing prompts that will also get you into the festive mood. Either way, these holiday-themed writing prompts are for you!

Write alone, or grab lots of people in your writing community. Pick a writing prompt for this article. When you’re chosen a favorite, take on a fifteen minute writing sprint.

It never hurts to get some special writing practice in before your holiday celebrations.

3 Tricks for Getting Unstuck During the Holidays

by Jeff Elkins | 11 Comments

If you want to succeed as a writer, you need a stress-free time to work and think. Writing sessions during the holidays can be hard for us. With all the added parties and present buying and family events, it can be easy to feel stuck and unable to work on your latest writing project.

But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find time for writing.

In this article, you can learn three tricks to keeping your holiday spirit, and also working on your writing skills.

Let this holiday season be one you enjoy, while also working in those meaningful writing sessions.

TED Talks for Writers: 6 TED Talks That Will Revive Your Storytelling Spirit

by Joslyn Chase | 0 Comments

Looking for a boost in your creative writing? We all need something to rekindle our love of story. These TED Talks for writers might be just the inspiration you need.

In your work as a writer, have you ever succumbed to the pity party? Why am I laboring away at something only a handful of people will ever read? Why am I spending all my time on something no one else cares about?

If you’ve been doing it long enough, you’ll have had those moments of doubt. My intention with this article is to provide help and inspiration to push through those barriers and restoke the fires of determined storytelling.

What I found in my forays for fuel to ignite that flame met—and exceeded—my expectations, reaffirming one of the fundamental truths I hold most dear: there is extraordinary power in story.

Writing Success: 3 Easy Steps to Develop Your Writing System

by J. D. Edwin | 6 Comments

Have you tried writing a book but failed to finish it? Do you wish you could have some writing success, but each time you set out on an idea, something stops you?

Do you have a writing system?

If you want to be a successful writer, it helps to establish a solid, reliable writing system that evaluates your writing process. To do this, you need to experiment with three key steps to designing the best system for you.

6 Thoughtful Ways to Gift Your Writing

by David Safford | 11 Comments

I love the Christmas season. I love decorating the tree and baking cookies with my daughter. I love wrapping presents and hiding them from prying eyes.

But with every passing holiday season, I find myself loving something less and less each year: Rampant consumerism, and the impossible expectations that come with it.

What if this year, you give something different? What if you gift writing instead of things?

How to Use Vivid Verbs to Bring Your Scenes to Life

by J. D. Edwin | 3 Comments

Have you ever felt your writing is flat, despite how many beautiful words you use? You might be overusing adjectives and adverbs. Luckily, there is an easy fix—use vivid verbs instead.

Although you might instinctively think adjectives will improve your description, strong verbs actually do a better job at electrifying your creative writing.

In this post, you can learn a two-step process to improve your writing skills, and start implementing these tips with a little help from a list of vivid verbs.

How to Handle Criticism: 3 Strategies to Make Criticism Work for You

by Joslyn Chase | 0 Comments

You invest a lot of yourself in your writing, and putting your creative work in front of others is scary. Your mind floods with questions like, What if they don’t like it? What if they think I’m dumb? What if I’m no good at this? And what if someone doesn’t like it? Do you know how to handle negative criticism?

Plotter vs. Pantser: When to Plot, When to Pants, and When to Combine Them

by J. D. Edwin | 3 Comments

How do you plan a story? If you’re a writer, you’ve probably heard about different creative writing methods to finish a first draft. Is there a right or wrong to these? Have you tried different method, but still don’t feel like it’s a perfect fit?

At some point in your process, it’s likely that you will with primarily pants or plot a novel. Maybe you even do both at different times in your writing process.

In this article, you’ll learn when the best times are for planning your novel. You’ll also learn different stages of that planning process when you might prefer to pants, plot, or some hybrid method of the two.

Dramatic Irony: A Great Literary Device That Adds Suspense to Your Story

by Joslyn Chase | 0 Comments

Do you remember the first time you read Romeo and Juliet? Did you cringe when Romeo kills himself, knowing that Juliet is still alive? This is a perfect example of how to use dramatic irony in your story—a literary device that will inevitably add suspense into your novel.

Dramatic irony can be used in any story regardless of genre, but it is especially useful when writing stories that you want to increase tension and suspense.

In this article, you’ll learn about dramatic irony, another useful technique that keeps readers on the edge of their seats.

Euphonics: This Writing Technique Will Make Your Readers Fall in Love With Your Sentences

by Joslyn Chase | 0 Comments

Two of the most vital skills you should focus on as a writer are how to tell a story that satisfies readers and how to develop compelling characters. But once you’ve got that figured out, aren’t there other writing techniques, more subtle perhaps, that draw readers in and make stories shine?

There are. And one of those writing techniques is called euphonics.

Rayne Hall, author of the Writer’s Craft series, defines euphonics as “the use of sound devices for prose writing.” The dictionary definition of euphonic expands on that to include “a harmonious succession of words having a pleasing sound.”

Understanding this writing technique and applying it to your sentences will make your readers fall in love with your writing!