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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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23 Essential Quotes From Ernest Hemingway About Writing

by Joe Bunting | 45 Comments

Ernest Hemingway was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Most writers seem to either love him—and are influenced by his clear, direct prose—or hate him. Many seek the internet for Hemingway quotes, either to seek inspiration or wisdom.

Regardless of your personal feelings, Ernest Hemingway’s insight into the craft of writing is unparalleled, as you’ll see.

This article shares some interesting facts and and quotes that drip with emotional honesty from one of the great American authors.

Read on to see famous quotes you can use as guiding principles in your writing and personal life.

What to Do After Writing a Book: The Do’s and Dont’s

by J. D. Edwin | 0 Comments

If you’ve finished writing a first draft, you’ve accomplished something huge. You should be proud of yourself! But once the celebration dies down, you might experience a moment of silence as you look at your finished manuscript. You wonder: What comes next?

Maybe you’re not sure what you should do next, or maybe you have an idea of all the things that could follow and feel disorganized and paralyzed by all the possibilities.

The fact is, a lot of budding writers don’t think beyond the “finishing the book” part of writing.

So what is next? This article teaches you what to do after writing a book.

3 Big Reasons Our Spring Writing Contest Will Make You a Better Writer

by Abigail Perry | 0 Comments

Entering a writing contest can be scary—but sometimes this push is just what you need to take a big (and great!) step forward in your writing craft. Plus, entering a writing contest is extra fun when it comes with amazing prices.

If you’ve been wanting to enter a writing contest but haven’t made the leap, or would like to again, read on! The Write Practice Spring 2022 writing contest might be the prefect fit for your writing process and kickstart your publishing dreams.

Are you excited about our Spring 2022 writing contest? We are! You can learn the full details on why entering this contest will make you a better writer, what you can win, and how to enter in this article.

Character Sketch Template: How to Sketch Characters in Scrivener

by Matt Herron | 15 Comments

Are you looking for a character sketch template that will make your character building easier and more fun?

Scrivener has an amazing character sketch tool that you can use to develop better characters.

In this article, you’ll learn how to sketch a fictional character and cast that will make you proud. Read on for a hands-on walkthrough of how to use Scrivener to create characters, from character profiles to their physical descriptions, and then some.

New Writers: 5 Irreplaceable Pieces of Advice from the Masters

by James Barrows | 0 Comments

Are you one of the new writers looking for advice on how to start writing?

Have you decided you want to write a fantasy novel with wizards and ghouls? Or do you want your debut book to be a memoir about your time fishing in Alaska. Maybe you don’t even have an idea, you just know you want to start avant-garde writing.

Whatever dilemma you’re facing as a new writer, this article is filled with advice that will help you start and keep you going. You’ll find both inspiration and practical tools for your creative writing needs, all compiled from advice given by the masters.

This article shares five irreplaceable pieces of advice from the masters to help you start writing—and keep going!

First Page of a Book: 4 Page-Turning Tips to Start Your Story

by Monica M. Clark | 124 Comments

I’ve changed the first page of my novel a lot. I can’t even tell you how many times. It happened because as I was writing, I followed a lot of writing blogs, attended a lot of author talks, and browsed a lot of guides that had a lot to say about how to write the first page of a book.

The thinking is that readers thumbing through books in the bookstore and agents alike make snap decisions based on those initial words.

And while it’s essential that the entire book is great, the reality is that the first page of your book sets the tone and expectation for the quality of writing for the rest of the book.

You need to make it good! Something that can uphold the excitement of your book idea and that would impress a publishing company.

Deadlines for Writers: 3 Easy Steps to Try as Your Deadline Looms

by J. D. Edwin | 0 Comments

If you dread deadlines for writers, you’re not alone. And the more you publish, the greater the possibility that you acquire more deadlines than not.

Despite any fear of deadlines, you don’t have to crack under their pressure. Even with all the planning, writing a first draft in six weeks is not easy. Life gets in the way, motivation ebbs and flows, and sometimes you simply can’t force yourself to write.

In this article, you’ll learn three way steps you can take as you near your writing project deadlines, and how to overcome any resistance desperate to hold you back.

Ending of Stories: How Planning an Ending Will Help You Write Faster

by J. D. Edwin | 1 Comment

Readers love the ending of stories, but do you feel like you don’t know how to write a really good ending?

It may seem a little odd to talk about story endings when you haven’t even started writing. Deciding on the type of ending you want, however, is an important part of planning a book.

You usually wouldn’t drive somewhere without a destination in mind. Knowing how your story ends will help you work out the important plot points in between, all the plot twists that eventually lead to that climatic moment.

But how exactly can you write a great ending before the story is even written? Let’s take a look at the essentials an ending must accomplish in order to write a satisfying ending to a great story.

Knowing these common types of endings, and how to decide what endings work best for your story, will bring your character arcs and story full circle.

This post shares writing tips to help you accomplish just that.

Roman A Clef: 3 Liberating Reasons Why Writers Should Use This

by Denise Regga | 12 Comments

Something happened to you. Maybe last year, or maybe twenty-five years ago, but it left its mark. It could be a crazy adventure or journey, or a massive trauma—or just a period of your life that really shaped who you’ve become. And you’d like to write it up as a book. The question is, should you write it as a memoir—or could it work better as a roman à clef?

Your decision will determine whether you stick as closely to real life as you can, or embellish and change things a little (or a lot) and call it fiction.

Writing in roman à clef is a choice many memoir writers make after deciding they need to fictionalize their story—and there’s nothing wrong with that!

In this article, you’ll learn exactly what roman à clef is, some guidelines of how to write a story using it, and why this choice can make a surprising—possibly better—direction for your future book.

How to Write When You Don’t Feel Like It: 5 Practical Tips You Can Try Today

by Joe Bunting | 87 Comments

Are there times in your life when it’s more difficult to write? Do you want to learn how to write when you don’t feel like it?

As a writer, You probably feel frustrated when the muse doesn’t show up, or you feel stuck on a bad idea for a story but desperately want to write one. One day you’re passionate about writing. You’re in the zone.

And then, something happens.

You skip a day. And then two. A week goes by and you haven’t written a paragraph. You enter a black hole of unproductive writing sessions.

You feel guilty, like you should be taking your writing more seriously, but you just can’t muster the willpower to actually write. This is real life for a real writer: there are days when we don’t want to write, where not even an extra large cup of coffee will get you through a writing session.

In this article, we’ll talk about why you don’t feel like writing and what you can do about it.