New Daily Writing Guides from The Write Practice

Plot Treatment: 4 Simple Steps to Plan A Story’s Second Draft

First drafts are ugly, as they’re intended to be. Frankly, if your first draft isn’t full of run-on sentences, plot holes, and poorly developed characters, you might be doing something wrong. With the hardest part done, you turn to your second draft—but how do you write a second draft?

To start, you need to write a plot treatment.

The second draft is where your story really comes together. This is where you figure out everything that didn’t work in the first draft and fix it—or treat it. I like the word treat because it looks at the first draft as a patient—it’s not bad, it’s just unwell and needs you to play story doctor and make it better.

Thankfully, the process to improve your story and build a solid foundation for your second draft doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be done easily with a plot treatment.

In this article, you’ll learn what a plot treatment is, and why writing a plot treatment can help guide your second draft.

Your First Writing Practice

by Joe Bunting | 782 Comments

Anyone can write for fifteen minutes a day. But imagine how fifteen minutes of creative writing each day could change your life. I

Fifteen minutes a day, and I can turn you from an aspiring writer to a daily writer.

How does it work?

Publishing Classes: Foundations of Publishing Started My Writing Career

by J. D. Edwin | 0 Comments

So you’ve finished your book. Have you been looking at publishing classes to figure out how to bring your story into the world? I did years ago.

It was 2013.

MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech was turning fifty, I had just switched from a very toxic day job to a much more peaceful one, and I had become determined to take my writing career a little more seriously. I researched publishing classes on how to publish, and landed upon the Foundations of Publishing program (then called Write to Publish).

It’s worth mentioning that I went into this program with the utmost confidence.

I had self-published a book the year before, and although it only sold a meager eleven copies, I was convinced that the only issue with it was that I didn’t know how to market, and that if I had just learned the “trick” to attracting an agent or publisher, I would surely become an instant success.

And so I signed up, prepared myself, and thought for certain that I was only weeks away from becoming a best-selling writer.

How to Write a Hook by Thrilling Your Reader With Danger

by Joslyn Chase | 0 Comments

If you want your readers to not just pick up your book, but keep turning the pages, you need to learn how to write a hook that will draw them through the story so they never want to put it down. Try baiting your hooks with the thrill of danger to keep your readers on the line.

10 Painless Steps to Writing a Blog Post that Connects with Your Readers

by Joe Bunting | 22 Comments

Yes, we’d all like more traffic, more comments, more readers on our blogs. But if you’re writing a blog, there’s one thing you want even more than readers. You might not admit that you want this. You might not even realize it! But it’s that emptiness you feel every time you’re disappointed after checking your blog stats. What is it?

How to Accomplish Twice the Writing in Half the Time

by Guest Blogger | 64 Comments

Many writers struggle with time management, but I’ve taken this dilemma to a whole, new level. In this post I want to talk about how I’ve learned to accomplish twice the writing in half the time.

Some writers have a set schedule. They work the same time every day.

Lucky them.

Others, do not. They sneak in their pages through tiny chunks of time — five minutes here, another 15 minutes there.

Nothing wrong with that, either. Just try to be consistent.

Here’s an interesting fact I’ve recently discovered about myself. In talking to others, they’ve admitted they do this, too…

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?

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