New Daily Writing Guides from The Write Practice

Planning a Story: 3 Questions to Answer Even if You Hate to Plan

It’s difficult to know how much to plan when starting a new story. Is it essential to have each and every character, scene, and key change in mind beforehand? How much, or how little, do you need? (Hint: it’s less than you might think!)

The bad news is, no matter how much you plan, your first draft is destined to be messy. But even if you’re a pantser, there are a few key questions you should answer before you start. When you do, you’ll be building your story on a rock-solid foundation that will give you the freedom to take risks that won’t cost you a ton of time and energy in the long run.

Starting a Children’s Book: How to Beat Writer’s Block and Begin

by Marianne Richmond | 0 Comments

An experienced author responds to aspiring children’s book writers’ questions about writer’s block and how to find the confidence to start their own story.

Two Steps to Fix Flat Characters Using Voice and Personality

by J. D. Edwin | 1 Comment

You have created a character. You’ve named them and given them a colorful past, as well as lots of fun personality traits. Your character steps into your story . . . and suddenly you find that they’ve fallen flat. How can you fix them?

They’re boring. Those personality traits you meticulously picked out for them just aren’t showing up. Your character goes through the motions of the story and you wonder why this interesting, unique character you’ve worked so hard on is missing that luster you imagined.

Not to worry: there’s a simple, two-step fix to give your characters voice and personality.

When You Should Be Writing But Can’t, Do These 6 Things Instead

by Joe Bunting | 39 Comments

What do you do when you just don’t want to write? You know what I mean. You know you should be writing. You tell yourself you should finally finish that short story. You feel you should turn off the television, close up Facebook, and stop checking your email so you can write.

You should should should…

But you can’t. And worse, you don’t know why.

I Wrote a Book. Now What? 3 Unexpected Ways to Practice Writing After You Publish

by Guest Blogger | 0 Comments

Congrats, you wrote a book and launched it! It’s on to the next book. But maybe you’re feeling tired. As for writing a whole book, you need a break. Maybe you’re thinking, “I wrote a book. Now what?”

But can you take a break and still practice writing, if you’re not writing?

Yes, you can! By taking a different, brief and temporary, writing approach.

In this post, I’ll share how focusing on 3 R’s—Reviews, Reading Panels and Residencies—can help you develop your writing platform in new and unexpected ways.

KDP Spy vs Publisher Rocket: Which Is Best for You?

by Brendan Hufford | 3 Comments

As an author, Amazon is where you need to be if you want to make a success out of your career, whether you’re publishing in Kindle Unlimited or publishing “wide” (to multiple retailers). But the competition these days is off the charts. You’ll need to write a great story, have an amazing cover and a good keyword research tool to help you set your book apart—whether it’s for Kindle keywords, competition analysis, or Amazon ads.

Luckily, there are a few tools out there that help you reverse-engineer the marketing of successful books. These tools are great for idea generation, market research and putting your book in the best position to sell well.

Two popular options are Publisher Rocket and KD Spy. In this article, we’ll compare them side-by-side and find out which is the best option for you.

How to Find the Conflict in a Story: Conflict Mapping and Other Writing Tips

by David Safford | 2 Comments

One of the greatest challenges of writing better stories is knowing exactly which scenes to write. The best scenes focus on the core elements of conflict — which means before you can write amazing scenes, you have to find the conflict in a story.

Strong scenes come from strong plans. And visualizing the conflict between your characters is a great way to do just that.

How to Use Scrivener to Write Scenes That Work

by Joslyn Chase | 0 Comments

Do you want to learn how to use Scrivener?

If you’ve ever felt like a scene doesn’t work in your manuscript, you can use elements of a scene and the book writing software Scrivener, a great tool for writers, to improve your writing project.

The scene is the fundamental unit of story. It’s what drives the story forward, instilling purpose, drama, and emotion.

It’s critical to understand the elements that make it effective and know how to employ them.

In this article, that’s what we’ll examine—what a scene is and how to write an effective one. You’ll also learn how to use an organizational tool, Scrivener, to do this better.

Writing Procrastination: What’s Stopping You and 3 Simple Steps to Get Back to Your WIP

by The Magic Violinist | 68 Comments

Every writer deals with procrastination. It’s one of our key traits. We put off the next chapter, the next article, and wait until our deadline is just a few days away. Then we frantically type away at the keyboard, hoping that we have enough time to edit it before it’s too late.

But why do we procrastinate?

Finding Time to Write: 3 Foolproof Ways to Write With a Busy Schedule

by Michelle Renee Miller | 0 Comments

Whether or not you write for a living, you probably have a lot of other responsibilities, like a day job, school, or parenting. Still, finding time to write is necessary for any writer who wants to make a career out of writing.

This means that if you want to become a writer, making time to write despite a busy schedule needs to be a priority.

You might get advice from writers about prioritizing writing time that works for them but doesn’t feel practical for you.

Regardless of where you are in your writing life, there are a few foolproof ways you can fit writing into your busy schedule, even if it’s stacked with non-negotiable responsibilities.

Here to learn? You’re in the WRITE place!