What are you passionate about? What drives your writing? And just as important—do you write stories that other people like?
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What are you passionate about? What drives your writing? And just as important—do you write stories that other people like?
Sometimes the best stories come to us when we are challenged to leave our comfort zone and write something we wouldn’t usually try. In that spirit, to give our writing a boost, let’s make a game out of using a writing prompt.
Do you argue with strangers on the internet? (I plead the fifth). Even if you have enough self-control not to engage most arguments and comment sections, chances are high that you think through how you would argue with them if you weren’t fairly certain they are a troll in an alternate universe. Also if your mother wasn’t your friend on Facebook.
Are you leveraging those thoughts? Or just rehearsing them, allowing yourself to feel irritated and angry? Put that energy to good use for your writing. Your next character is hiding in the comments section of nearly any forum. Here’s how to find him or her.
Your writing is an art—but if you want to sell books and make a living from your stories, it’s also a business. How do you balance nurturing your creativity with the demands of the market? And how do you do that while also telling stories that connect with readers in powerful ways?
If your aim is to write engaging fiction—stories that people will read and clamor for, even shell out their hard-earned cash to acquire—there is something very important you need to understand. You are an entertainer. And that means you need to know how to write a hook that will capture your reader and keep her turning the pages.
Want to write better stories, essays, and blog posts? There’s one trick that you can do to easily become a better writer.
I’ve read a lot of writing by amateur writers both in my work as a professional editor and as the moderator of this blog, and I’ve found that there’s one, single piece of advice I give most often.
If you master this technique, you will quickly go from a mediocre writer to someone who writes stories that people read and say, “Wow! You wrote this?”
So how do you become a better writer?
What’s the point of storytelling? Why do we need good stories, and what do they have to teach us about the choices we make? In this episode of Character Test, I talk with one of my favorite editors about his own journey through book publishing and what it takes to write—and live—a great story.
Do you borrow phrases and concepts from other works in your own? If yes, then you’re using intertextuality, perhaps even without knowing it. Though it sounds intimidating at first, it’s quite a simple concept really:
Intertextuality denotes the way in which texts (any text, not just literature) gain meaning through their referencing or evocation of other texts.
If you want to write a book, you need the right tools for the job. But what are the best tools for writers? We get asked that all the time.
Whether you’re ready to write, publish, or market your book, there are hundreds of resources you could use. They’re not all equal, though. Some will help you make your book better than you’d ever dreamed, and others, well, won’t.
I want to help you find the best tools for your writing, too. I’ve put together a roundup of the thirty best tools for writers at every stage of the writing and publishing process.
Hey there. It’s me, Joe Bunting. Maybe you’ve seen my name around here. Maybe you haven’t (which is fine). I thought I’d take a second to re-introduce myself and share something I’ve been thinking a lot about in my writing lately.