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.
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Have you ever read a story that just falls flat for you and you don’t know why? Chances are it was missing one of the archetypical elements our brains are hardwired to seek out in a story. When you sit down at the keyboard, the last thing you want to do is write a story that fails to grab and hold a reader.
Do you think about your writing too much? Do you focus too much on unfinished writing goals?
I know I do. Every day I catch myself worrying about word counts, deadlines, and opportunities I’ll be missing out on.
You’d think that this kind of obsession would make you a better writer, or at least a more motivated one. But it’s probably poisoning you, embittering you against the very craft you’ve come to love.
To save yourself from this jaded point of view, you need a way to take a step back. You need thankfulness.
It can be difficult to find the motivation to write during the holidays. With family around us and added responsibilities, the last thing we can think about is the story we are working on. Sometimes, all we need to give ourselves a motivational boost is a change of...
Happy Halloween, everyone! Since I write horror, this is obviously my favorite holiday. To celebrate, I crafted several six-word horror stories to tweet throughout the day. And today, you’re going to practice doing the same thing!
Warning: Six-word stories are addicting.
Surprise! Okay, that probably wasn’t very surprising. How do you surprise your readers? And how do you create the slow burn of suspense, keeping them on the edge of their seats as they tear through your story? Let’s talk about how to make a story suspenseful.
Write a manifesto, a statement of what you believe, to help others, or yourself. Are you wondering how to write a manifesto? You have come to the right place.
The word “manifesto” is from the Latin word “manifesto,” “make public,” which comes from the Latin word “manifestus,” or “obvious.”
Write a manifesto about something that is obvious to you, or that you would like to be obvious to you. Write your manifesto to make it public to everyone, so that it will become obvious, natural, even when it is hard for you to believe it yourself.
For many of you, Halloween is a time to dream up frightening stories with scenes that thrill and startle your readers. It’s the perfect moment to practice how to write a scary story.
Yet writing a scary scene is easier said than done. To truly scare your readers, you need to be one step ahead of them. If they can predict what’s coming, or if the story doesn’t feel scary, then your writing won’t work.
Here’s how to write a truly scary scene that your readers will love!
Many writers I know are overwhelmed and struggle to focus on writing anything. Do I research? Get a draft down? Should I be blogging? Do I need to get a business license? What about social media? What’s for dinner? (Sorry, my kids added that one).
A few years ago, I learned a technique that helped me get a handle on my to do list, and freed me to prioritize my writing. Along with sneaking time to write, learning to write in batches has changed the way I work.
Happy prep-tober! If you’re as excited for NaNoWriMo as I am, October is probably pretty busy for you. Now is the time to start printing your novel worksheets, introducing yourself on the NaNo forums, and scheduling time to write.
But NaNoWriMo isn’t always stress-free. Attempting to write 50k in a month is hard work. Luckily, I’m here with four tips to boost your word count.
No matter how much the adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is trotted out, we all do it. It’s in our nature to make quick assumptions about things, especially when we have literally millions of books to choose from. It’s easy to make quick judgements based on book cover design.
Think about walking through your local bookstore or perusing your library’s shelves. You’re looking at spines, and only spines, most of the time. Then one book stands out. You pull it from the shelf and give the cover a read.
Why did you choose that book, in particular? Most likely, the color stood out to you.
