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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In the writing world, flash fiction is like an appetizer. These “short short” stories may be small and end quickly, but they can be so satisfying. The trick isn’t to treat them like a short version of a longer work, but rather as an art form all its own. That’s not to say it isn’t challenging to write, because it is, but there are several strategies you can use to help you perfect your work.
Every great novel has great characters. Great characterization includes a background, flaws, habits, tics, and redeeming qualities. The characters have a life.
There are plenty of ways to get inside your character’s head. You can journal from their point of view, write a character study, or fill out questionnaires about your character. Those methods are awesome but can seem impersonal or just plain tedious at times.
If you need a quicker, more succinct way of getting inside your character’s head, you might consider writing their eulogy.
Are you writing a book? If so, you might be surprised by some of the things you’re thinking and feeling. Writing a book can be an strange, emotional experience! You might even wonder if some of the things you’re thinking and feeling are normal.
Today, I want to give you an inside view of my thoughts and emotions as I write a book so that you can see that even after being a professional writer for years and writing seven books, I still struggle with insecurity and self-criticism. Plus, I’ll share how I deal with negative feelings without getting derailed by them.
In July, we hosted the Summer Writing Contest in partnership with Short Fiction Break literary magazine. Entering this writing contest was a huge accomplishment for all our writers, and we want to celebrate the winners here on The Write Practice.
Writer’s anxiety is often caused by a belief that I MUST BE WRITING ALL THE THINGS ALL THE TIME. It simply isn’t true. Even those who write full time recognize that there are seasons to writing, just as there are seasons of life.
How do you stay disciplined? You’re ready to commit and focus on your writing (or refocus). Where do you start?
That’s where our 7 Day Creative Writing Challenge comes in!
Nearly every story you care to name has bits and pieces or elements from other stories. It’s unavoidable, since we’ve been telling stories from the dawn of human existence. Most of your story ideas are going to resemble existing stories in some way.
So, how do you take the seed of a story that feels too much like it’s already been done, and make it your own?
Polishing a screenplay, or doing a polish on a script, is a part of the screenwriting process that few screenwriters ever go into detail about when asked. Even when plied with liquor. Sure, we’ve all heard writers and producers use terms like “tighten it up” or “give it some polish” or “tweak it for production,” but what do any of those terms really mean?
Let’s break “the script polish” process down into two general goals a screenwriter needs to focus on when sitting down to polish her script. Those two general goals are maximizing impact and minimizing risk.
The weather’s cooling off, students are returning to school, and here at The Write Practice, we’re gearing up for our Fall Writing Contest. Because there’s no better way to welcome the changing seasons than by writing some amazing stories!
Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt guilty about something related to writing. (My hand can’t get any higher.) Whether you feel that you aren’t writing enough or feel terrible about neglecting chores while finishing your novel, writer’s guilt is real.
Here are a few ideas for abandoning writer’s guilt to get your work done.
