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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Your point of view is one of the first and most important choices you’ll make in any story. Done well, your story’s point of view can draw your readers in to experience your story alongside your characters, and even make them forget they’re reading fiction.
You want to write. Your newest idea or draft has been sitting there for days, accumulating dust and regret.
You have to write.
But you also have a family. The kids need picked up, dinner needs cooking, and that living room isn’t cleaning itself. Your spouse has an event tonight (that you forgot you agreed to go to), and don’t forget the children need help with their ever-increasing load of homework.
How can you ever hope to write a book and be a parent at the same time?
Is it hopeless? Or is there a way to pull it off?
Rejection may be one of the hardest parts of writing. After pouring our lives into our manuscripts, it feels personal when someone tells our work isn’t good enough. Even if we know in our minds how to handle rejection, our hurt and disappointment can make us want to lash out.
Additionally, when we are submitting something the size of a novel, we are offering up something that represents years of our lives. To have it dismissed with a form email may make you question if you’ve been wasting your time.
When we are feeling rejected, we may be tempted to lash out. But that’s not a healthy way to process rejection. Here’s what to do (and what not to do) instead.
Last week, hundreds of writers submitted their stories to the Fall Writing Contest. Right now, our panel of judges is reading through each story, looking for the ones that will make it to the winners’ circle. And while they’re hard at work, I have an invitation for you, too.
I’m inviting you to step over to the judges’ side of the submission table. I’m inviting you to try reading like an editor and decide which story you would choose as the winner of the Fall Writing Contest.
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, IÂ 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.
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!
