One reason some stories feel flat is because they are missing the cause and effect story elements that push life (and narratives!) forward. How can you maximize cause and effect in your stories?
Here to learn? You’re in the WRITE place!
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.
And make sure to subscribe to get a weekly digest of our latest posts, along with our free guide, 10 Steps to Become a Writer.
Literary Crisis: Why a Dilemma Will Make Your GOOD Story GREAT
So you wrote a story or a novel or a book. You’re proud. You’re excited. Visions of publishing dance in your head. Then you go back and read your story or novel or book, and you think, “Well, this is good and I feel proud of it. But it doesn’t match up to the stories/novels/books I know and love.”
You wrote a GOOD story, but not a GREAT one. Worse, you don’t know why. It might be that you’re missing a crisis.
The 7 Basic Plots: Rags to Riches
Everyone loves a success story, especially when it results from years of hard work and the protagonist has struggled from the depths of despair. This story type is so beloved, that it is Charles Booker’s second plot type of seven: Rags to Riches.
What is Didactic Literature? Have we Outgrown it?
What do Aesop’s Fables, the Oxford English Dictionary, the Encyclopedia Britannica, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, a science textbook, and an instruction manual have in common?
They are all didactic literature. But what is didactic literature? And is it still relevant? Let’s take a look.
31 December Writing Prompts
December is an opportunity to finish the year strong, to celebrate the year past, and set a new course for the coming year. Try a prompt each day this month and see what you discover!
Writing Masterclass: Best Masterclass Courses for Writers
With so many MasterClass courses available, which ones are worth your time? Here at The Write Practice, we’re attending and reviewing each author’s MasterClass to help you decide whether it’s the class for you.
Rising Action: Definition and Examples of This Dramatic Structure Element
If you’ve ever told a good story—one that has your friends or family on the floor laughing, or else on the edge of their seat asking, “What happened next?!”—then you know that you can’t get to the point of the story too quickly.
Instead, you draw out interest. You talk about all the things that went wrong. You make jokes and accentuate the best details. When you’re done, it’s not the punchline people remember; it’s everything leading up to it.
The same is true when you’re writing a story, particularly in novels, memoirs, and screenplays. It’s called the Rising Action, and it’s essential to get it right IF you want to write entertaining, informative, and deeply connecting stories.
In this article, I’m going to talk about the rising action: what it is, how it works in a story, how it’s been treated by scholars who study story structure throughout history, and finally how you can use it to write a great story.
The Best Black Friday Deals for Writers in 2024
Looking for a gift for a writer in your life? Or maybe a deal on the best tools and courses for writers? This Black Friday, we’ve rounded up dozens of deals from around the internet to help you find the perfect gift for your writer friend (or yourself!).
100 Best Gifts for Writers: Best Writing Books, Courses, Apparel, and More!
Finding the right gifts for writers in your life can be challenging. After all, what do you get people who spend so much time living in their own heads and imaginations.
It’s even worse if you’re the writer! What do you tell people to get you for Christmas gifts, birthday presents, and other holidays?
But don’t worry friends. We’ve got you covered with over 100 of the best gifts for writers ever. We’ve got writing software gifts, writing apparel gifts, writing book gifts, and even the best book writing planner money can buy.
Let’s get gifting, shall we?
Seven Basic Plots: Overcoming the Monster
Christopher Booker published The Seven Basic Plots in 2004, and he argues that all stories told in any medium can be categorized into one of seven archetypes. Today, we’re covering the first plot: Overcoming the Monster. Read on to see if this archetype can help you write a better story.
