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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My favorite authors are those who obviously care about their readers. They are more concerned with entertaining or teaching than showing off techniques. To my favorite authors, the reader experience is paramount
I want to emulate these writers. I want the reader to be my priority as well. To help me better serve my readers, I decided to take a step back and ask—why do readers read? And specifically, why do we read fiction?
In December, we hosted the Winter Writing Contest in partnership with Short Fiction Break literary magazine. This week, Short Fiction Break announced the winners. Entering this contest was a huge accomplishment for all our writers, and we want to celebrate the winners here on The Write Practice, as well.
We received over 300 entries to this contest from so many talented writers. The judges thoroughly enjoyed reading all your stories, and with such an amazing selection, you made their job of choosing just a handful of winners very difficult.
You should be proud. We’re very proud of you.
The dreaded middle. We’ve all encountered it, all suffered through painful prose so we can just get to the end. There are those rare few times when we’re able to get through an entire story without much stumbling, but inevitably, every stumble comes from the middle. But why is it so hard? And how can we get past it?
I have a one-hundred-and-five-page book. It weighs four ounces. The Boston Globe thinks that “No book in shorter space, with fewer words, will help any writer more than this persistent little volume.” The Elements of Style by Shrunk White and E.B. White is as elemental to a writer as practicing scales is to a pianist.
Think you need just a little more preparation to be the writer you want to be?
I work with young writers. They are fresh and new and often, already discouraged, usually because they are hyper-focused on everything they lack. Most have already begun and abandoned several characters or stories. They say:
“I need to take a few more classes.”
“I just need a little more time, and I’ll be ready.”
“After I get Geometry figured out, then I will write.”
My response? Nope. None of those things will make you ready. So what do we do?
Happy New Year! So, are you ready to kick your 2017 writing in the butt? I’m willing to bet money you had one of two reactions to that: 1. YES. 2. AAAAH. Deep breaths. I’m here to give you some tips that will help you get your 2017 writing off to a good start—and keep it going.
You might think, no one can write a book in 100 days. And certainly not a good book.
You might even feel a program like our 100 Day Book Challenge is just a quick fix. Writing a book should take longer. It’s about the experience!
But let me ask you this: When was the last time you spent 100 days completely focused on your writing?
It’s all too easy to forget your goals after just a few weeks, or even days. (You haven’t forgotten your goals already, have you?) What action will you take today to make sure your writing goals don’t fall by the wayside, but are a priority in your life throughout 2017?
As writers, we all deal with a lack of confidence from time to time, but some writers feel plagued by it. If you allow yourself to wallow in these feelings, you won’t write enough to improve your work. If you don’t improve your work, you’ll never build a writing career you love.
Use these strategies to keep writing even when you’re full of doubt and insecurity, and ultimately reshape how you think about writing.
There are many ways to approach writing a story: you can interview your characters first, plot the story before you start writing, or use Stephen King’s approach, which is to start with the situation.
Do you plan your stories before you write them? Do you start with a character or a situation? Do you know where your story will end before you begin writing?
These are all valid ways to write stories. But today, perhaps you might try beginning with a situation and following a character who will lead you to the end.
