Halloween is a time to bring out your spooky side, to get creative, and to eat tons and tons of candy. In other words, Halloween is a time to be a kid again.
In that spirit (see what I did there?), my prompt for you today is a little on the lighter side: write from a child’s point of view.
What is a part of speech? In this article, I define the grammatical term, part of speech, list the nine parts of speech, and describe each one using examples. Finally, I give a creative writing exercise to help you cement your knowledge of parts of speech immediately.
So you want to become a writer.
Perhaps you write because it makes you feel alive. Perhaps you read a book that made you think, “It must feel amazing to write something like this. Maybe I could be a writer.” Perhaps you feel like you can’t not write.
So then, how do you do it? How do you become a writer?
Six-word stories are a great way to practice your writing without actually having to write much.They can also be used to warm up before working on a novel or short story.
When I had first heard about six-word stories, I thought, “A whole story in six words? That’s impossible!”
Then I wrote my first six-word story—and it was really easy, not mention fun! Once you write your first, you can write a whole army of them. Here’s how six-word stories can be used as a great writing prompt.
As writers, we create new realities, which demands we use our experiences to inform our work. A stroll with a friend in a park or a dance in a fountain will translate into chapters.
We don’t just have to grab the good times. We can do this with illness as well. When we are sick, we should try and take a step back and learn about how our characters will feel when they are struck with a disease.
People are complicated. I know, that’s like saying, “Hey, fire is hot!” but when it comes to characterization, this needs to be said. Our tendency as authors is to stick imaginary people into tiny two-dimensional categories, forgetting that no human being fits into tiny two-dimensional categories.
One of the things that makes humans so confounded complicated is we are not logical.
Monday was Labor Day here in the States, and it got me thinking of the adage “Don’t wear white after Labor Day.” It’s perfect fodder for a writing prompt. Don’t see it yet? Stick with me.
BOO! It’s Halloween—what better day to write some spooky stories? Sharpen your pencil and take a stab at one of these Halloween writing prompts!
You get better at any skill through practice, and creative writing prompts are a great way to practice writing.
At the end of every article on The Write Practice, we include a writing prompt so you can put what you just learned to use immediately. And we invite you to share your writing with our community so you can get feedback on your work.
The Write Practice is more than just a writing blog. It’s a writing workbook, and we think it’s the best one on the Internet (of course, we’re a bit biased).
You want to write, but when you sit down to get started, you realize you don’t have a book idea. Or perhaps you have so many ideas, you’re having a hard time choosing the best one. Or maybe, you already have an idea, but you just aren’t sure if it’s any good.
That’s what we’re here for. In this article are ten questions to help you get started finding your book idea. Use them as writing prompts or as a way to make your current idea better.
Don’t let the blank page win. Get started writing your book today with these book ideas!
Want to become a better writer? Perhaps you want to write novels, or maybe you just want to get better grades in your essay writing assignments, or maybe you’d like to start a popular blog.
If you want to write better, you need practice. But what does a writing practice actually look like? In this post, I’m going to give you everything you need to kick off your writing practice and become a better writer faster.
Sometimes the best stories come to us when we are challenged to leave our comfort zone and write something we wouldn’t usually try. In that spirit, to give our writing a boost, let’s make a game out of using a writing prompt.
Do you want to write but just need a great story idea? Or perhaps you have too many ideas and can’t choose the best one? Well, good news. We’ve got you covered. Below are one hundred short story ideas for all your favorite genres. You can use them as writing prompts for writing contests, for stories to publish in literary magazines, or just for fun!
Get started writing with one of these short story ideas today.
Do you borrow phrases and concepts from other works in your own? If yes, then you’re using intertextuality, perhaps even without knowing it. Though it sounds intimidating at first, it’s quite a simple concept really:
Intertextuality denotes the way in which texts (any text, not just literature) gain meaning through their referencing or evocation of other texts.
Hey there. It’s me, Joe Bunting. Maybe you’ve seen my name around here. Maybe you haven’t (which is fine). I thought I’d take a second to re-introduce myself and share something I’ve been thinking a lot about in my writing lately.
One way to tell a story is to introduce the reader to the environment of the story. Descriptions of foliage and dirt roads, or of skyscrapers and clanging subway gears, can get the reader acclimated to the setting and can be a way to introduce the protagonist as a product of their surroundings.
But sometimes you just don’t have the patience for that. You want to hit the ground with the plot running at full speed, and once you’ve gotten the reader’s attention and piqued their curiosity, then maybe you explain what’s going on and how things got here.
Welcome to the world of in medias res.
I often hear practicing writers ask, “What if I can’t think of anything to write about?” Sometimes they even have notebooks full of observations, but they feel like none of them are good enough for a story.
I’ve felt the same way, but there are more opportunities or seeds for ideas in our notebooks than we think. It might be an image, a snippet of a conversation we overheard at lunch, or a social issue that grates against us. Once we have the seeds, how do we take those seeds and develop them into stories?
Characterization is a huge part of writing, no matter how long the story. You need to know the ins and outs of your character’s personality. What makes them tick? What do they want? Where to do they come from?
Sometimes it’s a little difficult to come up with new character traits and idiosyncrasies that aren’t cliché or contrived.
Today, we’re going to have a little fun with character development. We’re going to think outside the box of character questionnaires and try a writing prompt to help us discover our characters through a different route: What’s in their junk drawer?
While many novels and stories are set in a vacation location, you can take your character on vacation just to see what they are made of. Vacation can be frightfully stressful and reveals much about us as people. It can do the same for your character. Try it out with this writing prompt.
