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.
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I love reading stories with strong characters. There’s nothing better than a vivid hero or crusty villain who jumps off the page, grabs you by the scruff of the neck, and pulls you into their story.
What happens when we write about a character who does the opposite? Instead of jumping, they sink. Glug, glug, glug…
We all can recall a favorite book we had as kids or one our own kids want to hear over and over. And over. Thousands of children’s books are published each year. These stories, which set the stage for a lifetime of reading, are often very simple. But publishers say that doesn’t mean they’re easy to write.
I’ve recently read the short story collection – Diaboliad by Mikhail Bulgakov. As with all of his writing, these stories revolve around the fantastical, written in the recognizable Bulgakov style. There’s one common thread in them, though – he’s always referring to a Russian writer, mainly a predecessor.
In the introduction, the English editor explains that it’s the Russian writer’s tradition to pay homage to your predecessors, those that shaped the national literature and your early development.
About a decade ago, I had the good fortune to read a screenwriting book called How to Write for Animation by Jeffrey Scott. Unlike most screenwriting books, Scott hardly mentions story theory; instead, he focuses on teaching a very practical writing process. I applied his methods in my own work, and was amazed at how helpful they were. In fact, Scott’s book turned out to be one of the three most helpful professional books I’ve read.
Although many people believe the best way to battle writers block is to sit down and fight through it, I like to kick-start things with an activity that lights me up, gets me giddy, and puts me in the right place to write my best stuff.
Here are sixteen activities that can help you tap into the creative part of the brain and get you jazzed to put pen to paper. Many of them are completely unrelated to writing, but in my experience that’s the best way to beat writers’ block. Bookmark it for the next time you’re out of creative juice!
With 2014 on the other side of the sunset, I wanted to write something relevant to the changing of time, the promise of a new year, the symbolism of a new year meaning a new start.
And then I saw that there exists something called a “spoonerism” in writing, and all my previous ideas immediately went out my ear.
I’m a trial by fire guy. I haven’t always been that way, but I’ve learned to love it, especially with writing. As an entrepreneur, I subscribe to the READY, FIRE, AIM methodology, as opposed to the traditional READY, AIM, FIRE.
I know authors who subscribe to the READY, READY, AIM, AIM, AIM system. ‘Work In’ never translates to ‘Work Out’. Are you one of them?
Being a good writer also being means a good character in your life story. Four life-tips that will make you a better writer: live, steal, run, and think.
After Christmas Eve service, my family drove into downtown St. Paul and randomly handed out 15 Christmas Acts of Kindness — envelopes into which we tucked $5 gift cards, hand knit scarves or a kid’s book. We looked for people waiting at the bus stop, cleaning a deserted office building or simply walking in the cold. I, of course, was curious about their stories.
The year is almost gone. It’s holiday time for family gathering, food, drinks, and fun. I doubt that anyone is going to sneak out from the festivities and write (a solemn bow, if you do!).
Christmas revolves around family and, last but not least, the family table. In the heat of enjoyment and gratitude for being together, family members share stories. For me, this is the best part: the storytelling.
