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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So, you’ve completed a first draft. Huzzah, and kudos to you! Take a bow, pat yourself on the back, do something else that indicates you’re proud of yourself.
OK, the moonwalk was a bit much. Nice moves, though.
But now, it’s revision time. Maybe you were on a hot streak at the Writing Time Casino and you’ve produced a first draft that’s almost perfect. Enjoy that moment of triumph.
As an author, you want to make your readers happy, right? You want to have outstanding writing that not only makes you feel good, but makes others feel good. You want people to read your work and say, “Hey, this person really knows how to write. I like their stuff.”
You don’t want to make your readers hate you and your work. Well, if you want your readers to like you, here are six things not to do.
The wisdom of the zeitgeist says, “Follow your dreams. Don’t settle for a job you don’t love. You have to be passionate about what you do.”
However, the truth is that if you look at the people who really love what they do, you find that most of them didn’t follow this rule.
Free writing is an exercise we often practice here at the Write Practice to unblock the mind and increase creativity and fluidity.
But free writing is more than a pill you dole out to cure writer’s block, isn’t it? It has a much more important function than helping you finish a scene or discover an ending that resonates.
Free writing, practiced deliberately can set you free from fear.
![Longing [writing prompt]](https://thewritepractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Longing.jpeg)
Write about longing.
Write for fifteen minutes. When you’re finished, post your practice in the comments section.
And if you post, please be sure to give feedback to a few other writers.
STOP!
Put your pencil down.
Step away from the computer. (But not so far away that you can’t read this).
There will be no word-crafting today. I repeat: there will be no word-crafting today!
Sorry.
Today, we’re talking to Stefanie Freele, a novelist, poet, and short story writer who lives in the Northwest. Stefanie is a Pushcart Prize Nominee and has published short fiction in Glimmer Train, PANK, Sou’wester, Word Riot, R.KV.R.Y Quarterly Literary Journal, Vestal Review, and many more. In the last eight years, she has published 99 short stories. Isn’t that remarkable?
Stefanie and I are going to be talking about the hunger for publication, how to know when your short story is finished, and the world’s need, or lack thereof, for more donut stories. You can find Stefanie’s work on her website, stefaniefreele.com, as well as her book of short stories, Feeding Strays, and her novel, Surrounded by Water.
Thanks so much for joining us Stefanie!
A few years ago, when Sex and the City: The Movie came out, many reviews referenced New York City as the “fifth character”—an element of the storyline that was just as important as Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda.
When writing stories—especially character-driven ones—we focus on the protagonist, the main characters and secondary characters, their backgrounds and motivations. We focus on conflict, what the characters want and what stands in the way.
But sometimes that means we forget to write about the setting, a crucial part of creating a strong story.
A student once asked her English teacher, “What’s a metaphor?” and he replied, “It’s a big place to grow grass.”
I don’t think he understood the question.
We’ve grown with up the distinction between similes and metaphors, but in a technical sense, all comparisons are metaphors. But let’s stick to this separation of powers, and think about the problem with similes and why metaphors may be better for your writing.
Write about grandfathers.
Write for fifteen minutes. When you’re finished, post your practice in the comments section.
And if you post, please be sure to give feedback to a few other writers.
