New Daily Writing Guides from The Write Practice

How to Write a Short Story No One Else Can Write [interview with Danielle Lazarin]

by Joe Bunting | 51 Comments

Today, I’m talking to Danielle Lazarin about how to get your short story published by a literary magazine, how to know when your story is finished, and how to write stories no one else can write.

Danielle has a forthcoming story in Glimmer Train, and has published stories in Michigan Quarterly Review, The Boston Review, and on FiveChapters.com. She received her Masters in creative writing at University of Michigan. All that’s to say, she knows her stuff.

You can check out Danielle’s website and follow her on Twitter (@d_lazarin).

Let’s jump into the interview.

Put Your Writing Skills to the Test

by Joe Bunting | 13 Comments

If you want to become a better writer, you need to practice deliberately, and one of the best ways to practice writing deliberately is by submitting your work for publication. Submitting acts as a kind of test of your writing skills, and studies have shown that people improve at a skill faster if they’re tested.

I know submitting can be scary. You feel vulnerable, like all your insecurities and flaws are exposed. However, if you want to get published, you need to learn to submit your work, and not just when it’s perfect.

Today, you can make a breakthrough in your writing. You just need to submit your work.

99 Ways to Tell a Story

by Joe Bunting | 86 Comments

Have you ever thought of writing the same story in a hundred different ways? Sounds crazy?

This is exactly what Raymond Queneau did in his Exercises in Style, back in 1947. He tells a simple, unremarkable story (more like flash fiction) 99 times, trying out different styles, from ode to mathematical depictions.

Don't Waste Your Pain

by Joe Bunting | 77 Comments

I recently heard Horatio Spaford’s great song, “It is Well With My Soul”. I was moved, as I have been many times before. How is it that a song, a really old song, hasn’t gotten musty and useless over the years? Why do the words of others have the ability to touch our hearts so deeply?

Have you ever wondered how an author seems to be inside your head?

I looked up the story behind the song hoping to find some answers. And it turns out Spaford’s writing didn’t come out of a vacuum, but out of his own suffering. His experience can teach you how to powerfully connect your own suffering to the larger, human experience.

The Formula to Write a Novel

by Joe Bunting | 53 Comments

There is no book-writing formula.

I love Stephen King’s On Writing—it’s half brilliant portrayal of an accomplished writer’s origin story, half writer’s tool kit. But one thing with which I’ve always taken exception is his suggestion that there’s only one proper way to complete a novel.

King compares writing to an archaeological dig: he sees stories as found objects, excavated from the literary ‘earth’, and he believes the writer’s job is to extricate the object—without breaking off any bits in the process, or leaving any parts behind.

And so King doesn’t outline—he starts off with an unusual combination of ideas, and lets his writer’s instincts carry him from there.

How to Paint a Scene With Words

by Melissa Tydell | 121 Comments

Good stories and strong writing can transport us to another world. We see the characters and setting, visualizing every detail as if the words on the page have become a picture in our minds.

On the other hand, as writers, we encounter the challenge of putting words together—the right words in the right way—so our story can come alive in our readers’ imaginations.

How do you create something that goes beyond simply telling a story? How do you write something that has the power to show in such a way that readers can visualize the story just as you are imagining it?

Geeks and Freaks Make Better Characters

by Katie Axelson | 68 Comments

Let me tell you a secret: Universal characters are boring. Everyday characters are dull. Trying to create universal characters doesn’t work.

Rather, the opposite: the more unique you make your characters and their surroundings, the more universal your story becomes. Janet Burroway calls this the universal paradox.

So how do you make your characters more unique and less generic?

Subjects and Predicates: Breaking Down Sentences

by Liz Bureman | 62 Comments

We’ve covered a lot of the minutiae of grammar on the Write Practice, but today we’re taking it back to the basics and running through some of the most fundamental parts of speech.

What is a part of speech? A part of speech is a category of words that serve the same basic function in a sentence, and today, we’re covering the most basic of the basics: subjects and predicates.

4 Tips to Avoid Having Your Story Rejected

by Joe Bunting | 63 Comments

In the run up to the launch of Let’s Write a Short Story, I’ve been talking to a lot of writers about writing, publishing, and yes, rejection.

One writer read the following passage from the book:

“Submitting is like sitting naked in the subway,” said one reader. Another said, “I’ve never submitted anything. And after I hit submit, I wanted to hide under my blankets. I still do.”

Submitting is hard.

“That’s exactly how I feel!” the writer told me.

Every writer faces the possibility, nay the probability, of rejection. So what can you do about it? How can you avoid having your short stories rejected by a literary magazine?

Here are four tips…

Just Write

by The Magic Violinist | 76 Comments

Many budding writers often can’t find the time to write. Their excuses range from “I’m too busy with work,” to “I have five kids to care for,” or “I have to get caught up from this past week’s vacation.”

The truth is, there’s always time to write. You just have to make the commitment and challenge yourself to write every day, even if you only write for a little bit. The people who really truly want to write will find the time.

Here are five ways to add writing to your busy schedule.