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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The top five slots on this week’s New York Times bestseller list (for combined hardcover and paperback fiction) include three books by E.L. James, one by Deborah Harkness, and another by James Patterson.
Oh, yes. Summertime beach reading is in full swing. But before you shame yourself for buying one of those guilty pleasures, try a different approach to reading. One that gives you license to read terrible books every now and then.
Allow me to speak from experience. Story time.
There are various elements that make up a great story—plot, story development, character growth, depth. All of these contribute to turning a good story into a great story. However, one more element that can spice up your story is a good action scene.
But how do you write a good action scene? Here are five tips to get you started:
Most people are their most creative when they’re not creating.
Bob Dylan wrote the chorus for “Like a Rolling Story” after he quit music. Hemingway wouldn’t allow himself to think about his novels when he wasn’t writing because he wanted his subconscious to work on it without him. One screenwriter had been blocked for months, when he was woken up by the sound of an imaginary woman’s voice. He started writing, and the screenplay ended up winning Academy Award. Twice in the last two years, I’ve gotten to a point in a project that I was so frustrated I wanted to quit writing. Both times, a break through came just a little while later while I wasn’t working.
Metaphor is a speeding train, pulling readers down the tracks of your story.
Simile, on the other hand, goes down easy like a glass of iced tea, but it’s forgettable like the canned lines in a greeting card.
Are you making full use of the power of metaphor in your writing? Or are you leaning on simile?
Do you know what a logline is? If you’re not a screenwriter, chances are good that you don’t. And that’s a shame, because loglines are great tools for any writer.
Allow me to enlighten you. A logline is a very brief summary that gets across your story in the smallest possible space.
Most importantly, when you story starts to get confusing and messy, loglines can help you get your story back on track.
Just a reminder, if you didn’t win this writing contest it doesn’t mean:
You are a writer if you choose to be one. You are good because you practice by writing hundreds of pieces like the one you submitted to this contest. And your words are powerful things.
The Pulitzer Prize for fiction, as you probably know, was not awarded this year. The fiction panel nominated three books from a reading list of 300. (Can you imagine reading 300 books in a year?)
However, the Pulitzer board didn’t pick any of them. And we don’t know why. Were they not good enough? Were they not American enough? We don’t know. All we know is the Pulitzer Prize for fiction wasn’t awarded this year.
However, Michael Cunningham’s article on how the three Pulitzer nominees were chosen is a fascinating guide for how to angle for the Pulitzer.
If you want to win the Pulitzer, here’s how in five (not-so) easy steps…
There’s a class of people being formed today who make their living from the internet, giving them freedom to travel around the world, sometimes with their whole family. What would their life be like? What would be the specific challenges of their lifestyle?
Write about Internet Nomads.
Write for fifteen minutes, and when you’re finished, post your practice in the comments section.
Today is the last day to enter July’s Show Off Writing Contest. We’re looking forward to reading your work!
When John Hopkins’ researchers examined jazz pianists’ brains while they improvised, they found something surprising. The jazz musicians were able to turn off the part of their brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which scientists believe powers self-control and keeps us from doing things that would appear strange or dangerous. The musicians also activated the medial prefrontal cortex, which is associated with individuality.
As Jonah Lehrer says, they were able to “inhibit their inhibitions” and “channel their artistic identity.”
Is there one secret for success when writing stories? Yes!
Just as the secret in retailing is location, location, location, so the strategy for enduring success in fiction writing is Structure! That seems odd if we consider that real life has little or no structure, other than that imposed on us.
We need a sense of form in our lives just as we need food. It seems to be engrained in our genetic structure. The perception of form creates meaning, all by itself. If we look at a flower, a miracle of structure, we infer a sense of meaning in its creation.