Quick. Think about your favorite writer. Imagine your favorite story by that person.
How has that story influenced you? Do you see traces of that work showing up in your own writing?
Here to learn? You’re in the WRITE place!
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.
Check out the latest articles below or find ones that match your interest in the sidebar.
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How to Get Rid of Word Choice Anxiety
Today, I’m heading to Telluride, Colorado, for the annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival. My roommates and I bought tickets way back in December, and six months later, the time has come for us to load our gear up and drive the 7-9 hours into the mountains for four days of fun and banjos. We’ve been looking forward to this festival for a long time, and it’s finally arrived. You could say that we’re anxious to get to Telluride.
You could say that, but you’d be mostly wrong.
The Winner of the Summer Solstice Writing Competition
This month, twenty-four writers submitted to our Summer Solstice writing contest. We only gave you a week to craft a story, and you responded beautifully. Thank you for trusting us with your stories, and that you for writing, for adding meaning to our lives and the lives of others. We hope you had fun doing it.
Now, to the winner.
Why You Should Copy Other Writers
To find your voice, you have to take on the voices of others.
For example, here’s a brief history lesson on copying.
Steven Pressfield, when he was first starting out, typed out pages and pages of Hemingway just to get a sense of his pacing, his storytelling, and his voice. He copied him to get into his head and understand how he constructed sentences, and how each sentence related to the ones around it.
Your Protagonist Must Decide
“A human being is a deciding being,” said Victor Frankl.
My dad and I have been talking about his novel. It’s a fantasy novel that takes place in a mythical, magical realm. The story involves love, intrigue, and war. I actually believe it has a lot of potential.
The problem is, it’s 650 typed, double-spaced pages. That’s a long novel!
From San Antonio to Houston we talked through the plot, and it wasn’t until we were almost there that I realized the problem.
His hero didn’t make any decisions.
Once Upon a Time: Pixar Prompt
Pixar tells perfect stories. Teams of writers spend years writing them, rewriting them, and rewriting them again. They are perfectionists of story.
That’s why I was so excited when my friend Brandon Clements sent me this amazing list of storytelling rules from the writers at Pixar. I picked out this one that provides a simple, interesting story structure:
#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
Sounds like a good place to start!
Spelling Matters Too: I-Before-E
I love grammar. (This is surprising to exactly no one at this point, right?) But we're taking a timeout from grammar this week to talk about spelling. The topic: when "i" comes before "e". It seems like that's the most common trip-up in the English language today. You...
Want To Get Published? Write About Death.
Of the twenty best short stories in the 2011 Best American Short Stories, half of them involved a character dying.
Think about your favorites novels or films? How many of them involve a death?
Of the thirteen books nominated to the 2011 Booker Prize longlist, every single one involved the theme of death.
The Meaning of Pain
“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice,” said Victor Frankl.
Every story requires pain and suffering. If the protagonist doesn’t experience pain, he won’t change. “Pain develops character. If you have a story where someone learns through joy, the audience won’t buy it,” said Donald Miller at his Storyline conference.
Joy is great. Your story should incorporate some joy. But the Great Teacher is pain.
Don’t Be Balanced
If you’re like me, you’re probably looking for balance, balance in your creative life, in your work life, in your social life. You want to know how to balance your creative writing with your blogging and platform building. You want to know how to make money while also pursuing a career in writing. Oh and you’d like to finish reading a book every once in a while, too.
