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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As the English language evolves (and we start to learn grammar from text messaging), more words that aren’t actually words worm their way into our lexicon. Sometimes we embrace the change (“okay,” believe it or not, was not always an acceptable word), and sometimes we send it back to the pits of hell (ask any grammar enthusiast about “irregardless”).
I’m spotlighting two examples of not-actually-words today: alright and alot.
Write a scene where two characters of different backgrounds (think Romeo and Juliet) fall in love at first sight.
Write for fifteen minutes. When you’re finished, share your practice in the comments section. And if you share, be sure to leave feedback for a few other writers.
I’m editing a book by an author who lives outside the US. Most of the novel takes place in locations I’ve never seen except in pictures. Sometimes there are words I don’t understand The book has a strangeness I find captivating. Since working on it, I started to wonder if I could write something outside of my own cultural tradition.
Why? Except for his histories, Shakespeare wrote plays that took place in exotic locations like Florence and Scotland. Nearly all of Hemingway’s novels took place outside of the US, usually in Europe or the Caribbean.
We like stories that feel a little foreign.
One of the great gifts a writer can give to the world is to tell someone else’s story.
I learned this when I started ghostwriting: no credit, no glory, just the knowledge that without me, the story wouldn’t be told. It’s surprisingly satisfying.
If you’re still trying to write stories about yourself, I want to challenge you to try your hand at writing someone else’s story. Here are three reasons why…
For the last two-and-a-half months, I’ve been getting more and more into the work of L.L. Barkat, the poet and author of four books, including Rumors of Water: Thoughts on Creativity & Writing and her book of poetry, InsideOut. Rumors of Water is a book writing in the style of Annie Dillard, which instantly makes me start salivating.
L.L. Barkat is a staff writer for The Curator, a culture magazine based in NYC, and also authors several blogs. My personal favorite of hers is Seedlings in Stone. You probably should subscribe.
I’m so excited to talk to her about creativity, poetry, and how to balance all those projects and dreams we all have. I hope you enjoy the interview!
I was so impressed with the quality of submissions to our writing contest this month. Impressed and dismayed. The better the stories, the harder it is to pick just one. I kept thinking, I want this story and this story and this story in the book. Because, as you know,...
We’ve covered when not to use commas (and when to use commas if you feel like it), but it’s just as important to know when to use commas. We can’t have run-on sentences taking over literature. So when do you use a comma?
We’ve already covered the Oxford comma and the need for commas in a series or list. There are three other primary times when you need to use a comma. Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list; just the times when comma use is most common.
You want to write more. Of course you do. That’s only natural. You’d like to finish that novel (or those three novels!). You’d like to write on your blog more than once a week, and do more guest posting. As you get deeper into writing, it seems like there’s always more to write.
You get an idea for a new book to write at least once a week.
You want to start a blog. You DO start a blog. Then, you get ideas to start three more!
People hear you’re a writer and ask you to write articles, newsletters, and blog posts for them.
The problem is after you get done with work or taking care of the kids, writing is the last thing you want to do. You can’t even muster the willpower to read a book, let alone write one. So you turn on the TV, put your feet up, and promise yourself, “I’ll write tomorrow.”
Eventually, you see through your petty promises and wonder, “Maybe this writing thing just isn’t for me. Maybe I’m not a writer after all.”
Count me as one of those people who think that the unfortunately late Kurt Vonnegut is a modern reincarnation of Mark Twain. His books and short stories are littered with barbed, humorous, and wickedly honest advice about the process of writing. Perhaps my favorite piece of wisdom that he bestows is this: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.
Of course, then he goes on to use one at the end of that same book, making the point that Rules only take us so far, even good rules. Without any further ado, my three favorite rules from Kurt Vonnegut. So it goes….
In my creative writing classes in college, probably the most productive exercise is when we spent the class reading each other’s pieces. Reading the work of your peers causes you to ask two very important questions:
Reading the work of your peers teaches you to write. It shows you what you like about other people’s work and what you don’t like. You can read published authors too, you can read the classics, but there’s something about reading an in process draft of your peers that helps you see behind the veil of writing at the underlying framework beneath.
