Garbage. Ultimate fail. Complete and utter sh*t. Harsh. If you’re a true writer, you’ve probably thought this or similar after reading your own work—especially a first draft. You feel embarrassed, ashamed, maybe even worthless....
So… I’m a nerd. You don’t say! I’d never guessed! Yeah, I keep it under wraps pretty well. But, there are times when I just can’t deny my inner literary curiosity and psych-outs about...
When we think of “writers”, we tend to think of the short story and novel writers. We tend to ignore non-fiction writers and even completely disregard poets at times. It’s unfortunate because classic poets have...
As teachers, we strive to get students to perform at the highest level of the pedagogical taxonomy. Personally, I follow Bloom’s and cross-reference with Maslow’s psychological needs hierarchy. But, why…? It’s complicated. I’ll hit...
How your character speaks is important to understand their background. Rather than info-dump, you can imply it with accent, speech patterns, idioms…
As writers, we have a tendency to change up how we refer to time as we progress through our work. It’s a pain to go back and change all that; but, you gotta do what you gotta do to ensure your writing is understood how you intend it to be. Tense can have a major effect on just that.
There are many novice writers who ask for advice in our communities, so I wanted to compile some advice from the published and unpublished writers of my Writers’ Coffeehouse.
A former student of mine, Zane Indie I call him, actually honed in his writing passion through a game. I finally wanted to find out what these “game stories” were all about, so I interviewed him about his journey during 2.5 years playing Dungeons and Dragons.
As I started to work on my character development, I had to keep in mind that dialogue is a key feature to understanding a character. How they speak can reveal much of their demographics–let alone the content of their conversation. If you didn’t know that, you know it now.
Grammatically, these are the top two errors to look for when you start editing your drafts. You want your writing to be clear and engaging. Help us to experience everything, but don’t give us a headache.
Now, as a writer, you need to have one. Just like you should also have a reading journal to help you become a better writer. I’ve gone through Pinterest, and many people say you need to have a writer’s journal / notebook, but no one tells you what to actually put in there.
‘Tis the season to promise yourself the world and disappoint yourself by March. But, there’s a way to increase the chances of you accomplishing those goals.
To be a good writer, you have to be a good reader. That’s why I started keeping a reading journal. It’s an excellent tool to keep the reader in me alive!
There are a few things you can still do to make sure you’re continuing to focus on your story. Like researching in these 5 ways.
Take what you need and delete what you want. Remember, this is a start of the basics. If you can get these scenes in, you’re in a good place.
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The poetry market is a smaller one that can be harder to break into. However, there is still a way to get your poems out there. You can publish your work in as simple as 6 steps if you really want to, and this book is how.
