Freewriting (+ Prompts) by MissLunaRose, literature
Literature
Freewriting (+ Prompts)
You're staring at a blank page with no ideas about where to go or how you're going to get there. The image is so familiar, it's cliché. Yet no matter how many times we write about it, sing about it, or think we've gotten rid of it, we always end up returning to that sheet of paper as empty as our minds.
If you're mid-story and wondering where to go, this guide is unlikely to help you. You may want to try "Beating the Block," which lists a few scene ideas. If you're a visual artist and came here by mistake, try the "Art Block Banisher."
However, if you just want to put something—anything—on that piece of paper, this guide
This article focuses on novels, but its advice can be applied to any long-term project.
Do you tell yourself that you're going to write and never do it? Do you keep talking about your book but leave it sitting at chapter 2 for five months straight? Is it difficult for you to sit down and actually write something?
Most people don't write because there are so many easier ways to spend their time. Their favorite show is on at eight. Oh, look, their friend just posted a bunch of photos online. Then they feel like baking cookies. And suddenly, a day that was supposed to be productive has been spent on TV, the internet, and food.
When I tell adu
Help! I have a Mary Sue! by MissLunaRose, literature
Literature
Help! I have a Mary Sue!
You know that you have a Mary Sue when she upsets the monochromatic color scheme of my Writer's Guides.
Mouse over blue text to see a note.
Internet communities often lash out at writers who create Mary Sues. Declaring the writing to be below their standards, they proceed to punish the creators. They mock the characters, verbally abuse the writers, and write hyperbolically about how much they wish the characters would die.
Bullying writers (who may be very young) is only going to make them afraid to write—and therefore improve—or share their work. Not only that, but it discourages other writers from speaking for fear of public
For non-native English speakers and young readers: If you hover over a blue word, you'll see its definition.
Punctuating dialogue can be surprisingly difficult, even for people whose first language is English. It's one of the things that you see all the time in books, but you pay little attention to, and all your English teachers assume that you already know it. Sure, if you read a lot, you pick up the basics, but even then it can be difficult to unconsciously absorb all the rules. (Until 2012, I was making heinous mistakes with commas vs. periods. I'm still weeding out errors from my novel.)
Anyhow, for the sake of my fellow spirits who be
Writing BEGINNINGS for Short Stories by OokamiKasumi, literature
Literature
Writing BEGINNINGS for Short Stories
---------Original Message---------
I was wondering if you had any tips on starting a short story? Like for instance, I have the scene all laid out in my head, I know exactly what's going on and stuff, I just don't know how to begin without giving away too much info and then boring the reader. If that make any sense.
-- Thanks
Tips on how to make a Beginning...?
-- Why, yes I do!
The fastest way to start a story -- is NOT at the beginning.
Open the story within one page of Hero Meets Villain, (or Lover Meets Beloved) with the story already in progress. Action scenes and snappy dialogue are the best hooks for snaring your reader, but hints
Writer's Tip: Show, don't tell. by DarlingMionette, literature
Literature
Writer's Tip: Show, don't tell.
Show, don’t tell (SDT). It’s one of the few consistent pieces of advice that all writers have heard at one time or another. Even the most amateur of writers parrot it back, but knowing the phrase doesn’t necessarily mean that we understand it, or how to implement it.
So what does “Show, don’t tell.” really mean? SDT is the idea that instead of telling your readers what’s happening in a story, you show them. This seems like an abstract concept to most of us, but what it boils down to is this: using words to give your readers an idea without having to directly state it. There are many ways good writers
How to Improve Your Writing Style by illuminara, literature
Literature
How to Improve Your Writing Style
While I’ve written articles about writing style in the past, they were designed mostly to define what style is and didn’t provide much help for improvement. This article contains some practical tips I’ve discovered that will actually help you improve your style and hopefully provide a foundation for why good style matters. I believe good style is important for many reasons, but mostly because I want my readers to feel like the time they spent with my story was worthwhile, pleasant, and maybe even a little enlightening.
“All readers come to fiction as willing accomplices to your lies. Such is the basic goodwill contrac
A Writer's Guide: Believable Characters by DarlingMionette, literature
Literature
A Writer's Guide: Believable Characters
I know a lot of you out there are aspiring-writers (I’m one myself!) and sometimes we get so caught up in this “must publish!” attitude that we get lost in our stories along the way. Sometimes there comes a point when we stare at our half-finished novel and say “I’m stuck. “ Usually these moments happen when we don’t know where we’re going next with our story, and usually that’s because somewhere along the line we’ve strayed off the path and we aren’t quite sure how to get back.
One of the things that you may find helpful if you’ve never done it before is to take a reall