Writing Tips: Eliminate Redundancies in Your Writing
Writers are human, and sometimes we make mistakes. You’re probably aware of the most common mistakes in writing: comma splices, run-on sentences, mixing up homophones, and a variety of other broken grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules. In my coaching work, I’ve noticed another common mistake: redundancy. Sometimes we use repetition effectively, but most of the…Read More
Writing Resources: Stephen King On Writing
Today I’m bringing back a post that’s been sitting in the archives for a while. Stephen King’s On Writing is one of the most important books ever written on the craft of writing, one of the few texts that all writers should experience, regardless of your preferred form or genre. This post has been updated…Read More
Creative Writing Prompts for Animal Lovers
Today’s post includes a selection of prompts from 1200 Creative Writing Prompts. Enjoy! Animals have played a significant role in literature throughout history. They appear in poems and stories, and plenty of nonfiction works have been written about animals and humans’ experiences with animals. From E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web to Jane Goodall’s (aff links) books on…Read More
From 101 Creative Writing Exercises: Couplets and Quatrains
Today’s writing exercise comes from 101 Creative Writing Exercises, which takes writers on an adventure through different forms and genres while offering tools, techniques, and inspiration for writing. Each chapter focuses on a different form or writing concept: freewriting, journaling, memoirs, fiction, storytelling, form poetry, free verse, characters, dialogue, creativity, and article and blog writing are…Read More
Writing Tips for Creating a Complex Villain
When it comes to writing fiction, we each have our own unique challenges. For some of us, it’s a struggle to come up with names for characters. For others, it’s hard to write realistic dialogue. Maybe you’re like me and find it difficult to write a really good villain — I mean — a really bad…Read More
Emotions and Poetry
“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” ― Robert Frost Emotions are fickle. Sometimes they’re clear and brilliant: we’re happy, sad, frustrated, or angry. But emotions can also be complicated, layered, and conflicting. Sure, we’re happy, but we’re also kind of annoyed about something. We’re sad, but…Read More
How to Misuse Punctuation Marks
What is it about punctuation marks that cause so many bad sentence constructions? You know the sentences I’m talking about. They’ve got random commas, missing quotation marks, and way too many exclamation points. To make matters worse, some writers break the rules and get away with it while others are chastised for doing (what appears…Read More
A Notebook and a Pen
Today’s post is an excerpt from my book, Ready, Set, Write: A Guide to Creative Writing, which takes you on a tour through various types of creative writing. This is from part two, “Tools of the Trade,” and it explores two of writers’ favorite tools, a notebook and pen. Enjoy! Notebooks and Pens These days,…Read More
Eight Common Writing Mistakes
We all make mistakes in our writing. The most common mistake is the typo — a missing word, an extra punctuation mark, a misspelling, or some other minor error that is an oversight rather than a reflection of the writer’s skills (or lack thereof). A more serious kind of mistake is a deep flaw in…Read More
How to Write More
Productivity: it’s all been said and done. In fact, you could spend more time learning how to be productive than actually being productive. For us creative types, productivity can be a fleeting thing. We experience highs (a whole month packed with inspiration) and lows (three more months fraught with the ever-annoying writer’s block). It can…Read More
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