Melissa Donovan | Writing Forward

Tips for Better Writing

By now, you’ve probably heard that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at anything. There’s some debate as to the truth of the 10,000-hour rule, but there is definitely truth to the notion that nobody’s born a master at the craft of writing. It takes time, energy, and practice to become…Read More

Storytelling Exercise: Managing Our Ideas

Today’s storytelling exercise is an excerpt from my book, Story Drills: Fiction Writing Exercises, which helps beginning to intermediate storytellers develop skills in the craft of fiction writing. This exercise is designed to help you manage your writing ideas (or lack thereof). It’s called “Managing Our Ideas.” Enjoy! All the storytelling skills in the world…Read More

Punctuation Marks: Ellipsis

You see it everywhere, but most people don’t know what it’s called or how to use it properly. In fact, it’s often referred to as “dot, dot, dot” even though it does have a name. This punctuation mark is the ellipsis. It is a series or row of three periods, which is usually used to indicate…Read More

How to Engage Readers with Emotional Writing

One of the greatest skills that a writer can possess is the ability to make readers feel something. If you can engage readers on an emotional level, you’ll have them hooked. This effect is called emotional resonance. Think about it: Most of the books, poems, movies, and TV shows that you love best are the…Read More

How to Develop Better Writing Habits

There’s only one way to become a better writer, and that is through lots of practice. Some people are born with talent. Writing comes easily to them, but even the most talented writers have to work at the craft. After all, nobody’s born knowing how to write. Fostering good writing habits accomplishes two things. First,…Read More

A Week’s Worth of Experimental Journal Prompts

As writers, we are constantly told (usually by other writers) that we should be writing every day (without exception!), but rarely are we provided with details of what we should be writing. Of course, many writers already know what to write. They are poets, short story writers, novelists, memoirists, literary journalists, and bloggers. Their niche…Read More

Storytelling Exercise: Time Lapse

Today’s post is an excerpt from my book, Story Drills: Fiction Writing Exercises. This is from a chapter called “Time Lapse,” which looks at how a story moves through time in a way that isn’t jarring to the reader. Enjoy! Stories don’t take readers through every minute of the characters’ lives. Scenes jump around in…Read More

Homophones: Hear, Here

When I see professional signs or business documents with words spelled incorrectly, it’s like someone’s dragging nails down a chalkboard, which is not a sound I want to hear. But I try not to get too riled up. I know that spelling isn’t easy for everyone. However, I do believe that with a little effort,…Read More

How to Play and Pretend Your Way to Breakthrough Writing Ideas

My little niece used to love to sit with a grown-up book spread across her lap, reading a story out loud — except she couldn’t read yet. She was making it all up — pretending. During play, she invented new words. One time we were playing with some toys, and I asked one of their…Read More

Can the Right Writing Tools Help You Write Better?

When I first started writing, it was just me, a ninety-nine cent pen, and a cheap spiral-bound notebook. Using those tools, I wrote dozens of poems, stories, and journal entries. These days, I’m surrounded by far more sophisticated writing tools: fancy pens and journals, a computer with writing software, a library of writing resources, and…Read More