Writing Resources: Telling True Stories
Human beings are built for story. Story is how we perceive the world around us and how we understand ourselves and other people. Through story, we learn and make connections. We use stories to map the future and study the past. Stories are the single most effective tools for education, communication, and persuasion, which is…Read More
Style Guides: Essential Writing Resources for Professionals
When we’re writing, we run into a lot of technical issues. Where do the quotation marks go? When is it correct to use a comma? How should titles be formatted? Some of these questions are answered by the rules of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. But other questions are not addressed by grammar: there’s no official…Read More
Writing Resources: Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones
“I used to think freedom meant doing whatever you want. It means knowing who you are, what you are supposed to be doing on this earth, and then simply doing it.” — Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones Ah, words of wisdom. I was assigned Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg for a creative…Read More
Writing Resources for Naming Your Characters
Have you ever read one of those epic fantasy novels in which the magical characters can gain total control over any living being simply by discovering their real and true name? I’ve read about ten of those novels. What do you think is more perplexing, the fact that authors continue to use this rule of…Read More
Writing Resources: The Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style is the most widely used resource for American English style, grammar, and punctuation. If you’re working on any kind of writing project and need a solid reference that provides answers for how to consistently apply style and grammar, then this is the book for you. Often called Chicago or CMOS,…Read More
The Reviews Are In: 1200 Creative Writing Prompts
When I wrote 1200 Creative Writing Prompts, my goal was to provide writers with a treasure trove of inspiration and ideas for writing fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Writers often struggle with writer’s block or lack motivation. I wanted to fire up imaginations and help writers get to work creating poems, stories, and other written works….Read More
Writing Resources: The Crafty Poet
One of my favorite classes in college was a poetry workshop. Sometimes we did poetry prompts or exercises. Occasionally we read and analyzed poetry. But mostly we shared our poems and received feedback that would help us see the strengths and weaknesses in our work. And then we could make our poetry even better. I’ve…Read More
Writing Resources: Wired for Story
Are you a storyteller? Do you want to be? Then I suggest you pick up a copy of Wired for Story, ASAP. This is easily the best book on writing fiction that I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. The book takes a fresh approach and tackles fiction writing from a scientific perspective. Thus the…Read More
10 Good Grammar Resources
There’s good grammar and bad grammar, proper grammar and poor grammar. Some writers have fun with grammar and for others, grammar’s a bore. But in order to communicate effectively and for our writing to be professional (and publishable), we all need reliable grammar resources. There is no grammar authority, no supreme court of grammar where judges…Read More
What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers
Good fiction includes many different elements: believable characters, realistic dialogue, and compelling plots. Every decent story has a beginning, middle, and end. Intriguing tales are built around conflict and are rich with themes and symbols. And those are just the basics. It can be pretty overwhelming. Fiction writing is hard work. It requires a complex…Read More
