| Writing Forward

From 101 Creative Writing Exercises: Cut-and-Paste Poetry

Today’s poetry writing exercise comes from my book 101 Creative Writing Exercises. The exercises in this book encourage you to experiment with different forms and genres while providing inspiration for publishable projects and imparting useful writing techniques that make your writing more robust. This exercise is from “Chapter 8: Free Verse.” It’s titled “Cut-and-Paste Poetry.”…Read More

Stock and Cloned Characters in Storytelling

I was recently reading a novel, and a few chapters in, I realized I had mixed up two of the main characters. In fact, I had been reading them as if they were a single character. I’m a pretty sharp reader, and this has never happened before, so I tried to determine why I’d made…Read More

How to Learn Poetry

Art is often viewed as a fun and leisurely activity. This is partly due to the fact that creating and consuming art is, in fact, fun. The best stories and poems flow so naturally, so smoothly, that it’s almost impossible to imagine anyone laboring over their creation. Laypersons tend to assume that people just wave…Read More

Creative Writing: Journals

Today’s post is an excerpt from Ready, Set, Write: A Guide to Creative Writing, a book that provides tips and tools for writers while serving as a broad roadmap for anyone who wants to explore creative writing. This excerpt is from chapter seven: “Journals.” Enjoy! Journals are often confused for diaries. Technically, a diary is a…Read More

How to Get the Right Kind of Writing Help

I often receive requests from people who are seeking writing help. Some are seeking professional services; they want someone to edit a book they’ve written or coach them through the process of writing a novel. Other times, I get questions about writing that range from simple to complicated. One person might send me a sentence…Read More

Using Metaphors to Enhance Your Writing

A while back, I wrote a piece that had nothing to do with food, but food became a running metaphor while I was revising. The food metaphor was so delicious (or maybe I was so hungry) that I rewrote the entire post with food on the brain. The blog posts I write with metaphors get…Read More

Writing Resources: Grammar Girl

This post contains affiliate links. As a writer, it’s only natural that I pay attention to the mechanics of my craft, which is why I’m always on the lookout for useful writing resources. When I discovered the Grammar Girl podcast, my interest in grammar piqued, and I started writing more consciously than ever before. Sure,…Read More

Nature-Inspired Poetry Prompts

Throughout the centuries, poets have composed meditations on seasons, landscapes, and constellations. Vegetation and animals have been the subjects of countless poems, and even when poetry is not centered around nature, it often makes references to it. In poetry, nature can function as a backdrop, or it can hold center stage. Why are so many poets…Read More

From 101 Creative Writing Exercises: Symbols and Symbolism

Today’s post comes from my book 101 Creative Writing Exercises (aff link). This is from “Chapter 5: Fiction.” Let’s take a look at symbolism in fiction. Symbols and Symbolism In Alice and Wonderland, a white rabbit appears, and Alice follows him down the rabbit hole that leads to Wonderland. The white rabbit is a herald —…Read More

Archetypal Characters in Storytelling

The hero, the mentor, the sidekick. We’re all familiar with archetypal characters in storytelling. We’ve seen them before. We know the roles they play. Archetypal characters shouldn’t be confused with stock characters or stereotypical characters. Although we’ve seen all these characters before and will surely see them again, stock and stereotypical characters are based on…Read More