How To Gather Ideas, Turn Them Into A Novel - & Finish It. In her third article for Writers & Artists, Nail Your Novel author Roz Morris gives her advice for researching and developing your book ideas. Writing a novel is a lengthy undertaking. Many novices launch in, compelled to write by an idea, a situation, a character or a world. But often the story runs out of steam; they paint themselves into a corner and invent so much they can’t keep it under control. So how do professional writers create novels that hang together well, juggle subplots and characters, add subtext, themes, ingenious levels of literary resonance... in fact, how do they even get to the end?
The answer is surprisingly simple. We have methods. Systems. No two authors will be alike, of course. Different as we all are, there are certain things most of us do to get from Chapter 1 to The End. 1. Professional authors rarely start bashing the keys as soon as they’ve had the idea. That doesn’t mean they don’t chase the muse, they just do it in other ways. 2. . • Who are the characters? A scientific guide to writing great headlines on Twitter, Facebook and your Blog.
5.9K Flares Filament.io 5.9K Flares × Ever since we started Buffer a little over 2 years ago, people have been asking us about one question very specifically: How can I write great headlines for social networks and my blog? The topic is a very tricky one, as the accuracy for what works best is hard to nail down. Whilst we have some specific techniques that we are using for our own postings and article headlines every day, I thought looking at the most cutting edge research is definitely required.
So I thought of combining all the research we’ve done for the Buffer social accounts and our blog as well as the best research out there and combining them into one comprehensive guide. Without any further ado, here is a scientific guide to great copywriting on Twitter, Facebook and your blog: What works best on Twitter? Finding the right headline for your Tweet is one of the most important things to do, especially as Twitter only allows for text display.
Test it yourself – here is how 1.) 2.) 3.) 78 Tools for Writing and Previewing Markdown. Markdown is a text-based markup language created by John Gruber in 2004 as a way to write in an easy-to-read format that can be converted into HTML. It uses a very simple formatting syntax of familiar punctuation and characters, which makes writing content for the web a faster and more intuitive experience. As Markdown grows in popularity, new tools and applications have sprung up to cater to writing, converting and previewing the markup language. From tutorials, WordPress plugins and books to dedicated Markdown Service Tools for OS X, there is a wealth of excellent resources available. This post concentrates on 78 of the best tools and applications for writing and previewing Markdown, including resources for Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and the web. Are there any Markdown tools we may have missed? 1. Markable is a powerful online Markdown editor, with syntax highlighting, auto indent and unindent, current line highlighting, and line numbers. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. iA Writer 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
How to Edit Your Own Writing. Freelance Writing Online: What Are You Worth? I didn't know what I would get paid to write this article. I didn't ask. It doesn't matter. It won't make a tangible dent in paying the rent on my apartment in Brooklyn, or, for that matter, rent on an apartment in any other city.
By the time I finish the research, the interviews, the writing, and the editing, whatever small sum—$30, $125, $200—this site pays me will pale in comparison to the effort. It's not news that making a living by writing on the Internet is a tough business. Nicholas Jackson worked as an editor at TheAtlantic.com and saw the math first-hand. Assume an editor pays a writer $100. There is a general correlation between good, hard work and success, but it's not one-to-one. In that way, making money on the web has much in common with book publishing, just with more cat photos. The Internet democratized writing. But the destruction of the job market hurts not only the quantity, but the quality. Slowly, it started to pay off. I pitched and wrote constantly. I'm lucky. Mistakes Often Made by Beginning Writers. We all make mistakes. While some errors are peculiar to individual writers, others tend to be more universal, particularly among beginners.
Below I’ve supplied some common errors and weaknesses often seen in the less experienced. 1. Telling instead of showing. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Copyright by Debbie Lee Wesselmann About the Author Debbie Lee Wesselmann is the author of two novels, Trutor & the Balloonist and Captivity, as well as a collection of short fiction, The Earth and the Sky. Ms. Visit Debbie at www.trutor.net. The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resource. Last week, I launched a new site I’d been working on for several months, dedicated to technology and the writing life. Since I’ve been eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping “writing” all week, it seemed natural to pull together some of the tools, sites, and Lifehack.org tips I know of that can help make writers more productive, organized, and creative.
Note: Maybe you don’t consider yourself a writer. Chances are, though, that you have to write — papers for school, memos for work, presentations for potential funders, grants for your organization, posts for your blog, and so on. I’m pretty sure you’ll find a lot of useful information below, whether or not you officially call yourself a “writer”. 10 9 Free Apps Every Writer Should Consider q10: A cool, minimalist full-screen text editor that includes a spellchecker and a couple other nice features. Update: Sorry, I don’t know what happened to my 10th! 10 Online Apps and Services Every Writer Should Check Out Anything to add? 12 Most Rudimentary Ways to Improve Your Writing. Sports Journalist Red Smith once said, “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.”
The quote describes how many people feel about writing. My analytical husband described my reporting job as “writing essays, all day, every day.” To him, writing for a living was akin to a layer of hell. For me, it was a calling from above. I couldn’t believe someone was willing to pay me to do something I loved so much. Still, I understand that writing is difficult for many people. Regardless of our skill level, writing is a fundamental form of communication, which all professionals must learn to do well. Whether you’re a natural writer or a forced writer, there are simple ways to improve your writing. 1. It’s weak to sit down at your computer and start typing randomly. 2. We speak in subject-verb-object order. 3. Associated Press style is the preferred writing style for media writers. 4. 5. Very is a weak substitute for a strong verb or adjective. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Tips on How to Write a Great Story.
By Maria Popova The year of reading more and writing better is well underway with writing advice the likes of David Ogilvy’s 10 no-bullshit tips, Henry Miller’s 11 commandments, Jack Kerouac’s 30 beliefs and techniques, John Steinbeck’s 6 pointers, and various invaluable insight from other great writers. Now comes Kurt Vonnegut (November 11, 1922–April 11, 2007) — anarchist, Second Life dweller, imaginary interviewer of the dead, sad soul — with eight tips on how to write a good short story, narrated by the author himself.
Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.Start as close to the end as possible.Be a Sadist. 30+ Tools For The Amateur Writer. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is almost upon us. On November 1st, brave souls everywhere will embark on a month long endeavor to write a story of at least 50,000 words.
We've gathered 30+ tools to help those folks who want to try their hand at it. Collaborative Writing Coventi.com - A site offering several different packages, with the cheapest being free for the personal user. Google Docs - Part of the Google suite of products, which enables you to invite others to work with you on a document. Glypho.com - Put down the basic idea of your story, get a plot and character suggestions. Novlet.com - Collaborative writing where you write just a couple of paragraphs at a time. Portrayl.com - A site that lets you write one chapter at a time, and when done, release it as a PDF. SynchroEdit.com - A browser-based editor that allows multiple users to edit the same document at the same. WideWORD.net - Create a secure document online and then pick who can look at it and participate. See also: All creative tools.
Free Software for Writers. Dozens of software applications are available and marketed to writers, yet many of these programs can be both expensive and difficult to use. While standard word processors serve the needs of many writers, some writers require more adaptable and agile solutions. For writers unwilling or unable to spend hundreds of dollars to invest in the multitude of purchasable programs, there is a plethora of free, user-friendly programs available for download. Q10 is a free, highly customizable, full screen word processor. This program includes live stats, word count, auto-correction, auto-save, timer alarm for timed writing sessions, and optional typewriter sound effects. For writers who are easily distracted or crave a simple, effective word processor with no frills, Q10 is extremely simple to use.
All documents are saved in .txt format and Q10 runs on Windows and is available for PortableApps. yWriter Celtx OpenOffice OpenOffice is an open source alternative to Microsoft Office. Textblock Writer Sonar. 30+ Tools For The Amateur Writer.