World Building. PlanetMaker. City Generator. How to Make More Time For Your Writing. Let’s face it; unless you’re in the upper echelons of the writing business, you’re quickly discovering that writing won’t make you rich. I’m a full time math teacher in Nashville. I learned early on that writers, by and large, are one of the few professions that make less than teachers.
So, until you become the next J.K. Rowling or James Patterson, you’ll need to manage your writing efforts in conjunction with your day gig. Here are some steps on how to do that. (11 ways to assist a friend in promoting their new book.) 1. Guest column by Patrick Carr, who was born on an Air Force base in West Germany at the height of the cold war. 2. 3. 4. (Writing a synopsis for your novel? 5. So do it. The Writer’s Market details thousands of publishing opportunities for writers, including listings for book publishers, consumer and trade magazines, contests and awards, literary agents and more.
Other writing/publishing articles & links for you: Want to build your visibility and sell more books? The Writer's Den - resources and tools for writers of fiction. Plagiarism Checker. Free Plagarism Detector. Online Duplicate Check. Instant Grammar Check - Online Proofreading | Grammarly. Figment: Write yourself in. Tumblr. : Quick and Dirty Tips ™ 25 Insights on Becoming a Better Writer.
When George Plimpton asked Ernest Hemingway what the best training for an aspiring writer would be in a 1954 interview, Hem replied, “Let’s say that he should go out and hang himself because he finds that writing well is impossibly difficult. Then he should be cut down without mercy and forced by his own self to write as well as he can for the rest of his life. At least he will have the story of the hanging to commence with.” Today, writing well is more important than ever. Far from being the province of a select few as it was in Hemingway’s day, writing is a daily occupation for all of us — in email, on blogs, and through social media. So what can we do to improve our writing short of hanging ourselves? 1. Don’t just plan to write—write. 2. [The] Resistance knows that the longer we noodle around “getting ready,” the more time and opportunity we’ll have to sabotage ourselves. 3. Find your best time of the day for writing and write. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Treat writing as a job. 10. 11. 12. The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do. Writing is a muscle. Smaller than a hamstring and slightly bigger than a bicep, and it needs to be exercised to get stronger. Think of your words as reps, your paragraphs as sets, your pages as daily workouts. Think of your laptop as a machine like the one at the gym where you open and close your inner thighs in front of everyone, exposing both your insecurities and your genitals. Because that is what writing is all about. Procrastination is an alluring siren taunting you to google the country where Balki from Perfect Strangers was from, and to arrange sticky notes on your dog in the shape of hilarious dog shorts. The blank white page. Mark Twain once said, “Show, don’t tell.”
Finding a really good muse these days isn’t easy, so plan on going through quite a few before landing on a winner. There are two things more difficult than writing. It’s no secret that great writers are great readers, and that if you can’t read, your writing will often suffer. Writerisms and other Sins: A Writer’s Shortcut to Stronger Writing. Creative Writing For Dummies Cheat Sheet.
Rewriting and editing helps to tighten up your work. But it can be difficult – what to chop and when to stop may not be clear, and you may change your mind more than once during the process. Ask yourself whether you need to take out: Unnecessary information and explanation. Passages of dialogue that go on too long. Clunky descriptions that give too much detail. Clumsy images that don’t really work. You may need to add or expand: Something you know but have forgotten to tell the reader; perhaps the age of the main character. You may need to move: Dramatic sections to make a stronger opening.
In your final edit: Check for grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes. Themes & Things To Keep In Mind When Writing Fantasy Stories and Adventures » Daily Encounter. This list is far from complete. It’s not even trying to be complete. It knows better than that. It just wants to be helpful and provide some inspiration here and there; you know, offer little suggestions that might lead to bigger ideas. (Especially by using the words offered as Wikipedia searches!) Feel free to make suggestions in the comments! If I like it, I’ll add it to the list! If I don’t like it, well, hey, maybe someone else will!
Weather Natural: sunlight, rain, snow, hail, fog, humidity, moonlight, wind, smoke, clouds, shadows, overcast skies, clear skies, lightning, hurricanes, tornadoes, moon in sky during daytimeFantastic: summoned weather, unnatural coloration (eg. green fog) Terrain Changes Landmarks Natural: stone outcropping, lightening struck trees, large boulders, waterfallsArtificial: lone buildings (eg. towers, houses, barns), statues, signs/markers, border wallsFantastic: large skeletons (eg. dragons, giants) After-Effects of Events Tricks Cultures Mysticism Events Unfolding.
English 50 Exercises for Story Writers. English 50 – Intro to Creative Writing: Exercises for Story Writers Basic Theory: What is a short story? As soon as someone delivers a definition, some good writer will write a story that proves the theory wrong. About the only thing we can say for sure is that short stories are short and that they are written in what we call prose.
Some attributes, however, seem to show up more often than not. Short stories have a narrator; that is, someone tells the story; have at least one character in them; have some action occur (or perhaps fails to occur); take place somewhere; that is, there is a setting for the action; and someone either learns something or fails to learn something (theme).With these five characteristics in mind, we can create an almost endless supply of exercises to help sharpen our techniques of story telling. Narrative Voice Twenty or so years ago, voice was the "rite of passage" into a successful writing career.
If you've written a story in third person, try it in first. 25 Creative Writing Prompts | Creative Writing Prompts. Posted by Melissa Donovan on October 21, 2014 · 25 creative writing prompts to inspire and motivate you. Don’t you just hate writer’s block? Some say it’s a disease that only creative workers succumb to. Some say it’s a curse. Others argue that it doesn’t exist at all. But just about everyone has been there–sitting in front of a blank screen, fingers itching to create a masterpiece. For me, the most bizarre thing about writer’s block is that it strikes randomly. Luckily, I have several books and other writing resources that are packed with writing exercises and creative writing prompts. Creative Writing Prompts Today I’d like to share a mash-up of creative writing prompts.
Now It’s Your Turn If none of these creative writing prompts inspired you, don’t despair. Keep writing! About Melissa DonovanMelissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter. Cure writer's block with writing prompts - writing tips character name generator. History and Background of Self-Publishing. The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success — A book by Mark Coker. Also in Smashwords Guides Reviews Review by: Geetanjali Mukherjee on Jan. 04, 2014 : Packed with useful tips, I was pleasantly surprised by how useful this book is. I am still working through the suggestions, doing as Mark suggests, to implement the easy tips first. Review by: David Dockery on Aug. 07, 2013 : I was really impressed with the information here and I am sold on publishing with smashwords.
Review by: J. Plenty of good information here, but the book would strongly benefit from a re-write - it's plagued by arguments ended in mid-thought, lack of internal transition between thoughts in paragraphs, missing words, many sections that simply repeat or rehash previous sections, and so on. Review by: Paul Morrison on June 12, 2013 : It is certainly the right material to anyone in the e-book business to read. Review by: Adra Young on May 27, 2013 : Every time I read one of Coker's books, I feel as if I'm taking one of my favorite college prerequisite's courses once again.
Ebook Formats: A Quick Guide For Self-Publishers. Ebook Formats: A Quick Guide For Self-Publishers Are you considering self-publishing your own ebook? If yes, then ebook formats are important and this is article is all for you. If no, well this post is probably a waste of your time and it’s best you stop reading now… Still with me? Good. OK – let’s just define Self-Publish a little more clearly. This article is for writers who intend to sell their book in ebook formats. In short this means via Amazon or Apple onto eReaders such as the Kindle or iPad. The goal of this article is to explain a little about the technical aspects of creating ebooks.
It’s not a full-blown technical guide. It has been written to give you just enough information to be dangerous. In other words, this article will help you decide on the next step forward. By this I mean this article will give you enough information for you to make an informed choice about the best way to convert your Word/Pages/OpenOffice file into an ebook.
Think VHS vs Betamax Let’s start at the start… 1. Ebook-publishing-guide.pdf (application/pdf Object) Story Starters. If you’re looking to inspire your students’ writing and creativity, turn to these fun and exciting writing prompts. Perfect for overcoming writer’s block or even starting a brand-new short story in a different narrative, creative writing prompts can help students begin a new piece with confidence. Plus, these story starters can also encourage students to explore different genres while honing their writing skills. There are a lot of ways you can use writing prompts in your classroom. Try: Reading a book in a genre, then having students use a story starter in that same genre. Take inspiration from classics like Treasure Island and newer popular series like The Bad Guys to explore how to write thrilling adventure stories.
You’re part of a pirate crew in search of a long-lost storied treasure trove. Get students excited about adventure stories with these great books: If you’re looking to inspire your students’ writing and creativity, turn to these fun and exciting writing prompts. Short Story Ideas - Scenarios. S Bookcase: Story generators and prompts: fantasy, genreless, tarot, starters and quotes. Writers Workshop. The Bonsai Story Tree Generator takes coherent text and turns it into... well, I'm not sure what. It's not GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) -- it's more like QIGO (Quality In, Garbage Out). Only, the garbage often makes a sort of strange, surreal sense... Judge for yourself. :-) Why is it called the Bonsai Story Tree Generator? Okay, here's the history. At each December holiday party of the Northern Colorado Writers' Workshop, members exchange gag gifts; the more unique the better (and nothing costing more than $13.13).
(In January 2005, Bonsai'd text was published as chapter 34 of the hoax book, Atlanta Nights, ostensibly the worst book ever written.) I put up this web interface so others can create their own Bonsai Story Trees. --Andrew Burt. The Newspaper Clipping Image Generator - Create your own fun newspaper. Serendipity Generators. Story Idea Generator. Magical Phenomena Generator. Cool Bits Story Generator. Pitch Generator - TV Tropes. Plot Scenario Generator. Seventh Sanctum Name Generator. Names Names are often a problem to come up with, so there's a variety of generators for people, places, and things! General Extreme Fantasy Names For those more over-the-top fantasy names, suitable for grim heroes, overpowered heroines, and the general over-the-top types of character.
Or parents with no thought of a child's future! Greek Namers It produces greek-sounding names - they may not translate to anything, but they'll sound right! Quick Character Namers Generates basic names, based off of census data for America. Dark/Evil Names Dark Elf Names Not all elves are nice, after all. Species/Specific Angel/demon Name Generator Generates names for angels and demons for characters or your own pantheons and hierarchies. Theme Western Names Next time you've got a story on the American Fronteir or the Weirded-out West, come here for quick names and ideas! Locations Ships Pirate Ship Names For your more "piratey" sounding ships. More Resources!