Poets & Writers | Contests, MFA Programs, Agents & Grants for Writers 9 Easily Preventable Mistakes Writers Make with Dialogue Dialogue has been my own writing nemesis and I continue to find it a challenge, although each day of writing seems to improve it slightly! Today, author and blogger Ali Luke helps us with some basic dialogue mistakes and how to fix them. Whether you love writing dialogue or dread it, you’ll probably agree it’s an essential part of fiction. Unless you’re writing an experimental short story, you’re going to need to include some dialogue – and it needs to be done just as well as the rest of your writing. Dialogue has many roles in your story. It can: Reveal characterAdvance the plotMake characters seem realGive a sense of action unfolding Dialogue is also easy and fast to read. It breaks up the page, adding white space and making your story look more attractive. Unfortunately, dialogue is also easy to get wrong. (You can also look out for them in published books, too — plenty of pros still aren’t getting these right. Mistake #1: Being Too Formal Me and him went to the shops.I dunno.If I was you…
Writer’s Digest - Writing Prompts Write a scene that includes a character speaking a different language, speaking in a thick accent, or otherwise speaking in a way that is unintelligibe to the other characters. (Note: You don't necessarily need to know the language the character is speaking—be creative with it!) Describe a character's reaction to something without explaining what it is. See if your fellow prompt responders can guess what it is. Write a story or a scene about one character playing a prank on another. Writing Prompt: Write a story that involves confusion over homonyms (words that have the same spelling but different meanings) or homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently). For World Storytelling Day, share the best story you've ever heard or told by word of mouth, or have a fictional character recount their favorite story. You're making your way down a cobbled street when a stocky, red-bearded man beckons you into an alley. Consider your handwriting, or a character's handwriting.
Place & Location | Adam Aitken Location – notes Much as a place can elicit the greatest mystery and contemplation, or even dread and anxiety, place prompts story-telling. Location can be the empty white space that demands meaning, and narrative will provide that: in other words location is an essential starting point or anchor for the narrative’s eventual form, structure, and plot. Place can be an index of the inner soul. “First sentences are doors to worlds” - Ursula Le Guin (in La Plante 2007, The Making of a Story, WW Norton and Company, New York, p. 467) “We gotta go somewhere, find some place.” – Jack Kerouac, On the Road “Writers of popular works…tend to do well on the concrete side of things: they bounce their characters around from New York to London to Paris and in and out of restaurants and beds and whatnot, but somehow it doesn’t add up to much emotionally. Flaubert, Madam Bovary (1856) Paris, more vague than the ocean, glimmered before Emma’s eyes in an atmosphere of vermilion. CHAPTER 3 Home W.G. Like this:
40 Photo-Illustrated Questions to Refocus Your Mind Asking the right questions is the answer… It’s not the answers you get from others that will help you, but the questions you ask of yourself. Here are 40 thought-provoking questions to help you refresh and refocus your thinking: Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below. Also, check out our sister site, Thought Questions, for more photo-illustrated questions like these; and check out The Book of Questions if you’re interested in reading even more inspiring, thought-provoking questions.Title photo by: Helga Weber For all other photo credits please refer to ThoughtQuestions.com Related 40 Questions Everyone is Afraid to Ask Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. April 13, 2012 In "Aspirations" 40 Questions that Will Quiet Your Mind Judge a person by their questions, rather than their answers … because asking the right questions is the answer. August 5, 2015 In "Happiness" 25 Photo-Illustrated Reminders to Help You Find Happiness
Six Easy Tips for Self-Editing Your Fiction | Kristen Lamb There are a lot of hurdles to writing great fiction, which is why it's always important to keep reading and writing. We only get better by doing. Here are some self-editing tips to help you clean up your book before you hire an editor. When I worked as an editor, I found it frustrating when I couldn't even get to the story because I was too distracted by these all too common oopses. There are many editors who charge by the hour. #1 The Brutal Truth about Adverbs, Metaphors and Similes I have never met an adverb, simile, or metaphor I didn't love. First of all, adverbs are not all evil. Check your work for adverbs and kill the redundant ones. Metaphors and similes are awesome, but need to be used sparingly. When we use too much of this verbal glitter, we can create what's called "purple prose." Huh? Oh, the boulder is squarish shaped! Thing is, the metaphor made me stop to figure out what image the author was trying to create. Go through your pages and highlight metaphors and similes.
High school persuasive writing prompts • WriteShop High school students can practice their persuasive writing skills with these engaging persuasive writing prompts. Whether they’re trying to convince a friend to watch less TV, volunteer at the local food bank, or read an amazing book, they’ll find the perfect prompt below. 1. Teen Couch Potatoes Research shows that the average American teen spends up to 40 hours in front of television and computer screens each week. 2. Many students volunteer their time to help others, either through nonprofit organizations, animal shelters, churches, or other charitable venues. 3. Your local Chamber of Commerce has asked you to create a brochure to attract visitors to your hometown. 4. Think of five unforgettable, inspirational, or life-changing books that have impacted you. If you enjoyed these journal prompts for high school, be sure to check back each week for more Writing Prompt Wednesdays!
How to Write a Character From Start to Finish The best fiction is about a character who changes in some significant way. The selfish brute learns to put others first. The woman marrying for money decides to marry for love. The career ladder climber learns to cut back on his hours to enjoy his family. We love to see characters transformed. —by Jeff Gerke Most of the time, main characters in fiction are changing for the better. But there’s also room for characters who change for the worse. Perhaps most intriguing of all is a “bad” character who flirts for a while with the idea of being good, but then decides that his true self is on the dark side of the street. Of course, not every story has to be about a character who changes. Whether your protagonist ultimately turns toward or away from the light will be up to you, but we’ll look at ways to send her on a journey in which she’s transformed. The Inner Journey In fiction terms, a character’s transformation is called his inner journey or character arc. The Nexus The Seeds of Change