Write What You Know

Write What You Know

Here's a video follow-up to our blog post on the old writing adage "write what you know." A closer look at what this expression really means and how you can make it work in your writing.

Read More
Writing Secondary Characters

Writing Secondary Characters

Even though narratives tend to focus on the life of one character – sometimes a few in multiple POV – the people in that character’s life are equally important. Giving them personalities, sometimes backstories and arcs of their own, are what make the narrative as a whole more realistic.

Read More
Violet Prose in Writing
Trust Your Reader

Trust Your Reader

Among popular bits of advice—create empathetic characters, avoid rhetorical questions, try starting with an outline—“trust your reader” is often overlooked. Here’s how to trust your reader to understand what you’re trying to show.

Read More
Rethinking Writing Productivity

Rethinking Writing Productivity

Writing productivity is especially relevant this time of year, when we’re thinking about how to squeeze the very most out of our days. For many writers, the festive season is when we’re juggling day jobs, family, holiday preparations, and—oh, yeah—writing.

Read More
Low Writing Confidence and Ways to Shift Your Mindset

Low Writing Confidence and Ways to Shift Your Mindset

Struggling with writing confidence? You’re not alone. Lots of writers, including myself, experience self-doubt. Let’s look at some factors that may impact your writing confidence, and some suggested mindset shifts to help you work around the self-doubt.

Read More
Character Description in First Person

Character Description in First Person

Character description in first person narration is tricky. We usually don't talk about ourselves in terms of our physical attributes. But readers appreciate having something to imagine when they're reading your story--so how do you make it sound natural?

Read More
Writing an Issue Book

Writing an Issue Book

When writers talk about trends, one that often comes up is that of the “issue book.” Lately, issue books have become fairly synonymous with contemporary novels, especially since the massive success of both John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars and Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give.

Read More
Benefits of a Writing Community

Benefits of a Writing Community

Writing can be a solitary endeavor, and a lot of writers don’t even know that they’re missing the important element of a writing community. Write lonely no more—there are tangible benefits to being part of a writing community, and now joining one is easier than ever.

Read More