Style Matters Finding your unique writing style Text here! Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diem nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut lacreet dolore magna aliguam erat volutpat. Ut wisis enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tution ullam corper suscipit lobortis nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo…
Tag: creative writing
Scene One place, one time Setting the scene — it’s a cliché, but a necessary part of writing an effective story. However, don’t confuse the setting for the scene. Technically, a scene is a series of continuous events connected by time, place, or the characters depicted. The alternate definition of…
Perfecting Paragraphs Use paragraphs to pace the story Your teachers probably told you that paragraphs are sets of related sentences. Then they added rules. One outrageous rule was that a paragraph must have at least three sentences. Yes, a paragraph is a set of sentences, but serious readers know that…
Maybe it is my computer programming and management background, but I approach writing as I do a development project. I spent far too many years treating writing as a hobby. This attitude led to my acceptance of the myth “creativity cannot be turned on like a tap.” Yes, it can…
Setting the Story Choosing the when and where Every story occurs in some place, at some time. This guide offers some advice for establishing the right setting for a story. The setting can be determined by the story, or the story can be determined by the setting. Either way, the…
Dialogue Let characters reveal themselves “The dialogue was so believable, I forgot it was spoken by fictional characters.” Most writers dream of such compliments. After all, dialogue is one of the basic ingredients for a good story. Yet realistic dialogue is an illusion; no good writer recreates human vocal interactions.…
Most stories are remembered for their characters, not specific plot points. If you want to write a memorable story, create memorable characters. They do not need to be believable — they need to be dramatic. It Takes Two Often, the best stories are deceptively simple: there are two main characters…
Conflict and Suspense Something is always in the way of success Stories are built upon conflicts and suspense. Seldom is a single conflict enough. No, we writers (and readers) expect one conflict after another. The suspense of “what next?” keeps a reader glued to the page, or eyes locked on…
Choose the best form and genre for your story. Every story has a natural shape based on its length and genre. Some stories require a thousand pages, while others require only a one-page poem. Knowing your genre and carefully selecting a proper form help your story’s appeal. Form-Fitting A form describes…
We assume you have stumbled upon our website for one reason: you are interested in writing. These pages address the writing processes, which vary by form and genre. A novel, a play, a software manual, and a screenplay are different; they require different approaches creatively and mechanically. Throughout the writing…