Free Printable Writing Templates provide a helpful tool for students and individuals who are looking for structured guidance and support in their writing tasks. These templates offer a variety of styles and formats that cater to different writing needs, ensuring that users have access to a versatile resource that can assist them in improving their writing skills and producing quality work.
One of the most prized possessions in my extensive, authentic witch collection happens to be the original spellbook from the movie "P...
Trello vs Scrivener. Today, I’m gonna help you decide whether Trello or Scrivener is the best tool for your author business and writing books.
Your students are bright, but they don't always sound like it. Help improve student vocabulary with these 600 ways to say common things.
If you cut my wrist, I’d bleed pantser all over you. Which, for anyone that knows me in real life, is about as ironic as you can get. I’m hyper organised. I have lists of lists and spreadsheets to make even the hardiest of geeks weep. I’m so extreme my wife has to schedule in […]
As a writer who has spent the last few years drafting a four book YA series, I thought I’d gained a good grasp on how to write. I’d ironed out the head hopping that embarrassingly featured way too …
THE FIRST DRAFT This should be self-explanatory. You write the first draft. For novels, 75-150,000+ words of the world inside your head. PLOT, CONTENT, SCENES, AND MAJOR CHARACTERS Go back and fix it all up. Did you tell the story you wanted to tell? Did you include scenes and events that add up to the conclusion you present? Are there any unnecessary scenes you could delete, or scenes that are redundant to other scenes? Get rid of them. If this means entire chapters have to go, wave bye-bye. Do your main characters have believable back stories and arcs, and do they act appropriately in character at all times? Is there any point in time when your characters do something that they literally WOULD NOT DO? Change that up. WORLD-BUILDING, CHARACTERIZATION, HONING IN PLOT POINTS Now pay attention to the deeper aspects of the story. Delve into the world your characters live in. Do they react appropriately? Does any part of society influence them more than others? What does your world look like? Delve into the setting. The cultures, the technology, the history. Work with your secondary characters and how they interact with your main characters. What role do they serve overall? Does the main character’s journey affect them at all, or vice versa? Tighten up plot points. Stay concise if possible. SENTENCE STRUCTURE, FLOW AND PACING OF SCENES Now that the major parts of your story have been patted down, you can begin focusing on the technical stuff. Start broad. Do you have redundant sentences? Do you start multiple sentences the same way? Throw in short sentences. Drop the pronoun from the beginning of a sentence every now and then. Use commas instead of ‘and’ if you find you use ‘and’ a lot. Does the flow of sentences and paragraphs fit with the tone of the scene? Chop sentences apart. Use quick, sharp words. Or combine sentences and flowery language and soft words. BETA READER CRITIQUES AND SUGGESTIONS Now that you’ve really patted this thing down, find people willing to read your work (hopefully for free). Ask them to point out inconsistencies. Are they confused by anything? Beta readers can tell you when things are boring or exciting. They’ll laugh. They’ll fangirl. They’ll beg you for more chapters. Your brain is soft from so much revising. Beta readers are fresh, and will pick out things you’ve glossed over from seeing it so many times. Shake things up and host a video chat for you and your betas! It’s a great way to make friends smile emoticon PUNCTUATION AND MISSING WORDS NOWWWWW you’ve finished all the major revisions and your story makes sense!!! All that’s left to do is get the broom and sweep it up (or the vacuum cleaner, or generate a black hole from the Large Hadron Collider to suck out all the errors because that’s super-effective**). This is the nitty gritty stuff, and I highly recommend either forcing yourself to read really, really slow, or better yet, read your book out loud, start to finish. You’ll trip up over misplaced commas and periods. You’ll literally hear when a sentence is awkward. Your brain will get confused when there’s a missing word. Fill in the gaps, hammer down the boards, clean up the place. THE FINAL DRAFT OMG OMG OMG OMG IT’S FINISHED AND YOU CAN SHARE IT WITH THE WORLD AND BUY PHYSICAL COPIES THAT YOU CAN HOLD AND SMELL AND RUB ALL OVER YOUR FACE AND DRAW IN AND DOG-EAR AND TOTE AROUND TO SHOW PEOPLE AND SIGN AUTOGRAPHS AND BECOME YOUR OWN LITTLE CELEBRITY!!! Email the newspaper (I’ve appeared multiple times). Email the local TV station (I’ve appeared on live TV). Email book talk radio shows (I’ve had a Q&A for an hour on live radio). ……..Marketing is hard. N.B. **please do not ask CERN for permission to use the Large Hadron Collider to create black holes that suck out all the errors in your book. You’ll look silly, and you might destroy Earth in the process.
Writing your next book starts HERE
Emphasizing •As a matter of fact •In fact •Indeed Condition •If •Unless •Provided that •Suppose •Whether •As long as Concession •Although •Though •Even though •Despite •In spite of •Apart from •Except for •But for Reformulating •That is to say •In other words •Namely •To put things differently Consequence •As a result •Therefore •As a consequence •Consequently •Eventually •So •Thus •That’s why Adding ideas •Also •Moreover •Furthermore •In addition •Besides •Not only … but also Summing up •In short •All things considered •To sum up •In a nutshell Choice •Neither … nor •Either … or •Or •Whatever •Whenever •Wherever •Whoever Explaining
Stop saying 'I can't start my book' and make real progress with the help of these 7 simple steps to start writing a novel - and finish.
Looking to pile on the suffering for your characters (or need ways to traumatize your OC)? Here's a list of all kinds of suffering, with tips and examples.
Creating mystery in your novel is important in every type of story, not just mysteries and suspense. Here are six important do's and don'ts.
What is metadata anyway, and why do I need it? Well, I'm gonna tell ya. It's simpler than it may seem, and very useful.
Trauma impacts the mind and body in numerous ways. I have worked with many children and adolescents that have presented the following symptoms. One client in particular exhibited each of the follo…
Check out 8 Online writing sites that pay for writing articles. You can make around $500/mo or more by using these sites.
Resistance, rebels, underground networks, sabotage, spies, special agents. They are this wonderfully exciting, blood stirring movement ag...
Want to know the ingredients that make up a good mystery novel, and get tips on how you can write such a story? If so, this article is especially for you.
