Award-winning and bestselling author Peter Blauner shares the three best writing tips he's received from masters during his writing career, as well as the four best writing tips he's personally given to others.
On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, arti…
Source for comic: Matt Shirley
For readers to care what happens next in your story, they must first care about your characters. It’s your job as a writer to foster this reader-character connection, to build the bridge that encourages readers to invest in your characters’ stories. Establishing your characters’ motivations isn’t th
We just made this little infographic to visualize the breakdown of using our novel writing roadmap to write a novel in one year.
Creative Writer Worksheet – Everybody’s Doing It (PDF) This week’s worksheet is about doing what everyone else is doing… differently. If you’ve been struggling with writing something, perhaps you need to approach it your way. Or maybe you need a bigger challenge! ;) Don’t reinvent the wheel; redirect it.
For those of you who missed it earlier in February, or for those who actually came but wanted a replay, here's the inspiring content from Lee White's talk on character-building. Thanks to Lee and to Jaime Zollars, for permission to reprint this useful questionnaire to share with our chapter at large!
Recently, I attended a session called “Writing About Fighting” at VCON, a science fict ion and fantasy conference. The panel consisted of writers and experts who were disciplined in mul…
Have you ever been pulled over by the grammar police for head-hopping? It’s one of the most common editor pet peeves, but a device many authors swear by, claiming that their readers certainly aren’t complaining. Maybe not, but I’d still advise against it, and in this article, I’ll be telling you why. First, though, we
I am unapologetically a podcast junkie--ask anyone. They're a great way to expand your knowledge of the world, get advice from the pros, and listen to some great stories. This makes them a valuable resource for writers, and I've rounded up my top ten to help you grow in your skills and knowledge. 88 Cups of Tea features interviews with authors, discussing everything from going through rejection, drawing inspiration from family stories, and the struggles of querying an agent. The host, Yin Chang, can be a little long-winded at times, but it gives you valuable insight into the lives and habits of published, well-known authors. Run time: 40 minutes to an hour Hosted by the quirky and lovable Kirsten Oliphant, Create If Writing includes insight both on the craft of writing and on building your platform, that ever ambiguous goal of the writer. Episodes can be Kirsten discussing a topic on her own or she sometimes brings on a guest to have a more in-depth conversation. Run time: 30 to 40 minutes Write or Die is a newer podcast, but it's already one of my favorites. It's primarily interviews, both with authors and members of the publishing side of things, such as literary agent Suzie Townsend. Host Claribel Ortega is charming and insightful, incorporating stories from her own writing journey and asking the questions you really want to know. Run time: 30 to 45 minutes Sadly, the 10 Minute Writer's Workshop recently aired its last episode, but it's worth listening to the backlog. Featuring short interviews with writers such as Dan Brown, Salmon Rushdie, Celeste Ng, and many others, the episodes are refreshing and encouraging. Virginia Prescott cuts to the chase so that you get the wisdom of beloved authors distilled into a bite-sized episode. Run time: 10 minutes If you don't know who Levar Burton is, I don't even know what to say to you. The beloved actor is on his third season of Levar Burton Reads, with each episode featuring a new short story. The stories vary in genre, style, and when they were published, but each one is an example of brilliant storytelling that's sure to inspire you. Run time: 1 hour From the New Yorker, The Writer's Voice is another source to find stories you'll wish you'd written. Each episode features a story published in a recent issue of the magazine, read by the writer. Even if you read the stories in print, it's a special experience to hear the writer read their own work. Run time: 30 to 50 minutes While not specifically focused on writing, The Accidental Creative has great advice and insight for living a creative life. It's easy to let the craziness of life get in the way of writing, or any sort of creative act, but these short episodes are helpful reminders of how to prioritize your writing and make sure you're always in a good headspace to do your best work. The host, Todd Henry, tends to plug his own books frequently, but it's not so annoying that you're distracted from the information Run time: 10 to 15 minutes Podcasts can also be a source of inspiration for stories, even if they're not directly writing-related. These next podcasts are chock-full of fun facts sure to give you all sorts of story ideas (and be the life of the party!) This podcast, hosted by the always lovely Flora Lichtman, spends each episode investigating topics that range from the genius of birds to plastic chairs to underwater tunnels. Every episode of Every Little Thing is fascinating, featuring interviews with experts and usually personal stories from listeners who have called the ELT help line to get their question answered. Run time: 25 minutes Another podcast from Gimlet (basically I love anything Gimlet does), Reply All, generally, is a podcast about all things internet and technology. But since these two topics pervade through nearly every aspect of our lives (that's a whole other post), it's really a podcast about exploring the modern life and what connects us. Hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman, it's full of wit and humor, and you're sure to finish every episode laughing and having learned something. Run time: 40 minutes If you're familiar with podcasts, you've probably heard of RadioLab. It's one of the more popular ones, and it's the reason I got into podcasts (take that, Serial!). It typically gets categorized as a science and technology podcast, but their newest tagline really says it best: they spend each episode investigating a strange world. They often group a few episodes together in a mini-series (recent topics include gender & sexuality and immigration), but they just as frequently spend a single episode doing a deep dive into a topic. Run time: 40 to 60 minutes There's now a part two! Check out 5 more podcasts for writers. [caption id=attachment_156 align=aligncenter width=332] Pin me![/caption] What do you think? Have you listened to any of these? Do you have any writing podcasts you love? Let me know in the comments! You may also like . . .
Creative Writing Worksheet – Quick Character Creator (PDF) The fact is, you can fill in every 100-item questionnaire about character creation in exhaustive detail and still end up with a character who is unsuitable for the story you’re trying to tell, who isn’t interesting, and who doesn’t feel real. Here’s what Aaron Sorkin (creator of…
Last weekend I was at the SCWBI New England annual conference, co-directed by my writing-group colleagues Greg Fishbone, Kathryn Hulick, an...
Creative Writer Worksheet – Creation Criteria (PDF) That initial idea spark can sometimes be so enticing that we follow it like a will ‘o the wisp instead of stopping to question where it’s leading us. I’ve found it very helpful to develop a set of criteria to test the strength of a shiny new project idea…
Creative Writing Worksheet – Idea Engine (PDF) Here is a worksheet that will have you generating story ideas a dozen at a time! Fill the engine up with words and watch it work its genius. But write quickly, without second-guessing yourself! More writing worksheets to try… Things I Love About Stories Things I Love About…
Download This Worksheet (PDF) This worksheet contains 3 pages of questions to help with worldbuilding cities. I’ve always been fascinated by the way cities develop; how they evolve defences, infrastructure, boundaries, and districts. Where they’re built, what they’re built on, why they’re built where they’re built, who they’re built by… All these questions seem ripe…
Creative Writer Worksheet – Dislike to Like (PDF) The aim of this worksheet is to take something you dislike (football, politicians, traffic, hotels, broccoli?) and become intrigued by it. Sometimes we have to cultivate an interest in things we aren’t interested in, on behalf of our characters, and sometimes it’s just good to reevaluate our…
Create Killer Character Goals | Your protagonist needs both internal and external goals they’re prepared to fight tooth and nail to get.
Jami Gold's Writing Worksheets: Help for all writers, from newbies to experts and from plotters to pantsers.
Literary fiction writers tend to avoid plot. We’re trained to be plot snobs, focused only on character development and description and point-of-view amongst other things. But your story can’t be plotless. Plot is tension, plot is drama, plot IS story. So we must learn to fuse plot and character seam
150+ writing worksheets to help writers with common story, character and worldbuilding problems. Free for educational use.
Creative Writing Worksheet – Fighting (PDF) Conflict is great for the plot in general, but nothing’s better than a good fight scene to increase tension and provide the perfect opportunity for a try/fail cycle. This worksheet will help you brainstorm some ideas for your fight scene, whether it’s verbal, physical or something in between. >…
