Setting The Scene

Coming up with interesting settings, and using them effectively can be a difficult step for many fiction writers. Below you’ll find some creative exercises to help you make the most of setting in your fiction. Start a “Setting” Journal Begin looking...

Tips for Priming the Writing Pump

Humans are creatures who cling to ritual. As a species, we hope that rituals enlighten us. We hope that rituals help us make the journey from one point to another easier somehow. We hope that rituals help us keep connected to what has come before and what may come in...

How to Write Successful Endings

The most-asked question when someone describes a novel, movie or short story to a friend probably is, “How does it end?” Endings carry tremendous weight with readers; if they don’t like the ending, chances are they’ll say they didn’t like...

17 Writing Secrets

1. Never save your best for last. Start with your best. Expend yourself immediately, then see what happens. The better you do at the beginning, the better you continue to do. 2. The opening paragraph, sentence, line, phrase, word, title — the beginning is the most...

10 Tabloid Tips To Better Writing

Shocking! Incredible! Amazing! Reading the supermarket tabloids can actually make you a better writer. Some mainstream journalists and writers look down their noses at The National Enquirer, Star and Globe. But they shouldn’t. These publications, owned by...