Writing aid

Personal favourite websites whence I get most of the information I need related to one of my hobbies, writing

Welcome to Writing-World.com! Www.writing.upenn.edu/library/Mayer-Bernadette_Experiments.html. FREE Online Rhyming Dictionary - StumbleUpon. Fifty (50!) Tools which can help you in Writing - Stepcase Lifeh. Words to Try to Use in Colloquial Speech Without Sounding Like a Pretentious... - StumbleUpon. Creative Writing Exercises -- Creative Writing Exercises for Craft. No matter what stage you're at with your writing, it's always beneficial to work on craft and technique.

These creative writing exercises target common problems and weaknesses. Switch Point of View Both first person and third person have their strengths and weaknesses; what works for one story may not work for another. This creative writing exercise will help you observe the effect of writing in the point of view that's less familiar to you. A Day Without Modifiers While modifiers -- adjectives and adverbs -- can add to a story, too many, or the wrong ones, can bog down your prose and lead to weaker nouns and verbs. Avoid Back Story Unlike the other creative writing exercises on this list, this one asks you to work in another genre.

Listening for Dialogue Not everyone starts out with an ear for dialogue, but fortunately it can be developed, like any other skill. Description Creative Writing Exercise Who's the most memorable person you've ever met? 10 Reading Exercises for Fiction Writers. I always find it exciting when I discover a book that in some way echoes whatever I happen to be writing at the time. It might share a similarity of style, story, or structure, or any combination of the three. Whatever the similarity, I find it helpful to delve into the writing to see what lessons I can glean. After reading several duds recently, I finally came across such a book–The China Garden by Kristina Olsson. While the story isn’t similar to my current work, the prose captured me from the very first page. All I could think was,”That is exactly what I imagine for my finished manuscript.” When I find a book like this, there are several things I do while reading it.

They are: Analyze the story’s structure. These activities really help me focus on what makes an book outstanding, as opposed to simply reading it and saying, “Ooh, good read.” What books have you found helpful to analyze? Writing Exercises. Posted by Melissa Donovan on · Fiction writing exercises for story development. Fiction writing exercises can help you discover storytelling techniques and provide ideas and inspiration for your fiction writing projects.

For writers who are young or just starting out with fiction, these exercises provide practice and experience. For more experienced writers, these exercises offer inspiration and can help you see a story from new angles. Today’s fiction writing exercises are carefully chosen to help you develop some of the most critical components in a story. These exercises are similar to assignments you would complete in a college-level fiction writing class, exercises that push you in the direction of writing material that can be published. 1. We often think of them as the bad guy and the good guy or the hero and the villain, but those terms are becoming outdated as modern storytelling increasingly embraces protagonists who are highly flawed and antagonists who aren’t 100% evil. 2. 3. 1. Fiction Writing Exercises - Handouts - The Writing Center - The University of Iowa.

How to Write Characters. Try Dramatica & StoryWeaver Risk Free* *Try either or both for 90 days. Not working for you? Return for a full refund of your purchase price! About Dramatica and StoryWeaver Hi, I'm Melanie Anne Phillips, creator of StoryWeaver, co-creator of Dramatica and owner of Storymind.com. What They Do Dramatica is a tool to help you build a perfect story structure. How They Do It Dramatica has the world's only patented interactive Story Engine™ which cross-references your answers to questions about your dramatic intent, then finds any weaknesses in your structure and even suggests the best ways to strengthen them. StoryWeaver uses a revolutionary new creative format as you follow more than 200 Story Cards™ step by step through the story development process.

How They Work Together By itself Dramatic appeals to structural writers who like to work out all the details of their stories logically before they write a word. Try Both Programs Risk Free! We have a 90 Day Return Policy here at Storymind. Questionnaires for Writing Character Profiles - Creative Writing Help. Enter your e-mail to get the e-book for FREE. We'll also keep you informed about interesting website news. "I have searched the web and used different worksheets, but none have come close to your worksheets and descriptions of (what to do and what not to do). Both courses I have taken have with Creative Writing Now have been amazing. Each time I have learned something new. The one thing I love, you take everything apart and give examples.

" - Katlen Skye "As usual - I already love the course on Irresistible Fiction, rewriting a lot and improving greatly even after the first lesson. Thanks so much for the great courses. " - Kitty Safken “Essentials of Fiction proved that I could indeed write and I wrote every day, much to my boyfriend's dismay (waa sniff).” - Jill Gardner "I am loving the course and the peer interaction on the blog is fantastic!!! " "I'm enjoying the weekly email course, Essentials of Poetry Writing. "Thank you for all the material in this course. "I'm learning so much. Likable characters « Nail Your Novel. A foolish inconsistency – round out your characters with contradictions Think about the people you know. Who are you are most curious about? It’s not the ones who are most straightforward, although they are probably the easiest company. It’s the enigmas. The ones you can’t pin down, who dance to their own drum.

Consider the guy who’s gruff and abrasive when you talk to him, but surprises you by being fiercely loyal to his friends. More extremely, they might have an edge that makes it difficult to truly know them. This crowd make great central characters. It’s war To observers, they may seem inconsistent. They might feel the world is too small for them, but some complex equilibrium keeps them that way. Or they might be headed for tragedy. Contradictory characters might sabotage themselves. Likability Contradictory characters might not be liked by the reader – but likability doesn’t keep us reading as much as interest does. What it’s not How do you use contradictory characters? Cut it all out. In Writing,You Need a Likable Character. In Life, Be a Likable Character | Larry Shallenberger.

This isn’t the most high-brow thing to confess on a web site. But I love mixed martial arts. I’m working toward a black belt in a MMA system. I enjoy watching title fights. I just can’t watch The Ultimate Fighter reality show anymore. I can’t stomach it. Here’s why. It’s been seasons since the show has offered a contender whose character or story made you want to cheer for them. Donald Miller uses a counter example in his Storyline Conference. They answered the question by making Rocky likable. This isn’t to say that our characters need to be perfect. The thrust of Don’s Storyline conference is an experiment that fuses life and literature. What would happen if we paid attention to our personal character and became people work cheering for? For starters we’d have the strength of character to rise up, chase our ambitions, and overcome our conflicts.

(For an example of a fight movie with characters worth cheering on, see the Warrior Movie.) Advanced Fiction Writing Home Page. How to write a book – the short honest truth. Every author I know gets asked the same question: How do you write a book? It’s a simple question, but it causes unexpected problems. On the one hand, it’s nice to have people interested in something I do. If I told people I fixed toasters for a living, I doubt I’d get many inquires. People are curious about writing and that’s cool and flattering. Rock on. But on the other hand, the hand involving people who ask because they have an inkling to do it themselves, is that writing books is a topic so old and so well trod by so many famous people that anyone who asks hoping to discover secret advice is hard to take seriously.

Here’s the short honest truth: 20% of the people who ask me are hoping to hear this – Anyone can write a book. If you want to write, kill the magic: a book is just a bunch of writing. Writing a good book, compared to a bad one, involves one thing. Getting published. 30% of the time the real thing people are asking is how do you find a publisher. Discouraged yet? How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method. Pros and cons of the Snowflake Method » Jordan McCollum. Planning out a novel? Be sure to join my newsletter for a FREE plotting/revision roadmap, and check out the full series on plotting novels in a free PDF!

The Snowflake Method of story design is just one way to create a plot—but it’s not the best way, nor is it even a good way for all of us. (And we’ll continue to look at more methods to plot stories over the next two weeks.) We’ve already seen how Carol adapted the Snowflake Method to suit her needs as a writer, using its strengths for her and discarding its potential weaknesses. So what are the potential strengths and weaknesses of the Snowflake Method, so we can do this for ourselves? Pros After spending so much time refining them and writing about them, you get to know your characters and your plot well. Another strength is that you can start with almost nothing and “grow” a plot “naturally.”

Cons And I can say this from experience. And it wasn’t any fun. What do you think? Share and Enjoy. Common Themes in Literture - StumbleUpon. The Best 100 Opening Lines From Books.