As is true of most pursuits, the secret to getting better at writing is not much of a secret at all: do it, and keep doing it until you get better at it. In other words, you must commit to the the dreaded P-word—practice. There’s no wrong way to practice writing, and any time spent …

Why Intentional Writing Practice is the Key to Getting the Best Results Read More »

Exposition is a difficult aspect of writing to master, and also one of the most pivotal to the success of your story. Done right, the various elements of your story flow together seamlessly—and done wrong, it can cause the whole thing to fall apart. At its worst, exposition can veer off into the dreaded territories …

How Exposition Can Help You Avoid the Great Literary Sin of Infodumping Read More »

If ever there was a subject deserving of a two-parter, it’s verb tense. Last time, we gave an overview of the three primary tenses and the four grammatical aspects at play in each of them. What we didn’t do, however, was break down each of the specific combinations of tenses and aspects and their use cases. …

Perfecting Past, Present, and Future: Verb Tenses Made Easy (Part II) Read More »

Many of us who sit down to write do so because we feel compelled to in some way, whether it be out of enthusiasm for things that we’ve read, a passion for sharing knowledge, or some other force that has driven us to create. However powerful that driving force may be, as things become difficult—and …

Looking For Reasons to Keep Writing and Not Throw In the Towel? Look No Further! Read More »

Verb tense. No matter how many writing courses we take, or how much we think we understand it, when the time comes to put pen to paper, we can still find ourselves unsure of which to deploy in certain circumstances. Sometimes, we are sure, and we don’t realise we’re wrong until our manuscript comes back from …

Perfecting Past, Present, and Future: Verb Tenses Made Easy (Part I) Read More »

Writing a manuscript is a long and difficult process. Depending on your scope and your approach, it could take you months, years, or even decades to arrive at a final product. If writing is something you do casually and you aren’t in any sort of hurry, it may be of little concern to you how …

Why Setting Goals For Your Writing is the Key to Achieving Them Flawlessly Read More »

The average manuscript is somewhere around 80,000 words in length. If you’re like me and, even in your thirties, are still measuring every length of writing against the 700-word essays you were made to write in high school, that’s a little over 114 poorly referenced essays on topics you didn’t really care about. If those …

What It Means to Think Like a Writer, and How It Can Help Perfect Your Practice Read More »

At a glance, there doesn’t seem to be much of a connection between psychology and writing. What could the scientific study of the human mind possibly have to do with your whimsical tale about sentient, shapeshifting dolphins? In a word … everything! One of the basic tenets of a considered writing practice is knowing exactly …

How Getting to Know the Basics of Psychology Can Drastically Improve Your Writing Read More »

Among the arts, writing is fairly unique in that the great majority of people can participate in it without any special training. Not accounting for natural talent, the best that most of us can do is draw something vaguely cat-shaped and butcher an Oasis song on karaoke night. On the other hand, writing is something …

Three Weird Writing Habits You May Have Picked Up Without Even Realising It Read More »