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Featuring everything new and experienced authors need to develop creative and technical skills. Check out writing development articles, our Word of the Day, writing prompts, anthology opportunities and more!

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: The Indefinite Article

The Indefinite Article       By       andy021278       A daft question: Do I use “A” or “An”?   Well it does seem like a daft question doesn’t it, but it’s amazing how many people still struggle with this; especially when confronted by the more obscure grammatical areas such as acronyms and abbreviations?   I’ve seen wrong uses in stories posted on line, in published works in print, in newspaper articles and even in professional publications.   The bas
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Writing Tips

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #216 & #217

ANNOUNCEMENT: Today is the last day to get your anthology stories in for the Spring Anthology: A Night to Remember. If you have any questions on how to submit, please PM me. Now, without further delay, onto our weekly prompts!   Comicfan always manages to come up with something that sounds quite interesting and this week is no exception. If you tackle either of these prompts why not share them with everyone else by posting them in the Writing Prompt Forum!   Prompt 216 – Creative Tag – Poli
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #214 & #215

I always look forward to seeing what our prompt guru Comicfan comes up with for the weekly prompt. As always, he once again delivers. I really hope some of you decide to take a gamble at one or both of these prompts. If you do, don't forget to share them in the Writing Prompt Forum!   Prompt 214 – Creative Tag – The Vacation You were hired to create the perfect vacation spot. There is only one little problem with the whole thing. What is it?   Prompt 215 – Creative Tag – The Blind Date Your
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #212 & #213

Well, it's time to get a kickstart on the weekend again, and what better way to do that than to provide two new prompts from our prompt guru, Comicfan. Why not give them a try and share them with the community in the Prompt Forum!   Prompt 212 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following words in a story – sword, tuna fish, compass, flip flops, and a star.   Prompt 213 – Creative Tag – First Line “You want me to do what?”   I was looking through the prompt responses and for today's fea
Renee Stevens

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Less Is More

Libby Drew has been great in providing us with content for the GA News Blog and continues to bring us some wonderful articles on the art of writing. I hope you all enjoy this lesson that she took the time to put together for us. Less is More   That thing I say all the time, how less is more? It applies to your characters too.   Less detail makes for more believable characters.   Carlton entered the room. Six feet tall, broad-shouldered, he wore a finely tailored three-piece pinstri
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Writing Tips

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #210 & #211

TGIF! Thank goodness it's Friday and we all know that means prompts! Check out this week's inspirations from our lovely prompt guru, Comicfan.   Prompt 210: As if things didn't go wrong normally, you were killed accidentally this morning when a bus driver swerved on a wet road to avoid a kitten and plowed right into the coffee shop where you were waiting to get your morning coffee. Instead of a trip to heaven or hell, you are met and told you are actually going to work as grim reaper. What is
Cia

Cia in Prompts

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #208 & #209

I don't know about everyone else out there, but I always look forward to Fridays. Not just because its the start to the weekend, but because every Friday our resident prompt guru Comicfan brings us two new prompts! I couldn't tell you how many of these prompts I have started writing something for only to decide it needs to be continued. I have at least six prompts began on my computer. Maybe one these days I'll get them finished. Until then though, check out the new prompts and share them in the
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #206 & #207

"It's me again, Margaret!" No, I'm not quite that old but my Dad controlled the TV growing up. For you young'uns, maybe this will prompt you to google it; the man was funny! Okay, so this week I'm bringing you two more great prompts from our resident flash fiction guru man, Comicfan and a prompt selection from a new GA Author, Wicked Witch!   First, our dose of weekly inspiration:   Prompt 206 – Creative Tag – The Dance There is a long standing story that if any of the fairy folk ask you to
Cia

Cia in Prompts

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #204 & #205

Well, Robert's off freezing his bits at the capital and internet gremlins have struck at Renee's, so you get a weekly prompt blog from yours truly! As always, our very own inspiring prompt guru, Comicfan has 2 interesting scenarios to intrigue you. Don't forget, if you decide to try one of these out, share it with the rest of us in the Writing Prompt Forum!!   Prompt 204 – Creative Tag – The Monster Hunter You always thought you were the only one. You hunted down the dark and the evil, until t
Cia

Cia in Prompts

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Character Interviews

We're always looking for stuff for our Wacky Wednesday and this time, Cia came through with this piece on Character Interviews. Enjoy!! Character Interviews by Cia   I recently answered a tip request with some information regarding character interviews and I thought I’d take it site wide, so to speak. When you write a story, especially anything approaching novel length, you need to make it as vivid as possible for readers to keep them interested. One way to hook readers is throug
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Writing Tips

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #202 & #203

Well, it's finally TGIF day, better known as Prompt Me day!! So lets see what our prompt guru Comicfan has in store for us this week. Don't forget, if you decide to try one of these out, share it with the rest of us in the Writing Prompt Forum!!   Prompt 202 – Creative Tag – Immortals You have been having the day from hell. It seems that everything that could go wrong today did. Then you almost have an accident only to find out that the person you nearly hit isn’t human. In fact, you have just
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Prompts

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Don't Leave Your Readers Deaf And Blind

I always love it when we get a feature from Libby Drew - having someone who has been there, able relate writing tips from experience, is a valuable experience. Here she talks about using the characters various senses in your writing. Enjoy!   Don’t Leave Your Readers Deaf and Blind by Libby Drew   “Stop! You’re scaring me,” Megan said   “I’m not trying to scare you,” Steve soothed. “We need to talk.”   “Don’t come any closer!” Megan cried.   “Don’t be afraid, Megan,” Stev
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Prompts

Writing Prompts #200 & #201

Once again it is time for our weekly prompts thanks to the hard work of Comicfan. Best way to show your appreciation? Try one of these out, and please share it with the rest of the community in our Writing Prompts forum!       Prompt 200 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following words in a story: strawberry, tea rag, bottle of soda, brownies, and cat.   Prompt 201 – Creative Tag – The Cat Your cat has been bringing you presents. They aren’t the usual – no mice, birds, or anything li
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Prompts

Writing Prompts #198 & #199

For some of us, it's been a short work week, but Friday's are still a day to look forward to. We always look forward to Friday's here as that means two new writing prompts, thanks to Comicfan, our writing prompt's guru. These writing prompts are a great way to stretch the writing muscles - but when you do, share your efforts with the community in our Writing Prompts forum.   Prompt 198 – Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following in a story – dish rag, a new shirt, a box of chocolates, a b
Trebs

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #196 & #197

Holidays are wonderful lazy times.... Um - and so, sorry about the delay in putting up this week's prompts.   We are always thankful to Comicfan for giving us two more wonderful prompts - I hope you might write a response to at least one of them, and please be sure to share with the rest of the community in the Writing Prompts forum.   Prompt 196 – Creative Tag – The Billion Dollar decision. The future has seen too many children being born with either birth defects or low intelligence. In ad
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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: "write What You Know" Doesn't Mean Show Off

For those that celebrated it, I hope everyone had a great Christmas yesterday. And for those that don't celebrate it, I hope you still got a good haul.   Now on to Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, Post-Festivus winter sales, and the ever important Pre-New Year's Eve creative writing exercises ("This year, I *WILL* stop gagging everytime I see the neighbor's newborn", "This year, I promise to exercise... starting next week - or, by the end of the month... well, maybe...").   And to help you with your wri
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Prompts

Writing Prompts #194 & #195

Well - since the world ended, no one is reading this, right? Heh - just in case, I guess I should let you know what this week's writing prompts are. I mean - maybe our Prompt-guru Comicfan knew something the Mayans didn't, because we have two new prompts from him.   So - if we're all here tomorrow, check out these prompts and give one (or both) a try. But when you do, please share with the rest of the community in our Writing Prompts forum - cause you wouldn't want bad karma because you decide
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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: No Warm-Ups Required

A big "Thank You" to Libby Drew for this weeks Wednesday blog! No Warm-ups Required: Why Opening Matters   Warming up before you exercise makes good sense. You need to increase your body temperature. Stimulate blood flow to your ligaments. Mentally prepare yourself for what’s to come. Warming up for a workout is all about starting slow and building momentum.   Fiction is not exercise. Never start a story with a warm-up.   In other words, don’t open your masterpiece with an in depth
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Writing Tips

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #192 & #193

REMINDER - Today is the deadline for the Special Mayan Tribute Anthology "End of the World." If you have any issues posting/etc with the anthology, you can contact Cia, who is the temporary anthology coordinator.   So, after you finish posting your anthology story, come on back here to try out one of our new writing prompts, courtesy of Prompt-Guru Comicfan. Please share what you come up with in our Writing Prompts forum!   Prompt 192 –Creative Tag – List of Words Use the following words in
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Trebs in Prompts

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: The Infinitive - To Split Or Not To Split

Happy 12/12/12 to everyone - and to celebrate, here is a writing tip piece by Andy021278 that we hope you find useful. Enjoy!       The Infinitive: To Split or Not to Split by Andy021278   We’ve all seen it. We’ve probably all hurled expletives over it. And more than one of us has probably fretted over it at some time or another. It’s that annoying grammar check in MS Word, and other similar word processing programs, which tells you that you’ve split an infinitive. Well
Trebs

Trebs in Writing Tips

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Prompts

Writing Prompts #190 & #191

ANNOUNCEMENT - LAST MINUTE REMINDER!!! Entries for the "Desperate Ends" Winter anthology are due tomorrow - NO EXCEPTIONS! Remember that Cia has temporarily taken over anthologies so please let her know if you have any trouble posting your submissions.   Thanks to our Prompt-guru Comicfan, we bring you two great new prompts:   Prompt 190 – Creative Tag – The Note You came home to find a note that listed everything about you, including your last lover, and where you hide your toys. There isn’
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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: The Writer's Yellow Brick Road

We're always grateful to our contributors, and especially to Libby Drew for this great article on traveling with Dorothy from a first to a second draft. Enjoy!       The Writer’s Yellow Brick Road: Journey from First to Second Draft by Libby Drew       First drafts are often wordy. We make them that way because at the divine moment we’re crafting a scene, adding words is the only way to get the details across. Soliloquies abound. Descriptions clutter. Characters chatt
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Prompts

Writing Prompts #188 & #189

So Friday means another prompt day. And - um, if you were here last week, prompt day can get to be a little ... wild. I do have to thank joann414, Mark92 and K.C. for giving me a serious set of belly laughs.   In addition to the above named trio, we have to always give thanks to our Prompt-guru Comicfan for two new fantastic prompts. I hope you try one (or both) but please share it with the community in our Writing Prompts Forum (though, you can also put it in the comments - but so that future
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Prompts

Writing Prompts #186 & #187

Good morning and happy trypophan-coma day! One way to fight your way out of the sleepyness is to engage your brain with a good, quick writing exercise, say ... OH - maybe write a response to one of our great weekly writing prompts, provided by our Prompt-guru Comicfan. But it is only fair, once you've helped yourself out of your funk, to share your response with the community in the Writing Prompt forum so others can engage their brains and marvel at what you pulled together!       Prompt 18
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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Participial Phrases 101

Participial Phrases 101, Or The First Thing Your Editor Is Going To Yell At You About       By       Libby Drew   That’s not true, by the way. All editors are angels.   So… a participial phrase. What is it? According to grammaruntied.com, it’s a word group consisting of a present participle (also known as an -ing form) or past participle (also known as an -en form), plus any modifiers, objects, and complements.   If you find the English class gibberish definition c
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