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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: Spell Check

For today's tip, Cia found a fantastic "Ode to the Spell Check". It appears to have been written by Nico van Tonder from Zaire who wrote it around 1999.   Ode to the Spell Check Eye halve a spelling chequer It cam with my pea sea It plainly marques four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.   Eye strike a key and type a word And weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong oar write It shows me strait a weigh.   As soon as a mist ache is maid It nose bee fore two long And eye can
Trebs

Trebs in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Said-Bookisms

Today we have another very informative writing tip from Cia! Enjoy!!! Said-bookisms   I'm betting you have NO idea what a said-bookism is, do you? I know I didn't; I do know what the term means though, in a general sense. A said-bookism is a speech tag other than said or asked. Quite often they are used to describe the speech or the tone.   A few examples: He laughed She shrieked They intoned He smiled   Now, these are really common in usage, yet frowned upon more and more. Somethi
Renee Stevens

Renee Stevens in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Oops, It's Wrong... Or Is It?

Cia has done it again and written what I think is a fantastic writing tip. Check it out and see if you agree... Oops, it's wrong... or is it?   So many times I get confused by the complexities of English grammar, I'm sure many of you are the same. The rules are often contradictory, and the exceptions to exceptions are absolutely a quagmire of missteps and misspells waiting to trap you. I recently read an article that said to polish your writing skills, spend thirty minutes a month revi
Trebs

Trebs in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: The English Language

Myr found this joke and shared it with us. It may be a joke, but it is also very informative! We'd love to know YOUR thoughts on it!   English Joke/ Writing Primer   I think a retired English teacher was bored.   THIS IS GREAT!   Read all the way to the end................. This took a lot of work to put together!   You think English is easy??   1) The bandage was wound around the wound.   2) The farm was used to produce produce.   3) The dump was so full that it had to r
Trebs

Trebs in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Revisiting "on-Hold" Stories

Revisiting "On-Hold" Stories By Renee Stevens As a writer, many of us may find times when we get stuck. Maybe we push a story to the back-burner and think, ‘oh, I’ll go back to it later.’ Then the time comes and we realize that we have no idea exactly where we want the story to go. Here’s just a few tips that might just help you get past the block and finish up some of those on-hold stories. Tip #1: When you finish a story and are trying to decide what to work on next, go back t
Trebs

Trebs in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Head Hopping

How To Recognize a Head Hop Some of you may be asking, what exactly do you mean by a “head hop”. Head hopping is something that many of us have been accused of at one time or another. In this lesson we are going to look at how to recognize a head hop and ways in which to correct it. What is a head hop? A head hop is when you have a chapter or story that is from one characters point of view but you find that you have unintentionally included things such as thoughts of another character.
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Those Pesky Words

Those Pesky Words by Cia I was having a discussion with an author the other day about words. Why do we pick the ones we use when we write? What should the focus be on, the words themselves or they image they are meant to convey? When I first started writing, I used a lot of formal language. For example, from my first story, The Price of Honor: The strange color registered with his consciousness but he continued to stare blankly about, trying to process the abrupt disloca
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Plot Bunnies

Um... hi again! Sorry about yesterday seems I had a med reaction to the new med. Needless to say I'm back, although not quite together. I'd like to bring to you an essay by Dark today. Hope you enjoy it. Plot Bunnies There’s nothing as nefarious as a plot bunny. Lurking in the corners of a writer’s brain like cockroaches, plot bunnies live to nibble on productivity. Those sharp front teeth bite and gnaw with a crunsh crunsh crunsh until single-minded focus turns into somethin
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Research

Many of you noticed the little faux pas I made in the beginning of yesterday's blog. Oops. Well, I received some interesting feedback over it, including a shoutout to this little gem, so I thought I would share.... Cia on Research... So, I read an ebook recently. Big surprise there, lol. Several things jumped out at me as I read it that let me know that the writer was definitely NOT a resident of the state they set it in. Not only did they describe the summer weather as humid, whi
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Creating A Credible Villain

You know we all love a bad boy. We all love them better in our stories. But can we write them? Today's tip talks about... Creating a Credible Villain by Renee Stevens When creating a villain for your story, there are many things that need to be considered. Villains are not ALL bad. While they will have mostly flaws, they most likely will also have something about them that is good. This could be anything. A serial killer could also be a devoted family man. Your villain
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Motivation

Motivation. What makes a writer start writing and keep at it day after day? I asked Mark to write something for the blog, and that was the topic he chose. So, let's all take a peek inside Mark's head and see what he thinks... Chronicles of Chronicles: How I wrote “Chronicles of An Academic Predator” I’ve learned that when someone really hot, really charming, really bitchy, and/or really sinister asks you to do something, it’s usually a good idea to agree, especially if they have
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Physical Description

While poking around in the forums the other day I found myself in the Editor's forum looking at a thread concerning physical descriptions and how authors handle writing them. It seemed the biggest concern was how to get the info across without the story sounding like something plucked from the Nifty's "First Time" collection. I'm not going to repeat all the discussion from there to here, if you are an author, you should read it. If you are a new author... please read it. What I am going to
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Out Of The Ooze

Well, yesterday was an interesting day... I would like to go on record as saying I did write today's tip. Take it with the intended humor is it written with... Out of the Ooze by Lugh Please understand that what I am about to share with you is a personal experience. It is not based on any research nor is it scientifically sound; take it with a grain of salt. Better yet, save the salt, you may very well need it when you get to ‘The End’. I have heard authors speak repeatedly aga
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Tip Thursday

Herm, we've had a resource, a writing tip, an editing tip... how about a site tip?   How to promote your story on GA:   Just as you'd find with a book placed on the bookshelf in a store, your story can get lost on GA among the other stories if you don't make it stand out. Most importantly, imo, is to have a story that engages and interests readers and then try some of these other tips to help improve your fan base.   1. Post regularly if you are writing a serial work. We ask that you don't
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Structuring & Punctuating Dialogue

Everyone who has ever tried to pass eighth grade knows what a pain grammar can be, and one of the worst things in my personal opinion is punctuating dialogue. As many of you know, Cia edits for me, and one of her favorite things to do is smack me around for not putting proper punctuation around my speech tags. So, in honor of my favorite fallacy she agreed to educate everyone – enjoy! Important rules about structuring and punctuating dialogue: Definition of a speech tag: Any descriptiv
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip Joke

How about a Blast From the Past? This was printed in our 2007 Vol2 Ed 4 Newsletter under Jokes: How To Write Good 1. Avoid alliteration. Always. 2. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. 3. Employ the vernacular. 4. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc. 5. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary. 6. Remember to never split an infinitive. 7. Contractions aren't necessary. 8. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos. 9. One shoul
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: The Essential Writer's Reference

Today you are being brought a book selection. The Essential Writer's Reference is an outstanding resource if you can get your hands on one. They do come used, and very cheap. If you would like more books for writers, both old and new, there is a thread in the writer's corner where they can be found. The Oxford Essential Writer's Reference Berkley Press, 2005. This is an excellent writer's reference that is current and more relevant to the task of creative writing than the Little, Bro
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Author Advice

Tip Tuesdays is being lead off with a short article written by one of the hardest working editors on the site, Sharon. In the future, on Tuesdays, you can look forward to writing, editing, site, or other tips that we think you may find useful. If you have something you would like to share, drop a PM and let me know.   Good for you! But take it from a veteran editor and reader, it takes more than the desire to put pen to paper. Or keys to screen. Trust me…it took me two days to write t
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips

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