Writing

Fiction writing only works when the plot of a story makes perfect sense to a reader. “The king died, and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot. E. M. Forster It’s an old quote, but I was reminded of it when I…

Writing tools today are a long way removed from typewriters and carbon paper. The days of sending or posting typed or printed manuscripts are well and truly over. Every word you write now is digital, electronic, and published via the Internet. You exchange drafts by email or share them on Google Drive. If you attend…

Is using ing words in writing considered weak? You are always using these words, but there are no rules to break when you use verb forms or words that end in ing. English has only two participle forms, which are ed and ing. Because of this, you are going to use a lot of these…

One of the easiest ways to improve your writing is to learn about the six defined yet different writing styles. When you understand the differences between each one, they will help you decide on word choice, sentence structure, and formality. In other words, you can maintain a specific style to suit any particular piece of…

What is the rule of three in writing? The rule uses the basis that items that come in groups of three are more memorable than other numbers. Literature, movies, and many forms of creative writing, as well as advertising, often use the rule. We all know set expressions like stop, look and listen. The rule…

Discovering how to polish your writing is a matter of learning, checking, editing, and proofreading. When you start writing your first draft, concentrate purely on getting all your ideas down. You shouldn’t worry at all about spelling and grammar checking at this stage. Good writers know that ideas are the most valuable asset in any…

The best writing advice for any new writer is always about getting the basics right and learning how to write well. These apply to all types of writing and publishing. It doesn’t matter if you write a book, an article, an essay, or a blog post. You need to use the same basic writing skills.…

Always be on your guard for the most common writing mistakes appearing in your writing. You might have written and published a perfect book. You could be a fantastic blogger. Your poetry may be astounding. We all make grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes when we write in a hurry. But a good writer will always…

Many free Microsoft Word alternatives are available now, so you have plenty of choices. I’m sure you don’t prepare business plans with charts and graphs. You don’t use online collaboration tools or schedule meetings for a group of directors. I doubt you would ever need to create business presentations with 100 slides. You write your…

It hits every writer. What should I write about? It’s late in the day, and you run out of ideas. You could be writing a book or trying to draft a blog post or a content marketing article. No matter what form you are writing, you are suddenly bereft of good ideas. It happens to every writer. So…