Writing

Question tags in dialogue are not always a good idea. They are often called tag questions in American English and are very common in spoken English. They are easy to form using a positive or negative auxiliary verb to turn a statement into a question. You live in San Francisco, don’t you? By using rising…

Are you ready to start writing a fantasy novel? Well, nothing is stopping you with these free fantasy writing tools. It is a fantastic writing genre because you can let your imagination run totally free. Another good reason is that fantasy stories are very popular with readers, especially young adults. If you are eager and…

Character development is essential to fiction writing, and a character profile template can help you. You need to get to know your fictional characters well before you start writing your story. No matter what genre you are writing, you should create profiles for your main characters before you begin. Creating a quick bio profile template…

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.…