Writing

Learning how to break a sentence on purpose is one of the easiest ways to make your writing more interesting. But breaking sentences is not about making mistakes or not following grammar rules. It’s a deliberate technique that you can use to add emphasis, create rhythm, or bring more variety to your writing. It doesn’t…

You might think that polite words in writing are harmless, but some are words that weaken writing without you noticing. When you write, you want to sound considerate, friendly, and understanding. Yet, certain words you use for politeness can quietly dilute your message. Using everyday words like just, maybe, or I think is often a…

Almost every day, we hear claims that writing is dead. From blogs and books to AI-generated content, there is a growing concern that human writing is disappearing. But this fear is not new. Every major shift in communication, from the printing press to newspapers, typewriters, and computers, has been seen as a threat to writing.…

Two common types of fixed expressions we use in writing are idioms and clichés. Idioms can help with variety by expressing ideas in a figurative way instead of a long-winded literal explanation. Clichés, although similar, are phrases that we see repeated so often that they risk showing a lack of thought in writing. While both…

You always want to give your writing more punch, and finding ways to end a sentence is one of the best. Strong sentence endings can be more memorable, or create a rhythm to your writing to help keep your readers’ interest. You can leave them hanging in suspense, create emphasis, bring closure, or use a…

Your thesaurus is a writer’s go-to tool for finding uncommon words that you hope will give a sentence a lift. Very often, you might have ten or even twenty options to replace a single word. But do you simply want to avoid repetition or impress a reader with your vocabulary? Using an extended vocabulary is…

When you want to describe smells in writing, it’s easy to feel lost for words. You can skip over it by saying something smelled good or bad, but shortcuts like that won’t connect with readers. Imagine describing arriving rain after a period of drought. It’s a delicate, sweet, earthy scent. Fortunately, there’s a word for…

I was very surprised to discover that Gen Z writers are reading my writing and publishing advice articles. Not only that, but they also represent the largest percentage of my readers. When I started writing, typewriters, notebooks, and pencils were the only writing tools, and telephones were rotary dial. Dial-up Internet modems came a long…

AI training isn’t any longer a tech experiment you read about in the news. It’s happening in real-time and probably scanning your writing right now. All your blog posts, chapter drafts, or articles you’ve published or shared online are precisely the sort of material AI crawlers vacuum up every minute of the day. I know…

You always want to improve your writing or workflow, and free cloud writing apps can be a tempting and productive idea. At first, you might think you have found the perfect tool because it has a great interface, cloud storage, and comes with a few handy little features; and all for free. After some initial…