Creative Writing Tips

    • Writing Ideas - Don't Quit Your Day Job

    • David Sedaris talked about it in one of his lectures he gave. One of the biggest challenges about becoming a writer is making it your full-time job. Work is one of the biggest inspirations for your writing, and so, making your job writing cuts you off from a lot of that inspiration. You might one day have to quit your job to make time for writing, but don't forget to find your muse.
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    • Let Your Readers Be Cheerleaders

    • To ensure your audience enjoys your book, it's good to provide them with a character they can root for. If your reader feels no sympathy for any of the characters in the book, or never develops an attachment to their cause, then the reader will lose interest.
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    • Revising - Writing Groups

    • One of the best ways to keep you writing and finishing work is when you have a deadline. If you don't ACTUALLY have a deadline, having a regularly meeting writing group is a great way to impose a deadline on your work. It also allows people to provide input and give you further insight on your writing. As such, by joining a writing group, you're able to get people to edit your work, come up with new ideas, and keep yourself on task.
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    • Revising - Paragraph Review

    • When you're happy with your piece, a great technique is to do a paragraph review. Read the piece and after each paragraph, write down what the paragraph adds to the piece. This will help you evaluate what information is necessary and what is fluff. Kurt Vonnegut put it best when he said: "Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action."
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    • Characterization - Love Before Death

    • If you want readers to be invested in your story, it's crucial that you make sure your reader falls in love with your character before you "kill them off." Note: This doesn't only apply when you are actually killing a character but applies in most situations. If your reader doesn't feel a strong connection with your character, then he or she won't care about the things that happen to your character. If you talk about how sad it was when you lost your best friend, make sure the reader loves your best friend too.
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