Tag Archives: creative writing

Deliberate Practice: How to Become Great (At Writing or Anything)

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How do you become truly great at something, one of the best in the world? Or at least better than you are?

Many people believe that greatness comes from talent and natural inclination. They believe that great athletes and artists are born, not made, and so what’s the point in trying if you’re not naturally talented?

I used to believe that, too, but everything changed for me when I discovered practice, the idea that not only can you become great through your own efforts, but that all of the best writers, musicians, painters, and athletes in the world have done the same.

In this guide, we’re going to be exploring how you can become a better writer by following  the principles of deliberate practice (this is The Write Practice, after all), but generally, how you can improve your skill level in any field.

We’ll look at the four components of deliberate practice that will make your practice time actually work. Finally, we’ll get a chance to start actually practicing our writing through a creative writing exercise.

Ready to accomplish your writing goals? Let’s get started!

Are Great Writers Born or Made? (In Other Words, Does Practice Really Matter?)

Like many people, as a young, aspiring writer, I believed that great writers were talented, that they had an innate ability for writing that all but predisposed them for success.

There was a problem with this mindset, though, because every time I received negative feedback on my writing, it made me question whether I had enough natural ability. Could I succeed at a professional level when people were criticizing my best work?

Sometimes I would get so discouraged I would think I should just quit. But then, just in time, someone would praise my writing and I would go back to believing I was a genius destined for greatness.

And this is the problem with having a fixed mindset in which you are born with a certain amount of natural ability that predetermines your performance. Instead of being able to use feedback to improve your skill level, you become very vulnerable to it.

When I instead adopted a growth mindset, believing that the most important criterion for my success was the amount of effort I put into practice, it changed everything for me.

This mindset helped me to focus on what I could control—my focus, persistence, and the coaches and mentors I surrounded myself with—rather than what was outside of my control, namely whatever innate talent I did or did not have.

It transformed my life so much that I started a whole community around it, The Write Practice, to help others accomplish their writing goals through deliberate practice.

But there is good practice, practice that will help you actually succeed in your writing life, and there is bad practice that will just lead to a lot of hours wasted. What are the components of deliberate practice, and can you make sure you’re practicing effectively?

If you want to become a great writer, you need to develop a deliberate practice. This article shares four components you should add to your writing practice.

What is Deliberate Practice? Definition of Deliberate Practice

>Deliberate practice is the effortful, structured, repetition of tasks for the purpose of improvements of performance beyond a current skill level.

The term deliberate practice was first coined by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and a team of researchers to describe why some classical musicians achieve elite performance and others don’t. In their study, K. A. Ericsson et al stated that those with expert-level performance in music had at least 10,000 hours of practice over the course of their lifetimes.

Malcolm Gladwell then popularized this into the “10,000 hour rule,” or about ten years, in his book Outliers.

As Ericsson says, “This is based on findings from a wide range of domains where research has suggested that a minimum of 10 years of goal-directed, hard work is required for an individual to reach a level of expert proficiency.”

The 4 Components of Deliberate Practice

There are four deliberate practice principles that you must follow if you want to reach expert-level performance. Namely, deliberate practice is structured, effortful, and requires feedback and repetition.

Here are the four things you need to develop an effective writing practice:

1. Deliberate Practice Is Structured

Deliberate practice is a structured activity with the explicit goal to improve current level of performance. For example, if you have the goal of becoming a better basketball player, simply playing a lot of basketball may lead to improvements in performance. However, incorporating drills, exercises, and other structure methods to develop certain aspects of your game will lead to much faster improvements in actual performance.

The same is true for writers. Spending a lot of time writing will certainly help you become a better writer, but having a specific focus when you write will help you improve faster. For example, you could focus on show don’t tell one writing session, or when you’re editing, you could focus on crafting more realistic dialogue.

Purposeful practice focuses on one aspect, one specific skill, not the entire craft at once.

Also, the exercises must also be tailored to your current level of skill. That means that having a coach or teacher who can direct you to the right focuses for your skill level is helpful.

As Daniel Coyle says in The Little Book of Talent, “There is a place, right on the edge of your ability, where you learn best and fastest.”

How to Apply It To Your Writing:

  • Use short, structured writing exercises (like the ones we have daily on The Write Practice) to practice specific writing skills.
  • Write several short stories. Short stories have traditionally been the training ground for writers.
  • Whatever you do, finish your writing pieces (e.g. novels, essays, nonfiction books, short stories, articles). If you don’t finish, you fail to through each phase of the writing process and miss many practicing opportunities.

2. Deliberate Practice Is Effortful

When you hear that you need 10,000 hours to become a top-level performer in a field, whether it’s writing, music, athletics, or accounting, you might think that all you have to do is put in the hours and you’ll reach all of your goals.

However, Ericsson calls the type of practice that is just about putting in the hours “naive practice” as opposed to deliberate, focused practice. Naive practice, he finds, doesn’t lead to superior performance. Instead, it ends with relative mediocrity.

In other words, you can’t journal your way to becoming a great writer.

You can’t journal your way to become a great writer. Great writing comes through deliberate, effortful practice.

How to Apply It To Your Writing:

  • Write a piece you can publish. Journaling in private is cathartic, but extended writing for public consumption forces you to put in the effort required to get better.
  • Again, finish your writing pieces. Writing until “The End” takes effort, but it’s what’s required to get better.
  • Join a writing contest like this one.

3. Deliberate Practice Requires Feedback

Without expert feedback, without someone looking over your shoulder to see what’s working in your practice and what’s not, you simply won’t improve.

You can practice for 100,000 hours, but without constant feedback, your skill level will plateau.

This was the biggest game changer for me in my writing. As I mentioned, I used to view negative feedback as a threat to my talent.

Once I adopted a practicing mindset, though, feedback became my greatest resource.

How do you get feedback? In the writing field feedback comes from three places: expert feedback from editors and other professionals, peer feedback from other writers, and audience feedback from readers. All are incredibly helpful and can lead to lasting change, but expert and peer level feedback should be prioritized.

Most of all, take all feedback graciously, accepting what you can learn and letting go of what isn’t helpful for you in that moment. Remember that consistently negative feedback doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer or, even more, that you never will be a great writer. It just means that you need more practice!

How to Apply It To Your Writing:

4. Deliberate Practice Requires Repetition

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

We get better through consistent practice, by repeating the above steps hundreds, even thousands of times.

Stephen King famously wrote hundreds of short stories that were rejected by editors before his first one was published. He would put a nail through rejection letters until he had a stack of them almost as long as the nail. Then he would start the next story.

In the same way, to develop your creative skill, you need regular practice. Writing one story, one book, one blog post, one essay isn’t enough. Instead, once you’re finished with one book, start the next one.

There is something freeing about this. So many people treat their writing as this thing that must be perfect, and it freezes them up, causing writer’s block and a host of other problems.

What if your writing doesn’t have to be perfect? What if it could just be practice? How could that change your mindset, helping you to write more and become a better writer faster?

How to Apply It To Your Writing:

  • Practice consistently! That’s why we post one new writing exercise every day, to give you the chance to practice. Subscribe here.
  • Join the 100 Day Book program and finish a book through a proven process. Then, when you’re finished, write another book using the same process!

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

This is also where intrinsic motivation comes in. If you are running off only extrinsic motivation, external rewards, you will quit. You won’t have enough driving you to keep showing up when the work gets hard.

No, the people who succeed are intrinsically motivated. They have the grit and persistence to keep going because they are driven by the work itself.

I love this quote from Robert Green, which I think speaks to this level of commitment. He says,

“Engaged in the creative process we feel more alive than ever, because we are making something and not merely consuming, masters of the small reality we create. In doing this work, we are in fact creating ourselves.”

Do you have this level of motivation for your practice? Could you develop it?

How The Write Practice Can Help You Become a Better Writer

How do you practice writing?

At The Write Practice, we truly believe that everyone can become a great writer through deliberate practice.

Over the last ten years, we’ve published thousands of lessons, created hundreds of hours of videos and trainings, and led dozens of writing courses.

In that time, we’ve helped millions of people learn new writing techniques, write books, get published, and accomplish their writing goals.

We’d love to help you too.

Every day, we post a new writing lesson and exercise, giving you the chance to learn something new and put it to practice immediately.

If you’d like to practice with us, sign up for our writing community or consider starting your first practice exercise below.

Happy practicing!

So how about you? Are you willing to put in your 10,000 hours? Are you willing to practice writing deliberately? If you are, then you’ve come to the write place . . . oops, sorry, bad habit!

By Joe Bunting

Source: thewritepractice.com

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Ending of Stories: How Planning an Ending Will Help You Write Faster

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Readers love the ending of stories, but do you feel like you don’t know how to write a really good ending?

It may seem a little odd to talk about story endings when you haven’t even started writing. Deciding on the type of ending you want, however, is an important part of planning a book.

You usually wouldn’t drive somewhere without a destination in mind. Knowing how your story ends will help you work out the important plot points in between, all the plot twists that eventually lead to that climatic moment.

But how exactly can you write a great ending before the story is even written? Let’s take a look at the essentials an ending must accomplish in order to write a satisfying ending to a great story.

Knowing these common types of endings, and how to decide what endings work best for your story, will bring your character arcs and story full circle.

This post shares writing tips to help you accomplish just that.

How to End Your Story Coaching Video

Want to know how to write an ending for a story? There are two thing you need to think about: how to come up with an ending that’s GOOD, and how to finish a story practically.

In this coaching video, Joe helps one author figure out how to write the end of a story, something she has always struggled to do.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=bb0zshLFk5A%3Ffeature%3Doembed

3 Criteria for the End of the Story

There are a few things an ending must accomplish. Keep in mind that I speak about endings from the perspective of commercial fiction_fiction that moves the reader along, is entertaining to read, and puts plot and character above philosophy and literary prose.

Endings in literary and interpretive fiction may vary a little more in style. But if you’re looking to write a good story that sells, you will want your ending to meet the following criteria.

1. Your Book’s Ending Should be Logical

Have you heard the phrase Deus Ex Machina? It’s defined as “an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation.” In fiction terms, this means everything is suddenly and abruptly resolved by a previously unknown force.

A Deus Ex Machina is not a good way to end your book. It’s convenient. And convenient conclusions end in bad reviews written by disappointed readers.

Instead, the ending to your book should come about logically.

While this doesn’t mean it should be 100% predictable, it does mean that you wrap up your story in a way that is surprising but inevitable. In other words, your reader can reason through and understand how the events of the story led to the final conclusion.

Here is an example of a predictable vs. unpredictable vs. Deus Ex Machina ending:

Predictable: A detective is trying to solve a murder. He finds all the clues that point to person A with the help of person B, and it turns out to be person A in the end.

Unpredictable: A detective is trying to solve a murder. He finds all the clues that point to person A with the help of person B. Murderer turns out to be person B, who has been planting the evidence.

Deus Ex Machina: A detective is trying to solve a murder. He finds all the clues that point to person A with the help of person B. The murderer turns out to be person C, someone completely unrelated and who shows up at the last minute—with no warning to reveal themselves.

Notice that the unpredictable ending enables the reader to look back at the story and think, “Ah, now that makes sense,” whereas the Deus Ex Machina ending elicits the “Where did that come from?” response.

When your ending isn’t logical and doesn’t follow the reason, you risk leaving your readers feeling cheated for having read a whole book that has little to do with the final result.

2. Your Book’s Ending Should be Satisfying

The simplest way to write a satisfying ending is to resolve a secret or question that remained a mystery throughout the plot. This means that whatever questions are raised during the story—the ones that left the reader wondering something important—should be answered.

Better yet, these answers should tie back to clues or plot elements that were set up earlier in the story.

Take another look at the detective in our mystery novel example.

The main character is trying to solve a murder, so obviously the reader expects the murder to be solved at some point. The “whodunit” needs to be answered at the end. The kinds of answers may vary, but the ending needs to identify the murderer in order to have a resolved ending.

Here are a few ways the ending can go:

Satisfying/Predictable: The detective finds the murderer successfully.

Satisfying/Twist Ending: The detective solves the mystery, but it turns out the murderer has committed an elaborate suicide to frame someone.

Unsatisfying: The detective chases the clues to a dead end and at the end still doesn’t know who killed the victim. This might come in the form of a cliffhanger that doesn’t tie up important questions in the book, or an ambiguous ending that doesn’t resolve major plot points.

Note: You can include cliffhangers or ambiguous endings in a book, but only if you resolve the major questions driving the hook for the story. If you write these types of endings in a way that requires readers to read the next book, you’ll probably annoy them more than intrigue them. Readers need the answers to the big questions in the book they’re reading.

You need to write stand-alone books with series potential, not books dependent on their sequels.

While there is definitely literature out there with “unsatisfying” endings, you’re more likely to alienate readers in commercial fiction if you don’t give them an answer to the big question.

No one wants to read a whole book and be left feeling like nothing was resolved, even if that last line is unforgettable.

3. Your Book’s Ending Should Have a Sense of Finality

The end of your book should feel like, well, something ended.

The major crisis is averted. The princess is saved. The quest is over. The battle is won. Something that started at the beginning of the book is now over.

While this might seem pretty obvious for standalone books, you may find yourself asking “What about a series? What if my story goes on?”

The global story for a series doesn’t need to end for a book to have a sense of finality. However, each book does need to reach its own climax: we need to see a protagonist get or not get what they want (their story goal) in the end. Each book needs its own ending.

For example, every book in Harry Potter series ended with a climatic event that occurred at the end of the school year. Each book of the Lord of the Rings contains its own battle for survival, even if Frodo and Sam hadn’t reached Mount Doom yet.

Tying up a book in a series is much like tying up a scene—the story goes on, but whatever happened in this part of the story is over and done with.

5 Types of Endings for Stories

There are numerous books, articles, and schools of thought out there on the many types of endings. And there are comedic vs. tragic endings, resolved vs. unresolved endings, ambiguous vs. tight endings, to name a few.

There are no wrong ways to categorize endings, but for the purposes of this article, I prefer to speak from the point of view of planning. To do this, I want you to consider five types of endings for your book before you start writing.

You may end up with an ending that encompasses traits from more than one of these, but they are a good starting point for planning.

If you want to write faster, it helps to know how your story ends. Choose one of these five-story endings to decide this.

1. Complete Resolution

Also known as a happy ending. However, I dislike that name because the Complete Resolution isn’t always “happy.”

In Complete Resolution, all questions are answered, all loose ends are tied up, and all subplots are resolved. This type of ending is commonly used for standalone novels of all ages and genres.

When planning for a Complete Resolution ending, it’s important to keep track of all your subplots and plot elements to ensure that nothing is left hanging at the end. If a question is raised, it must be answered.

For example: Pride and Prejudice has a Complete Resolution. All loose ends are tied up, all couples are together, and all questions answered. The readers are left feeling satisfied that every problem has been resolved.

2. Incomplete Resolution

This is the kind of ending that’s usually more fitting for a series. As stated above, endings for individual books in a series usually leave something open in order to lead into the next step of the bigger story.

When planning for an Incomplete Resolution, it’s important to know what threads you want to tie up and what you want to keep open.

A good rule to keep in mind is to tie up subplots while leaving the main plot open to lead into the next book.

For example: Every Harry Potter book except the final one has an Incomplete Resolution. The school year is tied up and there’s usually some kind of conflict resolved or a mystery solved, but the question of what will happen with the looming return of Voldemort remains unasnwered.

3. Changed World

In this kind of ending, the external world/environment/life that the main characters start out with is no more. This is usually due to factors outside of the characters’ control. A few examples are natural disasters, being uprooted to a different city or country, or entering a new family.

The main focus of a Changed World ending is how your main character responds to their new situation. Their response could be a good one (acceptance, excitement, looking toward the future) or a bad one (denial, anger, mourning the past), but no matter how they react, the ending emphasizes that the past isn’t coming back, and the main character must decide how to move forward in their new situation.

When planning for a Changed World ending, consider your character’s personality and how they should respond to each step of the change their world is undergoing. Think about how you’re going to tie their actions early in the story to their ultimate reaction to the new state of their world.

For example: Star Wars, specifically Return of the Jedi, has a Changed World Ending. Luke and the rebels have defeated the empire and redeemed Darth Vader, and the galaxy has been irreversibly changed by these events. As the end, we see a scene of celebration, showing that the main cast is happy about this development, but there is still a sense of much to be done ahead to adjust to this new reality.

4. Changed Self

The Changed Self ending can be considered the counterpart to the Changed World ending. In this type of ending, your character goes through more internal than external change. Their environment or life in general more or less returns to its “normal” state at the end of the book, but they now see everything with fresh eyes because they are no longer the same person they started out as.

This type of ending can also be referred to as the Circular ending. But I prefer to focus on the change in self because I feel that places emphasize on the more important aspect of the story, which is character transformation.

When planning for a Changed Self ending, make sure to consider the impact the events in the book have on your character. Focus on the “how” and “why” of the character’s internal transformation and make sure that their thoughts and decisions ultimately point toward that change.

For example: My book Headspace has a Changed Self ending. In it, the main character, Astra, returns to her home after the events of the book. She finds that her house still looks the same as she left it several months ago, except now the daily, minute things of life seem unimportant because her perspective has changed.

5. Slice of the Future Ending—or Epilogue

Slice of the Future endings give the reader a peek into the life of your hero (or those your hero left behind) further down the road. It’s common for this to be done as an epilogue. The reason I single out this type of ending is because planning for this kind of ending is a little different from the others.

Slice of the Future gives perspective on the events that took place in the book. When you end a story after the main conflict, your main character is still very much fresh from what they’ve just gone through.

In most commercial fiction, what takes place within the book is a relatively short event that encompasses anywhere from a few hours to a few years. When you fast forward in time, you are telling your readers “this is how this event fits into the grand scheme of things.”

Knowing your book’s type of mood can help you pick your story’s ending.

This type of ending can be quite tricky because your character’s future may not match the future your readers want for them. Some readers very much enjoy Slice of the Future, while others prefer for it to be left up to the imagination. It’s not uncommon for books that use this kind of ending to be criticized heavily for writing a future that “doesn’t fit the character/story at all.”

Not only that, epilogues are often viewed as undesirable for commercial fiction by agents and publishers, so you may want to consider how essential this peek into the future really is for the story.

If you want to plan for a Slice of the Future ending, try to consider the overall mood of your book. While you can’t please everyone, it’s worth taking time to ensure that the future establish is at least consistent in tone with the rest of the the story.

A comedy would be better served with a happy, bright future, while a tragedy would fit better with a future that is melancholy and perhaps bittersweet. By matching the mood, you can at least give your readers a consistent experience.

For example: Mockingjay (the Hunger Games finale) and The Handmaid’s Tale have this type of ending/epilogue. Fan reactions to these endings have been mixed, ranging from very positive to terribly negative. It’s worth reading these series, considering how the peek in the future fits into the story as a whole, and think about whether you want to follow their example.

How to Find Your Perfect Ending

Now we turn our attention to your book.

Deciding on the type of ending you want helps give your book an overarching direction to follow. It’s much like drawing a rough sketch of what you want the final product to look like before you start adding details.

Keep in mind that rarely does an ending fit only one of the four categories listed above. The goal is not to pick one type of ending and force your story into the box, but rather decide on what it is you want to emphasize as the most important element of your book.

To determine what type of ending your book should have, ask yourself the following questions:

  1. What is my genre? Different genres may suit different endings. For example, comedy tends to have changed self endings, whereas epics tend to have changed world endings.
  2. What do I want my readers to feel at the end of the book? Determining what you ultimately want to communicate to your readers to write the perfect ending.
  3. Which is more important in the book: the internal struggle or the external struggle? An externally focused book would benefit more from a Changed World ending, whereas an internally focused book would benefit more from a Changed Self ending.
  4. Do I want to end the book with a sense of immediacy or a sense of wistfulness? Think of this as whether you want to end the story with your hero still standing on the battlefield or telling the story to their grandchildren. The first leaves more room for interpretation, whereas the latter gives a greater sense of finality. If you want that greater sense of finality, a Slice of the Future (Maybe call this Reveal instead?) ending might be what you want.

By deciding on your ending early, you not only have an overall direction for the plot of your book, but the tone and mood as well. Every step your story takes should lead your reader closer to the ending and the change that your character or story world takes.

Plan Your Ending If You Want to Write Faster

While some writers enjoy not knowing the ending of their book before writing, writers who  want to write faster will benefit from knowing how their plot ends, and how their characters have changed because of their journey.

To help you plan your ending, call back on the five types of endings covered in this article. Ask yourself which one accomplishes the emotion you want your readers to feel in the end, and then write that ending.

Jot down the last line.

It’s likely that if you feel good about your story’s ending—and it provides answers to all your story’s main questions—you’ll have written an ending that will satisfy your readers.

What kind of story endings do you like? Let us know in the comments.

By J. D. Edwin

Source: thewritepractice.com

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3 Crucial Steps That Will Improve Bad Writing

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Today’s post is written by Jeff Goins. Jeff is the best-selling author of four books, including The Art of Work. His award-winning blog, Goinswriter.com, is visited by millions of people every year.

Deliberate writing practice is the foundation of The Write Practice. Deliberate practice writing can take your writing process to the next level.

If you want to meet your writing potential in life, you have to write. Just like basketball players spend hours shooting free throws so that they don’t choke when it counts in a game, writers need to ingrain a type of practice that works for their writing process into their DNA.

In this article, you’ll learn a writing practice that will help you develop a regular routine of practice to improve your creative writing skills.

Bad Practice—and the Illusion of Practice—Don’t Create Expert-Level Performance

Stephanie Fisher had come a long way from her hometown of Jamestown, New York, to Augusta, Georgia, but this was her dream and she wouldn’t give it up. The year was 2010, and it was her seventh time auditioning for American Idol.

She had never made it this far in the singing talent show, but this time, things were going to be different. This time, she would see the judges.

Dressed in a silvery sequined top, donning pearls around her neck and fishnet stockings, Stephanie stepped onto the platform of America’s most popular talent show, smiling nervously before the judges.

“Wow,” a couple of them said, remarking on her outfit.

“I almost wore the same thing,” Randy joked.

Simon rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed.

“Okay,” Kara said, “let’s hear it.”

In her black and white oxfords, Stephanie spread her feet apart as if to ready herself, and she opened with Peggy Lee’s “Fever.”

At this point, Stephanie was snapping her fingers and provocatively staring down the judges, who were audibly groaning. Her rhythm was off, the notes were wrong, and everyone on the set knew it, including Stephanie. They told her to stop. She frowned.

“Thank you, Stephanie,” Simon said.

“What did you think?” Kara asked.

“Terrible. Honestly, you can’t sing, sweetheart.”

Stephanie admitted to being a little starstruck in the presence of Victoria Beckham, who was a guest judge that day. Later she told a reporter this was something the producers told her to say. Victoria offered to turn around in hopes that it would make the contestant feel more at ease. Stephanie accepted the offer, which felt forced and a little too theatrical for me.

The young grad student started again, a little more awkwardly, this time singing “Baby Love” by The Supremes. It wasn’t any better. After a measure or two, Victoria turned back around. This time Kara added to the critical jabs, saying it was better when she was looking. Another burst of laughter erupted from the judges.

“With the greatest respect,” Simon said in a proper British accent, pausing for dramatic effect, “you have a horrible voice.”

“Really?” Stephanie said, looking stunned but still smiling nervously. All the preparation, all those long years of dreaming, had led to this?

“Yeah,” Randy chimed sympathetically. “You ain’t got it goin’ on.”

“You can’t give me a few minutes to get un-nervous?” she pleaded.

“We’d need years, Stephanie,” Simon said, and the judges again all laughed in unison. And as I watched the YouTube video recounting this painful story years after the fact, I realized how true that was.

It’s Not Just About Trying

Our parents told us to try our best. Whether at school or Little League, we were encouraged to give it our all, and that was enough to make them proud.

But the truth is there are different kinds of trying. Anders Ericsson has been studying this for years and in his book Peak, he’s come to a surprising conclusion: not all effort is equal.

Stephanie Fisher had been practicing singing for years. She’d been trying. But the 10,000-hour rule, at least as far as she understood it, had not worked. What was she doing wrong?

The answer, according to Ericsson, lies in what he calls deliberate practice.

In his recent book, Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, he says that when you embrace the deliberate-practice mindset,

. . . anyone can improve, but it requires the right approach. If you are not improving, it’s not because you lack innate talent; it’s because you’re not practicing the right way.

So what is the right way to practice? Deliberate practice requires the following:

  • You must push yourself past your comfort zone and attempt things that are not easy for you.
  • You must get immediate feedback on the activity you are practicing and on what you can do to improve it.
  • You must identify the best people in your field and find out what sets them apart, then practice like they do.

If you’re not doing these things, you’re not really practicing. At least, not in the way that is going to lead to excellence.

If you’re not engaging in deliberate practice, you’re not practicing in the way that leads to excellence.

The Secrets to Writing Like Hemingway

When Ernest Hemingway was living in Paris in the 1920s, he received an exceptional education in writing, a unique opportunity he may not have even been aware of.

Every day, he would get up and go to a cafe, where he would write for a few hours. First, he’d edit the previous day’s work, a discipline he developed that influenced his style for the rest of his life. Unlike many other authors at the time, he was constantly tightening his prose, trying to make it cleaner, shorter, better.

In the afternoons, he would visit his friends in the Latin Quarter, people like Gertrude Stein, Scott Fitzgerald, and Ezra Pound. They would critique his writing, give him feedback on what he was doing right and what he was doing wrong. Then he would apply what he learned.

This was an incredible opportunity, but it wasn’t an accident. Hemingway was born in Chicago, and after a brief stint in the Red Cross during WWI, he wandered for a while, trying to find his way in life. It was author Sherwood Anderson who encouraged him to move to Paris where “the most interesting people in the world lived.”

So he did, and nearly seven years later, when his informal apprenticeship was over, he had learned the discipline of deliberate practice.

Challenge Yourself to Deliberate Practice

If you want to do the same, you must:

  1. Push yourself in your practice. In my book The Art of Work, I call this painful practice, because it might hurt a little. That’s what happens every time we go outside our comfort zone.
  2. Seek out critical feedback. We live in the age of inflated egos when most people are afraid to give their honest opinions. But in order to become a truly great writer, you will need people in your life to tell you, “you can do better.”
  3. Seek out the greats and learn their secrets. You don’t have to move to Paris, but you need to find prominent writers in your genre, living or dead, and find out how they do what they do.

The truth is there are people who have a natural ability when it comes to writing, but this is incredibly rare. If you want to get better at writing, you need to construct some  writing goals for you this year, and then develop some practice plans that will help you develop good, deliberate practice writing habits.

More and more, science is proving that what we used to call talent is really just hard work that pushes you to a level of performance that you hadn’t previously attained.

What makes a writer great is not the talent, but the practice.

When was the last time you practiced something deliberately? What did you learn? Share in the comments!

By Jeff Goins

Source: thewritepractice.com

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Relationship Thesaurus: Frenemies

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Successful stories are driven by authentic and interesting characters, so it’s important to craft them carefully. But characters don’t usually exist in a vacuum; throughout the course of your story, they’ll live, work, play, and fight with other cast members. Some of those relationships are positive and supportive, pushing the protagonist to positive growth and helping them achieve their goals. Other relationships do exactly the opposite—derailing your character’s confidence and self-worth—or they cause friction and conflict that leads to fallout and disruption. Many relationships hover somewhere in the middle. A balanced story will require a mix of these dynamics.

The purpose of this thesaurus is to encourage you to explore the kinds of relationships that might be good for your story and figure out what each might look like. Think about what a character needs (good and bad), and build a network of connections for him or her that will challenge them, showcase their innermost qualities, and bind readers to their relationship trials and triumphs.

Frenemies

Description: Frenemies are friends or acquaintances who are also, on some level, rivals or adversaries. Maybe they have to get along on a sports team or at work but they’re vying for the same position. Perhaps insecurities accentuate the negative aspects of the relationship and stifle the positives. Personal politics may require them to maintain a veneer of friendliness, but at its core, the relationship is more about winning or exerting power. The frenemy relationship is a complex one that, if it fits your story, can add a ton of conflict and depth.

Relationship Dynamics
Below are a wide range of dynamics that may accompany this relationship. Use the ideas that suit your story and work best for your characters to bring about and/or resolve the necessary conflict. 

Characters getting along fine until a competitive element is introduced, at which point they go for blood
Athletic teammates cooperating to get a win but dedicating themselves personally to outdoing each other
One friend being reluctant to share information or cooperate with their frenemy co-worker or teammate because they don’t trust the other person’s motives
Both parties putting on a friendly front when they’re around other people but secretly not wanting anything to do with the other
One party alternating from friendliness and respect to manipulation and snubbing, constantly putting the other person off-balance
A superficial and disingenuous relationship that’s based on keeping one’s friends close but their enemies closer
Two parties not really liking each other but maintaining a civil relationship due to a long history together
Two people being fine one-on-one but turning into rivals when other friends or romantic interests enter the scene
One character constantly being sucked back into relationship with the frenemy despite a desire to steer clear
Two parties being best friends one day and not speaking to each other next (in a repeating, ongoing pattern)
One person never knowing where they stand with the other party
Being friends with someone who is super nice to the character’s face but is subtly undermining them behind the scenes
One party being so manipulated and gaslighted by the other person that they can’t see their faults or true nature—even when true friends and loved ones point them out
One “friend” always competing with the other (usually in an underhanded fashion), trying to take what they have

Challenges that Could Threaten the Status Quo
A third party (a coach, romantic interest, shared enemy, etc.) changing the dynamic between the two characters
One person developing a weakness or vulnerability that the other can exploitEither of the parties achieving something significant
One person finding themselves on the outs with their shared social group
One party circulating negative information (true or false) about the other person
One party developing empathy for the other
A change that results in less time being spent together
Losing the one person or thing that keeps the two together
One party giving up and refusing to compete or fight with the other

Wounds that Could Factor into the Relationship
A learning disability, A parent’s abandonment or rejection, A toxic relationship, An abuse of power, Battling a mental disorder, Being bullied, Being disowned or shunned, Being raised by a narcissist, Being rejected by one’s peers, Being the victim of a vicious rumor, Growing up in the shadow of a successful sibling, Having parents who favored one child over another

Conflicting Desires that Can Impair the Relationship
Both parties wanting to be the best at the same thing
Both parties seeking acceptance from the same person
One person seeking friendship while the other wants to control, manipulate, or minimize him/her
One friend wanting to clear the air and improve the relationship while the other wants to maintain the status quo
One person wanting to escape the relationship while the other wants to maintain it

Clashing Personality Trait Combinations
Needy and cruel, Confrontational and Timid, Controlling and Subservient, Trusting and Manipulative, Gossipy and Private, Mischievous and Humorless, Reckless and Responsible

Negative Outcomes of Friction
Someone’s reputation being ruined
Arguments and cat fights
The larger group losing something vital because the two people can’t work together
Other people being dragged into the frenemies’ drama
One party being ousted from the whole social group and being left on their own
The victim of a manipulative or devious frenemy doubting themselves and becoming insecure
The frenemies losing good friends who are tired of dealing with them
Either person continuing the same negative behaviors in their other relationships
A third party being hurt in the verbal or physical crossfire

Fictional Scenarios That Could Turn These Characters into Allies
Facing a new, mutual threat
A desperate situation in which each person has a skill or knowledge that the other person needs to survive
Instead of competing against one another, being forced to work together to win
A personal tragedy for one person that generates empathy from the other, humanizing that person and making the other party want to help
One party learning about the other’s past (why they are the way they are), resulting in them wanting to mend fences and help the other person instead of bring them down
The two realizing that they have been pitted against each other by an outside source

Ways This Relationship May Lead to Positive Change
Either party recognizing and valuing their own strengths and weaknesses (instead of envying and wanting what the other has)
The competition pushing each person to be better than they could have been on their own
One person recognizing that the friction is largely their own fault, and wanting to change for the better
One party recognizing that the relationship is toxic, and getting out of it
Either party (or both) learning to value the other’s strengths and uniqueness and ceasing to be threatened by it

Themes and Symbols That Can Be Explored through This Relationship
A fall from grace, Alienation, Betrayal, Coming of age, Deception, Friendship, Instability, Journeys, Teamwork

By BECCA PUGLISI

Source: writershelpingwriters.net

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How to Write When You Don’t Feel Like It: 5 Practical Tips You Can Try Today

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Are there times in your life when it’s more difficult to write? Do you want to learn how to write when you don’t feel like it?

As a writer, you probably feel frustrated when the muse doesn’t show up, or you feel stuck on a bad idea for a story but desperately want to write one. One day you’re passionate about writing. You’re in the zone.

And then, something happens.

You skip a day. And then two. A week goes by and you haven’t written a paragraph. You enter a black hole of unproductive writing sessions.

You feel guilty, like you should be taking your writing more seriously, but you just can’t muster the willpower to actually write. This is real life for a real writer: there are days when we don’t want to write, where not even an extra-large cup of coffee will get you through a writing session.

In this article, we’ll talk about why you don’t feel like writing and what you can do about it.

It’s Normal to Not Feel Like Writing

At some point in every major writing project I’ve ever worked on, I’ve wanted to give up. I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve felt so exhausted, so stupid, so humiliated that I wanted to quit being a writer and give up my dream altogether.

Steven Pressfield calls this the Resistance, a malicious, sentient force actively seeking the destruction of your creative thinking and  art. I call it the ugly middle. Whatever you want to call it, the truth is that when you reach this point, you’re close to a breakthrough.

The best thing you can do is push through it.

5 Practical Tips to Push Through Unproductive Attempts at Writing

How do you push through? Here are five tips to help you focus on your writing when it’s the last thing you want to do:

Have you ever sat down to write and felt completely unmotivated? There are five practical tips you can try to push through your writing time—even if you don’t feel like writing.

1. Find Your “Creative Nook”

In the acknowledgments of The Golden Compass, Phillip Pullman thanked a museum café, saying that every time he went there, the problems he was having with his novel were solved in an hour.

Sometimes, all you need is the right location, your personal creative nook.

I wrote my first book sitting in a particular seat in a particular coffee shop. This location became my own personal writing space that, on many days, triggered my creative juices.

Others like to write outside or in their home office. How about you? Where do you feel most creative?

2. Make It Your Job

Many of the best writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Salman Rushdie, and Virginia Woolf, wrote professionally before becoming fiction authors (Rushdie was a copywriter, Hemingway and Woolf journalists).

If you want to become a better writer, you have to practice writing—and finding a full-time job in writing might be the creative career you need in order to actually dedicate plenty of time to writing.

Consider reaching out to your local newspaper or a company that needs marketing copy. Perhaps you can volunteer or even get a part-time job there.

For the last five years, I’ve worked professionally as a writer, and while there are still times I don’t want to write, the fear of disappointing the people I write for and the need to support myself and my family keep me going.

Also, there’s nothing like a deadline to boost your creativity!

3. Take a deep breath. If that doesn’t work, take a walk.

If you’re stuck in the middle of a writing project, you may just need to reset your brain. Try closing your eyes and taking several deep breaths.

If that doesn’t work, grab a notebook and a pen (or your iPhone with Evernote) and take a walk. This will clear your head and get your subconscious working to solve your creative blocks. Sometimes fresh ideas need to come from doing something different, and preferably something that causes movement.

Spending time out of a chair is good for your mental health—and physical health, too!

4. Hang Out With Other Writers

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with,” said Jim Rohn, and it’s true, the people you spend time with rub off on you. Your lack of motivation could stem from hanging out with the wrong people.

By hanging out with other writers, their passion for their writing will inspire you to go back to your own. It’s never a waste of time building a community of writers who you can support, and who will support you in return.

5. Sit With the Pain and Grieve

Sometimes, writing is just hard, and you can’t do anything about it.

I used to procrastinate and promised I would come back to my writing later when I felt more inspired. Now, I recognize that the pain is a given. The sooner I get through it, the sooner I can have a breakthrough.

So I scrunch my face up. I whine. I write in my grief journal. I grieve the fact that creativity, like birth, is always difficult. But the fruit is worth it.

And then I write, whether I feel like it or not.

The Best Writing Can Come After a Slow Period

Whether you’re an amateur writer or a published author, every writer experiences days where they just don’t feel like writing.

However, if you want to become a better writer, you have to practice—and this means writing through the bad writing days, or low moments where you just don’t feel like writing.

On day you don’t feel like writing, set some small, simple goals for you to accomplish and push through the disinterest. If this doesn’t work, or even if it does, try one of the five practical tips in this article to ignite a spark and love for writing again.

If you do this, you’ll be on your way to becoming a better writer—and a far more resilient one.

 What do you do when you don’t feel like writing? Let us know in the comments.

By Joe Bunting

Source: thewritepractice.com

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Best Practices for Working with an Independent Editor

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By Lisa Poisso

Most writers have read the wide-eyed articles from newly-agented writers detailing the pressure of revising and returning edits on a tight schedule and working with an assigned editor. But what if you’re the one hiring the editor? By their nature as entrepreneurs, every independent editor’s business practices vary. Ask your editor about these common expectations and practices before agreeing to any work.

Before Your Edit

1. Agreements about the business details of your project protect you both. An agreement needn’t be a formal printed contract signed in person; an email constitutes a legal agreement. The agreement should define the scope of work, start and finish dates and other relevant deadlines, total cost and payment schedule, and a clear explanation of what happens if either party cancels or breaches the agreement.

2. New writers often mistakenly believe they need a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) to protect their material. Your work is legally copyrighted the moment you commit it to print, making NDAs cumbersome, unnecessary, and often a sign of professional mistrust.

3. Most editors require a deposit to get your book on their calendar, customarily ranging from a flat fee of $100 or more to the first half of the total fee. You can expect to pay your total editing bill in full before the editor releases the edited manuscript.

4. If you can’t or don’t want to use your editor’s preferred payment method, aren’t located in the same country as they are, or prefer a slow payment method like personal checks, ask if your choice will create any issues. Allow enough time to process payments without holding up the project.

5. Missing your editing date by even a day or two could leave your manuscript without time to fit into its scheduled slot, if the deadline is tight or your editor is busy. Communicate as soon as you suspect you may have a problem hitting your scheduled editing date.

6. The time it takes to edit a manuscript varies widely, depending on your manuscript’s needs, the type of editing, and the editor’s schedule and work practices. Developmental editing usually takes the longest. Line editing is slower than copyediting, and proofreading is the fastest editing service.

If there were such a thing as a typical editing rate among all these levels of service, it might run from 20,000 to 35,000 words per week. You get what you pay for. If all the editor has time for is a breakneck race through the manuscript, that’s precisely what you’ll get.

Don’t try to reverse-engineer what you think an editor’s editing rate should be based on words or pages per hour. Manuscript speed doesn’t account for writing an editorial report or letter; creating a style sheet; formatting and preparing the file; running automated software and macros to check mechanics, formatting, and style; an initial read-through; a follow-up read-through; or book mapping and structural analysis. If there’s no time for these (or if your editor prices the edit without them), you’ll be missing many aspects of a thorough professional edit.

7. Submitting a manuscript that’s as error-free as possible allows your editor to spend their time on elements that require professional skill and judgment. If the writing needs extensive spelling, grammar, and punctuation cleanup, those things are exactly where the editor will spend their time. Leaving messes for the editor to clean up costs money—your money. Clean manuscripts give editors elbow room to help you elevate your story and writing.

8. Don’t jump the gun with fancy formatting or graphics. It’s not time for your manuscript to look like a book yet. Standard manuscript format—12-point double-spaced Times New Roman, one-inch margins, first-line paragraph indents instead of tabs, one space (not two) between sentences, and no line space between paragraphs—lets your editor get right to work.

9. Although most editors spot-check facts and look for obvious errors (mostly for narrative and internal consistency), factual accuracy—including science, geography, history, and foreign languages—is your responsibility as the author.

During Your Edit

10. Some editors consider work complete when they return the edited manuscript to you. This is typical for edits designed to inspire revision and new writing, such as developmental or line edits. Other editors ask that you review and approve or revise their edits and return the manuscript for final adjustments; this is more typical for polishing edits like copyediting or proofreading. These editors will review some or all of your changes; the first sort consider that a new round of editing. Neither way is wrong or superior. Included follow-up rounds generally mean higher rates; many editors who don’t include follow-up rounds offer deep discounts for additional rounds. Ask your editor what’s included.

11. Especially early in your writing career, your manuscript could need multiple rounds of the same type of editing. If a developmental edit leads to significant changes, for example, you could need a second round after revisions. Don’t let this possibility take you by surprise.

12. Expect to work using Microsoft Word and tracked changes. Most editors use Word because it permits the use of editorial tools that increase the accuracy and quality of the edit, a benefit you very much want for your manuscript. Agents, editors, and other publishing professionals will also expect to receive your manuscript as a Word file, not as a PDF or “compatible” file. Word and tracked changes look intimidating but aren’t difficult to learn, and working with them is part of a writer’s baseline skills.

13. You may not hear much from your editor while your edit is in progress, or they may contact you with various questions. Both are normal. Editing isn’t a sequential process that starts with chapter one and finishes at “The End.” Editors work in layers. There’s often not much to say about an edit in progress beyond “Yep, still working.”

14. For anything but proofreading, edits are the beginning of the revision process, not the end. Reviewing a copyedit is relatively straightforward, but line and developmental edits are designed to steer you toward deeper, better writing. It’s up to you to follow through with the work.

After Your Edit

15. Editing is a subjective process, and you’re free not to take every edit and recommendation. It’s your book and your vision. Most editors include follow-up time to review points of confusion or disagreement. Disagreeing with the substance of the feedback, however, does not entitle you to a discount or refund.

16. A full-length edit can generate hundreds of comments and tens of thousands of edits. Considering this scope, the final manuscript will inevitably contain some residual errors. You can minimize these by starting with a manuscript as clean as you can possibly manage and finishing with a professional proofread.

17. Just as you wouldn’t want your editor to discuss or share your manuscript with others, it’s unprofessional to share your edits online or kvetch about the specifics with other writers or editors. The edited final product is yours to do with as you wish, but the edits, comments, and editorial feedback themselves are intended for you alone.

18. If you find yourself rejecting most of the edits and suggestions in your edit, you may have hired the wrong editor for the job or pushed for a level of editing your manuscript wasn’t ready for. More often, you simply need some emotional distance from the feedback. Putting away a difficult edit for a while can help you regain objectivity.

19. American authors, don’t file a 1099-MISC for editing fees if you paid using a service such as PayPal. Payments made with a credit card or payment card and certain other types of payments, including third-party network transactions, must be reported on Form 1099-K by the payment settlement entity under section 6050W and are not subject to reporting on Form 1099-MISC. 

20. Want to thank your editor? Recommend them in writers’ groups. It’s the editorial equivalent of posting a reader review online. And consider sending a signed copy of your book. If your editor doesn’t have space to keep it, they can donate it to a Little Free Library—more readers for your brilliantly edited creation.

This article does not constitute legal or financial advice; for specific issues and questions, you should seek advice from a qualified attorney or financial professional.

Source: writershelpingwriters.net

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Stoking Your Story’s Fire: Three Considerations for Revising Scene by Scene

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By David G. Brown

The Two Pillars of Storytelling

After my first couple years as a fiction editor, I realized that all of my developmental feedback for clients fit into one of two categories. The first is immersion: the quality of a narrative that transports readers to another time and place. The second is emotional draw: that which maintains readers’ interest in a character and thus keeps them turning pages.

Immersion is achieved with scene-based writing, which means a focus on the protagonist’s moment-to-moment experience of setting and conflict. A reader’s sense of immediacy grows out of sensory details, movement, action, and dialogue.

Emotional draw is more complicated. Readers are diverse, and each one brings a slightly different reason for turning the page. But the main components are:

  • Trajectory—the momentum of a character struggling toward a goal
  • Anticipation—a desire to know what happens next
  • Stakes—a looming consequence should the character fail

Immersive Potential

The author’s first job, whether they are writing fiction or narrative nonfiction, is to transport readers into their characters’ world. Context is important in any story, but sensory details are paramount since they are key to a reader’s imaginative experience of the text.

Comb through your scenes with this principle in mind. On every page, ask yourself what your readers might be seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling. Do they know within a few sentences where a scene is taking place? Can they picture the surroundings? Do they have a physical sense of the characters moving through and occupying space in this locale?

Judge each sentence by the following criteria: does it convey the focal character’s moment-to-moment experience of the scene? Or does it instead provide context?

The more scene you have on each page, the deeper your readers’ potential immersion. As soon as you showcase context, your readers’ imaginative experience diminishes. That’s not to say there isn’t room for snippets of context. It’s a question of balance.

Context includes setting, world-building, backstory, and even interiority—your protagonist’s analysis and reflections. Again, context is important, but it works best when it surfaces in hints rather than explanations.

Treat your readers like detectives—give them clues and let them come to their own conclusions about context.

Chapter Arcs and Consequence

Here’s another reason scene-based writing is so important: it’s where both plot and character come to life.

When characters make decisions and take risks, readers see them for who they really are. Witty asides and snippets of narrative context can give a story much depth, but the true essence of character is contained in what they are willing to do—or not—to get what they want.

Therein lies the nugget of a chapter arc: a character either takes action toward a goal or reacts to a new obstacle. The result is a consequence—their path forward has changed. In most cases, the scene will have some bearing on the overarching narrative trajectory (more on trajectory in a moment), but the action/reaction and consequence might also develop a subplot.

Take a close look at each scene in your manuscript and ask yourself:

  • Does the focal character make a choice or take action in pursuit of a goal?
  • Does this choice or action result in a consequence that leads into the next scene?

If the answer is no or if you aren’t sure, flag the scene for reconsideration: either bring it into the story’s chain of consequence or send it to the chopping block!

Plot is a Chain of Consequence

A large part of emotional draw flows out of trajectory: a character struggling toward a goal. As the protagonist makes decisions and takes risks in pursuit of their goal, they court failure of some kind. If nothing is at stake, it’s extremely difficult to hold readers’ interest, and without a specific goal, the story becomes aimless.

In terms of structure, the beginning of a narrative is the point when a character’s underlying motivation crystallizes into this clear, relatable, and specific goal—the first link in the story’s chain of consequence. Keep in mind, many novels open sometime after this point. For example, in Moby Dick, Ahab’s inciting incident is implied.

In genre fiction, the narrative goal is often in sharp focus: it’s a quest to save the world or a mission to stop a killer. While emotional draw in literary fiction is usually connected to deeper thematic elements, the narrative goal is still a major component, even if the quest is subtler.

A protagonist’s goal is sometimes referred to as a narrative bridge—a question asked in the beginning of the novel that is answered by the end. The protagonist’s goal is the question, and whether or not they achieve it is the answer. This answer also forms the final link in the story’s chain of consequence.

The rest of the narrative chain lies between the inciting incident and the climax. That means each scene causes the next. In other words, if you map out your story scene by scene, there should be a causal transition between each segment: this happens, therefore this happens, but then this happens, therefore… The alternative lacks momentum; it’s anecdotal: this happens, and then this happens, and then this happens.

Here’s a simple example: Rumpelstiltskin.

The miller’s daughter is the protagonist. Her inciting incident comes when her father brags to the king that she can spin gold from straw. She is therefore locked in a room where she is expected to perform her magical feat.

Father and daughter are in deep trouble, but then Rumpelstiltskin appears and offers to do the deed in exchange for her necklace. She agrees and therefore presents the king with his gold the next morning. But then the king wants even more gold; therefore the miller’s daughter needs Rumpelstiltskin’s services again and must make greater and greater sacrifices to pay for them.

The chain of consequence wraps up at the climax: eventually, when Rumpelstiltskin comes to collect on his final demand (her first-born child), the miller’s daughter tries to renegotiate. He gives her an unlikely escape clause: she must guess his name. She therefore follows him into the forest, finds his home, and overhears him singing his secret.

A novel is much more complex, especially given subplots like interpersonal arcs and side quests. For this reason, it’s a good idea to create separate causal maps for your story’s main trajectory as well as the secondary storylines. However, when you look at the big picture, each scene should fit into one of these chains of consequence.

Bringing It All Together

Though this article first touches on the importance of your readers’ story-world immersion, you are better off to focus your initial self-editing efforts on your manuscript’s chain of consequence. You might find that entire scenes aren’t pulling their (causal) weight, which means they either need to be cut or substantially changed to align with the protagonist’s trajectory. For this reason, it’s best to nail down the structure before you start fleshing out and polishing scenes.

To conclude, here are a few more tips for your next self-editing adventure:

  • Take time away from your project. Work on something else for a month or two!
  • On your next read through, pretend your worst enemy is following along over your shoulder. What would they say? What would they roll their eyes at?
  • Between each draft, consider your story from wildly different angles—what if the protagonist and antagonist traded places? What if you switched genres? How would the conflicts play out in a different time and place?
  • Don’t be afraid to tear down walls and install a new front door. In fact, sometimes we need to burn down the house altogether to find the best way forward.

Source: writershelpingwriters.net

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Top 100 Short Story Ideas

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Do you want to write but just need a great story idea? Or perhaps you have too many ideas and can’t choose the best one? Well, good news. We’ve got you covered.

Below are one hundred short story ideas for all your favorite genres. You can use them as a book idea, as writing prompts for writing contests, for stories to publish in literary magazines, or just for fun!

Use these 100 story ideas to get your creative writing started now.

Editor’s note: This is a recurring guide, regularly updated with ideas and information.

If you’re in a hurry, here’s my 10 best story ideas in brief, or scroll down for the full version.

Top 10 Story Ideas

  1. Tell the story of a scar.
  2. A group of children discover a dead body.
  3. A young prodigy becomes orphaned.
  4. A middle-aged woman discovers a ghost.
  5. A woman who is deeply in love is crushed when her fiancé breaks up with her.
  6. A talented young man’s deepest fear is holding his life back. 
  7. A poor young boy or girl comes into an unexpected fortune.
  8. A shy, young woman unexpectedly bumps into her soulmate.
  9. A long journey is interrupted by a disaster.
  10. A young couple run into the path of a psychopath.

Why Creative Writing Prompts Are Helpful

Below, you’ll find our best creative writing prompts and plot ideas for every genre, but first, why do we use prompts? Is it just a waste of time, or can they actually help you? Here are three reasons we  love writing prompts at The Write Practice:

1. Practice the Language!

Even for those of us who are native English speakers, we’re all on a language journey to go from beginners to skilled writers. To make progress on this language journey, you have to practice, and at The Write Practice, believe it or not, we’re really into practice! Creative writing prompts are easy, fun ways to practice.

Use the prompts below to practice your storytelling and use of language. The more you practice, the better of a writer you’ll become.

2. When you have no ideas and are stuck.

Sometimes, you want to write, but you can’t think up any ideas. You could either just sit there, staring at a blank page, or you could find a few ideas to help you get started. Even better if the list of ideas is curated from our best plot ideas over the last decade that we’ve been publishing lessons, writing exercises, and prompts.

Use the story ideas below to get your writing started. Then when your creativity is warmed up, you’ll start to come up with your own ideas!

3. To develop your own ideas.

Maybe you do have an idea already, but you’re not sure it’s good. Or maybe you feel like it’s just missing some small piece to make it better. By reading other ideas, and incorporating your favorites into yourstory, you can fill your plot holes and generate creative ideas of your own.

Use the story ideas below to develop your own ideas.

4. They’re fun!

Thousands of writers use the prompts below every month, some at home, some in classrooms, and even a few pros at their writing “office.” Why? Because writing prompts can be fun. They get your creativity started, help you come up with new ideas of your own, and often take your writing in new, unexpected directions.

Use the plot ideas to have more fun with writing!

How to Write a Story

One last thing before we get to the 100 story ideas, let’s talk about how to write a great short story. (Already know how to write a great story? No problem. Just skip down to the ideas below.)

  1. First, read stories. If you’ve never read a story, you’re going to have a hard time writing one. Where do you find great stories? There are a lot of places, but check out our list of 46 Literary Magazines we’ve curated over here.
  2. Write your story in a single sitting. Write the first draft of your story in as short a time as possible, and if you’re writing a short story, try to write it in one sitting. Trust me, this works. Everyone hates being interrupted when they’re telling compelling stories. Use that to your advantage and don’t stop writing until you’ve finished telling yours.
  3. Read your draft. Read your story through once, without changing anything. This will give you a sense of what work it needs going forward.
  4. Write a premise. After reading your first draft, get your head around the main idea behind your story by summarizing your story in a one sentence premise. Your premise should contain four things: a character, a goal, a situation, and a special sauce. Not sure what that means or how to actually do that? Here’s a full premise writing guide.
  5. Write, edit, write, and edit. Good writing is rewriting. Use your second draft to fill in the plot holes and cut out the extraneous scenes and characters you discovered when you read the first draft in step #2. Then, polish up your final draft on the next round of edits.
  6. Submit! Real writers don’t keep their writing all to themselves. They share it. Submit your story to a literary magazine, an anthology series, enter it into a writing contest, or even share it with a small group of friends. And if it gets rejected, don’t feel bad. You’ll be in good company.

Want to know more? Learn more about how to write a great short story here.

Our 100 Best Short Story Ideas, Plot Ideas, and Creative Writing Prompts

Ready to get writing? Here are our 100 best short story ideas to kickstart your writing. Enjoy!

10 Best General Short Story Ideas

Our first batch of plot ideas are for any kind of story, whether a spy thriller or a memoir of your personal life story. Here are the best story ideas:

  1. Tell the story of a scar, whether a physical scar or emotional one. To be a writer, said Stephen King, “The only requirement is the ability to remember every scar.”
  2. A group of children discover a dead body. Good writers don’t turn away from death, which is, after all, the universal human experience. Instead, they look it directly into its dark face and describe what they see on the page.
  3. A young prodigy becomes orphaned. Orphans are uniquely vulnerable, and as such, they have the most potential for growth.
  4. A middle-aged woman discovers a ghost. What do Edgar Allen Poe, Ron Weasley, King Saul from the Bible, Odysseus, and Ebenezer Scrooge have in common? They all encountered ghosts!
  5. A woman who is deeply in love is crushed when her fiancé breaks up with her. “In life every ending is just a new beginning,” says Dakota Fanning’s character in Uptown Girls.
  6. A talented young man’s deepest fear is holding his life back. Your character’s biggest fear is your story’s secret weapon. Don’t run from it, write about it.
  7. A poor young boy or girl comes into an unexpected fortune. Not all fortunes are good. Sometimes discovering a fortune will destroy your life.
  8. A shy, young woman unexpectedly bumps into her soulmate (literally bumps into him). In film, this is called the “meet cute,” when the hero bumps into the heroine in the coffee shop or the department store or the hallway, knocking her books to the floor, and forcing them into conversation.
  9. A long journey is interrupted by a disaster. Who hasn’t been longing to get to a destination only to be delayed by something unexpected? This is the plot of Gravity, The Odyssey, and even Lord of the Rings.
  10. A young couple run into the path of a psychopath. Monsters, whether people who do monstrous things or scaly beasts or a monster of a natural disaster, reveal what’s really inside a person. Let your character fall into the path of a monster and see how they handle themselves.

Now that you have an idea, learn exactly what to do with it. Check out my new book The Write Structure which helps writers take their ideas and write books readers love. Click to check out The Write Structure here.

More Short Story Ideas Based on Genre

Need more ideas? Here are ideas based on whichever literary genre you write. Use them as character inspiration, to start your own story, or borrow pieces to generate your own ideas. The only rule is, have fun writing!

By the way, for more story writing tips for each these plot types, check out our full guide to the 10 types of stories here.

10 Thriller Story Ideas

A thriller is any story that “thrills” the reader—i.e., gets adrenaline pumping, the heart racing, and the emotions piqued.

Thrillers come in all shapes and forms, dipping freely into other genres. In other words, expect the unexpected!

Here are a few of my favorite thriller story ideas:

Rosa Rivera-Ortiz is an up-and-coming lawyer in a San Diego firm. Held back by her ethnicity and her gender, she works twice as hard as her colleagues, and she’s as surprised as anyone when she’s requested specifically for a high-profile case. Bron Welty, an A-list actor and action star, has been arrested for the murder of his live-in housekeeper. The cop heading the case is older, ex-military, a veteran of more than one war, and an occasional sufferer of PTSD. Rosa’s hired to defend the movie star; and it seems like an easy win until she uncovers some secrets that not only make her believe her client is guilty, but may be one of the worst serial killers in the past two decades… and he knows she found out.

It’s the Cold War. Sergei, a double-agent for the CIA working in Berlin, is about to retire when he’s given one final mission: he’s been asked to “defect” to the USSR to help find and assassinate a suspected double-agent for the Kremlin. Sergei is highly trusted, and he’s given to understand that this mission is need-to-know only between him and very few superior officers. But as he falls deeper into the folds of the Iron Curtain, he begins to suspect that his superior officer might just be the mole, and the mark Sergei’s been sent to kill is on the cusp of exposing the leak.

It is 1800. A lighthouse on a barren cliff in Canada. Two lighthouse keepers, German immigrants, are alone for the winter and effectively cut off from the rest of the world until the ice thaws. Both Wilhelm and Matthias are settled in for the long haul with warm clothes, canned goods, and matches a-plenty. Then Wilhelm starts hearing voices. His personal belongings disappear from where he’d placed them, only to reappear in strange spots—like the catwalk, or dangling beneath the spiral stair knotted in brown twine. Matthias begs innocence. Little by little, Wilhelm grows convinced that Matthias is trying to convince him (Wilhelm) to kill himself. Is the insanity real, or is this really Matthias’ doing? And if it is real, what will he do to defend himself? There are so many months until the thaw.

Click for thriller short story ideas.

20 Mystery Story Ideas

Enjoy a good whodunit? Then you’ll love these mystery story ideas.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Ever hear the phrase, “It is not who fired the shot but who paid for the bullet?” This is a philosophy Tomoe Gozen lives by. Brave and clever, Tomoe follows clues until she learns who ordered the murder: Emperor Antoku himself. But why would the emperor of Japan want to kill a lowly soldier?

Mystery writer Dan Rodriguez takes the subway every day. Every day, nothing happens. He wears earbuds and a hoodie; he’s ignored, and he ignores. Then one evening, on his way home from a stressful meeting with his publisher, Dan is startled out of his funk when a frantic Middle-Eastern man knocks him over at a dead run, then races up the stairs—pursued by several other thugs. The Middle-Eastern man is shot; and Dan discovers a mysterious package in the front pocket of his hoodie. What’s inside, and what does he need to do to survive the answer?

A headless corpse is found in a freshly-dug grave in Arkansas. The local police chief, Arley Socket, has never had to deal with more than missing gas cans and treed cats. His exploration of this weird murder digs up a mystery older than the 100-year-old town of Jericho that harkens all the way back to a European blood-feud.

Click for the mystery short story ideas.

20 Romance Story Ideas

Ready to write a love story? Or perhaps you want to create a subplot with a secondary character? We’ve got ideas for you!

Hint: When it comes to romance, a sense of humor is always a good idea. Have fun! Here are a few of my favorite love story ideas:

She’s a cop. He’s the owner of a jewelry store. A sudden rash of break-ins brings her to his store over and over and over again, until it becomes obvious that he might be tripping the alarm on purpose—just to see her. That’s illegal—but she’s kind of falling for him, too. Write the moment she realizes she has to do something about this crazy illicit courtship.

Colorado Animal Rescue has never been more challenging than after that zoo caught on fire. Sally Cougar (no jokes on the name, or she’ll kill you) tracks down three missing tiger cubs, only to find they’ve been adopted by millionaire Bryce Champion. Thanks to an antiquated law on the books, he legally has the right to keep them. It’s going to take everything Sally has to get those tiger cubs back.

He’s a museum curator with a fetish for perfection. No one’s ever gotten close to him; how could they? They’re never as perfect as the portraits, the sculptures, the art that never changes. Then one day, an intern is hired on—a young, messy, disorganized intern, whose hair and desk are in a constant state of disarray. The curator is going half-mad with this walking embodiment of chaos; so why can’t the he stand the thought of the intern leaving at the end of their assistantship?

Click for the romance short story ideas.

20 Sci-Fi Story Ideas

From the minimum-wage-earning, ancient-artifact-hunting time traveller to the space-exploring, sentient dinosaurs, these sci-fi writing prompts will get you set loose your inner nerd.

Here are a few of my favorite sci-fi ideas:

In a future society, neural implants translate music into physical pleasure, and earphones (“jacking in”) are now the drug of choice. Write either from the perspective of a music addict, OR the Sonforce agent (sonance + enforcer) who has the job of cracking down.

It’s the year 5000. Our planet was wrecked in the great Crisis of 3500, and remaining human civilization survives only in a half dozen giant domed cities. There are two unbreakable rules: strict adherence to Life Quality (recycling doesn’t even begin to cover these laws), and a complete ban on reproduction (only the “worthy” are permitted to create new humans). Write from the perspective of a young woman who just discovered she’s been chosen to reproduce—but she has no interest in being a mother.

So yeah, ancient Egypt really was “all that” after all, and the pyramids turn out to be fully functional spaceships (the limestone was to preserve the electronics hidden inside). Write from the perspective of the tourist exploring the ancient society who accidentally turns one on.

Click for the short story ideas.

20 Fantasy Story Ideas

Bored teenaged wizards throwing a graduation celebration.

Uncomfortable wedding preparation between a magic wielding family tree and those more on the Muggle side of things.

A fairy prince who decides to abandon his responsibilities to become a street musician.

Just try to not have fun writing (or even just reading!) these fantasy writing prompts.

Click for the fantasy short story ideas.

The Secret to Choosing the Best Story Idea

Stories, more than any other artistic expression, have the power to make people care. Stories have the ability to change people’s lives.

But to write a great story, a life-changing story, don’t just write about what your characters did, said, and saw. Ask yourself, “Where do I fit in to this story? What is my personal connection to this story?”

Robert Frost said this:

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader. Robert Frost

If you can connect your personal story to the story you’re writing, you will not only be more motivated to finish your story, you might just be able to change the lives of your readers.

Next Step: Write Your Best Story

No matter how good your idea, writing a story or a book can be a long difficult process. How do you create an outline, come up with a great plot, and then actually finish it?

My new book The Write Structure will help. You’ll learn how to take your idea and structure a strong plot around it. Then you’ll be guided through the exact process I’ve used to write dozens of short stories and over fifteen books.

By Joe Bunting

Source: thewritepractice.com

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Fear Thesaurus Entry: Leading

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Debilitating fears are a problem for everyone, an unfortunate part of the human experience. Whether they’re a result of learned behavior as a child, are related to a mental illness, or stem from a past wounding event, these fears influence a character’s behaviors, habits, beliefs, and personality traits. The compulsion to avoid what they fear will drive characters away from certain people, events, and situations and hold them back in life. 

In your story, this primary fear (or group of fears) will constantly challenge the goal the character is pursuing, tempting them to retreat, settle, and give up on what they want most. Because this fear must be addressed for them to achieve success, balance, and fulfillment, it plays a pivotal part in both character arc and the overall story.

This thesaurus explores the various fears that might be plaguing your character. Use it to understand and utilize fears to fully develop your characters and steer them through their story arc.

A Fear of Leading

Notes:
Leading is not easy. It means being responsible and accountable, making decisions that will have a wider impact, and facing scrutinization for certain actions taken. This fear can cause characters to avoid stepping forward when asked (or needed), resent having this role thrust upon them, and even affect those already in a leadership role.

What It Looks Like
Resistance to being in charge
Avoiding making a final decision
Not wanting to be responsible in bigger ways
Not wanting to speak out or speak one’s mind
Letting others decide
Being risk-adverse
Pointing out one’s flaws and lack of suitability to others
Self-sabotage (to prove to others they aren’t leadership material)
Avoiding conflict and arguments
Bringing on a partner to co-lead
Obsessing about one’s missteps and mistakes
Indecisiveness and hesitation
Asking someone else to pass on bad news
Avoiding being the one to make hard decisions (and instead passing the buck or putting it to a vote)
Pulling back or hiding out in stressful times
Trying to avoid public speaking (preferring email and other “silent” ways of communicating, or having someone else make the speeches)
Being prone to over-analyzing rather than decisiveness
Wanting to keep things smaller and less complicated due to doubts of being able to handle something bigger
Wanting to stick to what’s known rather than innovate and experiment
Setting smaller goals because they are easier to achieve
Feeling not up to a challenge
Resisting or minimizing growth (of a movement, a business, a community) to keep things manageable
Pushing people away
Finding reasons to stay in the comfort zone rather than ask, What’s next?
Seeing the drawbacks, not the potential
Feeling one’s knowledge is inadequate and that can’t be changed
Viewing failures or lackluster progress as proof of one’s inability to lead
Focusing on what could go wrong, not what could go right
Worrying about the repercussions
Pretending things are okay when they are not
The character becoming prickly in situations where they don’t know the answer

Common Internal Struggles
Wanting to hide from responsibility, but feeling cowardly to want that
Wanting to make things better, but only seeing one’s own shortcomings
Believing leading would be a disaster (if the character hasn’t taken on the role yet)
Wanting to do right by others but fearing one’s efforts will only disappoint
Feeling unworthy of the belief others have in their abilities
Feeling like an impostor
A desire to go back to simpler times
Taking criticism to heart
The misbelief that they are only capable of so much, rather than see personal shortcomings as temporary and subject to change
Over-focusing on mistakes and failures rather than successes
Believing successes are due to luck more than skill
Having good ideas but not wanting to be blamed if something goes wrong

Flaws That May Emerge
Addictive, Defensive, Disorganized, Evasive, Humorless, Impatient, Inattentive, Indecisive, Insecure, Irresponsible, Jealous, Nervous, Oversensitive, Perfectionist, Pessimistic, Uncommunicative, Withdrawn, Workaholic, Worrywart

Hindrances and Disruptions to the Character’s Life
Holding back great ideas out of the fear of being singled out and asked to lead
Suffering with a less-than-ideal status quo
Being unhappy in a follower role
Being stuck with bad leaders and situations that don’t improve
Feeling like they are living beneath their potential
Having to put up with poor leadership because they are unwilling to step forward
Leading, but with a fear-based mindset that catastrophizes rather than see limitless potential
Being pessimistic about the future
Feeling cowardly for not having the courage to step forward

Scenarios That Might Awaken This Fear
Being asked to take something over
A survival situation where the character is the best suited to lead
Being the oldest in an emergency, so siblings look to the character to lead
Being promoted at work
Being asked to be in charge of a project, committee, event, etc.
When others come to the character in dire need of help
Needing leadership experience to round out college applications
A death in the family that makes the character a successor
Knowing by not stepping up, greater harm will come.

By ANGELA ACKERMAN

Source: writershelpingwriters.net

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Spinning a Yarn out of History: How to Craft a Plot from your Historical Obsession

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By E. C. Ambrose

Some of the most compelling fiction arises out of the writer’s engagement with a narrow aspect of history.  It might be an event with an exciting impact on the people involved or the future of nations.  Many authors come to historical fiction because of a personal connection to a distant time and place, and their writing explores the experiences of people who lived in that milieu.  My obsession is early technology, and my latest novel was sparked by a footnote.

So how do you transform a passion for history into a compelling narrative?  

Begin by framing your concept: the specific niche in history you’d like to write into, and why it excites you. Are you most excited about the setting, the event, the people, or perhaps the transformation around one of those elements? Freewriting about your enthusiasm can hone your focus.  Capture this excitement in a brief statement to guide the choices you make as you brainstorm narrative ideas. If you’re developing a counterfactual or supernatural story, be sure to integrate that direction.

I organize my ideas using a spreadsheet for a timeline, characters, specific locations, scene ideas, etc.  You may prefer a notebook with dividers, or some other format.  The earlier you can settle on a system, the easier it will be to exploit your notes, both historical and fictional.

Now that you know where (and when) to begin, consider how to build a story about that concept.  Here are a few questions to guide you.

1. Where is the most striking conflict in this concept?

What is at stake?  A battle might be life or death for the soldiers on the field. It might be existential for the future of the region or intensely personal for the groom who tends the warhorses. 

Each of these levels can make an engaging narrative, and will suggest the character(s) involved as well as the breadth of the story.  A larger, more complicated conflict signals the need for a larger structure to fully reveal it. If you’d like to craft a short story instead, look for a more intimate view into the conflict and explore that impact.  Incorporating several layers of conflict adds richness, and shows why this character is invested in this particular conflict. That helps the reader to develop a rooting interest in what happens to them.

2. Who has the most to gain or lose in your concept? 

This suggests possible characters. To tell the complete story of the battle, you may need characters who have a top-down view like generals or nobility, as well as participants on the battlefield.  These affected characters may not all have a narrative perspective in the work, but the protagonist’s encounters with them will reveal new insights.  What additional layers of internal or personal conflict will these characters contribute because of who they are, the roles they play, or their own background?  Characters with opposing views illuminate the history in a more three-dimensional way.  Creating a cast list of the people most impacted, and how they relate to each other can help you imagine scenes and personal moments to build your plot.

Whose stories dominate the current narrative around the history and whose stories haven’t been told? Are you the right author to reveal lesser-known narratives? If you can respectfully present a new perspective, especially on a familiar or perennial historical moment, that can help to set your work apart.

3. What aspects of the milieu are most critical for readers to understand the concept and story? 

How can you reveal those aspects in the most engaging way?  Lectures, backstory and summary are the bane of historical narratives.  Instead, look for ways to embed historical details and context into scenes, through what characters experience, do, or understand. Deliver information through action or discovery, using sensory details to show the setting.  As your reader experiences scenes alongside your characters, they will absorb the historical backdrop those characters inhabit without needing lengthy passages of exposition. My spreadsheet includes a column for brainstorming how to deliver the historical context my reader will need.

In particular, avoid explanatory dialog in which characters simply tell one another the information you want the reader to have.  Instead, consider conflicts and opposing characters.  Can they withhold, discover or argue about the information instead of simply delivering it?

4. What expectations will readers already have about this concept? 

Reader expectations can enhance or distract from your story. For instance, readers of a Titanic novel are aware the ship will sink, and that creates added tension. Which of the characters will survive and how?  If your work contradicts reader expectations, either because it’s a counterfactual or fantastical narrative, or because those expectations are flawed, you’ll need to carefully frame the contradictions to draw the reader closer rather than losing their trust because the author appears to have their facts wrong.

As these questions spark ideas for scenes, add those to your notes. Look for ways to increase the conflicts and raise the stakes through arranging those scenes for maximum impact. I use notecards, dealing out possible story and character arcs until I arrive at the most compelling version, or know what I need to brainstorm next.  Spinning your historical grist into these narrative elements should deliver plenty of material to weave your concept into a story.

Source: writershelpingwriters.net

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