Is All Fiction Formulaic Writing?

So you’re writing a narrative based piece of creative writing, like a novel, play, or screenplay, and you’re beginning to suspect that there might be an underlying formula to this. To understand whether all fiction is formulaic you should develop an understanding of the concept of the sympathetic character, increasingly difficult obstacles, things which are … Read more

Is It Hard to Make Money Writing Fiction?

If you like to read and write fiction, you have probably realized that it is not very common for fiction authors to make mind-boggling sales and gain an incredible amount of popularity. While it does happen to the lucky few, it is actually not just luck that makes these authors. On the contrary, there are … Read more

How to Pay for International Travel as an Author

Here’s how to pay for international travel as an author. Get organised, write about your passion, read lots of travel literature, familiarize yourself with magazines and websites, be tenacious and single minded, network and build up a strong online presence, build up a portfolio, and develop a good relationship with editors. My passion in life … Read more

Affected vs Effected: A Guide with Examples

Affect and effect are terms that you will hear in relation to creative writing all the time, and they are a bit tricky to get right! Here’s a quick guide to help you make sure you are using them correctly. The difference between affect and effect is easy to master: the most common use of … Read more

Does a Story Need a Protagonist?

Although some stories do not feature a protagonist, or a character who is recongizably the leading character, most do. If the answer is yes, you probably need a protagonist, then the next question is, how do I write a good one? Great stories feature great protagonists right? So how do you write a protagonist that … Read more

My Student Resume Has Nothing On It: how to write a good one

A stand out resume is key to landing your dream job, but as a college student, you may not have much work history. But there are plenty of impressive accomplishments you can highlight. These are our 10 tips for writing a great college student resume. If your student resume has nothing on it, and you … Read more

My Writing Sucks: Twenty Proven Strategies to Get Better

If you want to get better at writing as quickly as possible, take a look at the tried and tested strategies that have worked well for so many others! So your writing sucks, and you want to get better. Here are the leading strategies to improve: write what you know, co-write, avoid burnout, develop better … Read more

Reasons to Use a Nom De Plume

Many writers of fiction, plays, screenplays and poetry struggle with whether they should use an author nom de plume instead of their real name when writing.  While there is a trend towards using real names in social media in order to promote more responsible postings on the internet, there are some very good reasons for … Read more

I’m a Bad Writer: Why Can’t I Write?

We’ve all been hit by writer’s block to some degree! Poets, novelists, screenwriters and writers in many other fields have all discussed this condition. You might ask yourself, why can’t I write? You might also be tempted to think, I’m a bad writer. It might show up as rendering you completely unable to write a … Read more

How Do You Come Up With Character Wants and Needs?

If you’re writing a novel, a short story, a play, or a screenplay you should consider giving your character what they need, and not what they want. So what does this actually mean? In most stories your character will be pursuing a central objective. See this article about how to write central objectives. Your character … Read more