Tag Archive for ‘Writing Tips’
Get Inspired!
Recently I shared some exercises I use with my students at Fordham for revising fiction and narrative nonfiction. But a lot of us need inspiration at the other end of the process, too — right at the beginning. So below are some of the best writing prompts I’ve used over the years. Some I made up, some I gathered from other writers, and some I found in books. You can approach these any way you wish: write about yourself, another [...]
Writing Tip #11: Don't Listen to Hackneyed Advice
Write what you know? On second thought … “Creative writing teachers should be purged until every last instructor who has uttered the words ‘Write what you know’ is confined to a labor camp. Please, talented scribblers, write what you don’t. The blind guy with the funny little harp who composed The Iliad, how much combat do you think he saw?” – P. J. O’Rourke “It still comes as a shock to realize that I don’t write about what I know; I write [...]
New Year's Resolution: Write that Book! (12 Great Tips)
Just in time for the new year, the fabulous C. M. Mayo shares her strategies for writing – and finishing – your book: Last spring my latest novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, was published. This was not a go-to-the-cabin-by-the-lake-and-churn-it-out kind of experience. No, my novel is a nearly 500-page historical epic based on extensive original research, every line of prose polished to shine like the lighthouse in Alexandria, with more characters than you could pack into a [...]
