Advice from Professional Writers (11)

One of my favorite things about this blog is when I come across topics that other writers find helpful in their writing. These posts will get the most views, and I think the writers I reach here are thankful for my love to share the things I’ve gathered in my toolbox over the years. I

Writing isn’t necessarily about Making Money

The Truth You can make money from writing. There are a lot of places that will pay you for your copywriting, or you can search and submit to markets looking for the writing you do, but more often than not, Writing is its own reward. There are so many other reasons we write, and if

Advice from Professional Authors (10)

About The Author: Charles Dickens  Even though Dickens is perhaps better known as the writer of famous writings like Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol, he wrote and edited widely during his life. He also wrote short stories like The Quack Doctor’s Proclamation, and Subjects For Painters. Books such as The Pickwick Papers, Little Dorit, and Bleak House – all of them are

Advice from Professional Writers (9)

7 Bits Of Writing Advice From Truman Capote 1. Write Daily ‘I was writing really sort of serious when I was about 11. I say seriously in the sense that like other kids go home and practice the violin or the piano or whatever, I used to go home from school every day, and I

The Short Story and the Author

As some of you may know, I’m not only a blogger, but I’m an author – Novels, Short Stories, Anthologies, and the occasional collection of pet stories. I also teach classes on Writing the Short Story. Why Write Short Stories? “A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story

Advice from Professional Writers (8)

Here is an article written by James Scott Bell. He is not only an author of novels and short stories, but he writes ‘’how-to books’ for the novice writer. Its a bit longer than my usual posts – but I think this is important information. It is good to hear it – even if its

Advice from Professional Writers (7)

**Alice Adams’s Pattern For Writing A Short Story The ABDCE Pattern for Writing a Short Story “The letters stand for Action, Background, Development, Climax, and Ending. You begin with compelling Action to draw the reader in. The Background is where you … see and know who these people are, how they’ve come to be together, what was going on before the

6 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Write a Short Story

(These questions work for both Novels and Short Stories) Who are your Protagonist and Antagonist? Without these two characters, you will find it hard to get going because this is where your conflict comes from. And conflict is what we want to read about. Your Protagonist has a goal, and your Antagonist opposes that goal. Can you tell your story

Advice from Professional Writers (6)

A few weeks ago, I began a series of posts with words of wisdom from different authors. I ‘collect’ these whenever I come across them. I will share these with you – (my readers) for October and November as I work on my outline for NaNoWriMo, as well as teaching my class, ‘Mustang Patty Teaches

Advice from Professional Writers (5)

A few weeks ago, I began a series of posts with words of wisdom from different authors. I ‘collect’ these whenever I come across them. I will share these with you – (my readers) for October and November as I work on my outline for NaNoWriMo, as well as teaching my class, ‘Mustang Patty Teaches