We’ve discussed genuine writing here on the blog. We’ve also talked about crafting convincing characters on The Creative Penn. But what are some practical, nitty-gritty tips for actually creating believable characters in our writing? What separates a real, relatable character from a stereotypical, “meh” one? When writing a novel an author should create living people; people, not characters. A character […]
Inseparable Pairs
For better or worse, life is full of inseparable pairs: Salt and pepper. Guns and ammo. Pears and cheese. Dogs and fleas. Eggs and bacon. Peanut butter and jelly. Christmas and pine trees. And my personal favorite: peanut butter and chocolate. Within these pairs, you don’t hear about one without the other. (Ok, there are exceptions, especially for […]
What to Write When You Have No Words
No words? Write hard and clear about what hurts.” ~ Ernest Hemingway I was going to get married last year. But I didn’t. Less than two months before the date, I had to call off the wedding. In a very real sense, it has been like grieving a death. Not only the death of a […]
3 Grammar Rules You Can Break
In the last post, I said we were going to talk about rule-breaking. I’m not going to break that promise. And I promise these tips won’t break your writing. So let’s get to it and discuss a few grammar rules you can break! Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, […]
Write Winning Sentences: 7 Tips to Vary Your Sentence Structure
Vary your sentence structure. How many times have you heard you have to vary your sentence structure? What does that mean? How do we do it? Well, you have come to the write place! Today we talk about seven different sentence openers we can employ to avoid dull writing. Also, just going to say: Andrew […]
5 Reasons to Write Even if You’re Not a Writer
Life gives us so many reasons to write. But we so often cripple ourselves with this excuse: “I’m not a writer.” I hear way too often from people who think that amazing facts about writing, English, or grammar are neat but not really for them. It’s sad because it’s limiting. Just because you don’t classify […]
