Writing Tips
Expert advice on all aspects of writing, updated weekly. To get Writing Tips in your inbox for free, join our newsletter.
Newest Articles
Writer’s Block: What Causes Writer’s Block, and How to Overcome It
Writer’s block—having difficulty producing new writing—affects almost every writer at some point, and it can be debilitating for our creativity. If you’ve explored creative writing, I probably don’t have to tell you how painful and challenging writer’s block can be. In this article, we’ll look at writer’s block more deeply, asking “What is writer’s block?”—beyond…
Writing About Real People
Sneak Peek: This essay is excerpted from some of the materials I’ll be sharing in my class, “The Body and Soul of Your Memoir: Shape, Focus, and Write Your Memoir” at Writers.com starting June 4. When my memoir, The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community and Coming Home to the Body,…
What is Free Indirect Discourse? Writing the “Intimate 3rd Person”
Free indirect discourse is a narrative technique in which writers employ the third person POV with the intimacy of 1st person perspective. While this technique became popularized in the 20th century, it has been used for generations of storytellers, as writers have experimented with exploring their characters’ interiorities. Also known as free indirect speech or…
From Our Instructors
Essential Character Development Questions: 3 Questions to Ask Every Character You Write
Editor’s note: This is the first of two articles (second here) on the fundamentals of character development written for Writers.com by our instructor Gloria Kempton, in support of a full character development course she’s developing. In this article, Gloria covers the three essential questions you should ask each character you write. There are three questions…
Eight Questions About the Novella, Answered
In this interview, Writers.com instructor Jack Smith answers our top eight questions about the novella form—everything from “How many words in a novella?” to his best advice on learning the novella form, writing, and maybe even publishing your own novella. 1. What is a novella, and how many words are there in a novella? What distinguishes…
Overcoming Writing Anxiety
Editor’s Note: In this article, instructor Dennis Foley gives his best tips and perspectives on overcoming writing anxiety. His advice is geared toward novelists, but is equally valuable for any form of creative writing. We’ve all been there. Writer anxiety Yep, at some point in the process of writing a novel, you will suddenly be…
Writing Tips Series
Check out our free Writing Tips on the craft, business, and life of creative writing. Interviews with our award-winning instructors, practical advice you can put to use now, and more.
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Writing Prompts
Jump-start your creativity with our writing prompts. Check back regularly for new prompts!
Show and Tell
Write a story or poem about an object with a lot of nostalgic value for you/the narrator. Do not, at any point, tell the reader explicitly what this object is.
Forgive and Forget
Write a story or poem about a time when you had to forget something to maintain a friendship or relationship.
Trash Day
Collect pieces of “junk writing”—spam emails, credit card advertisements, roadside billboards, bumper stickers, etc. Then, write a story or poem that uses all of the junk writing you collected.