National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is an annual event in which participants commit to writing a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. It began in 1999 as a challenge between friends, but it’s since grown into a global writing challenge with hundreds of thousands of participants each year. We’ve compiled some tips on how to keep your head in the game during this year’s NaNoWriMo. Disconnect. You know how people always say you need to unplug to be productive? Well, they’re annoyingly right. Turn off the TV, cellphone, stay away from the internet, all of it. If you need…
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We’re a few weeks out from the biggest novel writing challenge of the year: National Novel Writing Month! Every November, writers from around the world dedicate themselves to cranking out a 50,000-word first draft manuscript in 30 days. Tons of writers have gone on to publish their books after the challenge, and thousands have credited the process to help them finish a writing project that’s been sitting on their hearts for years. If this is the year you’ve decided to write your novel, you still have plenty of time to finish the first draft before the end of the year,…
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Memoirs are the easiest to write because you have already lived the material, but they are also the most challenging to write because you have to find the balance between what stories you share and what information needs to be left out. Writing a memoir doesn’t mean you have to include every aspect of your life from birth to your current status in life. Instead, great memoir writers know to pick and choose the best, most important stories to include. Oftentimes, memoir writers focus too much on their personal catharsis and less on the end-user: the reader. In order for…
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In the publishing world, a short story normally refers to fiction and they come in varying shapes and sizes: Traditional: 1,500-5000 words Flash Fiction: 500-1,000 words Micro Fiction: 5-350 words Writing a short story can sometimes be more difficult than writing a full novel. This is because you have to captivate your readers, take them on a journey to a different world, create character and story depth, all in under 5,000 words. Because of this, short stories should begin as close to the climax as possible. Here are a few tips for writing a captivating short story: 1. Use the…