There’s a file format — a structure for saving data — that is as powerful a tool in the writing world as a U.S. passport is in world travel. It’s known by the acronym OPML, and those letters should become as familiar to you as QWERTY.
Read moreThe Tool that Gives You an Infinite Number of Brains
A decision tree is a tool that gives you an infinite number of brains. Once this happens, repair to your laboratory and stay there, as any creature with an infinite number of brains is loathe to behold (although one heck of a writer).
Read moreObsessing over the first few pages? Good!
They say you shouldn’t get bogged down in the first few pages of your writing. They’re wrong.
Read moreBreaking Writers Block
Indulging in creative efforts other than writing can be a fine way to both give the writing cells of your brain a rest while keeping the overall creative force alive and thriving.
Read moreThe three words that will solve your story problems.
A diabolically simple answer to story structure questions.
How to put yourself into every single thing you write.
If you're a business writer, or even an aspiring screenwriter, the chances of your expressing your innermost self through your work -- and getting your audience to read or hear it -- are two: slim and fat.
That doesn't mean you should avoid writing passion pieces: oh, no! However, you should also endeavor to put a little piece of yourself, however small, in everything you write.
How?
Read moreFive easy steps to cure writer's block
To understand the scourge we call "writer's block," consider constipation.
What, Roger? Another shit reference?
What can I say? I write from the gut, and there's a lot of poop in there. Besides, the metaphor is apt. What most people call "writers' block" is called by professional writers "another day." Regardless of what you call it, it's a constipation of the creative consciousness. Like digestive constipation, it's frustrating, painful, and ultimately paralyzing. Left untreated long enough, it can be annihilating.
The good news is, writer's block can and should be treated as any other form of constipation. Here are the simple steps.
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