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Stories in Writers that you’ll love, handpicked by our team.
Notebook Entries
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise: Write one page a day. Concentrate on observation and description, not feeling. For example, if you receive a letter, the ordinary reaction is to write in the diary, “I received a letter that made me happy.” (or sad). Instead, describe the size of the envelope, the quality of the paper, and what the stamps looked like. Keep your diary without using the verb to be. Forms of the verb to be don’t create any vivid images. By avoiding its use, you get into the habit of choosing more interesting verbs. You’ll also be more accurate. For example, some people will say “John Smith is a really funny guy,” when what they really mean is “John Smith makes me laugh,” or “I like John Smith’s sense of humor.” Experiment with sentence length. Keep the diary for a week in sentences of ten words or less. Then try writing each day’s account in a single sentence. Avoid use of “and” to connect the long sentence; try out other conjunctions. Switch your diary to third person for a while, so that instead of writing I, you can write about he or she. Then, try mixing the point of view. Start the day in third person and switch into first person to comment on the action. By interspersing first and third-person points of view, you can experiment with stream of consciousness and the interior monologue. Try keeping your diary in an accent — first the accent of somebody who is learning how to write English, then the accent of somebody learning to speak English. Keep it in baby talk; Baby want. Baby hurt. Baby want food. Baby want love. Baby walk. Try making lists for a diary entry — just a record of the nouns of that day: toothbrush, coffee, subway tokens, schoolbooks, gym shoes. The Objective: To enhance your powers of observation and description without having to juggle the demands of characterization and plot.
By Denise E Lindquist5 months ago in Writers
How I Accidentally Became a Poet
I have always been a storyteller. I won’t bother you with all of the anecdotes, just one: I am eight, and I don’t know how to pen the complex words for my tale about a lost girl and her pirates. During class, my daydreams are occupied with memorizing the next scene. After school, I wait, not so patiently, for my mother to come home. Then, like an orator in a great hall, I stand beside her bed and recite the fictional unfoldings. She scribes them with a swift and loyal hand. Together, we revel in the newest imaginings, manifested, and she teaches me how to read cursive. It is like this for a year, maybe less, at least until I can string together a complete sentence and have become familiar with our second-hand thesaurus.
By Sam Eliza Green5 months ago in Writers
the tree of me
Last night, my dreams were encased in a cloak of darkness, and I could not make them out. Yet when I awoke this morning, the sun gleamed beyond my window just the same, and the vicious pounding of my heart was eased by the familiarity of its glow.
By angela hepworth5 months ago in Writers
10 Things You Learn Fast As a New Writer
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” — Stephen King There’s a lot of commentary in the writing community about what it means to live the writer’s life. It’s a little bit different for everyone, but there are a lot of commonalities that almost all writers can resonate with.
By Leigh Victoria Phan, MS, MFA6 months ago in Writers
For Future Fiction Fun
Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts — The Exercise: Buy a notebook to use for just this one exercise. Then, on a regular basis, perhaps at the beginning of your writing time, or before you go to bed, write for ten to twenty minutes addressing each of the following subjects: * List in detail all the places you have lived - one place per page. (This is a good way to begin because it gives the entire notebook a concrete grounding in time and place.) You might even want to get very specific, say by recounting all the kitchens or bedrooms. * Next, recall if you were happy or unhappy in those places. * Consider your parents' relationship, from their point of view. *List important family members: brothers and sisters, grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins. What were the dynamics of your nuclear family, your extended family? (Some of these subjects may take several twenty-minute sessions. Leave space for unfinished business.)
By Denise E Lindquist6 months ago in Writers
A Glimmer in the Gaslight
This is a writing exercise and was entirely inspired by a recent Top Story from the wonderful Vocal creator Lana Lynx. Lana's story stemmed from her wondering what it would be like if dead authors, particularly dead Russian authors, posted their story ideas and WIPs on Facebook. Please check out the truly amazing and amusing results.
By Raymond G. Taylor6 months ago in Writers
On Canon
"Wait stop! That's a load bearing 'I don't know!'" As I avoided my work today, a lonely thought came my way. It came to me as if to say, "deep thought-ed sir, might I stay?" I found could not cast it far away, so I kept it here with me today. - Vagabond Thoughts, by Alexander McEvoy
By Alexander McEvoy6 months ago in Writers
