Writing Forward newsletters

Here are the latest Writing Forward newsletters for my followers to peruse:

Writing Forward | Weekly Digest Excerpts: Creative Writing Prompts for the Young at Heart Today’s post includes a selection of prompts from my book 1200 Creative Writing Prompts. Enjoy! Stories and poems for children are among the most magical and delightful written works in the literary canon. Children’s literature has a universal appeal; the phenomenal international popularity of the Harry Potter books and movies is a testament to the […] Read on » Writing Resources for Naming Your Characters Have you ever read one of those epic fantasy novels in which the magical characters can gain total control over any living being simply by discovering their real and true name? I’ve read about ten of those novels. What do you think is more perplexing, the fact that authors continue to use this rule of […] Read on »     Recent Articles: Philosophical Journal Prompts Five Things Your Characters Need Finding Meaning in Poetry Creative Writing: Skill vs. Talent How to Develop a Beneficial Writing Process   Share   Tweet   What's the Story? Building Blocks for Fiction Writing is available from your favorite online bookseller.     Adventures in Writing: The Complete Collection       101 Creative Writing Exercises Copyright © 2017 Bookworms and Wordsmiths, All rights reserved.

Writing Forward | Weekly Digest Excerpts: Philosophical Journal Prompts What is philosophy? Let’s turn to Wikipedia for a simple, straightforward definition: “Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language…It is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument.” Today’s journal […] Read on » Five Things Your Characters Need Many writers and readers will agree that the most important element of any story is its characters. There are certainly exceptions: some plot-driven stories are quite compelling and successful. However, readers form their deepest connections to stories through the characters by developing relationships with them and caring about what happens to them. Naturally, we want […] Read on »     Recent Articles: Finding Meaning in Poetry Creative Writing: Skill vs. Talent How to Develop a Beneficial Writing Process Writing Tips: Do It Anyway Writing Resources: The Chicago Manual of Style   Share   Tweet   What's the Story? Building Blocks for Fiction Writing is available from your favorite online bookseller.     Adventures in Writing: The Complete Collection       101 Creative Writing Exercises Copyright © 2017 Bookworms and Wordsmiths, All rights reserved.

Writing Forward | Weekly Digest Excerpts: Finding Meaning in Poetry We humans are programmed to find meaning in everything. We find patterns where none exist. We look for hidden messages in works of art. We yearn for meaning, especially when something doesn’t immediately make sense. Of course, art is open to interpretation, and some of the best works of art have produced a fountain of […] Read on » Creative Writing: Skill vs. Talent Is effective and compelling creative writing borne of skill or talent? There has always been much debate about whether artistically inclined trades are a matter of learned skill or inherent talent. On the one hand, there is the belief that some are born with an active and imaginative right brain and are therefore better able to […] Read on »     Recent Articles: How to Develop a Beneficial Writing Process Writing Tips: Do It Anyway Writing Resources: The Chicago Manual of Style Poetry Prompts for Fall Getting Into Character: Fiction Writing Exercises   Share   Tweet   What's the Story? Building Blocks for Fiction Writing is available from your favorite online bookseller.     Adventures in Writing: The Complete Collection       101 Creative Writing Exercises Copyright © 2017 Bookworms and Wordsmiths, All rights reserved.

Writing Forward | Weekly Digest Excerpts: How to Develop a Beneficial Writing Process Today I’d like to share a few excerpts from my book 10 Core Practices for Better Writing. These excerpts are from “Chapter Six: Process,” which examines methods, strategies, and other approaches to developing and fine-tuning a writing process that works for you. Understanding The Writing Process “I always worked until I had something done and […] Read on » Writing Tips: Do It Anyway   From a distance, writing looks like one of the easiest jobs in the world. You get to set your own hours. You’re not tied to a place of employment. And you spend your days making up stories. However, writing is anything but easy. It can be thrilling, exhilarating, daunting, and exhausting. Sure, sometimes it’s […] Read on »     Recent Articles: Writing Resources: The Chicago Manual of Style Poetry Prompts for Fall Getting Into Character: Fiction Writing Exercises Creating Authentic Character Relationships Using Allusion in Poetry Writing   Share   Tweet   What's the Story? Building Blocks for Fiction Writing is available from your favorite online bookseller.     Adventures in Writing: The Complete Collection       101 Creative Writing Exercises Copyright © 2017 Bookworms and Wordsmiths, All rights reserved.

Writing Forward | Weekly Digest Excerpts: Writing Resources: The Chicago Manual of Style The Chicago Manual of Style is the most widely used resource for American English style, grammar, and punctuation. If you’re working on any kind of writing project and need a solid reference that provides answers for how to consistently apply style and grammar, then this is the book for you. Often called Chicago or CMOS, […] Read on » Poetry Prompts for Fall It seems like summer always passes too quickly and winter lasts too long. Maybe that’s why fall is a favorite season for so many people. It seems to hang around just long enough. It’s not too hot, not too cold. A mild, colorful, and comfortable season. Every fall, my creativity goes into overdrive, and I […] Read on »     Recent Articles: Getting Into Character: Fiction Writing Exercises Creating Authentic Character Relationships Using Allusion in Poetry Writing Homophones: Its and It’s How to Be More Creative in Your Writing   Share   Tweet   What's the Story? Building Blocks for Fiction Writing is available from your favorite online bookseller.     Adventures in Writing: The Complete Collection       101 Creative Writing Exercises Copyright © 2017 Bookworms and Wordsmiths, All rights reserved.

Writing Forward | Weekly Digest Excerpts: Getting Into Character: Fiction Writing Exercises Writers are not actors, but sometimes we need to get into character. To truly understand the nature of a character, a writer must step into that character’s shoes. You can use character sketches and descriptions while you’re creating a character, but the character will remain two dimensional until you can get into the character’s head […] Read on » Creating Authentic Character Relationships As storytellers, we often look for ways to make our characters as lifelike as possible: we give them internal struggles, external goals, difficult challenges, and hard choices to make, all while raising the stakes and doling out consequences for every action our characters take. Today let’s examine an oft-overlooked element of storytelling: character relationships. I […] Read on »     Recent Articles: Using Allusion in Poetry Writing Homophones: Its and It’s How to Be More Creative in Your Writing How to Improve Your Writing Skills Talent Isn’t Everything   Share   Tweet   What's the Story? Building Blocks for Fiction Writing is available from your favorite online bookseller.     Adventures in Writing: The Complete Collection       101 Creative Writing Exercises Copyright © 2017 Bookworms and Wordsmiths, All rights reserved.