Stop Short

Another one of those pieces of writing advice that might be hard to achieve, but works well once executed, is stopping yourself in the middle of a segment you really want to write. Much of author life is dragging your feet through all the less exciting chapters and getting to the good stuff. And once…

Compression (AKA: Five Word Dialogue)

Oftentimes when we set out to write a story or a screenplay, dialogue proves difficult to handle. Sometimes it’s unrealistic; sometimes it’s unnecessary. And sometimes it’s too much, usually in the way of serving up exposition to your audience or trying to make issues as crystal clear as possible. But this often bogs down your…

Meditation

The art of meditation is bringing your mind into your body and releasing focus on everything but the present moment. When you meditate, you are elevated to a different state of mind, and many people practice it in order to relax or to bring clarity to their emotions. However, meditation can be utilized in the…

Write Now, Edit Later

It seems like the most basic piece of advice for a writer, but I think it’s the one a lot of us have the most trouble with. Artists tend to be perfectionists, and if something doesn’t come out exactly the way we want it to right from the beginning, we tend to get discouraged. I…

Dialogue First

Setting the scene around your characters is always an important step in creating a story that comes alive for your readers. However, sometimes—especially during the beginning phases of your writing, the most important thing is to keep your imagination flowing steadily from one thing to the next. Often this means temporarily skipping over the details…