Writing Tips
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Newest Articles
Truth in Possibility: Writing Speculative Nonfiction
Speculative nonfiction is an emerging genre of literature that empowers writers to incorporate imagination, wondering, and non-shared realities into works of creative nonfiction. By writing into the realm of possibility, speculative nonfiction writers can make interesting discoveries, or explore truths that might have otherwise been hidden by strict adherence to matters of settled fact. This…
Write into the Week: July 06, 2025
“When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing.” –George…
What is Found Poetry? Prompts and Inspiration
Found poetry is proof that a poem can be discovered in any instance of language. But there’s an art and craft to the making of found poetry that, like any other poetry form, requires patience and creativity to do it well. Simply put, found poetry is the generation of poetry through the use of other…
From Our Instructors
Writing About Real People
Sneak Peek: This essay is excerpted from some of the materials I’ll be sharing in my class, “The Body and Soul of Your Memoir: Shape, Focus, and Write Your Memoir” at Writers.com starting October 21st. When my memoir, The Sky Begins At Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community and Coming Home to the Body,…
Learn to Write! 8 Tips on Learning How to Write
If you’re here, you want to learn to write—whether that’s poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or something in-between. Learning to write is a process, and it is something that writers learn and relearn throughout their lives. To quote Ernest Hemingway, “We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” But anyone can…
How to Become a Poet
If you’re here, you’re wondering how to become a poet. The good news is, anyone can learn to write poetry—and if you’ve ever written a poem before, you can already call yourself a poet. Even so, sitting down to put feelings to stanzas can seem impossible. With so many possibilities to tinker with language, where…
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Writing Prompts
Jump-start your creativity with our writing prompts. Check back regularly for new prompts!
Show and Tell
Write a story or poem about an object with a lot of nostalgic value for you/the narrator. Do not, at any point, tell the reader explicitly what this object is.
Forgive and Forget
Write a story or poem about a time when you had to forget something to maintain a friendship or relationship.
Trash Day
Collect pieces of “junk writing”—spam emails, credit card advertisements, roadside billboards, bumper stickers, etc. Then, write a story or poem that uses all of the junk writing you collected.