Writing Tips
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Newest Articles
The Best Online Writing Workshops: How to Succeed in Creative Writing Workshops
Creative writing workshops can take your writing to the next level. The chance to experiment with your writing in a community is invaluable, and getting live feedback on your work will propel you through your writing career. But with so many online writing workshops out there, how can you tell which ones are worth taking?…
Parallelism Definition: Writing With Parallel Structure
Parallelism, or parallel structure, describes a type of sentence structure common in the English language. When poets and prose stylists effectively employ grammatical parallelism, they strengthen the connections between ideas and objects, embedding relationships in syntax. It might seem silly to write an entire article on a singular sentence structure. Writing parallelism certainly isn’t difficult,…
What is Point of View in Literature? Exploring Narrative Point of View
You might not notice it, but most published writing contains a narrative point of view. This includes every book, poem, email, instruction manual, even some street signs and cereal boxes. For us writers, defining the point of view of a story or poem is essential: it’s an important part of making our writing “believable.” Like…
From Our Instructors
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…
The 50 Best Gifts for Writers in Your Life
Professional authors chime in on gift ideas for writers—both during the holidays and any time of year. If you’re looking for the best gifts for writers in your life, look no further. There are lots of great gifts for creative writers—you just need to get in a writer’s head. With the help of some lovely…
How to Write a Podcast Script: A Step-by-Step Guide
Want more advice on how to write a podcast script? Check out Cara Stevens’ Zoom webinar How to Start a Podcast. Cara J. Stevens is an author, editor, podcaster and book coach. She has written more than 80 books for young readers based on video games, pop-culture trends, and beloved characters including Pokémon Go, Terraria, and…
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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.