Writing Tips
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Newest Articles
9 Essential Poetry Manuscript Format Tips to Get Published
After months of writing, editing, rewriting, hair-pulling, and late-night coffee sessions, you have a finished poetry manuscript. There’s only one thing standing between you and submitting your poetry for publication: the poetry manuscript format. Poetry manuscript submissions must conform to certain formatting guidelines to even be considered by publishers. Poetry manuscript submissions must conform to…
What is Autobiographical Fiction?: Writing the Fictional Self
It’s been said that every work of fiction is emotionally autobiographical: a storyteller may invent stories that never happened, but always conveys an emotional truth founded on lived experience. It only makes sense, then, that some storytellers best uncover their feelings through autobiographical fiction. Autobiographical fiction seems paradoxical. How can a story be fictional if…
Why Learn Creative Writing?
Why learn creative writing? Truthfully, creative writing is one of the most misunderstood disciplines in the 21st century. When people think of a creative writing course, they often imagine a group of lofty, out-of-touch people who wear argyle sweater vests and have unproductive conversations about abstract concepts. In reality, nothing could be further from the…
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.