Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Some writers hesitate to talk about plot because they believe it equates to preplanning their stories. For the organic or seat-of-the-pants writer, pre-planning simply doesn’t work for the way story unfolds in…
You have to know the rules about structure to make informed choices when writing your story. Use this outline from Kristin Wolden Nitz as a starting point.
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > One of the hardest parts of creating a strong plot that grabs the reader is knowing where to start. If you start too soon, you risk boring the reader with a lot…
Before you plunge into writing the first chapter or outlining the plot, consider taking some time to put your basic premise through a stress test.
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Many writers struggle early in their writing journal when they try to sort out the difference between plot and theme. In fact, the two work in tandem to create a story but…
Research is key to creating believable worlds for the characters. Here’s how to research when you can’t travel to the places you are writing about. Let’s go!
What is a Worldbuilding Bible? Do you need one? Find out all the answers in part 4 of our Worldbuilding writing series from Kristin J. Dawson.
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > During this month of exploring the topic of world building, it seems appropriate to talk about the world building we’ve all been doing in real life during this pandemic. Just as when…
In part 3 of our Worldbuilding series, discover 9 mistakes to avoid as you build and populate the world of your novel. Don’t miss these valuable tips!
As writers, the worldbuilding process includes adding elements that make each setting stir the senses of the reader while helping to move the plot forward.
Welcome to part 2 of our Worldbuilding series where dig even deeper into your new world and what it should include and what you can leave out.
Worldbuilding isn’t just for fantasy writers. Every character lives somewhere and travels through the world. Let’s make that world real for your readers.
Worldbuilding is usually associated with speculative fiction writers, but even historical, memoir, and romance authors must create a world for their characters.
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Writing is both a craft, which is learned and honed over time, and an art, which is unique and adds to our collective culture. And within the realm of writing, we generally…
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > My hands are cracking from washing them so often these days. Yours too? How about, in addition to tending to your hands with soap and water, writing a poem to and for and about them, those prehensile and…
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > For the last couple weeks, we’ve looked at the value of writing poetry simply to write it with no concern toward publication. But as writers, most of us do want to be…
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The architect Suchi Reddy said, “We build our lives from our bodies. Then we build the next layer and the next layer—our home, our towns, our cities, our villages, our world.” Do you see your body that way,…
Poetry has an intense flavor that prose generally doesn’t manage, and that intensity can make poetry valuable for a number of reasons in your writing.
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > List poems have an off-hand quality, as though they’re not even poems but casual jottings like a grocery or birthday list. That makes them particularly accessible and welcoming for readers to enter, and their unassuming quality keeps them…
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Poetry, like any art form, is improved with practice. The more you do it, the better you’ll become at it. But there is something very special about poetry: the more you practice…
1000 N. West Street #1200, Wilmington, DE 19801
© 2024 Direct Learning Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Licensure & Memberships
Recommended for college credits by the Connecticut Board for State Academic Awards
College credits obtained through Charter Oak State College
Approved as a private business and trade school in the state of Delaware
1000 N. West Street #1200, Wilmington, DE 19801
© 2025 Direct Learning Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
1000 N. West Street #1200, Wilmington, DE 19801
©2025 Direct Learning Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.