4 Tips for Planning a Series
There’s a lot to consider when planning a series, author Jamie K. Schmidt shares her tips for planning your next successful book series.
The Energy of Groups: Group Writing
The support and energy of group writing can often spur writers to accomplish more than when writing on their own.
How to Write a Novel in Only 15 Minutes a Day
IFW Instructor Kristin Wolden Nitz shares the secrets for how to write a novel in only 15 minutes a day—with the real-life examples to prove it!
Making Money as a Writer: Passive Income-IFW Writing Contest
Author Jamie K. Schmidt explores opportunities for writers to get some extra cash in their bank account through passive income streams.
Making Money as a Writer: Audio Books
Author Jamie K. Schmidt encourages us to consider audio books when looking for ways for making money as a writer.
The Best Christmas on Mars
What can you hope to gain by entering a writing contest? IFW Instructor and contest judge Lynn Smith shares why entering a contest can improve your work.
Lights! Camera! Action! Creating Dramatic Action Scenes
IFW Instructor Kris Franklin illustrates how to build more tension in your story by showing and not telling.
Types and Topics: Nonfiction That Doesn’t Get Old | IFW
A look at magazines published one, five, ten, and twenty or more years ago will reveal the same categories of nonfiction and many of the same topics. Why? Because they address universal needs and aim to help readers improve their lives.
Building Your Author Press Kit
Kelli Panique gives tips for what to include your author press kit to make it easy on you and your contacts.
Getting the Most Out of a Writer’s Conference Part 2 | IFW
Karen Hammond offers tips and tricks for getting back in the swing of attending writing conferences.
Getting the Most Out of a Writer’s Conference Part 1| IFW
Karen Hammond is getting us in tip-top shape for a return to in-person writing conferences.
Writing About Painful Subjects
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Pandemic. Who hasn’t heard that word by now? Since early 2020, news about the global spread of the deadly virus known as COVID-19 has dominated the news. We’ve heard about millions of deaths and watched grieving people share…
Six Tips for Writing Tantalizing Titles
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > When you think about all of the writing elements that need to come together to make a successful magazine story or article, it might seem as if the title is the least of your worries. After all, it’s…
Focus and Slant: Key Elements for Nonfiction Success
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > It was early spring, and I was thinking about articles for January. As freelancers know, most publications plan issues months ahead, so we need to submit our queries and articles with that in mind. I decided to write…
What Should You Write? Choosing Your Best Nonfiction Ideas
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Nonfiction ideas truly are everywhere, and writers who focus on nonfiction need never say, “There’s nothing to write about.” We can delve into biography, history, science, sports, astronomy, autobiography, memoir, geography, technology, travel, pop culture, religion, health and…
Magazine Sleuth: What to Study Before You Write | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > When people think of writing, they might picture themselves with their hands eagerly curled over the keyboard waiting for inspiration to strike. Then, once the frenzy of inspiration has passed, they hit the save button, and wonder what…
Sci-Fi Characters Help Your Readers Stay Afloat | IFW
If readers believe in your human sci-fi characters, they’ll believe every other aspect of your story, no matter how weird or alien or out of this world. Readers will follow you anywhere, even to the ends of the universe.
Conventional Structures for Unconventional stories | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Conventional Structures for Unconventional stories What is it that you love about science fiction? The out-of-this-world settings? The nifty gadgets? The weird aliens? As unconventional as science fiction can get, it almost always follows a conventional structure. Take…
6 Tips to Prime, Pump, and Polish Your Writing Voice
Your writer’s voice is a skill that can be developed. Here are six tips that will help you pump, prime & polish your writing voice. Let’s get to work!
Raise Your Voice: Only You Can Tell Your Story Your Way
Voice in writing can be elusive. How do you develop your writing voice while also writing characters with their own voices? Lori Mortensen is here to help.
The Submission Train is Leaving the Station | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > In my previous post, I highlighted common roadblocks writers may experience when it comes to submitting their work or even thinking about submitting their work. Now that these have been explained and hopefully eliminated, you should be able…
NaNoWriMo: The Home Stretch
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Hello NaNoWriMo-ers! You are word writing warriors. The end is in sight. Don’t slow down now. It’s almost over. By the end of today, you should have 40,008 words done on your novel. That’s fewer than 10,000 words…
NaNoWriMo: Synopsis and the Sagging Middle | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Hello NaNoWriMo-ers! You are on the way. You’ve past the halfway mark of the month of November and are heading down the home stretch. How’s that for scary? (Or exciting!) By the end of today, you should have…
NaNoWriMo: Out of the Gate, Getting Into the Zone | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > For NaNoWriMo participants, November 3rd is the day their novel hits 5,001 words. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it’s when thousands (millions?) of people all over the world pledge to write 50,000 words of their…
Something Wicked, Weird, and Spooky This Way Comes | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Examples for Building a Supernatural Mystery or Paranormal Mystery Saying a mystery is about something unknown takes on a new meaning when it comes to supernatural and paranormal mysteries. Supernatural means anything beyond our natural world, beyond our…
Things Are Not What They Seem
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > In last week’s post, I told you about Catherine Aird’s article “Planning and Plotting the Detective Story.” Here are the points that were lightbulbs for me, and why I think you should pay mind to them. Lightbulb #1…
All Is Revealed
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > In last week’s post, I gave you two clues. With only one accredited class in genre writing under my belt, and a dozen creative writing classes that came nowhere near 221b Baker Street, how did I write five…
Riddle Me This
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Every story ever written contains some element of mystery. We’ll talk about that and a lot of other things over this four-week series. In a mystery novel—a whodunit, a police procedural, a cozy—the mystery is the story. Who…
Writing a Holiday Romance
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > If you decide to write a holiday-themed romance, the first thing you need to do is decide if you want to self-publish it or if you want to go the traditional route. Traditional publishers (the big five: Penguin/Random…
Happily Ever After or Happy For Now
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The key element that makes a novel a romance is the ending. How to conclude your book so it’s satisfying to the genre readers who have set expectations? By ending with the happily ever after (HEA) or the…
Open or Closed Door Sex Scenes
When writing a romance novel, how do you should you handle sex scenes? Tips for writing open and closed-door sex scenes from Jamie K. Schmidt.
Structure 104: The Arc of the Covenant
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The covenant is the pact writers make with readers, the promise to deliver a riveting story with unforgettable characters and an ingeniously clever plot. The author also promises to tell the story in a smooth, logical, and easy…
Structure 102: Nonfiction
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Some paranormal enthusiasts believe that a pyramid, simply by virtue of its shape, can preserve food, and enhance meditation and psychic talents. Others believe the Giza pyramids are a giant celestial generator that could power the world if…
Writing Structure 101: It’s All About the Reader | IFW
Writing structure is the way the article or story is organized, the way the author puts the pieces together. Readers usually don’t notice writing structure. As a writer, that’s the way you want to keep it.
This Will Only Hurt a Bit
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Wit ought to be a glorious treat, like caviar; never spread it about like marmalade.” — Noel Coward, English actor, playwright and composer Bringing humor into your writing is more than inserting a series of jokes. Here are…
Stuck in the Mud Doesn’t Need to be Stick in the Mud | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > You’ve been on a roll with your project—the funny bits are amusing you to no end and your first reader thinks you’re hilarious. You’re a comedic genius. Nothing can go wrong now—not when things are flowing like this.…
True Stories or Funny Stories? You Choose | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Get together with family and old friends and there usually comes a time when someone will tell a tale about a shared experience. The anticipation builds until the crowd is in hysterics—often before the story is even finished.…
9 Worldbuilding Mistakes to Avoid
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!
Digging Deeper Into Your Worldbuilding
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 Checklist
Worldbuilding is usually associated with speculative fiction writers, but even historical, memoir, and romance authors must create a world for their characters.
Hands
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…
My Body, Myself
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,…
List Poems
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…
What Sits Beyond the Reach of Language
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > It’s National Poetry Month, and with the chaos of coronavirus that’s unsettled us and our need to stay as close to home as possible, now, more than ever, is the perfect time to delve into poetry for the…
Imagery in Narrative Nonfiction
Narrative nonfiction writers need to describe people, places, objects, and events in imaginative but also accurate ways. Enter imagery. Follow these 3 tips.
The Writer’s Voice and Narrative Nonfiction
The content of your piece is the what of your writing. How you say it is the voice. Time to talk about how to develop your author voice in your work.
Using Creative Nonfiction Techniques in a Memoir | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.” Those familiar opening lines from Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield are…
The Appeal of Narrative Nonfiction
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Just the facts, ma’am.” These oft-repeated words are associated with Sergeant Joe Friday, a character in the 1950s TV police drama “Dragnet.” Friday’s actual words were “All we want are the facts,” but the point remains: Investigators need…
Verb-Perfect: 7 Tips to Fuel Your Writing
Verbs play a key role in building effective sentences, so pay close attention to them as you revise and polish. These 7 writing tips will make your story shine!
The “Feel” of Your Writing
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Everything is in the tone.”—Sherwood Anderson For a well-polished manuscript, make sure you use tone and mood effectively. Tone in fiction refers to an author’s attitude toward the characters and events in the story. The tone helps to…
Time for a Sound Check?
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Hearing” your manuscript with a reader’s ear As you polish your manuscript, you will likely review it numerous times, looking for ways to improve the content, style, and presentation. Some experts suggest reading a hard copy in addition…
Dos and Don’ts of Dialogue
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > What to do (and not do) in your characters’ conversations As a final check through your dialogue, a good idea is to give a scene to two friends and have them read a different character as if they…
Punctuating Dialogue
Properly punctuating dialogue trips up even the most seasoned of writers. Bookmark this post to help you as you proofread your manuscript for submission.
The Enemies of Goal Keeping
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > How to win when your goals are under attack Goals are like your characters. They aren’t real until you write them down and bring them to life. Until then, they’re just dreams and aspirations. In a story or…
Relax! Ideas for People Who Don’t Know What to Do with Their Lives When Not Writing
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > I have a confession to make: my name is Chaunie and I’m a write-aholic. I have always been a woman who enjoys working and independence, but when I first stumbled upon freelance writing as a career, I felt…
The Most Powerful Writing Tool
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Do you know what it is? Words don’t spring from your mind onto the page or the computer monitor. At least not yet, though I’m sure some tech genius somewhere is working on that. In the meantime, you…
A Practical Guide for Writing Goals
Discover a practical guide to writing goals by paying attention to your rhythm and stamina as a writer and the constraints your life places on your writing.
The Goal of Having Goals is Hitting Your Target | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Think about your goals before writing them down. Goals keep you focused. Pin them up where you can see them when you sit down to write. Draw a target on a sheet of paper and write your goals…
How Was Your Writing Year?
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > You can learn from failure—if you pay attention Did you achieve the goals you set? Did you exceed them? Miss by a hair or fall woefully short? Would you like to talk about something else? I would, because…
The Waiting Game
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Things to do while you’re out on submission You’ve just hit send. Your query is off to your dream agent. There are only so many times you can hit the refresh button to your email before becoming dejected.…
Have You Considered Essays?
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > If you’ve been a long-time reader of the eNews, you know that I often list markets that aren’t technically for children’s writers. I’ve done so in this issue, for example. There are…
Tips for Winning Our Mystery First Pages Writing Contest
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Advice to take your entry to the top. Have you heard the exciting news? The Institute for Writers is now accepting submissions for its Mystery First Pages Writing Contest! Every quarter, IFW hosts a contest, and this time…
Tips for Getting Past the Gatekeeper
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > 10 reasons manuscripts are automatically rejected Before the internet, if you didn’t have a way to contact an agent, you had to mail your manuscript to their office. If the agent had not requested your manuscript, it would…
Crossing Over Into Writing for Adults
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Throughout my career, I’ve written for children and for adults. My magazine work covers both. And I have books for kids and books for adults. For me, writing is about freedom. I…
How to Avoid an Automatic Rejection
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > How to avoid an automatic rejection You’ve worked so hard to put together a submission package to an agent. You don’t want to waste all that effort only to get an automatic rejection. The best way to avoid…
Building a Better Bibliography
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > What sources matter most? Today, we’re wrapping Research Month on the IFW blog. What good is all that research without a good bibliography? This article comes from our book SEARCHING: A RESEARCH GUIDE FOR WRITER. For more practical…
Research Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them – Part 2
Paula Morrow reveals even more ways to make sure your research is working for you and not against you when you submit to editors. Read on for her insider tips.
Research Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them – Part 1 | IFW
Famed editor Paula Morrow brings us Research Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them because research is essential whether you write fiction or nonfiction. Expert tips ahead!
Steps on the Research Road Part 2
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > In last week’s post, Steps on the Research Road Part 1, Joan Broerman and Marie-Therese Miller shared tips for using books, online searches, and databases to research topics for our fiction and nonfiction stories. This article is just…
Steps on the Research Road Part 1
Quality research is vital whether you focus on books, articles, short stories, or novels. Enjoy these research tips from Joan Broerman and Marie-Therese Miller.
Revising: A Time to Fine-Tune Your Style
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Making your writing more distinctive. As experienced writers know, revising involves more than changing word counts, fixing punctuation, or checking for accuracy. Revision is also the time —think “opportunity”—to make our writing more vibrant, meaningful, and distinctive. Fine-tuning…
Revising for a Strong Start
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > A checklist for hooking your reader. As the saying goes, we have one chance to make a first impression, and it’s the same with writing. Editors, agents, and readers tend to cast aside stories with weak beginnings. It’s…
Do You Need to Cut?
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > A Revision Checklist Cutting words is a task most writers face during revisions. We may scrutinize each line and even each word to meet the publisher’s requirements. I’ve cut hundreds of words from an article or story and…
Scoring a Regular Freelancing Gig
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Increasing your chances of becoming a regular freelancer Getting a one-off acceptance is always a cause for celebration. Getting offered a regular paying gig is even better. Learn ways to increase your chances to become a regular freelancer.…
Crafting the Perfect Pitch
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Tips for getting closer to yes! Editors are busy, often juggling multiple duties. That means it’s important to grab them with a quick, precise query letter. Learn what works and what doesn’t. Learn how to query even if…
Research You Need to Do Before Querying
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Targeted submissions can lead to success. Before you even start to query a publication or an agent, it’s important to do research on what they’ve already written, their style and the person you need to sell your work…
5 Common Questions About Author Platform
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > From writers like you! A while back I sent out a one-question survey. Writers could submit any one question about author platform and marketing. I learned a ton from reading all the questions that were submitted, but there…
Finding Your Target Market
Who is your target market and where can you find them? Kristin Dawson shares insight on finding just the readers who will resonate with your stories. Let’s go!
Defining Your Author Brand Part 2
Let’s continue to define our author brand as we narrow down your brand values, reflect on what makes you unique, and finalize your new branding.
Defining Your Author Brand Part 1
What is a platform for writers and how do you build one? Kristin Dawson breaks down how new and experienced writers can start building their author brand.
From Real Life to the Written Page: Inspired by People You Know or Have Met
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Writers, do not wait for inspiration. You need to arm yourself and track inspiration down and mount its head over your fireplace.” – Erin Bow This quote makes me laugh. It’s a reminder to open my eyes and…
Self-Care Matters
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Writing never happens in a vacuum. It’s always something we’re throwing into the stewpot of life, hoping that the writing isn’t overwhelmed by the other ingredients. But in order for that to…
From Real Life to the Written Page: Using Your Emotions and Beliefs
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “For sale: baby shoes, never used.”* That gets an immediate reaction from me. It implies sadness, loss, grief in only six words. We want our readers to react emotionally to our writing as well. But where do we…
From Real Life to the Written Page: Using Others’ Experiences Along With Your Own
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Ever read a story that felt unrealistic? I sure have. And I’ve seen it too many times to count in TV shows and movies. For example, the unconscious patient with the hospital bed rails down. Right. I’m sure…
From Real Life to the Written Page: Using Where You’ve Lived
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The old adage “write what you know” definitely has value, especially when you use places you’ve experienced. Lived in a dry climate? You know the feel of grit blown into your eye and the scent of freshly rain-dampened…
Hooking the Reader
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > With all the competition from Kindle Unlimited, self-published books, and traditional publishing’s blitz of new releases and re-releases, getting and keeping a reader’s attention has gotten difficult. You need to entice the reader from the very first line,…
Editing Descriptions to Move Your Story Forward | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Is your pacing too slow? Need to pull out your writer tools to increase story pacing? This is Part II of my “editing description to move the story forward” article. Part I focused specifically on scene imagery. This…
Editing Scene Imagery to Move Your Story Forward | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > If you’re looking to increase the tension and keep readers turning the pages, become a master of story imagery. We’re told to have sensory details, and imagery descriptions to create a well developed setting. But imagery runs the…
Six Step-by-Steps for Your Book Marketing Plan | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Having anxiety about creating a book marketing plan? I did, and I’m a marketer. Going through that period of freak-out on my own novel project helped me understand, for the first time, how creating a marketing plan could…
Top 3 Source of Writer’s Block (& How to Jump Over Them Now)
Here are the top 3 sources of writer’s block and how to bust right past them from guest blogger Kristin J. Dawson. Read on for tools to help you right now!
How to Avoid Writer’s Block
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > We spend months, even years, weaving characters and conflicts into a story. We cut, tweak, and rearrange. Yet if someone asks what our story is about, we might be dumbstruck. “It’s about a woman who inherits a cosmetic…
Breaking Through Writer’s Block
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Stuck Is a Symptom, Not the Cause Whether you write for fun or profit, you likely have had this experience: You feel the adrenalin rush about a story idea. It is so clear in our thoughts that it…
Live Long and Prosper with Verisimilitude and Suspension of Disbelief
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > We’re all Captain James T. Kirk when we sit down to write. We boldly go where no man or woman has gone before—and we take readers with us. The idea is not to drag them kicking and screaming.…
Character Arc and Conflict: You Can’t Have One Without the Other
For your main character to have a satisfying character arc, there has to be conflict. Without it, how does your character grow and change? Get these tips today!
The Forge for Your Characters
The literary term for life experience is backstory. This is your character’s origin story. Discover tips for backstory from IFW instructor Lynne Smith.
People Aren’t Perfect – Your Characters Shouldn’t Be Either
While characters are often created from similar molds or archetypes, it is their imperfections that draw us in. Tips for crafting engagingly flawed characters.
Story Development: Writing to Market
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Why it’s important to write a marketable book When you first start writing, one of the most common pieces of advice you will hear is, “All you have to do to be successful is write a great book.” …
Developing Your Story with a Plot Board: Part Three | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > In this three-part series, we go over how to set up a plot board to develop your story from an idea into a tailor-made synopsis that is as detailed or sparse as you want it to be. A…
Developing Your Story with a Plot Board: Part Two | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > In this three-part series, we go over how to set up a plot board to develop your story from an idea into a tailor-made synopsis that is as detailed or sparse as you want it to be. The…
Developing Your Story with a Plot Board: Part One | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > In this three-part series, we will go over how to set up a plot board to develop your story from an idea into a tailor-made synopsis that is as detailed or sparse as you want it to be.…
Setting Up for Success: Excel Spreadsheets | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > One of my favorite author stories revolves around Dave Barry and Stephen King. Dave Barry tells this story of when he had writer’s block. He didn’t know what to do so he went over to Stephen King’s place…
A Room of One’s Own
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > When you are setting up for writing success, don’t forget to make a space for yourself to write. J.K. Rowling just got blasted on social media recently because she mentioned she had a writing room. Of course, she…
Keeping a Writer’s Notebook
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > 8 ways to use your writing notebook Writer’s love office supplies. In fact, the only thing they love more than a sale at Staples is a deal on journals. I have a collection of leather bound ones, spiral…
Planning Your Story
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Things you should know before you start your novel Before you can make the most of your writing time, you need to know where you’re going. Planning what you’re going to write can be as easy as saying,…
How to Know When to Take a Break from Writing | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > What happens when your writing fails you? This time exactly one year ago, I was struggling. Coming off some personal losses, a move, and a general upheaval of everything in my life, I was feeling adrift. It felt…
5 Ways to Get Over Writer’s Burnout
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > What to do when your creativity ebbs. Being a writer for a living is a funny thing. Unlike a lot of other jobs, writing comes down solely to you, and to your own mind. If you’re broken in…
Can You Make Money From Amazon Publishing ? | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Here’s the short answer and the not-so-short answer. On the way to school the other day, my kids and I were chatting about how much Amazon has changed the world. Strapped safely into the back seats of my…
The Unorthodox Way I Got a Nonfiction Book Deal | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > There’s no one way to sign on the dotted line. Hi there. My name is Chaunie and I’m a published author. I say that to you, not to sound like a conceited jerk, but to remind myself that…
Why Every Writer Can Benefit From NaNoWriMo | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Confessions from a writer too scared to try the challenge. If you’re a writer reading this, I’ll just go ahead and say it: I know your secret, the one you’re embarrassed to admit out loud, the one you’re…
Down and Dirty Plotting
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Techniques for pulling it all together. With National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) right around the corner, or if you’re about to write a new book, it’s helpful to have a plot outline in front of you when you’re…
Prepping for NaNoWriMo
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Let’s get ready! NaNoWriMo is the National Novel Writing Month. Every November, writers of all ages and skills get together online and in community meet-ups to write their own 50,000-word novel. In one month (thirty days). This will be…
Five Things to Change in Your Novel
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Don’t miss these in your manuscript Once you finish your novel, you should put it away for a few weeks so that you are fresh when you come back to edit it. Having that distance will allow you…
Strunk & White: The Elements of Style
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog Virtually everyone calls it a “classic”—and with good reason Ask anyone for recommendations about books on writing and invariably someone will pipe up with, “Strunk & White—The Elements of Style!” Having somehow managed to arrive squarely in the middle…
Stephen King: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft | IFW
Stephen King’s ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT isn’t just a book about writing; it’s also a memoir, making it a must-read for all writers. Let’s find out why!
A Self-Publishing Primer
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Yes, you really can do it yourself. I get asked fairly often why I chose the self-publishing route. Truth is, there are several reasons. First, it takes a lot to dissuade me, but my 217th agent rejection letter…
Carroll Dale Short: A Writers Tool Kit-Institute for Writers
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > A concise book of tips to improve your writing. What more do you need? Many years ago, in a city far, far away (okay, it was Hartford, Connecticut, if you insist on destroying the magic), I had the…
Query Writing 101
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > When you’re ready to submit your novel to an editor or an agent, you start off by sending a one-page letter called a query. The purpose of the query is to make the editor or the agent request…
Finding a Writing Course That’s Right For You | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > When you’re looking for further instruction on writing, you can take college classes, but that gets expensive and they’re held at specific hours that may be inconvenient. You can also learn a lot by going to a conference…
10 Things That Make Editors Cringe
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Everybody knows to use spellcheck or Grammarly when going over their writing. However, the following mistakes aren’t generally caught by these two programs. And if you want to stop an editor’s eyes from rolling to the back of…
Getting the Most Out of a Writer’s Conference | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Whether you’re doing a day trip or going away for a weekend or more, planning will help you get the most out of a writing conference. You want to choose a writing conference that will help you at…
Okay, I’ve Finished My Revision. Now What ? | IFW
Once you’ve finished your last big revision, what do you do now? You bask in the glow of a job well done. Then you get back to work. Your next steps are here.
We All Have a Story About a Trip That Didn’t Go As Planned
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Submit yours … perhaps you’ll win! We all have stories about trips gone awry. C’mon, admit it. You’ve got one. Maybe you were bound for Aruba and your luggage spent a lovely weekend in Iowa. Or the guy…
Who’s Ready to Do Some Literary Gardening ? | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Taking the Pruning Shears to Your Manuscript to Lose the Verbiage* Sometimes, in the process of revising, you realize your manuscript is just too darn long. That’s when you have to get creative about trimming it. Really creative.…
Revision: Your First Step to Fantastic Writing | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Do you know where to start? “Wait … what do you mean I’m not done?!” I hear this so much from new writers when I mention revision. I swear, revision is like a four-letter word to them! It’s…
What You Should Consider Before Writing About Your Life Online
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Questions to ask yourself before you put your stories out there. When I first started my career as a freelance writer, I had one goal and one goal only: to make enough money to leave my job as…
How To Get Started as a Travel Writer
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Tips for turning the dream into a reality Getting paid to travel is the ultimate dream of any writer, right? Lounging on white, sandy beaches with the crystal-clear blue sparkling water just beckoning you for a day of…
How To Turn Your Experiences Into Stories
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Making stories about your life engaging for readers Do you ever feel like every story that could possibly be written has been done already? Well, I am here to tell you that your feelings are correct —everything that…
Character Development: A Few Final Thoughts | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Haven’t I warned you not to get me started? I haven’t? Hmm … well, that does pose rather a difficulty, doesn’t it? Well, I suppose it’s a little late to caution you about that now, so you’ll just…
Everyone’s Got a Story to Tell. What’s Yours ? | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > So you’ve decided to write your memoir. Good for you! It’s great that you’re up for the challenge. Before you start amassing stories, beginning from your most traumatic potty-training memory right up through the jerk in the maroon…
Writing a Character Who Has Cancer
When you write a character with cancer (or other disease), things can get touchy. Here’s how to ensure your character isn’t solely defined by their illness.
Character Development, Part Deux
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Creating a Well-rounded Character Just Got More Fun! Last week, we took a broad, overall view of character development. Today, we’ll quit staring at our overalls, zero in on creating that protagonist you’re bringing to life, and add…
Three Keys to Believable Three-Dimensional Characters | IFW
When you sit down to write a new story, think about your characters. Giving characters heart, soul, and real faults—yes, faults—is vital to creating memorable characters.
Anatomy of a Score Sheet
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > What are judges looking for? When I was first starting out on my publishing journey, I entered a lot of contests for feedback, for the possibility of getting an agent or editor interested in my work, and for…
Predatory Contests
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > 5 Ways to Spot a Fake Now that you’re a contest pro or at least thinking about becoming one, you need to be aware of some of the contest scams out there. As long as there have been…
Tweet Your Way To Representation
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > No, seriously. One of the ways social media can be a writer’s best friend is by allowing you to be up-to-date on trends. On Facebook, we’ve seen a rise in online selling. Whether it’s ads on your wall…
Want Professional Feedback on Your Writing? Enter a Contest
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > No matter what genre you write in, there will come a time when you need to get some non-biased feedback. Your friends and your writing group will only take you so far. There are several contests that can…
How to Take Your Own Writer’s Retreat
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > As a writer who works from home with four young children, there is one fantasy that constantly makes its way into my mind—and it has nothing to do with any shades of anything gray or freed. Instead my…
7 Ways to Connect More with People as a Writer | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > 7 Ways to Connect More with People as a Writer As a writer, do you ever feel a little, well, disconnected from the world? Are there ever entire days that pass before you realize that you haven’t actually…
Tips for Using Scrivener for Story Development | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Tips for using Scrivener for story Development Like many writers, I am aspiring to write the next great American novel. Well, actually, that might be a slight exaggeration. I just want to write a novel that is mine…
To Outline or Not to Outline: That is the Question | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > To Outline or Not to Outline: That is the Question There are two types of writers in this world: the kind who outline and the kind who don’t. OK, so that may be a slight exaggeration, but I’ve…
Write Science Fiction that Will Survive My Scoff-O-Meter
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Can You Write Science Fiction that Will Survive My Scoff-O-Meter? I won’t mince words here. I always hated sci-fi. There. I’ve said it. I realize those are gasps of disbelief (and yes, even horror) emanating from all over…
Memoir vs. Autobiography: What’s the Difference, Anyway
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > How do I go about writing a memoir? As an editor, I often get asked, “What’s the difference between an autobiography and a memoir?” In framing my answer, I sometimes reply, “All baseballs are round, but not all…
(Brow)beaten Into Submission?
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Submit only when your work is ready, not when your family or friends think you should. Sometimes, the most well-meaning folks can do the greatest harm to an aspiring writer. If Great Aunt Harriet insists your writing is…
Idea Starters: Lo-Jack and High Tech
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > We’ve talked about many ways to use idea starters. Most of the time they don’t need to be based on fancy systems with lots of features. It just takes old school, go-to tools that you can pull out…
Idea Starters: Map Your Ideas
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > An offshoot of mining for stories is mapping ideas. For me, it started as a way to think about and control how much money I make on my stories. Those of us who write for publication have all…
Idea Starters Mining Your Stash
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > If you are like me, writing can be a series of stops and starts. It is all a part of the process. I have a ton of ideas that may have been great but as I started writing,…
Where to Find Great Ideas
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The Hunt for Good Ideas Last week, we talked about having a system in place to keep your ideas organized, now it’s time to dig deep into where you find them. Sometimes the best ideas show up when…
Organizing Your Ideas
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > As we start a new year, we also often face the big scary thing—a blank page of a new project. If you’re lucky, you already have an idea for the next story, novel or essay in mind. But…
5 Steps to Reprinting Song Lyrics Without Getting Sued
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Some years ago, an aspiring novelist told me his main character had a penchant for speaking in song lyrics. I found this idea intriguing—and certainly quirky … although it could get annoying both for the other characters and…
A Self-Publishing Primer
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > You’ve done your outline, carefully completed extensive research, and fleshed out your protagonist, antagonist, and assorted minor characters. You’ve battled your literary demons, outlasted extreme bouts of writer’s block, written your book, and received glowing feedback from several…
Method To My Madness Part 2
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Last week I touched on how I began writing fiction—and how my first two characters (Gary and Michaela) dropped in on me, unannounced, in freshman English class. Today I’ll unpack more of my writing process. When I write,…
How and Why I Do What I Do
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The Method to My Madness—Sort Of I often get asked about my process. How do you write your novels? Where do you begin? How do you keep going? And what do you do once you’re finished? Great series…
Profile of a Successful Freelance Writer
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Today our guest blogger, Chaunie Brusie, is profiling successful freelance writer and mother of three, Mary Sauer. Mary has been published with sites like Headspace, Romper, and She Knows. She’s also an experienced ghostwriter and content creator and…
How to Break Into Freelance Writing
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Not too long ago, I was burning with jealousy whenever I would come across a writer’s byline. “Why her?” I would think, “how did she break into freelance writing?” as I donned my scrubs and got ready for…
Creating a Writing Schedule That Works
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > You sit down to your computer, the entire world literally at your fingertips, your hot cup of coffee next to you, determined to crank out some serious writing, when the next thing you know, it happens: Two hours…
How to Write From Home With Kids
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > I’m about to tell you something that may shock you, titillate you, maybe even horrify you, but it is my truth and I am willing to speak it— In the past six years as a freelance writer, I…
Putting It All Together
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > We’ve talked about voice, tone, and humor. We’ve also discussed viewpoint. But how do we make it all work seamlessly? And can you use the same tools in nonfiction as you do in your fiction writing? It is…
Six Ways to Gear Up for NaNoWriMo Now!
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > It’s coming! Are you ready? You’re probably asking, “What’s coming?” Why, National Novel Writing Month, of course. It rolls around every November, that magical month when writers all across this great land of ours shut out every other…
Interjecting Humor in Your Work
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Cours Catalog > Out of all the style tools we describe in this series on tone and voice, interjecting humor is probably the most difficult to pull off well. One reason is that we all see “funny” with different lenses. What…
Finding the Right Tone for Your Story
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > We’ve talked about “voice” now it is time to meet its twin sister, “tone.” If you are writing for publication, or for a specific publication, no matter what the genre, and you strike a tone that is too…
Training Your Writer’s Voice to Come Out to Play
A writer’s voice is his or her fingerprint on a piece of work. It’s like DNA when it’s authentic. How do you define and develop your writer’s voice? Read on!
Comma Long With Me and Celebrate Punctuation Day | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > It’s like they created a day just for folks like me, people who are (admittedly or not) obsessed with punctuation… proper punctuation and not-so-proper punctuation. As a professional proofreader and editor, Punctuation Day is especially dear to my…
Author’s Day and Stress Awareness Day
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Author’s Day and Stress Awareness Day Two Celebrations That Go Hand in Hand: Authors Day and Stress Awareness Day If you’re a writer, chances are you know a thing or three about stress. And that’s a good thing.…
September’s a Month for Literary Celebrations | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > This month we celebrate a hat trick of days of particular note: September 6th is Read A Book Day. September 7th is Buy A Book Day. September 8th is Literacy Day. Mark your calendars. And make it a…
Do All Novels Need to Be About Young People ? | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > A look at 7 recent successful novels where the main protagonists were Middle-Aged In writing courses you’ll hear professors say things like, “It doesn’t matter the age of a character as long as they are well drawn and…
Weaving Pop Culture Into Your Writing
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Weaving Pop Culture Into Your Writing Pop culture – Why it’s so important in fiction today and how to weave it into your writing (without dating your work) As a journalist I’m sent a lot of novels and…
Opening Lines: The Most Important Part of Your Story | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > A newspaper headline serves one purpose–to make you want to read the article beneath it. The opening sentence in a novel tries to do something similar. It should make you want to read the second sentence, which then…
R. Victoria Patterson
Welcome to the Winner’s Circle where we celebrate the success of our ICL students. Today we are celebrating published author R. Victoria Patterson! Dive in now
