Why A Contest? Here are 7 Lucky Reasons
A writing contest doesn’t seem to be part of that straight line of publication. So why would you enter one? Well, here are seven lucky reasons.
Tighten Up the Weakest Link for a Contest Win | IFW
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Judging a contest is an interesting activity because it happens in layers. The first layer is simply removing from consideration all the entries that are not appropriate at all (prose memoirs sent…
Launching a Story From a Title
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > It’s hard to develop a story when you can’t get started. Though there are many ways into story creation, one that isn’t considered as often is the title. Titles are often tacked…
Story Development and Revision
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > For many writers, especially newer writers, revision is mainly a step for fixing typing errors, spelling errors and grammar mistakes. Some may have a checklist of things to look for such as…
Story Development: What’s At Stake?
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 most important questions to consider when developing a story is “what is going to be at stake for my main character?” By this, we mean, “What is the cost…
Playing Fair with Plot
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Good stories have lots of moving parts, and it can be challenging to get all the parts to come together in a way that works. Many writers understand that a good plot…
Piece by Piece
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Many times, the compelling urge to write, to create, to make something that reflects our skills and creativity, brings us to the blank page (or blank computer screen) with the intention of…
What’s the Rush?
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > When it comes to writing and submissions, there is such a thing as too soon. In fact, the number one mistake writers make in the area of submitting their work is moving…
What’s Your “Elevator Pitch”?
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Query letters, cover letters, pitches, and proposals all have one very important thing in common. They all require an author be able to describe the story in few words. This is sometimes…
Projecting Confidence Without Being Obnoxious | IFW
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Your first contact with a publisher or agent does a lot of things. It presents the project you’ve created (or wish to create) in a clear, concise, lively manner. That’s hard enough,…
Submissions: Because Publishers Rarely Come to You
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > If you ask almost any writer what parts of the process they like least, submissions will pop up somewhere in the list. We worry about whether we’re doing it right. We struggle to find all the information we…
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone: Try Nonfiction | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Get Out of Your Comfort Zone: Try Nonfiction For most people considering children’s writing for a career (or even for a hobby), the type of writing that comes to mind is fiction. For many of us, the picture…
A Raven and A Writing Desk
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “How is a raven like a writing desk?” When Lewis Carroll first wrote the riddle about the raven and the writing desk, he didn’t have an answer. It was simply a riddle…
Using an Object for Inspiration
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Over the holidays, as I was putting out the holiday decorations, my daughter and I took time to talk about some the ornaments and other well-loved decorations. Some decorations brought back memories…
Must I Be Unique?
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 most crippling things a writer can do in the early stage of any book is worry about whether your story (or something like it) has been done before. First,…
Not All Children’s Books Are Picture Books | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > For many people new to writing for children, all children’s books are picture books. If you ask them what they are working on, they’ll say, “a children’s book” as if that is all the explanation necessary. And usually…
How to Achieve Success in 2018
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The new year will be upon us soon, and it’s a good time to make plans to increase our chances of publication success in 2018. Now, it helps to know what you…
How to Title Your Book
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalg > Coming up with a title for your work in progress can be easy or really hard. Sometimes the title comes to you early, and you just always know what you want to…
Self-publishing v. Traditional Publishing
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > If you read a lot of information about writing: essays like this one, discussions like the ones on the Institute’s Facebook pages and in either of our groups, writing books, writer’s magazines, you’ll eventually realize…
Want Some Exercise?
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Writing exercises can be fun. They can also help you exercise your writing muscles and break through a block you might be having. So it’s always good to know where to find…