Is it possible to actually get paid to write short stories? Or are you doomed to either 1) write novels if you want to make money from your fiction or 2) write short stories for the love of it and give up on the hopes of ever making any money? Well, the answers is ……
Category: Writing
Quick & Dirty Google Sheets Time Tracking — PLUS Free Template
Here is a quick and dirty run-through of a Google Sheets time tracking setup I’ve been using recently to good effect. The impetus is this … I’m trying to be more diligent about where I spend my time, in an effort to hone in on those activities that move my writing and, especially, my business,…
What Is the Premise of a Story?
The premise of a story is the basic idea for your tale, expanded to include your protagonist, setting, and primary conflict. Fiction writers are often encouraged to write a one-sentence encapsulation of their premise before doing anything else and then to use that premise to guide the entire writing process. Incidentally, “premise” comes from the Latin…
The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Great Story
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Introduction” _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]You love to write stories, but you’re not sure if you’re doing it the right way. I mean … Maybe you have great basic concepts but aren’t sure how to build those into a cohesive…
How to Uncover Amazing Story Ideas with Alltop
The internet is an awesome place for writers — not only can we commiserate with each other and share our tales with readers, but the inspiration for our next great story is always just a few clicks away. My article on Wikipedia, for instance, details how you can use the giant crowd-sourced information site to…
9 Ways to Vanquish Procrastination and Conquer Your Writing Goals
You’re a writer. You also have a job that’s not writing (probably). You have kids, hobbies, volunteer activities, household chores, and on and on and on. In other words, your writing time is extremely limited, and you need to make the most of it. But even though we all recognize this fact, we continue to…
How Many Words Are in a Novel?
If you’re a fiction writer, then sooner or later you’re going to run into the issue of how to classify your work. Is it a short story? A novella? A full-blown novel? And just how many words are in a novel, anyway? That’s a hard question with no clear-cut answer, but if you want a…
10 Things that Writers Need to Stop Doing … NOW
Every year, we make resolutions about what we plan to do in the next 12 months … We’re going to exercise more. We’re going to write more. We’re going to clean up our diets. We’re going to save money. Aside from giving up a few specific vices — smoking, reality TV, negative thoughts — most…
12 Pieces of Writing Advice You Should Ignore in the New Year
If there’s one constant across all types of writers at every point in our careers, it’s that we’re always looking for ways to improve. Whether you want to write your novel faster, pull more traffic to your blog posts, or leave deeper psychological scars for readers of your short stories, you want to get better….