Effective writing advice for aspiring writers
By Idrees Patel
What is good writing?
Even though the correct answer is that whether a piece of writing is good or not rests entirely with the reader, many people think that good writing is effective writing. And it’s true.
Good writing follows a flow. Good writing is focused. Good writing is written for a purpose. Good writing is grammatically correct and readable. And…
Good writing uses vivid description.
And I hear you saying: “what is vivid description anyway?”… So here we are!
By Idrees Patel
After learning the basics of essay writing, today let’s look at story writing, dialogue writing and informal letter writing. All three are taught to us from an early age, with the exception of dialogue writing, which doesn’t come until middle school. Anyway, let’s begin!
The best resource I can give for anyone wanting to learn more about letter writing is Letter Writing 101, but here are some pointers on how to write informal letters:
[Read more…] about An Introduction to Academic Writing – Part II
By Idrees Patel
Remember those essays and letters you had to write in school? Some people hated writing them, but others liked doing it. Essay writing, letter writing, story writing and dialogue writing all constitute the term academic writing.
Problem was, academic writing didn’t allow much creativity. Topics were already given. You had to have an outline. You had to keep your voice formal and precise. You had to have an introduction, three paragraphs of body and a conclusion. You were not allowed to go off topic. You were not allowed to do anything unusual or unconventional.
And you wondered why you couldn’t write anything at all.
Today, let’s forget the pain of academic writing and instead make it a joy to write. Today, we will study what essays and letters are, and how to write them effortlessly and with fun. So let’s start!
By Idrees Patel
For a whole week, I was struck with writers’ block. I couldn’t write blog posts. Only blog posts. I could write fiction well. I could write essays and letters well. But blog posts and articles? No. I tried, tried and tried some more. And nothing happened.
I had about five post drafts waiting, each of them filled up with only three paragraphs. I had great ideas. I had great inspiration. The post was so good that I couldn’t wait to write it. However, when I opened that blank document and started to write, I got a feeling.
A vague feeling.
[Read more…] about Why You Should Write Like You Talk (And How I Defeated Writers’ Block)
By Idrees Patel
In the world of fiction writing, there are many things to explore. Subplots, conflict, POV, characters, you name it. But have you heard of narrative and dialogue? If you’ve got a story, you’ve got to narrate it. If you’ve got a set of characters, they have to converse, i.e., talk. Talking in fiction writing is known as dialogue, and narrating or describing anything is known as narrative.
Now where’s the problem in that?
Too much of a good thing is usually a bad thing, and it applies here. Some writers use narrative a lot. Their characters aren’t talkers. It’s just page after page of narrative, how they did this, their journey, their perils, the people they met, the surroundings, and so on. All description. At which point your story looks like an essay which no one wants to read, rather than an amazing novel.
[Read more…] about Writing Tip: Finding the Balance of Narrative and Dialogue
By Idrees Patel
Logos have never been my strong point in design. But they help in branding, so I made a logo a month ago for this blog. However, the old one’s colours didn’t match perfectly with the website colour scheme, so I thought “well, I’ll make a completely different one.” So I recently made a new logo which replaced the old simplistic one.
This one stands out a little more. If you’re reading this via email or a feed reader, go to WritersTreasure.com to view the new logo.
[Read more…] about What Do You Think of the New Logo?
Do you want to write for Writers' Treasure? I accept guest articles for potential publication, but I will only publish the best of the best, the ones that are extremely high quality. You receive a link back to your website and exposure on a growing writing community. Sounds like a deal? Read the guest article guidelines »