Want a Great First Draft? Think First, Write Later

For most writers, writing and thinking are the same event — they conceptualize, organize, write, and revise at the same time. Even planners, who outline and create structure before beginning the draft, will let thoughts unfold in real time, discovering the emotional and rhetorical logic of the piece at the keyboard. Pantsers are even more…

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Is There a “Correct” Method for Writing?

Do you pants? Outline? Write in the morning? Evening? Spin around three times religiously before sitting down at your keyboard or grabbing a pen? If you were to believe everything you see on social media or the broader Internet, you might think that somewhere in what writers do, there’s a golden-ticket method. If you can…

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How to “Show Don’t Tell” in Writing

If writing advice had a Top 10 Hits list, “show, don’t tell” likely would rank #1 pretty dang easily. We’ve heard it a million times. We know we ought to do it. But what the bleeping hades does it MEAN? From a technical standpoint, showing rather than telling in writing basically means you do anything and everything…

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