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How To Write Shop

Articles on the craft and business of writing

Writing Craft

Looking for tips and articles on the fiction writing craft and techniques? The How to Write shop is a free resource of educational and easy to understand articles on both the craft of writing and writing techniques.

In the writing craft section of the How to Write Shop, you’ll find articles on: characterization, scene and sequel, showing vs. telling, plotting, character development and much more. These articles can help you with writing novels, short stories, poems, essays… or even non-fiction book.

The How to Write Shop knows that writing fiction is a craft. Learning the writing craft and writing techniques, however, can be fun! Check out these educational articles on how to write a book, essay, or screenplay and get writing your next best-selling novel today.


Keeping Readers Engaged: Word Choice Matters

May 16, 2018 by Kathy Steffen Leave a Comment
keeping readers engaged word choice in writing

Writing is about choosing powerful, interesting, and specific words to keep your readers engaged no matter what you are writing. Keeping readers engaged means making every word count. And nothing puts me more in the mood for a session of word-nerding than wisdom from Mark Twain. ~~~ “The difference between the almost right word & … [Read more…]

Posted in: Writing Craft, Writing Tips Tagged: word choice

Hero’s Journey Archetypes

May 14, 2018 by Lori Devoti Leave a Comment
hero's journey archetypes characters trickster

The more you read on writing, the more you realize most concepts go back to a few shared sources or shared ideas. Archetypes are one of those concepts. Both Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung discuss archetypes. They are basically a part of our collective unconsciousness. The same collective unconsciousness that makes The Hero’s Journey such a … [Read more…]

Posted in: Characters, Writing Craft Tagged: archetypes, Character ideas, hero's journey

Plotting with The Hero’s Journey

May 11, 2018 by Lori Devoti 4 Comments
plotting with the hero's journey

There are many, many ways to plot a book. But, quite honestly, almost all of them… okay the good ones… all tie back in some way to The Hero’s Journey. They may use different names for the steps or plot points. They may not ask you to come up with as many steps or plot … [Read more…]

Posted in: Plotting, Writing Craft

What is The Hero’s Journey?

May 9, 2018 by Lori Devoti 3 Comments
what is the hero's journey

What is The Hero’s Journey? It depends on who you ask. To a writer, it’s a plotting method. To fans of mythology and folklore, it’s a narrative pattern that human storytellers have followed since we had human storytellers.  Which brings us back to why writers use it so much as a plotting method. What is … [Read more…]

Posted in: Plotting, Writing Craft Tagged: plotting method, The Hero's Journey

How to Write a Short Story

May 7, 2018 by Kathy Steffen 1 Comment
how to write a short story

Writing a novel can be an overwhelming project, but writing short fiction can be intimidating too. There is nowhere to hide with short fiction. Every word needs to count, but short stories also take less time to complete and even if writing a full novel is your overall goal, writing a short story is a … [Read more…]

Posted in: Short Fiction, Writing Craft Tagged: short stories
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Featured Book

Techniques of the Selling Writer 
by Dwight V. Swain

Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain

Classic book on how to write books that readers will want to read!

This is one of the foundation books that all novelists should have on their bookshelf.

Get at Amazon

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Featured Book

The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers
by Christopher Vogler

The Writer’s Journey explores the relationship between mythology and storytelling in a clear, concise style.

Want help plotting great stories that grab readers?

The Writer’s Journey is on our MUST read list.

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