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Writing Lab 101

A Key to Voice by Ian Martínez Cassmeyer

September 9, 2020 by admin Leave a Comment

One concept writing-program instructors love to discuss, in lieu of craft, which might better serve their students, is voice. It seems absurd to do so because voice is the one thing one cannot teach in writing, and when discussing it, instructors tend to address it in the most abstract, bordering-on-mystical, of terms. Despite this, one can actually learn voice.

To preface, we should note that every writer—from the worst potboiler hack to the most elegant of literary stylists—has a voice. It comes from a combination of word choice and preferred sentence structures, which together produce a distinctive tone, cadence, and rhythm. It’s that combined trio of elements that we call a writer’s voice. We can actually hear this quality best when we read aloud the works of any given writer. Read aloud a paragraph of James Baldwin and a paragraph of Kurt Vonnegut, one after the other, and the differences between the two become obvious.

Take this passage from Baldwin’s essay “The Harlem Ghetto,” from his book Notes of a Native Son:

“Harlem, physically at least, has changed very little in my parent’s lifetime or in mine. Now as then the buildings are old and in desperate need of repair, the streets are crowded and dirty, and there are too many human beings per square block. Rents are 10 to 58 percent higher than anywhere else in the city; food, expensive everywhere, is more expensive here and of an inferior quality; and now that the war is over and money is dwindling, clothes are carefully shopped for and seldom bought. Negroes, traditionally the last to be hired and the first to be fired, are finding jobs harder to get, and, while prices are rising implacably, wages are going down.” (Baldwin, 59)

Now, compare that to Vonnegut’s essay “I turned eighty-two on November 11th” from his book A Man Without a Country:

“I turned eight-two on November 11, 2004. What’s it like to be this old? I can’t parallel park worth a damn anymore, so please don’t watch while I try to do it. And gravity has become a lot less friendly and manageable than it used to be. When you get to my age, if you get to my age, and if you have reproduced, you will find yourself asking your own children, who are themselves middle-aged, “What is life all about?” I have seven kids, three of them orphaned nephews.

“I put my big question about life to my son the pediatrician. Dr. Vonnegut said this to his doddering old dad, “Father, we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.”” (Vonnegut, 65-66)

Can you hear the difference? It’s there, of course, whether you can detect it or not, rather like the difference between two different musical keys. But why is that so?

Both are American writers, after all. Both use the same language, 20th Century American English. Both are of the same generation, with only two years difference in their ages. Yet, their voices are wholly distinctive. This raises a question: why are they so different and how did they get that way? The simple answer is they were different people, who despite their common nationality and language, came from different backgrounds and had different reasons for writing. A brief look at each of Baldwin’s and Vonnegut’s respective Wikipedia pages can inform one of this.

No two writers have the same voice because no two writers write in the same fashion. No two writers have the same voice because no two write from the same perspective, the attitude or lens through which they view and interpret the world. No two writers have the same voice because no two writers have the same preoccupations and motivations for putting words down on the page. Once one acknowledges this simple fact, the concept of voice becomes more tangible. The question remains, however, of how does one find and develop one’s voice.

The true answer is there is no one way to find one’s voice. If there were, MFA programs would figure it out and codify it in their curriculum. Then every person who wanted to be a writer would attend a program, and after two or three years (depending, of course, on the rigor of the coursework), the head of the program would issue you a special, official certificate, shake your hand, and say, “Congratulations, you’re a writer.” Then you’d be free to ply your trade, without fear or self-doubt. Sadly, though writing is a craft and a trade, there’s no trade school program for it.

One of the ways—though it isn’t the only way—in which young writers can begin developing their voice is through writing in a form we all learn in our school days: the personal essay.

Many people groan when someone utters the word essay. By the time we’ve all completed our high school years our teachers have forced us to write at least a million words in essays and class papers. This very form is often what defeats any impulse in many to write anything beyond social media posts, text messages, and the occasional email for the rest of their lives. It’s not the form’s fault, however. The fault lies with what teachers—compelled by school curriculums—subject students to with the form: to write things they don’t care about in an objective, sanitized manner.

I’m sure I wasn’t the only person whose middle school English teacher told him to avoid putting any of his own viewpoints into the papers I wrote. This extended to usage of the very word I itself. Your perspective did not matter; all that mattered was the facts, arranged in the most compelling order to make your argument. Exacerbating this was the rigid blue print hammered into potential young writers at an early age, better known as the five-paragraph essay.

This formula is memorable. First would come the Introduction, where the author would introduce (hint, hint), the thesis, the core argument and subject of the piece in question. A minimum of three body paragraphs followed, where the author makes their case by introducing supporting evidence and explaining how their evidence bolsters their claim. Finally, there was the conclusion, which serves as a reiteration of the original argument.

In this blue print’s defense, it’s only supposed to act as a starting point, a foundation upon which one can build one’s writing skill. It also serves as a good guideline to teach students how to marshal their evidence and organize their thoughts in the best manner to make their points. Yet, with how school systems expect teachers to teach this form, they present it as the one and only manner in which one can compose an essay. This approach to the teaching of writing is what creates that distain for the very act. When one’s told that one’s perspective, one’s voice, doesn’t matter, this is understandable. However, if one can break free of these old, imposed habits and reintroduce subjectivity into their work, the probability that one will develop their own writing voice sharply increases.

This is why I use the term personal essay, rather than simply essay. While the former might appear to be a mere subcategory of the latter (which it technically is), it also places emphasis on subjectivity, on the perspective of the author—what they are interested in, are enthusiastic about, or feel is important. It is through this form that a young writer might begin to cultivate their voice on the page.

The essay is one of the purest forms of writing, in terms of direct communication between writer and reader. Although it can act as the carrier of a narrative, it lacks the other invented accruements of fiction, like plot, setting, and characterization. While it also might possess language as beautiful as any poem, it doesn’t have to contend with poetry’s other qualities as overtly, such as meter, form, and rhyme. The point of an essay is simply to relay or convey something to a reader in the clearest possible manner. In other words, you the writer are talking to the reader. When a potential new writer is able to shed the influence of their teachers and begin writing, not for a grade, but (and I’m aware of how cheesy this may sound), for themselves, their voice can emerge.

Why the personal essay, though? Why not stick with writing diaries or letters? Isn’t that also a writer’s voice?

This is true, and those too can act as keys to discovering one’s voice, as the writing in those forms is also a form of direct communication. However, writers don’t write diaries or letters for a mass audience to read them. The reading audience for a diary is the diarist themselves, and the reading audience for a letter is typically a recipient. In both cases (though not always, in the case of letters), the audience is one person. To write for a larger audience, an unfamiliar audience separate from one’s self and one’s intimates, entails taking that voice, that personal perspective and putting it out into the world for others to read.

When one writes a personal essay in particular, a writer is essentially sitting a reader down for a conversation. Reading is an activity, implying that a reader must be an active participant in the experience, so what they bring is their own perspective to interact with that of the writer. A writer introduces a topic, something they feel people need to explore in greater depth. George Orwell, one of Anglophone Literature’s greatest essayists, recorded in “Why I Write,” that when he sat down to write anything, he did so because, “There is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing.” Note the urgency to that statement, and the importance he places on the desire to say something. He wrote because he felt there was something of such great personal importance to him that maybe—writers, being empathetic individuals by nature—it could be important to others. Thus, we must share what we feel is important.

Ray Bradbury famously said that writers should, “Love what they write, and write what they love.” In a 2001 Lecture, he gave people a practical means of doing this. He said, “Make a list of ten things you love, madly, and write about them.” He followed that with, “Make a list of ten things you hate, and kill them.” The purpose of this exercise isn’t to produce something one might publish (that comes later), but to get in touch with one’s own perspective. So, consider making a list of ten things you absolutely love, things you love so much that all you want to do is share them with the world. Write an essay proclaiming why you love this movie, that book, this TV show, or that YouTube channel. The basis of most of what Tom Wolfe (another great essayist), called the “Blogosphere,” emerged from this very idea. If you of a slightly more acerbic temperament—as the writer H.L. Menken was—then take that list of ten things you loath and explain why. One by one, go through that list and discuss why you hate this politician, that album, this televisual talking-head, or that reality series. Own your loves and your hates and bask in them like a snake sunning itself on a rock.

On a craftsmen’s level, growing comfortable speaking in the first-person on the page is also useful. Without the need to tailor you own voice, to achieve that sanitized objective tone school papers always called for, a writer can get a sense of their own rhythm and cadence. One can learn exactly what sort of vocabulary, or diction, for which one instinctively reaches. Do you prefer direct and lucid language, or are you someone who favors words that send readers running for their Thesauruses? Along with that comes knowledge of one’s preferred sentence structures. Do you find yourself writing sentences reminiscent of Orwell or Hemingway (brief and blunt)? Or, are you perhaps a writer who dots their sentence with commas, em dashes, and semi-colons because they pack so many clauses and gerunds in them? These are crucial pieces of self-knowledge to possess for any would-be wordsmith. If one were to make the leap beyond personal essay writing, say into the world of prose fiction, having knowledge of what your own writing voice sounds like can help you when creating fictional characters.

Say, for instance, you wish to write a first-person short story. However, you do not want to write a first-person short story narrated by a character that resembles you. If you’re the sort of writer who has a decent grip on what their own prose voice sounds like, you can then modify it to make it sound less like you and more like the character. Say your character is rather taciturn, but they also happen to have a rather high-flown vocabulary when they choose to employ it. How would you write their internal monologue compared to how you write their dialogue? I image you’d have some rather high-diction laden description and narration, but their dialogue remains rather sparse. Knowing one’s voice will better enable you to make these modifications, thus deepening the verisimilitude needed for your story.

We should also keep in mind one final detail. As a writer, one’s voice is always in flux. As much as appreciators and critics of art—writing, of course, also being an art—would love for us to believe it is truly possible to separate the art and the artist, it’s not possible. As the artist changes and grows as a person, so too will their voice change and grow. Sometimes, the changes are positive, and sometimes they’re not. We can’t keep this from happening. It’s as inevitable as the passage of night into day and vice versa. We can only try to make sure to aim our progressions and projections as people upward, towards that vague notion of “becoming better.”

In the end, the way in which one develops one’s voice isn’t through some strange mystical experience. Whether it’s through the pure communication of the personal essay form, or through another writing form, there remains only one way to learn to write. The only true school for writing, as it is with any craft, is the act itself; as Ray Bradbury said, time and again, “You learn to write by writing.” Practice. Try, fail, and try again. The more one writes, the more confidence one gains at performing the act. The more confidence one gains, the stronger and more defined one’s voice will become.

Filed Under: Writing Tips

5 Things You can do to Build A Believable Character

April 29, 2020 by Dawn Hurley 1 Comment

The main goal of a fiction writer is to create a character that the reader will become invested in, care about, and remember long after the story is finished. Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Margaret Mitchell’s Scarlett O’Hara are just a few immortal characters who live on after their last page. Your character is the life of your story. No matter how suspenseful the plot might be, without a compelling character, the story will fall flat.

Developing such a character can be a daunting task. Not every writer shares the same style or technique in their creation of a character. Some have a fully fleshed-out character before beginning their story, while others let the character evolve as the story progresses. There is no cut-and-dried method for character creation. Do what works best for you, for your own writing style. These are tips and suggestions, not a definitive guideline. There are many different types of characters; protagonist, antagonist, supporting figures and side characters. This article focuses primarily on your main character.

1. Study People

Fiction writers can profit from being people-watchers. Observe others while taking note of their characteristics, traits, habits, hand gestures, phrases, etc. The delivery guy or the yoga class instructor can be a model for your own unique character.
Strangers aren’t the only fodder for your character’s creation. Base your character on someone you know. We can’t know everything about a person, but as fiction writers not biographers, we can “fill in the blanks” for everything we don’t know about them. What we end up with is a sketch of the real person, a kind of template for our own character. Characters built around real people are often the most compelling.

2. Physical Descriptions

We want our readers to be able to visualize our character without bogging them down with too many adjectives or listing boring details. Whenever possible, combine physical description with a form of action. For instance, saying “He had blue eyes and rotten teeth” is not as captivating as “He glared at her with cold blue eyes. His snarl showing a mouthful of broken teeth.” The language we use in describing our character’s appearance can be useful in illustrating their characteristics, as well. “She was a fat, lazy-looking blonde” doesn’t reveal as much as “She was an ample, languorous blonde”. The second description shows more of a sumptuous woman than the first (which sounds more like a stereotypical Walmart shopper.)

3. Revealing Your Character’s Character

Informing your reader about your character’s habits, motivations, quirks and eccentricities, like describing their physical
traits, also needs to be done with the right language. Let’s use “Jane” as an example of your main character. Describing how Jane dresses, what she surrounds herself with, enjoys eating or listening to can form a picture in your readers’ minds of the type of person she is. “Jane nervously plucked at a loose thread from her old sweater as she waited for the cashier to ring up her purchase. Grabbing the bag from the counter, she hurriedly left the gas station where she’d bought the over-cooked hotdog that would be her dinner that night. She remembered the hot meals her mother served back home on the farm. The walk to her small apartment felt like it took longer than usual on this cold night. She slammed the door shut against the world and sank down gratefully on her second-hand couch that rocked on its uneven legs.” The reader quickly gathers that Jane is financially struggling while dealing with some form of social anxiety and is new to the city. Quick shots of action with the right descriptive language can tell a reader more about the character and in a more engaging manner than long paragraphs of adjectives. The main goal of writing applies to describing your characters as well – Don’t just tell your readers who, what or how they are, show them. What your character does, or doesn’t do, can be the ultimate means by which your readers determine who they are.

4. Dialogue

The first words your characters say can, as in real life, be the basis for your readers’ assumptions of the type of person they are. The words your character uses can reveal a great deal about them, describing them and bringing them to life in a personal way. The voice you want to be heard most in your story is not yours as the writer but those of your characters. Do they use a lot of slang or speak with eloquence? Do they speak shyly or with confidence?

5. Body Language

Some psychiatrists say that when a person looks to the left while they’re speaking it’s an indication that they are lying. We can tell a great deal about a person by their gestures, the way they walk, their nervous tics (chewing their nails, twirling their hair between their fingers, avoiding eye contact). “Marsha strode up the sidewalk” paints quite a different picture than “Marsha shuffled up the walk”.

In the creation of your character, there should come a point where you feel them move. As you delve into your character’s emotions, describe them, dress them, and comprehend their histories, they will begin to assume a reality separate from the mere sketch you began with. They will come to life in your mind and, ultimately, in the imagination of your readers.

Filed Under: Writing Tips

Top 5 Simple Daily Habits To Improve Your Writing Skills

March 15, 2020 by admin 4 Comments

Writing books, blog posts, articles, or even good captions for your photos on social media can be a difficult task. You need to get some inspiration, understand exactly what you’re going to write, and be able to wrap your ideas into a proper style. Some people think that writing is all about talent, but the truth is that writing is a skill. Of course, some people were born brilliant writers, but anyone can train this skill if they have enough practice.

To become a better writer, you should practice as much as you can. You need to work on your writing skills every day, making it your daily habit. In fact, developing the right habits can help you accomplish virtually any goals, and if your goal is to become a good writer, you can achieve it with the right habits and mindset. Here are the five best writing habits that will make you a better writer in no time.

Habits That Will Improve Your Writing

1. Write and read as often as you can
Practice makes perfect. There is no magic trick that would turn you into a brilliant writer overnight. Even the best writers have been mastering their craft for many years, writing and ruthlessly editing tons of text. Not only do you need to learn to convey your ideas properly, but you should also know how to meet the requirements of your niche. For example, when writing web content, you need to SEO optimize it.

Writing on a regular basis will help you develop your own style, and it will also allow you to avoid the fear of the blank page. When you have enough writing experience, you don’t need to spend hours trying to figure out where to start. Write as often as you can, even if nobody will read it.

We also recommend that you read more. Reading not only allows you to learn something new but also improves your writing skills. Make sure to challenge yourself and explore things that you don’t typically read. For example, if you usually read blogs, spend some time reading novels or scientific articles. This way, you will learn new words and new types of sentence structure.

2. Analyze your favorite writers’ work
Everyone has their favorite book or blog. However, sometimes, we don’t understand why we like a certain piece of writing so much. We suggest that you analyze your favorite writing and learn from successful writers. When reading, highlight phrases and sentences that you like. Analyze these elements and look for common patterns in your favorite materials. Pay your attention to transitions between subjects and sentences.

You can not only analyze other writers’ texts but also imitate their techniques. Of course, your writing must be original. However, there’s nothing wrong with using methods that have proven to be effective. For example, if you like the way a certain author uses humor when writing about serious subjects, you may try it, as well.

If you want to be good at something, you should learn from professionals. For example, if you need to translate an article, you can do it in many different ways. In this case, the best solution is to check out professional translation services, like The Word Point, so that you can see how professional translators work. You can imitate other writers’ styles, combine different approaches, and eventually develop your own unique style.

3. Say what you think
The internet is full of boring content, and the main reason is that many writers try to be like everyone else. They are afraid to express their own opinions because they want to make sure that everyone will love their work. If you choose this approach, your writing will be unoriginal and boring. Don’t be afraid to write what you think, even if your opinion isn’t popular. Of course, you don’t need to intentionally come up with the most controversial opinions, but you should be authentic.

After all, there’s no point in writing something if you have nothing to say. The main thing is to make sure that your opinions are valid. Include facts that support your claims, and always do your research before you start writing. Besides, don’t forget about proper attribution because you don’t want to present someone else’s work as yours.

4. Edit and then edit again
Many beginners think that the writing process ends when they’re done with the first draft, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Even if you’re an incredibly talented writer, prepare for the fact that the first draft is just the beginning of a long process of editing.
Don’t try to create a perfect first draft because you won’t be able to focus on the content. Instead, forget about your draft for a while, take a break, and then edit it. Don’t hesitate to edit it several times. For example, you can edit the overall structure first and then work on particular paragraphs or sentences. After this, you may want to change certain words. Finally, you need to proofread your writing to make sure that there are no grammar, spelling, or punctuation mistakes.

We also recommend that you find a good editor who will work with you. Although it may be very difficult to let someone else edit your work, especially if you’re a beginner, you should understand that everyone needs constructive criticism. The main thing is to find an editor who will not only tell you what is wrong with your writing but also why you need to change it.

5. Finish what you’ve started
If you give up, you will lose motivation. Failures lead to new failures, while a sense of accomplishment will motivate you to accomplish more. Even if you realize that your work may take more time than you expected, finish it and edit it. However, don’t forget that your writing shouldn’t be perfect. Many writers who are searching for perfection just give up when they realize that their writing won’t be as good as they want.

Wrapping Up

No matter whether you need to write a novel, a blog post, or a high school essay, writing can be quite difficult. Improving your writing skills is hard work. However, you can become a better writer if you develop the right habits. Read more, write something every day, and learn from other writers. Always edit your writing, and you will watch your style improve day after day. Even if your writing skills are far from perfect now, don’t give up and practice as much as you can.

Filed Under: Writing Tips

5 Tips For Choosing An Editor

December 7, 2019 by Ian M. Broderick Leave a Comment

You’ve committed two drafts to paper, followed every spellcheck suggestion, and triple-checked to make sure your main character’s (or MC’s) eyes don’t alternate color like a kaleidoscope between chapters. You’ve done all you can, and there’s only one more daunting step before sending it off to query or publishing: Editing. You can edit yourself, sure, but the old adage about a man who represents himself in court having a fool for a client can be applied. Seeing your own mistakes isn’t easy on the first go around, let alone the fifth, and you’re going to need fresh eyes. More importantly, you’re going to need fresh eyes with the knowledge necessary to make your work the best it can be. But how do you know if an editor is right for you? Conveniently, that question has hopefully been answered in the following list.

1. Good reviews

As with most services, the best way to ensure you get someone qualified and competent for a job is by confirming that their previous customers are satisfied. Check for reviews and testimonials on the editor’s site. Ask other writers about their experiences with particular editors as well. Word-of-mouth might seem antiquated, but it’s still an effective way to find someone that at least someone trusts.

2. Get a sample

Just about any editor will do a treatment of 750 words\3 pages free of charge. It’s not a tremendous amount of work, but it can give a general idea of what their abilities are, how they work (long gone are the days of uniform red marks on a copy), and how they will approach your work. It will also allow you a peek into how they’ll handle point number three…

3. Respecting your voice

Every writer has their own voice, style, pizzazz, whatever you want to call it. That intangible place where rhythm, prose, and word choice mingle into a unique voice. Hemingway’s straightforward curtness, Faulkner’s beautiful verbosity, Pahlaniuk’s visceral descriptions. A good editor will hone in on that voice and enhance it, not step on it or rewrite things as they would write them. If the give-and-take of the editing process isn’t respected, the editor will end up sending something that, while possibly improved, isn’t what the author wanted. That’s a surefire recipe for wasted money and resentment.

4. Clearly define the work needed

Are you getting a copy or a content? Proofread or line edit? If it’s still early in your process, is it a developmental? Both of you need to be incredibly precise about what it is exactly that you expect out of the process. Once you’re sure what it is you need, make sure that the editor you hire is familiar with that work. I started off proofreading and gradually evolved to copy and content after years of honing my craft. Not every editor will have the same skill set. The best proofreader in the world might know as much about what makes a story work or a character flop as you do about peach farming in Mongolia.

5. Clear pricing

After you know what you need, you need to know what it costs. Most editors charge by the word or by the page, so the final cost should be more or less settled on before red pen even touches paper or, more accurately, the little “record changes” box gets ticked. Discuss in depth what you want, roughly how long it will take, and what that will cost. Don’t forget to agree when the money changes hands, either. Most of my colleagues are honest, but, as with any specialty service, it doesn’t hurt to be wary of hidden costs or unnecessary work with its own extra pricing. On the flip side of that: Don’t spring additional work on your editor and expect not to pay for it. A contract is never a bad idea when money is involved, either.

Putting your baby into the hands of a stranger isn’t going to be easy. Even less so when that stranger has a pair of scissors and their own idea of how that baby should be shaped. Hopefully, these tips can at least make sure that whoever you find knows where to start snipping. If you follow the above, you should be one step closer to having your book in a reader’s hands.

WP Post Author

Ian M. Broderick

Ian was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, where he has worked as a freelance editor for nearly a decade. In his free time, you can find him writing science-fiction, working on leather, or juggling. He collects hobbies like stamps but would never collect stamps as a hobby.

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Filed Under: Writing Lab 101, Writing Tips Tagged With: editing, editors, writing

Writing Horror

December 1, 2019 by AMANDA THOMPSON Leave a Comment

We all love to be afraid from time to time. That is why we listen to ghost stories with rapt attention from a very young age. It thrills us, makes us look over our shoulders, but we always come
back for more.

Hook your reader with conflict and tension right in your first sentence. Have a good setting for your story; an reader on edge. The more on edge your reader is, the quicker he will turn the pages to see what is coming next.Any good horror story is based on anticipation. You have to find the things that scare you, then surprise and scare your readers. Plot twists are good ways to do that. Never let your readers or characters see what is coming. As the king of horror writing says;

“I’ll try to terrify you first, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll horrify you, and if I can’t make it there, I’ll try to gross you out. I’m not proud.”- Stephen King

Know what your character fears,then put him into the worst possible situation. Any kind of fear can have a powerful reaction if you set the scenario well. Why does the character have that particular fear? How does he react to that situation? Up the stakes all the time. That will increase the tension.

“Thinking will not overcome fear, but action will.” — W. Clement Stone

Ask yourself the following questions. What will happen if your character fails? What is the worst that can happen in a bad situation? How can I make the situation worse? Don’t help your character out of the situation, create it, sit back, and see what he does to survive it. The best way to scare others is to be intimate with that fear. Write about your dark place, your fear. Create odd, unknown and unreal situations. Take the readers out of their safe, comfortable lives. Ask “What if?” Revisit the dark places in your life. It can be uncomfortable, but it helps you to remember what the real feelings were at the time. Then reflect those feelings in your writing.

“I lost my mother when I was 14. My daughter died at the age of 6. I lost my faith as a Catholic. When I’m writing, the darkness is always there. I go where the
pain is.” -Anne Rice

Readers expect to be afraid. Make it impossible for them to put down your story, let it haunt them after it is done. Make them uncomfortable, create their nightmares. I love it when I have written a story and someone says; “I battled to sleep after reading it.” That is the kind of reaction you want to elicit from your reader.

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” – H.P. Lovecraft

Show don’t tell. Make them feel the character’s fear. Make them experience the pounding heart, the perspiring hands. Show them the negative consequences of failure. Show them the worst case scenario if your character fails. Make them care whether your character will survive or not. Now go and scare your readers, and have fun doing
it.

WP Post Author

AMANDA THOMPSON

I am a South African writer with a passion for horror. I have written several short stories and novellas in different genres, and I am thrilled to be a part of this site!

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Filed Under: Horror Articles, Writing Lab 101, Writing Tips

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  Welcome to our 2023 50 Word Horror Story We Miss Halloween Contest. Everyone wishes they had 2 Halloweens, but no one will listen. Being that I’m missing Halloween, I need horror stories and lots of them. So post your 50-word horror stories in the comments below. The winner gets free promos on our site, […]

Betcha’ Can’t Haiku 2023 Contest

Welcome to our Betcha’ Can’t Haiku 2023 Contest. We are looking for the best Haiku we have ever read! It can be on any topic or written in any style. We want to read your haikus. We are double-dog daring you to write a haiku, even write 5 haiku and leave them in the comments […]

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