Quintessential Quotes: #writingwisdom–Writealready2017

"Whatever your characters do or say will be born out of who they are, so you need to set out to get to know each one as well as possible."--Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Quintessential Quotes: #writingwisdom–Writealready2017

"Being swept away by a combination of great story and great writing--of being flattened, in fact--is part of every writer's necessary formation. You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you."--Stephen King, On Writing

Quintessential Quotes: #writingwisdom–Writealready2017

"Bad things happen to good characters, because our actions have consequences, and we do not all behave perfectly all the time. As soon as you start protecting your characters from the ramifications of their less-than-lofty behavior, your story will start to feel flat and pointless, just like in real life."--Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

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A book full of writing prompts: the last taste of John Brueckner’s latest book, “892 Opening Lines”–writealready2017.com

Sadly I present to you the last of John Brueckner's teaser prompts from the back of his quintessential book, 892 Opening Lines (Cider Mill Press, 2018). I hope you've been taking advantage of these little gems...if so, run out and buy the book so that the fun doesn't stop! If not...what are you waiting for??? Prompt …

Quintessential Quotes: #writingwisdom–Writealready2017

"Good writing...teaches the learning writer about style, graceful narration, plot development, the creation of believable characters, and truth-telling. A novel like The Grapes of Wrath may fill a new writer with feelings of despair and good old-fashioned jealousy...but such feelings can also serve as a spur, goading the writer to work harder and aim higher."--Stephen …

Quintessential Quotes: #writingwisdom–Writealready2017

"No matter what, you are probably going to have to let bad things happen to some . of the characters you love or you won't have much of a story."--Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

A book full of writing prompts: the fifth taste of John Brueckner’s latest book, “892 Opening Lines”–writealready2017.com

Whelp, here it is--the penultimate (I love it when I can work that word into a sentence) writing prompt (this one is a decidedly dark one) from the back cover of John Brueckner's fabulous treasure trove of creativity-fueling noodle nudgers...now go write something! Carrie Graves stepped out onto the stateroom balcony and peered out over …

The Terrifying Discovery I Made When I Stopped Writing For a Week — Novelty Revisions

Lesson learned. Again. via The Terrifying Discovery I Made When I Stopped Writing For a Week — Novelty Revisions

A book full of writing prompts: the fourth taste of John Brueckner’s latest book, “892 Opening Lines”–writealready2017.com

Ah, the traps and travails of social media...this is a good one, and I'm sure we've all been there enough to have some creative fodder with which to spark some ambition to write today...go on, take a stab at it! Ainsley posted a bunch of heavily filtered photos of the beach on Instagram, trying to …

A book full of writing prompts: the third taste of John Brueckner’s latest book, “892 Opening Lines”–writealready2017.com

Like I've said before: run, don't walk, to your nearest local bookstore and GET. THIS. BOOK! I've been working on what started out as a micro-fiction two-pager, and has become a short story about a VW Beetle being used as a boat, an alternate universe, and an amnesiac time-traveller. Just sayin'. Here's the third prompt …