Writing Tips Guides Resources

Write Good or Die Survival tips for 21st century writers, from best-selling authors Kevin J. Anderson, M.J. Rose, Heather Graham, J.A. Konrath, Gayle Lynds, Alexandra Sokoloff, Jonathan Maberry, and more. How to develop your craft, improve your writing, get an agent, promote your work, embrace the digital age, and prepare yourself for the coming changes in the publishing industry. Edited by Scott Nicholson. Other contributors include Elizabeth Massie, Harley Jane Kozak, Douglas Clegg, Brandon Massey, Mur ... [Find out more ...]

Developing your effective writing skills is easier than you think. In many cases, you can make significant improvement by applying simple adjustment to your individual writing process. To start off, you must remove yourself from the whole process of writing, thus being able to actually figure out what it is you mean to say.

Most people become so involved in the ‘how’ of writing that they forget what it is they want to communicate. Not knowing the purpose of what you are writing only make writing more difficult. The process itself is not what is difficult; it is your mind that makes writing complicated. Developing your effective writing skills can make writing much easier and more productive.

Take the time to choose a subject matter that is either of interest to you or one that will be of interest to your readers. Keep track of writing ideas you would like to write about so that you have topics readily available. It is best that you know the subject well and provide insight into the matter for your audience. If not, thoroughly research to understand the topic.

Once you have your topic, decide your main points on the topic. What is it that you want to say, and why? List these reasons out in an organized manner, and you ... [Find out more ...]

By the Hearth in Min A' Lea

That little daisy in a back of beyond street beamed at me cheerfully from a tiny crack in the pavement as I went by. It was late afternoon, and standing alone at the edge of the pavement, he gave a bright sunny ... [Find out more ...]

Oxford English Quest: Y6/P7: Pupil Book 4

Oxford English Quest is an exciting English resource that provides quality complete texts for shared reading and comprehension, and activities to improve the quality of children's writing. Texts are ... [Find out more ...]

Writing Academic English, Fourth Edition (The Longman Academic Writing Series, Level 4) Now in its fourth edition, Writing Academic English, by Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, is the essential writing text to prepare high-intermediate and advanced college or college-bound English language learners for academic success.   Features A step-by-step approach guides students through the process of writing paragraphs and essays. Clear models and varied practice help students to develop confidence and a mature writing style. Examples with academic content prime students for college ... [Find out more ...]

The English language is a complicated language. With all the rules and exceptions, writing in the English language can be very challenging. However, the rewards can be tremendous if you can write well in the English language. Being proficient in English writing makes all the difference in the world when it comes to succeeding in business and building personal relationships.

Keep It Simple

Words can be organized into sentences in many different ways. There are four kinds of sentences: declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory. Sentence structure can be simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex. Try to use simple sentence structure as much as you can. Focus on getting the subject and verb placement where they need to be.

Parts of Speech

Parts of speech are the building blocks of sentences. These are categories that define the role of words. In the English language, words can be categorized into nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verb, adverbs, prepositions, and interjections. Words can mean different things depending on how they are used and which part of speech they are being used. You need to master all parts of speech in order to use them effectively in English writing.

Vocabulary

Spelling and vocabulary is very important in the English language. With poor spelling, you could also be spelling a different word by mistake and adding to the confusion. ... [Find out more ...]

Using Drama to Support Literacy

Using ideas and activities already tried and tested in the classroom, 'Using Drama to Support Literacy' shows practitioners how imaginative drama lessons and activities can be used to help encourage and improve ... [Find out more ...]

Dreaming to Some Purpose

Colin Wilson is the bete-noir of the Oxbridge literary establishment. He never went to university, let alone Oxbridge, yet wrote 'The Outsider', a brilliant account of the pain of being alive today, when he was just ... [Find out more ...]

Writing Academic English, Fourth Edition (The Longman Academic Writing Series, Level 4) Now in its fourth edition, Writing Academic English, by Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, is the essential writing text to prepare high-intermediate and advanced college or college-bound English language learners for academic success.   Features A step-by-step approach guides students through the process of writing paragraphs and essays. Clear models and varied practice help students to develop confidence and a mature writing style. Examples with academic content prime students for college ... [Find out more ...]

The English language is a very tricky language to master. Learning to read and understand English may be easier than most think. However, learning to writing well in the English language can be very challenging. It could take many years, even decades, of practice in order to be proficient in English writing. The reasons for this are many fold.

Language of Contradictions

English language has a variety of contradictions that throw people off track. For instance, why do we “park on driveways but drive on parkways”? How can “slim chance” and “fat chance” be the same whereas “wise man” and “wise guy” are different? Why is a person who plays the piano called a “pianist”, but a person who drives a race car is not called a “racist”? If “horrific” means horrible, should “terrific” means terrible? If “vegetarians” eat vegetables, what do “humanitarians” eat? These are just a few conundrums of the English language. There are too many instances which make the English language seem senseless due to contradictions

Melting Pot of Languages

English words and English language rules are derived from many different languages. The English language borrows words heavily from Latin and French. English does not have one clear point of origin. English is the product of many languages and dialects. It took a wide cross section ... [Find out more ...]

Oral Art Forms and Their Passage into Writing

What happens when oral texts are removed from their original medium and written down? This collection examines the complex interrelationship between the oral and the written and the problems of ... [Find out more ...]

Oxford English Quest: Y5/P6: Support Guide for ...

Oxford English Quest is an exciting English resource that provides quality complete texts for shared reading and comprehension, and activities to improve the quality of children's ... [Find out more ...]

Writing Academic English, Fourth Edition (The Longman Academic Writing Series, Level 4) Now in its fourth edition, Writing Academic English, by Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, is the essential writing text to prepare high-intermediate and advanced college or college-bound English language learners for academic success.   Features A step-by-step approach guides students through the process of writing paragraphs and essays. Clear models and varied practice help students to develop confidence and a mature writing style. Examples with academic content prime students for college ... [Find out more ...]

Writing prompts are used as starting points to formulate and inspire writing ideas. These prompts can take on virtually any form. A single word, a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph, a quote, a picture or even a physical object can be utilized as aids to facilitate writing. Writing prompts can be very helpful in planning and creating outlines. It is an extremely effective writing tool.

Writing prompt is simply a topic around which you start jotting down your thoughts. It gives you something for your mind to focus on. You may stick very closely to the original prompt or you may wander off.

Writing prompts can help you improve your creativity and writing skills. A great thing about using writing prompts is that they can make you think in a new way, or think about completely new topics. Writing prompts may force you to write about something that you know nothing about and learn something new.

Using writing prompts is a great way to fight writer’s block. The main purpose of writing prompts is to help purge and focus the mind. Staring at a blank page can be daunting, thinking too hard to fill it with words. When that happens, the creative mind suffers. Writing prompts help break the ice and ease the stress that can build up. ... [Find out more ...]

Oral Art Forms and Their Passage into Writing

What happens when oral texts are removed from their original medium and written down? This collection examines the complex interrelationship between the oral and the written and the problems of ... [Find out more ...]

Writings in General Linguistics

Ferdinand de Saussure's 'Cours de linguistique generale' was posthumously composed by his students from the notes they had made at his lectures. The book became one of the most influential works of the twentieth ... [Find out more ...]

Writing Academic English, Fourth Edition (The Longman Academic Writing Series, Level 4) Now in its fourth edition, Writing Academic English, by Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, is the essential writing text to prepare high-intermediate and advanced college or college-bound English language learners for academic success.   Features A step-by-step approach guides students through the process of writing paragraphs and essays. Clear models and varied practice help students to develop confidence and a mature writing style. Examples with academic content prime students for college ... [Find out more ...]

Writing in the English language is pretty straightforward and not that difficult. In order to improve your English language writing, you just have to put in a lot of time to practice writing in English. Here are some useful ideas that will help you improve your English writing.

Putting Sentences Together

Sentence construction is the basic building block of English writing. Words do not mean much until you are able to put them together into meaningful sentences. This is where many English writers run into problems.

Avoid run-on sentences that ramble on and on. Sentences that are too long tend to contain mistakes. When readers read your writing, their breath actually follows the rhythms of you writing. For instance, the reader will pause when there is a comma. If you use a period, the pause is a little longer. When you write very long sentences, your readers will find there is no time to catch their breath!

In addition, long sentences also tend to contain more grammatical errors. It is more difficult to check for correct tenses in a long sentence. The answer is to write in short, clear and concise sentences. A simple passage that contains messages that are easy to understand is much better than a long one with lots of errors and mistakes.

Build on Your Vocabulary

Writing ... [Find out more ...]

By the Hearth in Min A' Lea

That little daisy in a back of beyond street beamed at me cheerfully from a tiny crack in the pavement as I went by. It was late afternoon, and standing alone at the edge of the pavement, he gave a bright sunny ... [Find out more ...]

Oxford English Quest: Y5/P6: Support Guide for ...

Oxford English Quest is an exciting English resource that provides quality complete texts for shared reading and comprehension, and activities to improve the quality of children's ... [Find out more ...]