Advice and Articles tagged with writing advice
10 Reasons to Hire a Professional Editor
Good writing comes from good editing. A professional editor does more than correct mistakes; they can help you turn lead into gold! The following podcast includes 10 reasons to hire a professional editor. Continued...
Are You Using an Editorial Calendar?
Want to write more articles? And more often? Then follow in the footsteps of magazine editors and utilize an editorial calendar. Our editors explain the benefits of using an editorial calendar in this podcast. Continued...
Beginners Guide to Punctuation
Punctuation marks may not seem important, but they are. Without correct usage of punctuation, the meaning of a sentence can be lost. This podcast will highlight the basic rules of English language punctuation. Continued...
Book Review Examples
As discussed in our article explaining how to write a book review, book reviews are very different from book reports. In order to illustrate what a book review is, we have provided a book review example for your reference. Continued...
Creating Believable Characters
Any seasoned writer will tell you that creating characters that are believable takes some work. It's a little like painting a picture, stroke by stroke. Characters have to be constructed, bit by bit, until the whole, complex individual finally comes into view. Continued...
Does Expository Writing Have You Confused?
Maybe you find yourself on this page because your instructor asked you to write an expository essay, and you aren’t exactly sure what’s expected of you—if so, you’ve certainly found the right place. Expository writing, or exposition, is a type of discourse used to describe, explain, define, inform, or clarify. It literally means “to expose.” Continued...
E-book Publishing
E-book publishing may not meet everyone's needs, but don't reject the idea of making your manuscript into a downloadable product without at least considering the pros and cons. Continued...
Eliminating Wordiness
When a sentence is too long and is full of extra, unimportant words, it is referred to as wordy. If a sentence is wordy, it can be hard to comprehend and will detract from your writing. Try to follow these tips to avoid wordiness and to produce clear, concise writing. Continued...
Essay Writing: Traffic Signals for the Reader
You're writing an essay, and you want a good grade, or at least to make yourself understood. How can you make this easier for your reader? Continued...
Fleshing Out Your Plot
Your selection of setting and character will do a lot in this department, but you also have to carefully craft the sequence of events that will take place between the event that sets the story in motion and the event that brings it to its conclusion. A straight path between the two is rarely interesting. Twists and turns that increase the sense of struggle provide an opportunity for the readers to build stronger emotional bonds with the character and build suspense. Continued...
Front Matter: What it is and Why it is Important
Maybe you've flipped through the first few pages of a book and wondered what all that information is about, or maybe you've always just skipped those pages. All the material that appears at the front of a book before the actual content is called front matter, and it actually contains some very important information! To learn more about front matter, please listen to our podcast. Continued...
Grant Writing: What is it?
You need funding for your project, but where will the money come from? A grant, of course! Every year, governments, private foundations, and public corporations award billions of dollars in grants to individuals and organizations for specific projects. Grant writing is an extensive process that can take weeks, or even months, depending on the type of grant you are applying for. To learn more about the grant writing process, please listen to our podcast. Continued...
How to Copyright a Book
Once you've written a story, there are many ways it can be delivered to the world. In this article, we'll look at how to copyright a book. Continued...
How to Eliminate Wordiness
Do you find yourself writing sentences that are far too long? Have you ever re-read a sentence and struggled to finish it in one breath? If so, you may be suffering from something called prolixity, or in laymen’s terms, wordiness. Our editors suggest several ways to help you avoid wordiness and increase quality. Continued...
How to Research a Term Paper
When embarking on a research paper or term paper, think of yourself as a detective. You will not only search for information, but also delve into the whys and wherefores behind the subject material, seeking to provide elucidation through your written analysis. Continued...
How to Write a Book Proposal
How does one go about writing a book proposal? Writing a book proposal can be tricky. In this podcast, the editors at Scribendi.com explain what a book proposal is and offer tips on how to write a book proposal for fiction. Continued...
How to Write a Book Report—Part One
Writing a book report can be a difficult task that requires you to deal with a large amount of information in a relatively small space. But don't be discouraged—in this article we outline how to prepare for your book report and in our later article we discuss how to write a book report. Continued...
How to Write a Book Report—Part Two
We have already provided students with useful tips on the importance of taking notes when reading a novel for a book report. Now it's time to put those notes into action and start writing a book report. Continued...
How to Write a Character Sketch
Scribendi.com's editors outline the key components involved in writing a character sketch. Continued...
How to Write a Character Sketch
A character sketch is a quick rendering of a character, and writing a sketch is about asking and answering questions. In order to write a character sketch, you must ask yourself questions about your character. Only you, as the author, can answer these questions. In this podcast, our manuscript editors recommend prompts to get you thinking about who your character is so that you can write a clear and concise sketch. Continued...
