Questions

I want to explore writing fiction stories and have them submitted in magazines or journals? Is it possible to be paid for them? I have a bachelors in Communications, worked in public relations, but lack the confidence to find work right now. I’m hoping that by exploring this, I can boost my confidence again.
- Suzy G

My background: I have never written a short story or novel before, but I have the confidence and past education and writing experience from school to be able to try my best!

I have wanted to write a novel for many years now. Before sitting down and getting to work on it, I have lately been toying with the idea of just doing a short story.

But of course I have dreams of being published. (This is not my main motivation, of course, but I figure if I’m going to spend a good portion of my time and effort on this, I might as well try to get published - if it’s good enough!)

So, should I spend the time and effort doing a short story? Can any money be made off of short stories as opposed to novels? Would it be worth the extra work to do a novel? Also, if I wrote a short story, in the future could it successfully be expanded into a novel? Have any famous works of literature ever started as a short story and ended up as a novel?

I know this is a lot, but thanks for your time!
- Bernie J

Creating images in a reader’s mind is what writing is all about. But oftentimes, finding the right words to express the meaning we want our readers to gain can be tricky. Writers toil over their words and nothing seems quite right. And this problem can have several different causes.

Perhaps your vocabulary isn’t broad enough—in other words you don’t know or don’t feel comfortable using the words that mean what you want to say. Or maybe you’re unknowingly writing in the passive voice and so your sentences come out awkward and your meaning is lost. If any of these challenges sound familiar, consider the following tips for finding the right words for what you want to say in your writing.

1. Vocabulary Builders

Heading to the thesaurus to discover new words can be risky—it often results in misuse and confused meanings. But a thesaurus, when a word’s meaning is double-checked against a dictionary, is a good way to build your vocabulary and give you confidence when selecting words to use in your writing. To ensure you don’t misuse any words when you refer to a thesaurus, show your work to someone who can point to unwanted connotations and unintended confusion.

2. Simile and Metaphor

For situations when you need more than just the right word to express your thoughts, you need an image. Simile and metaphor are excellent ways to accomplish this—when used effectively, they create an image in your reader’s mind that resonates beyond what a regular old word can ever achieve. Simile is a comparison using “like” or “as,” such as: that boy is as lanky as a loblolly pine. “Loblolly” is such a great word a reader doesn’t even need to know the tree is tall and thin to understand the simile. “The boy was a loblolly pine amongst shrubs,” is an example of metaphor.

3. Active versus Passive Verbs

If your sentences don’t seem to say precisely what you want them to, then the problem may be with your verbs. Consider the following sentence: “There is a girl walking slowly down the street.” The verb in that sentence is “is walking.” “Slowly” is an adverb meant to describe the way she was walking. Now compare the effect that sentence has with this one: “The girl sauntered down the street.” “Sauntered” does the work of both verbs and the adverb from the first sentence because it’s stronger. Automatically the reader can see the girl on the street.

Finding Your Right Words

Writing is a practice, and the more of it you do, the easier it will be to find the right words to communicate exactly what you want to say to your readers. When you feel stuck, you can use these three tips to write more effectively and find the right words every time.


- Melinda Copp

For you writers out there, what do you do to get over horrible writers block?

I can write maybe like a sentence at a time with the story I’m working on but I just feels like the ability to write has been sucked right out of me.

And I don’t have very good confidence when I write, so that causes a problem. But I just want to find a way to get over this writers block I’ve taken time away from it I haven’t written in 1 month.

And I’ve been wanting to ask a question about this book “The artists way” If any of you have read it did it work good for you? Did it help at all?

Basically just what you thought about it.

So yeah, what ever opinions or suggestions you can give me would be great!
- Writing is life

I need help writing a short story. The theme is Confidence builds personality, and I have a blank mind. please help!!
- fred

I am writing my 6th poem and this is a very long one. But I have been second guessing myself even though others have said my other ones have been very good. How can I keep confident in my work? (I don’t know if it is the pressure to be good that is making me jumpy).
- Okay….