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12 Quick Tips To Improve Your Writing Right Now

As a writer, you are often judged solely by what is on the page or the screen. This means you need to ensure you know exactly what you are doing! Here’s 12 quick tricks to take your writing to the next level and increase your confidence: 1)    Brush up on the basics The least you can do before you submit or publish is check for basic errors in spelling and grammar. Before you even begin an important writing task, read up on basic grammar rules and sentence structure, and never submit anything without running it through a spell-checker first. 2)   … Read More »12 Quick Tips To Improve Your Writing Right Now

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10 Writing Fillers To Cut Right Now

Whether we’re writing screenplays or novels, there are multiple filler words that take up unnecessary space. Chew on these little blighters that creep into our scene descriptions and novel sentences and make sure you CHOP THEM OUT today! 1) Just ‘Just’ is actually a good word and has several functions, including time (as in ‘recently’) or to make sentences stronger (‘Just STOP!’). Unfortunately, writers let it creep in so often it becomes a beat in the sentence and adds to flabby prose. 2) Really This is a word that relates to certainty, but yet again, writers just use it randomly… Read More »10 Writing Fillers To Cut Right Now

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5 Important Tips For Writing Kickass Comedy

Comedy is probably the most popular genre these days, which is not surprising! People always appreciate a good laugh, especially when their lives are complicated. So it’s no wonder that many writers want to succeed in comedy writing: it’s one of the best ways to earn money and make other people’s life better at the same time. However, it is not easy to become a good comedy writer. Being a funny person is one thing, but being able to transfer your sense of humor to a piece of paper is completely another. So how do you write a story that is… Read More »5 Important Tips For Writing Kickass Comedy

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10 Quick Tips To Get You Inspired

When writing is your passion but you just don’t have that inspiration coming through, it’s time to look around. There are many things surrounding us every day that could inspire and motivate us. If you are stressed out, it may be difficult to see. Even the best writers sometimes find themselves without an idea to write about. But we live in a world full of information and inspiration. Let’s look at some tips for finding it and getting you inspired!  1) Look at blogs I love blogs because they are personal and intimate. You are able to get into the… Read More »10 Quick Tips To Get You Inspired

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Top 5 Proofing Mistakes Writers Make

Proofreading is an essential practice when it comes to writing. It’s that final check to make sure spelling and grammar are correct because misspelled and misused words can destroy the quality of your work. Even the best writers need to edit and proofread. Often, when we proofread our own work, the mind does not catch the little mistakes because it was that same mind that wrote them in the first place. This is why it is important to find a second party to read your writing. However, not all of us have proofreaders on hand, which is why we must… Read More »Top 5 Proofing Mistakes Writers Make

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5 Things Screenwriters Can Learn From Musicals

Whether it’s the sequins in Chicago or the corpses in Sweeney Todd, there’s something for everyone in the extraordinary world of musicals. But did you know that your secret, or not-so-secret, indulgence in this most over-the-top of artforms could also be good for your writing? Here are five lessons that musicals can teach screenwriters. And it’s a double whammy: you get to kick back and soak up some classic show tunes while improving your writing technique in the process. Overture and beginners, please … 1) Structure It’s even more true for musicals than for almost any other kind of script:… Read More »5 Things Screenwriters Can Learn From Musicals

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INFOGRAPHIC: All About Dialogue – A Periodic Table

So, I’ve written A LOT on this blog about how writers obsess over their dialogue and why they shouldn’t. This is because too often, writers fall in love with their dialogue and end up telling the story via talk alone. Nooooooooooo! However, if you writers *are* going to obsess on dialogue, then you could do a lot worse than finding out exactly what dialogue really IS. Shockingly, many writers don’t differentiate their characters’ speech patterns enough, so what they *think* is cool and interesting, is actually samey and boring to read. If we consider a book like The Maze Runner… Read More »INFOGRAPHIC: All About Dialogue – A Periodic Table

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Top 5 Screenplay Format Mistakes

How’s your screenplay format? Screenplay format gets a bad rap and is often conflated with writing craft. Whilst sometimes the two things DO cross over, this post will deal predominantly with **how** your script looks ON THE PAGE. Continuing in the Top 5 Mistakes series, I’ll be concentrating on screenplay format today. (I’m assuming your layout, spelling, punctuation and grammar are awesome already. If not, you can check here: 10 Common Errors In Your Writing You Need To Fix Right Now.) Ready, then? Let’s go … 1) Overly long sluglines (aka ‘scene headers’) A slugline or scene header in a… Read More »Top 5 Screenplay Format Mistakes

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Top 10 Words Or Phrases Storytellers Gave Us

Inventing Words Shakespeare was The Don when it came to inventing words and phrases, so we tend to think writers and filmmakers contribute to language a lot more than they do. It’s actually rather unusual for a writer or filmmaker’s words to get assimilated wholesale by popular culture, but here’s my top 10. Enjoy! 1) You do not talk about … An easy one to start. FIGHT CLUB (1999) is an iconic book and film, so whenever anyone says the phrase, “You do not talk about [whatever]” they’re usually invoking this particular scene from the movie. Over the last two… Read More »Top 10 Words Or Phrases Storytellers Gave Us

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Writing Adages Explained: ‘Show, Don’t Tell’

Show, Don’t Tell “Show, Don’t Tell” gets a bad rap as far as writing advice goes. This is because frequently it becomes a “catch-all” for just about anything a feedback-giver feels is “bad”. As a result, this note can end up being frustrating, rather than illuminating. However, at its heart, it IS good stuff. It basically describes the sensation in the reader of feeling “placed away” from the events in the story. This is not dramatic, because the writer is not INVOLVING us *in* the story. It ends up feeling a bit, “And then … And then … And then… Read More »Writing Adages Explained: ‘Show, Don’t Tell’

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Infographic: 6 Tips For Writing A Great One Pager

Check out this Infographic! I love an infographic … They can be a GREAT way to break down useful “How-To” pointers and content, especially if we’re in a hurry. I’ve been asking the talented @edwinatyrrell to convert some of B2W’s most hit articles into visuals for Bang2writers. Having already converted the How To Write Series Bibles post into an infographic, Edwina has worked her magic again! It’s now the turn of the oft-hit 6 Tips For Writing A One Page Pitch For Your Novel Or Screenplay. In recent years, one pagers have become more and more important. This is because initiatives,… Read More »Infographic: 6 Tips For Writing A Great One Pager

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13 Ways NOT To Ask For Writing Advice Or Help

Don’t Ask For Writing Advice Like THIS … Need some writing advice? We all do from time to time, plus there are plenty of people out there – like B2W – who are glad to help. People were kind to me when I started and offered all kinds of writing advice. I WANT to pay it forward. But there are ways to ask for said writing advice! The internet means the people we want to speak to are only ever just a click away … Which can be GREAT or TERRIBLE (and too often the latter!). Chew on these 13… Read More »13 Ways NOT To Ask For Writing Advice Or Help

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