Writing Tip: How to Edit Effectively

Editing your work means cutting your words or adding to your piece. You might not enjoy removing words that you thought long and hard to write, but the results are a smoother and simpler piece ready for consumption.

The Actress

During one lunch session in the office's pantry area, the topic of the day is about the actress Kim Short. Save for a few people, all of the girls in that pantry area hated her.

Writing Tip: How to Create a Fictional World

Let’s face it. The world isn’t a good setting sometimes. There aren’t enough fire magic or extreme landscapes for your heroes to conquer. You have to invent your own world, where you, as the writer, command what is and what isn’t possible.

Writing Tip: To Write Faster (pt.2)

Okay, since the last "to write faster" tip wasn't really a tip to write faster, here are some of my tips for writing short articles for less than an hour.

Can Imagination be Exhausted?

This was my thought I as I was riding on my way to the office. Can we our imaginations really hit the limit? Will there come a time when we can’t think of new story plots or models anymore? In other words,can we actually run out of ideas?

Remember that Journal? Mine it!

Do you remember when I told you that you should keep a journal? The reason for that is to have something to look in when you are completely devoid of ideas.

Writing Tip: To Write Faster

I was reading a forum for writers once, and I stumbled upon a particular thread with someone asking for advice about how to write faster. He said he usually takes about three hours writing a single piece of writing, whether it's an essay, a short story or forum post.

Let's Write a Short Story 2

Continued from here

(by the way, if you want to contribute in this story - how to proceed, etc. don't hesitate to comment!)

Okay, where were we?

James woke up to the sound of an oncoming train.


Hooooooooooooooonk!


"Shoot. What time is it?" he muttered. He looked at his watch, 7:30 AM. He stood up and felt his chest then held his breath. The item is gone.


He looked under benches to see if it fell. It wasn't there. It was certain somebody took it while he was sleeping.

Now what? What is that object anyway? I still have no idea, folks!

A train was getting ready to leave. James glanced at a man entering the train who seemed eerily familiar, although he never saw him in his life. In one brief moment, the man glanced back at him, offered an evil smirk and held up a box. James's box.


Jolted, James ran after the man but the train doors closed. Angered, James kicked a bench and ran outside the train station.

That's it for now!

Story Idea: The Stolen Paintings

Few things come easy for Retired Major Kenny Day. So when the package arrived, he was unconvinced. When he told his wife that a package containing rare paintings have been delivered through their door, she was instantly excited. They checked the package contents and true enough, they were the descendants of Bon Castalleneti, the renowned renaissance artist- and there in their possession were all of his works. Total value: 151 million dollars.

Writing Tip: More on Describing an Object

As previously mentioned, when getting rid of writer's block, one of the many things you can do is to describe an object. And here's the good thing about it: you don't even have to have "the block" to do it. You can use it to spark your imagination or add flavor to your story!

Nigerian Spam

Note: This blog serves to help you in coming up with short story ideas. Please note that some of the ideas in the blog are downright silly and not meant to be taken as is. You can get the gist of the entry and alter it any way you want, for any purpose whatsoever.

A man receives word that he is the heir to a person who just died. He is slated to earn one million dollars. But there is a catch: the money is in Nigeria, and he has to get there before email spam makers distribute it to random people all over the world.

Can he stop them and rule the country as successor to the just-deceased prince?

Five Stages of Short Story Development

Every story-writer is different. They all have different approaches to writing a narrative. They have different styles that, through the years, they have perfected. As in almost everything in life, you simply need to find what works for you, and stick to it, making only a few adjustments here and there.

But if you need something to get you started, here's what works for me:

Weekly Meeting

Note: This blog serves to help you in coming up with short story ideas. Please note that some of the ideas in the blog are downright silly and not meant to be taken as is. You can get the gist of the entry and alter it any way you want, for any purpose whatsoever.

One night on a warm summer evening, a man decides to end it all- by committing suicide.

Writing Tip: Keep a Journal

One of the tips outlined in this blog is to always carry a notebook with you. In a similar vein, it is important, as a writer to always write your thoughts or opinions somewhere, whatever form they may be: a drawing, newspaper clippings, an abstract idea, whatever. You need to keep a journal. It's going to be a goldmine later.

To The Couple I Always Pass By in the Morning

Note: This blog serves to help you in coming up with short story ideas. Please note that some of the ideas in the blog are downright silly and not meant to be taken as is. You can get the gist of the entry and alter it any way you want, for any purpose whatsoever.

Writing Tip: Describe an Object

Sometimes the solution to writer's block is as simple as describing an object. Any object.

How to Find a Setting: Recall a Place

After work, try this little experiment. You can do this in your living room or kitchen on your leisure time, when you are most relaxed.

Recall a place from your past: a former house, your grandma's house, your local beach. Anything.

Writing Tip: The Benefits of Reading

To be a good writer, you need to read a lot. Find books that interest you and make you imagine. Find authors that you like and grab their books. Experience them. See the world through their eyes.

If you don't have any favorite authors or topics, you can get any book, even those not well-acclaimed by the critics.

Run, Chimp, Run

Note: This blog serves to help you in coming up with short story ideas. Please note that some of the ideas in the blog are downright silly and not meant to be taken as is. You can get the gist of the entry and alter it any way you want, for any purpose whatsoever.

The Plot:

A chimpanzee escapes from the zoo and rampages across the city. It is up to Norman, a local newspaper boy to coerce it back to its cage because he was chimp's former owner when he worked as an assistant in a laboratory.

Writing Tip: Don't Discard Ideas

Have you ever felt it? You begin writing the first sentence, and then the next, then the third, the fourth... and then... nothing. You're stuck. You don't know what to write anymore. You read back the first few sentences you have written and then you realize it's not that good. So you delete them all and start from scratch again.

Shark

Note: This blog serves to help you in coming up with short story ideas. Please note that some of the ideas in the blog are downright silly and not meant to be taken as is. You can get the gist of the entry and alter it any way you want, for any purpose whatsoever.

The Plot:

A man stares angrily into the ocean while standing on his boat. His crew, just awakening, stares at him. They always knew their Captain was a hard man to get along with, but somehow, he is different today. His eyes look as if he is ready for a final confrontation. Confrontation with what? Nobody knows.