I’ve been scouring the latest college admissions research lately (so you don’t have to!), and holy moly, did I find a gem. Buried...

With college admissions season in full swing, it’s time to talk about one of the most important components of the application: your...

We’ve talked ideas , outlines , writing tips , and more in this writing series . But amid the technical tips, one very important...

While exciting, I’ll be the first to admit that writing is also uniquely daunting. It’s one thing to have an outline; it’s another thing...

Psst… you can read the new vocabulary-boosting short story I mention in the podcast here! As we wrap up our writing mini-series, I have just a few more pieces of word-altering advice to give you! Today’s advice has two meanings, and it’s: is your subject your subject? Big Picture Are you telling the story from the right point of view? In drafting book #2, I realized my predetermined subject was no longer the only person with a gripping story to tell, and decided to have two n

The most important piece of creative writing advice you’ll ever receive? Show. Don’t. Tell. You might have heard it before, but it...

Well, hello! If you’re new to Vocabbett, I help students painlessly improve their vocabulary through stories; as such, I tend to do a lot of writing. Today we’re talking about character sketches, drawing on the creative process of my favorite author, Barbara Mertz (a.k.a. Elizabeth Peters) . Here’s what I found while researching her process: She did use character sketches early in her career, but stopped by 1992(ish) . As she explained in her winter 1992-1993 newsletter: “I

Not every author uses an outline. In general, there are two camps in the writing community: Plotters and pantsers...

Have you ever loved a book so much that when you finished it, you just sat in stunned silence for a moment? How did the author get these ideas ? you ask. Maybe you turn to Google and find some witty but ultimately meaningless response from the author, or nothing at all. For aspiring writers, this can be maddening! If each book is an invention, ideas are the schematics and blueprints. I want to know how you built this! Most of the books I referenced above were written by Eliza