How to Write - - Topics

Initially writers may not even arrive at the question "how to write."  Instead they get stuck not knowing what to write.  Knowing how to write starts with discovering topics that intrigue you as a writer.  Once you discover the art of finding these topics, the how to write part will come more naturally.

The first key to developing topics for writing is to realize that the ideas will not come as a fully formed novel, a perfect essay or a streamlined article.  The idea will arrive as a seed.   You may hear something while walking in the mall, at school, work or a particular song on the radio that triggers a thought.  Allowing yourself to linger on that thought distills into an idea for a certain character, a particular scene or a perfect setting.  Let this process continue and flesh wraps around the skeleton of your initial thought.  During the course of your day, during the time you aren't thinking about how to write, by being aware of your surroundings you will find hundreds, maybe even thousands of topics to write about - - then you can worry about how to write.

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” ~ Orson Scott Card.

How to Write - - Who vs. Whom

Above: The Whos Battle the Whoms

It is commonly known in the "how to write" world as one of the greatest grammatical battles of all time.   Everyone has friends who think they know how to write, so they spend their time correcting everyone else.  If you want to be that person, or more likely, the person correcting that person's grammar.  Here is the basic rule of who vs. whom.  It will make you a better writer, speaker, and popular with all your friends.


According to the NY Times - - who always knows how to write - - here is the rule:

"Use “who” when it’s the subject of the verb in a relative clause, “whom” when it’s the object."

To think a little "m" could cause so much pain; friendships eviscerated, alliances annulled, and nations nullified. Click Here To Read More

How to Write - - Nicholas Sparks Interview

Writer's Digest recently did an interview with best selling author, Nicholas Sparks. He is the author of numerous best sellers and definitely knows how to write. He is the author of books such as Message in the Bottle, the Notebook, and Dear John. I am always curious when author's first book was published. His first book was the Notebook and it was published when he was 29.

In his interview, the Interviewer asked him what has been his biggest learning experience. He said as follows:

"I suppose I've learned that writing a novel is never easy. That's been a learning experience—one I would have rather not had to learn."

In the same vein, he said, "Writing is hard. Writing well is hard. Writing under deadline is just misery at its most horrible."

I appreciate these sentiments and it teaches me something about how to write. Writing is hard even for an author that has had a great degree of success. Try to remember that writing is hard for everyone, especially on those days where the words, the scenes, the essay, the screenplay or the term paper (on the deadline) is not going well. At those times, however, it makes it easier if you know how to write.

Click here to read more of the interview.


Click here for Nicholas Sparks' Website

How to Write? - - Write!

I am frequently asked the question "How to Write?" The simplest answer to that question is - - Write! The more you write, the more you will know how to write. In the book "Outliers," Malcom Gladwell consistently refers to the "10,000 Hour Rule." This concept applies to writing, no matter what type of writer you are, and is the most basic answer to the question "how to write." The more you write, the better you will become at writing. On some level, it is definitely not rocket science. However people who ask "how to write" basically understand that they need to write. They are actually asking a much more complicated question that deals with all the challenges writers face. These challenges include finding time to write, finding topics to write about, editing and reediting what you write. This question "how to write?" really ecompasses all of what it means to be a writer. This blog is an effort to answer that question. So, despite the complexity of the issue, the answer begins with - - writing.