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“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
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— weWriTe —
A Dedicated Space for Writers & Authors
We invite you to view our Writing Tips, Conversations with Authors, YouTube Videos, and Book Recommendations.
There are unlimited possibilities to hone our craft as we explore writing tools used by today’s successful writers.
Writing Tips
How To Write The Perfect Killer Essay
An essay is written prose that is designed to present an idea, propose an argument, express an emotion, or initiate debate. There are multiple applications of this non-fiction style of writing.
Here, we explore the argumentative essay format used to present and support the author’s viewpoint on a specific topic.
This may sound time-consuming, but if you make a really good plan you will actually save yourself time when it comes to writing the essay, as you’ll know where your answer is headed and won’t write yourself into a corner. Don’t worry if you’re stuck at first – jot down a few ideas anyway and chances are the rest will follow.
Think about this while you are planning:
Your essay is like an argument or a speech – it needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question. Start with the basics: it is best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs. Three main paragraphs is a good number for an essay. Organize your points in a pattern of YES (agreement with the question) – AND (another ‘YES’ point) – BUT (disagreement or complication) if you agree with the question overall, or YES – BUT – AND if you disagree. This will ensure that you are always focused on your argument and don’t stray too far from the question.
When selecting the best quotations to use in your essay, keep an eye out for specific literary techniques.
Creative writing and essay writing are more closely linked than you might imagine; keep the idea that you’re writing a speech or argument in mind, and you’re guaranteed to grab your reader’s attention.
After writing your conclusion, you might think that you have completed your essay. Wrong. Before you consider this a finished work, you must pay attention to all the small details.
Check the order of your paragraphs. Your strongest points should be the first and last paragraphs within the body, with the others falling in the middle. Also, make sure that your paragraph order makes sense. If your essay is describing a process, such as how to make a great chocolate cake, make sure that your paragraphs fall in the correct order.
Conversations with Authors
When we are open to learning from others, we reap the benefit of their insights and experiences. In addition, we have the opportunity to opt in to inherit their wisdom and knowledge.
In our conversations with authors, writers offer great advice and tips that can help us along our journey.When we are open to learning from others, we reap the benefit of their insights and experiences. In addition, we have the opportunity to opt-in to inherit their wisdom and knowledge.
In our conversations with authors, writers offer great advice and tips that can help us along our journey.
Isabel Wilkerson
Isabel Wilkerson, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, is a leading figure in narrative nonfiction. She is an interpreter of the human condition, and an impassioned voice for demonstrating how history can help us understand ourselves, our country, and our current era of upheaval. She’s the author of The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration (2010) and Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (2020). She is the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism, winning the feature writing award for her coverage of the 1992 midwestern floods and her profile of a 10-year-old boy who was responsible for his four siblings.
Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson, a Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law, is a widely acclaimed author and public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned. He is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, based in Montgomery, Alabama, where he and his staff at the Equal Justice Initiative have won reversals, relief, or release from prison for over 135 wrongly condemned prisoners on death row and won relief for hundreds of others wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced. Stevenson is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014).
Bliss Broyard
… is the author of the bestselling story collection, My Father, Dancing, which was a New York Times Notable Book, and the award-winning memoir, One Drop: My Father’s Hidden Life-A Story of Race and Family Secrets, which was named a best book of the year by the Chicago Tribune and was a finalist for the Essence Literary Prize. Her stories and essays have been anthologized in It Occurs to Me That I Am America: New Stories and Art (to benefit the ACLU), Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, The Art of the Essay, and others. She has written for New York Magazine, The New York Times, NewYorker.com, The Guardian, The Believer, Conde Nast Traveler, Elle, “O” the Oprah Magazine, Time, and many other publications. She writes frequently about issues of economic and racial justice and is working on a second memoir she’s calling Gentrifier’s Notebook.
Cathy Breslaw
… is a writer for Art Scene magazine for Southern California and a contributor to San Diego Visual Arts Network. In addition, Breslaw is a Southern California contemporary visual artist who has been featured in over 30 solo exhibitions and has participated in over 50 group exhibitions across the U.S. in museums, art centers, college and university galleries, and commercial galleries. She holds an MFA from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. In addition, she received two fellowships and a Masters of Social Work degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
C. L. Hoang
… is the author of Once Upon a Mulberry Field, Rain Falling on Tamarind Trees, and In the Shadow of Green Bamboos. He was born and raised in Vietnam during the Vietnam War and came to the United States in the 1970s. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and earns his living as an electronic engineer, with eleven patents to his name. Books, history, and travel are his hobbies.
mulberryfieldsforever.com
Dennis Fried, Ph.D.
… is the author of Memoirs of a Papillon: The Canine Guide to Living with Humans without Going Mad; Small Dog, Big Life: Memoirs of a Furry Genius; and A Tongue in the Sink: The Harrowing Adventures of a Baby Boomer Childhood. He has worked in college education, marketing, advertising, software development, and stand-up comedy. He holds advanced degrees in physics and philosophy. Dennis currently consults on all aspects of writing and publishing.
Videos
How to Start Writing a Book
Michelle Schusterman
Your Elusive Creative Genius
Elizabeth Gilbert
A Powerful Way to Unleash Your natural Creativity
Tim Harford
One of The Greatest Speeches Ever
Steve Jobs
Reading Recommendations
Thunder and Lightning - Cracking Open the Writer's Craft
Natalie Goldberg
Goldberg describes her writing experience through the lens of Buddhism and meditation with practical advice about specific elements of the writer’s craft.
1776
David McCullough
McCullough brings his characters to life through excellent nonfiction writing in this intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence.
Bird By Bird
Anne Lamott
No book about writing could be funnier or more insightful. Seriously, you will be doubled over laughing, and then you’ll start crying because everything she’s saying about writing is so on-the-mark. The chapter on “Shitty First Drafts” is worth the entire cost of the book.
Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction
Jeff VanderMeer
Want an illustrated creative writing guide for speculative fiction like sci-fi, fantasy, and anything else outside the bounds of realism? Jeff VanderMeer teams up with illustrator Jeremy Zerfoss to create the most beautiful creative writing book you’ve ever seen.
The Forest for the Trees
Betsy Lerner
This might be the most practical book on writing. Written by a former editor, she lays out exactly how to get published and how to navigate the world of publishing. It’s full of helpful writing tips and techniques.
Thrill Me
Benjamin Percy
Benjamin Percy is a master of a crackling plot, the whip-fast pace, and has the deepest voice you’ve ever heard (look up a video of him — it will break the base on your speakers). If you want to become better at entertaining your readers, this is the right book to read.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
This is storytelling at its finest. Angelou renders moments through vivid descriptions and detailed dialogue, as she informs you of her perceptions of her observations. As a narrator, she’s an active character in the story.
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
Isabel Wilkerson
This nonfiction novel is a masterwork of writing—a profound achievement of scholarship and research that stands also as a triumph of both visceral storytelling and cogent analysis.
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Bryan Stevenson
A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time.
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