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Announcing our second annual Burning the Midnight Oil Poetry Contest! Now accepting entries.
                                                                                                                                               
Amazing Story Fiction Contest is closed. Watch for results September 1, 2008.

Meet Andrew Blackman and read his winning first chapter of On the Holloway Road.

Check out the winners of our Novel Beginnings 1st Chapter Contest.

Take a writing class this fall! Building a Story From the Ground Up is open for enrollment. Classes work around your schedule.

Learn how to tell your story! Enroll in our Memoir: Writing the Story of Your Life class. We work around your schedule.

Visit our articles page and read our feature "The Problem with Self-published Books--and the Solution."

Questions? E-mail amy@thewritehelper.com.

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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Poems by the Dozen
The poems are arriving daily, by mail and web--yes, Virginia, you can enter online now! 
 
I say "poems by the dozen," and as of yesterday, we had exactly one dozen. That's pretty normal for a deadline five weeks away. Most of us who enter writing contests wait until the very last minute--which you can actually do now, thanks to the new online entering. Isn't that cool? Why wait in line when you can enter online!
 
So poets, get in the game. Send us your poems today
12:49 pm cdt

Monday, September 10, 2007

Your Novel: Starting Off on the Right Foot
What's that old saying--The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step? Applying that to writing a novel, I could say, "The writing of a novel begins with one word." Followed by another, and another, and another . . .
 
But that beginning, those first words, carry a great deal of weight. Your opening chapter must introduce the characters and their journey as well as time and place. The hook must pose enough questions that the reader is intrigued and wants to tag along for the ride. And it never hurts to have prose that makes each sentence a reader's delight.
 
So let me ask you this: Does your story begin well? Are your characters intriguing and can they carry this story for the duration of the journey? Feedback is the best way to find out the answer. Join a critique group or find a good reader. (By good reader, I mean someone who is well-read, and preferably not related to you.) Or spring for a critique through The Write Helper. We're published writers, and we know what it takes to get your story into print.  
2:44 pm cdt


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