The Basics
The craft of writing is the hard work part - these are the techniques and skills that you can learn and improve on, to produce better writing.
About Fiction Vision - Fiction Writing Newsletter 
Sign up for Fiction Vision, a free weekly newsletter to help you improve your writing craft. The future is all in your head. Character Creation
Every character starts out with a blank slate, kind of like a baby. What he or she is like is formed through the hardships faced, the ways he thinks, the way he reacts, the way he gets what he wants. Coffee, Cigarettes, and Writer's Block
A fresh cup of coffee, cigarette burning, your laptop is open and its blank screen is staring back at you. We've all been there. You are ready to write, but nothing, not even one word, pops into your head. Conflict
Most people, if asked what a conflict is, will say a fight or an argument. A fight or an argument is conflict, but conflict is not just a fight or an argument. Look at the above definition and you can see that there is so much more to conflict than just argument.
Heroes, Victims, Survivors, Villains
Do you understand the definitions of hero, victim, survivor, and villain? When writing fiction, one needs to be aware of the differences between these terms. Holly Lisle´s Forward Motion [offsite link]
Author, Holly Lisle offers a vast resource of writing-related articles, workshops, and FAQs on her website. Be sure to download her free e-book, Mugging the Muse - you´ll read this gem dozens of times.
How to Write Effective, Believable Dialogue
What exactly is dialogue? It is simply a conversation between two or more characters. Nothing fancy, just a conversation. But the mere mention or thought of dialogue scares a lot of writers who will do just about anything to avoid it. Writing dialogue is something we must conquer our fear of. Ideas
If your muse is anything like mine, she never picks a good time to give you ideas, never when pen and paper or computer are handy. By the time you are ready to write, all your great ideas have disappeared. Or have they? Sometimes you need to force them back out.
Planning Your Culture
It is fun to create a culture, one where you decide the rules and the way of life. Just be careful not to get so caught up in creating your culture that you forget about your story, the reason for creating this culture in the first place.
Plot Basics
A plot consists of every part of the storyline - the people, the conflicts, the world it takes place in. An important thing to remember is that no plot is ever set in stone until the story is published. It can be changed as you write the story, not just one time but several times. Robin Hobb´s rant on Fan Fiction [offsite link]
Robin Hobb, author of The Farseer Trilogy, believes attempting to learn the craft by writing Fan Fiction can stunt a writer´s creativity. Show, Don't Tell
“Show, don’t tell.” What exactly does that mean? How does one show what is happening instead of just telling? What are the benefits of doing so?
The First Sentence 
Just about every writer dreams of writing words that will have a lasting effect on civilization. Wouldn’t it be awesome if at least one line from each of your books tended to stay in people's minds? The Joys of Writing Fiction
A desire to write is burning deep within you. Your muse, or subconscious mind keeps imagining crazy things every time you turn around. When you see someone walking a dog, crazy thoughts go through your head.
The Writer's Journal
Do you dream? Do entire novels play themselves out in your imagination each night as you are peacefully, or not so peacefully, slumbering? Perhaps you daydream? Do you lose track of where you are and what is going on because you have been sucked into a world that your mind has created? Writing Short Stories 
A short story is short enough to be read in one sitting, as opposed to a novel which may take weeks to read. What makes up a good, possibly great, short story?
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