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Here you’ll find our latest articles, news and updates from the world of literature and writing.
The information shared on this blog has been designed to complement the training, tools, tips and techniques you’ll discover inside our award-winning online courses and offer you continued support in your journey to becoming a successful writer!
The Writer’s Guide to Social Media
Today we are talking about a topic that intimidates many writers and illustrators, social media. Good news! It doesn’t have to. The key is to choose the platform that is most enjoyable to you. The one you don’t mind spending time on and fosters authentic interactions. Forcing yourself to use a...
How to Win a #WeekendChallenge
Thank goodness it’s Friday, WA Community, and not just because it’s the start of the weekend. Friday’s have us happy dancing because that’s when we announce the new #WeekendChallenge prompt. The #WeekendChallenge is an opportunity to write a 100-word entry based on a prompt of the week. The goal...
Submitting Your Story: 7 Tips to Survive the Query Trenches
You’ve typed “the end”, received feedback, and revised your story. Congratulations, you are ready to enter the Query trenches! Whether you decide to query an agent or an editor is a personal preference but these seven survival tips will apply to both query routes. Don’t Rush It is easy to let your...
Write Academy End of the Year Award Ceremony
Welcome to the Write Academy End of the Year Award Ceremony! It’s hard to believe that 2021 is coming to a close. Thank you for being a part of the Write Academy community over the past year. We hope you had a great writing year, and we can’t wait to see what 2022 has in store for each and every...
How to Write a Winning Pitch
Pitches can come in handy at any stage of the writing process, whether you are drafting, revising, querying, or publishing. In this post, we’ll go over how to write a winning pitch with an easy-to-use pitch formula. Pitch Formula A pitch is a snappy sentence or two that summarizes your book and...
Annual Write Academy Holiday Contest Winners
The holidays are fast approaching and to kick off the season we are hosting our FREE Annual Write Academy Holiday Contest with prizes!
Which Format and Audience is Best for Your Story?
Do you have a children's book idea but are unsure whether it is a picture book, middle-grade, or YA? In this post, we discuss which three questions you should ask yourself when writing a book for children. Intended Audience Before we discuss which audience is best for your story, it’s important to...
Put Your Story Beginning to the Test: 6 Story Elements to Craft a Strong Beginning
The opening of your children’s book should hook your reader, but it must also introduce the reader to the character and their wants, setting, time, and tone of your story. In this post, we will analyze some popular opening lines as well as what makes them work. Before we take a look at some first...
Is Your Story Difficult For Children To Read?
In writing for children, there is a lot of pressure when choosing words. There is the pressure for the words to be active versus passive, to show not tell, and to keep your verbs in one tense. In addition to that, is choosing words that your intended age group will comprehend and be challenged by....
8 NaNoWriMo Tips To Help You Succeed
NaNoWriMo — or National Novel Writing Month — is almost upon us! We've got some great Nanowrimo tips coming up. Nanowrimo kicks off November 1st and if you take part you commit to writing 50k words in the month of November. There's a great community and lots of support, so it's a brilliant time to...
Awesome YA/MG Books Coming Out September 2020
With the world being the way it is at the moment, we've had a lot of postponements in children's publishing, and authors now (especially debut authors!) need all the support they can get! So here are some brilliant YA and MG books that are due to be released in September (and October) 2020. Have a...
How I Got My Publisher – Journey To Publication Part 2
Publication can look many different ways, but in this two-part series we’re talking to Emily Lowrey and Alyssa Hollingsworth about their journeys. You can check out the first entry here, where Emily outlines her journey to signing with a literary agent. Below you’ll find part two, where Alyssa...
How I Got My Agent – Journey To Publication Part 1
There are many paths to publication, all of which are valid and a very individual choice for the writer. The following blog post is written by Emily Lowrey, as she documents her own journey to publication. Part one will follow Emily on how she signed with her agent, Amber Caraveo at Skylark...
How to Create a Beautiful Story Aesthetic
Story aesthetic graphics can be a fabulous way to brainstorm, build your world, and to share your excitement about your manuscript. But what is a story aesthetic? It’s something a little like this:A story aesthetic is a collage of images that capture the mood or visuals of your story. It can...
Character Description Tips: How To Describe your Characters Effectively
Character description can be a challenge. How much information is too much? Which parts are your readers even interested in? How do you describe your character without falling into age-old clichè territory? Let’s have a look! In this article we will cover:- How to describe a character in an...
Backstory: How to write backstory effectively
Backstory is important. Having the reader learn more about your character’s past can help them understand who they are and how they’ll react in certain situations. However, there’s a fine line between giving useful information to your reader and boring them to tears! It’s important — vitally...
How (and Why) You Should Make a Story Playlist
A story playlist can open up whole new worlds of brainstorming and inspiration. After all, creativity feeds creativity. Art feeds art. Music feeds thought process and nurtures creativity. We can’t paint while we write, but we can listen to music. Doing so while writing can boost productivity, word...
Why Your Story Should Always Have A Hook
In this blog we’re going to cover two elements of “the hook.” We’re going to cover why you should begin your story with a hook — a gripping moment, the inciting incident — and also why, when you’re beginning to form the basis of a new story, you should think long and hard about its hook before you...
Children’s Books for World Refugee Day
Start your book World Refugee Day is just around the corner, and we plan to honor the day with our nose in some excellent and educational children's books. With its delicate care and heartwarming hope, Children's literature brims with beautiful examples of hard topics tackled sensitively. No where...
How To Write Better Dialogue
Write Better Dialogue Your character's voice — the words they choose and how, when, and why they say them — is an integral part to any character. Each of your characters should sound true to themselves, and their dialogue should reflect their character traits. Learning to write better dialogue is...
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