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Poem along with the first ever April PAD Challenge Countdown, in which Robert Lee Brewer shares a prompt and a poem (to get things started) in the 10 days leading up to the 2020 April Poem-A-Day Challenge. For today’s prompt, write a hope poem.

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For today’s prompt, write a hope poem. In these odd, time-warped days, the world really could use a little more hope. So let’s share some today—even if it’s just the hope for the possibility of hope.

Remember: These prompts are just springboards; you have the freedom to jump in any direction you want.

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Re-create Your Poetry!

Revision doesn’t have to be a chore–something that should be done after the excitement of composing the first draft. Rather, it’s an extension of the creation process!

In the 48-minute tutorial video Re-creating Poetry: How to Revise Poems, poets will be inspired with several ways to re-create their poems with the help of seven revision filters that they can turn to again and again.

Click to continue.

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Here’s my attempt at a Hope Poem:

“Eternity”

Hope springs eternal
from a reservoir
of bad news,

but I choose
to say, “Au revoir,”
to things unhopeful.

The post 2020 April PAD Challenge Countdown: T-minus 2 by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.

Even as a full-time freelance writer, I have to admit: I don’t remember much of the grammar lessons I learned in grade school. 

But when writing is your bread and butter (or even just your primary hobby), figuring out the most salient points of usage takes on a new importance — or, at least, feels more important than figuring it out just to pass a pop quiz.

Chances are at least one of your teachers drilled the idea that passive voice is bad into your head. 

But why did they do that? Is it that bad, really? And, with however many years separating you from your classroom experience, do you even know how to identify passive voice in the first place anymore?

Let’s take a quick, pain-and-pop-quiz-free review of this peculiar type of sentence construction.

What is passive voice?

The passive voice is a type of sentence construction wherein the subject and object switch places: rather than the subject acting on the object, the object of the action becomes, itself, the subject.

It sounds complicated, but you’ve definitely seen it used — and more than likely used it yourself without even thinking about it.

One common way the passive voice is employed (and thus an easy red flag to look for when trying to identify it in your own writing) is the use of some form of “to be” verb plus a past participle. For example:

The paper had been written when I was young and inexperienced.

(An active voice version of that idea might read: I wrote the paper when I was young and inexperienced.)

However, not all sentences that use “to be” verbs or past participles are passive! For example, all of the following sentences are in the active voice:

I had been writing all night long, but I wasn’t getting anywhere.

I have to submit my manuscript by tomorrow!

He had gone to his editor more than once about it.

“To be” verbs and participles aside, the most conclusive way to figure out whether or not a sentence is in the passive voice is to identify the subject, verb, and — if there is one — the object of the action. If the object of the action is in the front of the sentence and the subject is at the end, you’ve got yourself an example of passive voice.

Another example:

PASSIVE VOICE: The book was written by my best friend, Elizabeth.

ACTIVE VOICE: My best friend Elizabeth wrote the book.

Why is the passive voice wrong?

As discussed above, the last time you talked about the passive voice was probably in the context of being told, by some well-meaning teacher, that it’s incorrect.

So let’s be totally clear: the passive voice isn’t wrong, exactly. But it’s usually a lot clunkier than an active sentence construction. 

Using the passive voice distances the subject from the action of the sentence, which leads to less clarity and urgency. It can also add unnecessary words to your manuscript, since the passive voice generally requires more auxiliary verbs than the active voice does. You need a lot more space to say The ball had been kicked by me than to say I kicked the ball.

That said, there may be times when you want to employ the passive voice to purposefully draw emphasis to the object of an action — or the fact that the object is, in fact, being treated as an object. 

For instance, Writer Constance Hale argues that Germaine Greer, in writing “The Female Eunuch,” uses the passive voice “ to emphasize that a subject is not a ‘doer’ but a ‘done-to’ over at the New York Times. Here’s Greer’s passage with the passive portion bolded:

The married woman’s significance can only be conferred by the presence of a man at her side, a man upon whom she absolutely depends. In return for renouncing, collaborating, adapting, identifying, she is caressed, desired, handled, influenced.

When in doubt, however — and especially if you’re still working to understand exactly what the passive voice is — it’s usually a good rule of thumb to avoid it.

How to use less passive voice in your writing

Now that we’ve covered how to discern between passive vs. active voice and why the passive voice can be so problematic, you may be wondering how to fix or avoid it in your own writing practice. 

And to be honest, like most things in the writing world — and in the whole world, as a matter of fact — a lot of it comes down to plain old practice. As you continue to write, take time to review your work specifically for instances of passive voice usage and change the sentences to active voice when you see them. Over time, using the active voice will become second nature.

Of course, everyone needs some help along the way. Fortunately, we’ve come across some grammar checker tools that include a passive voice checker amongst their suite of goodies — and although premium versions of those programs cost, many offer a free edition.

Armed with this knowledge of passive voice, go forth and do some writing…as opposed to letting your writing do you!

Photo via Prostock-studio / Shutterstock 

The post Your Grade School Teachers Were Right: Avoid Using the Passive Voice — Here’s Why appeared first on The Write Life.

From about us pages to blogs, feature profiles are used to communicate a business’ brand, but also to put a human face on a business. By creating a compelling story, good profile writers can benefit from this high-need area of freelance writing.

Profile writing involves disparate parts of the brain in order to produce an emotionally involving piece. An effective profile comes from thorough research, thoughtful interview questions and an ability to organize large amounts of information into a concise story.

How to write a profile of a person

Here’s how to write a profile story, in eight easy-to-follow steps.

1. Research your subject — a lot

For my first profile assignment, I interviewed a jazz great who enjoyed a five-decade career in music. Being young and unaware of his music, I asked him how long he’d been playing. The musician playfully laughed at me and replied that he had been playing most of his life. He then asked me if I knew anything about him. The feeling of embarrassment sunk the rest of my interview.

But from this defeat, I learned the importance of researching my subject.

Your goal should be to understand your subject’s point of view before the interview begins if you hope to capture that person’s journey.

Start by thoroughly reading their website. If the business or individual maintains a blog, you will want to read their posts to understand their identity. This will clue you into what’s important to your subject.

Then explore articles written about your subject in other publications. What’s the general angle of these articles? Is there any information that’s repeated again and again? This will help differentiate yourself from previous material written about the same subject.

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2. Create questions that linger

When interviewing, the worst thing you can hear from a response is “yes” or “no.”

Try to focus your questions on material your subject is passionate about, and don’t ask questions that can be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.” Start phases with: “Can you tell me about?” or “Why did you…?”

This gives your subject the opportunity to go “off script” and share unique details about their story in a way that makes them feel comfortable.

3. Let your subject to do 90 percent of the talking

It may be tempting to interrupt your subject with your own commentary, but resist this at all costs.

Interrupting cuts into your subject’s flow, which will result in glossing over important information. Through digressions, subjects will often provide entertaining stories. These stories can further illustrate your subject’s unique personality.

Do not be afraid of pauses and silence. Sometimes this means your subject is thinking about your question, and giving them time will elicit more detailed answers.

For others, silence creates a bit of awkwardness, which they might be eager to fill by sharing a story they might not have otherwise shared.

4. Record your interviews

Handwritten notes are great, but it can be difficult to record every word a subject says. Mistakes in note-taking can be costly when it comes time to write the profile.

And you certainly don’t want to rely on your memory. Get comfortable with a recording app in advance to ensure you capture your entire interview.

5. Develop your angle

Profiles need an angle, or a specific focus to sustain the reader’s attention.

A unique angle will set your profile apart from the other material written on the same subject. Use an angle that’s newsworthy or contains the essence of the business’ philosophy. Profiles that are simply a list of things that happened are rarely interesting.

When reviewing your interview and notes, find a theme that links together the material. For example, if your subject talks about failures that led to their success, the theme of persistence in the face of failure can serve as a good angle.

6. Find pull quotes that move the story

Don’t use quotes just to fill space. Instead, lean on quotes to help tell the story. Using the subject’s words can be the most effective way to develop the profile’s main points.

Not sure how many quotes to use? Here’s a good rule of thumb: Each section of a profile should contain at least one quote that ties the material together.

Find pithy, meaningful quotes to provide maximum effect. Reserve the best quote that best encapsulates your angle and use this for your concluding paragraph. This leaves the reader with a clear picture of the main theme and takeaway.

7. Tell the story

Remember you are telling a story, so it needs a beginning, middle and end.

A scattershot piece with no clear timeline will confuse the reader.

Create an outline or storyboard so you can keep track of the direction of your story. In your outline, include quotes you plan to add to the story, so that you can shape your piece around your subject’s words.

8. Check your facts (and check them again)

Getting information wrong is an embarrassing moment for a writer, especially if you hear about it from your subject.

You’re responsible for presenting facts as truthfully as possible. If you are unsure of certain information, contact your subject and ask. They will appreciate the effort. Don’t throw away your credibility by failing to fact-check your piece.

Profile writing is a great way to flex all of your writer muscles in one assignment. Over time, you’ll develop a knack for interviewing, which is helpful for lots of writing work. With the right amount of preparation, organization, detail and practice, you’ll paint the perfect picture of your subject.

This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

Photo via GuadiLab / Shutterstock 

The post How to Write a Profile: 8 Tips for a Compelling Piece appeared first on The Write Life.

In this author spotlight, the duo of Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings (writing as Christina Lauren) talk about their most recent book, The Honey Don’t List, and share how their writing process changes from book to book.

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Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of longtime writing partners and best friends Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings, the New York Times, USA TODAY, and #1 internationally bestselling authors of the Beautiful and Wild Seasons series, Dating You / Hating You, Autoboyography, Love and Other Words, Roomies, Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating, My Favorite Half-Night Stand, and The Unhoneymooners. Their latest novel, The Honey Don’t List, is their 25th book together.

(How and when should writers use a pen name?)

You can find them online at ChristinaLaurenBooks.com, @ChristinaLauren on Instagram, or @ChristinaLauren on Twitter.

In this post, the Christina Lauren team talks about their most recent book, The Honey Don’t List, share how their writing process changes from book to book, and more.

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Dive into the world of writing and learn all 12 steps needed to complete a first draft. In this writing workshop you will tackle the steps to writing a book, learn effective writing techniques along the way, and of course, begin writing your first draft.

Click to continue.

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Name: Christina Lauren
Literary agent: Holly Root
Book title: The Honey Don’t List
Publisher: Gallery, Simon & Schuster
Release Date: March 24, 2020
Genre: Romance

Elevator pitch for the book: James and Carey are assistants to two world-famous home renovation gurus, whose very public—and very beloved—marriage is on the rocks. When tasked with keeping their bosses’ messy marriage from publicly exploding on book tour, James and Carey start to feel sparks of their own.

What prompted you to write this book?

When we were brainstorming what we wanted to write next, we realized how fun it would be to explore a relationship between two people who are tasked with keeping a toxic celebrity marriage from dissolving. There’s so much humor and heartache to draw from a situation where you are given an impossible—and secret—task and find solidarity and companionship with the only other person who truly understands what it’s like.

(Forced Proximity: 50 reasons for your characters to be stuck together.)

How long did it take to go from idea to publication?

We outlined it in early February of 2019, and the first draft was due May 1. We tend to draft quickly, and spend a lot of time in revisions, so while the idea itself didn’t change from outline to finished book, a lot of the details did. For example, in the first draft, we had a lot more of Melissa and Rusty Tripp (the celebrity couple) in there, and then slowly pared that down so that the romance between James and Carey came through more.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

This is our 25th book, and there wasn’t anything particularly challenging or strange about the process this time. It was fun to outline, fun to write. We always have a great time working with the Gallery Art department on the cover design, and this one took a bit of back and forth but the process is always very cooperative and positive.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

Something that continually surprises us—and maybe shouldn’t—is how our process changes for every book. We don’t sit down and do it the same way, every time. We’ve learned to be really fluid in the drafting and revision process, and this one was no exception, particularly since this book contains other types of writing, such as police reports, twitter posts, newspaper and magazine articles, and excerpts from the celebrity couples’ book. It made the writing process feel fresh and engaging.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

As with any of our books, we hope our readers will find a bit of fun escape, the same way they would with a Netflix rom-com. The Honey Don’t List also has a personal element, as our heroine, Carey, has a movement disorder called dystonia that affects Lauren’s family. It was our intent to write a fun, lively story with a heroine with dystonia, who is neither defined by, nor in denial of, her physical limitations. Everyone gets a love story, plain and simple.

(Representation in Fiction: How to write characters whose experiences are outside of your own.)

If you could share one piece of advice with other authors, what would it be?

Run your own race. Don’t worry about how fast someone else writes, how much another author makes, how many followers another author has. Write what makes you excited, and the enthusiasm will come through on the page.

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If you’re an author who would like to be featured in a future post, send an email to Robert Lee Brewer with the subject line “Author Spotlight” at rbrewer@aimmedia.com.

The post Christina Lauren: Write What Makes You Excited by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest.