Blog - Articles about Writing, Copywriting, & Marketing

5 Powerful Writing Tips from Award-Winning Editor Jack Hart’s “Storycraft”

Published January 17, 2020 | Last Updated July 25, 2020 By Nicole Bianchi 2 Comments

Yellow typewrite on table next to vase — Photo by Luke Lung

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Several months ago, I wrote an article sharing twelve of my favorite writing craft books. These books focus specifically on teaching you how to strengthen your skills as a writer and storyteller.

They get into the nuts and bolts of how to structure and edit your writing so it will captivate your readers.

Recently, I enjoyed re-reading one of the books on the list: Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction by Jack Hart.

Hart served for many years as managing editor at The Oregonian, the Pacific Northwest’s largest newspaper. He also guided several Pulitzer-prize winning articles to publication.

In this book, he teaches everything that he learned from his many years as a journalist. Using examples from books and newspaper articles, he shows how to tell a captivating story. He covers everything from how to develop characters to choosing point of view to bringing scenes to life.

Even though his book is aimed at writers of nonfiction, I believe there is much that writers of fiction can glean from its pages as well.

In today’s post, I’ve written up my top five takeaways from my most recent read. [Read more…]

Two Essential Journals That Will Help You Achieve Your Goals

Published January 10, 2020 | Last Updated May 30, 2020 By Nicole Bianchi Leave a Comment

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Have you set a big goal for the year? Maybe you plan to finally write a novel or start an email list or go to the gym each morning or learn a new language.

But maybe you’re also a little worried because you’ve broken New Year’s resolutions in the past.

You made significant progress towards your goals at first, but then your schedule became busier than you expected, your motivation ebbed, and those goals looked further and further out of reach.

Studies by Dr. John Norcross show that 60% of the people who make resolutions in January will no longer be following them by July.

Why are resolutions so difficult to keep?

“It’s human to slip up,” Dr. Norcross says. “Our evidence-based research shows that people who are successful at keeping their New Year’s resolutions slip as many times as people who are unsuccessful.”

It’s just that people who are unsuccessful slip up and give up. But people who are successful have systems in place that ensure they stay positive, pick themselves up, and learn from their slip-ups, tweaking their plan of action so they don’t fail again in the future.

Journaling is one of my favorite systems to use to help me stay accountable to my goals. In today’s post, I’m sharing my two journaling methods that help me track my progress on different projects, learn from my slip-ups, and motivate me to keep working towards my goals and not give up.

These journals have helped me build a successful blog and email list, learn three foreign languages, and finish many writing projects. I can’t wait to hear what they will help you achieve.

Let’s dive in. [Read more…]

8 Strategies That Will Help You Improve Your Writing Skills

Published January 3, 2020 | Last Updated January 4, 2020 By Nicole Bianchi 4 Comments

Ernest Hemingway once observed of writers,

We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.

No matter where you are in your writing journey (maybe you’re just starting out or maybe you’re already a published author), there is always more to learn in order to improve your skills and inspire more people with your words.

In today’s post, I’m sharing eight ways you can become a better writer in the New Year.

These are the same steps I followed in 2019 and that I plan to implement again in 2020.

Let’s dive in. [Read more…]

The Powerful Ingredient in ‘A Christmas Carol’ That Will Make Your Writing and Marketing Compelling

Published December 12, 2019 | Last Updated May 21, 2020 By Nicole Bianchi 15 Comments

Illustration of Scrooge and Marley's Ghost from the first edition of A Christmas Carol — Illustration from the first edition of *A Christmas Carol* | Scanned image by Philip V. Allingham via Victorianweb.org

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Every Christmas Eve, my whole family gathers around the TV to watch the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol. It’s one of our favorite traditions.

(If you haven’t seen this version, you can watch it on YouTube here — I believe it’s the best film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s classic story.)

No matter how many times I watch it, my heart is always touched by each scene. I feel the happiness of the crowd at Fezziwig’s party. Tears come to my eyes when Bob Cratchit cries over his poor Tiny Tim.

But, most of all, I love Alastair Sim’s wonderful performance as Scrooge — how he convincingly portrays Scrooge’s change from heartless and tightfisted to kind and joyous.

You watch with delight as the once grim man can’t stop laughing and smiling and stunning all with his kindness, even while muttering to himself, “I don’t deserve to be so happy.”

What makes stories like A Christmas Carol so enthralling? Why do we love watching movies like these year after year?

In today’s post, let’s look at one ingredient that makes stories like A Christmas Carol so powerful and emotionally compelling. It’s an ingredient you can use to make any type of writing captivate your readers, whether you’re working on a short story, a blog post, or even a sales page. [Read more…]

How to Write a Memorable Conclusion: 5 Techniques of Famous Writers

Published November 5, 2019 | Last Updated November 9, 2019 By Nicole Bianchi 7 Comments

You’ve spent hours pouring your heart and soul into a blog post. You have an important message to share with your audience, and you’ve crafted a piece that you know will help them.

But now you’ve reached the conclusion, and you don’t know what to write. You fear that you’ve said all you have to say, and if you tack on more sentences to your piece, you’ll just be repeating yourself.

But you know you can’t skip the conclusion. If you’re writing a persuasive or inspirational piece, the conclusion is the last place you have to convince the reader of your opinion. A weak conclusion can diminish the effect of your entire piece of writing.

It’s like if you were enjoying a three-course meal at a fancy restaurant. The soup was creamy and delicious, the steak was perfectly cooked, but then the dessert arrived, and the pie tasted funny. That’s the taste that’s going to linger in your mouth after you finish the meal.

Just like the chef needs to wow you with the final course, you need to wow your readers with your conclusion. Otherwise, your piece will feel unfinished and be unsatisfying to your readers.

So how can you wow your readers?

In today’s blog post, let’s look at five different techniques famous writers have used to craft powerful conclusions that made their pieces memorable. [Read more…]