Nicole Bianchi

Writing, Copywriting, & Marketing Strategies

Create Compelling Characters with the Dinner Table Exercise (Video)

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I’m excited to share a new writing resource with you today!

Recently, I dove into editing the first draft of my novel so I decided to re-read Robert Mckee’s book Story for editing tips.

While reading, I stumbled across a fantastic piece of advice that I thought would make an excellent writing exercise for creating compelling characters. I share all about it in the video:

I hope you find it helpful! I’d love to hear what you think in the comments.

If you enjoy the video, it would be awesome if you could give it a thumbs up on YouTube and leave a comment. And make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you’d like to see more videos like this one. 🙂

I’ve just started making videos and really appreciate your support. I hope the video inspires you with your writing. Thanks for watching!

7 Editing Tips That Will Make Your Writing More Engaging

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Blank notebook next to pair of glasses and three sharpened pencils | 7 Editing Tips That Will Make Your Writing More Engaging
Photo by Jess Bailey

A few months ago, I wrote a review of award-winning editor Jack Hart’s book Storycraft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction.

(That’s my Amazon affiliate link above — I’ll make a small comission if you buy a copy at no extra cost to you. Thanks!)

Storycraft is one of my favorite books on the craft of writing (I share several of my other favorite books in my article here). Even though Hart aimed his book at writers of nonfiction, I believe there is much that writers of fiction can glean from its pages too.

In fact, there’s one chapter in particular that’s a goldmine of editing tips for any kind of writing. Recently, I collected my top takeaways from the chapter and arranged them as an editing checklist for myself when I work on blog posts, essays, and short stories.

I’ve found these tips incredibly helpful so, today, I wanted to share seven of them with you!

These powerful editing tips will help you breathe life into your writing, turn plodding sentences and paragraphs into fast-paced narratives, and capture the attention of your readers.

Let’s dive in. [Read more…]

How to Finish a Big Writing Project: Six Effective Strategies

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Pens, notebook, keyboard, and pair of glasses on a table
Photo by Jess Bailey

Last week, I completed a big writing project. I finished working on expanding and updating a small eBook on email marketing that I’d written several years ago and turning it into an in-depth online course. (I’ll be releasing it soon!)

At the same time, I’ve been working to wrap up the first draft of a novel that I started writing at the end of last year. I’m not at the finish line yet, but this week I reached 52,000 words total.

Working on both these projects has tested my endurance. A big writing project comes with many more challenges than writing a blog post or a short story.

It requires far more motivation, especially on those days when it feels like you’ll never make it to the end of the project.

It requires far more time because you have to devote months to the project, not just a handful of days or weeks.

And it requires far more planning up front so you don’t end up overwhelmed and unsure how to move forward from one day to the next.

In today’s article, I’m sharing six strategies that have helped me overcome these challenges and work diligently on big projects from start to finish.

I hope these strategies will help you whether you’re working on a novel, a nonfiction book, a college thesis, an in-depth digital product, or any other type of big writing project.

Let’s dive in. [Read more…]

5 Exercises From Famous Authors That Will Sharpen Your Writing Skills

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Hand gripping sharpened pencil and writing in notebook | 5 Exercises From Famous Authors That Will Improve Your Writing
Photo by Thought Catalog

Pianists practice scales to strengthen their skills like rhythm and timing. Artists might sketch a hundred human hands until they’ve mastered drawing that body part realistically. Dancers will practice a dance move countless times until their footwork and technique are flawless.

Just like those other artists, writers can sharpen specific skills through deliberate practice.

Are you struggling to write vivid descriptions? Or craft concise sentences?

In today’s post, I’m sharing five powerful creative writing exercises from famous authors that will help you practice those essential skills and many more.

Let’s get started. [Read more…]

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

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Yellow typewrite on table next to vase
Photo by Luke Lung

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 (Amazon affiliate link) 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…]