One of the best ways to improve your writing is by reading. You can observe what works and what doesn’t work in the writing styles of other authors. Here’s a peak at one of the most acclaimed novels of the 20th century, Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

The unique power that words possess is by having influence over the way we perceive and interpret our experiences. How? When we produce a word in language we are in fact turning a perception about something in reality into a thought, then assigning sounds that transmit the idea as meaning to others. Writing is only slightly different, in that, writing is simply transforming the sound into a symbol (letters or glyphs) that conveys, we hope, the same meaning as the sound – the word, whether written or spoken, becomes the carrier of the idea.

When I was in elementary, whenever I asked my mother (a teacher) to define a word to me, she always commanded, “Look it up in the dictionary!” When I asked the young professionals (her siblings and cousins) living with us in the house, they gave the same answers, “Look it up in the dictionary!” They discussed with me other ideas, but not the meaning of the word.

A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. Frequently, a syllable is a morpheme, which can be verified by studying the origin of words. A syllable is typically made up of a vowel and a consonant or consonants. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables (or morphemes): wa and ter. Syllables are the phonological “building blocks” of words.

‘Look what Mr Masters gave me,’ Hattie said. Tom stared astonished at the object that Hattie had placed on the kitchen dresser. Eighteen inches high, porcelain faced with glassy blue, expressionless eyes, curly eyelashes, red lips and ash blonde hair fanning round her face, the doll was dressed in a salmon pink frock.

Before I read Sholem Aleichem, I read Mark Twain. I was eight years old then, and I read it in Russian. I didn’t know that Mark Twain was a famous American humorist, and in fact, I didn’t even know what humor was – until one day I opened that book and read: “Tom!”

Creating believable compelling characters–ones that come to life on the page and fully engage the reader–is key in writing fiction. After you first introduce a character, you want the reader to crave more, and then you must deliver more throughout the story. Readers want to connect with the characters, so it is important to create an image for them early on. But describing physical characteristics is not enough. Other traits need to be gradually revealed throughout the story by way of dialogue, actions and internal thoughts. Characters are products of their actions, so it is important to know which actions are appropriate for each of your characters in order for them to be complete and well-rounded.

National Poinsettia Day is celebrated on December 12 in the United States. Although the flower selected for the month of December is holly or narcissus, the poinsettia is typically associated with Christmas and holiday decor. Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, reportedly introduced this well-known popular native Mexican holiday plant to the United States.

She isn’t in the Bonaventure or anywhere nearby the grave of Jim Williams. She wouldn’t have tolerated such positioning. Emily took a stand against the man years ago and wrote it down word for word with a working title of Cannabis and Snowdrops, mainly because her son Danny loved both. Her story is not a sequel to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, though it tells of the aftermath; nor is it a prequel, though it tells of what happened in the years leading up to that fatal midnight. Rather, it is a kind of circling-and-spiraling, which I think of as Around Midnight. And, her story will likely never see the light of day.

Five handy tips to bring out the creativity on paper all the time. These tips are tested, time and again, by the writer and they surely work.

When I write fiction or nonfiction, I make sure I use my notes on my journals and those texts I have marked on books. It is true that you can never be a good writer if you have not read widely. In writing, you cannot spark inspiration if you are not passionate in your work.

The perfect gift for everyone on your list could be at your fingertips and I’m not talking about the internet. Write a book this holiday season and the joy you get and give may surprise everyone–even you!