⋙ The Basics Every Fiction Writer Needs, No Streak Required ⋘

Your Weekly Writing Companion

Is your writing streak dead or struggling to survive? Revive it with a quick read and a daily “Streak Saver” exercise.

Writing Streak is a free weekly newsletter focused on getting readers back to the desk so they can become writers. Every Monday, I deliver an article about writing and a preview of the daily exercises on the Writing Streak website. Think of it as a creative jumpstart—no pressure, no judgment, just pure writing fun.

Every day brings a new exercise, but once the day passes it is gone.

Here’s a sample writing exercise. The format is all about constraints. Rather than talk at you about craft advice, I think it’s better to sit down and write. Try it out now! Jumping into writing is what we’re all about.

⋙ Sample: Low Agency Dialogue

Setup: Think of an important decision for a character to question publicly.

Goal: Immerse readers with dialogue that shows agency in speech, revealing character.

Constraints:

Distance the character from their actions.
Make decisions feel outside the character’s control.
Stop when the character either caves or stands firm.

Modification: For an extra challenge, the character cannot show any direct disagreement.

Reflection: Would the character's language shift if the decision were less important or they felt differently about the other person?

What Makes These Exercises Different?

Each “Streak Saver" is built on a learning framework that develops adaptable writing skills rather than one-off techniques.

Here's a taste of what you get:

Exercises that fit into your busy life (no 3-hour writing marathons required)
Clear goals that help you focus your practice
Flexible constraints that challenge you without overwhelming you
Modifications to scale the difficulty up or down
Reflection questions that deepen your learning

Again, you can bookmark the Writing Streak website and visit every day for a new exercise.

Apparently, Writers Like to Read

I’ve got more than exercises, though. I want to change your mind about writing, and prove to you that writing is an active, embodied process. Trying to improve writing with passive, offline learning disengaged from the process is like learning to drive a car by reading the manual. Writing advice only improves your writing if it is applied, but we still like to read, don’t we?

Think of the weekly articles as a pep talk meant to funnel you away from thinking, reading, and consuming. It’s there to guide you back to your writing streak.