Bryan Collins's Blog, page 66

What is The Grammatical Expletive? 6 Reasons For Avoiding It

Understanding the grammatical expletive will help you write clearly and accurately. Our guide explains what it is and how to avoid this mistake.

“There’s a snake crawling toward us!” This sentence is an example of a grammatical expletive.

Although a person might argue any serpent slithering toward someone might cause swear words to come flying out of the person’s mouth, nothing profane is written in the sentence.

Unbeknownst to many writers, expletive sentence constructions exist that h...

Get Inspired With These 13 Great Creative Sayings

Reading great creative sayings before embarking on a creative project can make us feel good, whether writing, music, fine arts, or something on stage.

Creative thinking helps us in everyday life, from our learning process to making sense of the small things. Research tells us about the therapeutic benefits of creative activity when we are struggling, stressed, or processing the ups and downs of everyday life.

However, creative work is nothing without a little inspiration. Some deep t...

The 10 Best Marketing Books Worth Reading

The best marketing books explain how to build lasting relationships with your ideal audience. They provide timeless strategies anyone can implement. We round some of them up.

Reading a classic product marketing book can help hone your marketing strategy as a creative or business owner and learn from another marketing professional. The strategies in the best marketing books are timeless, practical and usually research-driven.

The marketing books below offer actionable advice for any creativ...

Joyce Carol Oates Masterclass Review: Teaches The Art Of The Short Story

Want to improve your short story writing skills? In this Joyce Carol Oates Masterclass review, we explain what you can learn and if it’s worth it.

Keeping a reader’s attention is important if you’re interested in writing novels or short stories. If you can develop this skill, you’ll soon build a following of loyal readers and fans.

Unfortunately, this skill isn’t easy to master. It takes effort, dedication, and time. Some authors spend their entire lives learning how to write an engaging s...

James Patterson Masterclass Review: Everything You’ll Need To Know About Storytelling

In this James Patterson Masterclass Review, I’ll go through the pros and cons of James Patterson’s writing classes, who’s it for, and what lessons I’ve learned.

Masterclass is helpful if you want to improve your writing skills. There are several writing teachers on the platform, but few can compete with James Patterson. Like his novels, his classes are fast-paced and he wastes no time when it comes to diving deep into a specific topic. 

This makes his classes engaging and fun to watch.

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I Tested Ginger Software Vs Grammarly: Here’s What’s Happened

I compared Ginger Software vs Grammarly to see which is the best grammar tool for writers and bloggers on a budget.

In this comparison, I pit Ginger Software vs Grammarly to discover what's the right choice for editing a piece of writing.

I've tried and tested the free and premium versions of Grammarly and Ginger for this comparison review. I regularly use Grammarly as part of my workflow. I don't use Ginger, and I was curious to see how the app has changed since I first tried it several y...

What is The Active Voice And How Should You Use It?

Active voice and passive voice are verb forms that can quickly confuse and frustrate a writer. Use the active voice when possible to improve your work.

In English writing, verbs have just two grammatical voices: active voice and passive voice.

While active and passive voices have their place and are grammatically correct, the active voice usually creates stronger writing. In most instances, writers should use active voice. Here's a closer look at how the verb's action, and therefore the vo...

Margaret Atwood Masterclass Review: Does She Teach You Everything About Creative Writing?

In this Margaret Atwood Masterclass review, I’ll go through important lessons you’ll learn, what to expect, and who’ll benefit from this writing class.

As a nonfiction writer, I’ve always wanted to get into fictional writing. Ever since we’re young, we’ve been hearing stories like Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. These stories are classics we’ll never forget but what if we could create our own?

As a fiction writer, you get to create characters, events, and storyline...

I Compared ProWritingAid Vs Grammarly: Here’s What Happened

In this comparison, I pit ProWritingAid vs Grammarly to discover what's the right choice for improving a piece of writing.

I've tried and tested the free and premium versions of Grammarly and ProWritingAid for several years. I use both writing tools as regularly as part of my workflow.

I use the Grammarly desktop app for Mac and the Chrome plugin almost every day. I also use the ProWritingAid app for Mac several times a week when editing long-form articles and book chapters.

However, ma...

10 Best Grammar Checker Tools: Ranked and Rated

This review compares the best grammar checkers of 2021 including Grammarly, ProWritingAid and Ginger.

Are you looking for the best grammar checker to use this year?

As a writer who loves tools, I’ve thoroughly tested the most popular grammar checker software and proofreading tools for writers, bloggers, and authors.

Online grammar checker tools are also useful for those who just want to write error-free emails, reports, presentations, or even social media posts.

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