Brian Klems’ The Writer’s Dig

It will happen eventually—that moment when you realize you’re bogged down in the muck of your story. You don’t know where to go next or what the character should do. The seed of doubt sprouts then, unless you’re careful, will take root and bloom into full-on writer’s block. Here are suggestions on how to stop it—and make your story even stronger in the process. Read more

All writers are unique, there’s no doubt about that, but those who experience unusual success share these four traits. Do you have them? Read more

One writer’s new hobby of running has taught him four valuable lessons about writer’s block that have helped him—and he hopes helps you too. Read more

First off, thanks to everyone who participated in our inaugural Shortest Short Story Contest (#SSStory). I was blown away by the participation (more than 1,100 tweets and comments) and am grateful that you enjoyed it as much as I did. With the help of WD Books editor James Duncan, we whittled it down—which was amazingly hard—and picked this winner … Read more

Today was our annual Halloween costume and decoration competition, and the Writer’s Digest team once again put on a good showing. Our theme was “Dead Writer’s Society” and, as you can see, we all “morphed” into some of the greatest literary writers who now haunt the world as ghosts (friendly ghosts, I’m sure). Guess who I am. Read more

Over the coming month thousands of writers (including you, perhaps?) will take a stab at knocking out 50,000 words in just 30 days for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). But before the marathon hits, we wanted to do a short race–a super short race–and give you an opportunity to write The Shortest Short Story you can write. In fact, we’ll give away a prize to the best one. Here’s how it works. Read more

Your novel isn’t going to write itself (I mean, if it were, it probably would have finished itself a long time ago!). Here are the five things you need to stop doing immediately if you want turn yourself into someone who stops asking questions about how to write a manuscript and starts bragging to friends about how you completed your manuscript. Read more

Just as retail stores begin stocking shelves with holiday fare at least a month prior to the actual holiday, writers begin hearing about and preparing for National Novel Writing Month, fondly called NaNoWriMo, in September or October although the contest begins November 1. That’s all well and good for fiction writers who want to write 50,000 words in 30 days to “win” and who enjoy the build up, but what about the nonfiction writers left out in the cold? What’s a nonfiction writer supposed to do in November? Here’s what. Read more

Before you say yes to a ghostwriting gig, or even make a bid, you must know all you can about the project in question. Here’s a checklist of questions that you should consider asking potential clients. Read more

Big News: For the first time ever Writer’s Digest is packing up its writing and publishing knowledge and heading to Hollywood (no, they aren’t making a movie about us … yet). We’re bringing our Writer’s Digest Conference to the West Coast (why should only East Coast writers have all the fun?) and we want you there. Here’s the scoop … Read more

Thanks to everyone who read Jerry Jenkins’ tip on The Key to Successful Writing and participated in the contest. The winner of an autographed copy of The Breakthrough is … Read more

The climax is the ultimate test. The protagonist’s facing his/her ultimate fear, and usually requires a final challenge of the character’s growth or change. A deep understanding of the needs, wants and fears that drive the hero allows for the creation of an “ultimate” test, action or crucial symbolic “graduation” that is the best fit for that particular protagonist, genre and film. Choose wisely. Read more