http://www.writersdigest.com/rss.aspx?p_PageAlias=LiteraryFiction en-us Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:04:38 GMT Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:04:38 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=16093
by Jessica Strawser
]]> Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=16093 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=17673 What a fantastic title! Why didn’t I come up with it? Here’s how to do just that.

by Jacob M. Appel
]]> Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=17673 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=15630
by Nancy Kress
]]> Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=15630 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=13417 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=13417 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=15643
by Leigh Michaels
]]> Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=15643 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5246 Kurt Vonnegut uses a potent mix of dark humor and clear-eyed compassion to expose the realities of war.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5246 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=15631
by Rachel Ballon
]]> Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=15631 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=12464 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=12464 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=15711
by Jessica Strawser
]]> Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=15711 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=6956 With Jessica Page Morrell's Bullies, Bastards & Bitches, you'll be able to tap into your story’s dark side by creating realistic and memorable anti-heroes, villains, antagonists, and difficult protagonists.]]> Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=6956 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=6957 Anti-heros are the bastards of fiction—those bad guys readers love to hate and hate to love. Find out whats makes a memorable anti-hero tick in this excerpt from Bullies, Bastards & Bitches by Jessica Page Morrell.]]> Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=6957 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=6954 Revising is often perceived as frustrating and overwhelming, but Write Great Fiction: Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell gives you the guidance you need to revise like a pro.

In this excerpt from chapter fifteen, discover why it's so important to do a careful first read-through of your manuscript before you start the revising and editing.]]> Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=6954 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=8086 article/FWW" target="_blank">Fiction Writer's Workshop, Second Edition, Josip Novakovich offers a lesson and exercises that teach you how to create distinct, conversational dialogue.]]> Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=8086 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5659 As a full-time novelist and part-time columnist, Anna Quindlen's writing career is a study in symmetry.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5659 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=15110
by M.J. Rose]]> Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=15110 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5641 Despite the longevity of the fantastic in narrative form, there's long been a stigma against blending it with literary fiction. But recently, readers have been eager to read contemporary fantastic literature—and publishers are taking note.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5641 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=11804
by Karen S. Wiesner]]> Tue, 20 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=11804 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5132 Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5132 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=11824 —From WD's Writer's Workbook section]]> Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=11824 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=6923 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=6923 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=8909
by Chris Baty]]> Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=8909 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5235 Cult author Chuck Palahniuk continues to push literary boundaries in strange—even forbidding—territories. Find out what compels this seemingly mild-mannered author of novels like]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5235 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5385 Margaret Atwood expounds on finding your voice, the beauty of multitasking and what "chick lit" may have in common with Dracula and Frankenstein.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5385 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5331 Read how Fannie Flagg, the gifted storyteller of the novels Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café and A Redbird Christmas, stays relentlessly optimistic about writing feel-good fiction.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5331 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5318 Dave Eggers' eclectic body of work serves as a testament to the value-and power-of staying true to your own voice.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5318 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5567 Novelist and short story writer Joyce Carol Oates has won the National Book Award, the PEN/Malamud Award for Achievement in the Short Story, and various other awards. Known best for her short stories, many of which have been anthologized in The Pushcart Prize and The Best American Short Stories of the 20th Century, Oates still manages to bridge the natural gap that exists between novel and short story writing. But there is one thing that some may not k]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5567 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5448 One of the best-loved writers in American literature today, John Irving offers a novelist's perspective on screenplay adaptations and talks about his obsession with the ultimate personal loss.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5448 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5416 In December 1964, Edward Stafford provided Writer's Digest with an interview conducted with Ernest Hemingway shortly before the author's death in 1961. It's excerpted here for the first time in more than 40 years. Please note that the excerpt has been abridged due to space considerations.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5416 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5242 Flannery O''Connor employed a unique form of narrative bias to power her stories.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5242 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5241 Ernest Hemingway's clean, terse style is the perfect counterweight to his complex stories.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5241 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5128 Can a writer who just wants to be left alone to write make it in today's extroverted publishing world? Enter 24-year-old James Boice, who may just be the answer to that question.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5128 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5244 Even as a member of a distinctive literary club, Virginia Woolf broke new ground all by herself.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5244 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5287 Telling the tale of a Sudanese refugee's life in novel form gave literary darling Dave Eggers the challenge of a lifetime.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5287 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5706 Alexandra Styron, author of All the Finest Girls, daughter of Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Styron and accomplished poet, Rose Styron, talks with Writer's Digest about how writing a book takes conviction, strength of character and an inner belief in your abilitieseven if your last name is Styron.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5706 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5465 Jack Kerouac created a modern American folk hero in the Beat generation classic, On the Road (Bantam), out of his vagabond adventures with friend Neal Cassady. A new book sheds light on Kerouac and his life during the writing of a novel that changed a generation.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5465 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5598 All of us experience failure and rejection. But often, those are the two things that push us to succeed.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5598 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5703 Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and other successful authors talk about the art of working with translators to make their prose sing in any language.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5703 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5715 Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5715 http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5496 Slaughterhouse Five author Kurt Vonnegut reflects on his writing style, the craft and the evolution of fiction.]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.writersdigest.com//article/?p_ArticleId=5496