Writer’s Digest - Write Better

When writers are seriously blocked, they often resort to extreme measures—drinking, a divorce, traveling—even TV. But when merely stalled, they tend to rely on less desperate devices. I recently asked a collection of working writers what they do when they’re temporarily stuck. Their useful, humorous and inspiring responses follow.

by Terry Bisson Read more

Why Do Authors Use Pseudonyms?

Let the informative (and humorous) "Questions & Quandaries" columnist Brian A. Klems answer some of your most pressing grammatical, ethical, business and writing-related questions, including why authors use pseudonyms. Check out his advice and don't hesitate to ask a question—your writing career will thank you. Read more

Q&A: WDB Author Lisa Lenard-Cook

Lisa Lenard-Cook, author of Mind of Your Story, says that memorable fiction doesn’t arrive by magic, but if you work at writing—and rewriting—you can learn to make what’s on the page match the picture in your head. Read more

Fiction: Titles

It happens every semester I teach fiction, usually on the day we distribute stories for the first workshop. A student will raise her hand and offer the following caveat: “So I just wanted to, like, apologize for my story not having a title. I totally hate titles.” Read more

Nonfiction: Q&As

“There’s no Q&A protocol. You can write the manual,” The New York Times Magazine journalist Deborah Solomon told Columbia Journalism Review in the summer of 2005. Yet a recent controversy over Solomon’s Q&A interviewing techniques in her own weekly column proved her wrong about the lack of protocol for this popular but peculiar genre. Read more

Poetry: Word Choice

“What’s in a name?” William Shakespeare asked this question more than 400 years ago and poets are still puzzling over it. Read this exchange between the Bard’s famous star-crossed lovers (at right) and remember when you first heard it. Read more

Tips for Revising Your Manuscript

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. Read more

WGF: Revision & Self-Editing Author Q&A

Find out why Christy Award-winning novelist and Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure author James Scott Bell thinks setting a personal writing quota is so important, and much more. Read more

Defining and Developing Your Anti-Hero

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. Read more

The Four Commandments of Writing Good Sentences

If you want to write a good sentence, don’t pay any attention to your grammar. I don’t mean “a sentence this like OK is.” I mean don’t automatically think you’ve written a good sentence just because it’s grammatically correct. Lots of bad sentences are grammatically correct. Some of these bad sentences might even be yours.

by Bonnie Trenga Read more