Kelly’s Pick: The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide
Discover how to join or form the perfect critique group, give and receive feedback, make revisions to any type of work, and much more.
by Kelly Nickell
by Kelly Nickell
Kelly’s Favorite Picks
From books to magazines to digital downloads to online workshops to webinars, it’s easy to find the perfect holiday gift for the writer in you life!
by Kelly Nickell
by Kelly Nickell
Kelly’s Pick: The Daily Writer and The Daily Reader
Rich and thoughtful, The Daily Reader and The Daily Writer combine to motivate and inspire anyone interested in exploring a creative life.
by Kelly Nickell
by Kelly Nickell
Kelly’s Pick: Your First Novel
A top literary agent and an award-winning novelist provide an insider’s look at publishing success.
by Kelly Nickell
by Kelly Nickell
Kelly’s Picks: Write Great Fiction: Revision & Self-Editing
The difference between a good writer and a great writer is the difference between writing and rewriting. Learn how to self-edit and revise like a pro.
by Kelly Nickell
by Kelly Nickell
Kelly’s Picks: Write Like the Masters
Hone your own voice by studying the techniques of twenty-one master writers, including Hemingway, Melville, Wharton, and others.
by Kelly Nickell
by Kelly Nickell
Kelly’s Picks: Guide to Query Letters
The path to publication begins with a query letter. Be sure you get it right.
by Kelly Nickell
by Kelly Nickell
Kelly’s Picks: Chapter After Chapter
Turn your dedication to the craft into the book you always knew you could write if you could just stay with it.
Kelly’s Pick: The Constant Art of Being a Writer
Discover the mindset and skills you need to grow as an artist and confidently approach each aspect of writing and publishing.
by Kelly Nickell
The WD Interview:
by Kelly Nickell
The WD Interview:
John Updike
“We’re past the age of heroes and hero kings. If we can’t make up stories about ordinary people, who can we make them up about?”--John Updike
Script Submissions: What One Producer Wants
Producer Jonathan Treisman talks about his Hollywood experience.
Philip Danze’s Conjuring Maud
Philip Danze has been a copy editor for Fairchild Publications for more than 30 years and is a member of the New York Press Club. His first book, Conjuring Maud (GreyCore Press, October), is a novel chronicling one young man's adventurous affair with a fictionalized version of 19th century British explorer...
Alexandra Styron: A Fiction Legacy
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.
How’d She Do That: One Author’s Success Story
Jody Shields, whose first novel, The Fig Eater, has received international attention, tells how she wrote a best seller.
First Success: Jim Brown’s 24/7
"Hopefully, the interest in reality television will cause people to pick up the book, and hopefully it will be the story that keeps them reading and coming back for more."
Interview: Pay It Forward’s Leslie Dixon
Prolific, yet humble, Leslie Dixon continues to make her mark.
First Success: Gigi Levangie Grazer’s Rescue Me
Gigi Levangie Grazer, a screenwriter whose original screenplay Stepmom became a movie starring Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon, is celebrating the release of her first novel Rescue Me (Simon & Schuster). Grazer talks to Writer's Digest about her inspiration, plans for her next project and her various writing habits and rituals.
Vonnegut on Fiction
Slaughterhouse Five author Kurt Vonnegut reflects on his writing style, the craft and the evolution of fiction.
Interview With An Author: Moving From Scripts to Novels
James Manos Jr. shares his experiences with the ups and downs of writing his first novel, Little Ellie Claus (Pocket Books; $15.95). Manos, who won a 1999 Emmy Award for writing for a dramatic series for the "College" episode of The Sopranos, also discusses the differences between writing a novel and...
Walker Meade’s Unspeakable Acts
"In large measure, you do this work because you need to do it ... you're inventing material that makes your experience somehow both accessible to you and reasonable to you so that you understand where you have been in your life."
David E. Meadows’ The Sixth Fleet
"I really feel that the only way you can sell something is to keep it out there. Every time I sent something out, when it came back rejected, I'd immediately send it again. I think of it like I do war ships—if you keep a war ship in port, you're not...
Writing on Instinct: Nicholas Sparks
"I can't explain it, but I know if a scene is right or wrong. I know it. It's a visual thing—it's how the words look on the page, it's how the sentences sound.
A Different Type of Memoir: Rick Moody
"I frankly think that whenever a form looks exhausted, that's exactly the point at which you should swoop in and pry it apart and see what makes it tick."
David Schmahmann’s Empire Settings
"I think, if (Empire Settings) does well, it will be a case study in what it is about the commercial publishing industry in New York that makes it tick and that makes it catch things and miss things."