Publish date:
Join us this weekend!
Join WD in LA October 28-30 and build a better book from the ground up! With NYT bestsellers—including Jane Smiley—as your teachers and 7 tracks of instruction, your perfect writing getaway is nearly here!
Writing Mistakes Writers Make: Collecting Advice (but Never Writing)
The Writer's Digest team has witnessed many writing mistakes over the years, so this series helps identify them for other writers (along with correction strategies). This week's mistake is to collect writing advice at the expense of actually writing.
The Benefits of Having a Book Coach for Writers
What is a book coach? How could they help authors? Award-winning author and writing instructor Mark Spencer answers these questions and more in this post about the benefits of having a book coach for writers.
Clare Chambers: On Starting Fresh and Switching Gears
Award-winning author Clare Chambers discusses the fear and excitement of switching genre gears in her new historical fiction novel, Small Pleasures.
Exquisite Corpse: Poetic Forms
Poetic Form Fridays are made to share various poetic forms. This week, we look at the exquisite corpse (or exquisite cadaver), a collaborative poem that would make a fun poetic game.
How Opening Ourselves to Other People Can Make Us Better Writers
The writing process is both individual and communal, as receiving constructive feedback and outside encouragement helps our drafts become finished manuscripts. Author Peri Chickering discusses how opening ourselves up to others can make us better writers.
What Forensic Science’s Godmother Taught Me About Writing Mysteries
Stephanie Kane discusses the impact of Frances Glessner Lee, the godmother of forensic science, and her crime scene dioramas on writing mysteries.
Plot Twist Story Prompts: Still Alive
Every good story needs a nice (or not so nice) turn or two to keep it interesting. This week, reveal that a character who was thought deceased is actually still among the living.
Mark Anthony: On Destigmatizing Paranormal Communication
Author Mark Anthony hopes to educate and normalize paranormal communication with his new spirituality book, The Afterlife Frequency.
Ways Animals Have Interacted With Writers Through the Centuries
Across the globe and spanning lifetimes, animals have always operated as more than simply animals within the stories they reside. Author Richard Girling discusses how animals have interacted with writers throughout the centuries.