Real Books Recommended by a Real Person

We heard that we're sharing book recommendations! No AI here! Real human person and Writer's Digest managing editor Moriah Richard gives you some insight into the books they’re most looking forward to this year.

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How do you write what you know? By writing fiction based on your life. This doesn't mean writing memoir or simply changing the names of the people in your life: It could be a passing comment you hear at the bus stop, or someone's missing shoe you notice in the street, or it could even just be a feeling from a time in your life..the list goes on and on!

In this episode of "Writer's Digest Presents," editor Michael Woodson sits down with author and literary agent Jessica Berg about how to write fiction based on your life, how you can find inspiration everywhere, how to mine your life for story ideas in real time, and more.

Listen to "Writer's Digest Presents" wherever you stream podcasts, or click here to continue.

Out of more than 100 entries, WD editors chose 6 finalists who wrote drabbles—a short story of exactly 100 words—based on the photo prompt above.

Vote for your favorite using the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Write the opening line to a story based on this photo prompt. You can be poignant, funny, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story.

Click here to submit your story.

Writer's Digest is heading across the pond to England with literary agent, Amy Collins this September! This unique trip is part literary tour and part retreat with an experienced literary agent and Writer's Digest editor. Get inspired in the land of literary giants like Shakespeare and Dickens, Austen and the Brontës, Smith and Ishiguro. Pack your bags and favorite writing notebook for a trip of a lifetime. Space is limited.

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