Following the release of her hit book, VOX, linguist-turned-author Christina Dalcher shares insight into the power of words spoken, written and suppressed. Learn more about Dalcher in the November/December 2018 issue of Writer’s Digest. As much as Christina Dalcher loves words—she’s a linguist by trade, having taught at universities internationally—she knows better than...
In our Breaking In column in Writer’s Digest magazine, we talk with debut authors—such as Lyra Selene, author of Amber & Dusk—about how they did it, what they learned and why you can do it, too. Here, Selene discusses the importance of perseverance when the going gets tough.
We spoke to Helen Hoang about her debut romance, The Kiss Quotient, in our September issue and since the novel’s release, it’s generated buzz from The New York Times, Bustle, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly and more. Read an interview with Hoang.
In our "Breaking In" column in Writer's Digest magazine, we talk with debut authors—such as Tomi Adeyemi, San Diego-based author of Children of Blood and Bone—about how they did it, what they learned and why you can do it, too. This is an extended interview with Adeyemi, who appeared in the February 2018...
Douglas Haynes shares nine tips for writing and targeting a book proposal, based on his experience crafting more than thirty drafts of the proposal for his debut book.
An appealing protagonist (or villain!) gives readers someone to root for, but appealing characters are not the same thing as perfect characters. Characters that never make mistakes and have lives without incident are not only boring, they are the quickest way to turn-off your readers. Column by Emily Littlejohn, author of INHERIT THE...
When I was ready to seek representation, I chose not to approach agents in the usual way—by email query—even though most agents prefer that method. I wanted to get a face-to-face impression of my future agent’s personality and communication style, so I decided to attend writers’ conferences. Over six months, I...
If you’re even pondering this question, chances are you need to slow your roll. I get it—you’re excited, you’ve worked really hard, your mom likes it, you’re worried someone else is going to beat you to the punch with a similar idea, your particular genre is really hot right now, you...
Yesterday we updated the Submission Guidelines for Writer’s Digest magazine (just some routine tidying—adjusting links, adding a couple sections, overanalytically tweaking a word here and there, then immediately changing it back, etc.). Which got me thinking. A few years back I did what I wish more editors would do—I wrote about...
