Short Training for Your Long Game: How Writing Short Stories Can Help You Hone Your Novel-Writing Skills
Even if you’re focused on writing a novel, writing short stories can be a wonderful creativity tool to help you strengthen elements of your fiction, experiment with characters and simply stay loose.
Love Letters: How to Spark Romance in a Story Without Using the L-Word
The most convincing romantic stories are those that feel natural. Learn how to write romance scenes and romance novels without using the word "love."
When Your Memoir Wants To Be A Novel
In our "Breaking In" column in Writer's Digest magazine, we talk with debut authors—such as Anna Quinn, author of The Night Child—about how they did it, what they learned and why you can do it, too.
Based On A True Story: 4 Advantages to Fictionalizing the Truth
Should you write a memoir, or write a novel "based on a true story"? Here, Joan Jackson offers four advantages to fictionlizing the truth.
Have No Fear
Editor Tyler Moss takes us on a brief tour of the January 2018 issue of Writer's Digest magazine.
Transforming a Short Story Into a Novel
When I first wrote my short story, “Escaping Time,” I intended for it to be a standalone piece about a teenage girl attempting to escape from a military brothel during World War II. I was satisfied with the final draft and even submitted it for publication in my creative writing program’s...
Nine Lessons I Learned About Writing as a Trial Lawyer
I was a trial lawyer for thirty-one years before I retired and began a second career as a mystery/crime novelist. My law practice was not glamorous—no flashy criminal trials or high-profile, big-dollar civil cases. I did run-of-the-mill civil litigation: mostly real estate claims, business disputes, contract matters and employment cases. Contrary...
Smart Ways to Get Organized and Be Productive
Take it from me: The moment it dawns on you that you’re failing at something is not a good time to start keeping track of your efforts. And the moment it sinks in that you’re succeeding? Well, that’s not a great time to get your act together either. Bad form though...
An Easier, More Meaningful Approach to Your Writing Resolutions
I’ve never been big on New Year’s Resolutions—not because I don’t believe in trying to make a change or to work toward a goal, but simply because I don’t believe in waiting to flip a calendar page to do it. I’m just as likely to reboot my writing routine in the...
Talking Rejection With Debbie Macomber
Occasionally, my favorite moments of an author interview are the ones that don’t entirely make it into print. With Debbie Macomber, the cover star of the January 2017 Writer’s Digest, the moment came when the conversation turned to rejection. Read any interview with Macomber, and you’ll see how relatable her early...
Answers to Your Novel Writing Questions
I’ve interviewed enough authors over the years to know this: Even the most successful among them can remember with vivid clarity the tentative tingling of first sitting down to write a novel and feeling as if they had no idea what they were doing. In fact, some of them still experience...
Write a Standout Chapter 1
We all know the importance of starting our stories strong: Without a beginning that draws the readers in (whether those readers are agents, editors or bookstore browsers), they may never make it to the middle. Enter the July/August 2016 Writer’s Digest: An entire issue devoted to helping you make your Chapter...
10 Lessons Learned Behind the Scenes of a Book Deal (Part 2)
A few short months ago, I wrote about my path to getting an agent and a publisher, and promised to share my experiences leading up to the publication of my debut novel, ALMOST MISSED YOU, due out in 2017 from St. Martin’s Press. You might think that as the editor of Writer’s Digest magazine—and given...
10 Lessons Learned Behind the Scenes of a Book Deal
A few short months ago, I wrote about my path to getting an agent and a publisher, and promised to share my experiences leading up to the publication of my debut novel, ALMOST MISSED YOU, due out in 2017 from St. Martin’s Press. You might think that as the editor of...
In Novel Writing, Practice Makes Perfect
“Every time I start a book, I think, I have no idea how I did this the last time,” bestselling novelist Jojo Moyes told me in our interview for the January 2016 Writer’s Digest. “No idea.” At first, knowing that the struggle “happens to the best of us,” as they say,...
When It Comes to Your Writing, It’s NEVER Too Late!
Let’s get one thing out of the way: The idea of feeling like it might be “too late” to do something doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with age. I remember vividly the first time I was overcome with the unsettling sensation that certain ships had sailed. I was a new...
What We Can Learn From Multi-Genre Authors
One of my favorite parts of my job as editor of Writer’s Digest is overseeing our WD Interview cover stories in every issue—deciding who to feature, making sure we’re hosting a conversation that covers ground our readers won’t find elsewhere, and quite often even conducting the interviews and crafting the profiles myself....
A Better Approach to “Write Every Day”
Happy New Year! Happy … and yet. Everywhere you look, it’s all about pushing ourselves, isn’t it? First came November’s NaNoWriMo, with all the tips for writing more, more, more, writing faster, faster, faster. Then came the holidays, with 12 days left to shop/plan/wrap/bake/revise that manuscript from last month, 11, 10,...
When Your Novel Writing Clicks
Light-bulb moments. Aha moments. Flashes of recognition. Revelations. Call them whatever you like. I like to think of them as clicks. In the writing life, the best kind of click is that moment something makes you realize exactly what’s been missing from the not-quite-right scene you’ve been working on. Or the...
What Halloween Can Teach Us About Character Development
This is the first year my 3-year-old has really gotten Halloween, so we’ve spent October seeking out any excuse for him to wear his costume and spend the day yelling “Boo!” As a result, at an array of fall festivals, we’ve collected a countertop full of pumpkins of assorted shapes and...
3 Ways to Increase Your Daily Word Count While Away From Your Computer
ATTENTION NEWSLETTER READERS: If you clicked through from the newsletter for The New Way to Write Your Life Story: The 10 Themes of Legacy Writing, I goofed and attached the wrong link. Sorry about that. Here is the correct link: The New Way to Write Your Life Story: The 10 Themes...
Tips and Inspiration to Write a Book in a Month
One of the things I love about working at Writer’s Digest is the excitement each time a new issue hits newsstands. And it’s especially true with the November/December 2014 Writer’s Digest–because this special guide to Writing a Book in a Month arrives just in time for November’s National Novel Writing Month challenge....
5 Quick Tips for Writing in Multiple Perspectives
Writing a novel from one unique perspective can be challenging enough for many writers, but writing a character’s story through multiple perspectives will multiply the challenges, but also the rewards. Adi Alsaid’s new novel, Let’s Get Lost (Harlequin Teen, 2014), is an excellent example of using multiple perspectives to effectively tell...
The 7 Tools of Dialogue
My neighbor John loves to work on his hot rod. He’s an automotive whiz and tells me he can hear when something is not quite right with the engine. He doesn’t hesitate to pop the hood, grab his bag of tools and start to tinker. He’ll keep at it until the...