Writing Techniques
Pacing Your Fight Scene (FightWrite™)
Trained fighter and author Carla Hoch discusses how to pace your story's fight scene and shares three examples from writers who tackle pacing differently.
“Write What You Know” vs. Making It All Up in Fiction
“Writing what you know” comes with inherent risks of exposing more than you’d like of your past—but combining personal truths with fictional situations can also lead to healing. Here, author Margot Harrison discusses writing what you know vs. making it all up in fiction.
Writing Mistakes Writers Make: Not Understanding Point of View
The Writer's Digest team has witnessed many writing mistakes over the years, so we started this series to help identify them for other writers (along with correction strategies). This week's writing mistake is not understanding point of view.
How Telling the Truth Can Increase the Tension and Humor in a Novel
When the truth is often the thing that stories strive to get to the bottom of, author Holly James makes a case for making truth-telling a central part of the story itself.
Managing Point of View: The Distance of Time
In the third of this three-part series, WD columnist Sharon Short explores how time away from an event can affect how a character reacts and responds to it.
Mental Health in Storytelling: Creating Compelling Neurodiverse Protagonists
With a hope for their readers to find themselves among the pages, O.E. Tearmann shares their experience with writing compelling neurodiverse protagonists without succumbing to harmful stereotypes.
5 Tips for Writing and Structuring Effective Turning Points for Your Characters
Sticking forks in the roads of your character’s lives is an important way to create conflict, build tension, and even start your story. Here, author Sue Mell shares 5 tips for writing and structuring effective turning points for your characters.
7 Tips for Writing Novels People Want To Read
Author Ruby Dixon shares tips on how to write novels people want to read—including oneself.
How To Write a Sex Scene Like Nobody Is Watching
Keeping physical and emotional distance, ignoring the worries about your future readers, and figuring out the mechanics—lawyer and author Jessica Martin walks us through how to write a sex scene like nobody is watching.
Revisiting the Star-Crossed Lovers Romance Trope
In updating a long-favorite trope to be relevant for today’s readers, author Angela Jackson-Brown discovered a necessary component to writing a doomed love story.
My Journey From Journalist to Novelist
Author Mary Ford shares how she made the transition from a life-long journalist, including nearly 30 years as the editor of community newspapers, to debut novelist. Includes thoughts on how journalism and fiction writing are similar and different.
Interviewing 101: Tips for Writers
Interviewing sources for quotes or research will be part of any writer's job. Here are tips to make the process as smooth and productive as possible.
Connecting the Dots vs. Drawing the Whole Damn Picture: A Veteran Ghostwriter Takes Back His Pen and Finds Something To Say
Writing for oneself after a decades-long career as a ghostwriter is a challenge unto itself. Here, author Daniel Paisner discusses his career as a ghostwriter, how the process differs from writing his own work, and if the two ever intersect.
5 Things to Know When Writing About the Music Industry
Author Ashley M. Coleman gives you her top five tricks for writing about the music industry—even if you're not an industry expert.
8 Things Writers Should Know About Tattoos
Tattoos and their artists can reveal interesting details about your characters and offer historical context. Here, author June Gervais shares 8 things writers should know about tattoos.
Managing Point of View: Emotional Distance
In the second of a three part series, novelist and WD columnist Sharon Short explains how to change a character's point of view depending on their emotional connection to what's happening.
Why Every Writer Should Play Dungeons & Dragons
What can a writer learn from the classic fantasy board game? Author Katharine Schellman makes a case for why every writer should play Dungeons & Dragons.
6 Ways To Fight Your Inner Critics
For many writers, self-critique gets in the way of making much progress. Here, author Julia Crouch shares 6 ways to fight your inner critics.
Writing Allegory: A Convenient Place to Hide
Where realistic fiction felt both too restrictive and too revealing for author Susan Speranza’s transition from poetry to fiction, she turned to allegory. Here, she shares examples of famous allegories throughout history and how allegorical writing helped shape her novel, Ice Out.
The Writer's Digest Interview: Marlon James
Booker Prize–winning author Marlon James talks about mythology and world-building in his character-driven epic Moon Witch, Spider King, the second book in his Dark Star Trilogy in this interview from the March/April 2022 issue of Writer's Digest.
Managing Point of View: Mythbusting
In the first of this three-part series, novelist and WD columnist Sharon Short breaks down 7 of the most common myths about choosing which POV is right for your story.
Stay Thirsty, My Friends: On Freeing Writing From the Weight of Perfection
Internationally bestselling author Sarah McCoy reclaims the necessary messiness that comes with the writing process and discusses why writers strive for perfection when perfection doesn’t exist.
Shame and Success: Blending Artistic Expression With Social Media
With social media being so pervasive in our lives, the relationship artists have with it is both inspiring and overwhelming. Here, author Francesca Giacco discusses how social media has played a part in her life and in her new novel, Six Days in Rome.
How Do Characters Who Don’t Know How to Fight, Fight? (FightWrite™)
Trained fighter and author Carla Hoch discusses how to write scene with characters who are untrained for more realistic fighting sequences.