Writing Multiple Points of View
Wendy Heard, author of The Kill Club, offers 5 tips for making writing in multiple points of view easier for you and more satisfying for your readers.
Hidden Architecture: Using Structure to Reinforce Story
Novelist Wendelin Van Draanen offers advice on how to choose the best story structure for your novels and provides compelling examples from her award-winning books.
Building Your Freelance Writing Career: Just Say Yes
In this WD article from Nov/Dec 2016, Jeff Somers shares the best way to advance your freelance writing career: Just Say Yes. His advice still stands.
5 Goals for Making Your Anthology the Best That It Can Be
Marika Lindholm, co-editor of the new book We Got This: Solo Mom Stories of Grit, Heart, and Humor offers 5 tips to creating a more appealing and successful anthology.
Revisiting George Orwell: Why I Write in the 21st Century
Keith Wain revisits the 1946 George Orwell essay "Why I Write" by looking at the relevance of each of the four key points in the digital era.
Benefits of The Booker Prize and Other Literary Awards for Writers (Besides the Money)
It's the height of literary award season and WD senior editor Amy Jones considers what prizes like The Booker Prize have to offer readers and writers.
Building The Yellow House: An Interview With National Book Award Finalist Sarah M. Broom
The National Book Award finalist answers 10 questions about her debut memoir The Yellow House.
Rolling the Dice: 5 Ways D&D and “Critical Role” Made Me a Better Storyteller
Fantasy writer and blogger Angela D. Mitchell offers 5 ways that Dungeons and Dragons helped her improve her writing and how to be a better storyteller.
Effective Repetition in Writing as Demonstrated by A Song of Ice and Fire
English professor and author Gavin Hurley shows how the use of effective repetition in writing can help readers have a smoother reading experience.
Writing About Your Life Without Ruining Your Relationships
"Write what you know" is common writing advice, but when it comes to mining what you know about your friends and family for stories, you enter delicate territory, as Mark Guerin shares in this guest post.
Using Facts As the Base of Science Fiction
Miracle Man and The Austin Paradox author William R. Leibowitz tells how to base science fiction on fact so that stories seem plausible—without boring the reader.
Why the Surprise Ending Ultimately Frightens Us
Surprise endings in fiction, when done right, can make a book live in a readers memory for years, but as novelist H.J. Ramsay shares, surprise endings also show us a bit about human nature.
The Writer’s Alibi: My Terrible, Dreadful, Hope-the-FBI-Doesn’t-Look-at-This Search History
The internet search histories of novelists can be quite disturbing. Writer Kathleen Valenti shares the methodology behind web searches for her newest medical mystery.
Is Hybrid Publishing Right For You?
Are you a bit mystified with the book publishing process? Jennifer Scroggins, executive vice president of the hybrid press KiCam projects, explains what hybrid publishing can do for authors.
Genealogy Research and the Crime Novelist
Mystery writer Kristen Lepionka shares how her love of solving mysteries led her to researching her family history, and what genealogists and mystery writers have in common.
How to Write a Science Fiction Novel
In this post, learn how to write a science fiction novel from beginning to end, including 4 approaches for the first chapter of your novel, tips for writing about fictional technology, writing dystopian fiction, writing a science fiction series, and more.
Life Into Fiction: Turning a True Event Into a Compelling Story
Lawyer and crime novelist Stephanie Kane delves into the complications and rewards of using real-life events as inspiration for writing compelling fiction.
Writing Tips From Writer’s Digest Conference Instructors
As we make final preparations for the 2019 Writer's Digest Annual Conference, here's a taste of some of the writing tips you'll enjoy from our speakers.
Trauma: What Happens When We Put It On the Page?
Writing the story of her assault wasn't easy for Karen Stefano. The author shares her experience writing about trauma, including how she found the strength to put it all on the page, the inevitable ups and downs, and the self-care needed in between.
Gaslighting and Writing Villains Who Make Your Spine Tingle
Writing villains can be a challenge but one approach is having them use gaslighting techniques on their victims. Learn more from this excerpt from Fight Write by Carla Hoch.
10 Tips for Effective Networking at a Writer’s Conference
Nervous about connecting with other writers and publishing professionals at your next writer's conference? John Peragine has 10 tips on how to network effectively and get the most out of your experience.
How I Interviewed a Serial Killer and Stayed Sane
Talking to a serial killer for research, Dr. Aysha Akhtar, MD, MPH, reveals the planning that went into her interviews and how she stayed sane through the process.
Take Two: How to Adapt a Book Into a Screenplay
When adapting a novel for film, Script Magazine editor Jeanne Bowerman says your number-one job is to tell an amazing story—enhancing it for the format.
Using Story Tropes to Subvert Reader Expectations
Taylor Simonds tells how being aware of the tropes of your genre and turning them upside down can help your work stand out in an oversaturated market.