Televised Music Is a Pointless Rigmarole
Herbert von Karajan directing Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in Milan’s La Scala theater. Aired in West…
Troubleshooting Your Story’s Ending
Hello, everyone, today we’re going to be talking about how to troubleshoot your story’s ending. Today’s…
New Books by Nicolette Polek, Honor Levy, and Tracy Fuad
Mural at the Amargosa Opera House. Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Gia wants…
The Poetry of Fact: On Alec Wilkinson’s Moonshine
Abandoned shack in rural North Carolina. Photograph by Carol M. Highsmith, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain….
The Double-Edged Sword of List Building Promotions | Jane Friedman
Today’s post is by author Brenda E Smith. I realized a lifelong dream when I self-published…
Scrabble, Anonymous
Images courtesy of Brad Phillips. This morning, before breakfast, I played nineteen games of Scrabble on…
How to Write Compelling Inner Conflict | Jane Friedman
Photo by Alex Vámos on Unsplash Today’s post is by Angela Ackerman, co-author of the new…
Hot Pants at the Sodomy Disco
“Pedro Lemebel, one of the most important queer writers of twentieth-century Latin America,” writes Gwendolyn Harper,…
5 Reasons You Should Consider Writing Your Memoir in Present Tense | Jane Friedman
Photo by Fallon Michael on Unsplash Today’s post is by author Gina DeMillo Wagner, author of…
Story Time
“Un Joyeux Festin.” Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CCO 4.0. There was a time in…
Enneagram Types for Writers: Types 5-9
Welcome back to our journey through the Enneagram types for writers. Last week, we talked about…
The ABCs of Gardening
From An Encyclopedia of Gardening for Colored Children. Kara Walker. A is for ABC book. An Encyclopedia…
Anacondas in the Park
Parque Forestal. Photograph by Arturo Rinaldi Villegas, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC0 BY-SA 3.0 Deed….
Death by Sea
Photograph by Isabel Dietz Hartmann. Heading to the dinner party, I wondered if people there would…
3 Book Marketing Misconceptions and What to Do Instead | Jane Friedman
Today’s post is by children’s author and digital strategist Angie Isaacs. Show of hands, writers, how…
Book as Enemy
Adania Shibli. Photograph courtesy of Adania Shibli. Smoking might be banned at book fairs, while one…
Embrace Complication to Develop a Can’t-Put-It-Down Narrative | Jane Friedman
Photo by Espen Bierud on Unsplash Today’s post is by author and book coach Susanne Dunlap. There…
Second Selves
Vincent Van Gogh, Oleanders, 1888. Public domain. I. Jill Price has remembered every day of her…
Your Small Press Submission Checklist | Jane Friedman
Photo by Oleksandr P Today’s post is by author, editor, and book coach Julie Artz (@julieartz). Download her…
Enneagram Types for Writers: Types 1-4
The writer’s journey is a quest that transcends the mere act of stringing words together. It…
Dream Gossip
From Alice Notley’s zine Scarlet #1. Digitized by Nick Sturm as part of Alice Notley’s Magazines:…
Avoid, Persevere, Endure, Fight: 4 Goals for Unforgettable Opening Scenes | Jane Friedman
Photo by Nate Neelson on Unsplash Today’s post is by book coach Ayesha Ali. Your protagonist…
7 Growth Milestones to Build a Character Arc
From KMW: On the one hand, deciding how to build a character arc is pretty simple:…
A Writer’s Secret Weapon: Add a Listening Pass to Your Editing Arsenal | Jane Friedman
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash Today’s post is by author, editor, and book coach Suzy…
Turn Fact Into Fiction—Without Hurting Someone or Getting Sued | Jane Friedman
Photo by Antoni Shkraba Today’s post is by author Caroline Leavitt (@carolineleavitt). I’m sitting at a…
How to Use Symbolic and Archetypal Settings in Your Story
Story settings serve as the backdrop, providing a tangible environment in which characters interact and events…
Boundaries Are About More Than Simply Carving Out the Time to Write | Jane Friedman
Photo by Erin Larson on Unsplash Today’s post is by writer Mirella Stoyanova (@mirellastoyanova). There are a select…
Why Your Flashbacks Aren’t Working | Jane Friedman
Photo by Eduardo Sánchez on Unsplash Today’s post is by editor Tiffany Yates Martin (@FoxPrintEd). Join her for…
Checklist for Beginning Your Story: Plot Considerations
Welcome to this week’s post, which is a continuation of what we talked about in last…
How to Deliver Backstory Without Confusing the Reader | Jane Friedman
One of the key pitfalls of backstory, especially early in a novel, is either confusing backstory…