Be Inspired / 103 posts found
Nisha Sharma: On Authentic Writing
Nisha Sharma is the award-winning author of YA rom-com My So-Called Bollywood Life, and contemporary romance drama The Singh Family Trilogy. She grew up immersed in Bollywood movies, 80s pop-culture, and romance novels, so it comes as no surprise that her work features all three. Her writing has been praised by Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, Buzzfeed, Hypable, and more. She lives in New Jersey with her Alaskan-born husband, her cat Lizzie Bennett, and her dog Nancey Drew. You can find her online at nisha-sharma.com or on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. Nisha Sharma Photo by Jon Macapodi In this […]
What Has Been the Most Pivotal Moment in Your Writing Life Thus Far?: From Our Readers (Comment for a Chance at Publication)
Our upcoming July/August 2022 issue is focused on crossroads, both in your professional writing life and your work-in-progress. WD would love to know what the most pivotal moment in your writing life has been! Our formal question: What has been the most pivotal moment in your writing life thus far? I kind of always wanted to be a writer—my mom still has a copy of the first story I ever wrote when I was age 5 about a mouse who fears he will be celebrating Christmas alone only to be surprised by a friend’s company. I’d always loved writing, but […]
Paula Merlán: On Inspiration in Nature
Paula Merlán (Vigo, 1979) is a Spanish award-winning author. She graduated in Law and Education. Currently, she combines writing with teaching, her two passions. She has published more than twenty children’s books, many of them translated into several languages such as Galician, Basque, Catalan, English, Italian, French and Korean. Her most important books are The Bizzies (Cuento de luz, 2019) and A Surprise for Mrs. Tortoise (Nubeocho, 2017), winner at the 2018 International Latino Book Awards. Find her at her blog and on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Paula Merlán In this post, Paula discusses how a walk along the water […]
India Holton: On Unexpected Magic in the Drafting Process
India Holton lives in New Zealand, where she’s enjoyed the typical Kiwi lifestyle of wandering around forests, living barefoot on islands, and messing about in boats. Now she lives in a cottage near the sea, writing books about uppity women and charming rogues, and drinking too much tea. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. India Holton Photo credit: India Holton In this post, India discusses the surprises she experienced in writing her new fantasy romance novel, The League of Gentlewomen Witches, what she hopes readers take away from the experience, and more! Name: India HoltonLiterary agent: Taylor Haggerty of […]
Plot Twist Story Prompts: Shock to the System
Plot twist story prompts aren’t meant for the beginning or the end of stories. Rather, they’re for forcing big and small turns in the anticipated trajectory of a story. This is to make it more interesting for the readers and writers alike. Each week, I’ll provide a new prompt to help twist your story. Find last week’s prompt, Unexpected Mission, here. Plot Twist Story Prompts: Shock to the System For today’s prompt, send a dramatic shockwave through your story. What that shockwave is can be dramatically different depending upon the circumstances of the world your characters live in. For instance, […]
Tara Isabella Burton: On Learning Something From Every Draft
Tara Isabella Burton’s debut novel, Social Creature, was named a “best book of the year” by The New York Times, Vulture, and The Guardian, and her first book of nonfiction, Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World, was as praised by Tim Shriver as “the most thoughtful analysis of our current spiritual crisis anywhere.” Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Granta, and more. She received a doctorate in theology from Trinity College, Oxford, where she was a Clarendon Scholar, in 2017. Find her on Twitter. Tara Isabella Burton Photo by […]
Ladee Hubbard: On Interconnecting Individual Stories
Ladee Hubbard is the author of The Rib King and The Talented Ribkins, which received the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Debut Fiction. Her writing has appeared in Guernica, The Times Literary Supplement, Copper Nickel and Callaloo. Hubbard is a recipient of a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship, a Berlin Prize Fellowship, and a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award. She has also received fellowships from MacDowell, Art Omi, the Sacatar Foundation, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, Hedgebrook, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Born in Massachusetts and raised in the U.S. Virgin […]
Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 603
For today’s prompt, write a gift poem. The gift could be something given or something received. It could be a physical gift (like a necklace or bicycle), or it could be something like a talent (the gift of song or gift of gab, for instance). This prompt is my gift to you. Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them. Note on commenting: If you wish to comment on the site, go to Disqus to create a free new account, verify your account on this site below (one-time thing), and then comment […]
Libby Hubscher: On Revision Shifting Genre
Libby Hubscher is an author and scientist. She studied biology at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and holds a Doctor of Philosophy in molecular toxicology from North Carolina State University. Her work has appeared online and in textbooks, scientific journals, and literary journals. Her short story “The Unwelcome Guest” was long-listed for the Wigleaf Top 50 in 2018. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, two young children, and a menagerie of pets. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Libby Hubscher In this post, Libby discusses writing between genres for her new contemporary romance novel, If You Ask […]
Hurry Up and Wait: On Writing and Getting Published
Lately, I’ve been experiencing this kind of déjà vu as it relates to the countdown to publication of my upcoming novel, Scarlet in Blue. It’s kind of a nagging feeling, like a mosquito bite on the middle of my back that I can’t reach to scratch. I find my foot and leg constantly moving up and down at a pretty-high speed, I’m biting the cuticles of my nails, and trying to perform slow breathing exercises to calm the tightness in my chest. Which doesn’t work because I can’t sit still. Anxiety, my doctor says. Like that was new information. But […]