Publications / 323 posts found
Stop Writing A Book When These Ten Things Happen
It’s a tough decision for any author to stop writing a book. You started your writing project with a lot of enthusiasm. But now it’s becoming a grind. Every writer has a file of unfinished, abandoned, or forgotten manuscripts. So don’t think that you are alone when you start having doubts about your book. As in any walk of life, you don’t always succeed. You win a few, and you lose a few. Ten reasons to stop writing a book It’s the last thing you want to do. But knowing when to quit writing a book is a decision all […]
How Writers Can Apply Business Tools to Their Writing
When artistry unites with a little business know-how, you can grow your writing career, reach new audiences, and increase the impact your words get to have on the world. (What Is an ARC in Publishing and Writing?) In my first term of graduate business school, I stood in front of my class to give a presentation introducing myself to them. I started by talking about my day job career as an analyst and what had led me to pursue my MBA. Then I looked down, paused, looked back up, and started over, this time introducing myself as a fantasy and […]
11 Pros and Cons of Writing for Free
Free writing can be a wonderful exercise where a writer sits down and writes without inhibitions. Writing for free, however, may be a completely different matter. Freelance writers can often be asked to write for free and/or produce “speculative/spec writing” and this can confuse and frustrate many a prospective, new, or established freelance writer. (How Much Should Writers Charge Per Word or Per Project?) When you consider a freelance writer’s time, effort, and subject matter expertise, they should be paid a fair rate. Routinely, however, a freelance writer will be asked to create without compensation. Novice freelancers or writers writing […]
6 Things Every Writer Should Know About Sylvia Beach and Shakespeare and Company
You know, it’s funny that it took me so long to write The Paris Bookseller—I’ve been carrying Sylvia’s story around inside me since I was 20 years old, which is when I read her memoir, a slim volume called Shakespeare and Company. I found an old paperback of it in a used book bin outside one of the many bookstores in my college town, and since I was an English major obsessed with the 1920s, I read it right away. (Kerri Maher: On Playing the Long Game) I was charmed by Sylvia’s recollections of her bookstore and lending library and […]
WD Presents: Our New Podcast, 6 New WDU Courses, and More!
There’s always so much happening in the Writer’s Digest universe that even staff members have trouble keeping up. As a result, we decided to start collecting what’s on the horizon to make it easier for everyone to know what’s happening and when. This week, we’re excited to announce our brand-new podcast, 6 WDU courses starting this week, and more! **** Introducing Writer’s Digest Presents—The Podcast! We’re excited to share the inaugural episode of Writer’s Digest Presents, a monthly podcast featuring conversations with writing and publishing experts! In our inaugural episode, the editors of WD discuss Beginnings, featuring a roundtable discussion […]
Plot Twist Story Prompts: The Ultimatum
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, Going Rogue, here. Plot Twist Story Prompts: The Ultimatum For today’s prompt, have a character give or face an ultimatum. The nice thing about an ultimatum is that it automatically creates tension for multiple characters (and the entire story as a result). […]
Karen Hamilton: On Cause and Effect
Karen Hamilton spent her childhood in Angola, Zimbabwe, Belgium, and Italy, and worked as a flight attendant for many years. Karen is a graduate of the Faber Academy and, having now put down roots in Hampshire to raise her young family with her husband, she satisfies her wanderlust by exploring the world through her writing. She is also the author of international bestseller The Perfect Girlfriend and The Last Wife. Karen Hamilton In this post, Karen discusses the “then and now” format of her new domestic thriller, The Ex-Husband, what she hopes readers get out of the experience, and more! […]
Saraband: Poetic Forms
This week’s poetic form appears to have started in the Spanish colonies of South America as a type of music and dance (originally referenced as zarabanda) that crossed the Atlantic back over to Spain, before moving into France, Italy, and England. Apparently, the dance was originally considered so sinful that it was banned in 16th century Spain. Here are the guidelines: 7 lines Poem can have either eight or 10 syllables per line I found five different rhyme schemes differentiated by language (Spanish: aaabcbc; English: axabcbc; French: axabbcc; and Italian: aaabccb or axabccb) There are also poets who mention combining […]
4 Truths About Dealing With Grief All Writers Should Know
Writers, as those of you reading this know well, are artists. We have the ability to put into words what others feel but cannot convey—whether it is love, anger, envy, or, as it so happens, the heavy weight of grief and despair. According to existential theorists like Irvin Yalom, death is one of the “givens of existence” for human beings, and how we approach this “given” has a profound impact on the way we find meaning and lead our lives. (5 Ideas for Writing Effective Grief in Fiction.) As writers, we have a powerful responsibility in the words we serve […]
How Inspiration and Research Shape a Novel
As a writer of historical fiction, research forms an integral part of my work—and indeed is something I have always enjoyed. In my previous career as a theatre director, researching the time period of the play that I was directing was always one of the things I relished the most, and so it is no surprise that in my writing, I am drawn to stories from the past that allow me to lose myself in another time and place. My latest novel, The Widow’s Last Secret, is set in England in the early Victorian period; a time of amazing inventions […]