Write Better Fiction / 115 posts found
Writing Mistakes Writers Make: Starting at the Beginning
Everyone makes mistakes—even writers—but that’s OK because each mistake is a great learning opportunity. The Writer’s Digest team has witnessed many mistakes over the years, so we started this series to help identify them early in the process. Note: The mistakes in this series aren’t focused on grammar rules, though we offer help in that area as well. (Grammar rules for writers.) Rather, we’re looking at bigger picture mistakes and mishaps, including the error of using too much exposition, hiding your pitch, or chasing trends. This week’s writing mistake writers make is starting at the beginning. Writing Mistakes Writers Make: […]
10 Myths of Writing About Crime
So, you wanna be a crime writer? (Ron Franscell: On the Secret to His Writing Success) Between your gullibility, urban legends, and Hollywood, you’ve swallowed a lot of, um, bunk about crime, cops, and courts. You’ve consumed so much crapola that I’m surprised you aren’t already on Ducky’s slab. Fabrications, fables, and fairy tales about forensics and felonious foolishness (not to mention wrongful alliteration) abound. You’ve probably accepted them as gospel since the first season of “Starsky and Hutch.” So whether you intend to write the Great American Crime Novel or a true crime that actually rings true, you should […]
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 […]
Need a Better Book Title?
Like many novelists, I also have a day job. Mine happens to be as a brand strategist—someone who makes people fall in love with companies and products. Yes, this is a real job, and one that’s far from trivial. Strong brands sell well, but they can also build communities of loyal fans and even spark cultural movements. As an author, you can harness the power of branding too. Beyond the manuscript, consider every element of your project as an opportunity to tell a bigger story, including the title. After completing my latest thriller, Don’t Get Close, I contacted my former […]
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 […]
How to Maintain Accuracy Across Multiple Plot Lines in Historical Fiction
Every time I attend a conference, class, or appear on a podcast, they inevitably ask the question: “Are you a pantser or a plotter?” (Research and Storytelling for Successful Historical Fiction) I want to wave the freedom flag with all the pantsers in the room. They describe sitting down at the computer watching as stories pour out of them. From beginning to end, a never-ending flow of brilliance and light. So, I tried the technique. I sat and waited for the muse to strike. I had the idea for a novel, but it was not filling the page, as my […]
5 Tips for Writing a Revenge Story
Oh, sweet revenge. There’s nothing like a well-executed plan to get the blood pumping and the pages turning. That feeling when a character finally doles out their death punch, or sneaks that drop of poison into their enemy’s cup is one of the most rewarding experiences a reader can have. As a longtime fan of revenge stories, that feeling I get when things fall into place never fails to bring a bigger smile to my face than a first kiss in a romcom. But the thing with revenge stories is that unless all the pieces are there, a protagonist’s final […]
Using Weapons of Opportunity: FightWrite™
In the last FightWrite™ post on the WD blog, we looked at how the site can impact the fight. In this post, we are going to look at how the site can be part of the fight. Specifically, we will be considering weapons of opportunity that exist organically in the scene and can go from harmless to hazardous in the blink of an eye. (Choosing a Setting for Your Fight Scene: FightWrite™) Weapons of Opportunity A weapon of opportunity—or as I call it, a WOO—is any item that in its intended use is not a weapon but can be wielded […]
Adele Myers: On Family History Inspiring Fiction
Adele Myers grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, and has a journalism degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She currently works in advertising and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, son and their rescue dog, Chipper. The Tobacco Wives is her first novel. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Adele Myers In this post, Adele discusses how stories from her family’s past led her to writing her historical fiction novel, The Tobacco Wives, how it went from short story to full novel, and more! Name: Adele MyersLiterary agent: Stefanie Lieberman, Janklow & NesbitBook […]