July/August 2019

Writer's Digest

The World's Leading Source for Writing Inspiration, Instruction and Information

Writer's Digest2 min read
“O Villain!”
Please allow me to introduce … our Villains issue. (And if you now have the “woo-woos” from the Rolling Stones’ classic “Sympathy for the Devil” stuck in your head, dear readers, I apologize.) All writers and readers know that no good yarn is complet
Writer's Digest2 min read
Contributors
WILLIAM KENOWER is the author of the Writer’s Digest book Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence and Write Within Yourself: An Author’s Companion. He is editor-in-chief of Author magazine and a sought-after speaker and teach
Writer's Digest6 min read
Bad Advice Boogie
Writers, by and large, aren’t people who play it safe. In fact, considering the grim prospects for making a living (the Author’s Guild reported recently that the median income for American writers in 2017 was $6,0801 ), you could argue that deciding
Writer's Digest5 min read
Delightful Observation
While walking along a path in Italy that brought him joy, Ross Gay suddenly thought that it would be a fun intellectual experiment to write a short essay about a pleasant experience every day for one year, beginning with his birthday. By the time he
Writer's Digest2 min read
Poetic Asides
Every year, I am delighted by the new crop of poems I get to read for the Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards. Then, I’m faced with the hard work of figuring out which poem rises above the others. It’s no simple task to rank one poem above another, especia
Writer's Digest3 min read
Welcome to My Country
We climbed into the van and greeted Samantha and Mado, the guides who would accompany our 14-member group into Zimbabwe for a visit to Victoria Falls . When we arrived at the border, Samantha collected the paperwork we had just completed and headed i
Writer's Digest1 min read
Rachel Sussman
Rachel Sussman grew up in the suburbs of New York City, graduated from Brown University with a degree in English and American literature and began her publishing career at Scribner, where she honed her editorial skills for four years. Following a yea
Writer's Digest3 min read
Indielab
The term self-publishing covers many paths to publication. Beneath the wider moniker are three main varieties of author-publishers with different creative intentions, goals, needs and outcomes. Let’s get to know each one. These authors produce books,
Writer's Digest4 min read
Breaking In
“Solving the case will avenge her sister—unless the killer finds her first.” WRITES FROM: Lakeland, Fla. PRE-GIRL: I was working on historical supernatural young adult projects. My agent recommended that I try my hand at romantic suspense and those l
Writer's Digest7 min read
Sinister, Yet Sympathetic
Imagine Little Red Riding Hood: ruddy cheeks, basket full of goodies, off to Grandma’s house with not a care in the world. She’s taking in the sights, smelling flowers, throwing that towel over her meat pies to keep them warm and fresh. The very pict
Writer's Digest8 min read
Packing The Punch
Underneath the gloves of a fighter are yards of cloth wrap. The wrap tightly binds the bones of the hands together to protect them from the impact of a punch. If wrapped incorrectly, the bones of the hands are vulnerable to breaks. More likely than n
Writer's Digest8 min readMotivational
Your Own Worst Enemy
When I began writing memoir, I was surprised to find how much these true stories needed to read like novels or short stories told in the first person. Just like fiction, there need to be scenes with action and dialogue. Settings have to be vividly re
Writer's Digest6 min read
The Horrors Of Being A Ghost
One of the first things fledgling ghostwriters learn about their job is how similar it is to dating. It can get very intimate very quickly—authors often share their deepest secrets with their collaborators within weeks of meeting. It usually involves
Writer's Digest8 min read
I’m Not The Bad Guy
“Every editor should have a pimp for a brother, so he could have someone in the family to look up to.” That’s a quote attributed to Gene Fowler—early 1900s journalist, author and screenwriter—and it pretty accurately, I think, sums up the long-conten
Writer's Digest8 min read
THE WD INTERVIEW Susan Orlean
Susan Orlean thought she was done writing books until she heard about the 1986 fire that devastated the Los Angeles Public Library. The story so intrigued her that she spent four years researching and writing about it. The Library Book tells the stor
Writer's Digest2 min read
Willful Disorientation
For Reena Shah, writing is about getting lost in her imagination. After finding a voice, character or theme that compels her, she begins a process that she calls “willful disorientation.” “When writing is going well, I’m not even aware of my physical
Writer's Digest3 min read
The Last Time I Saw Billy
Out of more than 300 entries, Writer’s Digest editors and readers selected this winner, submitted by Heidi Hansen of Sequim, Wash. At 10, after seeing Close Encounters of the Third Kind, my cousin Billy announced that he was part alien. He didn’t cl
Writer's Digest1 min read
Winner’s Spotlight
How are you able to write every day? I don’t believe in writing this many words per day. Writing can be a paragraph, working that paragraph, whatever that story needs in that moment in whatever time that you have. Working those chunks is helpful, an
Writer's Digest5 min read
The Villain In Mysteries And Thrillers
As any mystery reader knows, today’s villain is no Snidely Whiplash, standing in broad daylight, twirling his moustache and sneering. Any character who looks that nefarious will almost certainly turn out to be innocent. Readers are delighted when the
Writer's Digest4 min read
Funny You Should Ask
Dear FYSA, When a contract is negotiated, what are the main points an author should be aware of? What is that process like? Love, Legal-Ease My Mind Dear Legal-Ease, After you make a verbal deal with an editor, the editor and I agree on the b
Writer's Digest9 min read
Character, Know Thyself: The Essentials Of Character Awareness
Early drafts are an exercise in getting to know your character and her story—you are, in essence, telling the story to yourself first so that you can figure out what to add or omit when fine-tuning the story for readers. I encourage you to pen more p
Writer's Digest5 min read
Take Two
A good hero plus a bad villain does not a fabulous story make. Spit-shined heroes, bad-to-the-bone villains and one-note mentor characters may serve a first draft, but not a compelling story and certainly not a powerful movie. Stories need a great ho
Writer's Digest3 min read
Conference Scene
Give your writing the love it deserves at this long-running specialty conference where romance is king. WHEN: July 24–27, 2019. WHERE: New York Marriott Marquis, New York City. PRICE: $549 for RWA members, $624 for nonmembers through June 26; $649
Writer's Digest1 min read
The Dos And Don’ts When Meeting With Agents
Many writers attend conferences specifically for the opportunity to meet one-on-one with literary agents. WD asked Lisa Hagan of Lisa Hagan Literary and Rita Rosenkranz of the Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency for some tips to ensure such meetings go s
Writer's Digest4 min read
Conference Guide
• Keep in mind that there may be more than one workshop in each of the listings. • These workshops are listed alphabetically by state, country or continent. • Unless otherwise indicated, rates include tuition (T) only. Sometimes the rates also includ

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