March/April 2023

Writer's Digest

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

Writer's Digest2 min read
Life’s Too Short
I’ve admitted this before, but I’ll admit it again here as long as you promise to keep reading: I used to be a book snob. I thought literary fiction was the only fiction worth seriously reading, writing, or talking about. It’s not that I avoided genr
Writer's Digest2 min read
Starting Your Story Right
These are the things I didn’t know: When you first wake up in a dark wooden box, you’ll tell yourself this isn’t happening. You’ll push against the lid, of course. No surprise there. You’ll beat at the sides with your fists, pummel your heels against
Writer's Digest2 min read
Contributors
WANDA M. MORRIS (WandaMorrisWrites.com) is the acclaimed author of All Her Little Secrets which won the 2022 Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel and 2022 Georgia Author of the Year for Best First Novel. All Her Little Secrets has been optioned f
Writer's Digest6 min read
Magic In The City
Urban fantasy is one of the hottest fantasy subgenres. Set in contemporary times, usually in a big city, the genre features kick-butt heroes and heroines with magical powers, supernatural creatures, a seedy paranormal underbelly, and other common fan
Writer's Digest5 min read
Staying True to Your Vision
I have loved boats all my life. I have sailed the Chesapeake Bay, fished the Atlantic, and kayaked the waters around Mount Desert Island, Maine. I am also an enthusiastic armchair sailor, admiring the beauty of a watercraft in a magazine or immersing
Writer's Digest2 min read
Poetic Asides
This Poetic Asides column has covered many poetic forms over the years, but a poetic form is not a genre. The difference between a sestina (or 39-line poem that uses six alternating end words) and a sonnet (14-line poem with a rhyme scheme) is like t
Writer's Digest5 min read
Tips For Transitioning In Publishing
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” That quote from Thomas Edison greets me and about 100 other writers every time we connect with each other in an online group for authors with ag
Writer's Digest1 min read
Write It Out
Set a timer for two minutes and write a short story that features the first object listed. After the two minutes are up, set the timer for another two minutes and continue the story by working in the next object. Keep going in two-minute increments u
Writer's Digest3 min read
Christina C. Jones
90+ books including: Ante Up, Equivalent Exchange, Behind the Scenes, Love Notes, Wonder (Romance in nearly all the subgenres, mostly contemporary) WHY SELF-PUBLISH? I chose to self-publish because I love the freedom of giving exactly what I want to
Writer's Digest5 min read
The Importance of Genre
I’ve always had somewhat of a genre problem, and I don’t think I’m alone. Not every book fits tidily into one category. Many novels have elements of various genres. I wanted my book to be unique, and for this reason, I rejected the “know your genre”
Writer's Digest3 min read
Writersonwriting
I recently did an interview after the publication of my second book, Anywhere You Run. The interviewer was quite nice, and the questions posed were insightful. But just before the end of the discussion, the interviewer made a comment that stopped me
Writer's Digest1 min read
Zach Honey
Zach Honey was born in North Carolina and raised in Montana “with an equal love for sweet tea and waist-deep snow,” he says. He studied film production and philosophy at Montana State University and received a master’s degree from the University of N
Writer's Digest10 min read
When No One Knows Your Genre
Women’s fiction has always been a genre that’s hard to pin down. The label evolved to broadly describe stories of interest to women, and throughout literary history, it’s been called everything from “domestic fiction” to “sentimental fiction” to “chi
Writer's Digest8 min read
Know Your Genre: Give Readers What They Want
Have you ever noticed that people only read things they want to read? It doesn’t matter if the content is important, even life-changing, you simply can’t make people read books and stories that don’t interest them. You may think what you’ve written i
Writer's Digest5 min read
Breaking In
(Book club fiction, February, HarperCollins) WRITES FROM: Hampshire in the U.K., and a lot of time in London and in South Africa when I can. PRE-THEORY: My first book was like a jumper knitted with no pattern. Too many arms.… I spent a month experime
Writer's Digest10 min read
Nailing Your GE Nre’s Voice And Tone
Every genre has a relatively unique signature or style that readers come to expect, known as voice and tone, which make it possible to identify the genre within a few pages. Voice is like the personality of your character leaping off the page, and to
Writer's Digest8 min read
Breathing Life Into Dead Stories
During a commercial break for an episode of “American Horror Stories,” a GEICO insurance commercial comes on. We see a group of young adults, all of them familiar archetypes in their dress and personalities. They are hiding from a Jason/Leatherface/M
Writer's Digest5 min read
To Write A Legend
If you ask Neal Hutcheson how long it took him to create his book, The Moonshiner Popcorn Sutton, the answer could be two years, or it could be 20 years. It depends on the framing. By trade, Hutcheson is an Emmy Award–winning documentary filmmaker wh
Writer's Digest8 min read
Off The Path
Everyone views the world through a different lens, but some of our lenses aren’t lenses at all—they’re electron microscopes or foggy windows. They’re high-def digital processors or layered mirrors. Neurodivergence offers a unique worldview but it can
Writer's Digest12 min read
Holly Black
Every author has their unique approach to writing: Whether they start with a theme, character, or plot, the page is where their story blooms to life. As a contemporary fantasy author, Holly Black finds joy in writing the kinds of things she loves to
Writer's Digest3 min read
Snapshot
The smell of baking bread and freshly brewed espresso clung to the cool morning air, waves of steam spiraled through the breeze as it rose from the street cafés below and crept up through the open window of an apartment above where Martino was taking
Writer's Digest4 min read
Lisa Hagan
Seasoned literary agents on the business of publishing. GENRES: Nonfiction—self-help, spiritual, metaphysical, and health. CLIENTS INCLUDE: Elaine Clayton, Jessie Asya Kanzer, Amy Leigh Mercree, Sally K. Norton, Nick Redfern, Dean Sluyter, Wayne Whit
Writer's Digest7 min read
How to Deal With a Nightmare Edit
There’s an adage that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. And, well, you might say that a magazine article is literature designed by a committee. Usually, the collaboration between editor and writer works out just fine. But every so often, yo
Writer's Digest5 min read
The 5 Questions You Should Ask During (Almost) Every Interview
Interviews are a vital aspect of nonfiction writing. Depending on the topic, freelancers may turn to subject matter experts or everyday people with unique experiences, knowledge, or opinions to help inform the articles they write. Over the course of
Writer's Digest5 min read
Fauna
When I think about where I grew up in Appalachia, some of the first things I remember are roaming the woods and fields on my parents’ farm—the throaty song of the spring peepers, the sight of redtailed hawks swooping elegantly through the sky on the
Writer's Digest5 min read
5 Book Publishers for Writers to Consider
Usually, I share magazines or online publications in this column, but the world of publishing is much broader than that. So, let’s look at a few interesting book publishers this time around. Books usually have many more words than a magazine article—
Writer's Digest5 min read
Make It Through the Middle Slog
Every aspect of writing prose offers both challenges and joys. Beginnings: the challenge of deciding where in the story to begin, yet the joy of starting a new project. Endings: the challenge of wrapping up storylines, yet the joy of completing a hug
Writer's Digest5 min read
Ani Di Franco: The Songwriter on Her Debut Picture Book
Ani Di Franco has never shied away from a challenge. In 1990, five years after becoming an emancipated minor at age 15, the Grammy Award–winning singer/songwriter released her eponymous debut album on her own record label, Righteous Babe Records. Now
Writer's Digest4 min read
Frontlist/backlist
If you’re anything like us, there are so many new books that come out each month (or week!) that it’s hard to keep up. In this new column, we’ll shine light on a backlist title (something published more than six months ago) that you might have missed
Writer's Digest2 min read
Conference Guide
ANNUAL CALIFORNIA CREATIVE WRITERS CONFERENCE™, produced by West Coast Writers Conferences. March 3–5, 2023 if in person, March 3–8 if virtual, 2023. Writers of all genres and disciplines will benefit from this educational and inspirational conferenc
Writer's Digest1 min read
Creative Quill
DIRECTIONS: Do you know your literary genres well enough to spot the genres described by these (very bad) explanations? Write in your guesses below the descriptions before checking the answer key at the bottom of the page. 1. Wizards and chosen ones

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