Writing

A free 100 day fiction writing course by podcast. Learn to write more, better and happier. From award-winning author Tim Clare.

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No, it will not be easy. Yes, it will be rewarding. (Eventually.)

Do yourself a favor and read these 10 pieces of advice first.

50,000 words isn't an arbitrary number

Adapted from the essay “Thirty Recommendations for Good Writing Habits” in Essays One. * The following are just my personal pieces of advice. They won’t be the same as someone else’s, and they may …

In Into the Woods and on his online courses John Yorke recommends asking 10 questions to check you've got your story straight – read them here.

When it comes to writing the “other,” what questions are we not asking?

As a writer and teacher of memoir, I get asked one question above many: how do you navigate the tricky terrain of writing about family? I have many answers to this question, as I gave it a lot of careful thought when writing Sins of My Father. I cleared the book with those close family […]

This "rule" is neither a CIA psyop nor does it mean what some critics think

Although I still consider myself a newbie to the world of being a professional writer, I have a reasonable number of events, signings ...

How to write a killer opening line. Why Google is not research. When to rip it up and start again. Whatever you do, just write! Lessons from acclaimed novelist and creative writing professor Colum McCann

Yesterday, FSG published Susan Sontag’s Debriefing, a new collection of the writer’s short fiction. I’m always excited to read more of Sontag’s work—which is convenient, bec…

Lord Chesterfield called the novel “a kind of abbreviation of a Romance.” Ian McEwan described the more compact novella as “the beautiful daughter of a rambling, bloated, ill-shaven giant.” William…

How to write good dialogue? Well, the rule is that your characters’ speech should always sound believable.

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Today, our sponsor Reedsy has put together a list of the most common mistakes for rookie novelists (Want more advice from Reedsy? Check out their webcast on writing and submitting query letters!):

The hardest part of writing a novel is the middle. Here’s how to get through it.

Tips, tricks, and hard-won lessons: from creating drafts to working with editors.

Free guides, podcasts and interviews about writing. Featuring Margaret Atwood, Nicci French, Tim Clare, Elizabeth Haynes, Mark Dawson, Joanna Penn and more!

How long does it take to write a book? Stephen King says writing a book should take no more than three months—and this author discovered he's right.

Because it's so important to take full of advantage of dialogue, let's take a look at a ten ways to write excellent dialogue.

Barbara Linn Probst delves into the very heart of your novel: its "About-ness." Learn the questions (and answers) that help your story resonate deeper with readers.

The Granta team share writing techniques and advice from their archives.

Claire Fuller shares the many ways flash fiction can be useful to all types of writers, even if your word count is usually in the thousands.

I realized my book could focus on what I cared about most

Scott Dikkers shares the 10 writing rules that took The Onion from a local print magazine to a globally renowned media house with nearly 20 million social followers and over 10 million monthly visitors.

Can you remember what you did when you started on the novel you’re working on? If you’ve finished more than one, do you have a way you like to prepare? Are they always the same or are they differen…