When it comes to idea generation and development, what are ways to both provide structure and room to explore?

Are you a writer? Do you like learning about the creative process, either for your own projects, or just cause you think it’s interesting? This post is about to make your day. As I’m su…

Seriously, it’s really weird. But it’s helped me for 25 years!

When I learned “show, don’t tell,” I thought I’d discovered a guide that would never fail me. And sure, it was good for me, in the way training wheels help in learning to ride a bike. The directive…

Can we all agree it sucks?

A great first sentence is very important. In a novel, it’s a “promise,” a “handshake,” an “embrace,” a “key.” Great first sentences are celebrated everywhere literature is cherished and mandated everywhere it’s taught. They’re a pleasure and a duty — the “most important sentence in a book,” everyone agrees. But they haven’t always been important. When Daniel […]

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

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

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.

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.

President Abraham Lincoln was a big fan: “it’s a very useful little chap.”

How to write a novel: Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson teaches his wildly popular Snowflake Method for designing and writing a novel.