Writing

The following is adapted from the introduction to 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories. A story is a noise in the night. You may be lying there quietly resting in the international house of…

Recently, I’ve come across a lot of people, both online and off, discussing diversity in books. What it means; who should be writing it; whose voices ought to be heard; which people should be listening. And rightly so; diversity is at the heart of storytelling. We are all different and unique, whatever our race or culture, and we can only benefit from hearing different voices; looking at different points of view; encountering different perspectives.

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 […]

“All suggestions can be ignored when necessary,” says the best-selling author, but ignore them at your own peril. (And put away that thesaurus.)

The author of Dead Wind discusses her writing process and how she switched from a stand-alone book to a series

Studies of humans and other animals indicate that inventiveness often stems from factors other than need

Show don’t tell is common advice among writers — but what does it really mean? This thorough guide answers that question with plenty of helpful examples.

Featuring short story and flash fiction writers, and editors.

Is it possible to narrate a story with social media posts that are supposed to be short and sweet? Yes! Here're 20 creative social media storytelling ideas.

Writing is when you sit—fingertips hovering over your keyboard, cursor blinking on a fresh blank document—and open Twitter for the twenty-eighth time.

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

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

How to write zines with simple tools

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

What if instead of searching through files looking for a character profile or rifling back through chapters, all you had to do was look up? That is the just one example of the brilliance of creating a muse board.

As a culture, we often fetishize the debut writer as some sort of self-arising wunderkind, someone that comes “out of nowhere” or had “splashed onto the scene” unannounced, seemingly without a pre-…

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 …

Get your work recognized: write a brag document

1. Dragon Naturally Speaking by Nuance. Dragon is pretty much the gold standard for dictation. And Nuance seems to have invented the entire industry before dictation was cool. They have deep roots in medical transcription, for example. Die hard dictators swear by the PC version of this software. The Macintosh version was (puzzlingly) discontinued last year. Since Dragon has such a big reach, lifelong Mac users have been known to purchase cheap PCs to run this software.

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.

The online writing group, writing workshop, and writing community where writers get quality critiques and feedback on their writing.

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…