Crashing Into New Worlds: Writing About the Unfamiliar

Award-winning crime author Stephanie Kane explains how she builds characters unlike herself and navigates their worlds to create vivid and realistic stories.Do you write what you know too well? Or aim for what you don’t? Fiction is the freedom to create the characters we want, to punch above our weight. But writing is hard enough. We’re told to make...

1d

Plot Twist Story Prompts: Without a Trace

Every good story needs a nice (or not so nice) turn or two to keep it interesting. This week, have a character leave without a trace.Plot twist story prompts aren't meant for the beginning or the end of stories. Rather, they're for forcing big and small turns in the anticipated trajectory of a story. This is to make it more interesting for the readers...

1d

Vintage WD: The Truth about True Crime

In this article from July 2000, true crime novelist and former New York Times correspondent Lisa Beth Pulitzer shares with us some key insights for breaking into the true crime genre.Writer's Digest, July 2000By Lisa Beth PulitzerWhen New York Post reporter Keiran Crowley was asked by his editors to follow the trail of the city's self-proclaimed Zodiac...

1d

New Agent Alert: Barb Roose of Books & Such Literary Management

New literary agent alerts (with this spotlight featuring Barb Roose of Books & Such Literary Management) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building his or her client list.Barb Roose loves partnering with aspiring and established authors to achieve their publishing career goals. With experience...

2d

Evoking Emotion in Fiction: Seven Pragmatic Ways to Make Readers Give a Damn

Evoking emotion on the page begins with the man or woman at the keyboard. Dustin Grinnell serves up seven straightforward tactics for writing tear-jerking stories that make your readers empathize with your characters.The spirit you bring [as the author] is the spirit we’ll feel as we read, and of all the feelings you can excite in your readers the most...

2d

Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 546

Every Wednesday, Robert Lee Brewer shares a prompt and an example poem to get things started on the Poetic Asides blog. This week, write a spooky poem.As usual, we'll be taking a break off Wednesday Poetry Prompts for the month of November. That's because we'll be poeming every day in November for the 13th annual November Poem-A-Day Chapbook Challenge....

2d

Learn Better World-Building Strategies Through World of Warcraft and the New Shadowlands Expansion

WD editor and fantasy writer Moriah Richard shares five unique ways in which writers can use World of Warcraft to better build their worlds—without playing the game.Even if you’re not a fan of the massive-multiplayer-online game World of Warcraft, you have to admit that there’s something to it. With 5 core games, over 20 novels, and even a movie franchise,...

3d

Full Moon

A full moon looms in the air. What effect does it have on the Earth below? Do witches gather to complete a spell? What mythical creatures come out at night? Who joins Artemis' hunt?Photo by Ganapathy Kumar on UnsplashA full moon looms in the air. What effect does it have on the Earth below? Do witches gather to complete a spell? What mythical creatures...

3d

Seven Tips for Intuitive Writing: The Heart-Hand Connection

Award-winning author Jill G. Hall shares her top tips for how to dive into your latest project head-first.I didn’t set out to write dual-timeline novels. After leaving a twenty-year career as an educator I thought perhaps I’d write children’s books or maybe a memoir about teaching in inner-city classrooms, but that’s not what happened at all. I began...

3d

Bearing vs. Baring vs. Barring (Grammar Rules)

Learn when to use bearing vs. baring vs. barring on with Grammar Rules from the Writer's Digest editors, including a few examples of correct usages.This week we'll be baring it all when it comes to when writers should use bearing, baring, or barring. Mostly, we'll be looking at their differences and bearing as verbs. However, nothing is barring us from...

4d