This article was first published in the May/June 2022 issue of Writer’s Digest. [Read Part 1 of this series here: Managing Point of View: Mythbusting.] Just how “into” your narrator’s head and heart do you want your readers to be? Do you want them to feel emotionally embedded with your narrator(s)? Or observe your characters’ … Read more
Last summer, my friend and writer comrade Pam Jenoff shared a meme for #WriterWednesday. It was a photo of a soda fountain machine—the kind you’ll find at any fast-food restaurant, gas station, or movie theater. Only the drink flavors were relabeled: blue Pepsi was Feeling stressed out when writing; red Coke was Feeling stressed out … Read more
Nellie Bly was arguably one of the most prolific and influential writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries—and her story has much to teach today’s writers. Nellie arrived in New York City in 1887 and caused a sensation with her reporting, starting with her madhouse exposé in which she feigned insanity, got herself … Read more
Everyone makes mistakes—even writers—but that’s OK because each mistake is a great learning opportunity. The Writer’s Digest team has witnessed many mistakes over the years, so we started this series to help identify them early in the process. Note: The mistakes in this series aren’t focused on grammar rules, though we offer help in that … Read more
Everyone makes mistakes – even writers – but that’s a good thing because every mistake is a great learning opportunity. The Writer’s Digest team has seen many errors over the years, so we started this series to help identify them early in the process. Note: The errors in this series do not focus on grammar, … Read more
Forgot Cards — Choose an emotion and any feeling. Are we, as writers, magicians willing to pull off any pre-selected emotion with ease? Well check. Certainly we can be. (25 Common Writing Mistakes Writers Make (and How to Fix Them)) Emotional originality and depth of character encourage storytelling. Without these elements, even the most interesting … Read more
Writing a book is not easy. In fact, writing a book is Difficult. Not only do you have to create an entire world in your mind, but then translate everything into paper—all while making sure you have a strong structure, engaging plot, insightful characters, and at least 80,000 well-crafted words. (Radhika Sanghani: On the Inspiring … Read more
I started meditating when I was a teenager. My youthful Christian strengthening has guided me. I tried to practice stillness so that my soul would be united with the divine. I began this arduous task because I believed by reading the Bible daily, along with books of spiritual meditation, I would understand the passages and … Read more
When I set out to write my second thriller, The perfect escape, I’ve always been balancing the core of the idea and the characters of my characters with everything I’ve known from years of reading puzzles and thrillers and watching Hitchcock and Gulls movies. I never like to follow a formula, but I know that … Read more
This year, FightWrite on the WD Blog will be doing a series on writing fight scenes from start to finish: from one character’s decision to another character’s decomposition. I thought this first post should be about what fight scenes can do for your story, and trust me, they can do a lot. Don’t dismiss them … Read more