Writer's Digest

I’ve always had the same predicament. When I’m home, in Kentucky, all I want is to leave. When I’m away, I’m home-sick for a place that never was. —Groundskeeping, Lee Cole (literary fiction) “There is in each of us a fundamental split between what w

If you take a minute to think about the things that catch your attention, they’re usually out-sized (Michelangelo’s David or the Pyramids of Giza), extraordinarily intricate (a mosaic made of tiny tiles or a well-composed song), boldly colored (peaco

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Amy Jones SENIOR EDITOR Robert Lee Brewer MANAGING EDITOR Moriah Richard EDITORS Sadie Dean Michael Woodson ART DIRECTOR Wendy Dunning EDITORS-AT-LARGE Tyler Moss Jessica Strawser CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Jane K. Cleland, Bob Eckstein, Ja

TAN TWAN ENG was born in Penang and lived in various places in Malaysia as a child. His first novel, The Gift of Rain, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His second, The Garden of Evening Mists, was a major international bestseller, shortlisted

Narratives have at least one clear protagonist whose point of view informs our experience of the story, carrying our thoughts, emotions, and hopes or expectations for the conclusion. While these characters may receive the bulk of the focus, secondary

If you are struggling with titling your essays and articles, it’s important to realize a good title is vital—it can make the difference between an editor reading your piece and relegating it to the slush pile. A little-known secret: Often, an editor

Poems are such versatile things. They can be as concise as a well-written line but also long enough to fill an entire book. Poems rhyme except when they don’t, and they follow rules except when they won’t. Poetry is beautifully chaotic. While I agree

Every author wants to do right by their book. They want to give their book the best chance to be seen and sold. Desire and action, however, are two very different prospects. When it comes to book marketing, authors shy away. Why? Three reasons: 1. It

Kiss You Back, Doctor Know, The Singapore Stunt (Contemporary small-town romance) WHY SELF-PUBLISH? I enjoy the fact that I can write in multiple series at the same time and collaborate with other authors in anthologies and shared worlds easily. I’ve

The House of Doors, my third novel, is set in 1910 and 1921. One of its protagonists is W. Somerset Maugham, who is traveling around Malaya, at that time a British colony. Still recovering from ill health following a misadventure, Maugham accepts an

Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are (Nonfiction, January, Random House) “Our Moon is a history of humanity’s relationship to Earth’s satellite, showing how the Moon has influenced

Born and raised in Nashville, Tenn., Sophie Cudd has a degree in English literature from Southern Methodist University. She also studied Shakespeare at the University of Oxford and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After nearly four years at William Mor

Myrsini Stephanides spent the first 10 years of her career as a nonfiction editor and book packager. She was at a crossroads when invited to join the Carol Mann Agency, becoming an agent and operations manager from 2009–2021. “It was upon moving to t

Book authors have to hook readers twice. Like all other writers, authors have to hook readers with the writing in their books. But they also have the additional challenge of hooking readers before they ever crack open the spine or open the digital fi

When we think of “structure” in writing, we often imagine rigid rules, like a throwback to high school English. But creative nonfiction (the practice of telling true stories using conventions of fiction such as plot and character development) invites

Opening lines—get them right … or else! Or else your readers won’t want to keep reading. This means that your novel, memoir, story, or essay won’t get published or won’t reach many readers. Yikes! That reads like the opening to a horror story for wri

I’ve been fortunate to read a fantasy novel that one of my friends is working on, and at the very start of the story, the main character arrives on an island via trading ship. One of the very first scenes is set in the marketplace built right next to

As a freelance picture book editor, my inbox is flooded daily with pleas from authors who need to know how to fix a mistake they made without spending a fortune. The truth is, not every mistake is easily fixable. But many of them are avoidable. Below

DIRECTIONS: Match the first line of the book to the title and author. 1. “There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who live with shame, and those who die from it.” 2. “The circumstances of Denny Tran’s death were so violent that most people

Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang (Riverhead Books, Literary/Speculative Fiction, September 2023) SYNOPSIS: Set sometime in the future, pollution has dramatically increased in the world, inducing significant changes in the climate and rendering m