Writer's Digest

“Fiction would become stale if it was limited to each author’s tiny orbit. Most creative people are explorers and can’t be confined within set boundaries. We’re curious about the world and its inhabitants—past, present, and imaginary. The nature of t

Let me count the ways. I love thee for the depth and breadth with which this issue interprets the theme: Getting Personal. With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning for that awful attempt at cleverness, the sentiment is true. This isn’t just an is

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Amy Jones SENIOR EDITORS Jeanne Veillette Bowerman, Robert Lee Brewer MANAGING EDITOR Cassandra Lipp EDITOR Moriah Richard ART DIRECTOR Wendy Dunning ILLUSTRATOR Danielle Lowery EDITORS-AT-LARGE Ericka McIntyre Tyler Moss Jessica Stra

LESLYE PENELOPE (LPenelope.com) has been writing since she could hold a pen and loves getting lost in the worlds in her head. She is an award-winning author of fantasy and paranormal romance. Her novel Song of Blood & Stone was chosen as one of TIME

Even if you’re great at landing pitches for feature stories, wouldn’t it be sweet if one pitch turned into a contract for six stories? Or 12, or 18? Sound impossible? Not if you’re pitching a column that would appear in every issue of a magazine for

Sometime in the 1960s, a young boy named Adam Hargreaves asked his father, Roger, what a tickle looked like. Roger responded by drawing Mr. Tickle, a round orange man with extraordinarily long arms that could stretch to tickle anyone, anywhere. He de

“William Shatner Appalled.” I stared at the headline on my computer screen, my face flush with embarrassment. It was still dark outside in the predawn of March 29, 2013, the day when my dreams of becoming a well-known writer came true. Indeed, by the

The quintilla is a Spanish quintain (or five-line) form based around an ab rhyme scheme and eight-syllable lines. But there’s a catch: None of the stanzas can end on a rhyming couplet. As such, each quintain must have one of the following rhyme patte

At a memorial dinner for my beloved, psychotically upbeat friend, Erica Chase-Salerno, mourners were invited to choose an “Affirmators!” card from her favorite silly/inspirational deck. The one I pulled read: “As I tell myself the story of what’s hap

The decision to self-publish a book means taking on all the responsibilities of a publisher. This puts the author in charge of not only the writing, but the distribution, marketing, and promotion as well. Amazon is the leading vendor for book sales i

A few times when I was a tyke of, oh, about 8 years old, I stayed at my aunt’s house. My cousins were 10-plus years older than me, but my aunt had kept some of their childhood treasures, and on my first visit, she put out an array of old toys on the

My first real job was in medical publishing.1 At lunch on my first day, one of my new colleagues said something that stuck with me for the rest of my day-job career: No one chooses to work in medical publishing. We all just fell into it. Then he laug

(YA fantasy, April, HarperTeen) WRITES FROM: England. PRE-WITCHES: Witches was my first foray into YA fantasy. I’d written dystopias, but Witches was the first story where everything I loved, as opposed to what was trending, clicked. I wanted witches

Remembering Shanghai by Isabel Sun Chao and Claire Chao. Plum Book. RememberingShanghai.com On the Shoulders of Giants by Malcolm Ivey. MalcolmIvey.com East of Lincoln by Harlin Hailey. HarlinHailey.com Forgive Us Our Trespasses by Susanne O’Connor.

Whether you are a budding, intermediate, or advanced writer, a good pitch letter with a great spin on a topic, timely element, newsy connection, or unusual personal experience is a great first step toward getting that assignment and building that rel

What is going to be the next big trend in fiction? Signed, Pencil Poised I am so glad you asked. I have been absolutely dying to tell someone. The next big trend is going to be … Amish steampunk crossover YA told in second person. Right? I know! How

“You’re saying she never mentioned a bird?” The attorney shifted awkwardly in his chair, peering around the cage that had been placed between us, just beside my mother’s will. I tried to think back to when I’d last visited. Last Christmas? No, I’d sp

Time to have one of those raw, brutal, hit-you-upside-your-head chats about your writing. I’ll be as gentle as I can, because writing is personal. Even if your stories have nothing to do with your real life, you birthed these characters and put them

This is the Personal Issue, so it only makes sense to focus on personal essays. Personally, I love a good personal essay. When done well, they are less essay and more personal story with an emphasis on the storytelling. More than just an entertaining

Sponsored by the Biographers International Organization (BIO) and the Leon Levy Center for Biography, this event brings together some of the finest practitioners of the craft of biography to help guide, mentor, encourage, and advise attendees on a wi

ANNUAL GREATER LOS ANGELES WRITERS CONFERENCE, produced by West Coast Writers Conferences August 6–8, 2021 at the new Hilton Westside Los Angeles if in person, or in the virtual realm August 6–14. Writers of all genres and disciplines benefit from th