Writer's Digest

The terminal smelled like disinfectant and heavy perfume, a mixture that gave Charles a headache on the spot. He shifted his body to the right, so that he was facing the stream of disembarking travelers. The Spanish ones had better faces than the tou

I was recently asked who my favorite fictional characters were, and I had trouble giving an answer. But it wasn’t because I couldn’t think of any. It was because the characters I like the most are the ones that live the longest in my head—and those a

YASMIN ANGOE (YasminAngoe.com) is the author of Her Name Is Knight and a first-generation Ghanaian American currently residing in South Carolina with her family. She’s served in education for nearly 20 years and works as a developmental editor. Yasmi

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Amy Jones SENIOR EDITOR Robert Lee Brewer MANAGING EDITOR Moriah Richard EDITORS Sadie Dean Michael Woodson EDITORIAL INTERN Hannah Spicer ART DIRECTOR Wendy Dunning EDITORS-AT-LARGE Tyler Moss Jessica Strawser CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Ja

When crafting characters for your novel, names are vital to the authenticity of the world and can enhance and heighten a reader’s experience and understanding of the plot, especially the undercurrent of symbolism and thematic tension. Each name, when

Poetry is not the first place many people turn to when discussing characters and character development. Most readers probably think of fiction and maybe creative nonfiction, but poetry? Probably not. Still, many of the oldest pieces of written litera

For many indie authors, the idea of publishing a book is exciting. But it can also be nerve-wracking, especially when it comes to the printing of the book. Offset printing is a printing technique in which ink is transferred—or offset—from a printing

Ghost Pirate Gambit, From Chaos to Creativity: Building a Productivity System for Artists and Writers (Science fiction, nonfiction writing craft; Jessie Kwak Creative) WHY SELF-PUBLISH? I’ve been writing for a living for 10 years, dabbling in everyth

A few students recently shared their plan of completing the 30-day NaNoWriMo challenge, then emailing the brilliant pages of their next Great American Novel to an agent who’d quickly land a six-figure advance with a top publishing house. Yet, in over

Kristin Ostby is an editor-turned-literary agent from the Midwest. After moving from Michigan to New York, Ostby began her career in publishing at Penguin Random House and rose to become a senior editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Os

When I hear the term method acting, I immediately think of actors like Jeremy Strong having trouble referring to his “Succession” character, Kendall Roy, in the third person or Austin Butler going literal years without seeing his family as he was pre

The most exquisitely developed characters in the world won’t make an impact unless those characterizations are clear and vivid in the pages of your story. Bringing characters to life on the page comprises a myriad of context and detail that, if done

You just finished writing your book. You’ve sent it off to a handful of readers and are waiting with all the patience of a caffeinated squirrel for that coveted reader feedback. After what feels like eternity, it finally comes. And there you see it.

Writing a series is a massive undertaking. It requires a lot of time and even more commitment. Think hard before you choose to take it on. But writing a series can be magical, fun, and exciting. It can feel like home because you get to play around a

Character voice is the way our characters speak inwardly to themselves and outwardly to other people. Like with your own voice, it has degrees, modulations, and changes in pitch. How you talk to yourself is different and sometimes maybe even crueler

It might seem like nonfiction writers get off easy when it comes to developing characters: We don’t have to create them from whole cloth, inventing layers of backstory and idiosyncrasy—the people we’re writing about already exist! But the work of tra

As we met to discuss her winning novel, Claire Fraise said something that resonates through every part of her writing and publishing journey: “I just try to keep a curious mindset and to explore and to keep doing something to move myself in the direc

They Stay by Claire Fraise Read Island by Nicole Magistro Forever Home by Cathy Stenquist Mrs. R. Snugglesworth, Attorney-at-Law by Amy Flanagan Nature Parade by Nikki Samuels Siege of Herons: Collective Nouns Alphabetically by Ramona Wildeman The Th

Joe wanted a reason to live. He was sitting on the corner of Lexington and 53rd, surrounded by his few worldly possessions and a cardboard sign that read “Disabled Veteran, Please Help” propped up against a metal jar with a few coins in it. He walks

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When I started querying in 2010, one of the agents I approached requested a paper manuscript. I printed my manuscript and sent it in a padded envelope. I received a reply by mail a few months later; a brief, kind rejection signed personally by the ag

There’s a reason why literary journals are perpetually popular among writers looking to get published: Like the magazines on this list, many of them are paying markets that publish fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. So, there’s room for most types of w

In September 2018, the New York Times Modern Love editors, Daniel Jones and Miya Lee, put out a call for 100-word essays to run in a series called Tiny Love Stories (TLS). The only requirements are that the essays are true and unpublished. I spoke wi

What’s it about?” That’s a question that writers are often asked. Whether the questioner is a reader at a book festival, a friend or family member, an agent or editor, the writer must come up with a compelling, yet pithy, answer. Usually, the writer

For those of us who spent our childhoods with one eye focused on our toys and trinkets, waiting for them to come to life and offer us their friendship, we know a thing or two about the disappointment in the law of diminishing returns. The older we ge

This might be an odd take coming from a column designed to instruct you on how to world-build, but I think there aren’t many reasons to construct a new language. I know; it’s hard to believe. When we think about world-building, so many people think a

INSTRUCTIONS: It’s time to interview your character! Whether you’re imagining sitting down for coffee across from the hero of your latest project or taking a stroll with a well-loved character of popular media, use the answers they give you to write

Most mysteries and thrillers I’ve read lately feature chapters alternating between characters. It makes sense why that’s a popular approach—switching to another point of view after a tense chapter not only makes readers want to keep turning pages, bu