The Writer

Advice and inspiration for today’s writer

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The Writer
Nicki Porter, Senior Editor; Toni Fitzgerald, Copy Editor; Melissa Hart, Contributing Editor Jaron Cote, Graphic Designer Cheyenne Corliss, Operations Director; Andrea Palli, Senior Client Services & Operations Lead; Tou Zong Her, Senior Client Servi
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Refresh
LAST MONTH, I HOPELESSLY FAILED a daily writing challenge. The first 15 days began swimmingly – I wrote every day, reveled in the creative prompts I was given, and felt gloriously proud of the works I’d produced. I felt good. Powerful, even. Each day
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The Season’s Hottest Reads
ISABEL CAÑAS Set during the aftermath of the Mexican War of Independence, this gothic haunted house thriller is billed as “Mexican Gothic meets Rebecca.” “Don’t read this gothic horror right before bedtime, especially if you’re prone to nightmares,”
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5 Speculative Fiction Conventions
IN THE WAKE OF THE COVID-19 PANdemic, authors like myself – who once identified as introverts – found themselves craving the company of like-minded writers off-screen and in person. Fortunately, convention staff across the country have been busily la
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Calls For Submissions
Black Annis Books seeks feminist horror as well as horror that is socially conscious. “We want your best work that uses elements of horror to explore social and emotional issues in beautiful, terrifying, metaphorical ways,” editors explain. Short sto
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The Writer Hosts Its First-ever Conference This Fall
In 1887, The Writer was founded in Boston to instruct, inspire, and encourage working writers. In 2022, it’s returning to its roots by hosting a live event in the historic city in which it was born. On September 17, 2022, 200 attendees will gather at
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Fiyah
IN 1926 – IN THE HEYDAY OF THE Harlem Renaissance – Langston Hughes asked Black novelist and playwright Wallace Thurman to edit the first issue of Fire!!, a literary magazine founded to showcase the works of young Black writers and artists. The perio
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My father’s Quiet De Luxe typewriter
“POP WOULD HAVE WANTED YOU TO have it,” said my older sister as she handed the case to me. “Because you’re the writer in the family,” she added, though this explanation was quite unnecessary. The “it” is a Royal Quiet De Luxe that reportedly was Erne
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Broadening The Bookshelves
This month’s The Nightstand picks from Sara Nović EDITOR’S NOTE: In conversations with our experts for this installation, we learned that there is some question still about whether it’s more appropriate to use capital-D Deaf, lowercase-d deaf, or som
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Talk To The Practitioner: Catalleya Storm
The Writer: Can you tell me a little bit about how you got started as a writer? Catalleya Storm: I started writing when my mother would give me and my siblings a notebook and pen during religious meetings. Her thinking was that we would write what we
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The Nightstand
This memoir, by a White House Champion of Change and recipient of the Helen Keller Achievement Award, begins with the terrifying moment when the then-7-year-old Girma’s father is arrested by Ethiopian soldiers, leaving her alone on a plane to London,
The Writer5 min readPopular Culture & Media Studies
Critiqueless partners
*Plus one bonus variation A good critique partner, one who reads your drafts and offers constructive feedback in order to help you revise – usually in exchange for your feedback on their drafts – can be an invaluable part of the writing process. But
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The Fatal Flaw
AT some point in writing your novel, you might imagine a minefield as you face one problem after another. But clearly, some problems are greater than others. Some could be so-called “fatal flaws.” Examples? What if you realize halfway through that yo
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Off The Shelves
Who among us book-loving writers hasn’t dreamed of owning our own bookstore? Turning strangers onto our favorite books, helping spread the word about gifted first-time authors, pulling old and new classics off the shelves to inspire ourselves, sharin
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Interview with RANDALL BROWN
What was your inspiration for “Shelter?” I imagined a glass house, then came the woman inside, and lastly the birds. Of course, if there’s a person living in a glass house, there’s going to be stones thrown. That just goes with the territory. What wa
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Shelter
The six houses rested on a hill, overlooking two ponds, the newest home made entirely, inside and out, of glass. The woman inside lived a transparent life: gathering the delivered ingredients each night for overgrown salads scattered with pistachios
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Postscript
You’ve been working on a manuscript for the next bestselling novel, and after years of hard work and revisions, you’re ready to send it out. But all of the time you’ve spent on your manuscript won’t matter much if you simply pop your masterpiece into
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The Month Ahead
If you’re craving the challenge of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) without the strict word count, consider joining Camp NaNoWriMo, a more flexible version of its November cousin that kicks off today. Write a short work – a poem, microfiction
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The Skinny On The Big Four
You may notice a few big-ticket publishers aren’t on this list – namely, four of them: Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Hachette Book Group, and HarperCollins. These companies constitute the “Big Four,” or the four largest publishers in the United St
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Gigi Will Know
Dear Gigi, Is it possible to find a traditional publisher for self-published books? I have a three-book series. —BEEN AROUND THE BLOCK Dear BATB, There are a few ways this could happen. First, your books have had a great track record. Both Hugh Howey

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