Writers Digest

25th ANNUAL 101 BEST WEBSITES FOR WRITERS
WRITERS HELPING WRITERS SINCE 1920
KEEPING IT SHORT
MASTER the Power of
Suggestion in Flash Fiction
UNDERSTANDING Loglines, Pitches,

Synopses, and Queries
WRITING Ratings, Reviews,

and Marketing Copy
WD Self-Published E-Book Award

Winner SUSAN MATTERN
WD Personal Essay Award

Winner TONI LEPESKA
9 TIPS FOR
COMPOSING
MICRO
MEMOIRS
W D I N T E RV I E W
MAY/JUNE 2023
WritersDigest.com
Brandon Taylor
THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR DISCUSSES
THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF HIS
WORK, THE IMPORTANCE OF SHORT
STORIES, AND HIS SECOND NOVEL
C E N T RA L
K E Y NOTE SPEAK ER
WRITER’S DIGEST
ANNUAL
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Elizabeth Acevedo is the New York Times-bestselling author
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High, which was named a best book of the year by the New
York Public Library, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and School
Library Journal; and Clap When You Land, a Boston Globe–
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FE AT U RE S
KEEPING IT SHORT
26
The 25th Annual 101 Best
Websites for Writers
BY AMY JONES, MORIAH RICHARD, AND
MICHAEL WOODSON
38
The Four Elements
Learn the diǺerence between
loglines, elevator pitches, query
pitches, and a plot synopsis to
make the best rst impression with
literary agents.
BY AMY COLLINS
42
Honing the Power
of Suggestion With
Flash Fiction
COVER HEADSHOT COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR IMAGE © GETTY IMAGES: HULINSKA_YEVHENIIA

Tips for making the biggest impact
with the fewest words.
BY GRANT FAULKNER
46
ON THE COVER
2 6 25th Annual 101 Best Websites for Writers
4 2 Master the Power of Suggestion in Flash Fiction
A Good Ending 3 8 Understanding Loglines, Pitches, Synopses,
Learn where a personal essay and Queries
delivers its gift. 2 0 Writing Marketing Copy
BY WILLIAM KENOWER 5 0 WD Self-Published E-Book Award Winner

Susan Mattern
12 WD Personal Essay Award Winner Toni Lepeska
6 8 10 Tips for Composing Micro Memoirs
5 2 WD Interview: Brandon Taylor
2 I WRITER’S DIGEST I May/June 2023

M AY/J UNE | VOLU ME 103 | NO. 3
I NK W E LL
50 8 OAKLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY EXHIBITS ITEMS

FOUND IN RETURNED BOOKS
BY DON VAUGHAN
“That’s My Journey” 10 PLUS: Worth a Thousand Words • Unearthing the
Susan Mattern, author of Out of the Lion’s Den, Personal • Poetic Asides • Write It Out
grand-prize winner of the 10th Annual WD
C O L U M NS
Self-Published E-Book Awards, talks staying
true to her story and the benets of writing at 16 INDIELAB: Writing Those Pesky Ratings, Reviews,
a distance from the events. and Blurbs Without Stress
BY AMY JONES BY ELIZABETH SIMS
19 INDIE AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Amra Pajalić, pen

name Mae Archer
BY AMY JONES
2 0 WD 101: Book Marketing Copy 101

BY WHITNEY HILL
2 2 WRITERS ON WRITING: Cam Collins and

Steve Shell
2 3 MEET THE AGENT: Ismita Hussain • Great Dog
Literary
BY KARA GEBHART UHL
2 4 BREAKING IN: Debut Author Spotlight

BY MORIAH RICHARD
5 8 YOUR STORY: Misty Nights #120

6 4 AGENT SPOTLIGHT: Rita Rosenkranz • Rita
Rosenkranz Literary Agency
52
BY KRISTY STEVENSON
6 8 ON NONFICTION: The Art (and Arc) of Writing

Micro Memoir
THE WD INTERVIEW: BY ESTELLE ERASMUS
Brandon Taylor 7 0 PUBLISHING INSIGHTS: 5 Flash Fiction and

Nonfiction Markets
The bestselling author discusses the
BY ROBERT LEE BREWER
interconnectedness of his work, the
7 2 LEVEL UP YOUR WRITING (LIFE): Using Shorter
importance of short stories, and his latest
Pieces to Improve Your Longer Projects
release, The Late Americans.
BY SHARON SHORT
BY MICHAEL WOODSON
76 BUILDING BETTER WORLDS: Creation Myths
BY MORIAH RICHARD
NEX T D RA F T
7 8 FOR ALL AGES: Picture This
BY EBONY GLENN
61 OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS: RUTHLESS
EDITING 101 8 0 FRONTLIST/BACKLIST: Novellas
BY RYAN G. VAN CLEAVE BY AMY JONES
PLUS: 4 Learn by Example 5 Editor’s Letter 6 Contributors 8 8 Creative Quill
Writer’s Digest (USPS 459-930) (ISSN 0043-9525) Canadian Agreement No. 40025316 is published bimonthly, with issues in January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, and November/
December by the Home Group of Active Interest Media HoldCo, Inc. The known office of publication is located at 2143 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50312. Periodicals Postage paid at Des Moines, Iowa, and
additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send all address changes to Writer’s Digest, P.O. Box 37274, Boone, IA 50037-0274. SUBSCRIPTIONS: For subscription questions or address changes, call 800-333-0133
(U.S. only) or email us at [email protected]. US subscription rate $24.96, Canadian subscription rate $34.96 USD.
WritersDigest.com I 3
LEARNBYEX AMPLE
Paint a Character in 2 Lines
COMPILED BY JESSICA STRAWSER
Characterize Through Characterize Through

Another Character’s Action
Eyes War was declared at eleven-fifteen
My father calls me a “character,” and Mary North signed up at noon.
because I tend to say the first She did it at lunch, before telegrams
thing that pops into my head. came, in case her mother said no.*
My mother calls me “individual,” —Everyone Brave Is Forgiven,
which is her polite way of not quite Chris Cleave (Historical Fiction)
understanding the way I dress.
Characterize Through
—Me Before You, Jojo Moyes *BONUS: These are also the first two
Voice
Dad has even been drilling it into
(Contemporary Fiction) lines of the entire novel.
my head that I should pretend I’m
the main character of a story that
Corinne’s 15 years younger than I am, She stands at her kitchen counter,
nothing bad ever happens to, most
and there’s always some emergency—a barefoot in her loose tai chi outfit,
especially death because the hero
carburetor that’s dead, a fight with her peering through her glasses as she
has to be around to save the day.
boyfriend, a crash on 95N. Corinne scratches out a grocery list on the
But the noise in my head is quieting
is one of those people for whom life back of an old envelope between
down and there’s a Death-Cast her-
is just the space spoonfuls of her breakfast. For Aunt
ald on the other end of the phone
between crises. Charlotte, momentum is the key to
waiting to tell me I’m going to die
—Small Great emotional health.
today at eighteen years old.
Things, Jodi Picoult —The Wife Between Us, Greer
—They Both Die at the End,
(Mainstream Fiction) Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen (Thriller)
Adam Silvera (Young Adult)
See, I am the rarest of creatures in

Characterize Through Dialogue suburban towns—a straight, single,
Getting right to the point, I My mother used to childless male is about as common
blurted out, “I’m worried about say, “Auntie Ying is not out here as a cigarette in a health
Harper.” hard of hearing. She is club—and so I work hard to come
My brother snorted. “When are hard of listening.” across as normal, boring, reliable.
you not worried about Harper?” —The Joy Luck Club, Non-threatening.
—A Walk Along the Beach, Amy Tan —Don’t Let Go,
Debbie Macomber (Romance) (Literary Fiction) Harlan Coben (Thriller)
Jessica Strawser (JessicaStrawser.com) is editor-at-large for WD and the author of five novels, most recently The Next Thing You Know,
which is new in paperback in March 2023 (St. Martin’s Press).
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN BY EXAMPLE? We want to hear from you! Email your ideas for future topics to cover here to
[email protected] with “Learn by Example” in the subject line. You might see yours in a future issue of WD.

EDITOR’SLETTER
AN ACTIVE INTEREST MEDIA PUBLICATION
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Amy Jones
SENIOR EDITOR
More Isn’t Always Better
Robert Lee Brewer Last year, I helped my cousin edit her college
MANAGING EDITOR
admissions essay. She had to write 600 words
Moriah Richard on a topic of her choosing. Aside from the fact
EDITORS
that the prompt was so broad as to be over-
Sadie Dean whelming and meaningless, 600 words isn’t
Michael Woodson
much space to explore an idea.
ART DIRECTOR She sent the essay to me, and I left a few
Wendy Dunning
comments here and there, but she’s a great
EDITORS-AT-LARGE writer and didn’t need much help. The essay
Tyler Moss
Jessica Strawser
topped out at around 625 words, and fully and
clearly explained her idea. Well done, Hannah.
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Jane K. Cleland, Bob Eckstein, Until she copied it into the submission portal. It was too long, and the “sub-
Jane Friedman, Sharon Short, mit” button wouldn’t appear until the essay was shortened.
Elizabeth Sims, Jeff Somers,
Kristy Stevenson, Kara Gebhart Uhl,
So, in a Google Doc, we tweaked and fiddled with contractions, word
Ryan G. Van Cleave, Don Vaughan, choices, and rephrasing until miraculously it was at exactly 600 words. Mission
Ran Walker
accomplished. And honestly, it was the most fun I’d had with writing in a long
MARKETING DESIGNER time. That challenge of being precise and intentional with words to hit the word
Samantha Weyer
target and to better get the meaning across was literally a word game.
COMPETITIONS MANAGER This is what I respect about writers of short works above all else: their
Tara Johnson
dedication to telling the most effective story with an economy of compelling
VP GENERAL MANAGER language. It’s a skill that requires practice and refinement, and it’s the sub-
Taylor Sferra
ject of this issue. Grant Faulkner, founder of 100 Word Story and author of
the new book The Art of Brevity, offers advice for using the power of sugges-
WRITER’S DIGEST
tion in your flash fiction. William Kenower focuses on how to write the right
EDITORIAL OFFICES
ending for your personal essays. And on the business side of things, Talcott
4665 Malsbary Road
Blue Ash, Ohio 45242 Notch Literary Services Agent Amy Collins breaks down the differences (and
[email protected] importance) of four short pieces of writing you’ll need to capture the interest
of an agent: a logline, an elevator pitch, a query pitch, and a synopsis.
BACK ISSUES In keeping with the theme, the WD Interview features Brandon Taylor, nov-
Digital back issues are available for elist and short story writer who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020 for
purchase at WritersDigestShop.com.
his debut novel Real Life and who won The Story Prize for his collection of sto-
ries, Filthy Animals. He spoke with Content Editor Michael Woodson about his
CUSTOMER SERVICE new novel, The Late Americans, and why short story writing is so important.
2143 Grand Ave., Des Moines, Iowa, Part of why we chose “Keeping It Short” for this particular issue’s theme are
50312 [email protected]
or call: (800) 333-0133 the 101 short descriptions of what we think are the best websites for writers. It’s
fitting that among the 28 new websites, three of those are for short fiction.
PRIVACY STATEMENT
Finally, we recognize the winners of not one, but two WD writing com-
Active Interest Media HoldCo, Inc. is
petitions. Congratulations to Toni Lepeska for her essay “Five Nights in
committed to protecting your privacy. For Milford,” which won the 3rd Annual Personal Essay Awards. We also send our
a full copy of our privacy statement, go to
congratulations to Susan Mattern, whose memoir Out of the Lion’s Den won
aimmedia.com/privacy-policy.
the 10th Annual Self-Published E-Book Awards.
PHOTO © JASON HALE PHOTOGRAPHY
COPYRIGHT: 2023 by Active Interest

Media HoldCo, Inc., Des Moines, Iowa.
And in case you were curious, the admissions essay worked.
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Oakland Public Library Exhibits Items Found
in Returned Books
What the Found in a Library Book project reveals about a community.
BY DON VAUGHAN
T
hank you for all that you do. on the Oakland Public Library’s things found and submitted by people
I know that there isn’t much website (OaklandLibrary.org all over, and I thought it would be fun
you actually have to do for /found-in-a-library-book/). to feature some of the stuff found in
me but you have the biggest heart. “Right now, there are 439 items library books on our blog.”
I’m glad to have you in my life. You catalogued on the website, and I have
give me a second [of your time] and it probably another hundred that are “It was just me and mom
makes me not feel as alone as I would scanned on my computer but not on a Saturday. She had
even though we do have a tendency to shared yet,” McKellar tells Writer’s somewhere to go at 3 p.m.
argue. I’m working on stopping that so Digest. “There is also another hun- and wanted to leave at
that we only have to worry about hav- dred or so in a box under my desk.” 2:30 p.m. I asked her
ing a good time.” McKellar, who has worked at the why leave so early and she
The author of this hand-written Oakland Public Library since 2003, said, ‘To be on time and
note is unknown, as is the recipient. It started collecting items found in show respect.’”
was found in a book returned to the returned books around 10 years ago,
Oakland Public Library in Oakland, and asked colleagues at the library’s —Handwritten on
Calif., likely used as a bookmark. It 18 locations to pass along anything a homemade bookmark
says so much, yet reveals so little. unique they found as well. “When I
Who were these people? What was started collecting found items, I was Found in a Library Book is
their relationship? Did they ever stop overseeing the library’s public web- divided into categories, including
arguing and focus instead on having site and public relations communica- Found Notes, Found Art, Found
a good time? tions,” she explains. “At the time, our Photos, Cards and Letters, Found
This anonymous note, just five website had some exciting new blogs, Facts, Found Bookmarks, Found
sentences long, is one of hundreds of and I was trying to think of ideas for Creative Writing, Found by Kids,
items found in returned books that content that would be a little more fun and Found Artifacts. Within these
Sharon McKellar, supervising librar- than the usual program notices and categories, you’ll find an eclectic
ian for teen services, has posted on book lists. I was a fan of a publication array of materials that truly cross the
the “Found in a Library Book” page called Found Magazine that published spectrum: ticket stubs from movies

and plays, airline boarding passes, a found something in, especially if it’s to the person who left it behind.
beer label, pressed flowers, a 1-day humorous or relevant, but it really And things that feel really impor-
Barcelona sightseeing ticket, a sleep runs the gamut.” tant may not actually matter to the
mask, playing cards, a sigmoidos- McKellar admits that some of the person. It’s interesting to me that we
copy prescription, a dental report items have touched her personally, just tell ourselves stories about the
(“Excellent Patient!”), a map of Japan, especially photographs taken before items and can imagine all different
a pizza coupon, a baseball ticket stub the digital era. “I really like Polaroid versions of their lives before they
(Athletics vs. Orioles), a $3 bill fea- photos because you have the sense landed in our library.”
turing Hillary Clinton, Hi! From a that it might be the only image that McKellar recalls only one item
Gay Guy!, a Stonewall Jackson trad- exists of that particular moment,” that she would consider disturbing
ing card, and much more. McKellar says. “There are also some because it looked like it was possibly
According to McKellar, the most really lovely notes and postcards related to mail-order wives. However,
common items found in returned between people, including some that by the time it was discovered, she
books are bookmarks. Most are the are wishful about love lost and such.” says, there really wasn’t any immedi-
commercial type, but plenty of home- ate urgency or concern.
made bookmarks have been found “We are onLy here 4 hRs “One of the things I’ve noticed
as well, along with items not usu- for tHis libRary anD about the collection, and I’ve thought
ally regarded as bookmarks, such no time for tHis!” about this more and more, is that
as a crochet hook, an unopened overall it’s pretty positive,” McKellar
packet of sugar, and, perhaps most —Angrily hand-scribbled in ink on adds. “I think that’s interesting, given
unusual of all, a small plastic piece a piece of paper that these are items people weren’t
that McKellar believes came from putting out for display purposes.
a dishwasher. “I don’t know how to McKellar says she’s also often There’s some sadness, but there’s not
describe it,” she says. “It’s round and moved by little notes that people a lot of anger or violence of any sort.
it says KitchenAid. It’s like something appear to have written to themselves. There have been a few things that
on the front of an appliance that got She recalls one in particular, which were perhaps too explicit to put on
pulled off.” reads almost like a poem: the website.”
Patrons have also left behind “Harmony. Strength. Acceptance.
numerous Polaroid photos, along Just thoughts: ‘I’m alone’ People
with lists, personal notes, holiday shopping together. I never had a child
“Dear Reader, I love this
cards, and, most puzzling of all, or will. Thoughts don’t + depression. book. It stole my heart and
important personal items such as Thoughts don’t stop me. Pregnant made me cry. When you find
driver’s licenses, Social Security 18 years old. Buy gold teeth. Animal tearstains you will know they
cards, credit cards, and even a shelter. RTE perfect life mouse. are mine. Enjoy!”
signed check. Whenever possible, Feelings even more intense. From
—Handwritten note on lined
McKellar says, important personal day of dead letter. Good death. Old
notebook paper
items are returned to the patrons horse. Elephant. Dog poem—today.
who forgot them. Christopher Alexander—and quote
There is no particular kind of by Helen Luke.” Archiving hundreds of found
book or genre that sees the greatest “I want to know the backstory items over the years has left McKellar
number of found items. “My under- of everything in our collection,” with a strong sense of empathy for
standing is it’s across the board,” McKellar says. “I think that’s why patrons who appear to be going
observes McKellar. “Although, to be it’s intriguing. With some of them, through something emotionally dif-
fair, I usually don’t know what books you can sort of understand or guess ficult, or were at the time the item
items are found in because they’re where they came from or when. was left behind. “I feel that others
sent to me from library staff around But we don’t know. So, things that may find things in the collection that
the system. Every once in a while, seem really innocuous might actu- make them feel more emotional as
someone will tell me what book they ally have some sort of deep meaning well,” she observes.
Identifying information, such as “The items are so broad in scope
names and addresses, is removed that I feel it reflects on how much “I have a secret of a friend—I
before each item is catalogued and of our community, how much of have bin lying to her. I said
posted on Found in a Library Book. Oakland, uses the library and reads,” she was my favorite friend
Still, a handful of patrons have McKellar says. “There are items in
but she is not. She allways
recognized notes or other items many different languages, there are
that they or another family member items talking about many different
nos how to get out of trying.
had written, and were excited to see things. Obviously, there are plenty of She allways has good reasons.”
them in the collection. “One person people in our community who don’t —Written in pencil on a piece of
recognized two photos of herself use a library or who aren’t readers. blank paper, likely by a child
from childhood that had been lost,” But when you look at this collection
McKellar notes. “She was very excited as a whole and see how broad the
McKellar says. “For example, it really
to have them back. It was really, range is of readers and library users,
shows this beautiful side of humanity,
really lovely.” it’s part of what makes it really cool.”
an unintentionally public side. We’re
The hundreds of items in the col- Found in a Library Book is a fun
seeing this cross section of the com-
lection reveal much about those who repository of ephemera and other
munity, all of these different people
left them behind—as well as about items, but the project carries greater
and these little glimpses of their lives,
the kind of people who read and, significance than merely archiving
and it feels really personal. I think
more importantly, patronize their found weird stuff. “I believe there
that’s really nice, especially now.
local library. is importance in a couple of ways,”
We’ve become very disconnected,
and I think it’s a way to bring us all
together as a community. I also think
Worth a Thousand Words there’s something nice about these
physical items in a time where so
much is digital. Of course, I’m digitiz-
ing some for the website, but before
that they were a physical thing in a
physical book that made its way to
our library. It shows how well librar-
ies are still in use, how many people
read books. And it’s fun.”
Have you found a note or other

object in a library book? Look for this
article on WritersDigest.com to leave
a comment or tag us on Twitter to
share your story!
“…and so I left Wall Street and made a killing in poetry.” Don Vaughan is a freelance writer based
in Raleigh, N.C. His work has appeared in
Boys’ Life, Writer’s Digest, Military Officer
Bob Eckstein is a New Yorker cartoonist, NY Times–bestselling author, and adjunct professor Magazine, Encyclopedia Britannica, and
at NYU. His new book is The Complete Book of Cat Names (That Your Cat Won’t Answer MAD Magazine. He’s the founder of Triangle
to, Anyway). Association of Freelancers (TAFNC.com).

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Unearthing the Personal
Toni Lepeska, the Writer’s Digest 3rd Annual Personal Essay Awards grand-prize
winner, discusses the difference between journalism and essay writing, exploring
grief, and raising the bar for yourself.
BY MORIAH RICHARD
A
s I speak with Toni Lepeska
about her grand-prize win
in the Writer’s Digest 3rd
Annual Personal Essay Awards, it
strikes me by the passion in her voice
that this is someone who takes her
writing career very seriously. She’s
been a professional journalist for 30
years, and she says that her favor-
ite stories to cover have always been
about people rising above adversity.
“Those stories, I think they reso-
nate with people because we all have
something that challenges us and that
maybe we think we cannot beat,” she
says. “Those stories can be so inspir-
ing to people.” She recounts a par-
ticularly impactful story of a woman
who had a facial tumor that led to
her being permanently disfigured—
but it was her optimistic attitude
around her diagnosis and treatment
that Lepeska carries with her, years
after the interview was conducted. “I
just want people to be able to grab a
hold of something in a story … and
be able to go through their situation had enormous feeling attached to it journalism world! But that’s how I
and overcome it or to survive it with … even though I’d be crying, it was transitioned into learning about how
a more positive way for them [to live] very healing.” to tell a personal story.”
their lives.” The deeper she explored these This sent her on a quest to write a
She had been writing about oth- feelings, the more she felt the call to memoir that documents that expe-
IMAGE © GETTY IMAGES: JAN HAKAN DAHLSTROM
ers and their challenges for about write about them. She says, “I don’t rience. Very early on in the writing
20 years before she lost both of her think writers can resist emotional process, she says that a literary agent
parents. While dealing with the emo- journeys—especially their own … I recommended she read Eat, Pray,
tional backlash of grief and loss, she was compelled to tell my own sto- Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. “I just was
set to the task of cleaning out their ries for personal reasons, but I also riveted by that memoir because of her
home, which took several years. “I felt compelled to help other people voice. It’s so conversational! It was
couldn’t bear to throw away or give with the many facets of grief and loss almost as though she was sitting on
away much of anything. Everything through storytelling. I’m still in the the other side of my coffee cup telling

me her story. I kept thinking, Gosh, They are all dead now. Everyone
this sounds so familiar. That’s when who ever lived in this house is THE WINNERS
it dawned on me that I write long dead, but my uncle’s hoard is 1. “Five Nights in Milford” by Toni
emails to my friends that had a simi- here. It is as tall as I am and as Lepeska
lar tone. I realized that I had been wide as an entire basement wall. 2. “The Accidental Gardener” by
stiff in my telling personal stories [for The mound feels like a single, Bichlien Hoang
publication].” impenetrable, impossible mass. 3. “Fortune House” by Wally
She changed her approach to sto- It’s the last of his accumulated Suphap
rytelling and started focusing more possessions. I know it hides gold. 4. “Another Reason for the Mona
on personal essays. A subscriber of Emotional gold. The essence of Lisa to Smile” by Carol Ikard
Writer’s Digest, she set about entering my family. 5. “Strange Beauty” by Jason
the personal essay competition—and It’s all that is left of them. Barthe
placed as honorable mention the first With hands on my waist and 6. “Baby Don’t Go” by Lindsey
two years. “As delighted as I was to be elbows cocked out, I look like LeBlanc
receive an honorable mention, I was I’m in command, but I’m not sure 7. “The Best Teacher in the World”
wondering, What do I need to do where to begin. by Robert Granader
to place?” How in the world am I going 8. “Prey” by Nicole Bosserman
At the same time, she began won- to do this? 9. “Masterpieces in the Making”
dering if she should enact a drastic Hoards seem to be a genetic by Evan E. Campa
change to her memoir—replace the component of my family, but I’ve 10. “My Mother’s Purse” by JS
never had to dismantle one this Picariello
past tense with present. “But was I
correct? That was my question. I had massive to find the stuff worth
that doubt that we all—all writers— keeping. It puzzles me that de-
results for some of the things they try,
carry around with them.” spite his attachment to stuff, Un-
and yet find beauty in life again. That
She decided to try it out on an cle Karl did not sign a will for the
there’s hope for restoration. The grief
essay she titled “Five Nights in distribution of his property. And
is hard, but it’s also the pathway to a
Milford” and enter that into the my aunt, his wife, who survived
sense of healing.”
Writer’s Digest Personal Essay him by six years, was not medi-
And for all aspiring essayists out
Awards. “I thought that if I could cally fit to make a will the courts
there, she wants to leave you with
place in the Writer’s Digest contest would accept.
this: “Keep learning. Writing can be a
… it would be an affirmation that I That means her family is inher-
gift, but it is definitely a skill. Believe
could do it, I could write in the pres- iting everything. People I barely
in your ability to be able to learn
ent tense, I could write in scenes. So, know.
even when your head is spinning and
I asked one thing of them. Al-
winning this essay contest was really even when you don’t seem to be get-
low me to go through my family’s
a big breakthrough for me.” ting it. … I could have given up, but
things.
This excerpt demonstrates this I decided there was something else
They gave me five nights.
journey of experimenting with her for me to learn and apply. … You just
writing and finding a solid voice: need to find the right resources, find
Lepeska’s winnings include $2,500
the right teacher, and find what works
I am alone, more than 1,500 miles in cash, a paid trip to the Writer’s
for you.”
away from home, in an unfinished Digest Annual Conference (including
basement illuminated by a single a coveted Pitch Slam slot), and more.
shop light to save what’s left of So, what’s next for her? “I’m pick-
my family. My grandfather built ing that [memoir] back up this year!
this Cape Cod style house in I want to show people through my
Milford, Conn., 70 years ago. My story that they can go through grief
daddy grew up in it, and my uncle and loss and lose a sense of safety and Moriah Richard is managing editor of WD.
brought his bride to this home. security, try to resurrect it and get no Follow her on Twitter @MoriahRichard93.
No matter what you write, a bit of poetic license can be a valuable asset to any writer’s arsenal.
A SHORT LIST OF SHORT

POETIC FORMS
Since we’re keeping it short in this
issue, what better time to share a
short list of poetic forms that keep
things short—at least in terms of lines
and syllables. No rambling free verse
or repetitive sestinas here. Instead,
play with one of these tiny poems.
The Fib
This is a trick form, because this
poem is often short (fewer than 10
lines), but it could theoretically go on
forever. It’s a poem that follows the
Fibonacci sequence for determining Quintilla employs not one but two refrains
how many syllables are in each line. The quintilla is a five-line Spanish (and even then, one of the refrains
So, one syllable in the first line and poetic form that offers a variety of ab is repeated twice!). Each line should
the second line, followed by two syl- rhyme patterns with the one com- be either eight or 10 syllables (keep
lables in the third line, three syllables mandment that the poem shall not it consistent within the poem)
in the fourth line, five syllables in the end with a rhyming couplet. Each and follow this rhyme scheme:
fifth line, eight syllables in the sixth line should contain eight syllables ABaAabAB. The capital letters
line, and so on. But for our purposes, and can have one of the following indicate the refrains.
why not cap it at five lines? rhyme patterns: abaab; ababa; abbab;
This is a small sampling of short
aabab; or aabba.
Lune poetic forms. We didn’t even touch
Tricube
BREWER ILLUSTRATION © TONY CAPURRO IMAGE © GETTY IMAGES: OLGA STRELNIKOVA

This short poetic form, also known on haiku, limericks, or the many
as the American haiku, actually has This lengthy nine-liner almost didn’t short but complicated Welsh forms.
two variations. First, there’s the “Kelly make the list, but I decided to include So, if you find you enjoy writing
it since each line only contains three short, realize there is no shortage of
lune” that has five syllables in the first
syllables (for 27 total). This poem is other short forms to play with.
line, three in the second, and five in
comprised of three stanzas, each con-
the final line. If you tire of this form,
taining three lines (and yes, as men-
you can try the “Collom lune” that is
tioned, three syllables per line).
based on word count instead of syl-
lable count. So, three words in the Triolet
Robert Lee Brewer is senior editor of
first line, five words in the second, This French eight-liner is also not Writer’s Digest and author of The Complete
and three in the final line. quite as long as it seems, because it Guide of Poetic Forms.
SHARE YOUR POETIC VOICE: If you’d like to see your poem in the pages of Writer’s Digest, check out the Poetic Asides blog
(WritersDigest.com/write-better-poetry/poetry-prompts) and search for the most recent WD Poetic Form Challenge.

Write It Out
Writing prompts to boost your creativity.
BY AMY JONES
U
se the following writing
prompts to write a minicol-
lection of interconnected
short stories in the genre of your
choosing. Think about how these
scenarios would play out differently
depending on whether you write
romance, thriller, science fiction, lit-
erary fiction, dystopian, etc. WD
1 2 4
1. Write a short story of no more 2. Write another short story
ory of no 4. Write another short story of
than 500 words about a character
characte more than 500 words sett in the no more than 500 words about
bout
who reports to work only to quit same workplace on the same
me day,
day a person who encounterss your
unexpectedly later that day. but from another character’s
ter’s POV. character from story number
mber three.
This character was witness to the It could be a major encounter or a
resignation of the character from minor encounter. What happens?
the first story but doesn’t fully
understand what happened. For
5
5. The next day, your character
acter
whatever reason, the resignation
from story number four connects
onnects
turns this person’s day upside
to the character from the fi rst
first
down. Why?
story—the one who quit their job.
It could just be a coincidence, or it
3
3. Write another short story
ory of no could be written as an intentional
more than 500 words from
m the full-circle moment. Either way, this
perspective of the person sharing
haring meeting sets at least one of their
a home with the character
er from lives on a new trajectory. Write a
story number two. It could be
b new short story of no more than 500
roommate, spouse, lover, or child, words about what happens next.
but because of the nature of the
relationship, character two won’t
BONUS
ILLUSTRATION © GETTY IMAGES: FLASHVECTOR
tell character three why they’re

so upset. So, this character leaves
the residence. What happens to For a bonus challenge, try writing
them, where do they go, what are these as drabbles—100-word sto-
they thinking? ries—instead of 500 words each.
Amy Jones is editor-in-chief of WD. Follow her on Twitter @AmyMJones_5.
INDIELAB
New rules. New strategies. New paths to success.
BY ELIZABETH SIMS
Writing Those Pesky Ratings,

Reviews, and Blurbs Without Stress
G
etting serious about writ- on back covers. If you’re a tradi- DUMP PERFECTIONISM AND BE
ing is a double-edged tionally published author, you’ll get BRIEF. Adopt my 5–15 rule: No more
sword. You’re working on requests from your publisher to do than five minutes to write an online
legit projects, you’ve made some these from time to time, for some review, no more than 15 for a blurb
writing friends, you attend and other author’s forthcoming book. that will be published with the book.
contribute to your critique group. BOOK DESCRIPTION, AKA FLAP Good enough is really good enough.
Maybe you’ve published a book! COPY OR BACK-COVER COPY. This ZERO IN ON YOUR MAIN FIRST
Maybe some of your friends have as enticing capsule description of the IMPRESSION, THEN EXPAND.
well. All those things are energizing. book without spoilers is usually Charmed by the protagonist?
But then someone asks for written by editors or marketing staff Frightened by the suddenly rudder-
something. A review or rating on for traditionally published books less racing yacht? Start there and go
Amazon or Goodreads (the places or by the author for self-published on. “I was immediately suspicious of
currently that seem to get the most books. the golden-curled teacher’s pet. But
reader eyeballs). nothing is as it seems in this thriller
The bad news: Requests for posi- AND NOW FOR STRATEGY set in a Depression-era orphanage …”
tive reviews, blurbs, and ratings will. DON’T BE THE FIRST REVIEWER IF MENTION ANY GENERALITY,
Never. Cease. YOU CAN HELP IT. The value of this THEN GIVE ONE SPECIFIC EXAMPLE.
The good news: You don’t have to rule will become clear in a second. “I appreciated the author’s atten-
angst about this stuff any longer. READ WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID tion to detail; for instance, her vivid
Let’s define a few terms: AND GET IDEAS FROM THEM. Let descriptions of Barcelona’s gothic
ONLINE RATING. A simple selec- prior reviews prompt thoughts quarter.”
tion. Click on a number of stars, for you: NOTICE AND PRAISE TECHNICAL
submit, done. This is way better “I disagree with other review- ELEMENTS. It’s cool when readers
than nothing. ers who found fault with the plot; mention technical stuff authors have
ONLINE REVIEW. The next level. I thought it was not only plausible, researched and sweated over, be it
Click on a star number, then write but powerful. I agree with those crime-scene photography, caber
something: a rave, a screed, submit. who thought [protagonist] could tossing, petunia hybridization. Even
BLURB. A personal recommenda- have been more clearly motivated something commonplace like sew-
tion for public use by the author or in the early going; for instance, ing can prompt a comment:
publisher. You’ve seen nosegays of upon making the decision to [file “I appreciated the particulars of
these in the front matter of books, for divorce/join the army/move to how the encoded wedding gown
on author websites, and occasionally Wyoming] …” was made …”

AVOID “YOU’LL LOVE IT!” This Notice the benign form of criticism Feel free to employ these basic
bugs everybody. in “I’d have been happier with …” constructions:
A LITTLE DISHONESTY IS OK. COPY YOUR REVIEW BEFORE POST- “[Character name] knows how to
There, I’ve said it. Sometimes it’s the ING. If you’ve just typed a nice little handle herself in [difficult situation,
better part of valor to give a friend’s review on Amazon (or wherever such as poverty or combat]. But
book a high rating or a favorable you like), copy it to your clipboard when [unexpected big thing] hap-
review, even if you don’t entirely before hitting submit. Then hustle pens, she’s got to stretch her [skills/
mean it. Look, readers know blurbs over to Goodreads (or wherever you emotions/body] to the breaking
are marketing, and they know not like) and paste it up there. point … [Author] kept me on the
all reviews agree. Let the trolls leave edge of my seat the whole way.”
nasty diatribes; they’re happy to YET MORE STRATEGY “[Title] is a hilarious romp
oblige. But you can be gently honest HOW TO ASK FOR A REVIEW. My through [college life in the ’70s or
about shortcomings. More on that go-to is this: “If you’d consider whatever], complete with [charm-
in a moment. posting a quick rating or review on ing stoners, a dangerously clueless
YOU DON’T HAVE TO READ THE Amazon, I’d be most grateful.” This professor, etc.] and a love triangle
WHOLE BOOK. If you’re under the can be dropped into any correspon- that gives new meaning to the word
gun to get this chore done, read dence, for instance in a response to [Oedipal/snarled/lunacy]. I found
the first 40 and last 30 pages. That’s a reader who’s gotten in touch to say the book delightful.”
enough to fuel a reasonable- they loved your book. HOW TO SAY NO. Open-ended
sounding review or even a blurb. INSIDE YOUR BOOK? MAKE IT excuse: “Gosh, I’m overcommitted at
You will, of course, not admit this. EASY FOR YOUR READERS. At the end the moment. I’ll put [your book] on
DON’T LIST EVERY SHORTCOM- of every work of fiction I publish, I my list. No guarantees, but I’ll try!”
ING. Perhaps you want to be honest put in a lighthearted note like this: Polite but firm no: “I’m honored
if a book falls short, but you don’t to be asked, but I can’t. Best wishes
If you liked this book, please
want to be an ass about it. Finesse to you going forward …”
consider posting a review and let-
this with the venerable sandwich
ting your friends know about it on
technique: DRAFTING BOOK
social media. Because ratings and
Write one sentence of general DESCRIPTIONS
reviews—even just a word or two—
praise. Follow with a sentence of Use the above techniques for blurb
help draw new readers to a possibly
specific praise. Add one sentence of writing, employ a thesaurus to find
valuable experience. If you feel at a
qualification. Finish with one more unique adjectives, and just keep it to
loss, here are sample one-sentence
tidbit of praise. about 100–200 words.
reviews, which you are welcome to
“I found [title] beautifully written I feel compelled to share that
use verbatim:
and engaging. I appreciated the depth at least one of my prolific author
“I’m so happy I discovered this
of characterization, for instance in friends is using an artificial intel-
excellent, entertaining book!”
the protagonist X, whom we follow ligence application to write her
“I feel like taking the charming
from birth to abrupt maturity in the book descriptions. Will authors
[name of main character] to dinner
galactic training camps. I’d have been soon be using AI to write synopses?
and a movie!”
happier with more development of Chapters? Another discussion for
More positive reviews and word-of-
the attack methods of the asteroid another time … WD
mouth mean I can spend more time
poachers, such as when they find
writing new stuff! With thanks …
themselves trapped in the subatomic Contributing Editor Elizabeth Sims
trawler during the raid by the Space HOW TO WRITE A BLURB TO WHICH (ElizabethSims.com) has been writing for
Guard. But all in all, this was an YOUR NAME WILL BE ATTACHED. WD since 2006. She’s the author of 10
novels as well as the instructional title
entertaining read that really made Best hack: Read blurbs in other You’ve Got a Book in You: A Stress-Free
me consider the fragility of our people’s books and rip off ideas, Guide to Writing the Book of Your Dreams
asteroid belt.” using your own variations. [Writer’s Digest Books].
INDIELAB | WORKSHEET
Ratings, Reviews, and Blurbs

1. Select a book (or several) to practice writing these promotional materials. Try to pick something
you’ve read more recently.
2. What was your first impression of the book?
3. What specific example can you give to support your first impression?
4. What praise would you give to the more technical aspects of the writing?
5. What would you have liked to see changed (don’t worry about being polite)?
6. How can you rephrase your criticism to be more diplomatic?
7. Put it all together here (and remember the 5–15 rule)!

INDIELAB | AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT
BY AMY JONES
Amra Pajalić, pen

name Mae Archer
Large Print Open Sans No Italics
18-point font
• Audiobooks AI—narrated by
artificial intelligence using
Google technology.
• Audiobooks—narrated by per-
formance narrators.
WISH I’D KNOWN: I could change the
publication date on all online plat-
Sabiha’s Dilemma, Alma’s Loyalty,
forms. I set the publication date, and
The Cuckoo’s Song, The Climb,
while I was planning a soft launch,
Return to Me, Hollywood Dreams after the imprint was closed and my
I found myself under a great deal
(Young adult; romance; Pishukin Press) rights reverted back to me. Self-
of pressure attempting to learn all
publishing under my own imprint
HAD YOU CONSIDERED TRADITIONAL the different platform requirements
gave me the opportunity to put all
PUBLISHING? I was traditionally in the deadline I had given myself.
this intellectual property to use and
published with my debut novel, I have since learned to set a much
to be able to market all my varied
which I have re-released as Sabiha’s longer publication date and move
writing under the one umbrella.
Dilemma. I had a dream run with it up if my editing and advance
my first book: signed with a top SELF-PUBLISHING APPEAL? One of reviews are ready earlier.
agent, had multiple offers from pub- the most energizing and stimulat-
MARKETING STRATEGY: Through
lishers, shortlisted for prizes pre- ing things about self-publishing
social media by creating reels and
and post-publication, won a literary has been thinking about myself as
photo graphics that are posted on
prize. … a small business owner. With this
all platforms via Postly. I publish
As time passed, though, the pub- mindset, I have been focused on
direct to Kobo, Barnes & Noble,
lishing industry suffered greater how to create a brand that repre-
Apple via Draft 2 Digital, and
economic stress. … opportunities sents who I am and my passions.
take part in internal promotions
were shrinking. As a high school teacher, I have had
through all the platforms I can. I use
the opportunity to work with many
WHY SELF-PUBLISH? Self-publishing email subscription services such as
… students who struggle to engage
became the obvious choice for me Hello Books, Fussy Librarian, and
with the printed word. … if you
as I genre hop and had a rather Written Word Media to promote
struggle to read, then you haven’t
voluminous backlist of previously my audiobooks via Audio Thicket
found the right book format. As
published novels. After writing my and all my e-books via their genre
a result, I am focused on making
debut young adult novel, I fell in lists. Promotional opportunities
my books accessible for all kinds
love with the characters and wanted via writing organizations such as
of readers. All Pishukin Press texts
to write a series titled Sassy Saints, the library blast with IBPA and
are published in e-book, paperback,
but after my publisher passed on the catalogue advertising.
hardcover as well as:
second book in the series, I shelved
AmraPajalic.com
WEBSITE:
this manuscript … • Dyslexic Format Edition—
MaeArcherRomance.com WD
I also had two romance novels printed in Dyslexic Open
published under a pen name, Mae 14-point font Amy Jones is editor-in-chief of WD. Follow
Archer, that were also languishing • Large Print edition—printed in her on Twitter @AmyMJones_5.
WD101
Making sense of the publishing world.
BY WHITNEY HILL
Book Marketing Copy 101
N
obody can buy something • AWARENESS: Becoming aware of They live within an e-reader, audio-
they don’t know about, the different options for resolv- book app, or a physical copy, and
which means writers fol- ing the need e.g. new books in the reader has made a decision to
lowing all paths to publication need their favorite genres set aside time and attention to con-
to know how to hook attention and • CONSIDERATION: Digging deeper sume that product.
convince an audience. However, into specific options e.g. com- Marketing can be encountered
drafting marketing copy is a differ- paring different authors, book anywhere someone goes online (or
ent skill than other writing. summaries, reviews, prices off, if you decide to make print or
Before we get into the details for • DECISION: Choosing and pur- other offline marketing materials).
writing digital marketing copy, let’s chasing a book The audience may not have made a
first understand how it differs from • POST-PURCHASE: Writing a conscious decision, or even had a
longform or prose work. review, seeking out more from choice, about engaging with it.
that author, telling their friends So how do we write something
MARKETING COPY
The process is often messier that hooks them?
FOUNDATIONS
than this, but it helps to keep in
Purpose mind that if you’re not on a reader’s WRITING PRODUCT INFO
Marketing copy generally needs to be “instabuy” list, you’ll need to help Before you can sell a thing, you
short and snappy, with a clear value them decide that you should be! need to have a clear understand-
proposition. The specific goal will ing of what it is you’re selling. It
depend on where in their purchase Reading Level may help to draft this first, and then
journey the buyer is, but generally it’s For marketing copy, we want to adjust it to the length needed for
to drive awareness of your offering keep reading level on the lower other places.
and show how it aligns with a need. end. This will usually be around
Grade 8 or even lower, although Back Cover Copy
Audience Mindset you may find it creeping higher Think about the information that
The buyer’s journey is important to
ILLUSTRATIONS © GETTY IMAGES: SUDOWOODO, GMM2000
for more complex topics or more underpins many narratives, whether

keep in mind. Even if no money is fiction or nonfiction:
advanced vocabulary. A tool like
exchanged, you’re asking for trust
the Hemingway App can help you
and an investment of time from • Character
figure out what the reading level of
your reader. Their willingness to • Goal or motivation
your piece is and why it was rated
make an exchange may depend on • Obstacle
that way.
what stage of the journey they’re at. • Conflict
• PRE-AWARENESS: Finding they Where It Lives Including some tension can help
have a need, e.g. a new book Books or articles are in a contained drive a feeling of needing to know
after finishing one space, both physically and mentally. what happens next.

There’s no need to give away information, assisting with navi- But if you’re trying to reach poten-
everything or over-explain. Hit the gating elsewhere, supporting a tial readers, the focus needs to be
highlights and focus on what read- transaction, or gathering sign-ups. on them. What would readers find
ers need to understand to feel confi- Unfocused pages that try to do too interesting about you or your work?
dent in a purchase. much run the risk of confusing or Build authentic relationships, so
distracting visitors. Think of the one when it’s time to promote your book,
Product Listing Descriptions thing someone should do as a result it feels more like an invitation and
This copy goes on a retailer web- of reading a page or blog post, and less like a hard sell.
site or on the book’s page on your keep your writing and calls to action
author website. The goal here is to tightly focused on that. Advertising
help readers understand why your Also consider the use of white This can be the most challenging
book is the right one for them and space, headings, bullets, and other copy to write, because it generally
confirm their decision to buy— structural formatting to aid in needs to be the shortest and snap-
without using a potentially off- comprehension. Walls of text and piest. There’s no need to cover every
putting hard sell. overly long or complex sentences step of the buyer’s journey in a sin-
While you can include your back may reduce comprehension, so gle ad—you just need to move them
cover blurb, think about what other avoid those as much as possible. to the next step.
information might be interesting Additionally, headings should be Good digital ad copy sets an
or helpful to a prospective reader, used to help organize information— accurate expectation for the land-
such as: not for style or design! ing page. The call to action (often a
Remember that some site visi- button) should also match what the
• Themes, tropes, or main topics
tors will be using assistive devices. person clicking is expected to do:
• Content warnings
Familiarizing yourself with the “Get My E-book” is more descriptive
• Review blurbs or ratings (social
accessibility standards at the World and compelling than, “Click Here.”
proof)
Wide Web Consortium (W3C) can Lastly, always keep it truthful.
• Awards or accolades
help make your website accessible to There are laws against deceptive
• Other work by the same author
more readers. advertising, and tricking people into
• Any bonus content included
buying your book isn’t a good way
• If a new edition, changes
WRITING PROMO COPY to retain readers!
or updates
This can be the most intrusive or
Remember, the goal of marketing
Keep it focused on the most rel- disruptive marketing copy, so get-
copy is to quickly hook a prospec-
evant and important information for ting it right means ensuring it’s one
tive reader who may only be glanc-
your reader. or more of informative, entertain-
ing at your marketing for a few
ing, educational, or inspiring while
seconds or while doing something
WRITING FOR THE WEB keeping it tightly focused.
else. Putting the reader’s informa-
Writing for the web includes pages
tional needs first is key—as is keep-
on your website as well as blog posts. Social Media
ing your copy tight and your goals
While it might be tempting to Social media tends to be an aware-
focused. WD
write for the search engine algo- ness channel—an opportunity for
rithm, remember that a human people to passively discover new
Whitney Hill (WhitneyHillWrites.com) is
will be reading your site and book things based on what’s shared into
the author of the Shadows of Otherside
information. Use natural language their timelines. contemporary fantasy series and the
rather than trying to stuff key- When drafting copy for social Otherside Heat paranormal romance
words, and stay consistent in tone media, remember your audience series. Her books have won the grand prize
and style. and your purpose for being on a in the 8th Annual WD Self-Published E-Book
Awards and made Kirkus Reviews’ Top
When drafting web copy, stay given platform. If all you post about 100 Indie Books list. You can find Whitney
focused on the goal of the page. is how hard writing is, sure, you hiking, researching her eclectic interests, or
Some goals include providing may connect with other writers. on Twitter and Instagram @write_wherever.
WRITERSONWRITING
Cam Collins and Steve Shell

O
ld Gods of Appalachia” is immersive and welcoming while still five episode subplots (or “acts”) that
a horror anthology pod- maintaining the slow boil of our par- ultimately weave together to form the
cast set in an alternate ticular flavor of eldritch horror. It’s greater, overarching storyline of each
Appalachia where darkness moves one thing to intellectually understand season. Listeners get a few cliffhang-
beneath the surface of some of the and employ facts about your setting, ers, with the tension relieved by some
oldest mountains in the world. Our but if you can paint a picture for your sort of partial resolution by the end
stories contain strands of actual audience so clear that they can see the of each act. Various plot devices from
folklore and regional history woven building your characters are stand- the subplots are woven together in
together with original elements of ing in front of, smell the diner down the final act, building suspense for
horror and suspense. “Old Gods of the street and the exhaust fumes of the climax of each season, where ten-
Appalachia” is the first professional the old pickup truck that just drove sions ignite, confrontations are made,
podcast to be nominated for a World by, then you bring to life a place they questions are answered (which some-
Fantasy Award and has won dozens want to visit again and again. times only lead to new questions).
of other awards for writing, story- CRAFT RELATABLE CHARACTERS.
Ultimately, episodic storytelling is
telling, and other areas of produc- Some of the feedback we hear most
fun and offers the opportunity for
tion and performance. Episodes are often from fans of our series is how
detailed, immersive world-building,
released biweekly and average a 30– much they love our recurring char-
as well as the ability to tell a longer,
minute runtime with bonus-length acters. Listeners (or readers or view-
more expansive story. In the world
episodes ending each season. ers) want to feel like they know your
of podcasting, you have a lot of
Writing serialized fiction comes characters: What major life events
freedom to tell your story the way
with its own set of challenges. From inspired or traumatized them? Who
you want to tell it—as long as you
meeting multiple (sometimes tight) and what do they love or hate? How
can keep your fans invested. Give
deadlines to maintaining consis- do they take their coffee (or do they
your audience a setting that feels
tency within ongoing plots, sub- prefer tea)? When the audience has
real, characters they care about, and
plots, and character relationships the information necessary to under-
keep them guessing, and you have
over the course of a lengthy nar- stand why characters behave as they
the basic building blocks for a solid
rative, serials can be tricky. One of do, they feel more invested in their
serial that will have fans on the edge
the most important questions we fates, and they’ll keep coming back,
of their seats. WD
face is: How do we keep our audi- literally because (quoting a fan here)
ence engaged over the course of “I wonder how they’re doing.”
Steve Shell is an award-winning storyteller,
the series? We’ve found a few key EMPLOY CLIFFHANGERS (SOME-
writer, and voice actor living in Asheville,
devices crucial to the success of “Old TIMES). The judicious use of cliff- N.C. Steve was born in the far reaches of
Gods of Appalachia.” hangers is a great way to keep your southwest Virginia and carries the bones of
BRING YOUR SETTING TO LIFE. audience eager for the next install- those mountains with him wherever he goes.
For us, it’s in the title of the show. ment in your series. Both frustrat-
Cam Collins is a native of Wise, Va., where
“Old Gods of Appalachia” is set in ing and thrilling for fans, they create she cut her teeth on the creepy folklore
the sprawling foothills and deep hol- anticipation and suspense in a way of the region. A lover of all things that
lers of a place that many members of few other literary devices can. Bear go bump in the night and dyed-in-the-
our audience, or their families, have in mind, however, that suspense wool spooky bitch, Cam also produced
and co-hosted “Appalachian Arcana,” a
called home at one time or another. works best when there’s an ebb and podcast featuring regional stories of
We pride ourselves on bringing our flow: tension, then release. In “Old folklore, true crime, cryptids, and other
homeplace to life in a way that is Gods,” we craft a series of four to general weirdness.

MEET THEAGENT
BY KARA GEBHART UHL
Ismita Hussain
GREAT DOG LITERARY
I
smita Hussain, the daughter of Bangladeshi immi- ABOUT ME
grants, is a Georgia native. She grew up speaking “I’m pretty crafty and a big DIYer,
Bangla, Hindi, and Urdu in her Desi household. although the results are mixed.”
Ismita graduated from Emory University where she stud- “I love foreign languages and
ied human health and Italian. After working in neonatal speak multiple languages (English
and geriatric care departments in several Atlanta hospi- was my third).”
tals, Ismita switched from a career in healthcare to one in “I’m the only left-handed person in
publishing, joining Great Dog Literary in 2021. my family.”
With a passion for disability representation and

advocacy, Ismita also is a founding member of Disability FAVORITE
in Publishing, whose mission is “to create community, DRINK: hot chocolate, DEAD AUTHOR:
provide resources, and increase accessibility across the absinthe/wine Flannery O’Connor
industry in order to increase disability visibility and LIVING AUTHOR: MOTTO: Excelsior
retain the talent of disabled publishing professionals.” She Cormac McCarthy
currently serves on its Board of Directors.

“I’ve had so many wonderful mentors and role models MOST PROUD OF
that have helped me get where I am today as an agent,” “Taking a leap of faith and leaving healthcare to do
Ismita says. “I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Liz something that makes me truly happy!”
Nealon, who opened the doors to the publishing indus-
try for me, and both Jennie Dunham and Lucy Cleland, PITCH TIPS
WRITING
who’ve mentored me through so many ‘firsts’ as an agent. TIPS “Try to come up with a one-
The best advice every one of them gave me—and repeated sentence hook for your book and
“Write without
it until I believed it—is to trust my gut.” start your pitch with that hook.”
distraction. Leave
You can find Ismita online at IsmitaHussain.com and the phone in a “Don’t worry about melding your
on Twitter @ismita_h. separate part of pitch to match the agent’s tastes.
the house and Focus on a concise pitch that’s
on silent.” true to the book.”
CLIENTS “Write without “Keep it general! No
worrying about need to explain minor
CHRIS EAGLE , author of Dwell Here and what will sell.” plot points, etc.”
Prosper (Tortoise Books, 2023)
HAYAN CHARARA , poet and winner of
the Arab American Book Award QUERY PET PEEVES
DEXTER THE DOG , the three-legged “Queries that don’t actually tell me what the book
petfluencer with 1.5 million followers is about! I often see queries where most of the
(@DexterDogOuray) ingredients (word count, genre, comps) are there,
but the main ingredient is missing.”
“Queries that don’t have any sort of bio. I like to know
SEEKING who is behind the words. Even if you don’t have previous
ILLUSTRATIONS © GETTY IMAGES: FLEAZ
publications or an MFA, tell me about yourself and why

Literary fiction—“I can’t get enough of it.”
you wrote the book.”
Narrative nonfiction • Memoir • Cookbooks • YA
“Not listening to query instructions. I love cold queries,
“I’m especially keen on books set in the South or Italy, 90 percent of my client list is from cold querying, but I
and books that cover health/disability topics.” won’t consider books sent through alternate means.”
Kara Gebart Uhl is a writer, editor, and author of Cadi & the Cursed Oak (Lost Art Press).
BREAKINGIN
Debut authors: How they did it, what they learned, and why you can do it, too. BY MORIAH RICHARD
Neely Tubati-
Alexander
Love Buzz
(Women’s fiction/con-
temporary romance,
May, Harper Perennial)
“A chance romantic encounter request from an agent. … in early let it be shitty. Striving for perfection
during a wild night at a Mardi Gras February 2022, she made an offer. I on a first draft only results in stagna-
bachelorette party sends strait- asked for two weeks to notify those tion. Let it be an unconscious stream
laced Serena Khan’s carefully who were still reviewing full manu- and trust the process. NEXT UP: My
constructed life into chaos as scripts. I emailed those four or five second book, If the World Is Ending,
she searches for the guy from agents … Elisabeth’s agency was one is … about a video game designer/
Bourbon Street.” of those. She read [it] in a couple of doomsday planner who agrees to
WRITES FROM: Mesa, Ariz. PRE- days and made an offer within those go on a trip with her neighbor to
LOVE BUZZ: In 2020 … I started two weeks. I am incredibly grate- make his girlfriend jealous. WEBSITE:
writing again after many failed ful to that first agent who invested NeelyTubatiAlexander.com
attempts. I had two young kids, my the time in providing me feedback.
husband and I were both working BIGGEST SURPRISE: I learned quickly
from home, and it was a lot! … out that I have to know what my book Idman Nur
of a combination of grit and spite, is, and what it isn’t, and be able to Omar
TUBATI-ALEXANDER PHOTO © AVERI MICHELLE PHOTOGRAPHY OMAR PHOTO © IDMAN NUR OMAR
Love Buzz came a few months later. articulate that clearly at all stages. The Private
TIME FRAME: I received the scath- WHAT I DID RIGHT: I originally que- Apartments
ing developmental edit on my first ried with what I came to learn was (Literary short fiction,
book … I had to decide if I could a not great query letter. So, midway May, House of Anansi)
salvage that first book or if I should through querying, I rewrote it and “Moving, insightful, linked stories
scrap it and take what I learned and send it out again to the same agents. about the determination of Somali
apply it to a new project. I chose One even requested a full based immigrants—despite duty, discrimi-
the latter. … I finished the draft of on the new, improved letter. WHAT nation, and an ever-dissolving link
what would become Love Buzz in 2.5 I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY: to a war-torn homeland.”
months, having started it in mid- Waiting a year or more for a book WRITES FROM: Calgary, Alberta.
May of 2021 and out to beta read- to come out feels like an eternity. PRE-APARTMENTS: I completed an
ers by August. ENTER THE AGENT: I But then you see all the behind the MFA in creative writing in 2014
found my incredible agent Elisabeth scenes required for putting a book and worked on a collection of short
Weed at The Book Group from into the world and you begin to stories for my thesis (also titled The
querying. … in December of 2021, understand why. ADVICE FOR WRIT- Private Apartments) but I knew I
I received a revise and resubmit ERS: Write the shitty first draft and had some growing to do as a writer,

so I shelved the project, and taught going, despite the challenges and Agency. She reached out to me in
overseas for a couple of years. TIME setbacks. Even when you’re not actu- the spring of 2019 after reading a
FRAME: I moved to Calgary in July of ally writing, you can always think “Letter to a Stranger” essay I wrote
2020 … It was the perfect opportu- and dream about your work. That for the wonderful travel magazine
nity to complete my manuscript. … counts, right? NEXT UP: A novel! Off Assignment. BIGGEST SURPRISE:
I did make a schedule and treated The first draft of Leg I handed in
it like a job with at least two shifts to Zack was nearly 500 pages. It
of writing a day (most days!). I Greg Marshall was everything I’d published for
might’ve lost that momentum, but Leg eight years! It took a trusted editor
by March 2021, I had a manuscript (Memoir, June, Abrams (who is also younger and cooler
of eight linked stories. ENTER THE Press) than I am) to help me weave those
AGENT: I don’t have an agent. I did “Leg is a hilarious and disparate, standalone parts into a
query two agents—I got a reply poignant memoir grappling with cohesive single narrative. Seeing my
from one with a request for the full family, disability, and coming-of-age “unpublishable” Leg transform into a
manuscript but never heard back in two closets—as a gay man and as beautiful book with a naked man on
and I was politely turned down by a man living with cerebral palsy— the cover has been one of the most
the other. I began submitting my while exploring with trenchant remarkable experiences of my life.
manuscript to publishers who were humor what it means to transform WHAT I DID RIGHT: I never stopped
open for submissions in the spring when there are parts of yourself you sending stuff to literary magazines
of 2021. House of Anansi was open can’t change.” and applying for arts grants and
for submissions for the month of WRITES FROM: Austin, Texas. residencies. … [they] gave me
August only and I heard back days PRE-LEG: In the spring of 2013, the grassroots encouragement,
after submitting. I had interest from I graduated from the Michener validation, and community I needed
a couple of other publishers, and Center for Writers with a degree to keep going. WHAT I WOULD HAVE
after some meetings and discus- in fiction. … after doing only that DONE DIFFERENTLY: I would have
sions, I decided to go with House for three years, a window of time been more patient when it came
of Anansi. BIGGEST SURPRISE: How that now seems laughably brief, I to querying agents and submitting
transformative the editing process is needed a break from those absurd, the book to editors. … I don’t think
and how much I enjoyed it. magical, dusty realms of my brain. there’s anything wrong with bald-
WHAT I DID RIGHT: I chose my pub- … I wrote and wrote. It was such faced ambition but temper it with
lisher based on my editor, the award- a ball. The pages piled up … I got strategy. ADVICE FOR WRITERS: Being
winning Shirarose Wilensky! She an agent, wrote a proposal, and a wunderkind is overrated. For
is the one who acquired my manu- went on submission. … Editors many of us, the path to publication
script for House of Anansi. … I told me I had strong material, a is a long one. Learning to deal
believe a skilled editor who under- unique perspective, and decent constructively with rejection is a
stands your vision and voice is writing chops, but that I needed to vital part of the writing life. Also, get
incredibly valuable. WHAT I WOULD find a throughline for my memoir, a second monitor for your laptop. I
HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY: I wouldn’t something that made it all hold know this sounds ridiculous, but it
have queried agents, since it’s not together. TIME FRAME: After that will make writing and editing much
necessary to be represented to get first memoir proposal was rejected, I less overwhelming. NEXT UP: I’d
a book deal in Canada. I spent a kept submitting standalone personal love to write about fatherhood as a
couple of months waiting on replies essays and working on new material. gay man with a disability. WEBSITE:
MARSHALL PHOTO © LUCAS SCHAEFER
when I could have been submitting … The more I wrote, the more I GregRMarshall.com WD
my manuscript to publishers myself. started to see that disability, and
On the other hand, everything does queerness, were sources of intimacy
happen for a reason! ADVICE FOR and connection in my family. Moriah Richard is the managing editor of
WRITERS: I would encourage writers ENTER THE AGENT: My agent is Writer’s Digest. Follow her on Twitter
to be easy on themselves and keep Hannah Brattesani of the Friedrich @MoriahRichard93.
KEEPING IT SHORT
The 25th Annual

101 Best Websites for Writers
IMAGE © GETTY IMAGES: HULINSKA_YEVHENIIA
BY AMY JONES, MORIAH RICHARD,

AND MICHAEL WOODSON

N
ow in its 25th year, the magazine is an uplifting and edu- yearly—for access to more designs,
Writer’s Digest 101 Best cational online magazine dedi- details, and storage.
Websites for Writers cated to inspiring and instructing
aims to guide writers of all ages, writers of all types. Check out the 5. Library of Congress
genres, and skill levels to reputable “Author2Author” podcast hosted by LOC.gov
and useful resources to inspire, edu- Editor-in-Chief William Kenower. You don’t have to visit Washington
cate, and support them in every stage D.C. to take advantage of the
of their writing journey. Whether 2. Electric Literature vast resources contained in the
you are using writing as a creative ElectricLiterature.com Library of Congress. Explore the
outlet, looking to find a path toward A nonprofit digital publisher since digital collections for inspiration
traditional publication, make a career 2014, Electric Literature is commit- and research, or read the blogs
as a freelancer, or start your own ted to highlighting writing focused written by LOC staff members (or
independent publishing business, the on social justice and current issues. occasional guests) that highlight
websites on this list can help make Everything published by them specific finds, which might serve as
those goals a reality. is free, including essays focused a catalyst for your imagination.
While some things about this on culture, writing, and books,
list remain the same (like our goal Recommended Reading (a lit mag 6. Literary Hub
of including sites that offer free or dedicated to the best in fiction), LitHub.com
affordable content, free trials, or The Commuter (their lit mag that Literary Hub is a literary website
tiered memberships for services features a single short work every with daily news, story excerpts,
that are of high quality), this year’s Monday), and more. book reviews, and more. From craft
list includes 28 new websites we’ve advice to book recommendations,
found particularly enjoyable or 3. Fantasy Name Generators author interviews to reading lists,
helpful. Plus, you’ll also find a new FantasyNameGenerators.com this is your one-stop-shop for
subsection in the Genre/Niche cat- Choosing names for your characters intersecting contemporary life
egory: Short Fiction. can be tough, so use one of the 1,400 with literature.
As always, we hope this list pro- name generators in a wide range
vides a springboard for all of your of categories to make it easier—or 7. MasterWriter
writing endeavors. to spark an idea for a new charac- MasterWriter.com
ter! As an added feel-good bonus, If you’ve ever had trouble finding
A means this is the website’s the organizer of this site donates to the precise word for the feeling
first appearance on the WD list. reforestation projects for every 5GB you want to convey, MasterWriter
All listings within each category of bandwidth the site uses. is a vast resource to solve your
are alphabetically arranged. problem. Watch the demo video
4. Inkarnate and sign up for the subscription
Inkarnate.com service (which you can try for 90
While traditionally used to create days risk-free) that goes beyond a
1–8 maps for fantasy and sci-fi worlds, traditional thesaurus.
Inkarnate isn’t genre-specific; if you
Creativity need help remembering the layout 8. Terrible Minds
of a town or even just a single build- TerribleMinds.com/ramble
1. Author Magazine ing or room, you can use their free Terrible Minds is the blog of science-
AuthorMagazine.org account to make beautiful maps. fiction and horror writer Chuck
Featuring writing instruction and For a fee, you can upgrade to their Wendig, who is also known for
editor and author blogs, Author Pro version—paid either monthly or his writing books. He writes about
KEEPING IT SHORT
current hot topics affecting writ- dives into what it’s like for a working the writer’s life, and specific genres.
ers, politics, his own book news, and author to navigate traditional and Occasional guest posts by other
features guest posts. As he says on self-publishing. Hosted by award- industry professionals ensure a wide
the site, it’s NSFW, but it’s one of the winning fantasy author L. Penelope, range of topics are covered.
most honest, thoughtful blogs about the podcast covers such topics as
writing and publishing out there. revision, plot, overcoming writer’s 15. DIY MFA
block, and more. DIYMFA.com
Created by Gabriela Pereira after
12. Print Run Podcast getting a traditional MFA, DIY MFA
9–13 PrintRunPodcast.com offers writing advice and an online
With the tagline “Beyond the cover. community with a goal of proving
Live Streams, Between the lines,” this podcast is that “writing belongs to everybody,”
Podcasts, YouTube for readers, writers, and publishing not just those who can afford an
professionals alike. Literary agent expensive degree on a university’s
9. Minorities in Publishing cohosts Laura Zats and Erik Hane timeline. Listen to the podcast, read
JenniferNBaker.com/podcast meet for an hour (almost) every the articles, or click “Writer Igniter”
Founded in 2014 by author, editor, week to discuss all writing-related for randomized writing prompts.
and advocate Jennifer N. Baker, the issues that tend to get glossed over
“Minorities in Publishing” podcast or intentionally ignored elsewhere. 16. Fight Write
features a monthly interview with FightWrite.net
publishing professionals in all posi- 13. Writing Excuses Make the fight scenes, action, and
tions—from production to edito- WritingExcuses.com injuries in your book as realistic
rial to art directors and more—plus Now in its 18th season, the “Writing as possible with the help of Carla
authors and illustrators, specifi- Excuses” podcast keeps their weekly Hoch, a writer and fighter trained in
cally focusing on diversity, or lack episodes short (15–25 minutes) at least 10 different fighting styles.
thereof, in the industry. and conversational, covering a vast Read the blog where she covers
array of writing topics. This sea- weapons of opportunity, autopsies,
Missing Pages With
10. son, they welcome two new regu- fight locations, and more.
Bethanne Patrick lar hosts—literary agent DongWon
Podglomerate.com/shows Song and speculative fiction writer 17. Fox Print Editorial
/missing-pages Erin Roberts—to the existing crew FoxPrintEditorial.com
“Missing Pages” is a new, including authors Dan Wells and With over 25 years of industry
compulsively listenable podcast Mary Robinette Kowal, and author experience, Tiffany Yates Martin
from literary critic and “publishing and illustrator Howard Tayler. has made it her mission to support
insider” Bethanne Patrick. It revisits and empower authors. From paid
some of the wildest and often courses to free blog posts about
unbelievable (yet true) publishing everything from learning to revise
stories of the recent past, sharing 14–24 yourself or look for a professional
new details, talking with some of editor to hire, Fox Print Editorial
the participants, and putting the Writing Advice has the elements you need to create
stories in the context of today’s your own success.
publishing landscape. 14. Career Authors
CareerAuthors.com Helping Writers Become
18.
My Imaginary Friends
11. Rotating among six working authors, Authors
With L. Penelope literary agents, and editors who share HelpingWritersBecomeAuthors
LPenelope.com/podcast their expertise and experiences, .com
“My Imaginary Friends” is a weekly, find advice about the craft of writ- Turn that manuscript into a pub-
behind-the-scenes podcast that ing, publishing business, marketing, lished novel with the guidance from

author K. M. Weiland’s Helping fiction by offering daily publish- newsletters offer a more behind-the-
Writers Become Authors, featuring ing insight from editors, bestselling scenes look, with the opportunity to
a full scope of writing and publish- authors, literary agents, and more. ask specific publishing questions.
ing resources to help writers achieve
their ultimate goals. 23. Writers Helping Writers 26. Association
of American
WritersHelpingWriters.net Literary Agents
19. Nathan Bransford Blog Level up your fiction with Writers AALitAgents.org
NathanBransford.com/blog Helping Writers, where Angela If you’re looking for a literary agent
Author and former literary agent Ackerman, Becca Puglisi, and or want to know more about how
Nathan Bransford offers a blog for Mindy Alyse Weiss share tools and literary agents should and should
writers to help them achieve their resources with writers, educators, not operate, look no further than
writing and publishing goals. With and teachers, plus a blog with sub- the AALA. Their code of ethics sets
over a decade of practical publish- jects including building suspense the standard for how agents man-
ing experience, the blog is separated with secrets, organizing your story age their authors’ writing careers.
into more than 20 topics that range idea, overcoming fear of criticism, Search their database of member
from writing a query letter, mar- and more. agents by name or by category to
keting your book, navigating social see a full profile.
media, and more. 24. Writing Mastery
Academy 27. Duotrope
20. The Creative Penn WritingMastery.com Duotrope.com
TheCreativePenn.com Founded by Jessica Brody, the inter- Duotrope is an all-encompassing
Author Joanna Penn’s The Creative national bestselling author of more resource for writers looking for
Penn is a multi-platform oppor- than 20 novels, the Writing Mastery agents, publishing news, submission
tunity for writers to access writing Academy hosts a free blog dedicated tracking, and more. Boasting more
advice, from a blog, podcasts, writ- to sharing tips, tricks, and strategies than 7,500 active agents and pub-
ing courses, and more—all of which for fiction writers. Paid membership lishers, Duotrope is subscription-
focuses on writing, self-publishing, provides access to recorded classes, based, with two available options:
book marketing, and how to make a live webinars, the Writing Mastery $5/month or $50/year.
living by writing. Community, and more.
28. Manuscript Wish List
21. The Manuscript Academy ManuscriptWishList.com
ManuscriptAcademy.com Created with one goal in mind—
With the goal of being “the happiest 25–30 helping writers find the perfect
place in publishing,” The Manuscript industry professionals to pitch their
Academy is a membership-based Everything Agents work to—you can pinpoint exactly
community dedicated to bringing who you’d like to pitch to and how
classes, consultations with editors 25. Agents
+ Books by they prefer to be contacted about
and agents, opportunities for other Kate McKean queries. #MSWL is also used on
members critique your work, and KateMcKean.substack.com social media as a way for writers
all-around support for writers, no Agents + Books is a biweekly news- to search for professionals (though
matter their career goals. letter that answers the most com- writers shouldn’t post on the
mon questions about literary agents, hashtag themselves).
22. Writer Unboxed publishing, and writing. Run by the
WriterUnboxed.com VP of Howard Morhaim Literary 29. QueryShark
Founded in 2006 by Kathleen Agency, Kate McKean, the Tuesday QueryShark.blogspot.com
Bolton and Therese Walsh, Writer newsletters are free and offer the For brave writers seeking
Unboxed seeks to empower writ- most vital information, and the representation, Query Shark (aka
ers about the craft and business of Thursday subscription-based literary agent Janet Reid) is a
free service that chooses writer- help writers represent multicultural promoting literary culture, PEN
submitted queries for public critique subjects and stories with accuracy, America’s mission is more important
on the blog. Read the guidelines and authority, and sensitivity. than ever. Use the vast resources on
extensive archive before submitting. their website to stay current on chal-
Private critiques are available for a Editors of Color
33. lenges to free speech and expression
fee and include the opportunity for Database at home and abroad and find out
two revisions. EditorsOfColor.com how you can take action or become a
A project by the Conscious Style supporting member.
30. Query Tracker Guide, Editors of Color connects
QueryTracker.net talented freelance editors, proof- 37. Reedsy
Find the right literary agent for you readers, and sensitivity readers to Reedsy.com
with a free database of thousands people who need their services. Sort Reedsy has grown to be a commu-
of literary agents for writers who through the database by selecting nity of over 1 million authors and
are ready to find representation. the areas of expertise, service you’re 2,500 freelance professionals, all
Whether your book is a cookbook, looking for, and type of media you dedicated to increasing the qual-
fantasy, murder mystery, or liter- need reviewed. ity, creativity, and diversity of books
ary fiction, Query Tracker will help on the market today. The free blog
find the right home for you and 34. Get It Write provides advice on everything from
your story. GetItWriteOnline.com plotting to book marketing, but they
Since 1991, Get It Write has been also have free live webinars, pre-
dedicated to the grammar, mechan- recorded courses, and a podcast.
ics, and usage of standard written
31–40 American English. Established by Dr. 38. The Authors Guild
Nancy Tuten, the free blog is dedi- AuthorsGuild.org
General Resources cated to educating writers in all fields. Founded in 1912, the Authors Guild
The in-person and virtual classes, is the largest and oldest organiza-
31. Copyright.gov seminars, and conference presenta- tion for published writers in the U.S.,
Copyright.gov tions can be accessed for a fee. and is devoted to protecting writers’
Copyright laws are more important free speech, copyright, and helping
than ever, with the pervasiveness 35. National Writers Union ensure fair contracts and wages. Five
of online content and ownership NWU.org memberships are available, and eligi-
of what we share online. Learn While being a freelancer has its bility and dues are measured by pub-
the basics of copyright law, search perks, it also can come with chal- lication numbers, income, and more.
copyright records, register your lenges that are best met with the
creative works, and more, from the help of a stronger organization. The 39. Writer Beware Blog
U.S. Copyright Office. NWU helps members with every- WriterBeware.blog
thing from understanding contracts Sponsored by the Science Fiction
32. Diversity Style Guide to resolving disputes to getting press and Fantasy Writers Association
DiversityStyleGuide.com passes and finding health insur- (SFWA®), this website focuses on
Write inclusively with the help of ance. Membership tiers are available curating a list of known scams and
this resource that guides writers on based on your writing income. questionable business practices that
appropriate and accurate terms and target writers. It also gives tips and
phrases related to race and ethnicity, 36. PEN America tricks for how writers can protect
religion, sexual orientation, gender PEN.org themselves from potential scams,
identity, and more. Different from Dedicated to defending free speech, plus current industry news, even
style guides focused on grammar supporting persecuted writers in about things that happen on the
and punctuation, this is made to the U.S. and around the world, and fringe of publishing.

40. Writing Diversely including editors, authors, illus- CREATIVE
WritingDiversely.com trators, art directors, publishers, NONFICTION
Writing Diversely is “dedicated to agents, academics, and more.
providing authors, writers, and con- 46. Brevity Magazine
tent creators the tools, resources, 43. Kidlit 411 BrevityMag.com
and support they need to tell diverse KidLit411.com This literary magazine is committed
and inclusive stories” because posi- Founded by picture book and to publishing the best micro nonfic-
tive and accurate representation middle-grade author Elaine Kiely tion by emerging and up-and-
matters. Find a sensitivity reader or Kearns, Kidlit 411 features easy-to- coming writers, as well as book
read the blog covering topics rang- navigate topics for children’s book reviews and craft essays. Selected
ing from writing elements of reli- authors and illustrators, including works receive payment. The Brevity
gion, race, culture, gender and author and illustrator spotlights blog posts daily discussions of craft
sexuality, and more. and the Weekly 411—a newsletter and the writing life, but writers
update that compiles all new links do not receive payment for these.
and sources. Brevity also provides teaching mate-
rials for free.
41–79 Society of Children’s Book
44.
Writers and Illustrators 47. Hippocampus Magazine
Genres/Niche SCBWI.org HippocampusMagazine.com
This membership-based organiza- Hippocampus Magazine is a sub-
CHILDREN’S, MG, YA tion is the place to be for any writer mission-based nonfiction maga-
or illustrator of children’s books. zine, run by volunteers, with each
41. Go Teen Writers While they have digital classes, a issue featuring memoir excerpts,
GoTeenWriters.com virtual archive, a podcast, and a personal essays, reviews, and more.
If you are a teenager who enjoys book club that you can access from The fee to submit is $3 with the
writing or if you are an adult writing the comfort of your home, they also opportunity for waiver for those
for a teen audience, Go Teen Writer have regional chapters with in- who need it.
(managed by Stephanie Morrill, person events, and a yearly national
Jill Williamson, and Shannon event in N.Y. Be sure to check out
Dittemore) aims to provide encour- their awards and grants page. FREELANCE
agement, community, and resources
for your writing and publication 45. The
Open Book Blog by 48. All Freelance Writing
journey, including a YouTube chan- Lee & Low Books AllFreelanceWriting.com
nel and free downloads. Blog.leeandlow.com For 17 years, All Freelance Writing
The Open Book Blog is part of and its owner Jennifer Mattern have
42. Highlights Foundation Lee & Low Books—founded in helped launch successful careers for
HighlightsFoundation.org in 1991 by Tom Low and Philip freelance writers through writing
This nonprofit dedicates itself to Lee as a response to the lack of resources, advice, tips, and more.
writers who want to educate and diversity in children’s books—
uplift children of all ages. While and offers publishing news, book 49. The
Editorial Freelancers
they offer online and in-person recommendations, op-eds, and Association
workshops and retreats at their cen- more, all to drive their mission of The-EFA.org
ter in Pennsylvania for a fee, they “address[ing] the dearth of mul- If you’re a freelance writer, editor,
provide scholarship opportuni- ticultural children’s books in the indexer, proofreader, researcher,
ties for their paid programs as well marketplace and make a special translator, etc., join the EFA to list
as free webinars. Their programs effort to work with unpublished your services for others to find.
are led by children’s books experts, authors of color.” Likewise, if you’re an author in need
of a specific type of help, search the HORROR 56. Nieman Storyboard
EFA database and make use of their NiemanStoryboard.org
resources for finding reliable help at 53. Horror Tree Whether you’re just venturing into
industry standard prices. HorrorTree.com the world of journalism or a sea-
Created in 2011 as a resource for soned veteran, Nieman Storyboard,
50. The Writers’ Co-op genre and speculative fiction writ- a publication of the Nieman
TheWritersCoopPod.com ers, this website has dedicated itself Foundation for Journalism at
An “online community for to promoting up-to-date paid pub- Harvard should be a go-to resource.
freelancers everywhere,” The lishing and anthology opportunities. Read the articles to analyze exam-
Writer’ Co-op philosophy is that “a From calls for fiction, nonfiction, ples of exceptional storytelling in
more stable business model allows and poetry to audio, artwork, and journalism or pitch your own writ-
freelance writers to do better work.” novels, this site makes it easy for ing to boost your bylines.
To assist freelancers, they provide writers to see exactly where they can
a podcast, as well as webinars submit and how much (and how) Society of Professional
57.
and courses on everything from they’d be paid for their work. Journalists
mindset work to managing finances SPJ.org
to contract negotiation. Patreon Horror Writers
54. The Society of Professional
members get added benefits. Association Journalists is a century-old orga-
Horror.org nization to encourage the practice
Horror Writers Association is a of the free press and to uphold the
HISTORICAL
nonprofit organization support- high standards of ethical journalis-
ing horror and dark fantasy writers tic behavior. SPJ is also the publisher
51. Historical Novel Society
globally, while also encouraging the of Quill magazine, a regularly used
HNS-Conference.com
public to take an interest in these resource for journalists, industry
This literary society is dedicated
genres. HWA covers such topics as leaders, and students for more than
to promoting historical fiction and
classic literature, author interviews, 90 years.
its authors. Perhaps best known
promoting positive mental health,
for its biannual North American
and more. Membership fees range
conference, their blog is free and MYSTERY/
based on tiers from $59/year to
covers topics from conducting THRILLER
$99/year.
proper research to marketing advice
for indie authors. Paid members 58. Crime Writers of Color
gain access to regional communities, JOURNALISM CrimeWritersOfColor.com
the society’s publication (with Founded by Walter Mosley, Gigi
publishing opportunities), and 55. AsianAmerican Pandian, and Kellye Garrett in
book reviews. Journalists Association 2018, this organization aims to
AAJA.org support, uplift, and promote crime
52. The History Quill Founded in 1981, this association’s writers of color by showcasing their
TheHistoryQuill.com goal has always been to support books in a searchable catalog and
Based in the U.K., The History Quill and promote the works of Asian managing a database of speakers
offers informational (and frequently American and Pacific Islander with their areas of expertise listed.
amusing) blogs, master classes, (AAPI) journalists through train- Don’t miss the podcast hosted by
and editorial resources for writers ings, opportunities, and resources. writer Robert Justice!
of historical fiction. Visit the Tools They also have a yearly conference
and Resources page to find writ- where members can network, as 59. Kill Zone
ing prompts, worksheets, and other well as engage in dialogue about KillZoneBlog.com
websites and blogs writers of histori- equity and inclusion, innovation, A collaboration of suspense writ-
cal fiction might find useful. and the evolution of newsrooms. ers and industry professionals, this

daily blog is dedicated to covering served poets of all ages through powerful tool in fighting patriarchy
the publishing business, marketing, interviews, podcasts, events, a news- … with absolutely no kink shaming.”
and craft of writing suspense fic- letter and more.
tion. They cover topics from things 66. Girl! Have You Read...
that can sink your novel to the open 63. Rattle GirlHaveYouRead.com
domain. They offer a free first-page Rattle.com With the goal of centering Black
critique of your manuscript which This quarterly publication has been romance, this highlights new
are posted anonymously to protect delivering the best poetry since 1995 releases and spotlights back-
the author’s identity while helping by amateur and established poets list books. They also cover Black
others use their feedback. alike. While the print publication romance author news from cover
is subscription-based, every poem reveals to book tours to an easy-to-
Mystery & Suspense
60. that appears in it will eventually be use author directory so you can get
Magazine released on the daily blog. They also your book in front of more people.
MysteryAndSuspense.com produce “Rattlecast,” their free pod-
Founded in 2020 and available as a cast, an archive of poet interviews,
SCIENCE FICTION/
print magazine or free download, writing challenges, audio archives,
FANTASY
Mystery & Suspense is a “web daily and more.
and quarterly” edited by Sam Boush.
67. Liminal Fiction
It features author interviews, book 64. The Haiku Foundation
LimFic.com
reviews, and articles about key ele- TheHaikuFoundation.org
Liminal Fiction is “an inclusive
ments, tropes, and hot topics in the Founded in 2006, The Haiku
library of spec fic titles (fantasy,
mystery, thriller, crime, horror, and Foundation has three goals: 1)
sci-fi, paranormal, and horror)”
suspense genres. “archive the first century of English-
with a weekly newsletter and a blog
language haiku;” 2) “expand pos-
focusing on topics geared toward
Mystery Writers of
61. sibilities for our second century;”
these subgenres. Keep up to date
America and 3) “seek active exchange with
with what other writers are doing
MysteryWriters.org other haiku languages and cultures
or join as an author when your
A membership-based organiza- around the world.” Find resources
book is ready to be promoted to
tion for mystery writers, publishing for learning more, an archive from
this audience.
professionals, and aspiring writers, around the world, and a fascinat-
MWA is dedicated to the educa- ing exploration of how haiku has
Science Fiction & Fantasy
68.
tion and support of everyone in the been incorporated into film, comics,
Writers Association
crime-writing field. Membership music, and more.
SFWA.org
includes access to regional chapters,
Since 1965, the SFWA has supported
regular meetings, a newsletter, an
ROMANCE sci-fi and fantasy writers by pro-
online community, access to their
moting and supporting their work,
contracts and grievances commit-
65. Fated Mates Podcast and by educating the public about
tee, a national mentor program, and
FatedMates.net these genres. The nonprofit boasts
much more.
We couldn’t have said it better than many free resources—including a
the description on this podcast’s bi-monthly newsletter, a blog, and
POETRY website: “Fated Mates is a romance Writer Beware—or become a mem-
novel podcast co-hosted by author ber for added benefits.
62. Poetry Foundation Sarah MacLean and romance critic
PoetryFoundation.org Jen Prokop. Weekly episodes include 69. Tor.com
The Poetry Foundation, established romance novel read-alongs and dis- Tor.com
in 2003—and its publication, Poetry cussions of the work of the genre, Debuting online in 2008, Tor.com
magazine, founded in 1912—has highlighting the romance novel as a is dedicated to discussing sci-fi,
fantasy, and everything tangentially mentoring programs, they also one reprint by emerging and estab-
related. While they regularly pub- offer competition news, a library lished writers, as well as an edito-
lish short genre fiction by up-and- of podcasts, and more. Free rial and one nonfiction column.
coming and established writers, they membership includes monthly
also post commentary about genre giveaways, exclusive invites to 76. The Centictionist
fiction from a variety of people virtual events, and early access to TheCentifictionist.home.blog
throughout the publishing industry. featured articles. The Centifictionist is an online mag-
azine dedicated to the publication of
73. ScreenCraft microfiction (no poetry or nonfic-
SCREENWRITING
ScreenCraft.org tion) of 100 words or fewer (exclud-
Launched in 2012, this company is ing the title). Published twice yearly
International
70.
dedicated to supporting screenwrit- with 30 stories per issue, you can
Screenwriters’ Association
ers, no matter what stage they’re at submit up to three stories at a time
NetworkISA.org
in their career. From their free blog using the Submittable form on their
Sign up for the ISA newsletter to get
that covers everything from proper website.
daily screenwriting gigs directly to
formatting to upcoming contests to
your inbox or browse the website
classes and resources available for
for open contests, read other writer
a fee, they have plenty of options SPIRITUAL
success stories, and discover articles
available for your budget.
and podcasts dedicated to sharing 77. The Write Conversation
tips to improve your craft. TheWriteConversation.blogspot
SHORT FICTION .com
71. No Film School The Write Conversation is a
NoFilmSchool.com 74. 100 Word Story Christian-focused writing blog run
Founded in 2010 by award- 100WordStory.org by author and editor Edie Melson.
winning filmmaker Ryan Koo, No 100 Word Story is only interested With contributions from count-
Film School publishes film-related in the drabble—a story of exactly less guest bloggers, they focus on
news, tutorials, and interviews to 100 words. They operate on rolling writing and publishing advice from
help filmmakers with their craft. submissions (though will sometimes a Christian perspective and boasts
Their popular, highly rated pod- close to catch up on their inbox) and over 4 million visitors.
cast of the same name covers all publish the best stories directly on
things film and television, featur- their website. They host a monthly
ing interviews with industry leaders photo-prompt challenge, and their TRAVEL
and breaking news on filmmaking blog also includes essays, interviews,
trends and technology. Membership and book reviews. 78.International Food Wine
is free and comes with a PDF of Travel Writers Association
their free screenwriting e-book. 75. Flash Fiction Online IFWTWA.org
FlashFictionOnline.com With different levels of membership
72. Pipeline Artists Established in 2007, FFO is dedi- for different types of writers, the
PipelineArtists.com cated to promoting the best flash IFWTWA aims to “create programs
Pipeline Artists focuses on fiction between 500–1,000 words and services to enhance professional
education and empowerment across a wide range of speculative development and facilitate network-
by elevating authentic voices in and literary genres. Each issue is ing” and to “to meet the dynamic
film, publishing, and more. With posted directly online and can be needs of our writers’ community
articles separated by genre and accessed for free! In an issue, read- making a lasting impact on the
purpose, from fiction writing to ers can expect three new pieces and careers of our members.”

79. Pitch Travel Write 82. Publishing Trends publishers). Check out their
PitchTravelWrite.com PublishingTrends.com Resources page for links to other
Created by Roy Stevenson, a suc- Sign up for the weekly Publishing credible sources for practical
cessful freelance travel writer, this Trends newsletter to stay current information and inspiration.
resource helps people break into on the key publishing topics and
travel writing. Free resources on the to see what’s making the bestseller
site include a weekly e-zine, tips for lists around the world. Plus, visit the
traveling with writing assignments Categories tab on the website to find 86–89
in mind, plus writing and pitching book reviews, monthly roundups of
to reputable markets. There are also publishing job moves, and a literary Jobs/Markets
online and in-person events and agent contact sheet.
group and one-on-one coaching 86. FundsforWriters
services offered for a fee. 83. Publishers Weekly FundsforWriters.com
PublishersWeekly.com For more than two decades,
Visit PW to stay current on new FundsforWriters, run by author
and upcoming book releases, data C. Hope Clark, has been a resource
80–85 on what’s making bestseller lists, for all writers looking for current
award announcements, and news paying writing opportunities, as
Publishing News/ articles on all facets of the publish- well as updates on open competi-
Resources ing industry from manufacturing tions, grants, and information on
to marketing to trends in specific current freelance markets.
80. Jane Friedman niches and genres. You can also
JaneFriedman.com access BookLife, their indie publish- Sonia Weiser’s
87.
A mainstay at WD, Jane Friedman is ing resource hub. Opportunities of the Week
the leading voice and most trusted Newsletter
expert in publishing today. Friedman’s 84. We Need Diverse OppsOfTheWeek.com
website is home to her blog and Books Journalist and freelance writer
courses, and you can sign up for her DiverseBooks.org Sonia Weisner gathers all the paid
award-winning newsletter “The Hot This nonprofit is focused on getting pitching and writing opportuni-
Sheet,” with a membership fee of $59/ “books featuring diverse characters ties open to writers each week and
year. Also available are various free into the hands of all children.” They emails them out to her mailing list
newsletters and email alerts. aim to support writers and illustra- (for a suggested $4/month fee).
tors through awards and competi- And if you know of an outlet look-
81. Publishers Marketplace tions, grants and mentorships, and ing for writers, you can share that
PublishersMarketplace.com resources for parents, librarians, and with her to get the word out.
A membership-based site for every- educators to find out the latest news
one interested in the publishing in the kidlit space. 88. The
Writer’s Job
industry, Publishers Marketplace Newsletter
has a database of agents and who 85. Winning Writers TheWritersJobNewsletter.com
they represent, contact information WinningWriters.com The Writer’s Job is a free, weekly
for agents, editors, and other profes- Winning Writers compiles newsletter helping connect writ-
sionals, both domestic and foreign legitimate (and free!) writing ers with the right writing jobs for
sales insights, a list of publishers and contests shared via their newsletter them. The jobs are all paid, fully
their imprints, distributors, and the along with contests to avoid remote, and are sent to your inbox
latest publishing news. (frequently operated by vanity every Sunday.
89. Who Pays Writers a community. With sections for nonmembers alike. Listen to the
WhoPaysWriters.com business, craft, inspiration, and a podcast, read the blog, and find
Run by the Freelance Solidary bookstore, not only are the conver- ratings from their watchdog group
Project, this is a crowd-sourced (but sations well organized, the par- about writing contests and publish-
anonymous) database of pay rates ticipants are thoughtful and sup- ing service providers to ensure you
across print and digital publications, portive in their responses. Plus, don’t get scammed.
each listing displays compensation Joan hosts “shed” hours where she
information, the format the publica- answers questions live from her 96. Author Level Up
tion is seeking, copyright informa- writing shed. AuthorLevelUp.com
tion, and whether the publication Run by WD contributor Michael
contracts writers. 93. Lambda Literary La Ronn, Author Level Up offers
LambdaLiterary.org information and tools on self-
For more than 30 years, Lambda publishing and better writing
Literary has been a leader in recog- through blog posts, weekly YouTube
90–94 nizing and elevating LGBTQ+ writ- videos, courses, and more.
ers and readers. The organization
Writing Communities offers book reviews, events, a writ- 97. David Gaughran
er’s retreat, and more—including DavidGaughran.com
90. Archive of Our Own the annual Lambda Literary Awards David Gaughran has helped thou-
ArchiveOfOurOwn.org (known as the “Lammys”) which sands of authors self-publish
The Archive of Our Own offers celebrates more than 150 authors through his books, workshops,
a noncommercial and nonprofit across 24 categories. blogs, and more, with information
central hosting place for fanworks, on best marketing practices, boost-
also called fan-fiction. Since 2007, 94. NaNoWriMo ing book sales, and avoiding scams.
it’s been a place for writers to share NaNoWriMo.org
works based on media that they National Novel Writing Month Independent Book
98.
engage with and receive feedback (NaNoWriMo) started as a month- Publishers Association
and support from other fans. long challenge to write 50,000 words IBPA-Online.org
in November. It has now expanded Founded in 1983 as an organization
Community of Literary
91. to include shorter challenges in for small publishers in Southern
Magazines & Presses April and July, the Young Writers California, the IBPA is now a
CLMP.org Program, and the Come Write In nationwide nonprofit for self-
The CLMP aims to connect small program for libraries, bookstores, publishers, independent publishers,
presses, literary magazines, and and other community spaces. and small presses offering some free
independent publishers to reader resources (e.g. templates for format-
and libraries so if that’s more your ting your book to industry stan-
style than the Big 5 or if you’re an dards) and additional resources (e.g.
independent publisher yourself, 95–101 databases and discussion forums)
check out their plentiful resources for paid members.
which include a directory of pub- Indie Publishing
lishers, events, calls for submissions, 99. Indie Author Project
and select opportunities for funding. 95. Alliance of Independent IndieAuthorProject.com
Authors This publishing community
92. Gutsy Great Novelist SelfPublishingAdvice.org includes public libraries, authors,
GutsyGreatNovelist.com Now in its 6th year on this list, the curators, and readers all working
Founded by award-winning nonprofit ALLi Advice Center together to connect library patrons
indie author Joan Dempsey, this is a comprehensive resource for with great indie-published books.
online community truly feels like indie authors, both members and The site offers a free archive of

The Writer’s Digest Community of Websites
Writer’s Digest maintains a collection of websites to serve your writing needs. Be sure to visit us at these places.
WRITER’S DIGEST: WritersDigest.com WRITER’S DIGEST ANNUAL CONFERENCE:

The online hub for everything WD, including the WritersDigestConference.com
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WRITER’S DIGEST UNIVERSITY: SCRIPT MAGAZINE: ScriptMag.com

WritersOnlineWorkshops.com A glaring omission to the Screenwriting best websites
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TheIndyAuthor.com Publishers, Artists & Writers Amy Jones is editor-in-chief of WD. Find
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KEEPING IT SHORT
The Four Elements

Learn the diǺerence between loglines,

elevator pitches, query pitches, and
a plot synopsis to make the best rst
impression with literary agents.
BY AMY COLLINS

D
ear Author, It was lovely to meet you at the When telling a friend about a movie you want them to
conference last week; thank you for emailing watch, you need to consider their tastes. For example, tell-
me those photos! I would love to read more ing someone they have to see the latest horror flick only
about the manuscript you are currently pitching. Can makes sense if they like horror movies. A logline instantly
you send me your pitch, first few chapters, and synopsis? allows you and the person you are speaking with to deter-
—Signed Agent McAgent mine if the book you’re writing fits their needs.
When asked about your manuscript, it’s often a good
Logline. Elevator Pitch. Query Pitch. Plot Synopsis. idea to start with a short, sharp statement that uses an
The terms thrown at hopeful authors can be overwhelm- iconic story to indicate the genre, audience, and theme.
ing. To make matters even more confusing, the defini- When writing a logline or using it as an email sub-
tions of these terms vary depending on whom you ask. It’s ject line, it’s common to see the main character names,
enough to make an author throw their manuscript at a wall. author names, or titles in all capital letters.
And after you get your mind around the differences
Imagine if STEPHEN KING wrote and directed a real-
between these terms? How do you create them? What
ity TV show.
are the rules? What do agents and publishers want?
The good news is that there are no hard and fast rules. My book has been described as THE TWILIGHT
The bad news is that different agents often want different ZONE meets SURVIVOR.
things. The great news is that there are steps you can take
It’s for fans of TESS GERRITSEN who also love the
to create an appealing logline, elevator pitch, query pitch,
SAW movies.
and synopsis that will cover all your bases. They don’t
have to be so mysterious.
The Second Element:
Ask yourself, “What are you trying to achieve?” Are
ELEVATOR PITCH
you trying to determine if your book would appeal to the
An elevator pitch is a short statement that answers the
agent? (Step One) Or are you trying to convince them to
question, “What’s the book about?” An elevator pitch
read your book? (Step Two)
often includes a logline. Ten–15 seconds if spoken out
Too often, authors tend to rush right to Step Two.
loud. Tops.
Instead, take the time and go through the first step, deter-
The best advice I can give you when creating your
mining the appeal of your book to your intended audi-
elevator pitch is to learn the difference between describ-
ence. Doing this can make a stronger connection with the
ing your plot vs. explaining your plot. A pitch (no matter
agents you’re querying. It gives them a chance to quickly
what kind) needs to leave the audience with an idea of
determine if they would be a good fit for your project and,
the premise and stakes. That’s it. This isn’t the place for
in doing so, save you and the agent time and stress.
backstory, secret motives, or why you wrote the book.
In Step One, a logline and an elevator pitch will
Here’s an exercise I invite you to do right now. Take
help everyone determine if your book has the ele-
a moment to write down answers to the following
ments needed to appeal to a particular agent. The more
questions:
extended query pitch and plot synopsis in Step Two are
designed to convince the agent to read your book to • What is one of your favorite movies?
determine for themselves the merits. • How would you describe it to someone who had not
You’ll need all of these in your tool bag over time. seen it yet?
Therefore, it’s vital to have the four elements all readily
Now, do that with your book.
at hand.
Here’s an example of an elevator pitch that hits just a
few key points and doesn’t try to cover every element of
The First Element: LOGLINE
the book:
A logline is a statement that answers the question,
“Would I like this book?” It often uses iconic, culturally A divorced teenager is chosen for a hospital-based
relevant references to give the listener/reader a chance reality TV show but finds out she and the young man
to quickly identify their potential interest in a book she has fallen for were tricked into a gladiator-style
like yours. fight for their lives. They must outwit a group of
KEEPING IT SHORT
murderous doctors and sadistic nurses while compet- 6. DATA POINTS: Make sure you include genre, word
ing with the other contestants in front of millions of count, title, POV.
viewers to escape the hospital where the show is set. 7. UNIQUE SELLING POINTS: Mention what makes the
book and the author unique and separates you from
the crowd. (Award, quote, the story was already
The Third Element:
optioned for a film … something to add to the book’s
QUERY PITCH
appeal outside of the story.)
A query pitch also answers the question, “What is this
book about,” but adds a few more compelling details THE DOCTOR IS IN is a 94,000-word horror novel, told
and should convince the agent that your book is better in third-person single POV and set in a modern-day
than other books in your category. Often called a USP reality show broadcast set. Eighteen and divorced,
(Unique Selling Point,) this is where an agent wants to MARGORY APPLETON wants to leave her small-town
see how your book differs from the other books already life and heads to NYC to audition for a medical-themed
published. It’s great that you wrote the next Gone Girl, reality TV show. The last thing she expects is to fall in
but we already have a Gone Girl. What does your book love with Tad, a stockbroker, also chosen to compete
add to the genre? in the secretive program. Locked into an abandoned
As you are writing your pitch, ask yourself: Is this Manhattan hospital, Margory, Tad, and eight other
pitch going to convince an agent that your book is more competitors are horrified to learn that the show’s sadis-
sellable than the other pitches they have read this week? tic medical treatments are very real. It becomes clear
This type of pitch is only one part of your query letter. that the point of the show is to escape from the hospi-
Its purpose is to describe your book’s themes, voice, and tal as one by one, the competitors die horrifying deaths
story. Usually, one paragraph. Occasionally two paragraphs. at the hands of the show’s doctors, nurses, and a mys-
Below are the elements that will create a great starting terious, cold-blooded director. Jane Burton, author of
point for your query pitch. Medic Heartbreak, called the ending of THE DOCTOR
1. THEME: What is the central theme of the book? Is it IS IN “the most shocking twist I have ever seen.”
good over evil? The importance of family? Finding
peace with oneself? Doing the right thing? Survival? The Fourth Element:
2. COMPS: What two books are your future readers buy- PLOT SYNOPSIS
ing and reading right now? A synopsis answers the question, “Does this book have
Comparable titles are not always books that are all the elements needed to be a successful story?” It is a
like your book. They are books written by authors 300–400-word walk-through of the main character arc
similar to you that share your readers. If you’re a and the main story arc of the book. Do not confuse this
debut author, try to find other debut authors with with your back cover copy or an Amazon description.
recent successes. There are a lot of classes and articles Yes, it has to be well-written and have good pacing,
on finding comparable titles so for today, let’s focus but the point is to tell the whole story (the beginning,
on a few tips and guidelines. “Comp” titles should be: middle, crisis, resolution, and ending of both your story
and your main character). So, it starts with the premise
• Less than two years old.
and goes all the way to the end to give the agent a quick
• Have at least 2,000 reviews on Amazon.
way to see if the plot and character development has
• Have a similar theme, voice, setting, POV, or issue.
merit. Show all your clever twists and unique plot ideas.
• Not be authored by a huge or iconic author, nor
This is where you prove that your plot is not derivative or
be the basis for a movie or TV show.
dull. Keep no secrets. Hide nothing. This is not the place
3. STAKES: What’s at stake in the book? A life? Many to worry about spoilers. (Commercial literature needs
lives? Mental health? Happiness? Prison? The enslave- very high stakes. If you are writing literary fiction, then
ment of an entire species? Finding a soulmate? the stakes do not need to be operatic, but the pacing and
4. SETTING: Where and when does the story take place? story still have to engage and keep a reader’s attention.)
5. CHARACTER: Who is the main character and what are It’s easy to get lost in the weeds while writing the points
they like? of your story. Cramming everything about your plot into

your synopsis will not help convince an agent to read your 12. How and where does the main character end up?
book. You need to include only the key points, but it isn’t
Once these answers are written down, move the cards
easy to decide what will matter and what will not.
around and create a story/flow outline for your plot syn-
To avoid this temptation, focus only on your main
opsis. The answers to these questions should be all you
character arc and your story arc. These are two different,
need to create the framework for your entire story outline.
yet hopefully intersecting, threads that will each start on
Best friends, love interests, bosses … They should
page one and finish on the last page.
only be mentioned if they are part of the answers to the
If you do not prove your storytelling talent here, you
questions above. Resist the temptation to give too much
will most likely not get a request for your manuscript.
extra detail. The only reason to start fattening up the plot
A plot synopsis should be written in the third person
synopsis is if you cannot answer one of the above ques-
(even if the book is written in the first person), showing
tions without the detail you’re considering adding.
how the protagonist grows and changes. It should men- Here are a few tips to give your synopsis the best
tion the goals and motives of the antagonist and cover chances possible:
the relationship between them. Subplots and secondary First, do not rush the process of writing your plot syn-
characters should rarely be included and only if key to opsis. Instead, use the same talent you used for writing
the twist or resolution. your book to write your synopsis. In some cases, it’s your
Here is an exercise to help you outline the framework. best chance of hooking an agent who wants to see your
Build the frame first, and then you can go back and flesh story framework before reading your manuscript.
it out if needed. Once you have the outline and framework, go back
Using 12 sticky notes, 3-by-5 cards, or software that and see where you can add descriptive language.
allows you to move things around, place the answers to Add tension and crisp pacing by eliminating unnec-
the following 12 questions before you: essary words and sentences. (Editing software is often
1. Who is your main character, and what characteristics helpful with this.)
describe them at the beginning of the story? 1. Write at least five revisions (one revision a day for
2. What is your main character’s “deal”? (What situation five days).
do we find them in at the beginning?) 2. Then put it away for a week.
3. Who do they perceive as their biggest enemy or 3. Write a new draft without looking at the old one.
problem? (Is it a bad guy, a small-minded relative? A 4. Compare the two and tweak one with improvements
person with their own agenda that conflicts with the from the other.
main character? A corporation?) 5. Put it away for two additional days.
4. Who is actually their biggest enemy/problem? (Are 6. Edit and share with industry folks.
they the same? Is there a second enemy or problem?) 7. Revise based on their input.
5. How/when does the main character discover the full
and true list of enemies? You did it! You now have all four elements you need to
6. What characteristics describe your main character at
talk about your book at a party or drop it into a con-
the end of the story, and how have they changed? versation with an agent you meet at a conference. You
have the right phrases, sentences, and details to craft any
7. What is the biggest thing in the story that changed
number of different query letters. And you have a well-
the main character from whom we met at the start of
mapped-out plot synopsis when you are asked to provide
the story and whom we see at the end of the story?
it. You’re ready to go forth with confidence, prepared for
8. What is the next most significant thing that hap-
almost anything agents toss at you. WD
pens to the main character (in order of impact) that
changes their status, feelings, or situation?
9. What is the third most prominent thing that happens Amy Collins (AmysAdvice.com) is an agent with Talcott Notch
to the main character (in order of impact) that alters Literary Services. She represents authors who have signed deals
with major publishers and specializes in audio rights. Amy speaks
their life in the story?
and teaches on market viability and sales potential for authors and
10. What happens during the climax of the story? is currently traveling the country with her two dogs meeting with
11. What happens to the “bad guy?” How do they end up? editors and authors. She can be found on Twitter at @askamycollins.
KEEPING IT SHORT
Honing the Power of

Suggestion With Flash Fiction

Tips for making the biggest impact
with the fewest words.
BY GRANT FAULKNER

W
hen I’m writing a story, I think often of a novel is and then try to capture its essence in a single
Roland Barthes’ question in The Pleasure page—the novel in a concentrated form, like a perfume.
of the Text: “Is not the most erotic por- I was reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s notebooks at the
tion of the body where the garment gapes?” time, and I decided to collect an assortment of my favor-
I don’t write romance, and I don’t write many sex ite lines and stitch them together into a single story, a
scenes in my stories, but it’s the perfect writing metaphor sort of collage. As I moved sentences around and posi-
for me, especially when I’m writing flash fiction, because tioned them for dramatic effect, I began to realize how
tiny stories flow from tantalizing glimpses that lure the the weave of images worked with the gaps in the story
reader forward. As much as a writer might want to tell to create vaporous whorls of a storyline that formed the
the whole story, a good miniature is created around hints feeling of a sweeping narrative arc.
and fleeting appearances. The story moves through the I learned that if I communicated the essence of a story
power of suggestion; it lives in the bliss of its mystery. well enough, I didn’t have to excavate all its layers or pro-
Before I wrote flash fiction, which is defined as a story vide connective tissue and explanation. I learned how
less than 1,000 words, I’d trained myself as a novelist, and the senses come into play in a new, more intense, more
I thought writing vividly meant to write with a density nuanced way when writing toward the essence. A smell
of telling details, with words that grounded a reader and combines with the angle of light, which combines with
illustrated the world around them almost as if the author a car door slamming outside, which combines with a
held a movie camera. That can be the case, certainly, but memory that creates a mood, a moment on the page.
the more I wrote flash fiction (and particularly 100-word The music of language is a concentrating force as
stories), the more I learned that there are other tools a well. It creates intimacy with the rhythms of a writer’s
writer can use to immerse the reader in the story: the art imagination, its cadences communicating hints of irony
of excision, the art of compression, the art of omission, or sincerity, humor or distress. The sounds give shape to
the art of writing with spaces and gaps and breaths, the the story. As you read, you feel the story’s weights and
art of less. measures, taste its consonants, absorb the essence of it in
I recently wrote a book, The Art of Brevity, to better ways you might not even be able to name.
understand the craft of writing less. Here is how writ- I learned that “more” isn’t necessarily the direction
ing flash fiction taught me to write with the power of to go to tell the full story. There is no premise of com-
suggestion. prehensiveness when writing short-shorts, because flash
fiction is a form that privileges excision over agglomera-
The Unexpected Benefits tion, adhering more than any other narrative form to
of Constraints Ernest Hemingway’s famous iceberg dictum: only show
The word constraints tends to have a negative connota- the top eighth of your story and leave the rest below
tion. It speaks of restrictions and limits, and in writing, water to be conjured. What is omitted can speak as much
as in life, we tend to want as much freedom and space as as the text itself.
we can get. But constraints can nourish your creativity.
My first time facing an imposed constraint was when Ambiguity as a Writer’s Friend
my creative writing professor Robert Gluck assigned our By writing a “novel” in such a way, I wondered what
class to write a novel in a single page. It was an odd, seem- we actually retain after reading a novel, whether it’s a
ingly impossible premise. He said it shouldn’t be a mere bulky tome like War and Peace or a slim novel like
summary of plot, but that we should think about what The Great Gatsby?
KEEPING IT SHORT
We carry fragments, moments, impressions. Our any writer, but especially a writer of brevity: just how
minds erase the weight of text, the lacings of all its con- much background, if any, is needed?
nections, and form their own images. Writer Deb Olin Unferth says that the short-short
Writers trust the solidity of their words, the cohesive- story forces the writer to ask not about what more to
ness of the world they create. But readers read through add, but what to subtract. “The short makes us con-
connotation as much as they do through denotation, sider such questions as: What is the essential element of
taking the words elsewhere, weaving memories and ‘story’? How much can the author leave out and still cre-
emotions and intuitions into the ink of the words on the ate a moving, complete narrative? If I remove all back-
page. All good fiction is open to shades of interpretation, story, all exposition, all proper nouns, all dialogue—or
of course, but the shorter the piece, the sparer the details, if I write a story that consists only of dialogue—in what
the more the reader is required to fill the space. The way is it still a story?”
reader essentially reads in fragments, so the writer has to Take the story “Hourly” by Scott Garson, in which he
trust in the conjurings of the reader’s mind. captures the stagnation of a menial job and the frustra-
“If a reader desires full dramatization of every dra- tion of unexpressed creativity in a single moment—a
matizable moment, he or she should read a novel, which single gesture. In its entirety it reads:
is about expansion; flash fiction is about ambiguity,”
They gave me a job at Halloween Town. Strip mall
said Nathan Leslie, who edits the Best Small Fictions
with vacancies. Sad. I was a wizard, vaguely swinging
annual series.
my wand. “Everything change,” I commanded.
Ambiguity is an unheralded gift of brevity. Brevity
finds its breath in questions. It’s not a style that seeks to Do you need more to understand this character’s
speak with certainty, but with nuance, much like poetry. need and conflict? He’s passive, and put upon, which
Sometimes a story can be about mystery itself and noth- we know from the first line, because it’s written in the
ing more. Brevity naturally provides an opening to mystery passive voice. But he’s also a wizard in a bleak situation.
because the mysterious eludes all explanation. It speaks to He wants to believe he has magic. He wants things to
something more significant than what can be explained. change. Will they?
There is always something beyond. We can feel that antici- The literary critic Irving Howe said, “short-shorts
pation, the suspense that naturally resides between the constitute epiphanies (climactic moments of high grace
known and the unknown, the opening up of questions. or realization) that have been torn out of their contexts.”
The most haunting stories are those that don’t provide Flash attunes the writer to the subterranean, the implied,
answers but open questions. Telling a good short-short the unsaid, the unseen. The world is always a little bit
story is similar to playing the Ouija board. You discover haunted in a flash story because of what’s left out. As the
a small part of the story and let your imagination speak writer Lu Chi said, “Things move into shadows and they
with the other side, invisible as it might be, to know the vanish; things return in the shape of an echo.”
rest of it. In fact, if you had to choose a single word to describe
the flash aesthetic, the best one might be ellipsis, because
The Art of Omission it speaks to the presence of what is omitted. The word
I used the metaphor of the Ouija board because a writer ellipsis means “to hide behind silence” or “the omis-
always has to make the decision of how much context sion from speech or writing of a word or words that are
is enough for the reader, how much can be taken away superfluous or able to be understood from contextual
to strike the proper level of ambiguity to cloak the text’s clues.”
suggestive powers in. The contextual clues are as important to meaning as
Strangely enough, most of life comes without much the words in a story or conversation, connotations mix-
context if you think about it. Nearly everyone we meet, ing with denotations. The clues of a tone of voice, a facial
we meet with minimal surrounding information. We expression, a gesture, a mood. Because of the condensed
meet them in the small context of a classroom, a bar, a space of flash fiction, the idea of a fully rounded charac-
moment in a day. We imagine a wider context for them, ter is not viable. We likely won’t know where characters
based on sprinkles of data. This is a crucial question for were born, if they went to college, or whatever neurosis

they might have developed due to a childhood trauma Carrying a Story With
because we know them only in the seizure of a moment, the Image
not in a dramatically arching plot line. When writing flash, I think of Lu Chi’s advice on captur-
The ineffable influences the effable in dramatic ways. ing detail in his classic The Art of Writing:
When something is omitted or unspoken, the imagina-
When the vein of jade
tion has to work to fill in the gaps. An ellipsis is a type of
Is revealed in the rock
sensual touch between writer and reader, a moment of
The whole mountain glistens
anticipation, a frisson of connection.
A single image can carry a story just as it carries a
Using Questions to Open poem. The detail of the jade works to illuminate the
Up Expanses entire mountain. Flash fiction, much like poetry, is an
Perhaps the bigness of a story isn’t best measured by its imagist’s medium. A striking image connects us with the
page count. A tiny story might be as “big” as any tome in unconscious, offers a path to the dreamworld. Shapes
some authors’ hands. shift, and otherworldly possibilities arise. In such dis-
Jorge Luis Borges wrote short stories that were so placement, there is a peculiar kind of placement. The
capacious they seemed to hold universes. Instead of image is carrying us.
writing big books on vast subjects, Borges decided that “Within a good image, outer and subjective worlds
writing their essence, communicating their meaning illumine one another, break bread together, converse. In
through suggestion, was more efficient and meaningful. this way, image increases both vision and what is seen,”
So, instead of writing a novel, he’d write a fictional book wrote the poet Jane Hirshfield.
review of the novel he wanted to write, and the book Images take on a more prominent place in short-
review would be a kind of novel itself, just as my one- shorts than they do in longer works because they serve to
page novel exercise was, because of the way it suggested enlarge a work, to carry the work and let it speak beyond
a bigger story. the page. An image is not good because of its details but
As Borges noted, “The composition of vast books is because of its illuminating qualities—the way it awakens
a laborious and impoverishing extravagance … A bet- a mood, a feeling, or an idea while it draws us a picture.
ter course of procedure is to pretend that these books Description and evocation are two very different things.
already exist, and then to offer a résumé, a commentary.” “No ideas but in things,” as William Carlos Williams
Because of its size, flash fiction invites using forms famously proclaimed.
of writing that we use every day, but in new, inventive The writer who builds a story through fragments and
ways. I’ve written stories in the form of customer reviews images knits narrative into the spaces between sentences,
of Dansko clogs or a guest’s entry in a bed and breakfast moving the story through hints, through the sonic quali-
log. Leesa Cross-Smith’s “Girlheart Cake With Glitter ties of poetry, so the reader is always working to fill in
Frosting” is a recipe that comprises a feast of ingredi- the gaps, to speak the silences.
ents that make up girlhood, each item on the list defin- As the writer Jayne Anne Phillips said, “The realized
ing the story’s main character and suggesting a storyline. one-page fiction must move palpably beyond the page,
Michael Czyzniejewski uses the form of an outline in his like a ghost self … The one-page fiction should hang in
story “The Braxton-Carter-Van-Damme-Myers-Braxton- the air of the mind like an image made of smoke.”
Carter Divorce: An Outline.” Kathy Fish uses the form Your story, in other words, shouldn’t be tethered to
of a dictionary entry in her commentary on human the words on the page, but in the suggestion that lives in
nature, “Collective Nouns for Humans in the Wild.” Kim the air around a reader. WD
Magowan wrote a brilliant 100-word story, “Madlib,” in
the form of Mad Libs. Lucy Zhang uses the how-to form
in her sultry hybrid piece, “How to make me orgasm.”
Grant Faulkner is the author of The Art of Brevity and has
The “containers” for these stories provide a framework published award-winning flash-fiction stories that are widely
of suggestion, and then the stories within them extends anthologized. He is also the co-founder of 100 Word Story and the
their suggestive powers. Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
KEEPING IT SHORT
A Good Ending
Learn where a personal essay

delivers its gift.
BY WILLIAM KENOWER

This is what we’re really
I
started writing personal essays more or less acciden-
tally. I had (and still have) what began as a monthly
column for the online magazine Author but soon “teaching” at the end
turned, despite my mild objections, into a daily column.
of our pieces—that we
I didn’t think I had enough to say about writing and pub-
lishing to fill 400 words, five days a week. And I was right! have choices. That we
After only a month, I didn’t want to pen another piece
about query letters or agents or markets. So, I decided to are free. If you don’t
tell a story. know you have a choice
While I had been telling fictional stories for years, I
was not accustomed to personal narrative, at least not on to open your cage, if you
the page. I told stories to my friends and family all the
time, but this, I knew, would be different. Fortunately,
believe it is locked, then
Author was intended to be an uplifting magazine—we you will believe you are
would publish no articles or interviews filled with any
gloom and doom about the publishing world or how imprisoned. You don’t
hard it is to write. Instead, we would always encourage. have to be perfect to
That meant my story had to be uplifting, which
helped serve as a guide, a definite target for my narrative teach this.
arrow. However, I didn’t appreciate until I reached the
story’s end, specifically the last paragraph and then the
very last line, that whether the story left the reader feel- It’s Not About You
ing hopeful or indifferent or discouraged would be deter- As someone who has read hundreds of submissions to
mined in these final words. What’s more, when I finished Author and who regularly teaches the personal essay, I
it to my satisfaction, and as I pushed myself away from have seen again and again how most pieces, no matter
the desk, I noticed how peaceful and soothed I felt. It was how well told in the beginning and middle, lose focus
an important lesson for a newly minted essayist: In writ- and power at their conclusion. This is due largely to
ing it, I had left myself feeling how I hoped my readers the nature of the personal essay, which, as Windy Lynn
would feel. Harris succinctly described in her book Writing and
I believe I have a career as an essayist because of how I Selling Short Stories and Personal Essays, is “a story with
have learned to end my stories. This is where you deliver a lesson.” Creative writers love telling stories; many do
your gift: the clear, emotional destination toward which not feel so comfortable offering lessons.
your essay is moving. This is where you answer the read- There are a number of reasons for this. First, how-
er’s question: Why have you told me this story? ever, I should point out that not all personal essays end
KEEPING IT SHORT
with any kind of lesson. These types of pieces tend to and content, and no one likes to be afraid or angry or
be more like portraits of life as it has been lived, with- confused. Sadly, everyone will suffer, and probably fre-
out any real definitive answers about that life. What is quently. Fortunately, without conflict, without problems
called the “lyrical essay” is one common example of this. and pain, there would be no stories. In fact, I usually
Sometimes these essays show us something beautiful, choose my stories based on how acute its conflict. In
and sometimes something quite grim. Regardless, the other words, the worse I felt, the better the story.
author draws no conclusions about what they rendered. I know you may be reticent to return, as it were, to the
Here is life as they’ve seen it; draw whatever conclusions scene of the crime. However, I have known plenty of pain
you’d like. in my life, and personal narrative has taught me, like no
This is a common approach if you’ve primarily other practice, that I always suffered not because of what
written fiction. Most fiction writers train themselves happened but because of what I believed about what was
not to preach to their readers, to always show and not happening. I suffered because I believed I wasn’t good
to tell, to avoid a soapbox and to let the characters and enough, I was unlucky, I needed to be someone I wasn’t,
their actions reveal the story’s meaning. They may even or the world was unkind. The event, the particular thing
deliberately avoid thinking too much about any kind that happened to me, ends immediately, but my beliefs
of message so as to better allow the characters to act endure until I change them. I will continue to suffer until
naturally and show the author why the story is being I believe differently.
told. Most fiction writers discover their story’s full arc Suffering is a great and clarifying teacher. Nothing
through the characters’ actions, which become the teaches me that I must think well of myself like think-
vehicles for how those characters change or don’t change, ing I’m no good; nothing teaches me the value of peace
learn or don’t learn. like being at war; nothing teaches me self-acceptance like
This is somewhat true in personal narrative as well. trying to make myself be someone I’m not. I may have to
At first, I just want to tell the story. I want to paint a vivid suffer a long time to learn, but eventually I do. We all do.
setting, capture the surprise of an inciting incident, the However, to write a good ending, I must first under-
pain or confusion or fear of the rising conflict, and then stand the story’s problem. That’s where the gold is
the relief of resolution. Initially, I am just focused on because that’s where I was learning, where life itself was
what happened and why it happened. teaching me. I suffered because I believed something that
The difference is that in personal narrative, I already wasn’t true, and life did all it could to help correct this.
know what my character is going to do. I do not, how- If I were writing a piece about quitting smoking, I would
ever, often know why he did what he did, thought what devote a fair amount of space to showing why smoking
he thought, or said what he said. I discover the answers seemed like a good idea at one time, how I felt it solved
in the writing. By the way, the answer to why he did and the ongoing threat of boredom. I would write this por-
said what he did and said is always because of what he, tion almost as if I were trying to convince the reader
my character, who is also named Bill Kenower, believed that everyone should smoke. Ideally, I would also write it
at that time. As my beliefs change, so do my actions. without any judgment on myself for the choices I made
I don’t know how to write a personal essay without at the time. But I would also describe how my mouth
this kind of self-reflection. Not every writer wants to tasted like an ashtray, and how I didn’t like how my body
look inward in this particular way. It feels self- felt, and how I still worried about being bored. Problem,
indulgent. And it can be. A personal narrative is never problem, problem.
about the author but about what life taught the author;
when I tell my stories, it’s my goal that any reader, Two Kinds of Endings
regardless of who they might be, will feel ultimately as if The ending is always the opposite of the problem.
the story is about them. Mechanically, the opposite of smoking is simply not
smoking. This is useful to remember if I want to end the
Life the Teacher story with action. That is, the very last thing I describe
And here’s what I know about everyone on earth: They would be the character throwing away a pack of ciga-
don’t like to suffer. Everyone likes to feel happy and safe rettes or crushing a half-smoked butt under his shoe.

Obviously, it would have to be described in such a way A personal narrative is …
that the reader believed my character would never
smoke again, that he no longer needs cigarettes to about what life taught the
relieve boredom. author; when I tell my
Sometimes, however, the action ends before the
story does. In this case, the last paragraph is devoted to stories, it’s my goal that
a view of life after the problem has been resolved. If my
character has smoked his last cigarette, I might have him
any reader … will feel
look out at the world and see it as interesting. This is a ultimately as if the story
more poetic ending. My goal here is to paint a portrait
that captures the relief that comes when we have let the is about them.
problem go.
Regardless of what kind of ending I choose, my
description of the problem can come in very handy. However, I can’t practice something until I realize it can
If I wanted to end the story with my character crush- be practiced, that there is a choice I can make.
ing out his last cigarette, I would attempt to echo how This is what we’re really “teaching” at the end of our
I described this action in the middle, how he felt bad pieces—that we have choices. That we are free. If you
about himself or was already looking forward to the next don’t know you have a choice to open your cage, if you
one. I would try to keep how I describe the action at the believe it is locked, then you will believe you are impris-
end as close to how I described it in the middle with just oned. You don’t have to be perfect to teach this. You
enough of a tweak to show that something had changed. don’t have to be a guru high on a hill. You just have to be
If I wanted a poetic ending, I might have the charac- someone who has recognized a choice, who has made
ter look at the exact same scene—same living room or that choice, and has experienced the value of the differ-
street or park—that he had once seen as boring, as bereft ence between one thing and another because they have
of interest and value, what he had needed a cigarette to suffered and learned.
save himself from. I would describe the scene once again Finally, remember that the best endings leave the
mirroring as closely as possible how I described it before reader feeling better than how they felt when they started
but with enough changed that it was clear he was seeing reading. This should be true for you the writer as well.
it differently. Ideally, you will feel in yourself that same relief you felt
when you crushed out the cigarette, or quit the job, or
You’re Not Perfect saw that everyone had what it took. If you can feel that
Some writers still feel resistant to ending with these relief again, then likely your readers will as well.
kinds of lessons because they are acutely aware that That feeling is everything. We tend to forget most of
they’re still learning, that they’re far from perfect. what we read, even of those stories we love. What we
Perhaps in the above example I lapsed and started smok- remember, however, what compels us to recommend a
ing a few years after the finishing the piece, or I simply book or essay, is how it left us feeling. That lives in us
still craved a cigarette from time to time. Perfection is long after we’ve come to the end, teaching us again and
not the point. Learning is. again, no matter how hard things may get, the value of
For instance, I wrote a book called Everyone Has life as we lead it. WD
What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt.
It’s a book about how debilitating it is to compare our-
selves to other people, specifically other writers. Does William Kenower is the author of Everyone Has What It Takes: A
this mean that since I published it, I have never com- Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt, Fearless Writing: How to
pared myself to anyone? If only that were so. However, I Create Boldly and Write With Confidence, Write Within Yourself:
An Author’s Companion, and editor-in-chief of Author magazine.
don’t do it very often, nor for very long. Once I recog- In addition to his books, he’s been published in The New York
nized how useless comparison was, I began practicing Times, Writer’s Digest, Edible Seattle, Parent Map, and has been a
not comparing. The more I practice, the better I get at it. featured blogger for HuffPost.
KEEPING IT SHORT
“That’s My Journey”
Susan Mattern, author of Out of the Lion’s
Den, grand-prize winner of the 10th Annual
WD Self-Published E-Book Awards, talks
staying true to her story and the benets
of writing at a distance from the events.
BY AMY JONES
A
story of survival. A medical thriller. A legal But not everyone thought writing about losing her
thriller. All of these could describe Susan faith was a prudent choice. Mattern showed an early
Mattern’s memoir, Out of the Lion’s Den: A draft of the book to a friend who told Mattern it wasn’t
Little Girl’s Mountain Lion Attack, A Mother’s Search for a good idea. She remembers her friend saying, “‘I like
Answers. But at its heart, the book is a story of one wom- this, but you just have to take out the part about being
an’s journey of losing her faith. an atheist. That’s just not gonna work.’ And I said, ‘Well,
And while that’s not a typical faith-journey story, for [laughs] I know I can’t do that, because that’s my journey.
Mattern, a former nun who left the convent after six …’ She said, ‘Well, you’re not going to sell very many.’ And
years, it’s the hard-fought truth of her experience. An I said, ‘That’s the way it goes. I still need to write it.’”
experience that began on March 23, 1986—the day her So how did she write about events that happened
5-year-old daughter Laura was attacked by a moun- decades ago? “Piecemeal,” Mattern said, starting in 1992,
tain lion at Caspers Wilderness Park in Orange County, with the help of journals she kept throughout her daugh-
Calif.—but lasted for years as Laura underwent countless ter’s surgeries and court documents from the extensive
surgeries and her parents fought extensive legal battles to trial and appeal. “I don’t think I ever really thought that I
get the county to admit they could’ve done more to warn would actually publish it, probably until 2014 or some-
park guests about the known danger. thing. Then I thought, You know what? I’m just going to
Through all that, Mattern’s faith was tested and even- do this. And then I just put it all together and published
tually provided the basis for the book. Mattern told it on Amazon.”
WD, “When this trauma happened, we just tried to live It also helped that by the time Mattern decided to
through it. And then when I lost my faith, it was just focus on writing the book for publication, years had
such an unusual thing, because most people do come passed and with it the weight of the events. Instead of
back to God. … I didn’t want to write a book just about writing the book to process the trauma, she was able
the trauma of what Laura had gone through, because to approach it with clear eyes. “It was really interest-
there’s a lot of stories that are about that, and I didn’t ing because by the time I wrote the book, it was almost
think that was really anything that unusual or that mem- like it was a movie. To me, the trauma was over with.
orable. But then the whole faith thing, that was kind of The trauma was gone because Laura had recovered. She
unusual. And I thought, Well, I’d like to write about that, lost the sight in her one eye, and she had some residual
because so many people have such a negative attitude problems, of course, but she was just a beautiful girl and
about people who are atheists and I wanted to somehow doing so well, and we had gotten along so well as a fam-
get out the idea that atheists have morals too.” ily. It just worked out beautifully. So, it was kind of easy.”

Of course, more went into it, including working with
an editor, who was hooked by the power of the first THE WINNERS
chapter. “I worked with Lisa Lenard-Cook. A friend of GRAND PRIZE
mine met her at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference— Out of the Lion’s Den: A Little Girl’s Mountain Lion
and she was a wonderful editor. My friend showed her Attack, A Mother’s Search for Answers by Susan Mattern
the first chapter of the book. … Lisa called her I think
FANTASY
at 11:30 that night and said, ‘So what happens? Does
Resurrection by MC Hunton
Laura live or die?’ Marsha said, ‘She lives,’ and Lisa said,
‘OK, I just needed to know that.’ So, then after that, she MYSTERY/THRILLER
helped me edit the book.” That first chapter is what Blood Machines by J.K. Gravier
hooked the WD judges, too, helping Mattern earn grand
NARRATIVE NONFICTION
prize for the 10th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published
Follow Me, Friend: A Memoir of Undiagnosed
E-Book Awards. Her winnings include $5,000, a trip to
PTSD, and the Healing Power of the Horse-Human
the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference in New York City,
Relationship by Cheryl L. Eriksen
and a spot at the agent Pitch Slam.
It wasn’t just the first chapter that lent itself to natu- PRESCRIPTIVE/INFORMATIVE NONFICTION
ral storytelling though. As the memoir progressed from How a Mother Took Her First Step on the Moon:
survival tale to medical thriller to court room drama, A Mother’s Keepsake Journal of Advice to My
Mattern didn’t really have to work to build suspense, ten- Children by Julianne Bosch
sion, or cliffhangers into the story. It was there by nature
ROMANCE
of the actual events because, as Mattern told WD, “that
Will You Be My Hero by Chantel Grayson
was our feeling, too, because we didn’t know what was
going to happen and what were the residual effects going SCIENCE FICTION
to be for quite a while.” River Jumping by Matt Luttrell
Now Mattern, who has always been a creative writer,
YOUNG ADULT
is working on new projects using other parts of her life
Elena the Brave by Julie Mathison
as inspiration. Her award-wining second indie-published
memoir, Poverty, Chastity, and Disobedience, is available
now and chronicles her six years in the convent. “It’s a lot then I thought, No, they’ve been doing this for millions
about breaking the rules and not getting caught. I have a of years. … they know how to do this. … And after a
very good friend Pam, who—we had a lot of adventures while, they were done. Three weeks later, I heard little
in the convent. They were daring adventures convent chirping in there, and the eggs had hatched and there
style. In the real world, they were pretty simple. … It were little wrens in there. I thought, They just kept going.
kind of gives a good insight into what the convent was They just kept trying and trying and they failed so many
like in the mid ’60s.” She’s also using that knowledge of times, but they kept going and nothing stopped it. I was
how convents work to write a series of murder mysteries so impressed by the persistence of that bird [laughs]. I
set in the convent. know it’s stupid to get impressed by the persistence of a
During her time as a nun, Mattern taught creative bird, but when I saw that, I thought, I give up after I try
writing, but it isn’t writing advice she gives when asked once or twice on something. … And I thought, I’m not
what she’d tell WD’s readers. Instead, she tells a story: going to do that anymore. I’m going to just keep trying
“I have a birdhouse out in the backyard, a wren house, and trying until I finally get it, until it finally works.
and it has a very small hole in it. I watched a wren These birds had a beautiful nest, they had their babies,
a couple years ago take a stick that was about three they hatched, they grew up—it was a success. So that’s
times the size of the hole, and [it] tried to get that in what I learned from that wren—to just keep trying and
the hole. … it would never get it in the hole. It would trying no matter what.” WD
just drop it. … I wanted to go over there and break
the stick in three pieces so the wren would be able to Amy Jones is editor-in-chief of WD. Find her on Twitter
build this stupid nest [laughs] in the birdhouse! And @AmyMJones_5.
THE
WD INTERVIEW
Brandon Taylor
B
efore me, separated by 600 miles and a glitching out to do. I try to be really firm with myself and really
video call, is Brandon Taylor. Behind him is his rigorous with myself, but I also give myself a lot of grace.”
library of books, ensconced on his bookshelves, in His upcoming novel—and the third of four books
a stack on his coffee table, enjoying the late-morning sun in what he is loosely referring to as his Midwestern
pouring in from the windows along their spines. Our con- Quartet—is The Late Americans, a deeply felt novel about
versation has been littered with references to Alexander a group of young people at the intersections of their own
Chee, Samanta Schweblin, Lauren Groff, and Karl Ove lives, and of each other’s. Those intersections are where
Knausgaard, among others. It takes no time at all for me we begin our conversation.
to know this is a person who loves the written word in its
various forms—from the classics to fan-fiction, literary I’m curious about this theme of unexpected intimacy
fiction to romance novels. “Beverly Jenkins,” he says, “so between people that I’ve noticed in a lot of your
amazing. What an icon.” writing and how that can mean something different
We’ve just been discussing the necessity of kindness for every character—whether it’s a forced friendship,
one must offer oneself when you’re no longer writing in surprise romantic or sexual intimacy, or something
the dark but writing in the public. It’s a lesson he learned more sinister. How do you go about building these
after the meteoric success of his first novel, Real Life. intimacies?
Published weeks before mass shutdowns in the early It does feel somewhat fundamental to what I’m trying to
months of 2020, he assumed the book would be received do when I sit down to write. The way I think about it is
quietly. “It’s about a scientist in the Midwest; nobody that I just try to be receptive to whatever my characters
really cares about that,” he says. And yet, his modest are going to do. I try to follow them in a very organic,
expectations for his work were to be proved wrong, with almost documentarian style. And when it seems like
the book receiving universal acclaim and reviews in The there’s another character who would naturally cross this
New Yorker online, Time magazine, The Washington Post, character’s path, I always feel like, well, they should.
and The New York Times. It was unexpected, at times a [Laughs] Like if there are these characters in a world
dream come true and at other times a discombobulat- who are living in the same world—or in the case of The
ing unreality. And just as all seemed to be settling down, Late Americans, in the same town—there are these peo-
it was announced that Taylor was one of the six authors ple who seem like they would naturally kind of be in and
shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize. Suddenly, he found out of each other’s lives. And so, it feels quite important
himself on British radio several times a week and attend- to the verisimilitude of the world that I sort of let my
ing countless Booker Prize events. characters intersect.
The experience was at once thrilling and overwhelm- The other thing that I will say about that is it’s just
ing, combined with a global pandemic which left him more fun that way. When you’re writing a novel, or even
spending much of his debut year alone in his apartment a short story, and you have all these different characters,
and developing a panic disorder. “It was just very chal- it seems like such a shame that they should be isolated
TAYLOR PHOTO © HAOLUN XU
lenging and very surreal and very strange, even as it was in their little bubbles. I generate a lot of narrative energy
very exciting,” he says. Since, he’s learned the act of inner from letting characters intersect and come together.
kindness. “As I’ve gotten older as a writer and as a per-
son, the one thing that I feel like I have gotten better at is That’s also where a lot of the tension lives too,
not brutalizing myself for not doing the thing that I set between these characters who are communicating,

The bestselling
author discusses the
interconnectedness of his
work, the importance of short
stories, and his latest release,
The Late Americans.
BY MICHAEL WOODSON
THE WD INTERVIEW Brandon Taylor
or maybe even miscommunicating. There’s a sense that one character, like, what are they up to? And then I’ll
of simmering without always boiling over. The lack write a story about them. And then very soon, I have this
of relief is part of the joy of reading it. How do you whole constellation of stories. …
decide how much to put on the page to keep the I always think of my first four books—Real Life, Filthy
tension versus letting the tension spill over into this Animals, The Late Americans, and this upcoming novel
point of no return? Group Show—as being my Midwestern Quartet. There
This is going to be somewhat silly of me to say, but I are a few Easter eggs in The Late Americans. There are
grew up watching a lot of reality TV. And the thing about characters from Filthy Animals who are now in The Late
reality TV, the lesson that it can teach us, is how ten- Americans. And for someone who has, you know, aban-
sion doesn’t always get relieved, how there are moments donment issues, it’s a great way to write. [Laughs]
where there are two people who are in conflict and
there’s no easy resolution, and they have these sort of You also mentioned in that Story Prize interview that
small, increasingly fraught confrontations until you writing a novel is a little bit like a spiritual death and
get to the big confrontation. You see the same thing in that you are a short story writer. Is your approach to
drama and in theater. There are always those conflicts writing short stories particularly different than your
that seem to start small and as the play goes on, they get approach has been for your novels?
more and more fractious and sometimes destructive. I would say yes. I mean, Real Life was a spiritual death.
I come to writing kind of from that world of narrative. In part also because that was such a condensed period of
And so, when I’m writing characters, I don’t want there time. I wrote that book in five weeks. It was like climb-
to always be conflict release. Sometimes what’s more ing inside of a world and staying there for five weeks and
interesting is letting a conflict build across the whole then coming back out and the whole world has moved
arc of the story. But as a writer, I am also a human. So, on without you. It just took so much from me.
it’s very difficult for me to let conflict go unresolved. … The Late Americans was a different process. I had a
the more advanced I get in my craft, the longer I can let draft of that book at the end of 2019, and then revising
those conflicts bleed out and the longer I can let them go. it and shaping it into the novel that it is now was just so
Something I always tell my students is let the camera run arduous. Because now I wasn’t just writing a novel out
longer. Let the scene run longer, longer than you think of a compulsion, I was trying to do it on purpose. And
you can stand. Because that is often where you’ll find I had learned all this other stuff in the interval between
something really surprising. those two novels. I learned all these ideas about what a
novel was and what a novel wasn’t. I had changed as a
At the 2022 event for The Story Prize where you person and as a writer. And it was just so hard to shape
won for your short story collection, Filthy Animals, the book. It was ruinous in so many ways.
you mentioned that you don’t like saying goodbye I basically gave up writing for all of 2021. Like, I just
to your characters and that you think of your writing could not do it. I took up film photography. I was like, I’m
as existing in some way in the same universe. done writing. I will never write another book. It was the
Yeah, I discovered that about myself when I was writ- most painful writing experience of my life, trying to shape
ing those early stories, that I didn’t like saying goodbye The Late Americans. And then at the end, I found my way
to them. I also realized that it didn’t have to be a fault. through it and came out the other side. And I’m like, Wow,
Instead of trying to spin a story out into a novel, I could what an experience that was. Don’t want to do that again.
just write these stories where characters would come in So, they were both quite intense moments in my life where
and out of each other’s lives and I could follow them. I had to break and remake my conception of myself.
And a model for that was Mavis Gallant. She has these
great interlinked short stories. So, very often I’ll write a Let’s talk about The Late Americans. The novel cen-
story, and in the process of trying to populate the world, ters around a group of almost-graduates in Iowa City
that story, I’ll come up with some characters who are and how their lives often intersect and sometimes
sort of important in the main character’s life. And then almost intersect. How did the concept of this novel
at the end of that story, I’ll be like, Oh, I still sort of miss come about for you?

I started writing it because I was at the Iowa Writer’s It was the most painful writing
Workshop and I was reading Lan Samantha Chang’s
experience of my life, trying to
excellent novel about writing programs (called All Is
Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost.) I love that book and I was shape The Late Americans. … I
like, I want to write a story about writers because I like found my way through it and
stories about writers and also, I am really hating this came out the other side.
program. [Laughs] So, I wrote the first chapter of what
would become The Late Americans. Then I was like, That
was a lot of fun. Maybe I’ll do it again. afraid of writing about emotion because I think emotion
I started writing these things I thought were sto- is an important texture in life. … I try to observe things
ries, but now I realize were always chapters. Then it was truthfully, honestly, rigorously.
this thing of trying to figure out how to put it together.
Because I have writers, dancers, meat-packers, this guy Would you ever write a romance novel?
in business school, a mean landlord who’s roaming the I have too much respect for the genre. It’s hard to write
town beating up young gay men. And I was like, “What a good romance novel! Even a “bad” romance novel is
is this?” [Laughs] I was sort of lost in the wilderness and so carefully constructed. I feel like the flaws show in a
trying to assemble it and put it together. Then I read Karl romance novel in a way that they kind of don’t in a lit-
Ove Knausgaard’s newest novel, The Morning Star. That erary novel because there’s nowhere to hide. It is a very
novel is a kind of relay among these characters in this unforgiving form. I’d have to be on my A-game to write
town in Norway, and I was like, That’s like a really good a good romance novel. And romance novelists—if you
structure. I’m just going to borrow that idea. ever want to talk about characterization, plot, and struc-
So, the book becomes this relay among all of these ture, they’re the ones you want to talk to. I love romance
characters. But the early impulse to write the book came novelists. They’re my people.
out of wanting to write a book about young people
who desperately want to be artists, but who don’t know Shifting gears, there’s some personal trauma for the
how to do that and who have to pay a steep price for it. characters in The Late Americans, but there’s also
Because I had just sold my first two books and suddenly this idea about how we choose to hold our trauma
art had gone from a thing I wanted to do to how I was and who we choose to share it with, and what those
making my living and a commodity in my life. people do with that knowledge or with the vulnera-
bility of it. I’m thinking in particular about the poet’s
Something that I love about your writing is how storyline in the novel.
there is emotion on every page, but it’s never senti- Yeah. Sometimes I am writing a character and I’ll just be
mental or saccharin. How do you keep the emotion going along and they’re minding their merry little busi-
of the moment authentic, and how do you decide ness. Then I will reach a point in writing them where I’m
when it’s time to move on from it? like, Oh, there’s some sort of dark, dense, swirly place deep
You know, I think it’s because I grew up reading romance down beneath the surface of the narrative. With some
novels. … one thing that’s true about romance novels is characters that deep, dark swirly place is really impor-
that romance novelists are not afraid to write emotion tant to their story. And for other characters, it’s not so
and feeling. That’s why those books are so compelling— important.
it’s people having feelings. So, it just would never occur A character like Seamus, the poet, his whole thing
to me to want to remove the emotion from fiction. is that he has been shaped by this thing that happened
I also grew up reading fan-fiction. My narrative fictive with his dad and feeling abandoned by his parents. It
education very early on was these incredibly, some might has informed so much of his life that, when he is writing
say melodramatic, sentimental forms. So, when it comes these poems, he’s trying to write away from that trauma.
to my writing now, I’m quite the austere, lyrical real- It’s only when he accepts that he has this wound that he’s
ist. But emotion is such a big part of how I experience able to make his peace with it and then start to write the
life and how my characters experience life. And I’m not things that he’s been meant to write all along.
THE WD INTERVIEW Brandon Taylor
But then you have a character like Fatima who, you looking for agents, I was like, “Look, I’m a short story
know, there’s some sort of wound in her as well, but it’s not writer. That is my main thing. And I have a novel, but I
super important to her situation. Like, her situation is that will not show it to you.” [Laughs]
she doesn’t have any money [laughs] and she has to dance. So, the agent I signed with was a story writer, and
So, she’s got to figure that out. I’m interested in the way when we were talking to the person who would become
that these wounds that we all carry and form who we are, my editor at Riverhead Books, I was like, “Look, I know
but also I’m cognizant of the fact that it’s not always rel- that you are excited about this novel thing, but I’m
evant to the story that’s happening in your life, you know? a story writer, and … I want you to be excited about
publishing my book of stories.” That was one of the
Setting plays an interesting role in The Late main reasons I wanted to be with Riverhead Books in
Americans as well. Do you have the setting and then the first place, because they had done such a beauti-
the characters go into the setting? Or are the char- ful job publishing books of stories by writers I really
acters and the setting sort of one thing for you? love, like Lauren Groff and Daniel Alarcón and Samanta
I think it’s both. Often when I’m writing about a place, Schweblin, and all these other writers. This is a publisher
I’m always like, Who lives here? What’s the vibe? I always who cares about short stories and knows how to publish
try to imagine the kinds of people who are kicking short stories. …
around in a place and how they might walk into the But I think, yeah, there is this hesitancy, and it sucks
story or walk out of the story. With The Late Americans, because there are writers who are writing incredible sto-
Seamus was the first character I had, and I was like, Oh ries, and these stories should be collected, and it makes
yes, writing students. Got it. I know those people. I am me really mad. [Laughs] … I just try to take it very seri-
those people. [Laughs] … for me, place forms because a ously and to signal to people that there is this incredible
place like Iowa City, it’s a college town. But what people hunger for this form. Because I think there is—I think
don’t realize is that yes, there are students there, but then people love short stories.
there are also all the people who just live there. And have
for years and years and years. Not everyone is a profes- What advice do you have for aspiring novelists and
sor. Some people just live in a town and have jobs. So, short story writers?
then I start to wonder, Who are those people? Who are the Remember that when you’re writing that first thing, you’re
people who just live and work in town? in an incredibly precious time. When you’re writing that
I think place informs the kinds of questions I ask book or that early story, write for yourself first and fore-
about who lives there. And it tells me something about most. There’s going to come a time when that won’t be the
the kinds of people who might live there. Sometimes it’s case anymore, when there are going to be all these people
fun to introduce a random person who has no relation- who are involved. So, don’t be in any great hurry to pub-
ship to anybody and see what they do, see how they lish or to get it out there into the world. Take your time to
change my conception of who lives in a place. Setting is hone and craft that first book. Appreciate those early years
very, very important. And setting informs character, and where you’re writing for yourself because it never is quite
character informs setting. the same once you start publishing.
The other thing I would say is write the thing that you
You tweeted once a response to someone ask- feel urgently compelled to write. Write the thing that you
ing how authors are still able to publish short story feel drawn to write, and write it in a way that only you
collections, and your response was something to can do it and trust your instincts. I wish I had known
the effect of “sneaking it into your contracts.” Do early on that I didn’t need to try to be anyone else and
you think there is a hesitancy to publish short story that I just had to write the way that I write. [Laughs] You
collections? waste a lot of energy trying to be someone else. So, be
By and large, I think the small press world is what’s keep- yourself and trust yourself. It will be fine. WD
ing the short story collection in circulation, and they’re
doing phenomenal work. And I think that there is a hesi- Michael Woodson is the content editor for Writer’s Digest. Find
tancy in the publishing world, but that’s why when I was him on Twitter @MWoodsonWrites.

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YOURSTORY CONTEST #120
Misty Nights
THE CHALLENGE: Write the opening line to a story based on the photo prompt below.
Out of 260 entries, Writer’s Digest

editors and readers selected the
following 10 winners.
The trees were the first to notice.

—Sara McNulty
This is what happens when you

try to call an unknown number
back.
—Brittany Dulski
It was the perfect night for sum-

moning the dead, but I had an
The milky light from the full grief that made its presence known algebra test to study for.
moon filtering through the towering whenever I glanced at the unoccu- —Holly Green
pines provided just enough illumi- pied, adjacent seat.
nation for Naomi to dig a hole to —Holly Bills In the rearview mirror, he saw
bury her husband’s body. the sun, disguised as the moon, set-
—Renee Rockland I’m not sure what caused me to ting over the smoke-filled forest,
wake up: the bright glow of the full and as he raced to escape the flames,
The full moon illuminated a lot moon, the screeching of an owl, or he flicked another cigarette out
of things: the brush of frost on the the empty sleeping bag next to me. the window.
pines, the sickly shine of the empty —Jayme Stoops —Paul R. Brown
Coors, even the little plus sign on
IMAGE © GETTY IMAGES: MILAMAI
the pregnancy test. After a lifetime of friction between Ghost stories filled the foggy air
—Jessica Haviland the Lewis brothers, their final, violent above the campfire yet none was as
split came down to one night, one heinous as the real-life Hatchet Man
Whispered giggles of teenagers girl, and a solemn blood oath broken checking the door locks to each
echoed in the theater as I took my beneath the light of an indigo moon. cabin.
seat; horror was a reprieve from the —Richard R. DiPirro —Sherrie E. Petterson

ENTERYOURSTORY
THE CHALLENGE: Write the first line of a story based on the prompt below. You can be funny, poignant, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story.
TO ENTER: Email your entry to yourstory

[email protected] with the subject
CONTEST #124 line “Your Story 124.” Entries must be
pasted directly into the body of the email;
attachments will not be opened. Include your
name and mailing address. Entries without a
name or mailing address will be disqualified.
NOTE: WD editors select the top 12 entries

and post them on our website (Writers
Digest.com/your-story-competition). Join
us online in June, when readers will vote for
their favorite to help rank the top 10
IMAGE © GETTY IMAGES: SOSHI YAMADA
winners! Follow @WritersDigest on Twitter

for Your Story updates.
The winner will be published in a future issue of Writer’s Digest.

DON’T FORGET: Your name and mailing address. One entry per person.
DEADLINE: June 26, 2023.
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Revision and editing advice to take your first draft to the next level.
BY RYAN G. VAN CLEAVE
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goals, this article focuses on the 10
most impactful story-improving
editing tips I’ve shared with students
and clients.
A terminology caveat—while
some people use revising and
editing interchangeably, I see
that as an error. Because revision
focuses on bigger-picture things
such as plot, character, and struc-
ture, it should happen soon after
you’ve got a full draft. Editing
is the language- and sentence-
level polishing that happens after
you’re done revising. Why spend
energy perfecting a scene’s 1: DIVIDE AND CONQUER through your manuscript. Plan
language only to decide later Many writers find editing to be multiple passes, each for a different
that the entire scene needs to be daunting. It’s understandable— category—adverbs, empty words,
ILLUSTRATION © GETTY IMAGES: MICROVONE
jettisoned? there are so many ways for words, words you use too often. In each
phrases, sentences, and paragraphs pass, don’t edit, just identify—
to go wrong. But don’t despair. highlighting is good. Then work
With that, let’s examine my 10 Harold Underdown, Executive through the manuscript one last
best editing tips. Apply these as Editor at Kane Press, offers this time, considering and deleting or
needed to your own writing, regard- wise advice: “When looking for replacing all of the words
less of literary medium or genre. words to cut, don’t just do one pass you highlighted.”
NEXTDRAFT
In short, revise in stages to avoid • Due to the fact that vs. because bartender with no speaking part and
being overwhelmed. • In close proximity vs. near all he does is play the role of a jerky
• In regard to vs. concerning bartender, the following might be all
2: REMOVE REDUNDANCY • In the event that vs. because you need.
The first draft of a story is where • With the exception of vs. except
The sour-pussed bartender poured
authors discover the story for them-
Don’t be suckered into using two beers.
selves—they’re the only audience at
bloated phrases that you’ve heard
that point. Given that, it’s easy to see Or maybe this,
or read before. Trim and tighten if
why overwriting is commonplace in
you can. The surly bartender muttered as
early drafts. When it’s time to edit,
he sloshed beer into two maybe-
though, redundancy in meaning
5: DUMP UNIMPORTANT clean mugs.
should be addressed. DETAILS
If your story is all about loss and
The gas line explosion at the Details are good, right? Consider
regret, or Roger is a recurring char-
Oakview Senior Center was a the following, which is chock full
acter, offering details of his back-
horrible tragedy. of details.
story might be quite appropriate
Building the birdfeeder so close Roger Worthington III hated and useful.
to the house was an unintentional Florida the moment he arrived in
mistake. Bradenton to help his grandpa 6: FLIP NEGATIVES
keep from losing his beloved tiki Using a negative phrase often leads
Don’t confuse purposeful repeti- bar. The constant blazing heat to flabby writing. Compare “Don’t
tion with redundancy. If you intend of the Sunshine State drained walk too close to the lake!” to “Avoid
to use complementary words and the life out of him, and it wasn’t the lake!” While both offer similar
phrases to enhance, that’s fine. But if much better inside the beachside instructions, the latter is tighter and
you find yourself with some version bar where the AC was always on has more oomph.
of this—“The valiant, brave, staunch the fritz. When Grandpa Lerner’s A bonus to flipping negatives is
knight approached the dragon”— Alzheimer’s got so bad that he’d that you’re losing the negative—the
put on your editor’s hat and get be as likely to serve a Manhattan not vanishes. That means you’re left
to work. as a mojito—regardless of what with a positive. While this creates
was ordered—Roger took over a subtle effect, readers generally
3: FOCUS ON NOUNS the bar completely. As the loans respond more favorably to positives
Similar to the above point, creating piled up and he sweated away than negatives.
a laundry list of modifiers is an indi- his 30s, he began to hate every
cation that a more effective noun aspect of the business of run- 7: AVOID ADVERBS
might better serve the sentence. For ning The Turtle Taproom. One day, In his wildly successful book On
example, would it be better to write Roger decided he’d had enough. Writing, Stephen King says, “The
“an ugly, frightful, old woman” or When two yokels with a big city adverb is not your friend.” In case
simply go with “hag”? accent laughed their way to the that doesn’t make the point strongly
If you have the right noun, you barstools one Thursday night and enough, he adds, “The road to hell is
don’t have to work hard to modify ordered Bud Lights “with little paved with adverbs.”
an almost-right one. umbrellas,” he wanted to punch Consider the following.
someone. Anyone.
I believe you.
4: REPLACE PHRASES
While it’s decent enough writ-
WITH WORDS I totally believe you.
ing, you have to ask—what’s actually
Why use many words when just one
important in terms of plot, char- Doesn’t the second one sound
will suffice?
acterization, and theme? If Roger’s like massive sarcasm? Even when
• At the present time vs. now role in your story is simply a one-off -ly words aren’t undercutting or

confusing the point of a sentence, since that’s where people seem most I recommend reading your story
they’re often unnecessary—espe- tempted to over-intensify. aloud or having someone read it
cially in dialogue tags. For example: to you for this final pass. Consider
10: USE TRICKY WORDS recording yourself reading it and
“Your meatloaf made me sick,” she
CORRECTLY then listen to it like an audiobook
quietly said.
Though this won’t reduce the word or podcast. Trust me—your ear will
“You’re the one who left out the
count, few words are more need- catch things your eyes miss.
milk!” he angrily said.
less than the wrong ones. Put For 30 years, Lorin Oberweger has
Instead of “quietly said,” could extra attention into the following served as an independent book edi-
we use “whispered”? And would situations: tor, ghostwriter, and writing work-
“shouted” work in lieu of “angrily
• Affect (influence) vs. effect shop leader. During that time, she’s
said”?
(accomplish) helped countless writers get control
Here’s the takeaway—if adverbs
of their stories by showing them
aren’t adding vital clarity, feed them • Compliment (praise) vs. comple-
how to get control of their language.
to Pennywise, King’s killer clown. ment (go well with)
“My advice is as true for writ-
• Discreet (careful) vs. discrete
ing content as it is for writing style,”
8: INFLECT INTENTIONALLY (distinct)
she says. “Trust the reader and trust
When you inflect (conjugate) • Its (possessive) vs. it’s (it + is)
yourself. That means don’t pad your
verbs, avoid overusing the -ing • Principle (rule) vs. principal
prose; don’t over-explain; don’t use
construction. (authority figure)
filtering phrases to bring us into a
Compare “They were heading to • They’re (they + are) vs. their character’s perspective—just put
the park” to “They headed for the (possessive) vs. there (adverb us there. Trust in your own excel-
park” or even “They went to of place) lence and dig deeper for the sharp-
the park.” • Venomous (having a toxic bite or est expression and the best words for
Doing so makes the sentence sting) vs. poisonous (toxins that the job.”
more immediate. And shorter! are eaten) That’s it exactly: the best words
• Your (possessive pronoun of for the job. Strive for excellence in
9: LOSE INTENSIFIERS
you) vs. you’re (you + are) the job of writing stories and your
When my kids were little, they
sales and reviews will show it.
tried to manipulate me by piling on There are other commonly mis-
Don’t take my word for it,
words they hoped would help make used words, of course, but the above
though. Listen to Dr. Seuss who
their case for more toys at holiday eight are what I find most often in
wisely wrote: “So the writer who
and birthday time. early drafts (and sometimes late
breeds more words than he needs, is
drafts!) of student and client stories.
“I really, really, really want a Star making a chore for the reader who
Wars Bladebuilders Jedi Master reads.” Amen! WD
11: REVISIT ONE MORE
Lightsaber!”
TIME (BONUS!)
“You’re a very, very, very good dad. You shouldn’t stay in revision or
Totally. Completely!” editing mode forever. But most
It didn’t work then, and it doesn’t writers end the editing process a
smidge early, so even when you In addition to running the creative writing
work well now. Save the intensifiers program at Ringling College of Art and
(absolutely, completely, extremely, think you’ve done all you can, give Design, Ryan G. Van Cleave is Editor for
really, totally, utterly, very, etc.) for it a few days or a week, then revisit Bushel & Peck Books and has authored
the rare occasion that you need the it a final time. Often, that newfound 20+ books, including The Weekend Book
Proposal (WD Books). As The Picture
extra emphasis. Absent that, really, distance will help you spot mistakes
Book Whisperer, Ryan helps celebrities
really, really avoid them—especially and story-improving tweaks you and high-profile clients write picture book
in dialogue (both real life and story), missed before. and kidlit titles.
AGENTSPOTLIGHT
Seasoned literary agents on the business of publishing.
BY KRISTY STEVENSON
Rita Rosenkranz
Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency | New York, N.Y.
GENRES: All categories of adult nonfiction

CLIENTS INCLUDE: Julie Bogart, Barbara Oakley
R
ita Rosenkranz founded her the U.S., in part to connect with the
boutique agency in 1990 “way of seeing” folks living in different
after working as an edi- places—outside of my urban home-
tor and interacting with agents at town and region.
major publishing houses including of their category, and
d that
h it is clear
l
Random House; Scribner Books; What do you look for in clients? why this particular author is writing
and Outlet, a division of Crown. “I I am thrilled when an author can this particular work.
was attracted to their autonomy and further the conversation on a topic
appreciated the freedom to be pro- we thought we knew—because of What are your querying
ductive on my terms,” she says. newly released research, new data, pet peeves?
Rosenkranz represents biog- new experiences. While it’s not a While I can see past the error, it’s
raphy, business, cooking, health, requirement, if the book has a util- sloppy when an author misspells my
history, how-to, humor, illustrated ity, as parenting books typically do, name, sends me projects I publicly
books, music, parenting, popular and can help people live more easily, note I am not looking for, or resends
reference, popular science, spiritu- more healthfully or productively, the same query when I’ve rejected
ality, sports, writing, and general that’s a great added bonus. the work. It costs me time, an
interest titles. unrenewable resource.
“By listening in and looking What is your personal
closely, I learned various skills from philosophy as an agent? What are your writing tips?
my publishing bosses that I use Truth telling. I refrain from hyper- Writing is a discipline … If you’re
every day,” she says. “I work closely bole, which doesn’t mean I’m not not regular about the writing habit,
with clients whose work needs excited about what I represent. I find topics you love to write about to
refinement. And I try to think cre- simply want to be able to … manage ease the process.
ILLUSTRATION © GETTY IMAGES: FRANK RAMSPOTT
atively about positioning a project, expectations.

and its multiple markets, even when What are your pitching tips?
it’s considered a niche title.” What are you seeking? Sometimes I can’t even tell if the
I work with new and previously work is fiction or nonfiction, or the
How did you build your list? published authors and to this day pitch might have too many digres-
Brick by brick, author by author. … I have an open-door policy. But it is sions, losing its essential point, and
recruited authors I had worked with tremendously helpful if the author it appears the author doesn’t have
who hadn’t been represented. I went has established a platform that is a handle on their work. The pitch
to writers’ conferences throughout commensurate with the requirements should be a clear distillation of what

the project is, who the author is, and shared experience and established who have built fantastic reputa-
how the two relate. An effective pitch trust, a shorthand is in place. We can tions … and great sales. Publishing,
starts a productive conversation. get straight to what matters most. as we know, is a process requiring
patience. It is meaningful when it
What approach do you take What do you want clients pays off.
in working with authors on to know?
a manuscript, and how does I appreciate professional authors, Appearing at:
it change over the course of i.e., those who look to enter a • May 12–13—Washington Writers
your relationship? respectful, mutually rewarding rela- Conference, Rockville, Md.
I’d hope a first-time author would tionship where the results might not • Sep. 1–2—WriterCon 2023,
have a clear, solid pitch to initiate be immediate. Oklahoma City, Okla.
the conversation and relationship.
For authors I’ve worked with, brain- How has your approach Follow and connect:
storming among ideas or refining changed over the years? RitaRosenkranzLiteraryAgency
ideas happens as a matter of course. I am clearer about what I think can .com WD
I do look to steer when needed so I work, though I do still take chances
can submit the best possible work. on projects that need deep steerage.
Much has to do with the author’s Kristy Stevenson (KristyStevenson.com) is
an independent contributing writer, editor,
relationship with the editor, who What are you most proud of? and storyteller. A native Cheesehead, she
might have input on early stages of I am proud of the chances I took currently resides in central N.C. with her
material. It’s nice when based on the with authors early in their careers, husband and two children.
50TH CONFERENCE CELEBRATION
TWO WAYS TO ATTEND

IN-PERSON: JULY 19-22, 2023
VIRTUAL: JULY 20-22, 2023
Fiction – Jess Lourey, John Gilstrap,
Lori Rader-Day, Barbara Shoup,
Matthew Clemens
1RQÀFWLRQ – Michael Martone, Brent Bill,
Jill Christman, Kelcey Ervick, Lou Harry
Poetry – Mark Neely, Liz Whiteacre
&KLOGUHQ·V – Chadwick Gillenwater
3XEOLFLVW – Dana Kaye
.H\QRWHUV – Jane Friedman, Haven Kimmel
DQGPDQ\0::DOXPDXWKRUV
Join us at the Ball State Alumni Center in

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Register now at
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in person $349 or virtual $199
CRITIQUE AND
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ONNONFICTION
The art and craft of writing nonfiction.
BY ESTELLE ERASMUS
The Art (and Arc) of Writing

Micro Memoir
M
icro memoir—short sentence. Keep writing sentences “He’s not here yet,” I said. “He’s in
standalone pieces, often until you have your micro memoir. Africa.” (I’ve always been slightly
exploring a moment in psychic; my parents have always
time, drawn from personal experi- 2. THEY ARE COMPLETE been slightly skeptical.)
ence—is the hottest new category in PIECES
publishing. The best ones combine Micro memoirs are not story frag- 4. UNUSUAL WORDS AND
truth-telling with narrative ten- ments. They are complete stories, ALLITERATION GRAB A
sion in 200 words or less, and unlike with a definite narrative arc and READER’S ATTENTION
personal essays, which can be about often there is some sort of trans- Using alliteration paints a picture
anything, micro memoir focuses formation or change that takes for the reader. Here are some exam-
mainly on past events—or explores place, even if it’s acknowledging the ples from micro memoirs: “dwells in
a current life-changing situation person or event in a different way. a dungeon,” “stinking up my sink,”
through the lens of the past—so you Every sentence needs to be inter- “whomped a watermelon,” “salty
need to quickly get to the high- esting and add to your piece. Ask seaside suite.” Slang can work well in
lights—and the insight. I teach a yourself with each sentence, so micro memoirs because it is a way
class on micro memoir at NYU and what? Does this add to the story? If of fine-tuning thoughts using lan-
cover it in my new book Writing it doesn’t, scrap it. guage in a relatable way.
That Gets Noticed: Find Your Voice,
ESTELLE’S EDGE: Go through and
Become a Better Storyteller, Get 3. THEY REQUIRE POWERFUL
highlight your most descriptive
Published. Follow these nine tips OPENING SENTENCES
sentences. Then try adding allit-
when writing micro memoir: A powerful opening that conveys
eration and/or slang. For exam-
information brings your reader
ple, “she chewed on a stick of gum,”
1. OPEN A WINDOW INTO right into the piece, such as, “The
can become “she chewed a stick
THE PAST first time we went bowling, it rained
of gum till it was slick with saliva.”
Writing a micro memoir is about all night long.” Other ways to
Examples of slang include “rent free,”
remembering something or some- start include using a text message,
“I feel you,” “acting salty,” “ghosting,”
one or some incident in your life offering a question or questions,
“snatched,” “shook,” etc.
that has made an impact. or beginning with a provocative,
shocking, or compelling statement,
ESTELLE’S EDGE: Are you struggling 5. SCENARIZE, DON’T
as in my micro memoir for the New
to boil down your deepest, most SUMMARIZE
York Times Tiny Love Stories col-
profound memories and experi- When you summarize a story, you
umn “Maybe More Than Slightly”:
ences into a few sentences? Then are compressing a lot of information
start small. Write one sentence “Why can’t you find someone?” in a short amount of time. In a novel,
down. Under it, write another my parents asked when I was 26. there are times that you will need

to summarize, e.g., when you are under it. Can you follow the flow of Micro memoir requires
moving from one time to another the other piece? Can you see where details that provide
or making a big transition to differ- the piece demands the reader’s
ent scenes. But summarizing doesn’t attention and restructure yours that depth or further
work for micro memoir. Micro way? You want to share your voice insight into your
memoir requires details that provide on the page but trying on other mindset.
depth or further insight into your writer’s styles can expand your hori-
mindset. Make sure to write scenes zons (Stephen King says he did this
child wants the softly mewing kit-
that create context, capture your when he first started out).
ten, you are drawn to the loudly
emotions, and use plenty of descrip-
meowing one who doesn’t care they
tion and language of the senses— 8. FOCUS ON THE SMALL
are causing a ruckus, because that’s
touch, taste, smell, feel, hear—to MOMENTS
how you want to be in life.
invite the reader into the story. Small moments in micro memoir
Or, it’s a moment suspended in
are those moments that you can
ESTELLE’S EDGE: Go through your time. Before your partner says “I
share that bring home a point to the
writing and underline anything love you” for the first time, before
reader. Our lives contain moments
that looks like it could be sensory your child leaves for college, before
in time, but it’s what is behind a
language. So, if you said, “I walked a friend ghosts you. Before life, as
small moment that makes the micro
into the woods. We had a good hike.” you know it, is no longer the same.
memoir or essay, and conveying that
You could underline it and then
meaning to the reader is what makes
write, “I walked into the woods. The 9. CIRCLE BACK
your story resonate. Whether you’re
smell of lavender permeated the air, Many micro memoirs circle back at
capturing picking up the paper in
and the rocky soil beneath our feet the end to a point in time referred to
the morning or a visit to a winery in
made us consider every step. As I in the beginning.
Napa Valley, your story has to end
deeply inhaled the calming scent, I For example, in my Tiny Love
up having a bigger message.
felt as if my grandmother, gone only Stories micro memoir, I write at
A small moment could be that
a month, was right there beside me, the end,
time you were at the beach with
saying, ‘You can do it, bubbelah,’ as
your child and they picked up a sea- One rainy night, I bumped into a
she always would when I had to deal
shell, and you were thrown back in tall man who rolled his Rs. Today,
with a difficult task.”
time to when you picked up a sea- my South African husband says he
shell with your alcoholic father, the loves me and our daughter
6. USE ACTIVE VERBS
one time he wasn’t on a bender. in Afrikaans.
Don’t use walk when you can use
Or, it could be that time you were
sashay or saunter or stroll. The more That takes the reader back full
weeding in the garden and you saw
regular, ordinary verbs you use, the circle from where they started, but
the veins on your hand, and it took
more the readers will glance over with the added insight, transforma-
you to the moment when you saw
it without being grabbed. Active tion—and closure. WD
your mom’s frailty and realized she
verbs include slicing, flapping, limp,
wasn’t going to be around forever.
pinged, scorched, trapped.
Or, it could be you’re wash-
ing your car, and when you see the
7. READ FOR FLOW
water glinting off the windows, it
Each time you read a sentence or a Estelle Erasmus (EstelleSErasmus.com)
brings you back to your first date is an award-winning journalist, writing
paragraph or word or framework
with your husband and how you coach, and host of the “Freelance Writing
for a story that resonates with you, Direct” podcast. She teaches journalism
knew he was the one when he
make note of it. classes at New York University’s School of
insisted on washing your dirty win-
Professional Studies and for Writer’s Digest
ESTELLE’S EDGE: Take a micro mem- dows for you. University. Follow her on Twitter, Instagram,
oir you like and cut and paste it on Or, you are picking out a kitten Substack, and TikTok for publishing and
your computer. Then place yours with your child, and although your writing advice at @EstelleSErasmus.
PUBLISHINGINSIGHTS
5 Flash Fiction and

Nonfiction Markets
O
ne thing is certain in and we want trans stories and we We have also featured numerous pre-
today’s publishing environ- want aro/ace stories. We want inde- viously unpublished authors and take
ment: Writers have choices finable stories. We welcome weird, a special joy in helping to launch a
when it comes to length. They can slipstream, and interstitial writing.” new literary career.”
choose to write and publish book- This market has quarterly open Potential writers can submit
length works, long-form journalism, reading periods that last a couple of one story at a time via Brevity’s
personal essays, and short stories, but weeks. Potential writers can submit Submittable page, which requires a
they can also go super short. their stories via their online submis- $3 submission fee. Writers can make
What’s shorter than a short story? sion form with a brief cover letter multiple submissions as long as each
Flash fiction, microfiction, and even that includes the title, length, and a piece is submitted separately.
flash nonfiction. The exact length of brief bio. The editors say, “Submissions
flash fiction and nonfiction can vary The editors advise, “Submissions should be formatted as seen on our
from source to source, but none of it are open to all. Neon Hemlock Press Brevity site (single space, no inden-
runs longer than 1,500 words—and is particularly interested in queer tation, space between paragraphs
many sources think 1,000 words is stories and authors. Authors from unless alternate formatting is a spe-
pushing it. all underrepresented backgrounds cific design element of the essay).”
Concision is a strength in a soci- and marginalized communities
ety that’s often reduced to tweets, are strongly encouraged to submit. EVERY DAY FICTION
memes, captioned images, and brief Please don’t self-reject.” (EveryDayFiction.com)
videos. As a result, there is a thriv- Every Day Fiction is an online pub-
ing market for flash fiction and non- BREVITY: A JOURNAL lication that attempts to share a new
fiction. Here are a few publications OF CONCISE LITERARY piece of flash fiction almost every
that pay for flash writing. NONFICTION single day. They pay $3 for each
(BrevityMag.com) published story of fewer than
BAFFLING MAGAZINE Published for more than two 1,000 words.
(BafflingMag.com) decades, Brevity is an online publi- The editors say, “There’s no such
Baffling Magazine is a quarterly cation that pays writers a $45 hono- thing as too short—if you can do the
online magazine. A project of Neon rarium for published work. job in 50 words, have at it!—but our
Hemlock Press, they pay $.08 per The editors say, “Brevity publishes readers prefer pieces that tell or at
word for original stories under well-known and emerging writers least hint at a complete story (some
1,200 words. working in the extremely brief (750 sort of action or tension rising to
The editors say, “We especially words or fewer) essay form. We have a moment of climax, and at least a
love to see more stories under 500 featured work from Pulitzer Prize clue toward a resolution, though it
words. We are looking for specu- winners, NEA fellows, Pushcart win- doesn’t have to be all spelled out).”
lative stories that explore science ners, Best American authors, and Potential writers can submit up
fiction, fantasy, and horror with a writers from India, Egypt, Ireland, to three stories through Every Day
queer bent. We want queer stories Spain, Malaysia, Qatar, and Japan. Fiction’s Submittable page. The

editors will try to respond within WHAT ARE SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS VS.
90 days and ask that writers don’t
MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS?
simultaneously submit during that
90-day period. While reading the guidelines for these (and other) markets, I often come
The editors say, “Our reader- across the terms “simultaneous submissions” and “multiple submissions.”
ship is adult, so children’s stories are As a long-time editor of the Writer’s Market series, I know what these terms
unlikely to be accepted unless they mean, but I thought it might be helpful to explain them for writers newer to
are relevant to adults as well. On the the submission game.
other hand, we are not impressed SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS are when a writer submits the same piece of
by gratuitous sex and violence, writing to multiple markets. For example, I might submit a short story to The
or pointlessly foul language; edgy Sun, The New Yorker, and One Story at the same time. In this example, the
content should be necessary and story would be simultaneously under review by three different editorial teams.
appropriate to the plot and charac- The upside of simultaneous submissions is that a writer can get their writ-
ters. Please consider that our reading seen by more editors in a shorter period of time. In a business that often
ers may be at work or enjoying our involves a lot of rejection, this is a writer-friendly way to submit work. But
stories over a meal, so we tend to some submission guidelines ban the practice. Still others ask that writers let
avoid explicit erotica and stomach- them know if the work has been accepted elsewhere, which is honestly the
churning gore.” right thing to do anyway.
On the other hand, MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS are when a writer submits
FRACTURED LIT multiple pieces of writing to the same market. For instance, Fractured Lit
(FracturedLit.com) allows writers to submit up to two stories at a time, which means they allow
Fractured Lit is an online publica- multiple submissions. Meanwhile, SmokeLong Quarterly only considers
tion that publishes new microfiction one story at a time, which means they do not accept multiple submissions,
(up to 400 words) and flash fiction though they are open to simultaneous submissions.
(401–1,000 words) every Monday Especially when submitting flash fiction and nonfiction, it’s helpful to
and Thursday. This publication pays know what these terms mean while trying to secure bylines and payment
writers $50 for original micro fiction from publications. If you use simultaneous and multiple submissions effec-
and $75 for original flash fiction. tively, you may find more acceptances in a shorter time frame.
The editors say, “Fractured Lit
publishes flash fiction with emotional story is helpful for more efficient The editors say, “The SLQ aes-
resonance, with characters who come consideration of your work. Please thetic remains an ever-changing,
to life through their actions and include a brief third-person biogra- ever-elusive set of principles, but
responses to the world around them. phy statement.” it most likely has to do with these
We’re searching for flash that investi- kinds of things: language that sur-
gates the mysteries of being human; SMOKELONG QUARTERLY prises and excites; narratives that
the sorrow and the joy of connecting (SmokeLong.com) strive toward something other than
to the diverse population.” SmokeLong Quarterly is an online pub- a final punch line or twist; pieces
Prospective writers can sub- lication that publishes flash narratives that add up to something, often (but
mit up to two stories at a time via (both fiction and nonfiction, though not necessarily always) something
Fractured Lit’s Submittable page. The not poetry). Established in 2003, this profound or emotionally resonant;
editors will try to respond within publication pays $100 per flash narra- and honest work that feels as if it
two months. tive of 1,000 words or fewer. has far more purpose than a writer
The editors say, “Cover letters are Potential writers can submit one wanting to write a story.” WD
optional, but it’s nice to know who is previously unpublished narrative at
submitting to us. Please refrain from a time via SmokeLong Quarterly’s
describing your stories. The work Submittable page. Simultaneous sub- Robert Lee Brewer is senior editor of
needs to speak for itself. Including missions are fine, but the editors try Writer’s Digest and author of The Complete
the title and word count of each to respond within a couple weeks. Guide of Poetic Forms.
LEVELUPYOUR
WRITING(LIFE)
Advice and tips to boost your writing skills.
BY SHARON SHORT
Using Shorter Pieces to Improve

Your Longer Projects
I
magine walking across a tight- woven safety net in the form of might make within the story, and
rope over a deep canyon. character bios. why they’ll make them. I’m always
To me, creative writing Nik did, however, use a balancing surprised and delighted by how
feels like tightrope walking. pole. For writers, our balancing pole many scenes and plot points emerge
(Metaphorically. I would not equivalent is a one sentence descrip- in my imagination as I work out my
attempt walking across actual rope.) tion of our project. characters’ bios.
For any writing project, we start Using these short form pieces, The craft books GMC: Goal,
on one platform with an idea, a you’ll be better equipped to suc- Motivation, & Conflict by Debra
premise, a desire to tell a story or cessfully cross the writing tightrope Dixon and Save the Cat! Writes a
share an experience. Before us is the again and again. Novel by Jessica Brody delve deeply
tightrope, an exhilarating yet terrify- into how to develop characters’
ing path we must cross in many tiny CHARACTER BIOS—YOUR wants, needs, and more.
steps without toppling if we are to SAFETY NET
make it to the platform (“the end!”) Bios capture the key characteristics ONE SENTENCE
on the other side. of your main characters, including DESCRIPTION—YOUR
Ten years ago, Nik Wallenda their motivations and goals. They’re BALANCING POLE
(of Flying Wallendas circus family also a tool for keeping track of key Our scriptwriting friends call this
fame) walked a 1,400-foot tightrope facts about your characters: when sentence a logline, which describes
over the Grand Canyon. Live, on and where they were born, physical the story’s core conflict in a way that
ILLUSTRATIONS © GETTY IMAGES: FRANK RAMSPOTT, WILDPIXEL
television. He used neither a tether attributes that might be relevant to captures the hook of the story and
nor a safety net. the story, and so on. the overall plot.
Some writers (“pantsers,” as in I don’t particularly worry about That’s a lot to capture in just one
writing by-the-seat-of-your-pants) the color of characters’ eyes or if sentence. But bestseller lists and TV
are like Nik—they don’t bother with, they have a birthmark—unless that’s Guide descriptions manage to do it.
say, scenes on cards, research, vision key to the plot. I focus on when and Consider this New York Times
board, synopsis, outlines. Others where my characters were born as bestseller list description for Lessons
(“plotters”) weave together a safety well as the major milestones of their in Chemistry: “A scientist and single
net from some or all the above. lives up to the start of my story. mother living in California in the
I suggest that at the very least, all This helps me know what shapes 1960s becomes a star on a TV
writers can benefit from a loosely my character, what choices they cooking show.”

Or the TV Guide description of expected; I spent several days rumi- and then when you come to a
“Supernatural,” which ran for 15 nating until finally it struck me. stop, or get stuck, give yourself
years: “Two brothers hunt demons, Liberation is the thematic and emo- a break and create these pieces.
ghosts, and other supernatural tional conflict at the core of my new Then get back to drafting!
entities as they investigate crimes project—and of many of my stories.
caused by paranormal forces.” The power of identifying your core NOW AS FOR YOU,
As a “Supernatural” fan—I theme in one word is it brings the DEAR WRITER …
watched every episode at least focus required to keep moving along Start with a character bio—for your-
twice—I can avow that every show the tightrope of any writing project. self as a writer.
for those 15 years fit into this When did you realize you
description. And doing so didn’t Bonus Benefits and Tips wanted to write? Was it a general
take away from the breadth of the Besides helping you make the cross- impulse? Or did a specific event
show—themes explored, relation- ing from start to end on your proj- trigger the desire?
ships developed. ect, these three pieces offer other What is your goal? (E.g., finish
Notice what is not in either log- benefits: your memoir.) What is your motiva-
line: genres, character names, side tion? (E.g., share your passion for
characters or settings (except in the • When you’re ready to take your hiking after age 50.) What is your
most general terms—California, project out into the world, they conflict? (E.g., uncertainty over
supernatural entities). can help you develop query let- finding allies to help you navigate
The logline is the pole that will ters and pitches. the writing and publishing process.)
keep you balanced on your nerve- • The most compelling stories What one sentence description—
wracking tightrope crossing. If you have interlocking elements— balancing pole—would you give
feel yourself slipping, wondering character motivation, plot yourself for this project, or as you
“what is this story about again,” then points, theme, setting. These explore writing in general? (E.g.,
you can grasp onto your logline. tools can help you make sure all During 2023, I’ll explore writing
A great book on the topic of all elements are working together. horror short fiction, while learning
that goes into crafting a logline is • The focus that comes with these from other horror writers and quell-
Sell Your Story in a Single Sentence tools will ensure that you work ing inner doubt demons.)
by Lane Shefter Bishop. more efficiently. You won’t have And one word to focus on?
to go back to the beginning—at Maybe it’s fun. Or growth. Or faith.
One Word (or maybe Two?)— least, not as often—to start your The only “wrong” answers come
Your Focus project over and over. from being untruthful with yourself.
On WritersDigest.com, bestselling As you create your writerly ver- Be raw and honest as you create
author Jayne Ann Krentz offered sion of a safety net, balancing pole, these tools. This way, they can be
an article “How to Write Romantic and focus point, remember: helpful aids when you face high
Suspense With Humor.” winds or even topple, reassuring you
One of her tips—“Identify Your • These tools do not have to be that yes, your pursuit of walking the
Core Story and Your Universe”— perfect. Creative writing is much creative writing tightrope is worthy
applies to any project, any genre. sloppier than actual tightrope and doable. WD
Krentz suggests identifying the core walking, so relax—use these
emotional conflict of one’s stories in tools to get you started. Update Sharon Short (SharonShort.com) is
the award-winning author of more than
two or three words, and shares that them when needed as you prog-
a dozen novels, most recently in her
her stories revolve around conflict ress and make new discoveries Kinship Historical Mystery Series, inspired
over trust and reinvention. as you draft. by Ohio’s true first female sheriff in
This tip really resonated with me. • These also don’t have to be done 1920s Appalachia, published as Jess
Montgomery (JessMontgomeryAuthor
Finding the word that best cap- before you start writing. At the
.com) by Minotaur Books. Find Sharon on
tures the core of my current work beginning of your project, it’s Facebook @SharonShortAuthor or
in progress was a lot harder than I fine to draft as inspiration hits, @JessMontgomeryAuthor.
2023 VIRTUAL CONFERENCES
Genre-Specific Instruction From Award-Winning
Authors, Plus Agent Feedback
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May 20–21 STORYTELLING
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HUMOR
June 24 HORROR
October 14
SECRETS OF PUBLISHING
July 15 NONFICTION
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SCIENCE FICTION/
FANTASY HISTORICAL FICTION
August 26–27 December 9–10
scan the QR code to find
out more and register.
SUBMISSION COACHING
Everything You Need to Know
to Get Published
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BUILDINGBET TERWORLDS
Tips for making your story concrete.
BY MORIAH RICHARD
Creation Myths
W
here did we come from?
It’s a common question
no matter where in the
world you’re located. How did we
get here? And where do we go when
we leave?
Creation myths are cultural,
religious, or traditional stories that
describe the earliest beginnings of
the world (and the beings that live
on it). Especially if religion and
spirituality (or the lack of them)
are big components of your plot, a
creation myth is something you
should seriously consider for your
world-building. Think about it this
way: One of the most commonly
recognized creation myths in
and order (or creation) is thought • EX NIHILO (OUT OF NOTHING):
fiction is probably from C. S. Lewis’
of as “good.” An example of this When a divine entity creates the
The Chronicles of Narnia, which
can be found in Greek mythology. world from nothing. Perhaps the
wouldn’t be the same kind of story
• EARTH-DIVER: When a deity most well-known example of this
if the creation myth wasn’t fully
tasks an animal to dive into pri- is in the Christian tradition.
realized on the page.
mal waters to discover a piece • WORLD PARENT: When primeval
of soil that can become inhab- entities (usually one depicted as
TYPES OF CREATION MYTHS
itable land. Though there are male and one female) are split,
While there are thousands of cre-
several First Nations communi- creating a new world or when a
ation myths to look at from our
ties who have earth-diver myths, primeval entity is dismembered,
world, here are a few basic types
an example can be found in the and a world grows from one of
(and very stripped-down descrip-
Haudenosaunee tradition. the body parts. An example of
tions) that you can draw inspiration
• EMERGENCE: When people
IMAGE © GETTTY IMAGES: BENJAVISA
on when you start your research: this is the Babylonian myth of

emerge into the world that they Tiamat and Marduk.
• CREATION FROM CHAOS: When currently know; usually associ-
there existed only a shapeless, ated with a birth of some kind, Other than the origins of your
dark void before spontaneous like from the womb of the earth. origin story, there are a few other
creation. In this tradition, chaos An example can be found in the components you might want to
is usually considered to be “evil,” Hopituh Shi-nu-mu tradition. consider as you develop your myth.

SCIENCE VS. BELIEF And if your world-building fea- A FEW CAUTIONS
When thinking about your original tures people who only believe in When doing your research on cre-
myth, it’s important to distinguish their myth as a literal telling of how ation myths, you might come across
if the population who believe in the world came to be (whether or some really neat ones (like the ones
the myth think of it as a profound not the deities they believe in exist I’ve mentioned in this article) that
truth (rather than a historical or in your story), then it’s important seem like an easy way for you to use
literal telling of how the world came for you as the writer to create a in your story. After all, if so many
to be) or if they consider it to be myth that would be believable as different people came up with simi-
cosmogonical (a literal explanation being important to these people. If, lar ideas, what’s the harm in refor-
of existence). for example, there is a specific tie matting an old myth to include in
If you’re leaning toward scientific to nature that is important to them, your world-building?
theories of cosmogony, you might that will probably be included in The fantasy worlds that we create
consider ideas like black holes, big their creation myth. do not exist in a vacuum—and, yes,
bangs, and other large-scale uni- maybe you have a race of trolls who
verse creations. On a smaller scale, AFTERLIFE used to live underground and now
evolution theory is a way to explain While you’re devising your cre- they don’t, so an emergence myth
differences in animals, races, etc. ation story, it might be a great time sounds perfect. But the key is to be
You’ll also need to consider how the to consider what your peoples aware of how your writing is honor-
people of your world came across believe happens after their lives ing (or, in a worst-case scenario, dis-
this kind of knowledge, and if there end. Sometimes—though not respecting) the tradition that you’re
were ever any other creation sto- always—what people believe waits building from.
ries told before this knowledge was for them in the afterlife affects the My advice is simple: If you’re
passed down. However, if you’re way that they behave when they’re planning to base elements of your
writing a story about humans but alive. If creation stories are impor- world-building on real-world cul-
it’s set on another planet thousands tant enough for your plot for you tures, faiths, and communities, the
of years in the future, what humans to include them, you’ll probably best thing you can do for yourself
originally believed about their cre- need to at least mention what hap- (and your readers) is to hire a sen-
ation might not be helpful to your pens in the afterlife. For example, if sitivity reader to review your draft.
overall narrative. Instead, the focus your story has to do with a divine These are experts whose job it is to
may have shifted to the story of how creator who breathes life into the flag potentially harmful pieces of
humans came to be on that particu- bodies of the people, then what your text and provide feedback and
lar planet (like, for example, climate happens to that life when the body guidance for revising your work.
change drove scientists to seek life no longer lives? Is there a particu- And if you’re looking to be tradi-
in new places). lar place where it goes—and if not, tionally published, this kind of edit-
If your world contains both sci- why not? ing will also get your manuscript
entific and mythic explanations Afterlives don’t necessarily have more ready for agents and editors.
for how the world and its peoples to be tied to ideas of “good” and If you’re not sure where to find
came to be, how do these camps of “bad,” although many in our world sensitivity readers for your work,
thought interact? Is there one that’s are. But, again, however you frame check out our 101 Best Websites
more widely regarded as “true”? Is this afterlife should make sense feature in this issue; it’ll have some
one forbidden by political or reli- based on the lives of the people who vetted and dependable places for
gious authorities in favor of the created the myths. If their funda- you to start. And, as always, happy
other? This doesn’t need to be a mental belief system is tied up in the world-building! WD
source of tension between nations idea that all life is connected, they
or even characters in your world, probably wouldn’t imagine an after-
but it would be a way to include ten- life where everyone is separated for Moriah Richard is managing editor of WD.
sion if you so choose. the rest of eternity. Follow her on Twitter @MoriahRichard93.
FORALL AGES
Writing and publishing advice for picture books, middle-grade, and young adult storytelling.
BY EBONY GLENN
Picture This
An Illustrator’s Advice to Picture Book Authors
T
here’s an alchemy to making through the challenges of pairing art
picture books when pair- with text especially when self-doubt
ing the skills of a talented tries to stagnate and block our cre-
writer and illustrator. An interesting ativity. It will also encourage us to
story will make for an exciting book give our all because we don’t want
to illustrate, and at best, become a to disappoint readers with lackluster
coveted favorite among readers both illustrations.
young and old. Likewise, the reverse To write something that will
is also true; a lame story will be bor- inspire, it helps to be inspired, first.
ing to illustrate, and at worst, dull to Great writers, I believe, are the ones
read both for your illustrator and for who have a sincere interest in their
your readers. subject matter and have a love for
As an illustrator, I have my pref- reading and writing. So, read often
erences for the types of manuscripts and write what inspires you! Pursue
that I like to illustrate, but any well- your special interests, be curious,
crafted story will spark my creativity. delve into that subject you always
While finding an illustrator is usu- wanted to learn more about, and have
ally in the hands of an art director or fun with the process. Your passion
book editor, there are a few things and heart will come through in your
an author can do with their story to writing, and that will inspire others.
help the illustrator with their art-
making process. WRITE A STORY WORTH
TELLING
WRITE TO INSPIRE To get your illustrator’s wells of
Inspiration is paramount for us creativity overflowing, make sure
illustrators to make illustrations to write a story with a compelling
because it is the fuel that keeps theme. By theme, I mean the reason
us motivated to create our best why you have written the story in
work. It keeps us going when we the first place and the message you
are crunched for time meeting want to impart to your reader.
deadlines and when we are frus- The theme is the story’s North
trated with ourselves because we Star that guides and motivates your BOOKS ILLUSTRATED
can’t get the right colors for that illustrator to create captivating BY EBONY GLENN
tricky spread. Your story will see us imagery. If your manuscript is

lacking a strong theme or if it has many of us are familiar with. For about a historical figure or takes
too many poorly defined ones, it example, some children will be able place in a foreign setting, any notes
will not only confuse your illustrator, to relate to stories that speak of the and/or images about the subject
but also be a challenge for readers to pain of grief, the love of a parent, or matter will be beneficial to render
connect with your story. Children’s the shame of failure. If you can write the artwork accurately. Plus, you’re
attention spans are limited so it’s a story that connects with your read- saving your illustrator time from
best to maintain their focus with a ers in a novel way, it’ll be a story that having to find information on your
single strong theme when writing will inspire your illustrator to create. story’s subject matter—time that
picture books. can be used more effectively creat-
Art evokes emotion and empa- WRITE TO COLLABORATE ing art. Some illustrators work on
thy, arouses curiosity, and if the If you are willing to leave room for multiple books at a time, so having
illustrator has trouble finding the the illustrator to add their own cre- notes handed to us about a specific
why to your text, there’s not much ative take to your prose with their topic for the book will be very much
they can do to ensure the readers illustrations, your picture book appreciated.
will be able to as well. I can person- may be filled with hidden treasures Lastly, please voice your con-
ally attest that it isn’t fun to illustrate enriching readers’ experiences with cerns if you’re unsatisfied about the
a manuscript that doesn’t have a intrigue, curiosity, and joy. An illus- book’s artistic direction. Everyone
good theme. Book illustrations are trator will add nuance and flavor to involved—the editorial team, the
meant to enhance and complement your manuscript in ways that you illustrator, and you—wants to have
the story, not distract from it. But if may never have conceived. When a finished book that we’re proud of.
the art and text are not in alignment given the freedom to collaborate It would be unfortunate if you didn’t
because of the story’s theme lacks with the author’s text, we can cre- voice your opinion when it mattered
significance, then the book may dis- ate new pathways for readers to and later regret not speaking up.
interest readers. immerse themselves in the story. So be assertive and say something
One way to do this is to leave out if the illustrations do not jive with
WRITE TO CONNECT any extraneous details when draft- you; that way, you and your illus-
Another way to help illustrators ing your manuscript. By doing so, trator can work together to create a
is to write a story that will con- you’re giving the illustrator space to book everyone will be excited about.
nect with your audience. We want be creative with their illustrations.
All in all, just write the best story
to invest our creative energies into There’s no need to emphasize the
you can to inspire young readers,
stories that moves us as much as color of your protagonist’s shirt or
and you will help your illustra-
you do and for our readers to enjoy. the food they’re eating at breakfast
tor with their art-making process.
However, if your manuscript lacks unless these details are central to
Although it can be challenging to
purpose, interest, or relatability, it your plot. By omitting details like
create illustrations for children’s
will be difficult for your illustrator this, you create openings for the
books, pairing art with text is a puz-
to find the motivation to bring it to illustrator to exercise their creativity
zle that we illustrators love to solve.
life through pictures. and imagination. There may even be
And a great story will give us the
While it is the job of the illus- new subplots and characters created
motivation to do it, masterfully. WD
trator to engage readers with their within the illustrations adding more
imagery regardless of the quality of charm and wit to your picture book.
the manuscript, it is more helpful
Ebony Glenn (EbonyGlenn.com) is an
to sustain creativity when we feel a WORK TOGETHER illustrator who loves creating illustrations
connection to the story. Although Providing your editor—or illustrator of joy and wonder for children and adults
it may be difficult to write a manu- if you have established a relation- alike. Her work can be found in a range of
script that will resonate with all ship—with resources and notes is books from baby board books to middle-
grade novels, which she believes are great
readers because each of our lived very useful if your story requires companions to learn more about others,
experiences are unique and subjec- additional research for the illustra- our world, and ourselves. Ebony currently
tive, there are universal themes that tions. For example, if your story is lives in Atlanta, Ga., with her family.
FRONTLIST/BACKLIST
Whether hot off the presses or on the shelves for years, a good book is worth talking about.
BY AMY JONES
I
n keeping with this issue’s explains that Max Little is a pseud-
theme of “Keeping It Short,” onym for a real writer whose
I’ve chosen two novellas for widow contacted Van Booy with
Frontlist/Backlist. I don’t often opt her husband’s journal from his
for novellas when reading for plea- final months. He’d written it with
sure; more often than not, I pick the intention of being published
standard-length novels or, lately, but was too incomplete as he left
sweeping doorstops ranging from it. At the request of Little’s widow
500–900 pages. While there’s some- and publisher, Van Booy took
thing to be said for being immersed Little’s notes and “incorporate[d]
in the world of a huge novel for the dying author’s feelings and
hundreds of pages, novellas offer a observations into something with
different kind of immersive expe- structure.”
rience. As Ian McEwan said in the This structure of a journal in
November/December 2022 Writer’s part one allows readers to con-
Digest interview, “That’s probably sider Little’s thoughts about writ-
the longest form of fiction in which ing, life, and death in connection
you can hold the whole thing in with the book’s title, The Presence
your mind all at once.” of Absence: “Life doesn’t start when
That concept is true for both fearing that when, where, and how he you’re born—it begins when you
selections here. They explore events tells her could exacerbate the trauma commit yourself to the even-
that happen years apart but are she’d inherently experience when tual devastating loss that results
inextricably related. she loses him. Although it delays from connecting to a person who
when he shares the news, he goes to to everyone else appears com-
Frontlist therapy to sort through these deci- pletely ordinary” or “For instance,
The Presence of Absence by sions and in the lobby becomes close I’m writing this in the present,
Simon Van Booy friends with Jeremy, another patient and you’re reading it in the pres-
(Godine, literary fiction, November seeking grief counseling.
ent. Except there is a gulf of time
Part two, set eight years after
ILLUSTRATION © GETTY IMAGES: FRANK RAMSPOTT
2022)
between us.” Part two also ties into
Max has died, focuses on a little girl
SYNOPSIS: In part one, the writer the title but sharing how would
who is the daughter of Max’s wife
Max Little has been diagnosed with ruin the story.
and her new husband.
a terminal illness and writes from his
hospital bed about the time between WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT: The way Backlist
the diagnosis to the present. He the novella came about and the Voices in the Evening by
reflects on his reaction to the diag- philosophical insights. In a note Natalia Ginzburg, translated
nosis and his struggle to tell his wife, at the start of the book, Van Booy from the Italian by D.M. Low

from the way the dialogue is laid out
that Elsa is exhausted by her mother’s
running commentary because it isn’t
38 TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
until the end of the second page that
Elsa is able to get a word in edgewise. OCT 6-7-8, 2023
Here’s an example:
She said, “I wonder what he had
On the shores of Puget Sound
got in that bowl. EDMONDS WA
“One can see that there is a
party somewhere,” she added, “at
the Terenzis’ very likely. Everyone
who goes has to take something.
Nowadays many people do that.”
She said, “But they don’t invite
you, do they?
“They don’t invite you,” she said,
“because they think that you give
yourself airs. …”
(New Directions Paperbook, literary
fiction, published in 1961, English And in the way that the moth-
translation copyright 1963, NDP er’s thoughts are connected, so KEYNOTE
JAMIE FORD
edition 2021) is the whole town, which ulti-
mately leads Elsa to tell readers the
SYNOPSIS: Set in a fictional small
story of these people before get- Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Italian town after World War II, Elsa
ting to her own. The “he” carry- The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
walks through the town one October
ing the bowl is General Sartorio
evening with her mother and tells the
who has a son who is compared to
story of the town’s recent past under 3-DAY CONFERENCE FOCUSED ON
“our Giampiero,” introducing Elsa’s THE CRAFT OF WRITING
the rule of Fascism by introducing
father and his work at the factory
the townspeople and their stories. Sessions and workshops b\ZULWLQJ
owned by Old De Francisci who industry professionalsLQF raft,
Because the town is so small, everyone
had multiple adult children. Much publishing,editing and marketing
is connected in one way or another,
in the way of her mother, Elsa tells
and this has unfortunate implications 6SHFLDOSUHVHQWDWLRQRI
readers the life stories of those
for Elsa’s life. As the book description RQOLQHVHVVLRQV
characters before finally revealing
says, “Elsa wants to imagine a future
she’s in love with the youngest De &ULWLTXHDSSRLQWPHQWV
for herself but the weight of the past
Francisci—Tommasino.
insistently poses the question: ‘Why :ULWLQJFRQWHVW
If all this sounds like a game of
has everything been ruined?’”
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, you
REGISTRATION OPENS
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT: The simplic- would be right, except it’s a brilliant
ity of the language paired with the representation of the oppressive- JULY 10
WRITEONTHESOUND.COM
dialogue’s format and the incredible ness of small-town life and is crucial
cast of characters. The novella opens to understanding Elsa’s relationship
with Elsa listening to the incessant with Tommasino. WD
chatter of her overbearing, gossipy
700 MAIN STREET • EDMONDS, WA.
mother who might also be something Amy Jones is editor-in-chief of WD. Follow 425.771.0228 • [email protected]
of a hypochondriac. We get the sense her on Twitter @AmyMJones_5.
C ON FERE N C E GUID E
CALIFORNIA who will help you move forward in your a sustainable career—all while being
ANNUAL GREATER LOS ANGELES writing career, regardless of whether inspired by successful authors and your
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25th ANNUAL 101 BEST WEBSITES FOR WRITERS

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS SINCE 1920

UNDERSTANDING Loglines, Pitches,

WRITING Ratings, Reviews,

WD Self-Published E-Book Award

WD Personal Essay Award

AUGUST 17–20, 2023

New York Hilton Midtown

GET MORE DETAILS AT

COVER HEADSHOT COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR IMAGE © GETTY IMAGES: HULINSKA_YEVHENIIA

BY WILLIAM KENOWER 5 0 WD Self-Published E-Book Award Winner

2 I WRITER’S DIGEST I May/June 2023

50 8 OAKLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY EXHIBITS ITEMS

19 INDIE AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Amra Pajalić, pen

2 0 WD 101: Book Marketing Copy 101

2 2 WRITERS ON WRITING: Cam Collins and

2 4 BREAKING IN: Debut Author Spotlight

5 8 YOUR STORY: Misty Nights #120

6 8 ON NONFICTION: The Art (and Arc) of Writing

Brandon Taylor 7 0 PUBLISHING INSIGHTS: 5 Flash Fiction and

PLUS: 4 Learn by Example 5 Editor’s Letter 6 Contributors 8 8 Creative Quill

Characterize Through Characterize Through

See, I am the rarest of creatures in

4 I WRITER’S DIGEST I May/June 2023

COPYRIGHT: 2023 by Active Interest

Printed in the USA

WRITER’S DIGEST MAGAZINE IS A REGISTERED

STEVE SHELL is an award-winning storyteller, writer,

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her family. Scott Roeder

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BREWER ILLUSTRATION © TONY CAPURRO IMAGE © GETTY IMAGES: OLGA STRELNIKOVA

14 I WRITER’S DIGEST I May/June 2023

tell character three why they’re

Amy Jones is editor-in-chief of WD. Follow her on Twitter @AmyMJones_5.

Writing Those Pesky Ratings,

16 I WRITER’S DIGEST I May/June 2023

Ratings, Reviews, and Blurbs

2. What was your first impression of the book?

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18 I WRITER’S DIGEST I May/June 2023

Amra Pajalić, pen

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for more complex topics or more underpins many narratives, whether

20 I WRITER’S DIGEST I May/June 2023

Cam Collins and Steve Shell

22 I WRITER’S DIGEST I May/June 2023

With a passion for disability representation and