Improve Your Writing

The stories we carry from our families may seem ordinary, but fictionalizing them can honor our roots and keep them alive for future generations.

Books might be marketed as fiction, but it’s the truth and possibility thereof that intrigues us and offers understanding and connection.

A hazard of writing for young readers is the temptation to craft stories with a lesson, when more richness might result from finding your theme.

Since villains usually consider themselves heroes, they can also go through the same stages heroes do—with some important variations.

A sci-fi writer explores how AI can help keep her scenarios grounded in reality and maintain a story bible for world-building consistency.

Knowing which facet most drives the story you want to tell can help you determine next steps and avoid the most common manuscript missteps.

Emerging writers often focus on plot and action—both essential!—but the true pulse of horror comes from what festers just beneath the surface.

Tips from a career editor on how the type of POV you choose affects the way you give readers access to your characters’ thoughts and feelings.

Understanding what holds your characters back from loving or being loved fully will equip you to write a romance with a compelling arc.

One author learns that putting boundaries—such as genre expectations—around creativity can actually stimulate it rather than inhibit it.

Embrace the fact that creation is never truly finished—it’s simply released at a point where it can begin its life in the world.

One author finds that using digital tools to create a visual story grid is the trick he needs to crystallize his ideas and never miss a beat.

What draws readers into your story is the mystery of how you achieved your transformation, so reflection must be handled carefully.

No matter what story we read, we bring ourselves with it. That’s why sensitivity should be the forethought, not an afterthought, in our world-building.

Every narrative point of view has something it does well and something it doesn’t do as well. Here’s a look at how they compare.

Bulleted lists and unbridled text formatting might work online, but overuse in a book can risk distracting readers instead of guiding them.

A few simple language shifts can take your reader from watching people on the page to feeling like they’re right inside the scene.

One writer asserts that Scrooge’s arc isn't that of becoming a new person, but confronting his core wound and rediscovering his true self.

Thriller writers don’t always need a plot to get the creative juices flowing—they need a trigger, a simple idea that creates unease.

Nonfiction authors can adopt some of the tricks novelists use to make readers care deeply about the topic and want to keep turning the pages.

Writers bear a responsibility to represent diverse voices authentically rather than falling into the trap of stereotype or caricature.

If the natural world is important to your story, be sure to engage it on a deeper level than descriptions of pretty scenery.

The finest memoirs are distilled experiences: the more you compress, the more potent your story becomes.

In a world changing at breakneck speed, how do you prevent a researched nonfiction book from being outdated by the time it is published?

Studying the structural choices in classic literature is one of the best ways to understand how story architecture fuels emotional impact.