Improve Your Writing

When writing mystery or thriller, you earn your ending by properly laying the groundwork so that readers don’t feel cheated by plot twists.

Writing in a non-native tongue—exophony—means letting go of certain habits and navigating cultural aspects without compromising one’s truth.

The best way to support your book, especially in the nonfiction world, may be sharing your ideas freely long before the book appears in print.

Remembering author and editor Susan DeFreitas, whose life was cut short by cancer.

Different forms of communication—letters, voicemails, social posts—can enrich your memoir, so long as they help tap into something universal.

One writer reflects on the importance of original reference material when a digitized version might be missing critical context.

Backstory in memoir works like a traffic light—stopping too often stalls your journey. Learn which past events truly serve your narrative.

Ensuring your stories are imbued with meaning can be a huge task. Luckily, three magic words will help you strengthen your story’s trajectory.

Writing characters with disabilities doesn’t have to be difficult. It only requires a little work to understand how things look from the character’s position.

When the revision process meanders off-course, leaving a project stranded, here are some tips for regaining momentum.

To keep readers engaged, build each scene toward a breaking point then reveal something new about the characters, their world, or the plot.

If you’ve amassed a heap of assorted essays, flash pieces, chapters, and ideas, here’s a step-by-step guide to shaping them into a book.

In story as in art, what’s hinted at in the shadows can add intriguing layers of depth and interest.

One author successfully pitched her memoir based on its thematic point, but shaping it into a satisfying narrative arc was much tricker.

One writer found herself chained to an idea that just wasn’t working, and needed fresh perspective from a colleague in order to break free.

Protagonist, antagonist, rising and falling action, arc of change, emotion—all must be developed in a picture book, and in under 500 words.

Triumphs are most compelling when the hero has to fight for them, so even quiet stories need plenty of obstacles, challenges, and uncertainties.

An Author’s Note can be the most direct way to communicate your book’s themes to editors, marketers, librarians, teachers, and readers.

One author discovers that when it comes to heavily-researched historical fiction, one’s ducks should be in a row before tackling NaNoWriMo.

Academics or experts writing for a broader audience than peers should consider framing complex facts through a personal lens.

There will absolutely be tape lines to adjust and plot questions to answer along the way, so don’t let the prep prevent messy progress.

Memoir can benefit from starting at the moment that change became inevitable, then explaining what came before and what followed.

Worry less about creating a first sentence that will shock and awe, and more about drawing readers into the story one link of the chain at a time.

Nonfiction writers have to decide where to collect their stories and how much to rely on their personal experience.

Struggling with the plot of your current work-in-progress? Maybe one of these tried and true solutions will do the trick for you.