Improve Your Writing

It's easier to write beginnings and endings but often the middle is left sagging—not out of the lack of skill or care, but out of confusion.

Here are three techniques to help you write about an event when your memories of it are scattered, shattered, or gone.

Spooky season is the perfect time to write that Gothic fiction tale you've been brewing. Learn the key genre conventions and how to outline your story.

An in era of episodic adventure stories, Sense and Sensibility offered a novel with what modern readers would recognize as plot structure.

Whether your writing partner is your spouse, best friend, or a colleague, here are some tips on setting expectations and sharing the work.

Interiority adds emotional context for what your characters experience. Learn when interiority is appropriate, and how much to use.

Asking yourself these questions can reveal whether your big idea is well suited to be a book—vs. a podcast, newsletter, or something else.

Point of view is rarely the first storytelling element authors focus on in creating their stories, but it can arguably be the most important.

In general, we don’t turn to fiction for stories about perfect people. What really makes us care is understanding another’s vulnerabilities.

Readers crave stories that are rich and immersive; novels that fall far below the standard word counts might be ripe for improvement.

Retellings, like any genre, come with their own characteristics and conventions to honor the original text and meet reader expectations.

Your characters’ movements and gestures in any given space must convey enough to paint the scene for readers without becoming too detailed.

Believable magic systems will not only keep fantasy writers organized but will also help readers stay more immersed in the story’s world.

Academia lets writers get away with stringing together facts, but appealing to a general audience means constructing a compelling narrative.

Just as you wouldn’t paint a house under construction, you need to revise with an eye on story structure before you dress up the writing.

A good editor can help a scholar ensure that the complexity of what they are writing about is intelligently and clearly conveyed.

Expert advice is valuable but it’s how you assess it that makes it meaningful and useful, because what works for one writer may not work for another.

As an author, what steps can you take to write a book that the vast majority of readers will want to read all the way through?

Knowing your character’s worldview, carry-in, and carry-over issues will help you build strong cause-and-effect that propels your story forward.

Giving your beta readers structure makes it easier for them, and helps ensure that your specific concerns will be addressed.

Limit telling to between-scene summaries. In-scene, showing is what pulls readers into your story through clear actions and emotions.

Choosing a name, either for a real human or a fictional one, involves a blend of logic and intuition and can feel deeply consequential.

As an early architect of the novel form, Austen’s use of a unifying thematic question contributed to the development of long-form narratives.

When executed well, a memoir with a message can touch lives through the power of personal narrative combined with practical wisdom.

Whatever settings you choose, they need to align with your theme, support the plot, and help define your characters.