Improve Your Writing

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Explore the Fictional Character That You Present to Readers

Readers of your work create their own idea of you that is, in a sense, a fictional character. Explore voice by leaning into that fiction.
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Mining Your Memories: 3 Forms of Memory Every Memoirist Must Know

Understanding how your memories work, and what to do with the less reliable ones, will help you with the meaning-making process.
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How to Deal With Rejection: Celebrate!

One author believes that celebrating your rejections is part of how you take your power back.
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Decide Where You’re Standing in Time as You Write Your Memoir

Memoirists must make conscious decisions about time—the time frame of the story and where in time you are standing while telling your tale.
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What Character Arc Isn’t

Character arc isn’t created from a patchwork of different issues. It’s one clear thread that runs the whole length of your novel.
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The Peril and Promise of Writing in First-Person POV

Writing a compelling first-person novel requires creative ingenuity, extraordinary empathy, and a boatload of courage.
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Why Preparing a TED Talk Makes You a Better Memoirist (Even If You Never Intend to Get on Stage)

If you’re struggling to shape life experiences into a story, consider key points that illustrate a common thread, as if preparing a TED Talk.
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The Forgotten Element of Story: The Author

Embracing the You in your story can feel frightening, but it’s the best way to craft a novel that is truly unforgettable.
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Gray Space: Making Room for the Reader

When we let the reader fill in our intentionally left blanks, or “gray space”, we invite them inside our imaginary worlds.
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How to Figure Out Which Writing Advice Fits You Best

Like clothing, writing advice should be tried on to see if it fits you and your writing life. Here are five tips for assessing what works.
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Villain Logic: The Key to Solving Your Thriller’s Climax Block

When writing thriller, authors must understand our villain’s motivations, end goals, and progressive, logical actions toward that goal.
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First Page Critique: Defining the Scope of Your Memoir

Readers don’t want to start a memoir already knowing the ending, but it’s important that your pitch specifically defines your story’s scope.
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Is Deep Third an Actual POV?

Used well, deep third can be one of the most intimate, engaging, revealing ways for readers to viscerally share your character’s world.
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How to Write a Nonfiction Book Chapter Without Tears

If you sit down to write and find that you can’t, the typical reason is that you don’t know what job the chapter is supposed to do.
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I Hired ChatGPT As My Writing Coach

Engaging with generative AI in a way that enriches human creativity, you can take your writing further than you might have on your own.
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10 Ways to Nurture a Young Writer

What do you do when a teen in your life is a diehard writer? When they won’t clean their room and just want to write stories or poems all day?
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3 Ways Writers Block Their Success (While Thinking They’re Hard at Work)

Working hard isn’t necessarily a virtue if it masks the ways that we might be sabotaging our own paths to success and fulfillment.
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When Your Characters Speak a Language Other Than English

No matter what language our characters are speaking, writers should strive to express dialogue and inner thoughts in a naturalistic way.
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How to Develop a Complex Protagonist

With these four elements you’ll be able to create a more compelling protagonist and, as a result, a more interesting story.
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How to Write Nonfiction When You’re Not an “Expert”

Worried you’re not enough of an expert to write your book? That’s OK. You don’t need to be the annoying expert who knows it all. There’s another—far more effective—approach you can take when talking to readers.
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Using ChatGPT for Book Research? Take Exceeding Care

Authors should consider using AI for historical research—not as a replacement for primary sources, but as just another useful tool.
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The Fascinating Neuroscience of Scene

According to neuroscience, scenes make the reader feel as if they are actually in the world of the story. And that makes scene the most memorable way to share information with the reader.
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Writer’s Block? Maybe You’re Writing in the Wrong Format

If your writing project has hit a wall, consider whether it really wants to be a different form than the one you’re trying to shape it into.
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The How, When and Why of Writing Autofiction

In this nexus of fact and fiction, writers can mine, select and transform their real life journeys, turning points and discoveries into story.
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Why Beta Readers Lead You to Getting Paid for Your Writing

Building up courage to own your identity as a writer starts when you realize you need to ask someone for an objective opinion on your work.