March/April 2022

Writer's Digest

The World's Leading Source for Writing Inspiration, Instruction and Information

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Fromourreaders
Watch our blog (WritersDigest.com/resources/write-for-us) for the next question we ask, and answer for a chance to be included in a future issue of Writer’s Digest! ■
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Writer’s Digest
Amy Jones Robert Lee Brewer Moriah Richard Sadie Dean Michael Woodson Wendy Dunning Tyler Moss Jessica Strawser Jane K. Cleland, David Corbett, Bob Eckstein, Jane Friedman, Steven James, Barbara Poelle, Elizabeth Sims, Jeff Somers, Kristy Stevenson,
Writer's Digest2 min read
From Where I Sit
There’s an outdoor cat who is slowly adopting me. When I first moved into my house, I saw her slink through the yard occasionally, but for months, when she saw me, she bolted. Then something happened to change her view of me—I started leaving food ou
Writer's Digest2 min read
Contributors
AMANDA JAYATISSA loves to read disturbing books with shocking plot twists, so it seemed logical to her that she should attempt to write disturbing books with shocking plot twists. When she isn’t recovering from a selfinduced book hangover, she runs c
Writer's Digest6 min read
The Beauty In The Bittersweet
Susan Cain burst onto the literary scene 10 years ago with the publication of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, which launched an entire Quiet Revolution and a few spin-off titles. For introverts, Quiet has provided v
Writer's Digest5 min readPopular Culture & Media Studies
A Diverse Perspective
Writing is empowering. Publishing is exhausting. That is how most of my conversations start with diverse author friends since the beginning of the pandemic. Not only are we experiencing a social justice crisis, but we are also seeing more and more cr
Writer's Digest5 min read
Second Opinions
New rules. New strategies. New paths to success. While we may see those images of a solo writer in a coffee shop or room, the truth is that no book is a solo endeavor. One of the most important parts of the writing process is getting feedback on an e
Writer's Digest3 min read
The Head And The Heart
Your idea is too cerebral and issue-oriented for today’s romance,” read the polite rejection letter. I came to realize this was high praise indeed. That was 1986. I was a 20– something newlywed living in Hawaii, dreaming of being a romance novelist,
Writer's Digest7 min read
Interviewing 101
I was on the phone with Scott Turow when his fire alarm went off. This took place a handful of years ago, after I’d called the bestselling novelist of such legal thrillers as Presumed Innocent to feature him in a Writer’s Digest Interview. The first
Writer's Digest3 min read
Amanda Jayatissa
We’ve all heard of method actors, right? Like how Lady Gaga spoke with an Italian accent off-screen for nine months in preparation for House of Gucci, or when Jared Leto sent his castmates a dead pig while playing the Joker in Suicide Squad. These st
Writer's Digest1 min read
Tanya McKinnon
Tanya McKinnon, principal at McKinnon Literary, says she was a curious girl who grew very tall, very fast, with big hair, glasses, and a sharp tongue. “All of this made me ill-suited for popularity, but very well-suited to a life of the mind,” she sa
Writer's Digest5 min read
Breaking In
A Brush With Love (Adult romantic comedy, March, St. Martin’s Press) “Two dental students trade fillings for feelings as they navigate the messy complexities of adulthood, anxiety, and exceptionally meddling friends.” WRITES FROM: Philadelphia, Pa.
Writer's Digest10 min read
All About Omniscience
Finding the right point of view (POV) for your novel or story can be almost as challenging as figuring out the plot, at times. Should you adopt an intimate POV that keeps the reader close to the character, or allow yourself the wide lens that an omni
Writer's Digest10 min read
Is It Memoir, Personal Essay, or Prescriptive?
I began my writing journey as a fiction writer. I liked to make stuff up—or so I thought. In truth, I liked to tell stories, and I was clear that the goal of the fictional stories I told was to entertain, move, and inspire the reader. I did not reali
Writer's Digest9 min read
Plotting With an Unreliable Narrator
An “unreliable narrator” has been a convention since Arabian Nights, and maybe even longer than that. The term, which is attributed to Wayne C. Booth, who used it in 1961’s The Rhetoric of Fiction, refers to a noncredible narrator, although readers m
Writer's Digest8 min readMotivational
Through The Eyes Of The Beast
Writing what you know can only extend so far, especially in the world of speculative fiction. It’s right there in the name! As authors tackling new universes and dimensions, our protagonists are frequently removed from the human experience. From anim
Writer's Digest8 min read
Double Duty
Too often, we as writers fall back on the basic techniques to showcase point of view. But what if we looked at POV like another facet of character? Instead of sticking to the typical showcases of first person, second person, etc., we can push past in
Writer's Digest2 min read
The Winners
Know Your Hairitage: Zara’s Wash Day by Zenda M. Walker First Place Not So Different by Cyana Riley Honorable Mentions Do Ants Wear Pants? by Gabrielle Grice Mighty May Won’t Cry Today by Kendra & Claire-Voe Ocampo First Place Seizure by Peter Black
Writer's Digest5 min read
A Picture Of The Past
Zenda Walker grew up a reader. “I was really into Judy Bloom books; lots of picture books, of course,” says the Grand Prize winner of the 29th WD Self-Published Book Awards. “And then there were just all these series of books for children, like The B
Writer's Digest12 min read
Marlon James
To Marlon James, an epic is “a struggle that’s both very profound and very simple at the same time.” His Dark Star Trilogy, an African fantasy series, is certainly that. It’s not just the size of the books, which are 600-plus pages apiece, that makes
Writer's Digest4 min read
Funny You Should Ask
I’ve pitched during online events like #PitMad, but I don’t get bites. Is there something I can do to make my pitch stand out? Sincerely, PitBad Have you considered a confetti popper? I have been pondering carrying one around in my pocket for spontan
Writer's Digest3 min read
The Secluded Cabin
CONTEST #113 come closer, Detective Johnson. Closer. Keep your balance! The soil beneath your feet is loose and uneven. What if you fall and break your teeth on a rock? Sure, you’d adjust—most men your age wear dentures anyway—but there are dozens of
Writer's Digest6 min read
Researching Your Historical Novel Like A Historian
Historical novels are stories informed by the past. They can be based on a historic person, an event, artifact, invention, era, or more. Though there are many types of historical novels, the one thing they all have in common is bringing the past to l
Writer's Digest2 min readPopular Culture & Media Studies
All About The Pitch
I tell my students when an editor sends out a call for pitches on social media, the writers who answer first, get noticed. That is especially true when you are dealing with a rapid response editor looking for a news hook, like Holly Baxter, Head of O
Writer's Digest5 min read
5 Poetry Publications
I love March and April! Every March, I announce the next April Poem-A-Day Challenge on WritersDigest.com; and every April, I lead and participate in the April Poem-A-Day Challenge. So, I spend most of March getting excited about writing poetry, and t
Writer's Digest5 min read
On Setting and Mood
I think my favorite common misconception about setting is that it’s just where your story takes place. Sure, that’s part of what a setting is for your story, but it’s far from the only thing. For your readers, setting is directly linked to the overal
Writer's Digest5 min read
Managing Point of View (Part 1 of 3): Myth Busting
Let’s imagine, for a moment, that we’re meeting at an icecream shop. And let’s say I ask you, “What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?” Whether you’re consciously aware of it or not, your answer is your point of view, and it’s assimilated from every a
Writer's Digest5 min read
The Art of the Picture Book Page Turn
When a picture book client seeks my help to transform an existing manuscript to the next level, one of the areas I focus on is the page turn. It’s easy to see why people don’t think about it much. It’s not something you encounter in a meaningful mann
Writer's Digest7 min read
Conference Scene
Sponsored by Triangle Association of Freelancers (TAF)—whose mission is to network and provide advice, encouragement, and information to independent area writers—this annual spring conference has been packed with dedicated professionals since its lau
Writer's Digest2 min readComposition & Creative Writing
Poetic Asides
The rondel supreme is a French form that falls in the quatorzain domain. That is, the rondel supreme is a 14-line poem that lacks strict sonnet structure. Here are the guidelines: • 14 lines in three stanzas• First two stanzas have four lines, the fi

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