Writer's Digest

My father calls me a “character,” because I tend to say the first thing that pops into my head. My mother calls me “individual,” which is her polite way of not quite understanding the way I dress. —Me Before You, Jojo Moyes (Contemporary Fiction) Cor

Last year, I helped my cousin edit her college admissions essay. She had to write 600 words on a topic of her choosing. Aside from the fact that the prompt was so broad as to be overwhelming and meaningless, 600 words isn’t much space to explore an i

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Amy Jones SENIOR EDITOR Robert Lee Brewer MANAGING EDITOR Moriah Richard EDITORS Sadie Dean Michael Woodson ART DIRECTOR Wendy Dunning EDITORS-AT-LARGE Tyler Moss Jessica Strawser Jane K. Cleland, Bob Eckstein, Jane Friedman, Sharon S

STEVE SHELL is an award-winning storyteller, writer, and voice actor born in the far reaches of southwest Virginia. Steve currently lives in Asheville, N.C., where he taught high school English for 16 years and was a host and main stage performer for

Thank you for all that you do. I know that there isn’t much you actually have to do for me but you have the biggest heart. I’m glad to have you in my life. You give me a second [of your time] and it makes me not feel as alone as I would even though w

Use the following writing prompts to write a minicollection of interconnected short stories in the genre of your choosing. Think about how these scenarios would play out differently depending on whether you write romance, thriller, science fiction, l

Getting serious about writing is a double-edged sword. You’re working on legit projects, you’ve made some writing friends, you attend and contribute to your critique group. Maybe you’ve published a book! Maybe some of your friends have as well. All t

Sabiha’s Dilemma, Alma’s Loyalty, The Cuckoo’s Song, The Climb, Return to Me, Hollywood Dreams (Young adult; romance; Pishukin Press) HAD YOU CONSIDERED TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING? I was traditionally published with my debut novel, which I have re-releas

Nobody can buy something they don’t know about, which means writers following all paths to publication need to know how to hook attention and convince an audience. However, drafting marketing copy is a different skill than other writing. Before we ge

Old Gods of Appalachia” is a horror anthology podcast set in an alternate Appalachia where darkness moves beneath the surface of some of the oldest mountains in the world. Our stories contain strands of actual folklore and regional history woven toge

Ismita Hussain, the daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, is a Georgia native. She grew up speaking Bangla, Hindi, and Urdu in her Desi household. Ismita graduated from Emory University where she studied human health and Italian. After working in neona

WRITER’S DIGEST: WritersDigest.com The online hub for everything WD, including the “Writer’s Digest Presents” podcast! Join a writing challenge, get writing and publication advice from bestselling authors, and learn how you can enter any of our six w

Seasoned literary agents on the business of publishing. GENRES: All categories of adult nonfiction CLIENTS INCLUDE: Julie Bogart, Barbara Oakley Rita Rosenkranz founded her boutique agency in 1990 after working as an editor and interacting with agent

Micro memoir—short standalone pieces, often exploring a moment in time, drawn from personal experience—is the hottest new category in publishing. The best ones combine truth-telling with narrative tension in 200 words or less, and unlike personal ess

Imagine walking across a tightrope over a deep canyon. To me, creative writing feels like tightrope walking. (Metaphorically. I would not attempt walking across actual rope.) For any writing project, we start on one platform with an idea, a premise,

One thing is certain in today’s publishing environment: Writers have choices when it comes to length. They can choose to write and publish book-length works, long-form journalism, personal essays, and short stories, but they can also go super short.

Writing and publishing advice for picture books, middle-grade, and young adult storytelling. There’s an alchemy to making picture books when pairing the skills of a talented writer and illustrator. An interesting story will make for an exciting book

In keeping with this issue’s theme of “Keeping It Short,” I’ve chosen two novellas for Frontlist/Backlist. I don’t often opt for novellas when reading for pleasure; more often than not, I pick standard-length novels or, lately, sweeping doorstops ran

ANNUAL GREATER LOS ANGELES WRITERS CONFERENCE, produced by West Coast Writers Conferences. In-person, August 4–6, 2023. Writers of all genres and disciplines benefit from this popular educational and inspirational three-day event on the craft and bus

Hidden in this word search are 15 website names from our 101 Best Websites feature. Find as many as you can! BREVITYMAGAZINE INKARNATE QUERYTRACKER DIYMFA KILLZONE RATTLE DUOTROPE LIMFIC WRITERBEWARE EFA LITERARYHUB WRITINGDIVERSITY HORRORTREE NANOWR