Improve Your Writing

Brooke McIntyre of Inked Voices explains what to look for in a critique group and how to find the best writing critique group for you.

Three practices separate successful memoirists from those who underestimate the writing craft.

Lack of support might come from fears about their own privacy, not understanding the enormity of your achievement, and/or information overload.

Applying genre labels to creative work can be vexing, but understanding each genre’s core concerns can also be inspiring and instructional.

When a scene shifts to a new setting, time, or POV without clearly bridging that gap, we risk losing readers’ trust and goodwill.

There’s no one-size-fits-all way to structure a story, so understanding the core principles will help you decide what’s right for yours.

Making the leap from short online articles to longer, narrative work brought one writer into contact with a new challenge: being truly edited.

By observing our own species through the eyes of another, something new just might be revealed to us.

The first question is often some version of “What happened to me?” Understanding it helps craft a story that speaks to your readers’ needs.

If you’re overwhelmed by the volume of accumulated words after months or years of generating new material, here’s how to tame and shape them.

Stories are like trains: a connected chain of main events (railcars) and transitions (couplings), with very little stopping at platforms.

Writing outside our lived experience isn’t just about getting facts right—it’s also about learning who we are when we truly listen to others.

One writer explains why you shouldn’t necessarily get feedback on your first draft—and what you should do instead.

Your story’s tone and content don’t have to match—and when they don’t, they can combine to create something greater than their sum.

A successful story unfurls in a way that both keeps readers grounded and keeps them guessing—so withhold information, but not context.

Improv is about being in the moment, and showed one author how to let go, listen better, take risks, and move on when something doesn’t work.

Small bits of action—descending the stairs, cleaning off the car—might not be insignificant if they tell something about a character’s world.

One writer explores how women will rationalize away feelings of unease for the sake of pleasing others, and how we express that on the page.

A memoirist who began writing with the goal of helping others was surprised by how the process healed old wounds and reframed her self-image.

If you’re hearing that your story lacks structure or impact, you might be missing the interconnected cohesion of plot, stakes, and character.

This excerpt from Nina Amir’s Change the World One Book at a Time examines how nonfiction authors can best effect change in readers.

Sharing his work-in-progress has helped one writer build confidence and conviction about who his readers are and what they’re interested in.

By thinking like a filmmaker—planning your beats, deciding your shots—you create a vivid experience that pulls readers into the story.

Understanding stress responses as learned survival strategies can help you turn every high-stakes scene into character development on the page.

When a story barrels from one conflict to the next, hitting pause for a well-placed glimmer of light can benefit both characters and readers.