fiction writing

In this 5On interview, author Anne Perry discusses (among other things): what plot is not what to look for when

Writers flounder trying to figure out how to make their idea compelling enough to sustain a great novel. Here's how to go from ordinary to extraordinary.

Author Kathleen M. Rodgers discusses her approach to writing and reading, her self-promotion philosophy, and why she won't self-publish.

In this interview, James C. Moore discusses journalistic vs. creative writing, finding time to write when time is hard to come by, and what being a New York Times best-selling author doesn't mean.

Do you have a project that confuses you, or feels dangerous? That's what you should write says Mark Wisniewski.

Most novels have some amount of back story—because they rarely start from the beginning of a character’s life. However, writers tend to misuse it or include too much.

Note from Jane: Today, I'm pleased to announce the series 5 On by author Kristen Tsetsi. 5 On asks established, traditionally published

Fiction writer Rowena Macdonald says she finds writing dialogue much easier than constructing a plot.

Note from Jane: Today's guest post is by Anne Pfeffer (@AnnePfeffer1), an author of several YA and new adult novels. As

One of the most important goals of any fiction writer is getting the reader to connect on an emotional level

In a thought-provoking post over at Glimmer Train, Josh Weil talks about Chekhov's rule: If you bring a gun into the story,

In an essay about writing a novel with her husband, Beth Ann Fennelly discusses that the process did not lead

The most prevalent point-of-view used by writers today is the third-person limited POV (sometimes spread across multiple characters), as well

Laura van den Berg discusses the evolution of how her stories get written and shaped into a collection, or a book.

If you have Zen or Buddhist inclinations—and you're also in the profession of writing and publishing—you will love this story

What's wrong with overly nice characters? To begin with, they're boring. This is because they can't abide conflict, and smooth it over every chance they get.

Writers are often advised to fill their scenes with rich detail—to show, not tell. However, taken too far, you can clutter or bloat your story with too much irrelevant description.

Editors can tell within a couple pages if a manuscript will be acceptable to them. How? What makes this decision so clear to an editor and so muddy to an author?

The following guest post from Elizabeth Sims is adapted from her newest book, You've Got a Book in You, from

A reader is drawn into a story in one of two ways: shocked or seduced. This is called the hook, and it must be in the first three paragraphs of the text, preferably in the first sentence. The hook also sets up the initial pace of the story, which is maintained through the beginning of the tale.

As writers, we can spend so much time "fleshing out" our characters as individuals that we forget about the connections