Why I'm Not Planning a 'Hunger Games' Knockoff
I enjoy reading well-written books where there are earth-shattering secrets, a race against the clock, harrowing twists and turns, lives constantly under threat. But I don't have an itch to create one.
I enjoy reading well-written books where there are earth-shattering secrets, a race against the clock, harrowing twists and turns, lives constantly under threat. But I don't have an itch to create one.
From Writer's Relief staff: It’s hard to be patient when you’ve sent out a query letter and still haven’t heard back from your literary age...
Ann Bauer | Posted 05.21.2012
Like every other published writer in the universe, people I meet at parties inevitably tell me they want to write. They launch into describing their novel or short story or business book idea and I break in gently (I hope) to ask, "When do you write?"
Howard Meyer | Posted 05.17.2012
If you have a talent for writing and are just now looking to get your foot in the door of the publishing world, then this article may be of use to you.
Jim David | Posted 05.09.2012
If you want to write a novel, here's what you do: write. Just write, with no worry or care about how it will come out.
Lev Raphael | Posted 05.01.2012
When writers say they have writer's block, a normal, unremarkable part of the writing process becomes debilitating.
Holly Robinson | Posted 04.30.2012
No matter how long you've been writing, you've probably experienced that panic-induced paralysis known as writer's block. If you want to tame the symptoms of this debilitating condition, here are some home remedies to try.
Nancy Goldstone | Posted 04.25.2012
Charles Dickens used to say that after a morning of writing one of his novels, the characters in the book would clutch at his coattails, demanding to be heard, when he later went out for his afternoon walk. I know exactly what he means.
Dennis Palumbo | Posted 04.25.2012
The next time you begin conceptualizing your crime story's villain, don't be afraid to mine your own feelings. Down deep, below the surface. It's where the motherlode of characterization, and all the narrative gold that results, lies hidden.
From Writer's Relief Chances are that you’ve technically been writing since you learned to write the alphabet on goofy, oversized lined paper bac...
Maureen Anderson | Posted 04.17.2012
If your résumé sports typos, what's the potential employer going to think? That you're suddenly going to pay more attention to detail once you get the job? Probably not.
Jeffrey Shaffer | Posted 04.13.2012
Something has to happen here. The blank page is mocking me. Okay, I'm typing. The opening sentence starts right now. "It was a brutally hot morning." There we go. Hot and happening.
Scott Alexander Hess | Posted 04.10.2012
Over time, my writing has become less and less about me. What I have discovered is that the further I move from myself, the richer my writing has become.
Jen Grisanti | Posted 04.10.2012
How do we move into a higher consciousness? What has to happen in our lives? I feel that writing from a place of higher consciousness is the key to affecting universal change through story.
Posted 04.06.2012
Aspiring authors are sometimes willing to shell out thousands for writing workshops and MFA programs, but according to Kurt Vonnegut, the late politic...
Lev Raphael | Posted 05.25.2012
Now, maybe some writers can write to a formula, can churn out books that try to catch the cultural mood, books that mimic best sellers, but I suspect most authors are like me: We write the books we want to.
From Writer's Relief staff: At some point, all writers have zero publication credits. Although we have no evidence, we suspect that even Stephen Ki...
From Writer's Relief: The books we read as children were written to teach us important lessons about various topics including friendship and bodily...
Hillary Rettig | Posted 05.09.2012
Prolific writers learn to lose themselves nonjudgmentally in their work, trusting that their skills, community, and the writing process itself will get them where they need to go.
Red Room | Posted 04.18.2012
Can't find the time to write? Life is short. Stop with the angst, already. If you're not writing, you don't really want to. Go find something that yanks your chain. Do that, and leave us writers alone.
Victoria Costello | Posted 04.16.2012
Unfortunately, many would-be memoirists stumble on the same writing hurdles: if only it wasn't so tough to begin, figure out a plot line, recreate conversations you had five months or five years ago, and keep it all interesting until arriving at "the end."
Randy Susan Meyers | Posted 04.16.2012
I think, like with a partner, when you have the right material, there's a magic click, and you fall in love -- whether it takes six books or sixteen years on one book. Maybe that's how long it takes. As long as it takes to feel the click, and have someone else agree.
Gretchen Rubin | Posted 04.14.2012
Just about anyone who has ever put off a troublesome task is familiar with one of my "secrets of adulthood": Working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination.
From Writer's Relief staff: Writers who are in the process of submitting their work to agents and editors tend to worry about idea theft. How m...
Gretchen Rubin | Posted 04.03.2012
Cruising around Pinterest (my new toy), I came across this list of Henry Miller's 11 work commandments. I'm astounded by how absolutely apt these commandments are for my own writing practices.
Lev Raphael | Posted 05.31.2012