Fiction

Imitation as Inspiration: An Exercise for Writers

Today’s post is written by Sarah Baughman, a semi-finalist in the Write It Sideways regular contributor search. Thanks, Sarah! What is it you love most about your favorite writers? Lush descriptions, startling metaphors, characters so real you can imagine inviting them over for coffee? I’ve often wished that, just for a day, I could borrow a

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5 Ways to Avoid One-Month Novel Insanity

Today’s post is written by Mercia Dragonslayer, a semi-finalist in the Write It Sideways regular contributor search. Thanks, Mercia! “Write a novel in thirty days? How does one do that?” I wondered, as I read the website for National Novel Writing Month.”That just seems like a quest for absolute insanity!” Until November 2009, I had

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Are Ambiguous Endings Powerful or Frustrating?

This post is inspired by the article Should You Tie Up All Ends When You Type ‘The End’? over at the fabulous blog Nail Your Novel, written by author and ghostwriter Roz Morris. I’ve been wanting to write something about ambiguous endings for months now, ever since I got into The New Yorker’s Fiction Podcast, which

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How to Write Your Bio for a Byline or Query

A few weeks ago, I had a short story accepted for publication in an upcoming issue of Grist: The Journal for Writers. I just received the contract, and am now agonizing over my short author bio. Although I’ve written several versions in the past, none of them seem wholly appropriate for this particular journal. A

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6 Ways to Reconnect with Your Work-In-Progress

A letter I received a few weeks ago asked a question most writers will have at one point or another. I’m working on a fiction piece that I had to step away from because of a move for my husband’s job. I’m having a lot of trouble getting back into the right mindset to write

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101 of the Best Fiction Writing Tips, Part IV

What if someone went through the biggest and best blogs on the internet, and pulled out the very best-of-the best tips for fiction writers? That’s what I’ve done here. If you haven’t already read through the first three groups of tips, check them out here: Part I of the best fiction writing tips, Part II, and Part

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