Learn Secrets to Self-Publishing Success

by Zachary Petit In this extended interview, discover how Daryl Pinksen, the winner of our 17th Annual Self-Published Book Awards, created a great independent offering—and how you can, too. What should writers bear in mind when selecting self-publishers? You get what...
What’s here for you?

What’s here for you?

This website is where I’ll post my works in progress, articles that may be of interest and even my thoughts from time to time. I’ll also be happy to answer your questions about writing and publishing, or whatever is on your mind.
What’s here for you?

What’s in this for you?

This website is where I’ll post my works in progress, articles that may be of interest and even my thoughts from time to time. I’ll also be happy to answer your questions about writing and publishing, or whatever is on your mind.
About the Author

About the Author

“This fiction can become reality. Our reality.” –USA Today Fifteen years after USA Today lavished this praise on author Joseph Massucci’s debut novel CODE:ALPHA, the threat of bioterrorism is the new reality for millions. Joe’s 1997 technothriller anticipated ways...

Finish Your Novel in 4 Simple Steps

Novelists are the distance runners, the long-haul truckers, the transoceanic captains of the literary world. There is no sprinting through a novel, at least not for the novelist; there are simply too many characters, too many scenes, too many storylines and pages and...

Tips From Writing Legend Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The following is an online-exclusive extended Q&A portion of the interview—and its accompanying timeline—that appears in the January issue of Writer’s Digest. What’s day-to-day life like these days? Are you still involved at City Lights? I’ve more or less...

4 Techniques to Fire Up Your Fiction

Many fiction manuscripts submitted to my literary agency feel lackluster. Much genre fiction feels tired. Many mainstream and literary novels also strike me as stale. Even when well written, too often manuscripts fail to engage and excite me. What is missing when a...

Books

Writing for Story Jon Franklin applys fiction’s classical complication-resolution form to standard nonfiction. Dynamic Characters Award-winning author Nancy Kress explores the crucial relationship between characterization and plot. Stephen King: On Writing...

Features

Story outlines Don’t start writing without one. Deep six! A dangerous covert salvage from the bottom of the sea. Who invented polyester? Del Meyer changed the way we live.

Writing

The fine art of rejection What the heck is a ‘Tweener’!? Romance in thrillers? Is there room for romance in your thriller? Where to dig up stories A good story may be buried in your own back yard.

A Checklist for Developing Your Hero and Heroine

Answer the following questions for each of your main characters. It’s usually most productive to take one character at a time, but if you run into difficulty answering the questions about one, try switching over to the other for a while. As you answer the questions,...