Craft Advice

Two Ways To Tell the Same Truth: Navigating the Boundary Between Fact and Fiction

Binnie Kirshenbaum: “To write fiction takes patience and fortitude to fend off the assumptions that our novels are memoirs.”

 
By Binnie Kirshenbaum  March 25, 2025
craft advice

The Power of Absence: How Loss Can Help Fuel a Creative Life

By Sanam Mahloudji  March 25, 2025
The Writing Life

The First Step in the Writing Process: Be Kind to Yourself

By Marcy Dermansky  March 19, 2025
Book Research

Fictionalizing the Disenfranchisement and Desperation of the Vietnam War Generation

By Nicole Cuffy  March 18, 2025
craft advice

How Interviewing Celebrities Helped Me Write My Debut Novel

By Josh Duboff  March 18, 2025
Time Travel

Playing With Paradoxes: Utilizing Time Travel as a Part of Plot and Process

By Catriona Silvey  March 12, 2025
craft advice

Write Like a Girl: On Learning to Break Free of Literary Gendered Expectations

By Sanjena Sathian  March 11, 2025
Retellings

Non-Canon Compliant: In Praise of Classic Lit Fan Fiction

By Allison Epstein  February 25, 2025
craft advice

Want to Write Better Fiction? Break Seven Ribs

By Jane Pek  February 24, 2025
Storytelling

Novelists, Trust Me: You Can Really Learn a Lot About Storytelling From Video Games Like Elden Ring

By Nick Newman  February 19, 2025
Fathers and Daughters

What My Father’s Emails Taught Me About the Craft of Writing

By Emily J. Smith  February 19, 2025
Experimental Fiction

Beautiful and Innovative: In Praise of Artistic Experimentation in Literature

By Sam Mills  February 14, 2025
craft advice

From Community Organizer to Novelist: Alejandro Heredia Finds a Balance Between Art and Activism

By Alejandro Heredia  February 12, 2025
The Writing Life

Jack Torrance and Me: On Writing and Self-Loathing in The Shining

By Maggie Su  January 27, 2025
craft advice

The Shape of a Story: On Losing (and Finding) the Plot of Your Novel

By Emma Knight  January 23, 2025
Recovery

“When I Quit Drinking I Quit Writing.” Matthew Nienow on Stumbling Back Into Poetic Vulnerability

By Matthew Nienow  January 22, 2025
Representation

In Defense of the Messy Queers: Why “Good” Representation Isn”t Enough

By Edward Underhill  January 14, 2025
Ghosts!

Seeing Life Through the Eyes of the Dead: A Short Handbook for Writing Ghosts

By Muriel Leung  December 5, 2024
Surrealism

The Craft of Surrealism: On Accessing the Unconscious in Our Fiction

By Anita Felicelli  December 4, 2024
Acting

Method Writing: What Novelists Can Learn From Actors About Self-Expression

By Eliza Moss  December 4, 2024
Girlhood

Portal to a Forgotten Land: Finding Your Character’s Voice In Old Diaries

By Tyler Wetherall  October 23, 2024
craft advice

No Human Is An Island: On Fiction As a Way of Connecting Across Difference

By John Larison  October 16, 2024
The Writing Life

On the Environmental and Philosophical Factors Behind Literary Creation

By Steve Wasserman  October 7, 2024
craft advice

Inspiration in the Cards: How Tarot Can Help Us Narrativize Our Lives

By Chelsey Pippin Mizzi  October 4, 2024
craft advice

What Romance Writing Shares With Sports Journalism

By Jamie Harrow  September 27, 2024
craft advice

What Fiction Writers Can Learn from Dungeons & Dragons

By Jedediah Berry  September 26, 2024
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