Kate Moretti We’ve all seen the examples: Wizard School, Dinosaur Park, Titanic. Don’t shudder everyone, high concept is back. Whether it was ever “out” is somewhat debatable. We see it on agent’s manuscript wish lists, in rejection letters, in publisher submission pages. Everyone seems to want a compelling pitch, to heck with characters and world-building […]

Piper Bayard of Bayard & Holmes No one wants to read about a fictional nice day. Great fiction is about one thing, and one thing only . . . problems. And lots of them. Problems keep the pages turning, and the heart of a problem is conflict. Without conflict, there is no plot, which is […]

James Preston In Back to the Future, Marty McFly's mother's kid brother asks "What's a re-run?" Marty replies, "You'll find out." Pop quiz: What was on TV when Marty said that? I am old enough to remember that if I missed an episode of "77 Sunset Strip" (BTW if in your mind you heard the […]

Chuck Sambuchino [To celebrate the September 2015 release of his two books, the updated 2016 Guide to Literary Agents and his new life-saving humor book When Clowns Attack: A Survival Guide, Chuck is giving away a free copy of both to random commenters (US or Canada addresses only). Comment below by September 30, 2015 for […]

 Susan Spann Anthologies offer a great opportunity for writers to publish their works and find new readers. Some anthologies feature works by authors from a specific group - for example, Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of America, writers’ conferences, and local and regional writers’ groups. Other anthologies offer open (or limited) submissions for stories in specific genres […]