Jami Gold Writing is often about finding a balance. Too much left in subtext can lead to confusion. Too much explanation can feel like an info dump or be too "on the nose." Etc., etc. With our characters, if we want our protagonists to seem heroic, they need to have strong traits. Yet at the same time, if […]

by Susan Spann “Mentor” was the tutor Odysseus placed in charge of his son, Telemachus, before departing on his now-famous odyssey across a mythological version of ancient Greece. Since Homer’s day, the word has come to mean an advisor who comes alongside a less-experienced person to offer help, education, and guidance. Mentorships exist in almost […]

by Jessica Strawser I’ve had a lot of babies in the past few years. Two of them are novels (one out on submission with my agent, the other in late revision stages). Dozens of them are magazines I’ve put my heart into at my day job as editor of Writer’s Digest. And two of them […]

by Maggie Marr This October will be the 10th anniversary of the sale of my first two books to Random House. At the time my books sold, I was still working as a subsidiary rights and motion picture agent at ICM and I was unaware of just how hazardous the career of writer could be […]

Sierra Godfrey Recently, I saw a question raised about promotional items for authors: “How on earth do I go about getting them done?” The question was raised over on the highly popular new Facebook group for the Womens’ Fiction Writers Association (WFWA), and there were a lot of great answers. Now, full disclosure: I am […]