Don't you just love it when a line in a book so good, that you just have to stop reading to appreciate it for a few minutes? Me too.  I think that's part of the reason I began writing - to, just once - write one of those sentences.  You can find them scattered throughout […]

Angela Ackerman Taking the time to choose the right setting for each scene is one of the best ways to ensure our writing has impact. Why? Because the setting touches everything. It can characterize the story’s cast, evoke mood, generate conflict, shape the plot, and even use symbols and emotional triggers to show readers what […]

Janice Hardy When I was first learning how to write a novel, I read tons of how-to books and tried every piece of writing advice I came across. Some of it helped, some of it didn't, and some of it did more harm than good. Luckily, I survived the experience and maintained not only my […]

What do your characters do when faced with adversity or an imminent threat? How do they recover from one of life's knock-out punches? Conflict powers our stories and our character's personal growth arcs, so we throw a lot at our beloved protagonists. How they "catch" what we toss at them defines not only their essential […]

7 years ago, we posted our first blog. We could have never imagined where WITS would be today. We just heard, in fact, we made the Writers Digest Top 101 Blogs for Writers again this year (pause for squee) and that's thanks to you, our faithful readers. So today, YOU get the present - but before […]