Richard Thomas

Storyville: Stop Pulling on Threads

Advice on how to stop destroying your work-in-progress by pulling on threads.
Karis Rogerson

So You've Won NaNoWriMo — What Next?

After winning your first NaNo, you may be wondering what to do. Here's some advice.

Writing Advice for Non-Writers

So you have to write something. Maybe it's the first thing you've written since high school. Don't worry, it's not that hard. We'll get through it together.
Nick Kolakowski

Revisiting a Work You’ve Already Published: Things to Keep in Mind

Nick Kolakowski's revised trio of novellas, now titled "Love & Bullets", is out from Shotgun Honey this month. He has some advice...
Richard Thomas

Storyville: Evaluating Your Work in Progress—As Author, Editor, and Reader

It's crucial that you can read your writing as the audience, an author, AND an editor.
Jay Wilburn

10 Things Wrong with All My First Drafts

No first draft is perfect. We all have bad habits and bad habits show up a lot. Here are 10 things Jay Wilburn seems to find in all his first drafts.
Lisa Bubert

How To Read Between The Lines of Your Rejections

What are those pesky rejection letters actually telling you?
emmanuelnataf

How to Approach the Second Draft of Your Novel-in-Making

As C.J. Cherryh wrote, “It is perfectly okay to write garbage — as long as you edit brilliantly.” Here are five tips on how to approach the second draft of your novel-in-making.
emmanuelnataf

Revisiting Old Works-in-Progress: 5 Ways to Make the Most Out of It

Just because a story is old doesn’t automatically mean that it’s terrible. Here are five tips on how to make the most of an ancient manuscript that you might have once forgotten in a drawer somewhere.
Joshua Isard

Improve Your Stories By Eliminating Agendas

The agendas with which you approach your story might be holding the narrative back.
Repo Kempt

Tackling the Dreaded Rewrite

Here's five hard questions you need to ask yourself before tackling the dreaded rewrite.
Repo Kempt

10 Easy Ways to Improve Your First Chapter Right Now

Learn how to identify and fix common problems in your opening chapter.
Repo Kempt

10 Easy Edits to Improve Your Manuscript Right Now

A list of ten simple edits that can immediately improve whatever writing you're working on.
Richard Thomas

Storyville: When to Be Conventional, and When to Be Weird

When it comes to writing, your story can be conventional or weird, but it has to be satisfying.
Jon Gingerich

Rejection: A Critical Device

Got a story that keeps getting turned down for publication? Here's how you can use industry rejection as a critical tool to improve your work.
Robbie Blair

Cut!: 4 Strategies for Trimming Your Content

Struggling to make effective cuts? This article walks you through four strategies for trimming, tightening, and focusing your work.
Robbie Blair

8 Signs It's Time to Scrap Your Writing Project

8 warning signs that you may want to throw your latest manuscript under the lawnmower.
Erin Reel

The 3 Most Popular Editorial Services and Do You Need Them?

Writers have more professional support available to them now than ever before. Erin Reel, The Lit Coach, breaks down the 3 most popular editorial services, giving you the benefits, red flags and more.
Richard Thomas

Storyville: The Horror of Editing and Revision

It's been said that the difference between a good writer and a great writer is editing. So let's hop to it.
Stephen Graham Jones

Unrevised

Know your weaknesses as a writer, and then cull them, fix them.
Rob Hart

Path to Publication Part 4: Mea Culpa

Looks like I got a little ahead of myself...