Happy Birthday To Georgette Heyer, the Salty Godmother of Regency Romance
In:
Setting
Heyer said of her own writing in the 1940s, “I think to myself I ought to be shot for writing such nonsense," but her self-deprecation undermined her wit and substantial body of bestselling work.
Dear Charles Bukowski
In:
Poetry
An open letter to Charles Bukowski on his birthday.
Big Bugs and Dead Astronauts: The Joys of a Non-Human Narrator
In:
Narrator
Fresh ideas can be learned from books told from a different perspective.
How to Write Authentic Fiction
In:
Abstracts
How to write authentic fiction that resonates with other people.
Freelance Copywriting Nearly Killed My Voice as A Writer
In:
Voice
What you write matters. Getting paid is not enough.
Storyville: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Scene Breaks
In:
Structure
Some tips on inserting scene breaks into your short stories.
Storyville: Story Dissection — "In His House"
In:
POV
Richard dissects his epistolary horror story, "In His House."
Storyville: Evaluating Your Work in Progress—As Author, Editor, and Reader
In:
Rewriting
It's crucial that you can read your writing as the audience, an author, AND an editor.
Alan Wake: A Look Back At Video Gaming's Best Writer Character
By Peter Derk
In:
Character
Ghosts I ain't afraid of, ghosts I AM afraid of, evaluating the handsomeness of Stephen King, ludonarrative dissonance, and everything else Alan Wake.
Telling the Story of a Pandemic and the Future of Now
In:
Setting
How do you write about the ‘now’ in a time of ongoing global crisis?
10 Books For the Flight to Mars
In:
Theme
Space exploration has been a popular topic in recent publishing, with a growing number of voices writing on the subject. Here are 10 books to keep you company for the (very) long flight.
Storyville: Reasons Authors Don't Submit Their Work—And My Responses
In:
Research
The top reasons authors don't submit their work, and my responses.
The Horror Punchline
In:
Structure
How to structure horror fiction with a standup comedian's POV.
Storyville: What Do You Have the Authority to Write?
Experience vs. research: What stories are yours to tell?Who Owns The Story?
By Peter Derk
In:
Character
What gives you the right to tell someone else's story?
The Sound of Absence: Utilizing White Space in Poetry
This essay explores how white space can be used in poetry as a literary device that thrives on the power of absence.Why Every Author Should Write Haiku
By Jay Wilburn
There are important things prose authors can learn by experimenting with haiku. It is an easy artform to take up, but difficult to master.
The Importance of the Character Interview
By Cina Pelayo
The more that you know about your characters, the more confidently you can write about them.
Lessons I Learned Ghostwriting Romance (as a Non-Romance Writer)
By Jay Wilburn
After ghostwriting many romance novels, Jay Wilburn learned some lessons that helped with writing stories in other genres.
Curious not Confused
By Joshua Isard
Finding the right amount of information to include in a story can be a difficult task for any writer.
10 Things Wrong with All My First Drafts
By Jay Wilburn
In:
Rewriting
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.
Storyville: Writing Horror in a Post-Covid World
How do you write dark fiction in a post-Covid world? Be a phoenix, rising from the ashes.What I Learned From Writing "A Return to Spring"
By Gabriel Hart
In:
Research
Think about all the stories that fall under radar, which sculpted your town into the place it is today.
Science Versus Faith in Fiction
By Peter Derk
Is science an overused tool in writing? What do you stand to gain by adding faith to your fiction?
Nothing New Under the Mistletoe - 40 Versions of "A Christmas Carol" You Should Check Out
In:
Theme
I love "A Christmas Carol", and I thought I'd seen every version out there—I was wrong.