Retelling Stories: A Useful Addition To Your Toolbox
Whether it’s for training, improving, or relating, retelling stories can prove a useful addition to every writer’s toolbox.
Toni Fitzgerald
Toni Fitzgerald is the copy editor at The Writer and a freelance writer/editor for hire. You can find her on Twitter at @tonifitz76.
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Consistency across your YA series
The key to writing a great YA series (or MG series) is knowing your characters and plotlines inside and out – while giving yourself the flexibility to modify things when needed. Here are four things to live by when writing a series, based on tips from middle grade and young adult authors who have been there.
Authors’ Book Picks
Top book picks from authors featured in our December 2022 issue.
What Books About Publishing Get Right. And What Books About Publishing Get Wrong.
The lack of diversity is on the mark. The author as all-powerful being is way off.
The state of YA in 2022
A dozen young adult authors weigh in on the 10 biggest trends they see in their genre.
What to do when your writing goes viral
A guide to sorting through agent offers, getting your book proposal just right, and making sure you still have more to say after a million (or more) people read your article.
Your 10 biggest grammar woes, solved
A guide to commas, clauses, commonly mixed-up words, and more, with can’t-fail tricks to keep your writing clean.
How COVID-19 will affect the publishing industry
The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted how writers write, what editors want to publish, and how books are sold.
What does the future look like for literary magazines?
Subscriptions are down. Submissions are up. What do modern journals need to do to survive?
Five things literary journal editors want you to know (plus their best tips for submitting)
Add to Favorites Five things literary magazine editors want writers to know Many of them are volunteers. “I don’t think folks realize that a lot … Read More “Five things literary journal editors want you to know (plus their best tips for submitting)”
Jandy Nelson: Painting outside the lines
Think YA can’t be literary? Meet Jandy Nelson – and watch her lyrical language bring fully formed protagonists to life
9 manuscript mistakes only first-timers make (and how to fix them)
Add to FavoritesThe first self-published book I edited was written by a longtime newspaper reporter. Seasoned and self-confident, he decided to set sources aside and … Read More “9 manuscript mistakes only first-timers make (and how to fix them)”
#RutBusterBook: Running down a dream? More like walking
Remounting the horse after you get bucked for a month (which may be a good thing).
Ross Gay: Finding joy in the process
The writer spins essays and poems by observing the world around him and questioning his relationship to it. He is delighted by what he sees.
#RutBusterBook: Getting to know you
Building characters is a critical – and, I’m learning, quite difficult – part of writing a book.
#RutBusterBook: What’s your book about?
I thought the answer was pretty obvious, until I heard the question in a different way.
#RutBusterBook: Putting words to paper
Gulp. I’ve got a first draft.
#RutBusterBook: My 2019 new year’s resolution
Add to Favorites In 2019, I hope to become a cliché. My new year’s resolution, like so many writers before me, is to write … Read More “#RutBusterBook: My 2019 new year’s resolution”