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SH#T MY EDITOR SAYS: A Tribute to “Pitbull Pete” Wolverton, Recipient of the 2025 Ellery Queen Award
“Just get it down on paper and then we'll see what to do with it.” --Maxwell Perkins Behind every successful writer is a very tired editor. I say this with great respect and admiration for writers and editors, having served as both for more than twenty-five years. In...
“X meets Y” 101
This post originally appeared at Career Authors.
What the Best First Lines Do
This post originally appeared at Career Authors
A Modern Retelling of… Writing fresh takes on public-domain classics
It’s that time of year again, when a number of classic novels, plays, poems, songs, films, and other works of art come into the public domain. This constitutes a veritable gold mine for writers. All kinds of modern retellings find their audience, from Percival...
4 Ways to Write More in 2025
This infographic originally appeared at Career Authors.
The Spaghetti Plot Device: A Sticky Approach to Plotting Your Story
Plot matters. The days when you could sell a slice-of-life novel in which very little actually happens are over, for the most part. As an agent, former acquisitions editor, and mystery author, I’ve learned this the hard way, in the trenches, so to speak. No matter...
How to Write Your Way to The End of Your Novel
Text Description: How to Write Your Way to the End of Your Novel Write every day. Write at the same time every day. End your writing when you're on a roll. Give yourself a reward every 5-10k words. Got stuck? Take a little writing vacation. This post originally...
Infographic: What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up as a Writer?
Text Description: Title: Who Do You Want to be When You Grow Up as a Writer? Identify those authors whom you most admire in your genre and your subgenre. Study their work and figure out what sets their work apart from their peers. How did they break out? What was...
Going Out on a Sub: An Agent’s Bag of Submission Tips & Tricks
It's back to school--and back to submissions. As we enter one of the prime seasons in which to submit stories to publishers, let's take a look at a baker's dozen of pointers that may help you when you go out "on sub." Base your story on a high-concept idea. The...
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