Table of contents for November/December 2020 in Writer's Digest

January 2012. I was losing interest in my scientific career and at the last minute decided to attend the Writer’s Digest Conference in New York. Intimidated by the throng of editors, established authors, and author-wannabes, I ventured into the Pitch Slam room to try my luck at “speed dating for writers.” Nervously pitching one proposal, two hours later I walked out with an agent and a contract for a completely different book. Ensuing years produced two more book contracts. This year I come full circle, writing the book I initially pitched in 2012. Writer’s Digest changed my life. —David J. Kent In 2017 and 2018, one of my short stories was selected as an honorable mention in the WD Popular Fiction Awards. I was going through a difficult time of…

It was post-World War I and the U.S. was in a mood to celebrate her newly found muscle on the world’s battlefields. Everyone boasted, and we all wanted to tell the world “how we did it!” But the telling required words … and printing … and paper. In the fall of 1920, Ed Rosenthal went to New York in search of paper for his Cincinnati-based printing and publishing companies. He found three sources so quickly that he decided (in the extra time he had) to chase a star that had been playing hide and seek with him for years. He wanted to publish a magazine that would take the writer out of the garret and into the marketplace where the demand for his wares had never been greater. He wanted…

POETIC FORM: YA-DU The ya-du is a Burmese poetic form that has a descending rhyme and a variable final line length. These poems usually focus on the seasons and are composed in three or fewer stanzas. Here are the basic rules: • Quintain (or five-line) poem or stanzas• Four syllables in the first four lines• Final line has five, seven, nine, or 11 syllables• Fourth syllable for the first line rhymes with the third syllable of the second line and the second syllable of the third line• Fourth syllable for the third line rhymes with the third syllable of the fourth line and second syllable of the fifth line• Fourth syllable of the fourth line rhymes with the final syllable of the final line Here are a couple of examples…

Too many writers start their stories without any research. Even those who do a little “research” barely scratch the surface, sticking to what they can Google. While the reasons vary, some authors find the word research itself intimidating. Others assume research only applies to scholarly nonfiction works or biographies. But many writers don’t even know where to begin, especially when they’re trying to figure out the direction of their story. This can lead to a lack of focus that grinds the story to a halt. Research can help give you that focus to guide the story, because it opens your eyes to those little details that will immerse readers in your world and propel them from beginning to end. WHY YOU SHOULD RESEARCH Research grounds writing in reality. Every story…

It’s no secret that over the course of 100 years, WD has printed enough writing inspiration and advice to last a lifetime—literally. But much of it is hidden away, relegated to discarded print issues lost to the decades. Here we’ve compiled just a few timeless words of wisdom—some from names you’ll recognize, and some from folks you might need to look up. Regardless, we hope these words from the past speak to you and propel you into your writing future. “The best tip I can give to authors is that they read carefully the magazines for which they propose to write. I do not mean that they should slavishly adapt themselves to the whims of editors. They will not get very far if they do. Fiction, to be effective, must…

My appreciation for the writing of Zadie Smith began January 30, 2007 at Foyles Bookshop on Charing Cross Road. I spotted the most beautiful book cover I’d ever seen, for a book called On Beauty. I bought the book without knowing anything about Smith, saved the receipt as a bookmark, and started reading it on the plane back to the States. With writing as beautiful as the cover, my heart broke for Kiki and I was infuriated with Howard—but more than that, I was astonished at the depth of the characters’ nuances and motivations. Fast forward two years and I stumbled on the writing of Nick Laird in much the same way. Shelving books at Borders Books & Music, the story told through illustrations on the cover of Glover’s Mistake…

If you have a volatile personality with a list of pet peeves you keep adding to daily, this is the assignment for you. An op-ed, a brief first-person argument on a timely topic, can also be the fastest and most furious piece to get into print. It’s especially good for new writers with strong beliefs and day jobs in other fields, since editors want quick commentary about the ever-changing news cycle from experts who can illuminate different angles of stories as they unfold. You don’t need clips or any publishing experience on your résumé to appear on—and get paid by—a top op-ed page. You mainly need an engaging or unusual point of view on a current public conundrum, usually about 600 words. If you’re thinking 6,000 words, you’re in the…

Events to advance your craft, connections, and career. The reality of the time we’re living in has caused most in-person events to be sidelined until it’s safe for us to again gather in groups. Because the risks of travel and physical interaction are high, event postponements and cancellations have become the new norm—with virtual formats becoming the go-to solution. For the safety of attendees, speakers, and staff, writing workshops and conferences are rapidly converting at least part of their planned content to what they hope will be a uniquely immersive and engaging digital experience, many wiTheither reduced or free registration. Depending upon event scale, some have opted for a hybrid meeting, comprised of socially distanced in-person programming as well as virtual, while others have decided to go completely online. This…

It’s hard to overstate just how much Writer’s Digest has survived to make it to its centennial. The Great Depression. World War II. The many wars and societal revolutions of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. The recession of the ’80s. The technological revolution and the creation of the internet. The shift from being a family-owned business to a corporation with investors. The Great Recession. Bankruptcy and changes in corporate ownership. And most recently, a global pandemic. It is because WD survived all that, that I view this anniversary issue as a love letter to every single person who has contributed to keeping WD alive over these amazing, and tough, and changefilled 100 years. Thank you to the Rosenthal family for the vision of starting a magazine—a community—like this. To the…

Every writer knows the buzz of an idea coming to life, a story beginning to unfold like one of those Japanese paper flowers in a bowl of water. Sometimes the feeling happens at the most inconvenient time, when driving or in the shower—with no pen or paper in sight. If not written down, it may be lost forever, like a dream—which feels so real in the moments after waking up that forgetting seems impossible. And yet, minutes later The transmittal (or translation) of an emotional experience into language is as old as human culture. Of course, we’ve only had writing for a few thousand years. Before then, the ancient storytellers of the world, from Greece to Mesopotamia to West Africa, conceived their epic poems orally, to be shared on special…

Nora Roberts began writing category romance in 1979 when a blizzard forced her to remain housebound. Since then, Roberts, who also writes under the alias J.D. Robb, has published more than 225 novels. Her first book in a new trilogy, The Awakening, releases November 24 from Little, Brown. We’re revisiting her 2001 WD profile, in which Roberts revealed that telling the story is the most important element when she begins a new novel. “You can’t sit there and think, ‘I want to sell x number of copies’—you haven’t even written the story yet!” she says. “It’s like closing the lid on the box. The story’s in the box with you, and that’s all there is.” In 1986, she became the first author inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall…

Patrice Caldwell is making the best kind of waves in publishing. A Publishers Weekly Star Watch honoree in 2018, and one of Bustle’s eight women “who are transforming the book industry—and, in the process, changing the world” in its inaugural “Lit List,” Caldwell is also the founder and president of People of Color in Publishing (POCInPublishing.com), “a grassroots organization dedicated to supporting, empowering, and uplifting racially and ethnically marginalized members throughout the [book publishing] industry.” Born and raised in Texas, Caldwell is a graduate of Wellesley College. Prior to becoming a literary agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency in June 2019, she was a children’s book editor. She joined New Leaf Literary in September 2020. In addition, Caldwell also writes, and has edited two anthologies, the first of which, A…

How does he do it? To read Erik Larson is to let the past wash over you like a wave. History, from the micro to the macro, thrums with life: You can smell Chicago’s gaslights as the 19th century barrels to a close; you can taste the salt in the air as the Great Storm of 1900 intensifies and fixes its gaze on Texas; you can hear Winston Churchill gnawing away at his omnipresent cigar, a dark column of smoke rising toward the German bombers that roar in the skies above. In Larson’s narrative nonfiction, black and white gives way to Technicolor. In fact, the writing is so vivid that in all of his books, the author includes a note in his foreword similar to this one from his latest…

Dear FYSA, Once again, we are entering NaNoWriMo and I am determined to get a first draft down in November. What is one good tip you would offer before I start? Signed,Draft Determined Dear DD, In the spring of 2019, Husband and I had all of the carbohydrates ever … wait, I think a herd of carbohydrates is called a noodle. OK, so in the spring of 2019 Husband and I had a noodle of carbohydrates. As summer was approaching, we decided to have a little friendly wager on who could lose the greater percentage of weight in six weeks. During those weeks, I realized that he and I run on two different but tangential fuels when pursuing a goal: discipline versus motivation. (Some might argue you can’t have one…

100 YEARS OF WRITER’S DIGEST TRIVIA 1. A note to the editor in the first issue of Writer’s Digest (then known as Successful Writing) included a letter from which famous American author? A. William Faulkner B. Edith Wharton C. F. Scott Fitzgerald D. Ernest Hemingway 2. TRUE OR FALSE: Dashiell Hammett once wrote an article for WD called “In Defence of the Sex Story.” 3. WD published which Nobel Prize-winner’s acceptance speech in its entirety? A. Pearl S. Buck B. Sinclair Lewis C. T.S. Eliot D. George Bernard Shaw 4. In May 1933, Upton Sinclair wrote an essay for WD on the topic “Nearest to My Heart.” What was that topic? A. Oil B. Environmentalism C. The economy D. Social justice 5. In April 1954, WD published part of which…

CHRISTOPHER STOLLAR (ChristopherStollar.com) is an award-winning author, accredited public relations professional, and former reporter with a master’s degree in journalism who works full-time in marketing at Nationwide. Stollar’s debut novel, The Black Lens, won Grand Prize in the 2016 Writer’s Digest Self-Published E-Book Awards. It also became a finalist in the Indie Book Awards and a semifinalist in the Book Pipeline Competition. His new novel, Real Girl, placed as a Top 25 Finalist in the 2020 Launch Pad Manuscript Competition and is currently being pitched to publishers by senior agent Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary. ZACHARY PETIT (ZacharyPetit.com) is an award-winning freelance journalist and copywriter, the editor of PRINT magazine, and a lifelong literary and design nerd. He is the author of the books The Essential Guide to Freelance…

When my sister’s friend lent me her copy of Writer’s Digest magazine, I studied it as though trying to pass the bar. I’d been writing for years and craved to be published. It was the summer of ’66, and I was 14 and clueless. In the boonies where I lived, craft-books stayed on reference shelves and writing courses were beyond my reach. But at the public library, I read the latest issues of Writer’s Digest, taking notes on markets and articles, especially on how to break into print. WD explained submission etiquette—not a single poem jotted the night before on loose-leaf paper then arrowed to The New Yorker, a magazine I’d never even seen. Now a fledgling professional, I subbed three to five typed poems, enclosing a self-addressed stamped envelope.…

A good deal is made of the metaphoric jump from craft - ing short stories to layering a novel: You are, depending on who you’re talking to, embarking on an entirely different journey. You’ll hear that the rhythm is different. Or that the energy required should be more (or less) dynamic. You get the comparison between a sprint and a long-distance haul, hearing that one form is apples while the other’s a box of peaches; and regardless of your experience navigating shorter forms, for better or worse, their longer cousins are regarded as the pinnacle, meant to push your understanding of story to its brink. So it’s hardly exciting to declare that, for me, the work of it wasn’t terribly different. Or rather, that the work felt like work nonetheless.…

Eddy Boudel Tan After Elias (Mainstream fiction, October, Dundurn) “When the airplane piloted by Elias crashes one week before their wedding day, Coen loses the man he loves and the illusion of happiness he has worked so hard to create.” WRITES FROM: Vancouver. PRE-ELIAS: Apart from my career as a communications strategist, I was running a community initiative that serves home-cooked meals to the homeless. I shared the stories of the people I met in a series of articles uncovering the causes and consequences of homelessness. Though After Elias doesn’t center on this experience, it includes themes of class and wealth inequality. TIME FRAME: The concept of putting someone through the worst personal crisis I could imagine and exploring how it alters his perception of the past, his loved ones, and…

Celeste Ng subscribed to Writer’s Digest when she was 12 or 13 years old. “For someone that was growing up in the suburbs, a teenage girl, it was this whole window into this world that I had never seen before,” she says. “It was so fantastic to go, Oh, there are people who also care about this. And they’re out there. And they’re writing about it, and they’re talking about it, and I can have this window into their lives, too.” Fitting, then, that almost three decades later and with two New York Times bestsellers under her belt, the 40-year-old novelist is now on the cover of WD’s 100th Anniversary Edition. For a century, this magazine has sought to provide community to scribes of every stripe, to nurture and empower…

Children’s/Young Adult Fiction 1. Wombat Wings by MJ Belko2. A Dragon Tea Party by Jeremiah Shaw3. Never Ask for a Cool Name and Other United Mistakes of America by Refrigerator Ng by Ginger Sinsabaugh4. Crayons Versus Markers by Christine Van Zandt5. The Incredible Man-Eating Marshmallow by Rocky Leplin6. Fallback Girls by Molly Karr7. The Inventor by Harper Lee8. The Lucky Ones by DM Reynolds9. Crow and Scarecrow by Caren Cantrell10. Hey Siri, I Got a Feeling We’re Not in Kansas Anymore by Jennifer W. Bull JUDGE: Ryan Ireland, PhD, is the author of two novels, Beyond the Horizon and Ghosts of the Desert. He has also published scholarly, popular, and creative nonfiction. Progress on his current project, a nonfiction book on VW Bus ownership, can be found on Instagram: @OnTheRoadWithAdie.…

Out of more than 160 entries, Writer’s Digest editors and readers chose this winner, submitted by Micki Morency of Hudson, Fla. Six feet. How can anything grow from being buried so deep into the earth? And how can I get my heart back? These thoughts crowd my head as shovelfuls of dirt clobber the top of the white casket. I squeeze the wilted flowers until cramps make me relax my fingers and they scatter at my feet on the ground. I stare at the mound in front of me as if my eyes can tunnel through and see his smile. The one he gave me yesterday as he ran into the fields, plucking yellow wildflowers to make me a bouquet. Yesterday. Before the roosters crowed, I turned on my back…

When I first started work in nonfiction book publishing, one thing surprised me more than anything else: What goes into choosing a nonfiction book title. I was (and still am) a more avid reader of fiction than nonfiction so my internalized knowledge was that book titles were aesthetically pleasing allusions to the story that would be made clear by reading the book. I quickly discovered this is not true of nonfiction. Many authors I worked with on their nonfiction books were equally surprised that we, the publisher, didn’t automatically defer to their title of choice because they too, preferred a beautiful instead of functional title. That was a hard conversation every time it happened. But nine times out of 10, those same authors were pleasantly surprised by the resulting sales…