How Do You Know What Backstory to Include?
Jane Friedman
by Tiffany Yates Martin
15h ago
Photo by Eepeng Cheong on Unsplash Today’s post is by editor Tiffany Yates Martin (@FoxPrintEd). Join her for the three-part online class Mastering Backstory for Novelists beginning on April 10. Backstory tends to fall into two main categories. The first and most ubiquitous kind pervades the story with subtle brushstrokes, filling in texture and depth and color on its characters and world. It is infused throughout almost every line of well-developed story like oxygen—you may never notice it, but it’s essential. The second paves in elements of character or plot background that pl ..read more
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Using Beat Sheets to Slant Your Memoir’s Scenes
Jane Friedman
by Lisa Cooper Ellison
1d ago
Today’s post is by writer and editor Lisa Cooper Ellison. Join her on Wednesday, April 3, for the online class Craft Your Memoir’s Beat Sheet. Most memoirs involve some kind of loss—a breakup, a displacement, a dismantled dream, the death of someone dearly loved. The more painful the event, the more you’ll want to write about it. But as you revise, you’ll discover that some (or many) of your scenes aren’t needed. To figure out what’s important, and how to write about it, you need to identify your memoir’s beats. Beats are part of the Beat Sheet tool Blake Snyder created for his book  ..read more
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Pay Attention to the Obsessive Workings of Your Mind
Jane Friedman
by Lynn Schmeidler
2d ago
Photo by Ian Noble on Unsplash Today’s post is by author and editor Lynn Schmeidler (@lynnschmeidler). On New Year’s Day, during my senior year of college, a gruesome double murder took place in my hometown. The couple stabbed to death in their sleep lived across the street from my aunt and uncle, around the corner from my childhood best friend, doors down from where another old friend grew up. Like everyone else in the town, I was shocked and frightened by the news. Although fingerprints were left all over the house, no match for them was found. Time passed but the case remained unsolved. The ..read more
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Writing the Other: 4 Not So Easy (But Doable!) Steps
Jane Friedman
by Samantha Cameron
1w ago
Photo by Agence Olloweb on Unsplash Today’s post is by author and book coach Samantha Cameron. Most writers know the importance of portraying underrepresented characters in their work but are anxious when it comes to writing about an identity other than their own. There’s pressure to get it right, and so many ways it can go wrong. If you feel uncertain in any way about representing an underrepresented community in your work, I want you to pause, take a breath, and embrace this anxiety. Wait, you might be thinking, aren’t you supposed to be giving me a pep talk about how this is going ..read more
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How and Where to Build Your Literary Community
Jane Friedman
by Star Wuerdemann
2w ago
Photo by Andraz Lazic on Unsplash Today’s post is by writer Star Wuerdemann. In 2015, I attended a writing retreat with Natalie Goldberg and had a terrible revelation. As I sat in a room among 75 people diligently scribbling in notebooks, I realized: I had no writer friends. Now, nine years later, I have a solid writing community that continues to grow and support me. Along the way, I had the opportunity to ask Jane Friedman the most important step to take as an early writer. She said, “Build your website.” Then she laughed and admitted that was the pragmatic side; the other most imp ..read more
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Going After the Widest Audience Possible: Q&A with Award-Winning Author Jami Fairleigh
Jane Friedman
by Jane Friedman
2w ago
For years now, the Indie Author Project has made an effort to find the best self-published books in communities across the U.S. and Canada. The project encompasses public libraries, authors, curators, and readers working together to connect library patrons with great self-published work, primarily in fiction. The Indie Author Project recently named their 2023 national contest winner, Jami Fairleigh, of the King County library system in Washington state. Fairleigh is a biracial, Japanese-American writer, urban planner, and hobby collector from Washington. Her writing has been published by Terr ..read more
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The Case for Pursuing a Traditional Publishing Deal Without an Agent
Jane Friedman
by Amy L. Bernstein
2w ago
Today’s post is by author Amy L. Bernstein. Securing the services of a literary agent has long been the gold standard for authors pursuing a long and successful career in publishing. It’s easy to understand why. At the turn of the twentieth century, the so-called “author’s representative” emerged as the figure who would help authors cut a better deal with publishers. Most publishers were unhappy about this since agents who skillfully leveraged their clients’ hot properties forced publishers to shell out more money on better terms. By mid-century, the agenting game was well established. L ..read more
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3 Elements That Make Historical Romance Successful
Jane Friedman
by Susanne Dunlap
2w ago
Today’s post is by author and book coach Susanne Dunlap. Saying that romance is a genre the literati love to hate is a hackneyed truism. The preponderance of tropes, if they’re not well handled, can give romance a predictable or formulaic feel. Why, then, are they so enduringly popular? Why do they continue to outsell so many other genres, when the story’s outcome in all cases is a given? I have come late in life to this popular genre. Yet what began as curiosity is fast developing into an obsession. In the past few months, I have read or listened to approximately fifteen different histo ..read more
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Emotional Intimacy Between Characters Isn’t Just for Romance Novels
Jane Friedman
by Trisha Jenn Loehr
3w ago
Photo by Viktor Talashuk on Unsplash Today’s post is by romance author and book coach Trisha Jenn Loehr (@trishajennreads). When writers think of writing intimate scenes, our minds often go straight to the bedroom—to romantic or sexual intimacy. But that puts an unnecessary constraint on what intimacy is when intimacy can be physical or emotional, platonic or romantic. At its simplest, intimacy in a relationship is the state of closeness or deep familiarity. Regardless of what their relationship is, emotional intimacy between characters often begins long before they get physically in ..read more
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Workshopper Beware: Navigating the Risky Waters of Writing Classes and Retreats
Jane Friedman
by Andromeda Romano-Lax
3w ago
Today’s post is by author and book coach Andromeda Romano-Lax (@romanolax). Several years ago, I attended a writing workshop held in a beautiful locale, with sumptuous food and dreamy scenery. Only the teaching was bad. And not just bad. It was the most disorganized and downright toxic event I’d experienced in twenty-plus years. Before attending this event, I thought I’d seen it all: middle-aged writers leaving in tears after being told they should give up on their projects; women being taken to task for their parenting, marriages, or some other personal choice or foible; racist micro-aggress ..read more
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