It might seem like nonfiction writers get off easy when it comes to developing characters: We don’t have to create them from whole cloth, inventing layers of backstory and idiosyncrasy—the people we’re writing about already exist! But the work of translating a real person into a character on the page has its own messy, fraught challenges. There are the craft challenges of capturing the unknowable totality of a person (impossible) and the interpersonal challenges of facing people’s reactions to how you’ve described them (terrifying). Not to mention the exceedingly strange experience of turning ..read more

As an illustrator, I have covered subjects ranging from global conflicts to looking for exoplanets in the universe. In writing and illustrating Five Stories, I looked much closer to home and explored my family history and the neighborhood I have lived in most of my life. (Turning a Bedtime Routine Into a Picture Book.) A while ago, I taught an illustration workshop in Russia. On the flight home, I tried to imagine my grandparents and great-grandparents crossing the Atlantic by boat from Russia to Ellis Island. While searching for a movie to entertain myself, I ruminated that I may have more in ..read more

Kim Sherwood is a novelist and a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. Her award-winning debut novel Testament was released in 2018, and in 2019, Kim was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Her latest novel, A Wild & True Relation, was described by Dame Hilary Mantel as “a rarity – a novel as remarkable for the vigour of the storytelling as for its literary ambition. Kim Sherwood is a writer of capacity, potency and sophistication.” Double or Nothing is the first in an acclaimed series of Double O novels expanding the world of James Bond ..read more

For today's prompt, write a homonym poem. A homonym is either (or both) a homograph (word spelled the same with different meanings and possibly different pronunciations) or a homophone (word that is pronounced the same but has different spellings). Here are some examples of homophones and homographs to get you started: 20 Homophones Examples for Writers. 30 Homographs Examples for Writers. Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them. Note on commenting: If you wish to comment on the site, go to Disqus to create a free new acco ..read more

To be a writer, all you really have to do is write. But if you want to grow your audience, connect with readers, and sell more books, the best tool available right now is a newsletter. (Should Writers Use Social Media?) When I started writing my newsletter, in March 2021, I had a pretty straightforward idea: I’d share a poetry prompt each day for April, and anyone who wanted to join us could write along. For years I’d celebrated National Poetry Month by trading prompts with friends and writing a poem a day (or trying my hardest to), and I thought I could share that celebration with a wider gro ..read more

As we met to discuss her winning novel, Claire Fraise said something that resonated with every part of her writing and publishing journey: “I just try to keep a curious mindset and to explore and to keep doing something to move myself in the direction where I want to be going. Even when it can feel challenging.” After falling in love with dystopian YA fiction while reading series like The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner, she asked herself, “Why can’t I try writing one of my own?” For two years, she did nothing but think about her characters and write. Then she self-published that novel, titl ..read more

Alicia D. Williams is the author of Genesis Begins Again, which received Newbery and Kirkus Prize honors, was a William C. Morris Award finalist, and for which she won the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent; and picture books Jump at the Sun and The Talk, which was also a Coretta Scott King Honor book. An oral storyteller in the African American tradition, she lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram. Alicia D. Williams In this interview, Alicia discusses how a NaNoWriMo challenge in the early months of the pandemic led to her new middle-grad ..read more

Congratulations to the winners of the 11th Annual Self-Published E-book Awards! [WD uses affiliate links.] Grand Prize The Cruel Dark by Bea Northwick, NorthwickBooks.com Contemporary Fiction First Place Secret of the Hindu Kush by Anthony Stone, AnthonyStone-Author.com Honorable Mentions Jaguar Spirit by Zoe Hauser, ZoeHauser.com Pheidippides Didn't Die by Autumn Konopka, AutumnKonopka.com The Playgroup by Jami Worthington The Way It's Supposed to Be by April Garner, AprilGarner.com Fantasy First Place Children of Cain by S. L. Myers Honorable Mentions Find Them by Julia Ash, Jul ..read more

Well, we've only got a week of April remaining, so let's poem the heck out of the rest of this month. For today's prompt, write a maximum poem. Some people may recall that we wrote a minimum poem back on day 6; this takes that concept and brings it back the other way. In fact, one possible way into today's poem would be to see what you did on day 6 and turn it on its head. Or go somewhere completely new. Whatever you do, take it to the max. Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them. Note on commenting: If you wish to comment o ..read more

With the decline of traditional news media and the rapid rise of independent online reporting, journalism—as an industry and an institution—faces a huge crisis of confidence. (5 Different Forms of Journalism.) Technological advances and digitalization have drastically changed the way news content is created, disseminated, and consumed. Anyone with internet access can now reach a worldwide audience in seconds and receive immediate feedback. As a result, we’re seeing a proliferation of online independent and citizen journalists, and many consistently outperform their legacy media counterparts in ..read more