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Once you’ve completed an outline, it’s time to put it to use and get to work on your first manuscript draft. Chances are, you'll face a lot of questions. Let us help you answer them. Read more

Using “into” and “in to” interchangeably is a very common grammar faux pas—heck, my sister commits this grandiose error in e-mails at least twice a day and, despite my attempts to sick the grammar police on her, she continues to write recklessly. But if you understand their individual definitions, it’s easy to pick the right word to convey your true meaning and avoid the grammar police altogether. Read more

Here, some of the most successful writers in recent (and not-so-recent) memory share their take on everything from how they get ideas (or go find them), to the best way to start a manuscript (or why the only important thing is that you start at all), to their most methodical writing habits (and quirkiest rituals), to writing with the readers in mind (or ignoring them entirely). Read more

You interviewed your sources for an article, wrote it up and turned it in. Done? Not yet. Often you need to provide backup info for the publication’s fact checkers, and requirements for doing so vary. With that in mind, here’s a checklist to keep even the toughest fact checkers happy—and to pave the way for that second assignment. Read more

Elements of Fiction Writing: Conflict & Suspense by James Scott Bell Writer’s Digest Books, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-1-59963-273-5 ISBN-10: 1-59963-273-X $16.99 paperback, 256 pages Buy the Book! Read an Excerpt! Learn surefire techniques … Read more

Whether or not you’re already an expert on your topic, it’s vital that you do all the necessary work to get accurate information. Here's how to guarantee you do that. Read more

If you find yourself having a difficult time sustaining one tone over a long work, try these three tricks. Read more

Excerpt from The Writer’s Workout by Christina Katz CULTIVATE CLARITY When you write something needlessly prolix and convoluted, there’s a reason for it, and that reason is usually a lack of clarity … Read more

The Writer’s Workout: 366 Tips, Tasks, & Techniques from Your Writing Career Coach by Christina Katz Writer’s Digest Books, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-1-59963-179-0 ISBN-10: 1-59963-179-2 $19.99 paperback, 384 pages Buy the Book! Read … Read more

 Attacking the Wrong-Word Problem From Word Savvy by Nancy Ragno Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you’re ready or not, to put the plan … Read more

Word Savvy: Use the Right Word Every Time, All the Time by Nancy Ragno Writer’s Digest Books, 2011 ISBN-13: 978-1-59963-303-9 ISBN-10: 1-59963-303-5 $14.00 paperback, 224 pages Buy the Book! Read an Excerpt! … Read more

Any story or novel is, in essence, a series of scenes strung together like beads on a wire, with narrative summary adding texture and color between. A work of fiction will comprise many scenes, and each one of these individual scenes must be built with a structure most easily described as having a beginning, middle and end. The beginning of each scene is what we’ll address here. Read more

It’s not what happens to us in our lives that makes us into writers; it’s what we make out of what happens to us. It’s our distinctive point of view. Read more

Often when we feel something is missing from a piece of writing, the key lies in examining the tone. Here’s how to revise your work so that it resonates. Read more

Can a virtual critique group really be as good as meeting face to face? If you make the most of the format, it could be even better. Here’s how. Read more

The following are just a handful of suggested outlining techniques that may work for your writing. Which method is best suited for you? Find out here. Read more

A how-to is written as a sequence—first you do this, and then you do this. The essential question the writer asks herself when writing a how-to is, “What happens next?” If you are about to embark on a how-to, start at what you consider the beginning, and just keep answering that question over and over again. Before you know it, you will have sketched out a draft of a how-to article. Read more

If you find yourself having a difficult time sustaining one tone over a long work, try these three tricks. Find a paragraph that sounds exactly the way you want to sound for … Read more

Three of the most popular writers on story structure will come together this November 3-6 in Houston, Texas, for an intensive three-and-a-half day workshop called “Story Masters”. As a preview, we asked them the following questions. Read more

The best writers never stop striving for ways to write better. Here, five masters of the craft share their secrets for honing the essentials, one technique at a time. Read more

As a food and travel writer, I rely on my blog as my lifeline. It helps me connect with my readers and is a wonderful platform to make my voice heard. Still, knowing what you need to do in theory and actually putting it into practice are two different things—and on my path of trial and error, my mistakes were just as valuable as my successes. They taught me what not to do. With that in mind, here are the 10 most important don’ts I’ve learned along the way. Read more