» A Guest Author

Craft Lessons from Reading Hundreds of Short Stories

By Ratika Deshpande It’s an infallible rule that the more you read, the better you’re able to write (provided, of course, that you’re also doing a lot of writing). For about two years now, I’ve been reading science fiction and fantasy short stories and flash fiction to curate lists of recommendations for Reactor magazine. After…

Lessons from a Thousand Submissions

By Michael Theroux Casinos live on a thin margin of success, the ‘house edge’, yet the percentage is lucrative. That ‘casino advantage’ varies by game from less than 0.5 to about 5.25%; games with a low house edge pay out less than do games with a built-in higher advantage for the casino That’s a lot…

Issue Six Hundred Forty One Special Feature

In Praise of Repetition Loops, Echoes, and the Power of Return

By Sabyasachi Roy I woke up humming the same two lines of a poem for three mornings straight. And you know what? I kind of loved it. That stuck-in-your-head feeling is exactly what writers can aim for. A phrase that creeps back into your brain—whispered at the start of every chapter—turn into a little drumbeat…

Issue Six Hundred Thirty Eight Special Feature

Case Study: BOWIE: Stardust, Rayguns & Moonage Daydreams

By Steve Horton Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down… Seriously, though, the path from zero to 100 in this case study about a debut graphic novel is a strange one. They say that when someone breaks into the publishing industry, they cement off that entrance so…

Case Studies Issue Six Hundred Thirty Seven

The Sentence as a Spine: How Syntax Shapes Story

By Sabyasachi Roy Writers talk a lot. Plot arcs, character depth, themes that whisper and shout—it’s all very lovely and MFA-scented. But underneath all that flourish and philosophizing, there’s one unsung hero holding the whole mess together: the sentence. That’s right. The humble sentence. You know, that thing your seventh-grade English teacher ruined for you…

Issue Six Hundred Thirty Six Special Feature

The Beautiful Blur: Writing in the Liminal Space Between Genres

By Sabyasachi Roy There’s a weird little place where poems go when they get too talky, and where stories wander off when they forget to have plots. Welcome to the genre blur. Population: writers who mutter, “I don’t know what this is, but it feels right.” If you’ve ever stared at your own Word doc…

Issue Six Hundred Thirty Five Special Feature

7 Reasons Why You Should Try Using Writing Prompts

By Isha JainAt the beginning of my career, the idea of writing based on prompts was strange to me. I tried a prompt for the first time when the dreaded writer’s block hit me. It felt far better than staring at a blank screen, waiting for inspiration to strike. So, when walking, watching movies, reading…

Issue Six Hundred Thirty Four

How and Why to Bring Novelty into Your Writing

By Ratika Deshpande Often, when I need inspiration or a reminders that I’ve dealt with my present insecurities a dozen times before, I turn to my blog to get some wisdom from my past self. Until recently, she always offered what I needed to hear. Lately, however, I started getting bored with her. I couldn’t…

Issue Six Hundred Thirty Three

How to Get Started With Writing Essays

By Ratika Deshpande The essay is a form that can take diverse appearances: travelogues, memoirs, lists, drabbles. As exciting as its variety feels, I’ve also found it frustrating that there are hardly any guides detailing how to work with the form. The following is a sort of beginner’s guide I wish I’d had when I…

Special Issue

The Art of Rewriting: Where Good Writing Goes to Die (and Get Resurrected)

By Sabyasachi Roy First drafts are liars. They tell you you’re brilliant, only to let you down when you read them the next day and wonder if your cat walked across the keyboard. But that’s okay—because the magic happens when you rewrite. Writing is a romantic affair, but rewriting? That’s where you grab your manuscript…

Issue Six Hundred Thirty Two

Plot Holes? I Prefer to Call Them “Opportunities for Interpretation”

By Sabyasachi Roy This article can come with an alternate title, Gaslighting Yourself into Believing Your Book Makes Perfect Sense. This is not without a rational outing. You spent years hammering out your novel, agonizing over every plot twist, ensuring airtight logic. And then some smug reader points out that your main character, locked in…

Issue Six Hundred Thirty One Special Feature

4 Unique Writing Habits of Famous Writers

By Isha Jain As someone who wants to improve my craft, I often read about the writing advice and habits of accomplished writers. Over the years, I have come across many quirky habits that have helped some famous writers. Like Dan Brown, who wears gravity boots and hangs upside down from a frame to clear…

Issue Six Hundred Thirty Special Feature

Why You Should Question Your Writing Goals

Ratika Deshpande When I first found my calling as a writer, I imagined myself writing novels. A couple of years later, I thought I’d write collections of short stories. Today, I mostly write articles and essays, although I’m again entertaining the idea of publishing books. I’ll probably have a different writing goal in a…

Issue Six Hundred Twenty Nine Special Feature

How to Identify and Fight the Demon of Perfectionism

By Ratika Deshpande I wrote for years with no particular goal in mind. I blogged and wrote stories because it was fun. Occasionally, I’d submit a story or an essay, and get an acceptance here and there. Then, a couple of years ago, I started sharing my work more actively and purposefully—I blogged more regularly,…

Issue Six Hundred Twenty Eight

Unusual Writing Formats: When Your Story Demands Footnotes, Letters, or a Series of Haikus

By Sabyasachi Roy A few years ago, I decided to write a short story for a competition. It started as a simple tale of a man trying to return a library book, but somewhere along the way, my brain decided, “Hey, what if the story was told entirely through increasingly absurd footnotes?” What began as…

Issue Six Hundred Twenty Seven Special Feature

Articles by A Guest Author