» A Guest Author

Why You Should Write About Other People’s Writing

By Ratika Deshpande Some of the best writing I’ve done has been about the work of other writers. I’ve read their stories and compiled them into themed recommendation lists; I’ve written personal essays and deep dives into books that I couldn’t stop thinking about. It’s work that I’ve both enjoyed and am very proud of,…

Issue Six Hundred Forty Seven Special Feature

“This Has Already Been Said”

By Sabyasachi Roy Writers love declaring originality dead. “Everything worth saying has already been said,” they moan, as if the Muse herself retired early and moved to a quiet villa with no forwarding address. And maybe it’s true—most “big ideas” are ancient. Love hurts? Shocking. Time passes? Groundbreaking. Death is inconvenient? We’ve been singing that…

Issue Six Hundred Forty Six Special Feature

Self-Doubt as a Constant Companion

By Sabyasachi Roy Self-doubt doesn’t wait for failure. You don’t have to flop publicly or get rejected. Doubt shows up before all that, like it already read your draft and hated it. Some days it whispers. Other days it screeches: Who told you, you could write? Why does this matter? Who’s going to care? And…

Issue Six Hundred Forty Five Special Feature

Three Lessons From My First Podcast Tour

By Lory Widmer Hess I’m a writer, not a speaker. When I was in high school, an oral report was the assignment most likely to cause me to call in sick; now, though I have gotten over that total-panic reaction and become more at ease with talking in public, I still feel more comfortable with…

Issue Six Hundred Forty Four Special Feature

Rest, Burnout, and Permission

By Sabyasachi Roy Burnout doesn’t knock. It just slips in, in a quiet manner, like the obedient nobody in a corporate setup. But somewhere down the line you start noticing. In a good, or bad, or in a neutral manner. Burnout starts like that, maybe with a feeling when you think it’s just a phase…

Issue Six Hundred Forty Three Special Feature

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…

Issue Four Hundred Forty Eight Issue Six Hundred Forty Two Special Feature

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

Articles by A Guest Author