» A Guest Author

How to Write a Great Opening Line

By Ashley Taylor Clark It’s impossible to overstate how important your opening line is. It’s your first opportunity to introduce readers to your story and motivate them to keep reading, meaning the pressure is on to make that first line stand out. You’ve most likely been told to “hook” your readers — to get them…

Issue Four Hundred Seventy Nine

Nine Recurring Dark Fiction Markets

By Chris Saunders The short fiction market is constantly in a state of flux and public tastes are always shifting and changing. However, one little corner of this rich and diverse landscape has remained consistently strong. For our purposes we’ll call it ‘dark fiction.’ Beneath this rather expansive umbrella you will find numerous categories and…

Issue Four Hundred Seventy Eight

Writing Realism in Unrealistic Settings

By Ashley Taylor Clark Reality is the basis of all fiction. No matter how bizarre or fantastical your story may be, its foundation is built on and around the rules of the real world. This may seem like a limitation at first glance (why write fantasy at all if it needs to be reined in…

Issue Four Hundred Seventy Eight Special Feature

Who Am I? And the Author’s Bio

By Emily-Jane Hills Orford You’ve been asked to supply an author’s biography (author bio) to accompany your publications (either books, stories or articles). No more than fifty words in length. What do you say? What do you write? How can you keep it this short? For me, I like to revert to the exercise I…

Issue Four Hundred Seventy Seven

How To Make Your Readers Care About Your Characters

By Casey Yong Characters – the heart and soul of every good story. They’re the individuals we invest our time and emotions into as we follow them throughout the course of a gripping tale. But when do they stop feeling like stand-ins living out a story and start feeling like the people we can relate…

Issue Four Hundred Seventy Six

Common Mistakes Writers Make With Their Opening Lines

By Ashley Taylor Clark Your opening line is a crucial part of your novel. It offers readers their first impression of your story, introducing them to the world, characters, and overarching tone in just a handful of words. In a lot of cases, readers use these lines to determine if your book is for them….

Issue Four Hundred Seventy Four Uncategorized

Why Utilizing Authenticity Readers Enhances Characters

By Aliya Hall As writers, we are used to creating characters that have different life experiences from our own. And while there are some things we can learn through intensive research, such as historical background and different career paths, there are some things like sexuality, disability, gender and race that are much harder to accurately…

Issue Four Hundred Seventy Three Special Feature

Four Paths to Launching a Successful Writing Career

By Abdulraheem Jameel Ango A writing career can be exciting and rewarding. Nevertheless, venturing into the writing space can also be laborious, with a lot of hard work to be put in before you get established; and the odds are highly stacked. However, it need not be all tedium. Here are four paths to follow…

Issue Four Hundred Seventy Two

What To Keep In Mind When Writing a Short Story

By Abdulraheem Jameel Ango Short stories are a compact, effective and short-winded form of prose. Though they may be brief, a good short story can serve to present to the reader a fascinating, evocative piece of work in a short period of time and also leave a profound impression on the reader’s mind. So much…

Issue Four Hundred Seventy One

The Writing Project That Took a Quarter of a Century to Complete

By Lorraine Horsley I was 26 with a toddler at my toes when I sent off my first manuscript to a publisher. It was a fun picture book and I pitched it to the publisher that published the cute picture books that stood at the checkout of my local Woolworths store. It was rejected. This…

Issue Four Hundred Seventy

Reasons You Should Outline Your Novel (Even If You’re Not a Plotter)

By Ashley Taylor Clark If you’ve ever interacted with the online writing community, you’ve likely heard the terms “plotter,” “pantser,” and “plantser” thrown around. These shorthand terms group writers into categories based on one crucial part of their writing process — namely, whether or not they outline their novel before drafting. Regardless of which group…

Issue Four Hundred Sixty Nine Special Feature

Why You Should Find A Writing Partner, Where To Get One, And How To Make It Work

By Nicole Bloomfield As writers, we get used to producing work under no one’s watchful eyes other than our own. It is a solitary hobby, but one that we greatly enjoy (for some, the seclusion may even be part of the appeal). However, that doesn’t mean we always need to be alone in our journey….

Issue Four Hundred Sixty Eight

Tips to Consider When Searching for Beta Readers

By Aliya Hall Beta readers are an integral part of the editing process. Their critiques help writers determine what sections work and what sections need more attention, but not every beta reader can provide the exact feedback you’re looking for. When you’re putting together a beta reading team, you’re trying to find readers that offer…

Issue Four Hundred Eighty Two

Fellowships, Residencies and Writing Scholarships for May 2022

by NmaHassan Muhammad The following opportunities all have varying deadlines, most fast approaching. Altman Writers of Color Scholarship The Hudson Valley Writers Center is dedicated to supporting the voices of writers of color. The Center encourages all writers of color based in the U.S. to apply for a scholarship to courses they feel will advance…

Issue Four Hundred Sixty Seven Special Feature

Pursue That Grant

By Elaine Russell As a little girl I was drawn to stories. I didn’t care if my teacher was reading them to me or if my dad was. I was always captured in the imaginary tales recited to me. So naturally, I was always making up little stories for school as a kid. Truly, most…

Issue Four Hundred Sixty Seven

Articles by A Guest Author