Special Feature

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

12 Magazines Seeking Microfiction

Though not everyone can write a famous 6-word story (and here is a short take by OpenCulture on the story attributed to Hemingway), it is a great exercise to try. And while magazines have different length requirements for microfiction (from a few words to a few hundred), the general consensus is, it is shorter than…
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Five 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

81 Opportunities for Historically Underrepresented Writers (July 2025)

This list of publishers meet our guiding principles, but are only open to free submissions from historically underrepresented writers or focus on publishing content produced by historically underrepresented writers. Some of these publications are open to a wide range of writers including writers of color, gender non-conforming and LGBTQ+ writers, and those living with disabilities….
Issue Six Hundred Thirty Three Special Feature

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

10 Magazines and Anthologies Publishing Humor

These websites / magazines and anthologies accept humor. They can be in the form of humorous lists or letters, articles or jokes, or a funny bent in stories. Some of them pay writers. Where possible, please read the publication to get a sense of the work they’re looking for. Thin Air MagazineThe magazine is published…
Issue Six Hundred Thirty 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

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

Case Study: How The Coat Check Girl Came to Life

By Laura Buchwald I began writing The Coat Check Girl many years ago, without knowledge of what the path to publication entailed or whether that was even my goal. I’d been a writer since I learned to hold a pencil and had dabbled in short fiction. The idea for a longform project came to me…
Case Studies Issue Six Hundred Twenty Six Special Feature

How to Get Back Into Writing

Ratika Deshpande Last year, while I wrote a lot, I also went through long phases where I couldn’t find the time to write, or didn’t feel like writing, until the state of not-having-written became too much to bear. When I did sit down to write, I couldn’t. The built-up frustration of the time away from my…
Issue Six Hundred Twenty Five Special Feature

Writing Advice I Ignore But Still Pretend to Follow

By Sabyasachi Roy Writing advice, ah. So full of wisdom. So universally agreed upon. So… annoying. Don’t get me wrong—I respect the craft. I admire the dedication. But some of the so-called golden rules of writing? Yeah, I nod along, then go home and do the exact opposite. And somehow, miraculously, the universe does not…
Issue Six Hundred Twenty Four Special Feature

Am I A Writer or Just a Person Who Owns Too Many Notebooks?

By Sabyasachi Roy At what point does an obsession with buying notebooks become a cry for help? Because if owning stacks of untouched Moleskines made you a writer, my bookshelf alone would have penned a Pulitzer by now. And yet, here I am, staring at another blank page, wondering if I actually write or just…
Issue Six Hundred Twenty Three Special Feature

10 Magazines Accepting Authors Interviews

These magazines publish various types of author interviews. They accept either pitches or direct submissions. They’re a mix of literary and genre magazines. All of them also accept other genres, like fiction, creative nonfiction, and/or poetry. As always, please read the relevant section in the magazine to get a sense of the kind of work…
Issue Six Hundred Twenty Two Special Feature

How Six Scribes Made Me a Better Writer

By Alice J. Wisler Even though I was happy to see the notice on the library bulletin board, I didn’t realize how much it would contribute to my writing success. Someone wanted to know if others in our area were interested in forming a writers’ group. I jotted down the number to call. Weeks later,…
Issue Six Hundred Twenty Two Special Feature

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