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How to Find a Story’s Tone
Benjamin Rosenbaum’s zombie story “Feature Development for Social Networking” appeared at Tor.com. (Illustraton by Scott Bakal) Some stories have been told countless times. Yet, as writers, we often...
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How to Introduce Genre Elements into a Literary Story
Daniel José Older’s story, “Victory Music” was first published in PANK 8.06 and republished as part of Necessary Fiction‘s RePrint series. How do you introduce genre elements into a literary story...
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7 Craft Lessons Every Writer Must Learn
Every writer must, at some point, come to terms with certain aspects of writing craft. Here are lessons drawn from seven excellent stories featured at Read to Write Stories in 2013. 1. Make Setting Do...
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How to Ground Ecstatic Experience in Human Motivation
James Baldwin published The Fire Next Time in 1963. It contained the long essay, “Down at the Cross,” and a letter to his nephew, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One-Hundredth Anniversary...
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How to Set Up the Second Half of Your Novel
Natalia Sylvester’s debut novel, Chasing the Sun, is a literary thriller that has drawn comparisons to Gillian Flynn’s blockbuster Gone Girl. Almost everyone who tries to write a novel hits a wall...
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How to Describe a House
Domingo Martinez’s memoir, The Boy Kings of Texas, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Describing a house in a story ought to be easy. After all, real estate listings do it every day: 3...
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How to Set Up Illogical Character Choices
Laura Benedict’s story “When I Make Love to the Bug Man” was published in PANK’s Pulp Issue. Almost every writer will have this experience: you’re sitting in workshop, listening to comments about your...
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How to Make Characters Uncomfortable
Ted Thompson’s novel, The Land of Steady Habits, has earned comparisons to Richard Yates and John Updike. Fiction should not be nice to its characters. As soon as a character reveals some preference (I...
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How to Create a Character Foil
Kalpana Narayanan won Boston Review‘s Aura Estrada Short Story Prize with her story, “Aviator on the Prowl.” In high school literature classes, students are often taught about character foils—a...
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How to Create Meaningful Spaces in Stories
Holy Ghost Girl by Donna Johnson portrays the author’s experience growing up as part of the inner circle of a revivalist preacher. Every writer has heard this piece of advice: Don’t write a scene in a...
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How to Improve Narrative Pace on a Paragraph Level
Roxane Gay’s story “Contrapasso” first appeared in Artifice Magazine and then in Mixed Fruit. The unique structure highlights the importance of paragraph structure. When talking about structure in...
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Give Readers a Sneak Peak at the Wild Action to Come
Nicky Drayden’s debut novel The Prey of Gods is set in a futuristic South Africa where gods, drugs, genetic manipulation, and robots collide. As a novelist, you will one day inevitably be required to...
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