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FEATUR ES

WRITE THAT NOVEL!

WOMAN PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: A. AND I. KRUK: TYPEWRITER PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: GOLDNETZ

22 30
How Setting Shapes Story 21 Ways to Pivot Your Plot
Time and place should be more than just a backdrop. Need more tension, momentum or just an unexpected
Use these tools to mine your setting, and you’ll have turn? Try these strategies.
everything you need to fuel your narrative drive. BY ELIZABETH SIMS
BY ELIZABETH NUNEZ

26 34
To Change or Novel Writing
Not to Change? by the Numbers
For anyone who’s heard the dictum that characters To get from start to finish, sometimes all you need is a
must have a transformational arc, that really is simple countdown.
the question. And the answer may surprise you. COMPILED BY JESSICA STRAWSER
BY DAVID CORBETT

2 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

 JA NUA RY 2 017 | VOLU ME 97 | NO. 1

INK W ELL

40
8 A LIFE WELL WRITTEN: Writing about your life, but
unsure of where to start and what to cover? Use mini
Craft a Killer Cozy memoirs to puzzle your story together piece by piece.
BY RICHARD CAMPBELL
Subgenres come and go, but the traditional mystery is
here to stay. Master these essentials of the form, and you 10 PLUS: 5-Minute Memoir: The Review Rat Race •
may just find yourself cozying up to success. Poetic Asides: Byr a Thoddaid • Good to Know:
BY JANE K. CLELAND Religion • Rules for Writing Strong Sequels • In
Memoriam: Anna Dewdney

44 C O LU M NS

THE WD INTERVIEW:
19 MEET THE AGENT: Helen Adams,
Debbie Macomber Zimmermann Literary
The journey to becoming one of the bestselling authors BY KARA GEBHART UHL

of all time began with the power of positive thinking— 2 0 BREAKING IN: Debut Author Spotlight
and never strayed from the path. Sometimes, success BY CHUCK SAMBUCHINO
really is as simple as that.
BY JESSICA STRAWSER
4 8 FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK: Categorizing Fiction;
Treating Signer’s Remorse
BY BARBARA POELLE

5 0 YOUR STORY: “Love by the Numbers”

BY JENNY MAATTALA

6 0 STANDOUT MARKETS: Narratively; John F. Blair;

Popular Mechanics; The Gettysburg Review
BY TYLER MOSS

6 2 CONFERENCE SCENE: Desert Nights, Rising Stars;

Palm Beach Poetry; Unicorn Writers’ Conference
BY DON VAUGHAN

W R I T ER ’S WOR KBOOK 7 2 PLATFORMS OF YORE: Emily Dickinson

 Yr Sto ON THE COVER

53 WHY POINT OF VIEW IS SO IMPORTANT 5 3 Find the Best Frame for Your Story
BY JOSEPH BATES 3 0 21 Ways to Keep Your Plot Moving
2 6 Make Your Character Arcs More Compelling
5 5 AMPLIFY YOUR NARRATIVE VOICE 2 2 How Setting Can Be the Secret to a Better Story
BY JORDAN ROSENFELD 3 4 55 Tips, Techniques & Motivators to Help You
Reach “The End”
5 8 HOW TO SHAPE TIME & TENSE IN FIRST PERSON 4 0 Cozy Up to Traditional Mysteries

BY ALICIA RASLEY 4 4 WD Interview: Debbie Macomber

COVER PHOTO © DEBORAH FEINGOLD

PLUS: 4 online exclusives 5 editor’s letter 6 contributors 7 reader mail

Writer’s Digest (ISSN 0043-9525) is published monthly, except bimonthly issues in March/April, May/June, July/August and November/December, by F+W Media Inc., 10151 Carver Road, Ste. 200, Cincinnati,
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WritersDigest.com I 3
Right Now at

The Next Big Thing

A blockbuster author with more than 100 titles in print
knows a thing or two about staying ahead of trends.
Romance novelist Debbie Macomber (WD Interview,
Page 44) shares her advice for keeping your writerly eye
on the future, alongside other expert insights.

Your Personal Top 10

Writing Your Legacy co-author Richard Campbell
(“A Life Well Written,” Page 8) delves into 10 essential
ways for memoir writers to mine for material.

Great Markets You’ve Been Missing

Starting in this issue, the Standout Markets column
(Page 60) will now include online-exclusive opportu-
nities alongside our trio of book publishers, literary
journals and magazine markets. View the full submission
guidelines for our first featured web market, Narratively.

To find all of the above online companions to this issue in

one handy spot, visit writersdigest.com/jan-17.

DEBBIE MACOMBER PHOTO © DEBORAH FEINGOLD; BLOG ILLUSTRATION © FOTOLIA.COM: BLOSSOMSTAR

PLUS: Dream big with a boost from the WD blogs!
GO HOLLYWOOD
Many writers dream of having their
books made into blockbuster movies.
Producer Ken Atchity reveals how to
best prime your manuscript for poten-
tial film adaptation.
bit.ly/film-adaptationWD
DO YOUR OWN PROMO
Promotion can be the most daunting
and confusing part of the publishing
process. Dana Kaye—author of Your
Book, Your Brand—shares how to
boost publicity for your book.
bit.ly/book-publicityWD

PLAY MIND GAMES

Psychological thrillers have become staples on the bestsellers lists. Author Mark
Edwards (The Magpies) shares tips for pacing and suspense in the genre.
bit.ly/psych-thrillersWD

4 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017


JANUARY 2017 | VOLUME 97 | NO. 1
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Jessica Strawser
ART DIRECTOR
Claudean Wheeler
MANAGING EDITOR
Tyler Moss
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Baihley Grandison
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BACK ISSUES
Both print and digital back issues
are available for purchase at
writersdigestshop.com.
EDITOR’SLETTER
More Than a Feeling
I’ve interviewed enough authors over the years
to know this: Even the most successful among
them can remember with vivid clarity the tenta-
tive tingling of first sitting down to write a novel
and feeling as if they had no idea what they were
doing. In fact, some of them still experience that
odd mingling of fearful uncertainty and exciting
possibility, fueled by a creative drive that’s hard
to define but impossible to deny.
Welcome to the club.
Whether you have your sights set on your first novel, your fourth or your
40th (Debbie Macomber, the subject of this issue’s WD Interview, has writ-
ten novels numbering in the triple digits—and says she’ll never stop looking
for ways to grow), the articles in this issue address the kinds of questions that
fiction writers are forever asking themselves—and offer the kind of answers
that can help you channel that tingle of inspiration into a satisfying story with
enough momentum to reach “The End.”
What are the narrative choices that too many writers make as an afterthought—
and how can we frame our stories for maximum impact from the start? Find
useful takes on point of view, past versus present tense, narrative voice (all
in Writer’s Workbook, starting on Page 53) and “How Setting Shapes Story”
(Page 22) that will help put you ahead of the game.
Do our characters really have to follow the “rule” of undergoing a transfor-
mation or a change in order for our stories to be successful? In his thoughtful
article “To Change or Not to Change?” novelist and writing instructor David
Corbett tackles the many nuances of character arcs, and helps us pinpoint
better ways to drive our individual stories forward (Page 26).
What can we do when our plot just seems to be missing something?
Bookmark Elizabeth Sims’ “21 Ways to Pivot Your Plot” (Page 30), as you’ll
want to turn (pun intended!) to this one again and again.
Lingering questions aside, perhaps best of all is the serendipity of stum-
bling upon the answer you didn’t even know you were looking for—just the
right tip, technique or bit of inspiration to pull you out of a tight spot. “Novel
Writing by the Numbers” (Page 34) is full of them—from great first lines, to
tales of rejection overcome, to rules that were made to be broken.
Soon, your novel will be more than an idea. Soon, your inspiration will
be more than a feeling. With this issue in hand, you’re readier than you think
you are.
All you have to do is turn the page.
WritersDigest.com I 5
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CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

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janecleland.com. ADVERTISING

ADVERTISING SALES
REPRESENTATIVE
BRENT HARTINGER (“Rules for Writing Strong Jill Ruesch (800)726-9966, ext. 13223;
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Sequels,” Page 16) is the author of 12 novels, the jill.ruesch@fwcommunity.com
first of which, Geography Club, was adapted into
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BARBARA SOLOMON JOSSELSOHN (“The
Review Rat Race,” Page 10) has written for The New
York Times, Consumers Digest and Parents maga-
zine; the online edition of Brain, Child; and websites
Grown & Flown and Road2College.com. Her first
novel, The Last Dreamer, debuted in December
2015. She lives in Westchester, N.Y., and is currently
at work on her second novel. Find her online at
barbarasolomonjosselsohn.com or on Facebook at
facebook.com/barbarasolomonjosselsohnauthor.
Scott T. Hill; scott.hill@procirc.com
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ELIZABETH NUNEZ (“How Setting Shapes Story,”
Page 22) is the award-winning author of nine novels,
including Prospero’s Daughter, Boundaries and Anna
In-Between, as well as the memoir Not for Everyday
Use. Her latest, Even in Paradise, a modern-day
retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear, was released
in April. Nunez is the co-founder and former
director of the National Black Writers Conference,
as well as a Distinguished Professor at Hunter
College, CUNY.

6 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

 READERMAIL

FAN FAVORITE
I’m a longtime sub- SPOTTED ON TWITTER
scriber to Writer’s Get your hands on October’s @WritersDigest. Lots
Digest. I’ve published of great nuggets for established and new #writers.
two works: the novel —@TheStoryPsych
Dolphins’ Run and the Loved Susan Shapiro’s tips in [October] @WritersDigest:
nonfiction guide Become If you keep working hard, someone will notice.
a 911 Dispatcher. When —@SusanjBreen
my copy of WD is deliv-
@jessicastrawser Loved your interview with @junotdiaz
ered, the first thing
in [October] @WritersDigest! Biggest takeaway: Read
I turn to is Barbara
beyond your comfort zone! —@SharifKhanBooks
Poelle’s “Funny You
Should Ask” column. @mikemartinez72 Loved your [October] @WritersDigest
I appreciate her insights, honest to-the-point piece about using Excel to outline. Great stuff.
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column has a long run with WD. I look forward to it I’ve subscribed to @WritersDigest! Practically read the
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Rich Callen subbed sooner. #waitingforthemail. —@mrosscormier
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TODAY
WRITERS WANTED
WE WRITE Enter PNWA’s Writing Contests
Unpublished Fiction
and Nonfiction Contest
Deadline: February 7, 2017
12 categories
$12,000 in total prize money
Every qualified entry receives 2 critiques
Finalist entries read by agents & publishers

Nancy Pearl Book Award

(for Indie and Traditionally published)

Deadline: January 31, 2017

2 categories
$2,000 in total prize money
31:$
Finalist entries read by librarians
Visit www.pnwa.org for contest details

WritersDigest.com I 7
A Life Well Written
Writing about your life, but unsure of where to start and what to cover?
Use mini memoirs to puzzle your story together piece by piece.
BY RICHARD CAMPBELL

T
hose of us who set out to
write about our own lives
often assume it will be a
natural process—after all,
what subject could we know better?—
but find it to be surprisingly complex.
The stories are ours and ours alone
to tell, and yet—especially if we want
them to appeal to readers outside
of our immediate circles—we are
not absolved from the limitations
and expectations that come within
the confines of any genre: We must
focus on a distinct theme (or themes),
whether it’s a dysfunctional family,
addiction, finding love or overcoming
an illness. We must make decisions
about narrative arc, dialogue and your life story” guides available—often rather entertain them than bore them
voice. We must contemplate format— targeted toward people who simply to tears. Our lives unfold through the
is this a book-length memoir, an essay, want to record their own legacies days, months and years, but our most
a blog series or something else entirely? for family and friends (a perfectly influential experiences and what we
Which is why so many of our tales reasonable goal, by the way), rather learned from such moments do not.
never get told. How often have you than looking to make them more Whether your life story has an over-
PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: TOMERTU

heard someone say, “I’d love to share
my story, but I doubt anyone would
be interested”? Maybe, if you listen
closely, what they are really saying
is, “I don’t know what to write. I don’t
know where to start.”
There are plenty of “how to write
broadly marketable. The problem
with this method, regardless of your
intended audience, is that it excludes
the most important part of your life
story—its context. Even if your family
and friends are the sum total of your
intended readers, you’d probably
arching motif or you plan to cobble
together a montage of more diverse
meditations, the project can seem less
overwhelming if you approach it as a
series of mini memoirs—two- to three-
page essays that prompt you to probe
into your experiences, examining

8 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

how pivotal points feed in to the
broader portrait of your life.
IDENTIFYING YOUR
LIFE’S THEMES
Memoir purists often home in on
a single life theme, such as addic-
tion or redemption, and focus on
that subject exclusively—omitting
peripheral aspects. But I’ve found
that the most engaging memoirs take
a broader approach, packing personal
stories with numerous themes in an
all-encompassing manner that’s still
focused and personally resonant.
While researching this idea in the
course of writing our book, Writing
Your Legacy (WD Books), my co-
author Cheryl Svensson and I focused
on the concept of life themes, devel-
oped by the father of gerontology
James E. Birren. Every major or
minor life event is rooted in theme.
If you graduated from high school
despite struggling with dyslexia, you
may have a powerful story about
perseverance. If you became hugely
successful in your career, perhaps
your story is rooted in diligence with
a dash of luck.
Birren identified a series of core
legacy themes, each of which encom-
passes a defining aspect of a person’s
life: (1) major turning points in life,
(2) family dynamics, (3) exposure to
money (or lack thereof), (4) career
aspirations and accomplishments,
(5) emotional and physical health,
(6) experiences of traditional gender
roles, (7) perception of death,
(8) spiritual identity, (9) life goals
and (10) personal legacy.
The beauty in approaching your
life story in terms of mini memoirs
is that when it comes to themes, you
don’t have to pick just one. Write
scenes or vignettes on each theme
that speaks to you. Although they
might seem disparate at first, you’ll
be surprised to find how seamlessly
such short pieces can come together
to form a well-rounded life story.
Start with the 10 listed previously,
and then dig even further: Consider,
for instance, your passions, cultural
heritage and friendships. What about
places you’ve traveled, moments of
forgiveness and life miracles? Maybe
you’d like to reflect on the process of
aging. How has getting older affected
your day-to-day life? What activi-
ties from your youth do you miss
By examining your experience through the lens of
dozens of different themes, your story becomes
multifaceted as opposed to one-dimensional.
the most, and why? Writing on any
given theme could even tease out
hidden themes that were not imme-
diately evident, offering new avenues
for exploration.
USING MINI MEMOIRS
TO ENHANCE THEMES
What if you’re not struggling with
the question of what to write about—
your life story already has a strong,
overarching theme? In that case, the
mini-memoir approach can still lend
depth and context to your structure.
Say you want to write about your
lifelong battle with depression. By
examining your experience through
the lens of dozens of different themes,
your story becomes multifaceted as
opposed to one-dimensional.
Perhaps you recall the first time
that you were overcome with depres-
sion. There’s your first mini memoir.
The second of the core themes is family
dynamics. You might write short
pieces focusing on how your family
reacted to your illness. Did they
STRENGTHEN YOUR CORE
Campbell digs further into each of the
10 core themes of legacy writing at
writersdigest.com/jan-17.
introduce additional challenges, pro-
vide much-needed comfort, or both?
Give each reaction the individual
attention it deserves on the page.
Consider, too, those themes relat-
ing to your sense of self. Did your
psychological struggles carry the
burden of low self-confidence? How
did you manage to overcome it?
You may find that mini memoirs
unfold more naturally than the
more unwieldy, longer story you
have to tell—and that they build
momentum strong enough to carry
you through the manuscript. Using
the core themes as prompts, along
with any additional ones that reso-
nate with you, will help you to
form a balanced mosaic of anec-
dotes and reflections.
How do you know when your
story is complete? When and where
does it end? The power lies in the
process. Think of legacy writing as
building your life story brick by brick.
If you stack them right, you might
find that the result can be a sound
structure and a work-in-progress at
the same time.
Richard Campbell is the co-author of
Writing Your Legacy: The Step-by-Step
Guide to Crafting Your Life Story. He
conducts life story writing classes
(guidedlifestories.com) on transatlantic
crossings for a major cruise line.
WritersDigest.com I 9
 5-MINUTE MEMOIR

The Review Rat Race

BY BARBARA SOLOMON JOSSELSOHN

T wo weeks ago, my friend forwarded an email from her elderly aunt, to

whom she had given a copy of my debut novel. Her aunt wrote that
despite her failing eyesight, she had read the book quickly and thor-
oughly enjoyed it.
My first thought was, I wonder if I can get her to write a review on Amazon.
My second thought was, I am a horrible person.
Instead of appreciating the compliment, I was immediately looking to add
another notch to my literary belt, another excuse to push a social media mention
or a sale. It was just three short months since I’d become a published novelist,
yet I was already letting my thirst for another post, another review, another 5-star success, as it would affirm that they
rating take precedence over what was far more important—that this elderly woman had completed something worthy of
with bad eyesight had read and liked my book. professional attention. Others felt that
How had I become such a horrible person? success would be holding their bound
As many authors would attest, customer reviews have become the holy grail book —either self- or traditionally
of novel publishing. More reviews can lead to more buzz, more sales, future book published—in their hands.
deals and better advances. I check my ratings religiously on Amazon, Goodreads To me, success meant having read-
and other sites, hoping the total number of reviews will climb. When people send ers who felt that my novel articulated
me an email or text to say they enjoyed the book, I respond with Pavlovian con- something important, something they
sistency: “Thank you so much. Would you consider posting about it?” had felt deeply inside but had never
It used to make me uncomfortable to ask for reviews. It felt greedy and self- been able to express or fully under-
serving, as though the fact that they bought the book, read it and took the time stand before my book came along.
to tell me they liked it wasn’t enough. But I got over that feeling quickly—out of That still sounds pretty good.

necessity. These days, promotion is essential. We build platforms, we amass fol-
lowers, and we tweet and post about our upcoming book launches and subsequent
blog tours and giveaways. We have to. Otherwise we’ll be lost in the dust. And yet …
Several years ago, when the idea of having my novel published seemed a pipe
dream, I attended a writing conference and sat in on a talk on the topic of success.
The workshop leader, an author herself, invited the room of largely unpublished
authors to share what success as a writer would look like. Some writers measured
success in terms of a large advance, a
deal with a major publisher or book
sales in the tens of thousands, but many
had more idiosyncratic definitions. To
some, success meant finishing a first
draft or achieving that elusive feeling that
a manuscript was done. Some felt that
landing an agent would be their sign of
FIVE STAR PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: JIRSAK; BOOK IN HAND PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: PATPITCHAYA
So I wrote back to my friend’s
aunt and thanked her for reading my
book and letting me know that she
liked it. I was surprised at how good
it felt to abandon the drive for self-
promotion, if only for a day. Instead,
I relished her compliment. And
although it was for my eyes only, her
email couldn’t have made me happier
if it had been posted online for the
world to see.
Barbara Solomon Josselsohn (barbara
solomonjosselsohn.com) is the author of The
Last Dreamer.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Submit your own 600-word essay reflection on the writing life by emailing it to wdsubmissions@fwcommunity.com
with “5-Minute Memoir” in the subject line.

10 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

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ELVIS COLE & JOE PIKE SERIES
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THE HOWS & WHYS

May 5, 2017 OF NANOWRIMO

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016
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DIGITALLY!
No matter what you write, a bit of poetic license can be a
valuable asset to any writer’s arsenal.
BY ROBERT LEE BREWER

POETIC FORM: BYR A THODDAID

The byr a thoddaid is a Welsh form that can vary in length from a single four-line
poem to a series of quatrains (four-line stanzas). Regardless of length, each quatrain
is divided into two couplets (two-line stanzas), which appear in alternating order.
One couplet contains eight syllables in both lines with an aa end rhyme.
The other has a 10-syllable first line and a six-syllable second line, with the final
syllable rhyming with the eighth of the first line. The opening of the second line
then echoes the close of the first line.
Let’s look at an example by a Poetic Asides reader, in which the echoes are high-
lighted in bold and the rhyming syllables of the 10-6 couplet are italicized for clarity.

This Is Heaven, by James Von Hendy

a The man we love most in the world

The opening two lines of each stanza
a is dying. He sits, fingers curled are eight syllables in length and han-
around the covers of an open book dled with a simple end rhyme.
to mark his place, and though
While the echo is a little more obvious
b he nods asleep, each time he wakes
in the stanzas that follow, here “mark”
b he reads with wonder what he takes
is a suitable half-rhyme for “book.”
to be words he’s not read before. Tonight
dim light pools on the floor

c about his bare and swollen feet,

c taut skin pale as a winding sheet.
He says there’s nothing after death, so this
is heaven’s realm, the breath- The poet rhymes the eighth syllable of
the third line with the sixth syllable of
d less living room, its curtains drawn
the fourth line in each stanza.
d against the night. “We’re here, we’re gone.”
He shrugs, and smiles at us, son and wife.
While the poet stays consistent in this
“This life’s a benison. example, poets can alternate the cou-
e “No other heaven can compare.” plets within each stanza if they desire
e It’s true we’d rather not despair.
with a 10-6-8-8 syllable pattern.
These long evenings, spanning years, are blessed,
BREWER ILLUSTRATION © TONY CAPURRO

and best, it staves our tears.

Robert Lee Brewer is the editor of Poet’s Market and Writer’s Market (both WD Books) and the
author of Solving the World’s Problems.

SHARE YOUR POETIC VOICE: If you’d like to see your own poem in the pages of
Writer’s Digest, check out the Poetic Asides blog (writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/
poetic-asides) and search for the most recent WD Poetic Form Challenge.

12 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

 Every novel is
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 BY JERRY JENKINS, TYLER MOSS
GOOD TO KNOW AND BRENDA JANOWITZ (RESPECTIVELY)

Getting the Details Right: Religion

A
ccurately portraying the complexities of
different religions is no easy task. Depictions
can often fall prey to stereotype in TV and
movies, and fiction is equally susceptible—
especially when writers find themselves trying to
represent beliefs with which they aren’t intimately familiar.
Distortions of a faith can take away from the nuance of
our novels, as well as stunt our collective understanding.
Here are a few debunked myths to keep your characters
from becoming caricatures.

MYTH FACT

Christians can be forgiven for
anything by merely asking God.
CHRISTIANITY
While it’s true that the Bible says those who confess their sins will be forgiven, that
teaching must be viewed in light of other scripture. Critics accuse Christians of “easy
believism”—the notion that they can live however they want and commit any act they
choose, knowing they’re guaranteed forgiveness. But Jesus is quoted, “Not everyone
who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does
the will of My Father in heaven.” Scripture is clear that a transformed life is evidence
of salvation.

The Bible says that money is the The Apostle Paul writes to his young protege, Timothy, “… the love of money
root of all evil. is a root of all kinds of evil …” Therefore, money itself is not the culprit, but
greed is.

Christians don’t believe in science. While many Christians might be skeptical of certain scientific theories (e.g., evolution
vs. creation), portraying a Christian as one who “does not believe in science” amounts
to an egregious caricature. The scientific community is replete with Christians who
believe that much of science can coexist with Biblical teachings.

A fatwa is a death sentence
issued to an individual or a spe-
cific group of individuals.
ISLAM
By definition, a fatwa is not nearly so pernicious. It’s a formal announcement that clari-
fies or resolves a matter for which the Islamic jurisprudence is not clear (e.g., when to
pray on the International Space Station), and follows a complex process in which the
point is thoroughly vetted by religious scholars. Misinterpretation of the term is often
derived from the well-known “fatwa” issued against author Salman Rushdie by the
Iranian supreme leader in 1989, calling for his assassination following the release of
Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses.

Sharia law covers a set of extreme,
draconian beliefs outlined in the
Quran by which all Muslims are
bound to abide.
Sharia actually refers to the vast body of Islamic law, not just what’s predicated in the
Quran, but also other religious texts and the pronouncements of Islamic scholars. It’s
a broad code of conduct covering a range of subjects from dietary restrictions to per-
sonal finance. There are varied schools of thought regarding the interpretation of such
religious statutes, and there's disagreement about how literally the edicts should be
taken. Many Muslims practice some aspects of Sharia law and disregard others.

To wage jihad is to conduct a holy
war against non-Muslims by way
of violence in order to force them
into accepting Islam.
The literal meaning of the word jihad is “struggle,” and while the term has been
construed by some factions of the Islamic religion to justify violence, the original
interpretation derived from the Quran pertains primarily to a spiritual struggle within
the self. Jihad embodies the struggle of each individual to not be overcome by life’s
material pleasures, or impulses of anger, lust, greed and the like. 

14 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

 JUDAISM
Jews don't eat pork. Only Jews who observe the Jewish dietary laws, kashrut, do not eat pork. Jews who
follow these rules—those who “keep kosher”—don’t eat pork or shellfish, and can't
consume meat and milk at the same time. Not all Jews keep kosher, however, so such
dietary restrictions depend on one’s own level of religious observation.

Jews with tattoos are forbidden
from being buried in Jewish
cemeteries.
It is true that the Torah forbids Jews from tattooing their bodies, but there is noth-
ing in Jewish law that prohibits a person with tattoos from being buried in a Jewish
cemetery (Consider Holocaust survivors who have tattoos on their arms). Every Jewish
burial society does, however, have the right to enact its own criteria as to who may be
buried in its plots, so some families may not allow family members who willingly tat-
tooed themselves to be buried among their own.

Hanukkah is the Jewish equivalent
of Christmas.
Hanukkah is not a biblical holiday—so you might be surprised to learn that many Jews
do not consider it a major holiday at all. (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Passover have
more significance.) Hanukkah is more widely recognized by Christians merely because
it is often celebrated around the same time of year as Christmas. The eight-day festival
of lights celebrates the victory of a small army of Jews who fought to reclaim the Holy
Temple in Jerusalem and rededicate it to the service of God.

Jerry Jenkins is a novelist (the Left Behind series) and biographer (Billy Brenda Janowitz is the author of five novels, most recently
Graham, Hank Aaron, Walter Payton, Nolan Ryan) who has written 21 The Dinner Party. Her work has appeared in The New York Times,
New York Times bestsellers and sold more than 70 million copies. He The Washington Post and Salon, and she is a regular contributor
blogs at JerryJenkins.com and teaches writing at JerrysGuild.com. to PopSugar.

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WritersDigest.com I 15
Rules for Writing Strong Sequels
When penning a follow-up to a well-received book,
implement these 7 rules to ensure your sequel is a success.
BY BRENT HARTINGER
W
hy are there so few
great sequels? In the
realm of movies, rare
favorites include Toy
Story 2 and 3, The Dark Knight and
Aliens. Among books, The Da Vinci
Code was a terrific sequel to Angels &
Demons (The Lost Symbol didn’t quite
draw the same attention).
Note that writing the next book
in a series is not necessarily the
same as writing a sequel, because the
overarching story line of a series is
usually conceived in advance. With
a sequel, writers are often starting
from scratch with a new, indepen-
dent plotline, often in response to
reader demand.
As a result, sequels can be difficult.
They present certain advantages—
namely, they’re much easier to
market out the gate—but they also
come with a host of challenges,
the worst of which is often sky-
high expectations.
How do you write a sequel with-
out disappointing fans of the original?
Here are seven rules I’ve learned
through my own experience:
1. DON’T JUST PICK UP
WHERE THE LAST STORY
LEFT OFF.
The most obvious place to begin a
sequel is where the previous story
ended. This is what fans are always
clamoring for: “What happens next?!”
This, however, is also very often a
classic example of non-professionals
not knowing what they really want.
16 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
Readers liked the original story, and
they think they want it to go on as it
was. The problem, of course, is that
the original story is over. There was
a reason it ended in the first place:
The plotlines were resolved!
To artificially restart a satisfactorily
resolved story, especially with the
same or similar conflicts as before,
is a recipe for disaster. “No, wait!”
you’re telling the reader. “There’s
more I didn’t tell you! There’s an
Indian graveyard underneath the first
graveyard (Poltergeist 2)! There was a
second island full of cloned dinosaurs
(The Lost World: Jurassic Park)!”
It’s going back to the buffet for a
second helping you could have done
without, and everyone knows it.
What readers and viewers really
want, even if they don’t quite know
it, is to once again feel the way the
first story made them feel. But, as
they say, you can’t go home again.
Ironically, the only way they can feel
the way they did before is for you,
the writer, to give them something
fresh and different.
2. GIVE THE READER
SOMETHING NEW.
This is the real challenge of writing
a sequel. Of course, it’s the challenge
of every new project—but it’s espe-
cially difficult when writing a sequel
because the pressure is so intense
to do more of the same. After all,
that first story is a proven winner.
Resist the pressure. It’s a paradox:
The more different your sequel is,
the better your chance of success.
The best sequels completely
reinvent their characters and the
central story. Aliens even switched
genres—it’s an action-adventure
movie, unlike Alien, which is a
LORD OF THE RINGS FIGURES © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: URBANBUZZ
straight horror film.
Resolving lingering plotlines
and character arcs from the first
project is the least important part
of a sequel. What you want are new
plotlines and new character arcs.
In framing The Order of the
Poison Oak, the first sequel to my
novel Geography Club, I started
with a different setting, choosing
a summer camp so it would feel
different at the outset from the first
book, which is set in a high school.
3. MAKE THE STAKES
DIFFERENT.
A different frame for the story is
a good start—but it isn’t enough.
There’s a big tendency in sequels
to give us as much as possible of
the same. In other words, recreate
the original plot—but on a grander
scale. This can give the story the
illusion of being “different.” In
Speed 2, instead of a bus they’re on
a cruise ship!
Readers will not be fooled.
The Godfather Part II, for example,
continues to tell the story of Michael
Corleone’s descent from family
man to cold-hearted monster, but
it also dares to go backward in time
to tell the story of Vito Corleone,
making him a case study for the
darker side of American capitalism.
And sometimes “bigger is better”
does work, as in The Hobbit’s sequel,
The Lord of the Rings (originally
written as a single volume). But even
here, at the same time author J.R.R.
Tolkien is massively expanding his
scope to include the fate of all of
Middle-Earth, he is also moving his
focus closer, zeroing in on the inti-
mate relationship between Frodo
and Sam. The Hobbit is the story of
a character discovering an unfore-
seen capacity within himself, but The
Lord of the Rings is about another
character realizing no one can suc-
ceed alone.
4. PLAY WITH EXPECTATIONS.
People come to sequels of beloved
works with loads of baggage—
specifically, expectations. If you can
get past the intimidation that comes
with it, that’s a fantastic opportunity
for the writer, who can confound
those expectations. If you do it well,
the audience will love you for it.
In Alien, the android is the villain.
So, of course, everyone (including
Ripley) expects that the android in
Aliens is also going to be a villain …
until he turns out to be the hero.
When we first meet Sarah
Connor and the Terminator in The
Terminator, she’s a carefree young
woman and he’s the relentless
android out to destroy her. But
in Terminator 2: Judgment Day,
Sarah is completely transformed—
now a battle-ready warrior as a
result of her experiences in the
first movie. Even more interesting,
the Terminator is now Sarah’s ally
against the nefarious T-1000.
Once again, things that might
have seemed predictable become
defiantly not so.
5. INCLUDE AT LEAST ONE
GREAT NEW CHARACTER.
Set out to include at least one very
memorable new major character:
someone unlike any of the charac-
ters we’ve met before. Try to make
this character as different from your
main hero as possible. It almost
guarantees that the story will feel
more fresh.
In The Thing I Didn’t Know I
Didn’t Know, another sequel to
Geography Club, I created Vernie
Rose: a very confident, very opinion-
ated 72-year-old woman. Because
almost all the characters until
that point had been teenagers or
20-somethings, she couldn’t help but
shake things up.
6. DON’T BE AFRAID TO LET
BELOVED CHARACTERS GO.
Yes, readers and viewers are drawn
to a sequel because of the characters.
But if you’re adding new players,
it won’t take long for a cast to be-
come unwieldy.
Yoda makes a massive impression
in The Empire Strikes Back, but he
barely registers in The Return of the
Jedi. Why? Because he serves no real
plot purpose in the latter movie.
In your sequel, keep only the
characters that perform some
essential plot function front and
center. The others? Give them a
cameo if you must, but otherwise
let them go.
7. IDENTIFY WHAT MADE THE
FIRST BOOK SPECIAL, THEN
OFFER MORE.
At the risk of contradicting my
earlier advice, while it’s important
for a sequel to shake things up, it’s
also important to remember what
made people like the project in the
first place.
It’s one thing to add new charac-
ters, mix up the stakes and even alter
the genre slightly. It’s another thing
to fundamentally betray your readers.
It’s hard to imagine a sequel to a
ghost story ever working as a roman-
tic comedy.
Consider what it was about the
first book that made it so success-
ful that it’s worthy of a sequel to
begin with. What exactly did people
feel, and why? Was it the tone? The
theme? The characters? A fresh take
on a tired old genre?
Try to pinpoint exactly where the
magic happened, and make a point
to pay homage to it in your sequel.
Then do what you can to shake things
up and defy our expectations for
the better.
Brent Hartinger (brenthartinger.com) is the
author of many successful sequels, but his
latest novel, Three Truths and a Lie, is a dark
and twisty stand-alone YA thriller.
WritersDigest.com I 17
 In Memoriam
“Empathy is as important as literacy.
When we read with a child, we are
doing so much more than teaching
him to read or instilling in her a love
of language. We are doing something
that I believe is just as powerful, and
it is something that we are losing as a
culture: By reading with a child, we are
teaching that child to be human.” 

Anna Dewdney, 1965–2016, New York Times

ILLUSTRATION © CHRIS KOEHLER

bestselling author and illustrator of the Llama Llama
children’s book series

UNLOCK YOUR STORY’S POTENTIAL

The Secrets of Story provides comprehensive, audience-focused strategies for
becoming a master storyteller. Armed with the Ultimate Story Checklist, you can
improve every aspect of your fiction writing with incisive questions like these:

• CONCEPT: Is the one-sentence description of your story uniquely appealing?

• CHARACTER: Can your audience identify with your hero?
• STRUCTURE AND PLOT: Is your story ruled by human nature?
• SCENE WORK: Does each scene advance the plot and reveal character through
emotional reactions?
• DIALOGUE: Is your characters’ dialogue infused with distinct personality traits
and speech patterns based on their lives and backgrounds?
• TONE: Are you subtly setting, resetting and upsetting expectations?
• THEME: Are you using multiple ironies throughout the story to create meaning?

To succeed in the world of fiction and film, you have to work on every aspect
of your craft and satisfy your audience. Do both—and so much more—with “MATT BIRD IS A CERTIFIABLE
The Secrets of Story. WRITING-CRAFT GENIUS.”
—CHERYL KLEIN, SENIOR EDITOR
AT ARTHUR A. LEVINE BOOKS

Available at WritersDigestShop.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble,

and other fine book retailers.

18 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

 MEET THEAGENT
BY KARA GEBHART UHL

Helen Adams
ZIMMERMANN LITERARY

H elen Adams (formerly Zimmermann) got her start in

publishing more than 20 years ago: first at Random
House—where she became a director of advertising and
Kent Hartman,
author of The
Jim Afremow,
author of The
Susan Richards,
author of
Wrecking Crew Champion’s Chosen by a
promotion—then as author events director for an independent (St. Martin’s Mind (Rodale Horse (Mariner
bookseller, where aspiring writers would often ask her how Press, 2012) Books, 2014) Books, 2007)
to get published. “I would always say, ‘You need to find an
agent,’” Adams says. “After I said that a dozen times, a light
“Making writers’
went off and I thought, ‘Hey, why don’t I become an agent?’” CLIENTS dreams come true
So she did: In 2003, Zimmermann Literary was born. is pretty darn fun.”
“For nonfiction, my dream project is one that has a clear
market, is fresh, informative and entertaining, and has an
WHY SHE DOES
author with a large platform,” she says. “For fiction, my dream WHAT SHE DOES “Wellness/fitness/
project [is one that] makes me miss a meal.” sports, relationships,
pop culture, women’s
Find Adams online at both zimmermannliterary.com and issues, music,
project-publish.com. memoir, reading
group fiction.”
SEEKING
“I am painfully neat. American Society of
I can’t work unless Journalists and Authors
my space is tidy.” FUN FACTS
Writers Conference,
UPCOMING
New York City,
CONFERENCES
May 20–21, 2017
“I was a volunteer EMT
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for 10 years, two of them “I love to cook Books Alive! Washington

as captain of the rescue without a recipe.” Writers Conference,
squad—totally badass.” Washington, D.C.,
WRITING TIPS April 28–29, 2017
DRINK:
chardonnay
PITCH TIPS
“For fiction
“Content writers, writers’
is king. If your groups are
FAVORITE “Make sure your material falls invaluable.”
query letter focuses apart a few
on your strengths. chapters in,
“Never forget that
You want to start agents will
QUOTE: publishing is a
PLACE: strong.” notice.”
“Solvitur ambulando.” business: It’s not
Adirondack
(“It is solved by going to happen
Mountains
walking.”) overnight, and
BLOG: “Do your numbers matter.”
yurts.com/blog research.”

LIVING AUTHOR:
Ian McEwan “Your biography
should pertain
DEAD AUTHOR: [only] to your work.”
Anne LaBastille

Kara Gebhart Uhl (pleiadesbee.com) writes and edits from Fort Thomas, Ky.

WritersDigest.com I 19
BREAKINGIN
Debut authors: How they did it, what they learned and why you can do it, too.
Thoraiya Dyer
Crossroads of
Canopy (fantasy,
January 2017, Tor Books)
“At the highest level of
a gigantic rainforest,
13 kingdoms form the great city
of Canopy, the relative safety of
which apprentice-priestess Unar
must abandon when her sister falls
through the magical barrier that
keeps demons trapped below.”
WRITES FROM: Sydney, Australia.
PRE-CROSSROADS: I completed
unpublished manuscripts of many
different speculative fiction subgenres
before I started writing Crossroads
of Canopy. My published short sto-
ries won or were nominated for
Australian awards for fantasy, science
fiction and young adult. TIME FRAME:
After leaving work as a veterinarian to
become a mother, I set my own dead-
line of a novel per year and pretty
much stuck to it. ENTER THE AGENT:
My agent is Evan Gregory from The
Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency.
The manuscript he first requested
[through a cold query] wasn’t
Crossroads of Canopy, but a stand-
alone contemporary fantasy. It wasn’t
until three manuscripts later that my
[Titan’s Forest] epic fantasy trilogy
was the one to sell. WHAT I DID RIGHT:
I kept writing. And kept reading, so
that I could learn—and try to write
20 I WRITER’S DIGEST I Month 2017
something better than the last thing.
WHAT I WOULD’VE DONE DIFFERENT:
I should have taken screenwriting
workshops sooner to pin down my
grasp of structure. ADVICE FOR
WRITERS: Have an old, separate writ-
ing computer not connected to the
internet. NEXT UP: Book 2 of the tril-
ogy, Echoes of Understorey. WEBSITE:
thoraiyadyer.com.
Emily Littlejohn
Inherit the Bones
(mystery, November
2016, Minotaur Books)
“A pregnant detective in
a small town in Colorado
investigates a modern-day murder
and finds a connection to an unsolved
crime from more than 30 years ago.”
WRITES FROM: Colorado. PRE-
BONES: I’m a librarian by trade and
I’ve always been a voracious reader.
Somewhere along the line, I decided
that I could write at least as badly as
some of the books I’d read over the
years, and just maybe a little better.
I’d written a handful of drafts to other
stories before Bones. TIME FRAME:
Bones was written over the course
of a three-year period. Sometimes
BY CHUCK SAMBUCHINO
months would go without me touch-
ing it, then I’d get a creative spurt and
write 40 pages. ENTER THE AGENT:
My agent is Pamela Ahearn of The
Ahearn Agency. I found her through
a query process that lasted about
eight months. By the time I finished,
I’d written to 54 agents. I saw
[Ahearn’s] profile on the website
for ThrillerFest. WHAT I DID RIGHT:
I understood that my draft was a liv-
ing, changing thing. When my agent
suggested I fix a few things, I placed
my ego aside and examined the draft
DYER PHOTO © CAT SPARKS; LITTLEJOHN PHOTO © JOANNA WITTIG; TEAGAN PHOTO © PATTY SCHUCHMAN
with fresh eyes. This made it much
stronger in the end. ADVICE FOR
WRITERS: Don’t wait for the muse
to strike; sit your rear in a chair
and start. It might be total crap
[at first], but books are written word
by word. NEXT UP: Polishing the draft
for Book 2 in the series, tentatively
titled A Season to Lie. WEBSITE:
emilylittlejohn.com.
Erin Teagan
The Friendship
Experiment (middle-
grade, November 2016,
HMH Books for Young
Readers) “When scientist-in-the-
making Madeline Little starts sixth
grade, she soon learns that middle
school is nothing like a perfect lab
experiment—and that she now
has to find the cure for her newly
messed-up life.”
WRITES FROM: Virginia. PRE-
EXPERIMENT: I was working in a
biochemistry lab when I first got the
idea for The Friendship Experiment.
I had six or seven practice novels
piled in my drawer, but nothing pub-
lished. TIME FRAME: The Friendship
Experiment was my first NaNoWriMo
project. I wrote the first draft in a
month, but it took two more years
of revising, rewriting and submitting
before I found an agent. ENTER THE
AGENT: My agent is Marie Lamba
from The Jennifer De Chiara Literary
Agency. She has a great blog with
writing advice. I sent [Lamba] a query
and mentioned that I love her posts.
She requested my full manuscript and
offered representation. I had queried
about 20 agents at that point. WHAT
I LEARNED: How to work on more
than one project at a time. Sometimes
there are long stretches between edits
when you’re working with an editor.
These stretches go much faster if
you start on something else while
you’re waiting. WHAT I DID RIGHT: I
answered a call for a remote unpaid
internship with a literary agency. It
was a leap out of my comfort zone
since I was an aspiring writer with no
intentions of going into agenting.
I got the job and it ended up [being]
the single greatest learning experi-
ence. Not only did I get a glimpse of
what happened behind the scenes in
publishing, but my own writing im-
proved immensely. WHAT I WOULD’VE
CHARACTER CHARISMA
Littlejohn divulges her secrets for
forming characters readers care
about at bit.ly/WDBreakingIn.
DONE DIFFERENT: I spent too much
time submitting my first manuscript.
Early on it received positive
feedback. In the end, though, the
manuscript just wasn’t ready. It took
me 10 years to put it aside and start
submitting something new. ADVICE
FOR WRITERS: Find a few critique
partners you can trust, or join a
writing group. NEXT UP: A new
stand-alone middle-grade novel.
WEBSITE: erinteagan.com. WD
Chuck Sambuchino is the editor of Guide
to Literary Agents and Children’s Writer’s
& Illustrator’s Market (both WD Books). His
most recent book is When Clowns Attack.
WritersDigest.com I 21
 WRITE THAT NOVEL!

HOW
SETTING
SHAPES
STORY
Time and place should
be more than just a
backdrop. Use these
tools to mine your
setting, and you’ll have
everything you need to
fuel your narrative drive.
BY ELIZABETH NUNEZ

LIGHTHOUSE © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: MARCONI COUTO DE JESUS;

TRINIDAD STREET © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: ES HANS PHOT
POUI TREES © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: NIPA STOCK;

22 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017


M
any years ago, confident I had finally finished
a publishable draft of my first novel, I went in
search of an editor. New York University was
offering a weeklong workshop in Vermont that promised
new writers the opportunity to get feedback from estab-
lished editors. I packed my bags and off I went, certain that
the editor assigned to my novel would be so bowled over
by my amazing story, I’d immediately be offered a contract.
I was stunned and not a little hurt when the editor told
me that I had a lot of work to do before my novel could be
ready for publication. “What’s wrong with it?” I asked.
“I don’t know where this story is happening,” the editor
said. “I have no sense of when, or how where and when
are connected to the narrative, to the decisions your
characters make.”
How could she say that? My story was set in Trinidad,
in the Caribbean. That’s where. At the end of the 19th
century. That’s when.
After I cooled down, I took another look at my manu-
script and realized that, of course, the editor was right. I
had setting, but only in a general sense. There were little
to no specifics.
THE ROLE OF DETAIL
In fiction, details matter. Details allow your reader to
more fully enter the world you create, to suspend disbe-
lief and, most important, to connect emotionally with
your characters—to care about what happens to them.
And when it comes to your setting, it’s the details that
really lay the groundwork on which all the action in your
novel takes place.
I went to work revising my first novel’s manuscript.
This is how I began:
The hurricanes had long come and gone, and
the land grew dry again. High up in the Central
Mountain Range in Trinidad, the poui trees began to
shed their leaves like the giant deciduous trees in the
cold lands of Europe and North America. Yet there
would be no winter here in the burning heat of the
tropical sun. Life stirred restlessly at the tips of the
naked branches of the poui. December, and already
the pale outlines of buds, some orange, some yellow,
some red, could easily be detected. By February
the poui would set the hills on fire with their flaming
colors. From the valleys, softly climbing between
majestic immortelle and tonka bean trees, cocoa
trees, the lifeblood of Trinidad, gently dropped their
delicate white flowers to make room for the purple
cocoa pods that would soon hang from the sides of
their trunks. The earth smelled good—of worms turn-
ing the soil fresh as they delved deep to escape the
blistering sun.
Emilia, sitting outside of Hrothgar’s house, took
no notice of the earth smells. Her mind was else-
where, though her eyes anchored themselves to the
cocoa trees.
Choose your whole setting carefully,
scene by scene—the time of day
or night, the climate, the weather,
the landscape, the seascape, the
country, the part of the country—
and you will be able to convey
more effectively the emotions your
characters are experiencing.
I found the focus of my debut, When Rocks Dance,
when I wrote those first paragraphs. My characters were
not merely living in the Caribbean, which conjures up
images of blue sea and sandy beaches; they were living
in the mountains of Trinidad. And the novel begins at a
specific time of the year, after the rainy season, when
the mountains are alive with a range of colors, a stark
contrast to Emilia’s dark mood. The trees, specifically
the cocoa trees, serve to set the stage for the main
conflict in the novel, as well as to further establish the
time period. For by the beginning of the 20th century, oil
was beginning to replace cocoa as the main source of the
economy in Trinidad.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PLACE
All you need to build your setting is in the world around
you. Observe, observe, observe. I know that, like me, you
probably wanted to be a writer because you found a lot
of joy and pleasure by making up stories in your head. I
love living in my imagination—so much so that when I
was younger, my siblings would say: “Divide everything
Elizabeth tells you in half. One half is true and the other
is make-believe.” Your imagination is indeed a power-
ful tool for creating stories. But using your five senses—
WritersDigest.com I 23
 WRITE THAT NOVEL!
sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch—you can locate your
setting on firmer ground.
If you can, go to the locations where you have decided
to set your story. What do you see? What do you smell?
What sounds do you hear? What do you taste? What
sensations do you experience in the weather or when
you touch the land or the vegetation? Take copious notes.
Take photographs. Record the sounds of this place.
Years into my writing career, by the time I was think-
ing about writing Prospero’s Daughter, a novel loosely
based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, I knew that setting
would be a crucial determinant of the narrative line and
would seriously affect the outcomes of my characters’
choices. Shakespeare’s play is set on an isolated (perhaps
tropical) island that itself is intrinsically linked to the
issues and conflicts in the play. To imitate the parameters
of that setting, I decided to set my novel on Chacachacare,
a small offshore island annexed by Trinidad that had
once been a leper colony.
I had heard about Chacachacare, I had read about
Chacachacare, but I had never been to Chacachacare.
And what a difference it made when I went! Had I not
taken the boat trip across the channels of water linking
Trinidad to Chacachacare, I would never have realized
how dark and muddied the sea became from the back-
wash of the Orinoco River, I never would have seen how
friendly the dolphins were that accompanied our boat
to the shore, or heard their joyful chatter. I would not
have smelled the horrible odor of the filth floating on
the bays around Chacachacare: the sewage and refuse
dumped there from the yachts of wealthy Americans and
Europeans. (I learned Donald Trump had allegedly inves-
tigated the island as a possible location for a casino.)
You may have decided on a setting
before you thought about a plot, but
setting can also propel you to discover
ideas not originally conceived.
All those details and more infused themselves into my
novel: the glorious beauty of the island, the sweet smells
of the wild flowers entangled between tall trees, the musi-
cal songs of multicolored birds, the feel of the warm sun or
the damp air against my skin. There was even beauty in
the relics of the leper hospital overgrown with weeds and
24 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
vines. And at the top of the highest hill was a lighthouse,
which was to play a major role in my story that I had not
conceived of in the earlier stages in the narrative. From
that lighthouse one could see the Boca Grande, that wide
expanse of water through which German U-boats during
World War II snuck into oil-rich Trinidad to refuel
their submarines—until the Americans blew them out
of the water.
But what if you cannot travel to the places where you
want to set your novel? I had been to Barbados, but only
on holiday, when I decided to create the story that would
become Even in Paradise, about an Anglo-Caribbean man
in Barbados who had three properties which he wanted to
pass on to his three children (a story once again inspired
by a Shakespearean play, this time King Lear).
To jog my memory and enhance the setting further, I
browsed photographs. I equated the island with its flat
landscape, ink-blue sea and sparkling white sand, but
the character I had in mind lived on a hill. Then I came
upon a photograph in a Barbados coffee table book of
a Victorian house on top of a hill, facing a shimmering
blue sea, with two lush green promontories jutting out
from the sides. I had before me one crucial aspect of
my setting: the home of the main character. That one
photo provided me with many of the details I needed to
create the framework of the house and to fire my imagi-
nation to expand upon what lay hidden beyond the doors
and windows.
THE LINK BETWEEN
SETTING & CHARACTERS
The emotions and conflicts your characters experience
can be made more vivid by the setting you choose. One
of my favorite novels is The Sea by John Banville, which
opens with a “strange tide,” a morning under “a milky
sky,” a bay that “swelled and swelled, rising to unheard-of
heights.” With that beginning, the mood is established
for Banville’s moving story about a man who loses his
beloved wife to cancer and retraces his past to a seaside
cottage, hoping for respite from his grief. The setting of a
turbulent sea undergirds the entire novel, and the reader
is swept into the character’s struggles until the very last
line, when, harkening back to the first, the husband says:
“… It was as if I were walking into the sea.”
You can also choose a setting that contrasts with your
character’s emotions. Take, for example, the famous love
scene in George Eliot’s Middlemarch. When the two lov-
ers finally come together, there is not brilliant sunshine,
but instead a burst of thunder and lightning. The effect
is to convey to the reader the intensity of the passion YOUR SETTING SNAPSHOT
between the two characters.
Choose your whole setting carefully, scene by scene— 1. The emotions and conflicts that your characters
the time of day or night, the climate, the weather, the experience can be enhanced or contrasted by a
landscape, the seascape, the country, the part of the well-detailed setting.
2. Your plot can be more engaging if you locate it in
country—and you will be able to convey more effectively
the emotions your characters are experiencing. a time and place that feels real.
3. If possible, visit the locations of your setting, and
THE PLOT OF PLACE carefully research the details that would give
A setting that either complements or contradicts the authenticity to your descriptions.

events in your story can enhance your plot. A particular 4. Use your five senses; let the reader see, hear, smell,

setting, with specific details, can be a rich source of story taste and touch the settings you describe.
5. Setting can lead you to a plot or character devel-
you could easily weave into your characters’ lives to
opment you had not originally conceived.
increase the tension in the conflicts they face.
You may have decided on a setting before you
thought about a plot, but setting can also propel you to
mind, here is a cautionary tale about the importance of
discover ideas not originally conceived. Think of the
research in creating believable settings for your novels.
metaphor of a car driving down a dark road with only
I had given my novel Bruised Hibiscus to my late
the headlights to light the way, generally attributed to
friend, the writer and journalist Wayne Brown, confi-
E.L. Doctorow to illustrate the writing process: It
dent that he would like it. To my surprise he called to
is only when the car moves that the driver can see
tell me that he had stopped reading around Page 10.
the way forward; it is only when the writer begins to
Why? He said I had the wind blowing from the wrong
write that she can see the way to fill the page. Writing
direction across the sugar cane fields. Wayne was an
begets writing.
avid yacht man whose life on the sea often depended
As a native of Trinidad, I began Even in Paradise com-
on his knowledge of the trade winds. Most readers did
fortable with its setting, but there was a challenge in that
not notice my mistake, but Wayne did—and he taught
my story was about a man who wanted to live in a tropi-
me a lesson I never forgot.
cal seaside paradise. For all its beautiful landscapes, the
I thought I had been careful about the research I had
beaches in Trinidad are not paradisiacal. Not only are
done for this novel. I had set it in 1954 at the height of a
the waters west of the island muddied with the back-
scandalous murder of a young Jewish ophthalmologist
flow from the Orinoco, but on the east, trade winds lash
by her Indian doctor husband. I knew the setting of
against the shore, coarsening the sand. The story, then,
this novel was important to the story, and in an effort to
led me to Barbados, chasing those postcard seascapes,
get it right, I had scoured the microfiche records of the
but then I discovered that political tensions on those
daily newspaper that year. To create a believable world,
very beaches—open to the public even on privatized
I recorded the details of the weather at that period in
resorts essential to the tourism economy—would have
1954, the conditions of the roads and landscape, the
unexpected but undeniable sway on the turns the story
music people were listening to, even the books they
would take.
were reading. But I forgot about the wind, and that
Don’t make the mistake of telling your story apart
small detail shattered my friend’s belief in the world I
from its setting. Allow the time and place not just to sup-
had created.
port the narrative drive, but to shape it.
Paint your worlds with the attention they deserve, and
THE WEIGHT OF RESEARCH your readers will stay right there with you. WD
Setting is important for verisimilitude in fiction, for
Elizabeth Nunez is the award-winning author of nine novels and a
creating a fictive world that is plausible, but you need
memoir, Not for Everyday Use. Her latest, Even in Paradise, is the
to research your real-world settings so that the world King Lear–inspired story of a man whose obvious preference for his
you create is one that your reader can trust. With that in youngest daughter leads to toxic resentments from her siblings.

WritersDigest.com I 25
 WRITE THAT NOVEL!
TO CHANGE OR
NOT TO CHANGE?
For anyone who’s heard the dictum that characters
must have a transformational arc, that really is the question.
And the answer may surprise you.
BY DAVID CORBETT
S
eldom a conference or workshop goes by without
someone asking the inevitable question: Do my
characters really have to change?
I’ve heard a broad array of answers from a variety of
authors and teachers, ranging from a full-throated “Yes!”
to a table-pounding “No!” Then the debate begins, where
everyone discusses what they mean and why, examples
are cited, counterexamples are offered, interpretations are
discussed and parsed, reality is invoked—Can convicts
really be reformed? What actually happens when someone
converts to a new faith, or gives up drugs or alcohol?
My own response? A confident if seemingly equivocal,
“It depends.” Because the question of whether a character
must change muddles several other questions that need
to be teased out to fully, meaningfully address the issue:
26 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
• What’s the story I’m trying to tell?
• Given that story, is it natural that my character(s)
might change?
• If not, why not?
• If so, how? Why?
STARTING WITH THE STORY
PHOTOS © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: JAN FAUKNER
Every story implicitly asks two simple questions: 1) What
happened? and 2) Why? These questions may remain
unanswered, but they cannot be escaped.
Taking it one step further, to keep “what happened”
from sounding like Uncle Ned’s account of his exquisitely
uneventful fishing trip, we need to keep in mind what
Les Edgerton means when he says every story is about
the same thing—trouble—or what Steven James means
when he says that stories are not about what happened,
but about what went wrong.
Stories are about problems, and problems pose ques-
tions. The movement from an unanswered question to an
answered one implicitly suggests a change—in circum-
stances or the situation, if not the characters. It is likely, but
not inevitable, that a change in circumstances should effect
a change in your characters, if only in their understanding.
But is that enough to say the characters change?
Again, it depends. What is the nature of the problems
they face? What questions do those problems pose—and
what happens when they try to answer those questions?
Characters in a story face problems of three sorts:
• EXTERNAL CHALLENGES: tasks in pursuit of a goal in
the physical world—take a trip, save the miners, res-
cue the hostage, catch the killer.
• INTERNAL QUESTIONS: doubts concerning deep-
seated issues such as one’s worth, purpose, nature,
identity—in which characters are forced to ask, Who
am I? What kind of person do I want to be?
• INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS: efforts to grow
closer to or distance oneself from another character
or characters.
Not every story has all three levels of conflict, but stories
that include at least two tend to feel more substantial.
More important, the levels of conflict are not mutually
exclusive. On the contrary, the story will lack dramatic
unity if the distinct threads are not somehow woven
together. (An imaginary example: By facing his guilt con-
cerning the accidental death of Consuela’s brother, Jack is
able to reconcile with her, which is important because she
speaks Spanish and he doesn’t, and he needs that skill to
help the immigrants who have wandered onto his ranch
seeking shelter from the vigilantes who are hunting them.)
Each area of conflict tends to ask its own questions
of the characters—and these distinctions point toward
unique tests the characters face, depending on which
level of conflict predominates in your story.
• EXTERNAL CHALLENGES: Is the character capable of
doing what is necessary to achieve the goal? (If the
character is capable, what happens to put that capa-
bility in question? If the character doesn’t have what
it takes to succeed at the outset, what skills does he
need in order to prevail?)
• INTERNAL QUESTIONS: Will the character resolve
his uncertainties about himself and gain a stronger
sense of identity, purpose or worth? (What weakness,
wound, limitation or flaw is undermining the char-
acter’s sense of self? Can he rise above the weakness,
heal the wound, overcome the limitation or correct
the flaw? What will it take to do so?)
• INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS: Will the bond
between the protagonist and another character
grow stronger or weaker? (What does the charac-
ter need to do to get the other character to respond,
whether favorably or unfavorably? Is that within the
realm of possibility?)
What we often refer to as change in a character normally
points toward the internal questions: Will the character
resolve his doubts about his own merits? That change
may—and often does—reveal itself in external behavior,
(i.e., by resolving his self-doubts, he is more capable of
achieving his goals in the world, including building better
relationships with others). In those cases, change is obvious.
However, in tragedy, this new self-awareness often
comes too late to change the misfortune that’s been lurk-
ing in the shadows. Nevertheless, that shocking new
awareness is itself a change, which the reader feels along
with the character. Even if the character is paralyzed by
what he now understands, it is also clear that he is pro-
foundly different than a moment ago.
But there are many other types of stories where
this “crisis of insight” (also known as the “change-or-
die moment”) is not only missing, it’s unnecessary. Let’s
examine a few examples, focusing on protagonists.
GRAPPLING WITH
EXTERNAL CONFLICT
Many protagonists who validate the claim that not all char-
acters must change reside in genres where the principal
action is external: mysteries, action, war stories. Heroes
such as Hercule Poirot, James Bond and Jack Reacher
exemplify this, and arguably are loved by readers in no
small part precisely because they do not change. In crafting
their stories, their respective creators Agatha Christie, Ian
Fleming and Lee Child typically reveal a change in circum-
stances or the situation rather than in the hero.
This kind of heroic protagonist typically has a unique
skill set that elevates him above the common man, thus
inspiring awe rather than empathy. We do not necessar-
ily want to feel what Bond and Reacher feel; we simply
want to watch them overcome the incredible odds they
face and save the day.
WritersDigest.com I 27
 WRITE THAT NOVEL!
WHAT ABOUT ANTAGONISTS AND
SECONDARY CHARACTERS?
A perceived “rule” that the opponent never changes
basically reflects the routine use of this character as
the embodiment of evil—a villain. Often villains are
conceived as psychopaths or sociopaths with rigid
personality disorders who by their nature resist change.
But the opponent can and often does change,
especially in dramas where the conflict is motivated
meaningfully on both sides, as when good is pitted
against good (e.g., the Kansas father who fears losing
the farm versus the artistic son who desperately wants
to leave). In such cases, the observations discussed in
the body of this article apply equally.
There are also stories that possess a plot technique
known as the double reversal in which both the pro-
tagonist and the opponent experience a crucial insight
into themselves when each learns something from the
other. It’s perhaps ironic that this technique is as com-
mon in love stories as it is in tales of war and sports. In
both cases, the adversaries gain a grudging respect
for each other through their combat (with or without a
resulting change of heart).
As for secondary characters, their dramatic function—
mentor, ally, betrayer—suggests a certain fixedness,
though more in role than understanding. And yet if they
endure a similar gauntlet of trials and struggles as the
main characters, how can they not change in some way?
Their distinct personalities will determine the degree to
which they do or don’t evolve or even transform.
With “everyman” protagonists whose struggle is
largely external—i.e., they need to acquire that Bond-
like skill set during the course of the story—it can be
argued that to learn is to grow, and to grow is to change.
Obtaining a skill typically makes a person more confident,
if only in the performance of that skill or the victory of
that battle. He feels differently about himself and his
capability—less uncertain and doubtful. That may not be
a huge change—though your story will be more engag-
ing if it is—but it’s a change nonetheless.
This raises a crucial point: When a protagonist of any
kind changes, it’s usually because the struggles and con-
flict he has faced have forged a different understanding
of himself, his abilities and/or his world, including the
people in it.
28 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
INTERNALIZING CHARACTER CHANGE
It is difficult to imagine a character going through a
number of struggles, tests and challenges and not emerg-
ing at the opposite end with a transformed perspective
on himself or an altered attitude toward life. The con-
flict he faces may also finally force him to rise above the
weakness, heal the wound, overcome the limitation or
correct the flaw that has up to this point held him back,
distorting his sense of his own worth and what he can
expect from life.
That evolution may not reflect itself, however, in a
change in behavior—and it’s characters of this nature
who are often (mis)identified as not having changed.
Take, for example, Brick in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on
a Hot Tin Roof. At the end of the play he is still resisting
Maggie’s advances, and when she begins putting away his
liquor with the intention of conceiving a child with him,
he responds with a phrase he used earlier: “Wouldn’t it be
funny if that was true?” Though his words are the same,
their meaning is not, for we have witnessed him forced to
confess the truth about himself, his lies and his homosex-
uality. Cynicism has been replaced by surrender.
This leads to discussion of a character type sometimes
referred to as the Steadfast Character, whose dramatic
arc is premised precisely on his refusal to change, usu-
ally for one of two reasons: 1) He refuses to sacrifice
an ideal or give up on a goal he believes he cannot live
without, or 2) He clings to the “pathological maneu-
vers” he uses to protect himself from the pain of life. In
each case, it would seem that the character in question is
defined precisely by a refusal to surrender his core goal,
moral stance or personal commitment. Examples of the
former include Antigone, Romeo, Jake Barnes in The
Sun Also Rises and Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive; a
classic example of the latter is A Streetcar Named Desire’s
Blanche Dubois.
But this notion of “steadfast” glances past a key point:
Although it might be said that the motives or behaviors
of such characters don’t appreciably change, their emo-
tions, insights or attitudes toward life do. They have
gained a new understanding of the cost of standing firm.
Or else they are forced through even greater effort than
before to clamp down on their denial and refuse the
opportunity to change that is before them. In either case,
they are different than before—and that’s a change.
Sophocles’ Antigone understands the merit of both
obeying Creon, who has ordered death to anyone
who buries the Theban rebels, and fulfilling her sacred
obligation to lay to rest her beloved brother, whose body
lies out in the open, prey to dogs and buzzards. Both
options have grave moral weight. But she has to choose.
A choice always means change, if only in circumstances,
for every option but one is eliminated—but here the
change goes much deeper. As she accepts the ultimate
consequence of her choice—her own death—the audi-
ence feels the increased depth of her love and conviction,
even though, outwardly, her behavior does not change.
She remains faithful to her brother.
One might say that the love of Shakespeare’s Romeo is
steadfast, but as the stakes change, so does his apprecia-
tion and acceptance of what that love requires of him.
In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Jake and
Brett experience a moment of ironic tenderness in the
end. They don’t change because they consciously refuse
the opportunity that’s presented. Change isn’t impossible,
it’s forsaken—meaning a decision has been made. And a
decision, by necessity, is inherently dramatic as it reveals
change: For every judgment call, there is a distinct “before”
and “after.”
And what of Tennessee Williams’ DuBois? She refuses
to give up the romantic illusions that blur the hard real-
ity of growing older, and the loss of her sexual allure. Her
psychotic break at the conclusion, after Stanley rapes her,
testifies to a continued, pathological preference for delu-
sion over truth, but also an awareness, however dim, that
those delusions did not and cannot protect her.
FAILING ON THE WAY
Nothing prompts profound reassessment of oneself or
one’s situation like disaster. Even minor failures and set-
backs often cause us to rethink what we’re doing, how
we’re going about it or why.
As already noted, stories involve trouble. That trouble
is caused by something going wrong, then getting pro-
gressively worse.
Throughout the course of events, as the protagonist
tries to reverse that disturbing trend, he is trying to figure
things out. To the extent he succeeds he is, again, learning,
and learning intrinsically indicates change. The character’s
understanding—of the situation, himself and/or others—
is different at Point B then it was earlier at Point A.
It is in how he responds to this gauntlet of failure that
the character who changes distinguishes himself from
the one who does not. If your protagonist never appre-
ciably doubts his capabilities or sense of purpose—as
Poirot, Bond and Reacher do not—then feel no need to
jerry-rig some sort of change. It’s one reason we admire
such characters—they lack the doubt, confusion, weak-
ness and fear of mere mortals like us.
ROMANCING THE TRANSFORMATION
In the modern love story, the core question is: What’s
keeping the lovers apart? Given societal changes, old
tropes surrounding differences in class, status or religion
often no longer apply. Similarly, the broader acceptance
of divorce makes it possible for married lovers to cut the
nuptial knot and move on.
When a protagonist of any kind
changes, it’s usually because the
struggles and conflict he has faced
have forged a different understanding
of himself, his abilities and/or his world,
including the people in it.
What’s keeping the lovers apart, then, is each other.
There is some combination of traits on the part of one
character or the other that is preventing the couple from
resolving their differences, coming to terms and com-
mitting. This means one or both characters at some point
are obliged to ask themselves: What do I need to change
about myself, my life or what I’m doing to get that person
to say yes?
The setup implicitly dictates change. This is equally true
if the love driving your story takes the form of a family
connection, friendship, student-teacher relationship or
any other significant bond—or even if it’s simply a subplot.
The lone wolf who realizes he needs to be more of a team
player (or vice-versa) is observing an identical logic.
Look to your story to determine whether your main
characters must change, and the degree of change they
will undergo. Change is by no means a requirement—but
when the story leads to self-examination, or revolves
around a relationship, it is all but inevitable that the
action will create the re-evaluation of self that we equate
with change. WD
David Corbett (davidcorbett.com) is the award-winning author
of five novels, including 2015’s The Mercy of the Night, the story
collection Thirteen Confessions, and the writing guide The Art of
Character (called “a writer’s bible” by Elizabeth Brundage).
WritersDigest.com I 29
 WRITE THAT NOVEL!
21 WAYS TO PIVOT YOUR PLOT
Need more tension, momentum or just an unexpected turn? Try these strategies.
BY ELIZABETH SIMS
Y
ou can write a great character sketch, a moving
love scene, a thrilling chase, even a heart-clutching
murder—but a good story needs more than
those elements. It needs plot movement—articulated
by pivot points.
A pivot point is an essential fulcrum upon which
a story or a large swath of story turns. Archimedes,
standing there next to the Earth with his lever, would
understand! More significant than an ordinary plot
point (which might serve to impart information or
develop character), a pivot point effectively changes the
direction of a character or action sequence. Huge when
used as a foundation for a story, a pivot point can also
be a small powerhouse for plot movement.
If your outline or story hangs together but lacks
zing or seems to be missing something, take a look
and see if there’s an opportunity to add a pivot point—
or three. Some may be more or less dropped in via
a new character or subplot; others require more
planning to effectively incorporate. Let these ideas
get your wheels turning. (Warning: plot spoilers ahead,
30 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
in the name of learning by example. This is the life
we’ve chosen …)
1
 DROP A HOUSE. The Wonderful Wizard
of Oz by L. Frank Baum features any number of
important turning points, the most central (and literal)
of which is the tornado that transports Dorothy to
Munchkin Country. While the tornado is definitely the
inciting incident, the immediate pivot point that results
is the fact that Dorothy’s house crushes to death the
Wicked Witch of the East—thus earning Dorothy the
malignant enmity of the Wicked Witch of the West. That
one pivot infuses life-and-death urgency into every min-
ute of Dorothy’s journey.
PHOTOS © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: LIDERINA
You too can create an accident that brings an innocent
character into the crosshairs of an unforgiving antagonist,
be it a car wreck, a spilled drink or a bump in an elevator.
2
  CREATE A GHOST. Some plot points
can pivot more than one way; for example, the
introduction of Boo Radley in Harper Lee’s To Kill a
Mockingbird. The children’s obsession with him leads
them to approach his creepy house; Boo’s secret gifts to
the kids reveal his true nature; and, of course, without
Boo, Scout would not have lived to tell her tale. In this
case the pivot point is the ultimate force for good.
Of course, Boo was a man, not a ghost. But you can
take that idea of a quiet presence or force and make it
your own. Such a “ghost” who quietly crops up here and
there can suffuse your plot with real tension and mystery.
3
 GIVE SOMEBODY CHARGE OVER
SOMETHING. The classic fairy tale “Jack and
the Beanstalk” pivots beautifully on this. Jack’s mother,
instead of taking the family’s cow to market herself,
entrusts young Jack to do the job. Before he even reaches
town, he gets suckered into giving the cow to an old man
who offers him a few supposedly magic beans for it. He
catches hell, but all ends well.
The injunction “Don’t screw it up!” is an automatic
pivot point, because it applies instant pressure to the
character entrusted with the task.
4
 SUPPRESS A CONSCIENCE. In
Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, a key
pivot point comes fairly late in the story, but it’s correctly
placed for maximum impact. It’s not when the ambitious
Clyde Griffiths gets the homely Roberta Alden preg-
nant, and not even when he begins to think of how much
easier life would be without her. It’s when he swims away
from her in the cold lake after their boat capsizes. He has
made a decision that both solves his immediate problem
and damns him forever.
How could you give a more or less moral character a
dire, fast decision to make—and have her pick the dark
path? That choice itself is hugely compelling.
5
 TORMENT A CONSCIENCE. Edgar
Allan Poe got maximum mileage from a guilty
conscience in his short story “The Tell-Tale Heart,” in
which the unnamed narrator commits a murder, dis-
members the corpse and hides it beneath the floorboards.
After the cops show up, the narrator’s unhinged con-
science works on him until his guilt becomes unbearable
and he confesses in a frenzy.
The pivot is the sudden appearance of the police—the
agents of moral authority. Young children, with their rudi-
mentary impulse control, can be great fun as characters in
situations like this.
6
 EXPLOIT LOYALTY. A character who is
blind to the faults of another can furnish fabulous
pivot points. In Graham Greene’s short, powerful novel
The Third Man, the entire plot hinges on Rollo Martins’
decision to stay in Vienna to clear the reputation of his
dead friend Harry Lime. The reason Martins stays is his
loyalty, which, because it influences his every choice,
serves to pivot the story multiple times.
This technique is beautiful because it’s so simple
and internal, and because you can—like Greene—twist
your character into knots trying to justify her allegiance,
whether that loyalty serves as a driving force all the way
to the end, or ultimately comes to a breaking point.
You can use any hidden error to
pivot a plot: a wrong grade on a long-
ago exam, a contract containing a
critical typo, a misidentified photo in
a newspaper archive …
7
  PUT INTEGRITY UP FOR SALE.
A character who is willing to pay a high price
for being honest can furnish a terrific turning point.
In Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear, such a pivot comes
not at the startling moment of Lear’s request that his
daughters compete with one another to show their
love, but when Cordelia refuses, knowing she’ll be
disinherited on the spot. Without this key moment of
integrity, the play could easily be merely a miasma of
greed and vanity.
You can endow a character with similar principles.
When integrity costs nothing, it’s not that interesting.
But when a character sacrifices much to be true to his
standards? Now there’s some drama.
8
 LEVERAGE SHAME. Deep down, shame
begins with ego: What will people think? A single
shameful secret provides a major fulcrum for Eugene
O’Neill’s masterpiece play Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
The matriarch’s drug addiction defines her life, and it also
effectively controls her husband and sons, whose actions
in scene after scene revolve around their mother’s relation-
ship with her syringe.
WritersDigest.com I 31
 WRITE THAT NOVEL!
Make a character feel shame over something secret
and watch what it does to that character. Better still, let
that character manipulate others into codependence, as
O’Neill did, and press the results forward.
COVER UP A MISTAKE. A serious mis-
9
take can be buried, with hope, for years (“maybe
no one will find out!”), only to surface as a pivotal element.
One of my favorites is the switched-at-birth story at
the heart of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera H.M.S.
Pinafore. A dotty wet nurse mixes up two infants, one of
humble birth, “the other upper crust!” but keeps mum,
hoping for the best. She (having a conscience—see above)
feels compelled to come clean when one of the lads, now
grown, is smitten with a lass far above his station. All
seems hopeless—until the happy truth comes out.
You can use any hidden error to pivot a plot: a wrong
grade on a long-ago exam, a contract containing a critical
typo, a misidentified photo in a newspaper archive …
10
DELAY SALVATION. Help is on the way …
or is it? Laura Ingalls Wilder drew on her family’s
experiences in The Long Winter, during which an entire
region of South Dakota is snowed in for months and
months with the supply train unable to reach them. The
townspeople endure dreadful privations as they work to
defeat starvation. Hidden caches of food play a starring
role, but blizzards keep delaying that train.
You can pivot a plot by creating an expectation that
goes unmet. Hope rises … hope falls … hope rises …
Grant a wish—or bestow some
benevolence—that can grow fangs
over the course of your story: a lift to a
hitcher, a witness statement, a marriage
proposal, a gift of money or land, or
political favor.
11
  LEVEL A CURSE. Many a folktale relies
on a curse for a plot fulcrum, “Sleeping Beauty”
being perhaps the most famous. Today, knowing what
we know about the power of suggestion—from the pla-
cebo effect to hypnosis—an author can work a curse to
32 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
not only pivot a plot, but to drive subsequent action to
an exciting (or ghastly) conclusion.
You can employ a literal curse in fantasy genres. More
broadly, consider the closely related self-fulfilling prophecy,
upon which an entire multi-generational saga can pivot.
12
BREACH A CONFIDENCE. In the Norse
myth of Balder and the mistletoe, goddess Frigg
extracts promises from the gods and all the animals,
plants, metals and stones on Earth never to hurt her
beloved son Balder. But the jealous trickster Loki won-
ders if perhaps the queen missed something. He changes
into a friendly, harmless crone and gets the queen to
admit that she overlooked a young sprig of mistletoe. He
fashions an arrow from it, and soon Balder lies dead. The
pivot here is the queen’s careless tongue.
You can create a marvelous pivot point by having
someone trustingly reveal a vulnerability to a treacher-
ous foe in (figurative) disguise.
13
  INVENT A MINI MENTOR. Mildred
Pierce, eponymous protagonist of James M. Cain’s
novel, is down on her luck. A tough-talking woman at the
employment agency asks why Mildred won’t take a job as
a waitress. Mildred says she couldn’t face her kids if they
knew she was doing such menial work.
“But you can face them with nothing to eat?” says Miss
Turner, who gives her a few more choice words. That
blunt affirmation gets Mildred to see herself honestly,
and she changes her course then and there.
Any minor character can speak wisdom that pivots a
character—and your story.
14
  MAKE A BAD DECISION. The first pages
of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code contain a
major pivot point: the moment when the assassin sadis-
tically refrains from completing his task, feeling safe
in permitting his target to die slowly. Which, of course,
enables the victim, art curator Jacques Saunière, to pre-
pare his final messages to the world via a subtle system
of clues. Personally, I thought it was a sketchy device, but
then again, I haven’t sold a bazillion copies of anything.
Let evil indulge itself a little. It can prove to be its own
worst enemy.
15
  WRECK A SHIP. Never underestimate
the power of brute force. From Captains
Courageous (Rudyard Kipling) to Lord of the Flies
(William Golding) to Life of Pi (Yann Martel), authors
have explored the gut-wrenching, life-changing effect
of a shipwreck. You can create all sorts of aquatic disas-
ters—even, say, a scuba lesson gone wrong—or you can
get farther out: a marooned spacecraft, a time traveler
separated from her equipment.
This one can act as your main pivot point, or be
dropped in to shake things up.
16
GRANT A WISH. All King Midas wanted
was more riches—is that too much to ask? The
gods granted his wish that everything he touched would
turn to gold—but of course they knew better, and soon so
did Midas. His lively daughter turned into a golden statue,
and inedible hard yellow food made him see the error of
his greed.
Grant a wish—or bestow some benevolence—that
can grow fangs over the course of your story: a lift to a
hitcher, a witness statement, a marriage proposal, a gift
of money or land, or political favor.
17
BETRAY BETWEEN THE SHEETS.
Literary novels often take license to sprawl all
over the place, plotwise. But if you look closely, you can
see pivot points.
In Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, a key pivot
is when Lady Brett seduces the young matador, Romero.
It’s a double betrayal of the sexually disabled protagonist
Jake: Not only is it clear she doesn’t care about Jake’s feel-
ings, but by recklessly bedding Romero, she destroys
Jake’s credibility with the local bullfighting aficionados,
whose esteem he cherishes.
Sexual betrayal is powerful, and nothing’s ever the
same afterward.
18
  PASS THE POINT OF NO RETURN.
James Dickey’s violent ’70s-era classic,
Deliverance, features four men who set off into the
wilderness on a pleasure trip. Once they’ve pushed
off in their canoes and shot a few rapids—a strong
pivot point—they realize how isolated they are, how
far from the thin but comforting veneer of civilization.
They literally cannot paddle upriver, back the way they
came; they must keep going, into a contemporary
heart of darkness.
You can create a similarly intense situation, either
with a literal journey or perhaps a spiritual or emo-
tional one. Someone who spontaneously sells off
everything she owns likely cannot buy it back. Someone
who at last remembers a suppressed trauma cannot
unremember it.
19
  KILL AN ALBATROSS. Samuel Taylor
Coleridge’s famous poem “The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner” created the lasting trope of an alba-
tross around one’s neck. It’s a mistake of overconfidence
for the mariner to shoot the lucky albatross, leading to
his awful penance.
Create a similar pivot point by having a character—
in a moment of stupidity or perhaps arrogance—throw
away or destroy a gift, with deep consequences.
20
 WARP AN INNOCENT. Incest almost
always represents a major pivot point; a contem-
porary example can be found in Ann-Marie MacDonald’s
Oprah’s Book Club bestseller, Fall on Your Knees. Other
sorts of corruption can be achieved when a person in a
position of power forces or cajoles an innocent into com-
mitting an atrocity, such as murdering a shared enemy, or
suppressing evidence, or giving false testimony.
Furthermore, in many such cases the revenge of the
innocent can drive a story on to a satisfying and dra-
matic conclusion.
21
  INDULGE A DARING IMPULSE.
Many successful stories hinge upon characters
who suddenly give in to impulse. We find a good example
in Sarah Waters’ The Paying Guests. The first (tremen-
dously illicit) kiss between Frances and Lilian not only
pivots the plot, it heightens the tone of the story from that
point on.
When a conventional character suddenly rebels
against fundamental cultural rules, you have something
juicy to work with.
I bet now you’ll be able to perceive and note pivot points
as you read the novels on your wish list. You’re also
equipped to recognize existing pivot points in your own
work, and consciously create and incorporate new ones
going forward. Readers might not know exactly why
your fiction grabs them—but they’ll agree that it’s taken
a turn for the better. WD
Contributing editor Elizabeth Sims (elizabethsims.com) writes the
Rita Farmer mysteries and the Lillian Byrd crime series, and is the
author of You’ve Got a Book in You (WD Books).
WritersDigest.com I 33
 WRITE THAT NOVEL!

NOVEL WRITING BY THE NUMBERS

To get from start to finish,
sometimes all you need is a simple countdown.
COMPILED BY JESSICA STRAWSER

10 FIRST LINES FROM RECENT BESTSELLERS

“The woman stood in the far corner of the dimly
lit room, hiding in shadows like a fish in gray water.”
— ROBERT CRAIS , The Promise
“War was declared at 11:15 and Mary North signed up at
noon.” — CHRIS CLEAVE , Everyone Brave Is Forgiven
“We didn’t like to gossip; we loved to gossip.”
— ELIN HILDERBRAND , The Rumor
“Some people used to believe that there was an elephant
graveyard—a place that old and sick elephants would
travel to die.” — JODI PICOULT , Leaving Time

“All you really need to know about the Paris Ritz is this:
By the middle of 1937, Coco Chanel was living in a
handsome suite on the third floor, and the bartender—
an intuitive mixologist named Frank Meier—had
invented the Bloody Mary 16 summers earlier to cure
a Hemingway hangover.” — BEATRIZ WILLIAMS ,
“The first time Caesar approached Cora about running
north, she said no.” — COLSON WHITEHEAD ,
The Underground Railroad
“A private plane sits on a runway in Martha’s Vineyard,
forward stairs deployed.” — NOAH HAWLEY , Before the Fall
PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: GOLDNETZ

Along the Infinite Sea

“None of it would have happened if Spider Barnes
hadn’t tied one on at Eddy’s two nights before
the Aurora was due to set sail.” — DANIEL SILVA,
The English Spy
“I love Thursday nights.” — BLAKE CROUCH , Dark Matter
“Well before his arrival in Cincinnati, everyone
knew that Chip Bingley was looking for a wife.”
— CURTIS SITTENFELD , Eligible

34 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

 9 BITE-SIZED CRAFT TIPS
An intriguing hook is important, but it must do more
than simply grab attention. It also needs to be honest
to the story, to the voice and to the direction you’re
taking things. … A hook that doesn’t provide the impe-
tus for escalation will sabotage the progression of your
story. —Troubleshooting Your Novel by STEVEN JAMES
(WD Books, 2016)
A writer I know kept referring to a story he was working
on as “the one in which I am a woman.” Not the one in
which “I write from the point of view of a woman,” not
even the one in which “I pretend to be a woman.” He
was, temporarily, a woman. I think that’s what it takes.
—The Kite and the String: How to Write With Spontaneity
and Control—and Live to Tell the Tale by ALICE MATTISON
(Viking, 2016)
When in doubt, delete. As you comb through your
manuscript, every time you think, I’m not sure that
works, you’ll be tempted to second-guess yourself and
think, Oh, it’s fine. Think again. It’s not fine. Fix it—
or lose it. —Writing With Quiet Hands by PAULA MUNIER
(WD Books, 2015)
Zoom in on the scene where your
character crosses from the middle to
the end—it should be an unforgettable
moment of conscious action in which the
character’s final story goal is in sight.
—Writing Deep Scenes by MARTHA ALDERSON
& JORDAN ROSENFELD (WD Books, 2015)
In the end, hundreds of plotlines showed us that best-
sellers can have any of the fundamental three-part plot
shapes. … [But] how the author works the scene-by-
scene rhythm into that shape is very important. The
million-dollar move is in a good, strong, regular beat.
—The Bestseller Code by JODIE ARCHER & MATTHEW L.
JOCKERS (St. Martin’s Press, 2016)
To improve your style, begin by reducing your writing
to its essential elements. Then build. Finally—with cau-
tion and some risk—embellish. Add flourish if it suits
you (and if it suits your audience and subject), keeping
in mind that flourish is not the same as fluff. Even as you
attempt elegance, your principal goal should be clarity.
—Keys to Great Writing: Revised and Expanded by
STEPHEN WILBERS (WD Books, 2016)
If you don’t have enough action, you
don’t necessarily have to make more
events happen; you can just make
the events that happen more difficult.
—The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young
Adults by CHERYL B. KLEIN (W.W. Norton & Company, 2016)
When one person kills another, and they are strangers
to each other, we see such an act as frightening, ter-
rible, maybe even shocking. But when a child murders
a parent or vice versa, or a brother slays a brother, such
a deed strikes us as much more horrific. Conflict of any
kind, from the most trivial to the most serious, between
characters who have close ties by blood and/or intense
relationships through friendship, marriage or love,
magnifies what’s at stake for the parties on both sides. …
Such personal conflict, too, bridges easily to the emo-
tions of the reader, whose strong feelings about his
own parents, children, friends, lovers or spouse then
lead him to empathize all the more with the feelings of
the fictional characters. —Writing the Blockbuster Novel:
Revised and Updated by ALBERT ZUCKERMAN (Forge, 2016)
Sometimes a character just won’t live no matter what you
do. Other times a character pops up and you simply can’t
drive him off the paper. He’s the one you’ve been pray-
ing for. —On Story: Screenwriters and Filmmakers on Their
Iconic Films, edited by BARBARA MORGAN and MAYA PEREZ ,
from the afterword by BILL WITTLIFF (University of Texas
Press, 2016)
WritersDigest.com I 35
 WRITE THAT NOVEL!
8 INSIGHTS FROM A YEAR OF WD INTERVIEWS
“
“My biggest tip for writing is: If you get
stuck, move forward to a scene that you’re
looking forward to working, and that just
tends to give you your joy back. And then
often you’ll find that the space between
them is actually a lot smaller than you
thought it was, and maybe a kind of easier way to work
it.” — JOJO MOYES , Jan. 2016
“
“Everything you could ever think of has
been written. That’s worth saying three
times. You’re not going to think of a
new idea, per se, as far as plot or story.
What
W you can infuse it with is your voice,
because while every story has been writ-
ten, there
h is only one you. We are unique snowflakes.
Be yourself. Tell the story about the teddy bear who can
talk, but give it your voice. Don’t try to make it Corduroy
or Winnie-the-Pooh. Make it your teddy bear. That’s
what you can give the world—give the world your voice.”
— DREW DAYWALT , Feb. 2016
“ think all art comes from … struggle
“I
and search—and, you know, I don’t think
it’s something that should come easily. It
doesn’t necessarily have to be painful or
impossible, but it’s important to recognize
and to respect what it is to create some-
thing
h out off nothing—the challenge of it, the difficulties
of it—and work from that position.” — JHUMPA LAHIRI ,
March/April 2016
“
“My perspective in writing my own books
is that I’m writing about the real world.
Th
The world I live in is not all white. I do
live in Omaha, so it’s whiter than most
places, but even then, that becomes part
of the book. In Eleanor & Park, you get
Park talking about being one of the only Asian people
in a white school. In Fangirl, you get Cath moving from
the least white part of the state to the university, which
is very white. Race is a part of our lives, and diversity is
just a part of our lives. So it feels like a very realistic way
to write, to me. I’d feel so ashamed of myself if my books
were less diverse than my life.” — RAINBOW ROWELL ,
May/June 2016
36 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
“ particularly like to write characters
“I
who are bits of shades of gray, so we don’t
know exactly where they’re going to go.
Th
They’re at a turning point in their lives
and they’re under extreme stress, because
it’s a thriller. So, will this break them?
And not even just your main characters, but all the
characters. And suddenly there’s something interesting,
for me, to show up for in the mornings.” — LISA GARDNER ,
July/Aug. 2016
“
“Dull, awful jobs like laundry, ironing
and weeding suddenly feel like an urgent
priority when you’re looking at a blank
page that needs to be filled with a couple
of thousand words before you can sit back
and breathe deeply. … Writing is my joy,
but not always; much of the time it is my job, and I have
to write whether I feel like it or not, whether inspiration
strikes or not. That is how you make a story unfold.”
— JANE GREEN , Sept. 2016
“ always urge young writers who feel the
“I
pressure to produce [more, faster] to spend
more time browsing bookstores. I urge
them to check how many books any writer
tends to have on the shelf. Ours is a culture
where it’s lucky for a writer to be remem-
bered
b d forf even one book, less three or four. Writing 20
books in your career is wonderful; I wish I had written as
much. But ultimately I’d rather write the best book I can
write no matter how long it takes me than the best book I
can write fast simply because the unrelenting pace of our
society demands speed in all things.” — JUNOT DÍAZ ,
Oct. 2016
“
“Successful writing is all about passion …
and I think it’s a mistake for anyone
to somehow disassociate themselves
from that passion, to think that the
creation of a compelling piece of fiction
can be had simply on intellectual terms.
It becomes cold, and I don’t think you want cold.
You want heat, you want fire. That’s what we gather
around and warm our hands with.” — ROBERT CRAIS ,
Nov/Dec 2016
 7 GENRE WORD COUNT GUIDES

ADULT MAINSTREAM NOVELS:

80,000–100,000 words
ADULT MAINSTREAM NOVEL DEAL-BREAKERS:
Fewer than 70,000 or more than 110,000 words
ADULT SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY:
100,000–115,000 words
PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: DANIEL JEDZURA

YOUNG ADULT:
55,000–70,000 words
UPPER MIDDLE-GRADE:
40,000–55,000
MIDDLE-GRADE:
20,000–55,000 words
PICTURE BOOKS:
32 pages; 500–600 words

6 TALES OF REJECTION OVERCOME

1. “There is a time in the lives of most writers when

they are vulnerable, when the vivid dreams and
ambitions of childhood seem to pale in the harsh sun-
light of what we call the real world. In short, there’s a
time when things can go either way. That vulnerable
time for me came during 1971 to 1973. If my wife had
suggested to me even with love and kindness and gentle-
ness ... that the time had come to put my dreams away
and support my family, I would have done that with no
complaint.” — STEPHEN KING , on the period during which
his wife pulled an early draft of Carrie out of the trash; the
novel went on to be rejected by 30 publishers before he
was offered a meager $2,500 advance for the debut from
Doubleday. (Later, the paperback rights for the book went to
Signet Books for $400,000.)
‘Does not win in competition with others,’ was always
checked off on mine. I still can’t look at a copy of
Highlights without wincing. I would go to sleep at night
feeling that I’d never be published. But I’d wake up in
the morning convinced I would be.” — JUDY BLUME ,
beloved children’s author
4. “I discovered that rejections are not altogether a
bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own
judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, ‘To hell with
you.’ ” — SAUL BELLOW , winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the
Nobel Prize for Literature and the National Medal of Arts
5. Q: “How did you handle rejections from pub-
lishers?” A: “I gave their email addresses to my
mother. You don’t know pain until you’ve met Teri

2. “From the day I wrote my first word to the day I

sold my first word was a span of 12 years. During
that time I completed eight manuscripts, five of which
Meltzer. Fear it.” —From Q&A on the website of bestselling
thriller writer and children’s book author BRAD MELTZER

were submitted to New York publishing houses. They

were rejected a total of 85 times. It was on the 86th
attempt that things happened for me.” — STEVE BERRY ,
No. 1 international bestselling author of 16 thrillers
6. “After rejection No. 40, I started lying to my
friends about what I did on the weekends. They
were amazed by how many times a person could
repaint her apartment. The truth was, I was embar-
rassed for my friends and family to know I was still

3. “For two years I received nothing but rejections.

One magazine, Highlights for Children, sent a
form letter with a list of possible reasons for rejection.
working on the same story, the one nobody apparently
wanted to read.” — KATHRYN STOCKETT , on the writing of
her runaway bestseller The Help

WritersDigest.com I 37
 WRITE THAT NOVEL!

5 PIECES OF WRITING ADVICE YOU SHOULD IGNORE

DON’T START WITH DIALOGUE. Starting with dialogue
creates instant conflict, which is what most unpublished
manuscripts lack in the first pages.
WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW. Sounder advice is this: Write
who you are. Write what you love. Write what you need
to know.
DON’T EVER FOLLOW ANY WRITING ADVICE. A few
literary savants out there may be able to do this thing
naturally, without thinking about technique or craft, and
those three people can form their own group and meet
for martinis. Every other writer can benefit from time
spent studying the craft.
NO BACKSTORY IN THE FIRST 50 PAGES. If you stop
the forward momentum of your opening with a long
flashback, you have dropped the narrative ball. However,
when backstory refers to bits of a character’s history, then
this advice is unsound. Backstory bits are actually essen-
tial for bonding us with a character.
DON’T START WITH THE WEATHER. Weather can add
dimension and tone to the opening disturbance. If you
use it in that fashion, weaving it into action, it’s a fine
way to begin.
—Just Write: Creating Unforgettable Fiction and a Rewarding
Writing Life by JAMES SCOTT BELL (WD Books, 2016)

4 THINGS YOU CAN ACHIEVE THROUGH INTERNAL DIALOGUE

1. Gain reader confidence. Simply put, internal dia-

logue is your character’s inner voice—and when a
character reveals his thoughts, he’s confiding in the audi-
3. Show the difference between what a character
thinks versus what she says or does. This can fuel
both tragedy and comedy.
ence. Suddenly readers feel involved and invested; they
have some skin in the game.
4. Trace a character’s growth and development,
PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: SOLARSEVEN

or the opposite: a character’s degeneration.

2. Adjust the pace. After a spate of action, let your

character(s) pause and reflect. This can even
happen while things in your story literally are still in
Change is the name of the game.

—Crafting Dynamic Dialogue: The Complete Guide to

motion—say, in a speeding subway train. Even then, Speaking, Conversing, Arguing and Thinking in Fiction
it will slow things down and let the reader absorb what from the editors of Writer’s Digest, 2016 (from Chapter 24:
just happened. “Understanding Internal Dialogue,” by ELIZABETH SIMS )

38 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

 3 WAYS TO REJUVENATE YOURSELF
1. Have you ever noticed a stranger looking at the per-
son you love with real interest or attraction? Doesn’t
it freshen your own attraction real quick? Pretend you’ve
run into someone who’s just leaving your study and they
look a little weak in the knees. “I just ran across the most
amazing piece of writing in there,” they tell you. “I’ll
never be the same. Man, how I wish I’d written it.” Now
go read your work and try to see it through their eyes.
—Part Wild: A Writer’s Guide to Harnessing the Creative Power
of Resistance by DEB NORTON (Enliven Books/Atria, 2016)
2. Brainstorm a list of all the unpaid, unseen, unre-
warded hours you’ve invested in things relating to
your writing that haven’t “paid off ” in your mind. When
you’re finished, look objectively at each item on the list.
See if you can’t come up with one “gift” each item has
given you—even if the “gift” is something like “It made
me realize I never want to do that for a living,” or “I
learned to get back up after a fall.”
2 REASONS WHY A STORY (DOES OR) DOESN’T WORK
I believe that there are two major reasons why a story
doesn’t work, or doesn’t work well enough. These two
categories are the very things a writer should strive to
conquer, not just in the revision phase but from the
story’s inception.
If there are two reasons why a story doesn’t work, it
follows that there are two reasons why it does, and that
the first set is the antithesis of the latter set. Like an air-
plane must have both power and lift, an athlete must
have both timing and speed, and a hit song must have
both melody and lyrics, effective stories need two sepa-
rate dimensions of energy.
Just two.
Either your story proposition isn’t strong enough,
or its execution isn’t effective enough. The flip side,
then, says that when a story does work, it is because the
story proposition is strong enough and its execution is
indeed effective. In either case, two coins are spinning
in the air, and how they land determines the fate of your
story. Mining the gold of this truth requires that you
It’s easy to be fooled into thinking there’s a magic pro-
gram, a specific path that only others know about, or a
unique but mysterious road that you should take with a
set number of steps to reach your dreams.
Nonsense. You decide when. You decide how.
No effort you make toward your writing practice
is wasted. —A Writer’s Guide to Persistence by JORDAN
ROSENFELD (WD Books, 2015)
3. We’re conditioned to think envy is bad, because
we think there isn’t enough of the type of success
we want to go around. But when we consider envy to be
a point of desire, and we believe that one person’s good
news does not preclude our own, we can enjoy discov-
ering fresh desire and get curious about the best way to
fulfill it. Let’s remember that when we see other people
doing or getting some version of what we want, we have
proof that it is possible! —Fierce on the Page by SAGE
COHEN (WD Books, 2016)
understand what strong means and what effective entails.
Not everyone agrees, so whom you listen to becomes a
factor in your success. —Story Fix: Transform Your Novel
From Broken to Brilliant by LARRY BROOKS (WD Books, 2015)
1 SIMPLE PIECE OF ADVICE
“There are a million talented writers
out there who are unpublished only
because they stop writing when it gets
hard. Don’t do that.”
— GILLIAN FLYNN, bestselling author of Gone Girl and
other novels
Jessica Strawser (jessicastrawser.com) is the editorial director of
Writer’s Digest. Her novel Almost Missed You is due out in March.
WritersDigest.com I 39
 CRAFT A KILLER
Subgenres come and go, but the traditional mystery is here to stay. Master these
essentials of the form, and you may just find yourself cozying up to success.
BY JANE K. CLELAND
A
gatha Christie, the doyen of the traditional mystery
(often called a cozy), once said that it’s innocence
that matters, not guilt. That one statement tells you
everything you need to know to write a winning
cozy: By the end of the novel, the guilty must be
punished and the innocent must be vindicated. Cozies
can examine the dark side of human interactions, but
they’re not ugly, and ultimately, order must be restored
from the chaos that surrounds murder.
The facts of the genre are these: Killer cozies feature
an appealing and relatable sleuth, a murderer who kills
for personal reasons, a denouement that showcases the
deductive abilities of the sleuth (rather than, say, foren-
sics); and an overall milieu of civility. Yes, you as the
author kill people on the page, but you do it tastefully,
and you ensure that, ultimately, good triumphs over evil.
Sound like your cup of tea? You’ve come to the
right place.
40 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
COZY
THE SLEUTH
In cozies, the sleuth is usually an amateur (Miss Marple,
Nancy Drew, Jessica Fletcher)—though not always.
Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels feature a tough-guy
private eye, yet the books are essentially cozies. What
distinguishes Parker’s PI from his classically hard-boiled
cousins is the sweet and decent world Parker creates for
Spenser to inhabit. Spenser is a man of honor—loyal,
loving and devoted to the truth—and those are the quali-
PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: ALENA OZEROVA
ties that lead to his success. If you do choose a detective
with a gritty career—a police officer, bail bondsman or
parole officer, for example—your character’s goodness
should serve as a compelling counterpoint to the dark
world he inhabits.
Whether you opt for a professional or amateur sleuth,
your protagonist needs to be ethical, fair and kind. Your
sleuth can be conflicted about normal life issues, but she
shouldn’t be dour or baleful. In all fiction, opposites
work to increase tension, the heart of suspense.
Creating a character who’s at odds with her environ-
ment lends itself to the kinds of complexity readers love.
Amateur detectives are popular because readers can
relate to them. Give your sleuth a unique or unusual
career or hobby, and your readers will want to know
more. You could have your sleuth work as a lawyer or a
reporter, but know that those occupations are well rep-
resented in the cozy genre. So is the worker at the vil-
lage post office, and you can see why—in a small town,
such a post office clerk knows who’s in debt, who’s get-
ting love letters in pink scented envelopes, and who’s
sending the town grump postcards from Hong Kong,
rubbing his nose in the fact that he’s stuck in a dead-
end job while the girl he rejected in high school is
jet setting around Asia.
Think of other specialized occupations that might
allow your amateur sleuth to use his expertise in solving
the crime. A gourmet, for instance, would notice if the
guest chef used day-old fish instead of fresh-caught
trout (as in the premise of Rex Stout’s 1955 Nero Wolfe
novella, Immune to Murder). My own series protago-
nist, Josie Prescott, is an antiques appraiser who’d know
that a 14-karat gold ring is unlikely to be an antique
because 100 years ago most gold jewelry was crafted
from 18-karat gold.
Aim to find an occupation or hobby that has
not been done before, is offbeat, or allows room for
you to put a new spin on a familiar career. John D.
MacDonald’s amateur sleuth, Travis McGee, is a “sal-
vage” expert who lives on a houseboat called the Busted
Flush, which he won in a poker game. He works to sal-
vage whatever he can from what his clients have lost,
and for his efforts, he keeps half of all he recovers.
Now that’s an unusual occupation ripe for a whole
series worth of stories.
THE KILLER & THE CRIME
In traditional mysteries, the killer and the victim are
known to one another and the motive is typically
domestic in nature. That is, the murder is the result of
some searing or long-festering emotion such as hate,
jealousy, love (or lust), revenge or greed. Cozies are,
essentially, fair-play puzzles. You create a complex plot,
generously laden with clues and red herrings (false
leads to distract your reader from the truth), and your
reader gets to solve the mystery alongside your sleuth.
Cozies are often written in the first person for just this rea-
son—to create an in-the-moment experience.
Consider this scenario: Davis is a rich man who
owns a medical device company. He is poisoned,
and the only individuals who could have fed him the
poison are:
1. Davis’ nephew, BOB , a high-stakes poker player:
Because Bob is the only surviving child of Davis’
much-loved, recently deceased sister, Davis rou-
tinely bails Bob out when he comes up short. After
Bob lost $10,000 during an all-nighter last month,
however, Davis cut him off. Bob expects to inherit a
significant chunk from Davis.
2. Davis’ wife, ANN : She just discovered that Davis is
having an affair with Tina, a woman young enough
to be her daughter. Davis and Ann met Tina when
Bob brought her to a charity fundraiser that Ann
organized last winter.
3. Davis’ lawyer, MITCHELL : He recently lost a device
liability lawsuit, leaving Davis’ company vulnerable
to crippling penalties.
4. Davis’ mistress, TINA , a blackjack dealer who initially
hooked up with Bob in Vegas: She liked Bob fine,
but she likes Davis better, especially since he set her
up in a condo. When Ann found out about their
relationship, Davis told Tina their affair was over,
and gave her a month to move out.
5. Davis’ senior vice president, MARIAH , who is known
to be ambitious: Recently, Davis told her she wasn’t
getting the promotion to CEO after all.
6. Davis’ doctor, GREG : The doctor truly adores
Ann, and he can’t bear to see how Davis treats her.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Most industry professionals use the terms “cozy” and
“traditional mystery” interchangeably. Some authors,
though, find the term “cozy” denigrating, as if their
work isn’t worthy of serious consideration. Think of it
this way: Traditional mysteries are simply a subgenre
of mystery or crime fiction. Subgenres ultimately exist
to signal agents, publishers and readers that they’re
in for a certain, specific reading experience, and to
match work to its intended audience. Embracing the
term can only help you.
WritersDigest.com I 41
 COZY UP TO THESE COZIES
Here is a sampling of 10 noteworthy traditional mysteries. Note the variety of settings, sleuth occupations and
historical periods.
THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE by Alan
Bradley (2009): The first in the series starring 11-year-old
Flavia de Luce, set in an English village in 1950.
A DARK AND STORMY MURDER by Julia Buckley (2016):
The start of the Writer’s Apprentice Mystery series featur-
ing aspiring writer cum amateur sleuth Lena London, set
in the quaint town of Blue Lake, Ind.
A MOST CURIOUS MURDER by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli
(2016): A Little Library Mystery, the first in the series star-
ring amateur sleuth Jenny Weston, set in the charming
small town of Bear Falls, Mich., and inspired by Alice
in Wonderland.
MURDER AT THE VICARAGE by Agatha Christie (1930):
Our introduction to the iconic Miss Marple set the elderly
spinster in then-contemporary England in the made-up
village of St. Mary Mead.
DEATH ON DEMAND by Carolyn G. Hart (1987): The first
of the Death on Demand Mysteries, set on Broward’s
In traditional mysteries, it’s important to create
characters whose motives to kill are driven by strong
emotions. You can see that here among our suspects:
1. BOB: Greed (and possibly hate and/or lust)
2. ANN: Jealousy (and possibly hate)
3. MITCHELL: Revenge (and possibly hate)
4. TINA: Revenge (and greed, and possibly lust)
5. MARIAH: Revenge (and greed, and possibly hate)
6. GREG: Love (and hate, and possibly lust)
For an 80,000- to 90,000-word story (the typical length
of a cozy), you should plan on integrating four evenly
spaced TRDs: plot Twists, plot Reversals, or moments
of heightened Danger. A twist sends the story off
42 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
Rock Island in South Carolina, where the amateur sleuth
owns a mystery bookstore called Death on Demand.
PLAID AND PLAGIARISM by Molly MacRae (2016): A
Highland Bookshop Mystery, set in Scotland and starring
Janet Marsh, a new owner of a bookstore.
THE NO. 1 LADIES’ DETECTIVE AGENCY by Alexander
McCall Smith (2003): The inaugural book in the titular
series, set in Gabarone, Botswana, and featuring wise
and sassy detective Precious Ramotswe.
EARLY AUTUMN by Robert B. Parker (1980): The seventh
Spenser mystery, following the private detective in then-
contemporary Boston.
STILL LIFE by Louise Penny (2005): The first in the Chief
Inspector Armand Gamache series, set in a made-up
rural village south of Montreal. 
MURDER BY THE BOOK by Rex Stout (1951): The 19th
in the Nero Wolfe series, starring the New York City
private detective.
sideways, a reversal directs the story in a direction opposite
to what readers expect, and moments of heightened danger
use unexpected threats or events to increase tension. Given
that a typical Microsoft Word document this length (with
12-point, Times New Roman font) is roughly 350 double-
spaced pages, here’s how TRDs might work in our cozy
about Davis, the medical device company owner:
PAGE 70–90, TWIST: Bob, the nephew, announces he
made a killing at last night’s poker game. (Davis previ-
ously griped that Bob always loses, leaving the reader
to wonder which one is lying.)
PAGE 140–160, REVERSAL: Mitchell, the lawyer, con-
fides in Mariah, the senior vice president, that he’s
going to Davis’ house to resign. (Davis previously said
 he had fired Mitchell, leaving the reader to wonder
which one is lying.)
PAGE 240–260, DANGER: Davis’ wife, Ann, confronts
Davis about his affair with Tina, and Davis retorts
that if Ann hadn’t let herself go, he wouldn’t have been
tempted. Ann gets a knife from the kitchen and slowly
walks toward his study. (In the next chapter, we see Ann
regain control and put the knife away, leaving the reader
to wonder if she’ll be able to keep it together the next
time Davis provokes her.)
PAGE 300–320, TWIST: Davis discovers text messages
between Greg and Ann that reveal their emotionally
intimate relationship. (Davis had no idea the doctor
and his wife cared about each other, leaving the reader
to wonder what else Davis might have missed and
how he might react to the betrayal.)
One of the most effective ways to integrate a final
plot twist is for the sleuth to either correctly identify the
motive but misidentify the killer, or to correctly identify
the killer but assign the wrong motive. In this example,
for instance, let’s say Bob is the killer, but not because he
needed money: He killed Davis because his uncle stole
his girlfriend, Tina. Jealousy fueled a simmering fury
that exploded when Davis pulled the financial plug.
One side note: While you rarely find a random serial
killer in a cozy, there’s no intrinsic reason to avoid such
an antagonist—if the context supports it. Say, for instance,
women throughout a community start dying on their 42nd
birthdays. The police can’t figure out why, but your librar-
ian sleuth happens to know that Jane Austen died at age
41—and starts to wonder (and investigate) whether the
genesis of the murders is (remember: emotion) contempt:
The killer can’t bear it that her hero, Jane Austen, died so
young while these less worthy (in her eyes) women live on.
THE SOLUTION
The detective needs to solve the crime by using her brains,
not forensics. Traditional mystery sleuths are keen observ-
ers, so they latch onto anomalies that other people miss.
They’ll notice the roasted chicken in a vegetarian’s refrig-
erator or a pen missing from a pen holder. Avoid any-
thing that smacks of coincidence or seems contrived. The
best solutions are those that feel fitting, yet surprising.
Margaret Atwood said, “Whatever is hidden behind the
curtain must be revealed at last, and it must be at one and
the same time completely unexpected and inevitable.”
The best way to avoid that trap is again to bring your
sleuth’s expertise into play. A gardener, for instance,
would know that a certain blight lives deep in soil and
can’t be spread by, say, a breeze. Thus, if that blight
appears in an orchard, it must have been introduced by
human hands.
In traditional mysteries, the killer and
the victim are known to one another and
the murder is the result of some searing
or long-festering emotion such as hate,
jealousy, love (or lust), revenge or greed.
By the end of the story all primary and secondary
plotlines should be resolved, all character questions
answered and all conflicts settled. And, of course, the
innocent must be vindicated.
THE MILIEU
You won’t find explicit sex, onstage violence or cussing in
a traditional mystery. No animals are injured or killed—
not even to demonstrate a villain’s bad character. There is
an overarching ethos of civility.
Creating a sense of community is key, which is one rea-
son that most traditional mysteries are set in small towns.
(Again, this is not to say that a skilled writer cannot pull off
an exception to any rule. Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe stories are
set in New York City, Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily series
is set in London, and Parker’s Spenser books, in Boston.)
Whether you invent a town or select an actual place, make
certain it’s a location where readers want to spend time.
Wendy Corsi Staub, for instance, chose the real lakeside
village of Lily Dale, N.Y., for her traditional series that
launched with 2015’s Nine Lives. Lily Dale is a charming
hamlet known for its psychics. How’s that for an unusual
and intriguing setting?
Create a sleuth who’s relatable, craft a complex puz-
zle of a crime, ensure your crime is solved organically
through your sleuth’s wits, and concoct a wholesome
world where people feel safe, and readers will cozy up to
your book. WD
Jane K. Cleland (janecleland.com) is the award-winning author of
the Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery series as well as Mastering
Suspense, Structure & Plot: How to Write Gripping Stories That
Keep Readers on the Edge of Their Seats (WD Books).
WritersDigest.com I 43
 Debbie Macomber
ANY DREAM WILL DO
The journey to becoming one
of the bestselling authors of
all time began with the power
of positive thinking—and
never strayed from the path.
Sometimes, success really is as
simple as that.

BY JESSICA STRAWSER

PHOTO © DEBORAH FEINGOLD

44 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

W
arm and uplifting, yet undeniably real;
comforting and familiar, yet surprisingly
fresh; relatable and entertaining, yet comi-
cally self-deprecating; generous and humble,
yet unabashedly successful: If Debbie Macomber herself
seems like a living, breathing extension of the heartwarming
romance and feel-good women’s fiction titles that have become
her trademark, it’s no accident. And in an era where bestsellers
lists sometimes seem dominated by an appetite for secret
psychopaths, dystopian worlds and scandalous sex, it’s also
refreshing. Because Macomber’s more than 200 million
books in print worldwide are page-turning proof that happy
endings still sell—big. And, looking back on her start as a stay-
at-home mom with no degree, that they’re just as possible off
the page as they are in your favorite corner of the bookstore.
To her fans, her name is synonymous with the comforts
of home: love (she got her start in the ’80s with Silhouette
and Harlequin category romance—and is still married to
her teenage sweetheart), family (the mother of four is a
devoted grandmother), faith (a devout Christian, she serves
on the Guideposts National Advisory Cabinet), food (her
series have spurred cookbooks and even a cafe near her Port
Orchard, Wash., home), friends (they’re the lifeblood of her
women’s fiction), hobbies (she runs charitable knitting initia-
tives for World Vision and owns A Good Yarn Shop), even
holidays (annual themed novels by the celebrated “official
storyteller of Christmas” are regularly adapted into Hallmark
Channel movies). Her popular Cedar Cove books, inspired
by her hometown, ran for 14 bestselling titles and three sea-
sons of the Hallmark Channel original series of the same
name. That she has her headquarters in a quaint Victorian
where she writes in the turret seems perfectly fitting.
Averaging three or four books a year, Macomber treated
readers in 2016 to A Girl’s Guide to Moving On, about a
woman and her daughter-in-law divorcing unfaithful hus-
bands, Sweet Tomorrows, the conclusion of her eight-book
Rose Harbor series set in a bed-and-breakfast, and most
recently Twelve Days of Christmas, in which a woman’s
Scrooge-like neighbor has a change of heart. If Not for You,
her latest women’s fiction title, is forthcoming in March.
With over 150 published books to her name, at the root of
it all is an unwavering commitment to the good in the world,
the power of a dream, and the people turning the pages.
Writing so many books a year, I’d imagine you prob-
ably have one of the most efficient writing processes
around. Can you walk us through it?
I’m a storyteller. I loved to tell stories even when I was a
little kid—I would go to sleep at night making up stories in
my head. That is the gift God gave me. And because I am a
[prolific] storyteller, early on in my career I had to devise
a way of deciding which ideas to develop. So if I come up
with an idea, I gauge it against these words:
First is provocative. I want my reader to think. And rel-
evant: I know my reader—I read my mail, I know who they
are. It’s important that whatever idea I have is relevant to
their lives. I [also] have to tell the story in the most creative
way I can think to tell it, and that often means: Where
do I start the story, and whose point of view do I choose?
(The most creative book I’ve ever written was published
many years ago, Between Friends, and the whole story is
told without one word of dialogue and without one word
of description: It’s a scrapbook of two people’s lives, but it
tells a story just from flipping the pages.) It has to be enter-
taining. I’m not here to preach, I’m not here to teach, I’m
not here to tell you about the latest horrible disease of the
world—I’m here to entertain. And it has to be realistic.
If I can take a premise and gauge it against those words,
then I know I’ve got a good idea. I’ll go to my agent and
editor, and we’ll discuss it. Then I write a synopsis—a
lengthy one, generally one scene for every chapter, 20 to
30 pages. The editor reads it and gives me feedback before
I start to write. Then I take a calendar page, and I write
down how many pages I need to write every weekday to
make my deadline, and then [each day] I don’t go home
from the office until I’m finished.
When you write a novel classified as women’s fiction
as opposed to strict romance, in what ways do your
goals for the story or for the characters differ?
I think women’s fiction has more of a themed [storytelling]
process. In the series I’m writing now, New Beginnings:
Last One Home is about reconciliation between sisters; The
Girl’s Guide to Moving On is about forgiveness; the book I
just handed in, If Not for You, is about healing; and the book
I’m currently writing is called Any Dream Will Do and it’s
about redemption.
WritersDigest.com I 45
 Debbie Macomber
“It doesn’t matter how many degrees you have. It doesn’t
matter if you barely graduated high school like I did—
I even married as a teenager.
The key to success in any field is passion.”
But there’s always some kind of romance in my stories,
and you’ll find that very often there’s romance in just
about anything—and just about any genre.
Looking at the books you’ve published outside of
your novels—inspirational works, cookbooks, chil-
dren’s books, even an adult coloring book—do you
see them as side projects, or as a healthy part of your
overall body of work, one you’d like to continue?
Definitely I’d like to continue. I’ve just been contracted
for another cookbook and also another nonfiction
book, one that I’ve wanted to do ever since I read Simple
Abundance [A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah
Ban Breathnach] 20 years ago—it’s sort of like my own
version. But writing nonfiction, for me, is much, much
harder than writing fiction—I’m so into my creative fan-
tasy world, when I write nonfiction it’s very personal.
One of the blessings of my career has been reader
mail. [I think] I was the very first Harlequin author to
ever have her mailing address in a book. I wanted to
hear what the readers had to say. My dad had his own
business, and he was very successful at what he did—he
reupholstered furniture—because he kept in contact with
his customers: He made an effort to remember things
about them, they became his friends. [So] I wanted to
create a reader list. I was probably the first author to do
this, at least in the romance genre. I read every single let-
ter, I read every single guest book entry from the website.
Reading their mail has actually changed the course of my
career three or four different times, and one of those is
the cookbooks.
Every time I mentioned something one of the charac-
ters would be cooking in the Cedar Cove series, the office
would get inundated: “Would you mind sharing that rec-
ipe?” Peggy Beldon’s blueberry muffins became a hit. [So
did] Teri Polgar’s macaroni and cheese—which is kind of
something I discovered when I was cleaning out my refrig-
erator and had some leftover cottage cheese and thought,
Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I melted that in there?
I saved their letters. Harlequin had never published a
cookbook before, but I said, “I think a cookbook would
46 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
be successful,” and they believed me, and it hit The [New
York] Times list, which for cookbooks is pretty amazing.
That all came from the readers.
Something else that came from the readers is the suc-
cess of my Christmas books. When I first published those,
they were short stories, 100 pages, and the mail I got said,
“Loved the story, but I wanted more.” I was contracted for
three more of those books, and I did not get a penny more
[for lengthening them], but I made them probably 250
pages, and the sales of those escalated with every book.
It’s so important for writers to be in touch with the
readers. … [Before] my first published book, every time
I got a rejection, I would force myself to read another
chapter in The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman
Vincent Peale. There were days it felt like there weren’t
enough chocolate chip cookies in the world to get
through another rejection, you know. And I wrote him
a letter to thank him for writing that, and tell him how
it helped me get through the rejections, and he wrote me
back. I have to tell you, that had a profound effect on me.
You had tremendous faith in yourself in those years—
I read that your unpublished writing was actually cost-
ing you money, because you had to rent a typewriter.
What would you most like to say to someone who is
feeling that struggle today—feeling a calling to write
but doubting they’ll be able to succeed?
One of the most valuable lessons I got from that time is
that I felt so guilty: I was taking that $100/month out of
the family budget and feeling terribly guilty about that
because I didn’t feel I was contributing anything. But in
retrospect, I was teaching our children some of the most
valuable lessons of their lives. They learned about the
power of a dream. They learned about having fortitude
and sticking to something, about believing in yourself.
Not long ago my daughter had to make a very diffi-
cult decision, and I praised her on it, and she looked me
right in the eye and said, “Mom, I learned that from you.”
And I got tears in my eyes, because she was telling me
that everything that we had gone through before I pub-
lished had taught them valuable lessons about life. So for
anybody who feels guilty that they’re taking time away
from their family, or the cost of what they are doing, they
should not feel guilty, because they are contributing—
even if their children are grown. They are teaching what
it means to have a dream, and to be passionate about
something. Nothing of value comes easy.
Something else writers need to understand is that tal-
ent isn’t static. You have to grow. You can’t just write the
same story over and over. You’ll grow bored, you’ll grow
tired, you’ll grow stale. I study the The New York Times
and USA Today lists every single week, and if something
is on that list for a long time, I want to know why. What
has made this book and this author so popular?
So you read in lots of genres?
I do. I just finished A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman,
and it was wonderful.
Also, I wish you could be in my office right now. I
write in a turret, and when I walk up the stairs, my whole
wall is covered—there are probably 40 author signatures
on my wall: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ernest Hemingway,
Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Pearl S. Buck. These are
the authors I admired and loved, and this is my wall of
mentors. Their books and their stories have lasted the
test of time. And every time I walk up the stairs I’m
reminded of the power of story. When Abraham Lincoln
met Harriet Beecher Stowe, he said, “So you’re the little
woman who [wrote the book that] started this great war.”
And Pearl S. Buck’s book The Good Earth has helped to
change foreign policy. Now, my books aren’t going to
change policy, they’re not going to start a war [laughs]—
but they’re going to get somebody through a hard
weekend. They’re going to give a young mother a break.
They’re going to take someone’s mind off a diagnosis. It’s
the power of story—a simple story.
How long after your debut was published did you
feel that you were going to make it as a career
writer? Was there a turning point?
There was one time that I knew I was a success, a defin-
ing moment, and that was when I was an answer on
“Jeopardy.” [Laughs.] And that was two years ago.
Come on [laughs], you knew before two years ago!
Let me give you my theory: I think there are three dif-
ferent kinds of authors. First, natural-born writers—but
almost always they get caught up in the beauty of their
words and forget the importance of the story. Once their
storytelling ability is on par with their writing talent,
MORE FROM MACOMBER
For her take on staying ahead of trends, connecting with
fellow writers and more, visit writersdigest.com/jan-17.
that’s when they sell. I’m the opposite: I had to learn
to be writer. I’m a born storyteller, so once my writing
skills were on par with my storytelling ability, that’s when
I sold. The third kind of writer possesses both talents—
and I joke that those do not suffer enough! They almost
always sell quickly, but they are also [often] the one-book
wonders. They may sell other books, but they’re never as
successful as that one—and that’s because they don’t know
what they did right. They have not learned, they do not
have that foundation, and they actually do suffer [later],
because so much pressure is put upon them to create a
book equal in talent and popularity to the first one.
You had undiagnosed dyslexia and took only a few
community college classes after high school, and yet
you’ve sold more than 200 million books. It’s jaw-
dropping. I know writers who feel self-conscious just
because they don’t have an MFA! What would you
like other writers to take away from your success?
The power of a dream and believing in yourself is just so
important. I know I started out with that rented type-
writer, and just passion—I think passion sells more than
anything, and that comes through to the reader.
I’ve been searching for a word for a long time that
describes this, but I know when I write, there is a link
between me and that reader. If I cry writing a scene, my
reader will cry. If I laugh, they’ll laugh. If I lay my heart out
on the page, it links with theirs. There is a link between us,
and I just cannot find a word to describe it—I don’t want
to say magic, I don’t want to say spiritual, there is just that
amazing, powerful link that the reader feels. One of the
things repeated in the letters I get over the years has been:
“I feel like I’m right there with you” or “—with the charac-
ters.” And that is the passion, passion for the story.
Any writer at any level, if they are passionate about
what they feel and what they want to do, it comes
through. It doesn’t matter how many degrees you have. It
doesn’t matter if you barely graduated high school like I
did—I even married as a teenager. The key to success in
any field is passion. WD
Jessica Strawser (jessicastrawser.com) is the editorial director
of Writer’s Digest and author of the novel Almost Missed You,
forthcoming in March from St. Martin’s Press.
WritersDigest.com I 47
 FUNNY YOU
SHOULDASK
A literary agent’s mostly serious answers to your mostly serious questions.
BY BARBARA POELLE

Dear FYSA,
Agents’ submission guidelines
routinely categorize fiction submis-
sions as “commercial,” “upmarket” and
“mainstream.” Can you explain the
differences? I’d also find it helpful to
have an example of a successfully pub-
lished author or book from each.
Sincerely, Category Curious
Dear Curious,
Pinpointing the genre is a fundamen-
tal aspect of being able to talk about
your book, but the lines here can be
a bit slippery, like shades on a color
wheel blended into a murky goulash.
First, let me clarify: You asked
about three categories, but I don’t
usually use the term “mainstream.”
Maybe I’m splitting hairs, but in
these broad terms I think mainstream
and commercial are interchangeable
(though mainstream can refer to
commercial fiction that doesn’t fit
neatly into a popular genre). The
three overarching categories my
agency uses to describe and pitch
novels are generally commercial,
upmarket and literary.
COMMERCIAL FICTION is the hot
fudge sundae on the menu: a slam-
dunk satisfier for the widest of
audiences. You’ll find delightful
variations—sprinkles or nuts,
mystery or romance—but overall you
can feel comfortable recommending
it to someone else who likes desserts, on track to land. So, let’s see who is
as they will likely find it accessible flying the plane:
and satisfying.
COMMERCIAL FICTION: The plot flies
UPMARKET FICTION is more like the plane.
tiramisu. There are folks who enjoy
UPMARKET FICTION: The characters
it, and some who don’t. The palate
fly the plane.
may need to be a little more refined
to appreciate it, and maybe you’ll LITERARY FICTION: The prose flies
be dressed a little fancier when the plane.
you order it, yet it’s still a relatively
accessible dessert with satisfying This is getting fun. Let’s do it in haiku!
but identifiable components—albeit
Commercial fiction
presented in a more original way.
Entices broad audience
LITERARY FICTION is green tea Nicholas Sparks, yo.
chocolate mousse with a raspberry
Upmarket fiction
reduction. Some folks will think,
“Yeah, that just sounds like a bunch With wine and cheese at Book Club
of trying too hard.” Others will be Jodi Picoult, friend.
attracted to the lushness of it all— Literary Fic
and this target group is looking to Lush and meaty craft throughout
be satisfied by a unique construct. What up, Donna Tartt?
[Long pause …]
Tarts—that’s what the dessert cart
Sorry, back now. I just ran out to
was missing! Excuse me for a sec …
order one of everything on the des-
sert cart and then had to take a nap.
Dear FYSA,
Let’s look at this question another
I signed with my agent after
way: Different sets of readers have
picking between two offers of repre-
certain expectations about how a
book is going to get them from “It sentation. Unfortunately, in recent
was a dark and stormy night” to conversations with him I can’t help
“And they lived happily ever after.” but have the feeling that maybe I
Whether the ride is turbulent or chose the wrong one. Can I reach out
smooth, first class or coach, a lead to the other offering agent and say I’d
aspect in each of these categories is like to talk again?
up front in the cockpit, keeping us Signed, Regretful Ruby
PHOTO © TRAVIS POELLE

ASK FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK! Submit your own questions on the writing life, publishing or anything in between to writers.digest@
fwcommunity.com with “Funny You Should Ask” in the subject line. Select questions (which may be edited for space or clarity) will be
answered in future columns, and may appear on WritersDigest.com and in other WD publications.

48 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017


Signer’s Remorse
doesn’t exist in a
vacuum. But this
is your career—you
get to decide who
advocates for it.
Dear Regretful,
Last year I made an offer on some-
thing at the same time as another
agent. When the client called to say
she was going in the other direction,
she actually cried and said, “I’m prob-
ably making a huge mistake.” To be
honest? She totally was.
Just kidding! It was disappoint-
ing, but the mitigating circumstance
that led her to choose the other agent
involved something that would’ve
never occurred to me—nor did it
appeal to me, frankly—and that’s
something to define for yourself first:
Why did your agent win out over the
other, and how has that changed in
the time you’ve been together?
Once you’re clear on your own
mitigating factors, initiate that con-
versation … with your current agent.
Address what you feel has changed
and see if there’s a solution to be had.
You don’t specify whether the
agent you signed with has submitted
your manuscript yet, but I hope
he hasn’t, because “my book didn’t
sell” is way down the list of reasons
for seeking new representation.
Sometimes books don’t sell. And as
long as the agent submitted to repu-
table houses that publish the kind of
book you wrote, then your next steps
should be about looking forward to
what’s next—not backward by revisit-
ing the same work with someone new.
Signer’s Remorse doesn’t exist in a
vacuum. There’s a reason you’re feel-
ing this way, and speaking directly
to the source is the best foot for-
ward. Worst-case scenario? Identify
an unmalleable aspect of your cur-
rent agent and do an awkward “I
really wanted to take you to the Sadie
Hawkins dance” call with the other
agent. There’s no guarantee she’ll still
be interested, and everyone might
feel kinda oogy about the switch, but
this is your career—you get to decide
who advocates for it. WD
Barbara Poelle is vice president at Irene
Goodman Literary Agency (irenegoodman.
com), where she specializes in adult and
young adult fiction.

GIVE YOUR STORY ITS BEST START

The best beginnings possess a magical quality that grabs readers from
the first word and never lets them go. But beginnings aren’t just a door
into a fictional world. They are a gateway to the realm of publishing—
one that could shut as quickly as it opens.
In The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings, author and literary agent
Paula Munier shows you how to craft flawless beginnings that impress
agents, engage editors and captivate readers. You’ll examine best-
selling novels from different genres to learn how to develop the big
idea of your story and introduce it on Page 1, structure opening
scenes that encompass their own story arc, kickstart your writing with “Writing a book? Hard. Writing
effective brainstorming techniques and introduce a compelling cast of the beginning of a book? Rocket
characters that drive the plot. science! Strap on your spacesuit,
because thanks to Munier’s
nuanced, actionable breakdown of
every possible aspect of a gripping
opening, authors everywhere can
Available at WritersDigestShop.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, now take their books to the stars.”
and other fine book retailers. —K.M. Weiland

WritersDigest.com I 49
 YOURSTORY
Love by the Numbers
Write a short story of 700 words or fewer that begins with the
THE CHALLENGE:
following phrase: “You don’t have enough points, sir.”
Out of more than 400 entries, Writer’s Digest editors and forum members chose this
winner, submitted by Jenny Maattala of Bismarck, N.D.
“
Y
ou don’t have enough
points, sir.” She spit
the words out, jagged
and spiteful, through
clenched teeth.
They’d decided early on, back
when chills rolled down their limbs
with every touch and the excitement
of love was tangible, that they were
too urbane for run-of-the-mill fight-
ing. Instead, rather than yelling at
him for leaving wet towels on the
floor and staying out late, or berating
her when she locked keys in the car
or refused to delete exes’ numbers
from her phone, they simply added or
subtracted points to stay accountable.
To their friends this seemed a
futile way to resolve issues, but to
them it was an easy glance at who
was ahead and who needed to
straighten up their act.
Forgot to take out the trash?
Minus one point, sir.
Left clumps of hair in the drain?
I’m subtracting two, my doll.
TWO?
Well, one for neglecting to remove
your debris from the drain, and
another for leaving me to do the task.
A moment to consider, then—
Fair enough.
Points would ebb, but the best part
was seeing the numbers climb again,
the validation they felt when their
accomplishments were recognized.
We haven’t had dinner together in
a week … that’s three points off for
50 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
neglecting your spouse and another
three for poor time management.
Why can’t you understand the
pressure I’m under at work? Minus
seven points for lack of support.
But then pink tulips would be
waiting on her desk after a stressful
meeting the next day, a cream-
colored card resting against the vase:
10 points, doll, for being the most beau-
tiful and dedicated woman I know.
Making up, they agreed, was
the most satisfying way to help the
points ascend: 20 points for that new
maneuver, sir! She could feel his chest
swell and recede with each heavy
breath, and with a wearied nod, she
knew she had gained a few points too.
Even when the numbers dipped,
they insisted the system still helped
forge a stronger, healthier relationship.
Take three points for missing dinner
with my family.
Add 12 points for my surprise
birthday party.
They insisted as long as the addi-
tions exceeded the subtractions they
were still on the right side of love.
Add 15 for making partner, and five
more for boosting our savings!
Add 10 for the fun weekend away,
but subtract one for throwing a fit
when I had to take a work call.
Minus five points for forgetting
our anniversary.
Minus seven for acting like a
petulant jerk and giving me the silent
treatment for the last three days.
CONTEST #75
Minus 20 points for refilling your
birth control when last month was
supposed to be the last.
Minus 20 for buying a new boat
with my money.
Minus eight for missing our coun-
seling session.
Still, they tried to be considerate.
And loving. And dedicated.
That’s my favorite dessert! Eight
points for you.
Thank you for the hug. Here’s
five points.
I love you. 10 points.
I love you, too. 10 points.
The numbers didn’t lie, couldn’t
lie, and their arrangement truly
kept them accountable for how they
treated each other … until it didn’t.
Another work trip? Six points.
Give or take?
Does it matter?
You’re acting selfish. Minus seven.
Who’s calling you this late?
Minus five.
What time did you get home?
Minus 10.
You never touch me anymore!
Minus 15.
My points haven’t changed in
months. I don’t understand what
you want right now!
She talked, she pleaded, she
yelled, she bargained, she added and
she subtracted.
And finally, on the day she
walked in on them, she was grateful
she’d kept such an exhaustive tally.
You don’t have enough points,
sir. Then she closed the door and
walked away.
 ENTERYOURSTORY

WRITE A SHORT STORY of 700 words or fewer based on the prompt below. You can be funny, poignant, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story.

TO ENTER: Send your story via the online

submission form at writersdigest.com/

79
CONTEST # your-story-competition or via email to
yourstorycontest@fwcommunity.com
(entries must be pasted directly into the
body of the email; attachments will not
be opened).

NOTE: WD editors select the top five

entries and post them on our website
PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: SOFYA APKALIKOVA

(writersdigest.com/your-story-competition).
Join us online in mid-January, when read-
ers will vote for their favorites to help
choose the winner!

The winner will be published in a future issue of Writer’s Digest.

DON’T FORGET: Your name and mailing address. One entry per person.
DEADLINE: January 9, 2017

GET

DIGITALLY!

WritersDigest.com I 51
 THE UNSOLVED DEATH IS ONLY
THE BEGINNING OF THE MYSTERY . . .

“Ellen Wittlinger’s Hard Love was one of the books

that inspired me to write young adult novels.”
—John Green, author,
The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns

“Author Ellen Wittlinger proves once again why

she’s a master of realistic fiction, creating believable
dialogue, events, and emotions.”
—Bookpage

“An enjoyable and thought-provoking read

that is sure to appeal to many teens.”
—School Library Journal

9 81
978 440589
9003 | 7.99
9 | Hardcover

AVA I LA BL E NOW
Wherever Books Are Sold

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ellen Wittlinger is the author of seventeen YA and middle-grade novels. Her novel Hard Love won
both a Printz Honor Award and a Lambda Literary Award. Her books have been on numerous ALA Best Books lists,
Bank Street College of Education lists, and state award lists. Ellen has won state awards in Michigan, Pennsylvania,
and Massachusetts. Her work has been translated into many other languages including Turkish, Croatian, and Korean.
She has taught at Emerson College in Boston and in the Simmons College Writing for Children MFA program.
 WRI TER’ S
EXERCISES AND TIPS FOR HONING SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF YOUR WRITING
 Yr Sto
WHY POINT OF VIEW IS SO IMPORTANT
B Y J O SE PH BATE S
T he narrator’s relationship to the story is determined by
point of view. Each viewpoint allows certain freedoms
in narration while limiting or denying others. Your goal in
selecting a point of view is not simply finding a way to con-
vey information, but telling it the right way—making the
world you create understandable and believable.
The following is a brief rundown of the three most com-
mon POVs and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
FIRST-PERSON SINGULAR
This POV reveals an individual’s experience directly
through the narration. A single character tells a personal
story, and the information is limited to the first-person
narrator’s direct experience (what she sees, hears, does,
feels, says, etc.). First person gives readers a sense of
immediacy regarding the character’s experiences, as well
as a sense of intimacy and connection with the charac-
ter’s mindset, emotional state and subjective reading of
the events described.
Consider the closeness the reader feels to the char-
acter, action, physical setting and emotion in the first
paragraph of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, via
protagonist Katniss’ first-person narration:
When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My
fingers stretch out, seeking Prim’s warmth but finding
only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must
have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother.
Of course, she did. This is the day of the reaping.
PROS: The first-person POV can make for an intimate
and effective narrative voice—almost as if the narrator is
speaking directly to the reader, sharing something private.
This is a good choice for a novel that is primarily character-
driven, in which the individual’s personal state of mind
and development are the main interests of the book.
CONS: Because the POV is limited to the narrator’s
knowledge and experiences, any events that take place
outside the narrator’s observation have to come to her
attention in order to be used in the story. A novel with a
large cast of characters might be difficult to manage from
a first-person viewpoint.
THIRD-PERSON LIMITED
Third-person limited spends the entirety of the story in
only one character’s perspective, sometimes looking over
that character’s shoulder, and other times entering the
character’s mind, filtering the events through his percep-
tion. Thus, third-person limited has some of the closeness
of first person, letting us know a particular character’s
thoughts, feelings and attitudes on the events being
narrated. This POV also has the ability to pull back from
the character to offer a wider perspective or view not
bound by the protagonist’s opinions or biases: It can call
out and reveal those biases (in often subtle ways) and
show the reader a clearer understanding of the character
than the character himself would allow.
Saul Bellow’s Herzog exemplifies the balance in
third-person limited between closeness to a character’s
mind and the ability of the narrator to maintain a level
of removal. The novel’s protagonist, Moses Herzog, has
fallen on hard times personally and professionally, and
has perhaps begun to lose his grip on reality, as the
WritersDigest.com I 53
WRITER’S WORKBOOK
novel’s famous opening line tells us. Using third-
person limited allows Bellow to clearly convey Herzog’s
state of mind and make us feel close to him, while
employing narrative distance to give us perspective
on the character.
If I am out of my mind, it’s all right with me, thought
Moses Herzog.
Some people thought he was cracked and for a time
he himself had doubted that he was all there. But now,
though he still behaved oddly, he felt confident, cheer-
ful, clairvoyant and strong. He had fallen under a spell
and was writing letters to everyone under the sun. … [H]e
wrote endlessly, fanatically, to the newspapers, to people
in public life, to friends and relatives and at last to the
dead, his own obscure dead, and finally the famous dead.
PROS: This POV offers the closeness of first person
while maintaining the distance and authority of third, and
allows the author to explore a character’s perceptions while
providing perspective on the character or events that the
character himself doesn’t have. It also allows the author to
tell an individual’s story closely without being bound to
that person’s voice and its limitations.
CONS: Because all of the events narrated are filtered
through a single character’s perceptions, only what that
character experiences directly or indirectly can be used
in the story (as is the case with first-person singular).
THIRD-PERSON OMNISCIENT
Similar to third-person limited, the third-person omni-
scient employs the pronouns he or she, but it is further
characterized by its godlike abilities. This POV is able
to go into any character’s perspective or consciousness
and reveal her thoughts; able to go to any time, place or
setting; privy to information the characters themselves
don’t have; and able to comment on events that have
happened, are happening or will happen. The third-
person omniscient voice is really a narrating personality
unto itself, a disembodied character in its own right—
though the degree to which the narrator wants to be seen
as a distinct personality, or wants to seem objective or
impartial (and thus somewhat invisible as a separate per-
sonality), is up to your particular needs and style.
The third-person omniscient is a popular choice for
novelists who have big casts and complex plots, as it
allows the author to move about in time, space and char-
acter as needed. But it carries an important caveat: Too
54 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
much freedom can lead to a lack of focus if the narrative
spends too many brief moments in too many characters’
heads and never allows readers to ground themselves in
any one particular experience, perspective or arc.
The novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna
Clarke uses an omniscient narrator to manage a large cast.
Here you’ll note some hallmarks of omniscient narration,
notably a wide view of a particular time and place, freed
from the restraints of one character’s perspective. It cer-
tainly evidences a strong aspect of storytelling voice, the
“narrating personality” of third omniscient that acts almost
as another character in the book (and will help maintain
book cohesion across a number of characters and events):
Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of
magicians. They met upon the third Wednesday of every
month and read each other long, dull papers upon the
history of English magic.
PROS: You have the storytelling powers of a god.
You’re able to go anywhere and dip into anyone’s con-
sciousness. This is particularly useful for novels with
large casts, and/or with events or characters spread
out over, and separated by, time or space. A narrative
personality emerges from third-person omniscience,
becoming a character in its own right through the ability
to offer information and perspective not available to the
main characters of the book.
CONS: Jumping from consciousness to consciousness
can fatigue a reader with continuous shifting in focus
and perspective. Remember to center each scene on a
particular character and question, and consider how the
personality that comes through the third-person omni-
scient narrative voice helps unify the disparate action.
Oftentimes we don’t really choose a POV for our proj-
ect; our project chooses a POV for us. A sprawling epic,
for example, would not call for a first-person singular
POV, with your main character constantly wondering
what everyone back on Darvon-5 is doing. A whodunit
wouldn’t warrant an omniscient narrator who jumps into
the butler’s head in Chapter 1 and has him think, I dunnit.
Often, stories tell us how they should be told—and once
you find the right POV for yours, you’ll likely realize the
story couldn’t have been told any other way.
Excerpted from Writing Your Novel From Start to Finish © 2015 by
Joseph Bates, with permission from Writer’s Digest Books.
 AMPLIFY YOUR NARRATIVE VOICE
B Y J O R DA N R O SE NFE LD
C haracters demonstrate their behavior in four
ways: through actions, dialogue, thoughts and
feelings. Yet a great deal of information and detail
included in a story doesn’t necessarily fall neatly into
these categories. Setting descriptions, observations,
philosophical musings, sensory imagery and more
slip through the cracks between action, dialogue and
thoughts. All of that in-between material constitutes
your narrative voice.
Think of narrative voice as the stream in which the
story flows, the current carrying along key information
a story needs to thrive. Or, if you prefer a more person-
ified approach, think of narrative voice as an impartial
court reporter sharing with the reader that Harry Potter
is a wizard, that Jane Eyre doesn’t believe Mr. Rochester
could love her, or that Gone Girl’s “Amazing Amy” is
not the sweet, content wife she appears to be.
If narrative voice is the stream of your story, then
point of view is the swimmer stroking through it, send-
ing feelings and actions to the surface. The narrative
voice of your story will feel different depending on which
POV you use. In first-person, writing narrative voice
merges with your character’s thoughts: You see the tale
through that individual’s eyes. In other points of view,
the narrative voice hovers above the characters, pre-
sented from either a character’s viewpoint or that of an
omniscient, all-seeing storyteller. When considering
how narrative voice and POV interact in your story,
first ask whether the viewpoint is internal or external
to your character.
Readers love to follow characters they feel close to—
with whom they feel intimate. While that word might
conjure real-world interpersonal relationships, intimacy
in fiction means that readers understand a character
deeply and can clearly identify her strengths, flaws and
vulnerabilities. Choosing an internal POV makes the
character self-aware (in which she voices personal obser-
vations, thoughts and feelings for the reader), while an
external POV makes that character opaque (in which
information is delivered by the story’s narrator). The
POV you choose will have a major impact on the narra-
tive voice and the degree of intimacy between reader
and character.
UNDERSTANDING THE LINK
BETWEEN VOICE & POV
An internal POV makes readers feel as though they are
right inside the mind and heart of the character, or in
some cases, that they are the character. First person,
second person and third-person intimate are all consid-
ered internal points of view, but each conveys a varying
degree of closeness to the character.
THE INTIMACY OF FIRST PERSON
The closest POV, first person allows us to inhabit a
character’s mind and heart directly—no secondary or
omniscient sources required. Here’s an example from
Krassi Zourkova’s novel Wildalone:
I recognized him intuitively—his voice, the way he
said my name. Then I saw the silhouette. The white
flower in his hand. But also something else: unmistak-
ably different body, unfamiliar face. For one last instant,
my brain refused to accept it. Then I was hit with the
obvious truth:
This had to be the guy from my concert. And it
wasn’t Rhys.
Before I could react, he smiled and came up to
me. The slow, cautious moves again, stopping just as
his body was about to touch mine.
Notice that the narrative voice and the POV are one
and the same. The character’s thoughts, feelings and
observations are reported directly to the reader in the
character’s own voice. The character’s revelation—that
the “guy from the concert” isn’t Rhys but someone else
entirely—is delivered from her personal perspective, and
the reader recognizes this as her thought, even though
she never outright says, “I thought.” Notice the intimacy,
the way the I pronoun renders the line between reader
and character null. Every detail, every feeling, seems to
belong to you as the reader.
THE RELATABILITY OF SECOND PERSON
It’s rare to find an entire book written in the second
person; it can be a strangely self-conscious manner of
narration that is difficult to sustain for several hundred
pages. Instead it’s often used when a character who is
WritersDigest.com I 55
WRITER’S WORKBOOK
AT A GLANCE: + R8e
V2b T3 in, like mud or snow.
Verb tense is a detail many writers only briefly
consider in advance, but it plays a vital role in deter-
mining the level of intimacy between character and
reader. Nothing interrupts a smooth reading flow
faster than inconsistent verb tenses—and you want
to make absolutely sure that by the time you submit
your manuscript to an agent or a publisher, you’ve
corrected any inconsistencies.
The two most common verb tenses for fiction are
present tense and past tense.
• PRESENT TENSE: Verbs are in the now: “I go,”
“he sees,” “we touch.” This creates immediacy,
even urgency. When combined with first-person
important is whatever it is that the animal has stepped
Most of this novel is written in first person, but the
second-person you pronoun is used in this passage as
a way of thinking about the self universally. The char-
acter is considering that anyone who might be tracking
wildlife could find herself in a similar situation in which
you’d have to “examine the track from three perspectives,”
“get all close and personal with your track,” and so on. In
this case, you is a generalized pronoun that both refers to
the character and to an imagined “someone” who might
also undertake tracking.
If at e e 

r
POV, this tense creates hyper-intimacy, a style
ory,  t
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used most commonly in young adult fiction and
more contemporary adult novels. A common

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critique from readers is that such a style is “too %&оs to )*%e. + at e e

present”; many prefer the small amount of emo-
tional distance past-tense verbs provide. Still,
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ory -ll "# 0ff23t 4‫ !פ‬о
the effect can be stylistic and powerful in the 6h POV  7e.
right hands.
• PAST TENSE: While these verbs are formatted
so that the action is in the past—“I went,” “he THE FLEXIBILITY OF THIRD-PERSON INTIMATE
saw,” “we touched”—the story might still take One of the most versatile perspectives an author can take,
place in the present. Only the verbs themselves third-person intimate POV allows readers to get close to
differ from their present-tense forms. The past a character while still keeping a smidge of distance from
tense puts a little more breathing room between which the writer can infuse some mystery or ambiguity.
characters and readers, and softens the sense of The following example comes from Jennifer McMahon’s
immediacy. It’s a common and useful style of writ- novel The Winter People:
ing, and the default choice for many successful
“Wake up, Martin.” A soft whisper, a flutter against his
authors across genres.
cheek. “It’s time.”
Martin opened his eyes, leaving the dream of a woman
with long dark hair. She’d been telling him something.
narrating in first person expresses a universal thought, Something important, something he was not supposed
truth or experience, as in this excerpt from Myfanwy to forget.
Collins’ tragic young adult novel The Book of Laney: He turned over in bed. He was alone, Sara’s side of the

To begin with tracking, you examine the track from
three perspectives—lying, standing and flying. Lying
down is when you get all close and personal with your
track, planting your nose as near it as possible. Standing
allows you to take a look at the trail, not just the track.
Flying is when you use what you know of the surround-
ing ecology to bring perspective to the track. Also
bed cold. He sat up, listening carefully. Voices, soft gig-
gles across the hall, from behind Gertie’s bedroom door.
Had Sara spent the whole night in with Gertie again?
Here, the reader is introduced to the scene from
Martin’s viewpoint—given access to his thoughts and
feelings—but not through his voice. The effort of using
his name or the pronoun he inserts distance between

56 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

  Yr Sto
character and reader. We don’t feel quite as close to this
character as we would if the passage were presented
in first person. The narrative voice and the POV are a
G I
ate Wh POV
hair’s breadth apart, creating a slight separation from the
intense subject matter of the novel, which could be dif-
ficult to read in first person.
COMMUNICATING FROM A DISTANCE
On the other end of the intimacy spectrum are external
points of view, in which readers observe a character
from an omniscient or remote vantage point, looking in
from the outside. The most common external POV in
fiction is omniscient (sometimes referred to as third-
person omniscient). This POV presents information to
the reader that the character already knows about him-
self (physical descriptions, personal traits, etc.) and is
thus unlikely to even think about. Narrative voice is then
used to communicate information to readers that the
character doesn’t report directly.
Take these examples from Lauren Groff ’s 2015
National Book Award finalist Fates and Furies. Notice
the first description is in omniscient. The details are
external to the character Lotto; these are not things Lotto
would think about himself:
Lotto was a tiny adult, articulate, sunny. … Everyone
worked to please, and Lotto, having no other models,
pleased as well.
Then watch as Groff shifts between internal and exter-
nal narration in the rest of the passage. Keep in mind
that the passage remains in the omniscient POV, even
though the author slips into an internal perspective:
Lotto got off his bike when he saw his father on the old
pump, apparently napping. Odd. Gawain never slept dur-
ing the day. The boy stood still. A woodpecker clattered
against a magnolia. An anole darted over his father’s foot.
Lotto dropped the bike and ran, and held Gawain’s face
and said his father’s name so loudly that he looked up
to see his mother running, this woman who never ran, a
screaming white swiftness like a diving bird.
Several details in this paragraph come from within
Lotto: He sees his father “apparently” napping—the word
apparent derived from the character’s perception of the
situation—and notes descriptions of a woodpecker and
an anole that are nearby. These observations are delivered
Choose a scene in your work-in-progress—or write a
new one—in which your character feels a strong emo-
tion that requires sensory imagery (loathing, passion,
regret). Now increase the intimacy. If you’re writing
in third person, for instance, rewrite a page in first per-
son. If you’re already in first person but you’re using
past-tense verbs, switch to present tense. If you’re in
omniscient, choose any of the intimate POVs. What
do you learn from this exercise that you can use to
enhance your existing narrative voice?
through Lotto’s eyes. The narrative voice also reveals that
Lotto thinks that his father’s napping is “odd”—an obser-
vation clearly coming from within.
Details such as “the boy stood still,” however, are
external, and indicate we are no longer inside Lotto.
Throughout the passage, the narrative voice describes
him as “the boy.”
Writers often confuse internal and external perspec-
tives. Always ask yourself: Am I inside my character
looking out, or am I outside my character looking in?
If you’ve selected the third-person intimate POV, you
are limited to the internal—it’s not much different from
first person, except that you’re using the pronouns he,
she and they instead of I. If you find yourself jumping
back and forth between internal and external vantages—
offering an emotion (internal) and then describing your
character’s physical appearance (external)—your narra-
tive voice resides squarely in the omniscient POV.
Bear in mind that narrative voice recounts the
thoughts, feelings and opinions of your characters indi-
rectly. It differs from internal monologue and dialogue in
that it is an ongoing stream of observation and sensory
information that tells readers a story without relying on
the character to do so. Even so, narrative voice must still
feel organic to your character. Its tone and style should
not be vastly different from your character’s manner
of thought and speech—otherwise you risk jarring the
reader and pulling her out of the story.
Excerpted from Writing the Intimate Character © 2016 by
Jordan Rosenfeld, with permission from Writer’s Digest Books.
WritersDigest.com I 57
 HOW TO SHAPE TIME & TENSE IN FIRST PERSON
B Y A LI CI A R A SLE Y

W hen I began experimenting with first person, I had

a hard time conveying a sense of immediacy for
my narrator. I kept falling prey to a trap I call retrospective
retelling. This is the tendency to relate the story by look-
ing back as if it’s all already happened. I found it much
harder in first person to make every scene an actual scene,
the real-time narration of an event. Instead, the narrator
seemed to relay the story from some vantage point in the
future. I found myself using phrases like “I didn’t know
then that …” and “Later I understood that …” which
prevented the reader from feeling present in the moment.
I decided I had to choose one or the other: Either the
character was narrating the events as they happened (in
the more standard past tense), or she was retelling the
experience from the future with all the knowledge of some-
one who had already lived through the events (what I call
future retrospective). Either choice has its advantages, but
I didn’t think I could adequately convey strong emotions
such as terror and curiosity in retrospect. Furthermore, it’s
not easy to persuade a reader to fear for the narrator’s life
when she’s making it clear that she’s survived.
That being said, it can be done. Some authors have fun
with this retrospective structure, playing with the anom-
aly of telling the past from the future as if it were the
present. Elizabeth Peters’ narrator directly addresses the
issue early in The Last Camel Died at Noon, starting with
a straightforward account of the day the last camel died,
stranding her, her husband and her son in the desert:
Let me turn back the pages of my journal and explain in
proper sequence of time how we came to find ourselves in
such an extraordinary predicament. I do not do this in the
meretricious hope of prolonging your anxiety as to our sur-
vival, dear Reader, for if you have the intelligence I expect
my Readers to possess, you will know I could not be writ-
ing this account if I were in the same state as the camels.
Marcel Proust’s 3,400-page first-person epic À la
Recherche du Temps Perdu (translated in English as In
Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past)
uses future retrospective as a way to foreshadow what
is coming. It’s a linking device that holds together a
sprawling narrative that spans decades (and seven
volumes) and adds an extra dimension to the character
of the young narrator. Here’s one such passage:
What the chauffeur wished was to avoid, if possible, the
dead season. I have said—though I was unaware of this
at the time, and the knowledge of it would have saved
me much unhappiness—that he was on very friendly
terms with Morel, although they showed no sign even of
knowing each other in front of other people.
Proust’s technique works because his story is very
much reminiscence from an older and wiser perspec-
tive. The title makes that retrospective approach clear.
Notice how his foreshadowing creates conflict (always a
good thing) by letting the reader know that the chauf-
feur and Morel are being deceptive. It also gives weight
to what otherwise might seem like a trivial incident (a
chauffeur taking his car and going back to Paris). Proust
delineates the two time periods with his tenses: “I have
said” is coming from that future perspective, while the
simple past (“the chauffeur wished”) denotes the time of
the story.
If you’re working in first person, the decision to have
the narrator relay the story from some point in the
future or more or less as it happens should be made early.
Either method, or a combination of them, can work.
What probably won’t work, however, is telling each scene
as a historical record, as that will make the narration
seem slow and detached. Try, as Peters does, interjecting
“future time” (for example, “I’ve been down that road
since, and it’s all changed. Now it’s the most generic of
suburban highway strips. But back in 1982 ...”) and then
descending into the actual time of the story.
DESCENDING INTO THE PAST
Harper Lee, in her masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird,
deals with the awkwardness of a child narrator by telling
the story from the retrospective of the adult Scout. From
the first page, she makes the approach clear:
When he was nearly 13, my brother Jem got his arm
badly broken at the elbow. … When enough years had
gone by to enable us to look back on them, we some-
times discussed the events leading to his accident. I
maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was
four years my senior, said it started long before that. He
said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first
gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.

58 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017


While the voice is adult throughout the book, the
action following this opening is narrated more or less in
the time of the book. The reader gets a sense of the dis-
tance between the narrator’s current life and the events
of her past, but once the story actually begins, the scenes
are told as they are happening.
When you’re using this future-looking-back method,
the clearer the time references, the better. Use future
markers—like Lee’s “When enough years had gone by …”—
to delineate the passages that have the narrator looking
back. Then, when you descend into the past, try to narrate
it directly as it happens. Here’s another example from To
Kill a Mockingbird that illustrates how Lee enters the past
and then picks up the story in straight time:
That was the summer Dill came to us.
Early one morning as we were beginning our day’s play
in the backyard, Jem and I heard something next door
in Miss Rachel Haverford’s collard patch. We went to the
wire fence to see if there was a puppy—Miss Rachel’s rat
terrier was expecting—instead we found someone sitting
looking at us. Sitting down, he wasn’t much higher than
the collards. We stared at him until he spoke:
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself,” Jem said pleasantly.
“I’m Charles Baker Harris,” he said. “I can read.”
The “early one morning” and the specificity of detail
(Miss Rachel’s rat terrier, the collards) place us very defi-
nitely in a particular moment in the past, and the dialogue
enhances the sense of immediacy. We’re no longer in the
future looking back; we’re now watching the initial encoun-
ter with Dill play out as if it is happening in front of us.
To increase that immediacy, aim for the most active
prose you can create without being obnoxious. Opt for
strong verbs, but make sure they are ones your narrator
would use, nothing overwrought. “I shoved open the
door” would be stronger than “I opened the door.”
Envision the setting, and provide the sharp details and
sensory aspects that will anchor the scene in the moment.
STAYING IN THE PRESENT
One contemporary technique in first person is to narrate
the story in present tense, as if the narrator is telling the
story as it happens. This technique increases the imme-
diacy of the events, and eliminates the awkwardness of
future retrospective. I also suspect it aids the author in
 Yr Sto
keeping the first-person account sharp and active. It’s hard
to slip into “retrospective” when the action is unfolding
right in front of you. A more stream-of-consciousness
narration conveys thought and feeling as they happen.
Brad Meltzer crafts most of his thrillers in this fast-
paced style. Here’s an example from The Millionaires:
Now that lunch is over, most of the pews are empty … but
not all of them. A dozen or so worshippers are scattered
throughout the rows, and even if they’re praying, it only
takes one random glance for one of them to be crimestop-
per of the week … Three-quarters down the aisle, along
the left-hand wall, a single, unmarked door. Trying not to
be too quick and noticeable, Charlie and I keep the pace
nice and smooth. There’s a large creak when the door
opens. I cringe and give it a fast push to end the pain …
The door slams shut, and Charlie is still silent. “Please
don’t do this to yourself,” I tell him. “Take your own
advice. What happened with Shep, it’s not my fault, and
it’s not yours!”
Collapsing on a wooden bench in the corner, Charlie
doesn’t answer. His posture sinks. His neck bobs life-
lessly. He’s still in shock. Less than a half-hour ago, I saw
a co-worker get shot.
The present tense allows for a running commentary
of the event. This can be a lot of fun, or it can be tedious.
Concentrate on making the narrator’s experience and per-
ceptions vivid and entertaining, with plenty of emotion and
conflict. You’re not cataloging events; you’re telling a story.
In the example above, the narrator isn’t just noting
the worshippers in the church; he’s thinking of them as
potential adversaries who might turn him and his fugitive
brother over to the police. He’s not just walking down the
aisle; he’s trying to keep anyone from noticing that they’re
hiding from the police. He’s not just reassuring his brother;
he’s begging him not to fall apart. Lots of conflict, lots of
emotion—all presented in an urgent, immediate way.
The way in which your narrator presents the story in
time will have a profound effect on the overall shape of
the tale that follows, so don’t make such a decision lightly.
Carefully consider and even experiment with both tenses
before deciding which one best fits the story you wish to
tell. WD
Excerpted from The Power of Point of View © 2008 by Alicia Rasley,
with permission from Writer’s Digest Books. Visit writersdigestshop.
com and enter the code “Workbook” for a 10 percent WD reader
discount on this and other books to help you hone your craft.
WritersDigest.com I 59
STANDOUTMARKETS
An exclusive look inside the markets that can help you make your mark.
WHAT STANDS
OUT & WHY:
Recently hon-
ored by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the
“Best Experiments in Journalism,” Narratively distinguishes
itself in a format largely shunned by other online-only
publications: longform. Whether a 2,000-word personal
essay or a 4,000-word investigative piece, this 100-percent
freelance written website ensures “every story and story-
teller is awarded the space and time needed to have an
impact.” The focus on solid storytelling, no matter the
length, has paid off for Narratively—and its writers—
with accolades that include a 2014 New York Press
Club award in Feature Reporting, and The Best Writing
(Editorial) Webby Award in both 2014 and 2015. —TM
WHAT STANDS OUT & WHY:
Described by Publishers
Weekly as “Southern books
with an occasional oddity,” John F.
Blair’s catalog has diverse appeal.
Stories that embody life in the South are this pub-
lisher’s specialty—including the recent release Cripple
Joe: Stories From My Daddy by National Storytelling
Network’s Lifetime Achievement–winner Donald Davis.
The 2016 lineup included The Minotaur Takes His Own
Sweet Time, a sequel to Steven Sherrill’s 2000 hit The
Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break—which made The Wall
Street Journal’s “Five Best Novels Not About Humans”
and The Telegraph’s “The 10 Best Food and Drink Books
of All Time.” —TM
60 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
BY TYLER MOSS
FOR YOUR WEB-FRIENDLY WRITING:
Narratively
ABOUT: “Narratively is a digital publication that prides itself
on looking beyond the news headlines and click-bait, focus-
ing instead on ordinary people with extraordinary stories. Our
talented storytellers come with the passion projects they care
about most—having combed our world’s big cities and hid-
den corners for the characters and narratives that mainstream
media aren’t finding—the overlooked tales that enlighten us,
connect us and capture our imagination.”
FOUNDED: 2012. TRAFFIC: 475,000 monthly visitors.
PAYMENT: Up to $300 for features, $100 for shorter
stories. LENGTH: Varies—up to 4,000 words for reported
or first-person stories. RECURRING SERIES: Ordinary
Obituaries, Humans Behind the Headlines, The Naked
Truth, Secret Lives. HOW TO SUBMIT: Submit pitches or
completed stories via narratively.submittable.com/submit.
DETAILED GUIDELINES: narrative.ly/contribute.
FOR YOUR SOUTHERN NONFICTION & NOVELS:
John F. Blair, Publisher
ABOUT: “Blair focuses on general trade books about the
Southeastern U.S., with a strong emphasis on coastal North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and the Appalachian
region. We primarily publish nonfiction titles in the areas of
travel, history, biography, folklore and cooking.”
FOUNDED: 1954. PUBLISHES: About 10–12 titles per year,
1–2 of which are fiction. PRINT RUN: Varies. ADVANCE:
Negotiable. ROYALTIES: Varies. HOW TO SUBMIT:
Nonfiction proposals should include a cover letter, an
outline or introduction, up to 30 pages of text, a brief mar-
ket analysis and an author bio. Fiction proposals should
include a cover letter, a synopsis, the first 30 pages and an
author bio. Email submissions to editorial@blairpub.com,
or mail to Acquisitions Committee, John F. Blair, Publisher,
1406 Plaza Dr., Winston-Salem, NC 27103. DETAILED
GUIDELINES: blairpub.com/manuscriptguidelines.
FOR YOUR FREELANCE WRITING:
Popular Mechanics
ABOUT: “Popular Mechanics is the original how-to guide
for a life well lived. Drawing on 115 years of knowledge,
Popular Mechanics shares a voracious curiosity about
technological breakthroughs, automobiles, inventions,
do-it-yourself projects, and outdoor adventure with our
community of loyal readers, fans and followers.”
FOUNDED: 1902. PUBLISHES: 10 issues per year.
READERSHIP: 7,412,000. PAYMENT: Varies. Pays $300–
1,000 for features. LENGTH: Varies. EDITORIAL INTERESTS:
automotive, home journal, science/technology/
aerospace, boating/outdoors, electronics/photography/
telecommunications. NOTABLE CONTRIBUTORS: Tom
Chiarella, Wylie Dufresne, Jay Leno. HOW TO SUBMIT:
Email queries addressed to the appropriate department
editor to pmwebmaster@hearst.com, or mail to Popular
Mechanics, 300 West 57 St., New York City, NY 10019.
DETAILED GUIDELINES: popularmechanics.com/about/
about-us.
FOR YOUR FICTION, POETRY, ESSAYS & MORE:
The Gettysburg Review
ABOUT: “The editors of The Gettysburg Review express their
deep commitment to the arts and humanities by seeking out
and publishing the very best contemporary poetry, fiction,
essays, essay reviews and art in issues as physically beautiful
as they are intellectually and emotionally stimulating.”
FOUNDED: 1988. CIRCULATION: 2,000. PUBLISHES:
Quarterly. READING PERIOD: Sept. 1–May 31. PAYMENT:
$2 per line for poetry, $15 per printed page of prose.
Length: For poetry submissions, no more than five short
poems or two longer poems. Fiction includes forms from
short stories to short-shorts and lengthier pieces (pub-
lished serially). Essays average 25 pages, double-spaced.
HOW TO SUBMIT: Submit by mail with an SASE to Mark
Drew, Editor, The Gettysburg Review, Gettysburg College,
300 N. Washington St., Gettysburg, PA 17325-1491; or
online at gettysburgreview.submittable.com/submit for
a $3 fee. DETAILED GUIDELINES: gettysburgreview.com/
submissions/guidelines.
WHAT STANDS OUT & WHY:
With more than 100 years
of history to stand upon, Popular
o
Mechanics remains a lauded title
in the magazine realm. Since
Editor-in-Chief Ryan D’Agostino took the helm in 2014,
this service-heavy publication has been a four-time
American Society of Magazine Editors Finalist in the cat-
egories of General Excellence and Personal Service, also
ranking twice for Magazine Section (for the department
“How Your World Works”). In addition to competitive pay
rates, nearly 50 percent of the magazine is penned by
freelancers—which means opportunities to have your work
read by this massive audience abound. —TM
WHAT STANDS OUT & WHY:
Published by Pennsylvania’s
Gettysburg College, for nearly 30 years
G
The
T Gettysburg Review has paired
emerging
e voices with such notable
names as E.L. Doctorow, Joyce Carol Oates, Jeffrey
Eugenides, Richard Wilbur, Donald Hall and Rita Dove.
Stories, essays and poems appearing in this illustrious
literary journal have earned honors from Pushcart Prizes to
O. Henry Prizes, as well as placement in varied editions of
“The Best American” series. —TM
Tyler Moss is the managing editor of Writer’s Digest.
WritersDigest.com I 61
CONFERENCESCENE
Events to advance your craft, connections and career.
Desert Nights,
Rising Stars Writers
Conference
Inspiration doesn’t run dry at this
university-sponsored conference.
WHEN: Feb. 16–18, 2017. WHERE:
Arizona State University, Tempe,
Ariz. Sessions are held at the
University Club, Old Main buildings
and venues across campus. Nearby
lodgings, such as the Tempe Mission
Palms Hotel, are within walking
distance of ASU. PRICE: $400. See
website for details. WHAT MAKES
THE CONFERENCE UNIQUE:
Sponsored by ASU’s Virginia G. Piper
Center for Creative Writing, Desert
Nights, Rising Stars aims to offer a
community-based experience. “While
the conference features numerous
acclaimed faculty members, award-
winning authors and experienced
industry experts, our focus is less on
[celebrating] the faculty than on how
their knowledge can benefit budding
authors,” conference coordinator Jake
Friedman says. WHO IT’S PERFECT
FOR: Established and emerging
writers alike seeking to deepen their
engagement with contemporary lit-
erature and explore new publishing
avenues. HOW MANY ATTEND: 250.
FACULTY: Novelists Benjamin Percy
(The Dead Lands), Benjamin Alire
Saenz (He Forgot to Say Goodbye)
and Paolo Bacigalupi (The Windup
Girl); editor Cheryl B. Klein (Arthur
62 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
A. Levine Books/Scholastic);
agent Emma Patterson (Brandt &
Hochman Literary Agents); and
more. HIGHLIGHTS: A catered wel-
coming ceremony allows conference-
goers to mingle before buckling down
to work. Programming includes
lectures and discussions on the craft
of writing; panels with agents, edi-
tors and publishers; and creative
exercises. “We also will be offer-
ing mini readings during the lunch
hour,” Friedman says. IF YOU GO:
Tucked away in the Arts District of
nearby Scottsdale, The Poisoned Pen
Bookstore specializes in autographed
first editions. Just 20 minutes from
Tempe is the David Wright House—
built in 1950 by Frank Lloyd Wright
for his son. The elevated home looks
like a rattlesnake from some angles,
offers 360-degree views of the sur-
rounding mountain valley and is
BY DON VAUGHAN
open for tours. FOR MORE INFO:
piper.asu.edu/conference.
DESERT NIGHTS PHOTO © KEVIN S. MOUL; PALM BEACH POETRY PHOTO © OWEN MCGOLDRICK; UNICORN PHOTO © JAN KARDYS
Palm Beach
Poetry Festival
Fly south this winter to warm up
your verse at this long-running
favorite among poets.
WHEN: Jan. 16–21, 2017. WHERE:
Old School Square, Delray Beach,
Fla. PRICE: Workshops are $895
for participants, $495 for auditors
(observers who do not comment or
share their work), plus a $25 applica-
tion fee (attendees must apply; spots
are limited). See website for details.
WHAT MAKES THE CONFERENCE
UNIQUE: The Palm Beach Poetry
Festival is designed to nurture the
writing, reading, performance and
appreciation of poetry. “It is non-
hierarchical, informal and aims to
create lifelong bonds between
participants,” conference director
Susan R. Williamson says. WHO
IT’S PERFECT FOR: Serious writers
of poetry who want to improve revi-
sion skills and/or generate new work.
HOW MANY ATTEND: 135. FACULTY:
Poets Terrance Hayes (How to Be
Drawn), Dorianne Laux (The Book
of Men), Thomas Lux (God Particles),
Carl Phillips (Reconnaissance),
Martha Rhodes (The Thin Wall),
Charles Simic (The Monster Loves
His Labyrinth), Scott Raven (The
Polygons: Surrealist Poems Volume 1);
performance poet Mason Granger
and more. HIGHLIGHTS: Nine work-
shops totaling 16 hours of instruction,
four afternoon craft talks by faculty
poets, and an interview and read-
ing with Pulitzer Prize–winning poet
Simic. IF YOU GO: Take a break from
waxing poetic with a visit to nearby
Atlantic Dunes Park, a secluded
beachfront nature area just an
eight-minute drive away where
you can recline under an umbrella,
book in hand, as the sea—in the
words of Pablo Neruda—“shakes its
bull’s beard.” FOR MORE INFO:
palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.
Unicorn Writers’
Conference
Take a crash course on real-world
publishing in a regal setting.
WHEN: March 25, 2017. WHERE:
Reid Hall, Manhattanville College,
Purchase, N.Y. PRICE: $325. Editor/
agent manuscript review sessions
are an additional $60. See website
for details. WHAT MAKES THE
CONFERENCE UNIQUE: Unicorn gives
attendees access to insiders ready to
discuss the issues of greatest concern
to writers, thanks to conference
chairperson Jan Kardys’ decades of
experience in the industry. “Often
editors/publishers do not provide
entry for their forthcoming published
authors into the key departments that
can make or break a book,” Kardys
says. WHO IT’S PERFECT FOR: Writers
eager for a glimpse into publishing,
as well as those seeking to estab-
lish productive relationships with
editors and publishers. HOW MANY
ATTEND: 350–500. FACULTY: Novelists
J.L. Witterick (My Mother’s Secret),
Michael J. Sullivan (Age of Myth),
Beatriz Williams (A Certain Age),
and Nancy Kress (Yesterday’s Kin);
agents Marilyn Allen (The Allen
O’Shea Literary Agency) and
Katharine Sands (The Sarah Jane
Freymann Literary Agency); and
more. HIGHLIGHTS: The conference
is held in Reid Hall (nicknamed
“Reid Castle” for its distinct archi-
tectural style), which was rebuilt
by a newspaper magnate in 1892 14ʖʊ Sʃʐ Fʔʃʐʅʋʕʅʑ
after a fire. Workshops cover an Wʔʋʖʇʔʕ Cʑʐʈʇʔʇʐʅʇ
A Celebration of Craft, Commerce & Community
array of topics from self-publishing
Keynoters : HEATHER GRAHAM,
to writing effective book proposals. JOHN PERKINS &WILLIAM BERNHARDT
Craft sessions range from how to 100+ presenters—authors, editors,
write an evocative opening scene to publishers & literary agents from
New York, L.A. & S.F. Bay Area
creating realistic dialogue. “We
also will be offering book summary February 16-19, 2017
at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel
reviews, flap copy reviews and
Substantial early discounts & special room rates.
query letter reviews,” Kardys says.
x Feb. 16 & 20: Single & half-day, in-depth
IF YOU GO: Venture 15 minutes west classes are available to all writers.
to Tarrytown’s Sunnyside estate, x Free events including author/illustrator
home of “The Legend of Sleepy Jon Agee children’s book session.
x 2017 San Francisco Writing Contest is
Hollow” writer Washington Irving. NOW accepting entries
Now a museum, Sunnyside was x Free SFWC Newsletter subscription
designated a National Historic For event/class details & online registration;
contest rules; and SFWC Newsletter subscription:
Landmark in 1962. FOR MORE INFO:
unicornwritersconference.com. WD
www.SFWriters.org
Don Vaughan (donaldvaughan.com)
is a freelance writer in Raleigh, N.C.,
and founder of Triangle Association
SFWC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization
of Freelancers.
WritersDigest.com I 63
C ON FE RE NC E GU IDE
CONFERENCE GUIDE
JANUARY 2017
• Keep in mind that there may be more
than one workshop in each listing.
• These workshops are listed alphabeti-
cally by state, country or continent.
• Unless otherwise indicated, rates include
tuition (T) only. Sometimes the rates also
include airfare (AF), some or all meals (M),
accommodations (AC), ground transpor-
tation (GT), materials (MT) or fees (F).
• When you find workshops that interest
you, be sure to call, email or check the
website of the instructor or organization
for additional information.
• All listings are paid advertisements.
CALIFORNIA
GENRE-LA™ SPECULATIVE FICTION
CREATIVE WRITING CONFERENCE,
January 27–29, 2017 at the DoubleTree
Hilton, Los Angeles West Side, CA. If you
write Science Fiction, Fantasy, Steampunk,
Cyberpunk, Horror, Military Science Fiction,
Urban, Historical, Epic Fantasy, and/or
Space Opera, now you can learn the secrets
for success from more than 30 published
masters and industry experts, who can
help raise the level of your writing (see our
display ad in this issue). This is a unique
opportunity to learn how to brainstorm
and develop new ideas, visualize brave
new worlds of wonder, create compelling
memorable characters (both human and
otherwise), plot and structure amazing story
lines of imagination, and develop stand-
alone award-winning novels, screenplays and
graphic novels. Learn how to edit and polish
your novels and screenplays, then pitch to
literary agents or publishers in the right
market. The conference will feature literary
agents, publishers, celebrity and bestselling
authors, industry experts, Hollywood veterans,
educators and publishing professionals
who will meet and discuss your project.
Enjoy the complimentary Keynote Address
Luncheons plus have opportunities to network
with other attendees, celebrity authors,
and faculty. Attendees can also schedule
appointments to meet with literary agents
and publishers looking for new talent with
polished manuscripts. There is an informative
daily session with the "agents and publishers
du jour" to help prepare for your actual
meeting/pitch session. Over our past 15
conferences, attendees have acquired literary
representation, earned publishing contracts,
and seen their books reach audiences around
the world. Early-bird Discount Tuition with
financing available.
Contact: Lillian or Tony Todaro
P.O. Box 2267, Redondo Beach, CA 90278
Ph: 310/379-2650
info@wcwriters.com
www.wcwriters.com
MASTERS WORKSHOPS FOR ASPIRING,
ACTIVE AND ACCOMPLISHED WRITERS,
produced by West Coast Writers Conferences.
64 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017
DoubleTree Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles Westside,
CA, and other locations. Every writer needs
the skill-sets to develop a great story from
the first sentence, through the developmental
and editing process, solving manuscript issues,
and polishing the work until it is ready for
publication or production. Now you can learn
the tools and secrets to take your writing to
the next level by working face-to-face with
literary agents, renowned educators and
industry veterans as they discuss topics such
as: “From The Writers Fingers to the Keyboard
to Money in the Bank” with top literary agent
and intellectual property attorney Paul S. Levine,
“Write a Query Letter with a Literary Agent,”
“BCX™ - Boot Camp Extreme Intensive Writing”
with veteran literary agent Toni Lopopolo,
“Crafting Scenes Like a Pro” with author of 40+
TV movies Christine Conradt, “No Agent - No
Problem: How To Sell a Screenplay,” “Generate,
Develop, and Pitch Successful Stories Interactive
Training,” “Master The Skills Needed to Write
Your First Novel, or Revise Your First Draft,”
“Fiction/Narrative Nonfiction Intensive Class:
Improve Your Writing—Now!” and much more.
Length of workshop varies from four hours to a
full day. Seating is limited to 20 per session. See
website for details. Early registration discounts
available.
Contact: Tony or Lillian Todaro
P.O. Box 2267, Redondo Beach, CA 90278
Ph: 310/379-2650
info@wcwriters.com
www.wcwriters.com/workshops
2017 SAN FRANCISCO WRITERS
CONFERENCE, February 16–19 at the Mark
Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco. This “Celebration
of Craft, Commerce and Community” welcomes
major names in publishing. Bestselling authors,
literary agents, editors and publishers attend
the SFWC and take personal interest in projects
discovered there. The 100+ presenters list includes
Heather Graham, William Bernhardt and John
Perkins. Writer’s Digest is the “Speed Dating
With Agents” sponsor. Open Enrollment Classes
available on Feb. 16 & 20. All levels and genres.
$795 (with substantial early discounts available).
Contact: Barbara Santos
1029 Jones St., San Francisco CA 94109
Ph: 415/673-0939
Barbara@SFWriters.org
www.SFWriters.org
NEW YORK
UNICORN WRITERS’ CONFERENCE,
Saturday, March 25, 2017, 7:30 a.m.–8 p.m. at
Reid Castle, Manhattanville College, Purchase,
NY. As valuable for published authors as it is
for beginners! This conference covers the total
story from craft to career. Meet industry shot-
callers, get one-on-one face time with industry
insiders, including: One-on-one manuscript
reviews and feedback sessions with agents and
book editors. Networking breakfast, lunch and
dinner. Perfect your craft with a choice of six
workshops every hour, and over 37 different
sessions offered. Price: $325 includes all
workshops and three meals. Additional $60 for
40 pages and book summary (read in advance
by your selected agent/editors) and 30 minute
meeting. Three agent panels, one editor
panel, and printer panel. Sponsorship booths
available upon request.
Contact: Jan L. Kardys, Chairman
Unicorn Writers’ Conference, Inc.
Ph: 203/938-7405
unicornwritersconference@gmail.com
www.unicornwritersconference.com
WRITER’S DIGEST ANNUAL
CONFERENCE, presented by Writer’s
Digest. Writing’s premier conference returns
to New York City! Join WD in 2017 for the
Writer’s Digest Annual Conference, taking
place August 18–20 at the Hilton Midtown.
This conference only grows bigger and
better each year, so expect even more of
what you love: A-List speakers, top-notch
mentors, premium networking and a wide-
ranging selection of sessions on the craft and
business of writing. Don’t miss: The Pitch
Slam—your chance to pitch your work directly
to agents scouting new talent—will be back
with at least 50 agents eager to hear why
you’re the next big thing. Registration
opens soon!
Contact:
Ph: 877/436-7764, option 2
writersdigestconference@fwmedia.com
www.writersdigestconference.com
INTERNATIONAL
MEXICO
2017 SAN MIGUEL WRITERS’
CONFERENCE AND LITERARY
FESTIVAL, produced by San Miguel Literary
Sala. February 15–19, 2017 in San Miguel de
Allende (No.1 City in the World 2013, Condé
Nast Traveler). 2017 Keynote Speakers: Mary
Karr, Billy Collins, Naomi Klein, Judy Collins,
David Ebershoff, Lisa Moore, Pedro Pallou
and Robert Moor. Previous speakers include:
Cheryl Strayed, Gloria Steinem, Lawrence Hill,
Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Luis
Urrea, Joyce Carol Oates, David Whyte, Joy
Harjo, Scott Turow, Alice Walker, Ellen Bass and
Sandra Cisneros. Plan now to attend the 12th
annual SMWC, featuring distinguished authors
and faculty from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Sunny, historic San Miguel is known worldwide
as the creative crossroads of the Americas—a
mecca for writers, artists and musicians. The
entire town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
ringed by mountains, filled with cobblestone
streets and colorful 18th century buildings,
worlds away from border issues. Hotel rooms
$75+, double/single. Select seven of seventy
90-minute classes in all genres, beginning/
advanced; keynotes and panels (bilingual); open
mic; spectacular Mexican Fiesta; breakfasts,
lunches, receptions. Optional consultations,
agent pitches; post-conference workshops;
explore San Miguel excursions. Join the mailing
list for conference updates and articles. (T, M,
MT, F, parties!)
Contact: Maia Williams
San Miguel Literary Sala
Box 526, 220 N. Zapata Hwy. #11
Laredo, TX 78043
Ph: 415/324-5020
director@sanmiguelwritersconference.org
www.SanMiguelWritersConference.com
C LA S S I F I E D S : REA DIN G N OTIC ES

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Take Your Book to the Finish!
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WritersDigest.com I 71
 PL ATFORMSOF YORE WITH THANKS TO DICKINSON’S POETIC CHANNELERS: MARC DELANEY,
EMILY DILL, @MIKIME2011, MOLLY KOERNKE, STEVE LUBLINER, R.S. WILLIAMS, @ZOEANDME

I ’m Nobody! Who Are You? | The Official Online Home of Emily Dickinson 
 Emily Dickinson Twitter 
January 27, 2017 at 10:46pm • 
I’ll travel to a Friend-ly Place —
EmDickinson
To the One where I met Thee. @womaninwhite 2d
I’ll not look back unto My Space —
My relationship with *the world*
I’ll roam the Facebook — Free. is “Complicated.”
And if we two should meet some End —
‘Mid the oft-travers-ed Sea — EmDickinson
Oh, Friend, do not neglect to Send @womaninwhite 3d
Your best Status line to Me — I heard my phone buzz—before
it died.
Like Comment Share
EmDickinson
@womaninwhite 3d
William Faulkner and 3 others like this.
If I can stop one Drunk from tweeting,
I shall not live in vain.
Mark Twain Who needs a publisher when you have a nice locked chest
on the floor of your closet? #twaintrolling EmDickinson
Like Reply
• •
5 hrs
•
@womaninwhite 4d
I felt a Funeral, in my Feed.
Emily Dickinson The Soul selects her own society — Unfriend!
Like Reply
• •
2 4 hrs •
EmDickinson
@womaninwhite 8d
My life has stood—a loaded Baked
Potato—with bacon—and some
cheese. No, that’s no good …
 #firstdrafts
WomanInWhite 4d
EmDickinson
@womaninwhite 25d
I <3 Twitter—Where I can interact
with others from the comfort of my 4-post
bed. #introvert

BIRD © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: MADROLLY; WOMAN IN WINDOW © SHUTTERSTOCK.COM: EVGENIIA LITOVCHENKO

A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN

6 likes
WomanInWhite A Bird, came down the Walk

LaviniaNorcrossDickinson I’ll have to send Madam Meow over to meet this

little bird. ;)

WomanInWhite Don’t you dare, @LaviniaNorcrossDickinson—hope is the thing VirginiaW

@Woolf 24d
with feathers. Perhaps I would visit more often if you had fewer cats …
Good One!

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72 I WRITER’S DIGEST I January 2017

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