F+W, 10151
Carver Road, Suite 300, Blue Ash, OH, 45242 USA
NaNoWriMo has ended,
and we're nearing the end of the year, which means many stories -- both
literal and figurative -- are drawing to a close. Powerful, unexpected story
endings will leave readers hungry for your next novel. Consider the following
techniques to help your story resonate long past the last page.
The most gratifying story endings leave readers more than satisfied -- they
leave them awed.
Which is to say, you need to plan your conclusion just as carefully as every
other part of your story. In fact, Joyce Carol Oates once said, "The
first sentence can't be written until the final sentence is written."
Whether her process works for you or you prefer a more organic method, by the
end of the story your primary and secondary plotlines have to reach their
proper conclusions -- with no loose ends dangling. All character and thematic
questions must be addressed, all conflicts resolved and any moral quandaries
settled.
Most stories end when the subplots twine around the primary plot to form a
seamlessly unified conclusion. Ideally, your ending should be, as Margaret
Atwood put it, "completely unexpected and inevitable." This kind of
ending leaves readers enthralled and breathless and clamoring for more. The
two approaches discussed in this article can help you achieve this lofty
goal: "Unreliable Narrator, Revealed" explains how to optimize the
complexity of an unreliable narrator to form a finale bothexciting and
thought provoking, while "A Wider Lens" intrigues readers by
opening up their perspective from a narrow view to a broader one, as the
context shift s and expands. Now, let's dig deeper into each individual
strategy.
UNRELIABLE NARRATOR,
REVEALED
Unreliable narrators allow authors great flexibility in determining how to
relay information—what to withhold and when to reveal it. Such a device keeps
readers guessing, unsure of what's really going on. If the groundwork is laid
properly, readers will be staggered by the shift in perception when the true
nature of the unreliable narrator is finally disclosed.
There are five viable types of unreliable narrators. Understanding how the
narration in each of these categories works will help you develop a fitting
final twist. These types are:
1. THE INNOCENT,
UNKNOWING OR MISUNDERSTOOD.
This category includes children, developmentally disabled adults or anyone
who comes from one culture and is plunked down in the middle of another.
A child, based simply on their limited experience, lacks the knowledge to
fully grasp some of what they see and hear. So, too, might someone with
lower-thanaverage intelligence or someone unfamiliar with the environment in
which they find themselves. A character might not know some of the vocabulary
or cultural references, or they might miss the meaning in nuanced repartee.
Another character may understand a word's denotation but not its connotation,
or might report the words but not the intonation, missing cues that identify
sarcasm or irony.
Let's say you're writing a heist story. You have a character, Daisy, who pays
for a cup of coffee with a $100 bill. The cashier asks if she has anything
smaller. Daisy pulls out a $5 bill and lays it on top of the $100 bill.
"No," she says in a serious tone. "They're all the same size."
Daisy's literal interpretation of the cashier's question suggests that Daisy
misunderstands the question. Won't readers be surprised when they learn at
the end that her apparent mistake is actually a ruse designed to trick a mark
into relaxing his vigilance? Read More...
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These days writers hoping to write, pitch,
publish and platform-build have little choice but to surrender themselves to
their laptops and smartphones -- a complicated predicament for the dreamers
of the world. Here are several pros and cons of the writing world's
increasing reliance on technology. Read More...
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Author Demian Vitanza recounts his
experience working with an inmate to take his sensitive story material and
turn it into a novel. He reflects on the unique considerations writers may
need to make when using people who are in prison as writing sources. Read More...
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As anyone who just wrapped up National Novel
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perseverance and succeeding with a dash of luck. Read More...
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Write a short story of 650 words or fewer
based on the photo prompt. You can be poignant, funny, witty, etc.; it is,
after all, your story. Impress the WD editors and you and 9 other winners
will appear in Writer's
Digest magazine!
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From books, briefcases, headphones, bookends
and games to services, subscriptions and videos, this guide offers a
compendium of creative experiences, learning tools and gifts for writers of
every genre and persuasion.
Read More...
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The Town of Soft Rains: A soft breeze stirs a leaf that has fallen on the pavement.
Otherwise, the street is tidy and beautifully maintained, just like the quiet
houses arranged in neat rows along its sides. Just like the vacant shopfronts
along quaint Main Street nearby. Just like the silent playground. Where
is everyone?
Post your response (500 words or fewer) in the comments here ...
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Jess Zafarris
Follow @jesszafarris
Jess Zafarris is an energetic multimedia journalist with more
than 8 years of experience writing and editing, and the online content
director of Writer’s Digest.
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F+W, 10151
Carver Road, Suite 300, Blue Ash, OH, 45242 USA
Schedule a
professional critique with 2nd Draft
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Detailed Notes to Improve Your Writing
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Do you want to
become a professional writer? A 2nd Draft Short Story Critique is one of the
best ways to improve your short story and take your writing to the next
level. In order to take advantage of this popular writing critique service, you must have a 5-30 page short story
ready for review.
Wondering what exactly a 2nd Draft Short Story Critique entails? After
reading your submission, a professional critique editor will provide you with
specific, detailed feedback and recommendations. They will comment on your
story's plot, subplots, characterization, dialogue, setting, and story arc.
Plus, they will evaluate if your story fits the market and audience you're
targeting, and point out (but not correct) any consistent issues your story
may have with grammar, mechanics, spelling or style. Not all critique editors
prepare their comments the same way or use track changes. Some reviewers
provide the critique as a summary.
Get a 2nd Draft Short Story
Critique today and become one step closer to becoming a published (and paid)
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F+W, 10151
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F+W, 10151
Carver Road, Suite 300, Blue Ash, OH, 45242 USA
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get published, fuel your passion, and gain exclusive access all while saving
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F+W, 10151
Carver Road, Suite 300 Blue Ash, OH, 45242 USA
Plus, find a new
literary agent who is accepting submissions.
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The Editor Behind the Curtain
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For first-time
authors, the publishing process is often shrouded in mystery. An expert
shares an inside look at what goes on behind the scenes -- and how to
leverage it for future success.
Whether you're currently writing a book, querying agents or on submission to
publishers, allow me to share this small-but-important truth: There's an
editor out there right now -- sorting stacks of pitch letters, book proposals
and manuscripts, thumbing through literary agent submissions, reading
selections of the manuscripts she requested from authors directly -- who is
seeking to buy a book similar to yours.
So, in a sense, your future editor is out there thinking about you.
Picture this person for a moment: Perhaps she's an associate editor for a
mid-level imprint, working her way up at a growing publishing company. She
majored in creative writing or English literature or journalism in college,
where she developed a passion for Jane Austen or Jack Kerouac, Joan Didion or
Anne Lamott. Whoever her muse, she knows good writing when she sees it. She
wrote articles for the school newspaper or poems for the literary journal,
nabbed a good internship after college and she's worked hard ever since to
finally land her dream job -- acquiring and editing books full time and getting
paid for it!
Now she fills the role of champion for her authors and books. She pitches the
books she discovers to her own internal publishing team, during which she
makes a case for both the editorial and business side for acquiring said
manuscripts.
Her boss expects her to acquire a handful of new books every year, and though
she's still learning and growing into the job, in part, her performance is
tied to the performance of her selections. If she acquires and takes a huge
financial risk on a book and it bombs a year later, it reflects on her
directly. Of course, like anyone in a new position, she needs time to grow
and, sure, she might have more seasoned editors guiding her through this
journey. But eventually, given a couple of years, her acquisitions become
hers to own.
Does all of this create a little pressure on our friendly associate editor? You bet.
Every editor's list of acquisitions is viewed (especially by management) as
their own personal business within the greater publishing company, complete
with its own profit and loss statement (P and L). As a result, each
individual book might get more or less scrutiny depending on how it fits into
the greater scheme. The worse the editor's books perform, the harder time
she'll have convincing her team to take risks on her projects in the future.
When you're writing a book, preparing a proposal or query (for publishers or
literary agents, because agents make decisions based on whether they think a
publisher will be interested), it's important to think about your future
editor. He is a human being, just like you, and every day he is facing the
very real difficulties of the changing market, the shifting retail landscape
and his own internal company pressures. He, like many editors in this
business, hopes to come across something special -- a work of unique power or
appeal or finesse or authority -- that makes him feel like he did in college
when he read Jack Kerouac.
Read more...
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Rather than seeing full-time work as a
hindrance to the craft, writers can channel advantages of their situation to
maximize writing productivity. Here's how to approach it in a more fruitful
way.Read More...
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Master the art of writing enthralling tales for young
readers in the go-to resource for writers crafting stories for children
ages two to eight.
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Discover thousands of publishing opportunities for
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Scientists, engineers, medical professionals, and others
debunk the myths, correct the misconceptions and offer advice on getting
the details right.
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New literary agent alerts (with this
spotlight featuring Natalie Grazian at Martin Literary and Media Management)
are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent
who is likely building his or her client list. Read More...
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From books, briefcases, headphones, bookends
and games to services, subscriptions and videos, this guide offers a
compendium of creative experiences, learning tools and gifts for writers of
every genre and persuasion.
Read More...
|
Jess Zafarris
Follow @jesszafarris
Jess Zafarris is an energetic multimedia journalist with more than 8
years of experience writing and editing, and the content director of Writer's
Digest.
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F+W, 10151
Carver Road, Suite 300, Blue Ash, OH, 45242 USA
Plus, discover our
holiday gift guide for writers.
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21st-century writing
technology has undoubtedly made writing more convenient -- but is it actually
holding us back? One writer investigates.
by Elizabeth Sims
I'm an analog girl in a digital world. I like old things and old style. I
used a rotary-dial phone until the march of progress threatened to crush us
both. My car just celebrated its 24th birthday. I like canvas sneakers, gin
martinis and homemade afghans.
But I'm a writer in contemporary times, and I've adapted to new technologies.
Frankly, most of it has been a blur. I do remember, though, sitting alone at
night in an office building sometime in the 1980s, watching my boss's printer
slowly excrete 200 pages of random ASCII characters. For all I knew, the
computer was trying to tell us something. I sent the pages to the tech guys
at headquarters for analysis. They still haven't gotten back to me.
Fast-forward to now, when miniature microphones and voice-to-text soft ware
literally enable us to write as fast as we can talk. The next phase is nearly
upon us, where a machine will write my novels for me -- and no doubt publish
them, collect royalties and spend the money on nice things for itself.
But I feel it's time to ask: Is more tech necessarily an improvement? Is
faster really better than slower? Is the destination more important than the
journey?
With those questions in mind, I took it upon myself to investigate. To
re-immerse myself in the materials and sensations I used to enjoy so oft en
-- and also to experiment with even older methods -- I spent a weekend
working on my current novel using an assortment of technology that originated
between the building of the Sphinx and the opening night of My Fair Lady.
On Saturday morning I settled down at my writing table, a mug of coff ee at
my side and a wood-cased pencil in my hand. I chose a Blackwing 602, known
for its smooth core and fragrant cedar casing. (I'd decided to skip
inscribing words on stone or wet clay tablets and start with the next writing
technology most closely related to those: graphite.)
Pencil sharpening is an act of beginning. You sit down, you gather yourself,
you sharpen. You feel and hear the sharpener working, and you smell that
fresh wood. You behold your newly exposed graphite. If the point is sharp,
you feel brief anxiety over whether the microscopic, conical top section will
break off as you touch it to paper.
I enjoy the deliberateness of the pencil experience. As you write, the point
degrades to whatever degree of dullness you feel like tolerating. You rotate
the point to take advantage of the wear pattern -- every rotation off ers a
sharper edge.
When you write with a pencil, you are, in a very real sense, drawing. You're
laying down the two-dimensional images of words. You can write little or big;
with light pressure or heavy; you can print carefully or race along in
whatever version of cursive is yours.
You can erase mistakes! But if you're on a tear, you can just strike through
with vigor and keep going. Or you can flurry down a satisfying storm of
obliterating zigzags. The re-sharpening pause is a balm. While sharpening,
you have a chance to look up, change the focal length of your gaze, quit
thinking for a moment and use your hands diff erently.
I wrote about 1,000 words with the Blackwing, savoring its straightforward
sturdiness. You don't have to baby a pencil. You can leave it lying around,
you can even lose it without too much grief. You can write with it in a canoe
or on a mountain ledge, or upside-down while lying in bed. No worries about
ink, mechanisms, batteries.
Read more...
|
From books, briefcases, headphones, bookends
and games to services, subscriptions and videos, this guide offers a
compendium of creative experiences, learning tools and gifts for writers of
every genre and persuasion.
Read More...
|
If you're setting a book in another country
from your own, it's critical to learn as much as you can about the culture,
climate, architecture, and other aspects to make your story more believable.
Here, author Sejal Badani offers tips for researching and writing about
foreign countries.
Read More...
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Whether by luck or an innate synchronicity,
Michael Lewis often finds himself on the precipice of moments that shift the
axis just slightly -- but reshape the world in their wake. Lewis lays out his
formula for immersive nonfiction in this extended Writer's Digest interview. Read More...
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Writing your protagonist always requires
deep thought and consideration, but crafting believable characters who are
nothing like you presents unique challenges. Author Donna Levine offers four
essential tips to help you work through these challenges. Read More...
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Rather than seeing full-time work as a
hindrance to the craft, writers can channel advantages of their situation to
maximize writing productivity. Here's how to approach it in a more fruitful
way.Read More...
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Antiquing:
Imagine that you or a character are visiting an antique mall. You wander the
aisles, imagining the items crowding each booth -- old books, costume
jewelry, rolltop desks, typewriters, pocket knives, wooden trains,
arrowheads, candlesticks, silverware sets, china dolls, Depression glass
bowls (just to name a few). You select three items and purchase them. When
you get home, however, you notice something odd about one of the items.
Post your response (500 words or fewer) in the comments here ...
|
Jess Zafarris
Follow @jesszafarris
Jess Zafarris is an energetic multimedia journalist with more
than 8 years of experience writing and editing, and the online content
director of Writer’s Digest.
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|
|
F+W, 10151
Carver Road, Suite 300, Blue Ash, OH, 45242 USA
|
Write, Revise, and
Pitch Your Picture Book
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Children's Picture
Books are one of the most difficult categories to write. It takes a
tremendous amount of practice and an understanding of the contemporary market
to break into the publishing industry as a picture book author. Writing a
complete story-with a full narrative arc-in under 1000 words can be a
daunting task. But we know from the number of cherished picture books on
readers' bookshelves that it is possible. What can you learn from bestselling
picture books? What picture book writing strategies can you implement to
better your story? How can you effectively pitch your picture book manuscript
to literary agents?
This webinar covers all these topics, providing you with information that
will help take you from concept to first draft, and from final manuscript to
pitching. This live webinar includes a live presentation, a Q&A session,
a critique of your children's picture book manuscript, and downloadable
worksheets that will help you write, revise, and pitch your picture book long
after the webinar is over
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All registrants are invited to submit your
query letter and complete children's picture book manuscript (1000 words or
under) for critique. Please wait until
after the live webinar date to submit your critique material. This allows
you to make changes to your query and picture book manuscript based on the
presentation and will ensure you receive the most helpful critique
possible. All submitted query letters and picture
book manuscripts are guaranteed a written critique by Literary Agent Maria
Vicente. Maria reserves the right to request more writing from attendees by
e-mail following the event if she deems the writing excellent.
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The common elements and proper formatting
of a picture book
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What the picture book market looks like in
today's publishing industry
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What a query letter is and why you want a
literary agent
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How to improve your own writing by looking
at bestselling picture books
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Writers who want to better understand the
picture book category
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Writers who want to learn about the
picture book publishing market
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Writers interested in improving their
picture book manuscript
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Writers who want a professional critique
of a picture book manuscript
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Thursday, December 13, 2018 at 1:00 p.m. EST
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Instructor: Maria
Vincente
Maria Vicente is an Associate Agent at P.S.
Literary Agency. Maria provides support to her clients through all stages of
the writing and publication process. She is dedicated to managing authors'
literary brands for the duration of their careers. Maria specializes in
children's fiction and nonfiction for readers of all ages.
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F+W, 10151
Carver Road, Suite 300, Blue Ash, OH, 45242 USA
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Send us your best
story of less than 1,500 words for awesome prizes.
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If you can craft a
story that’s moving, powerful and hooks you in less than 1,500 words, then
that’s something truly special.
And it deserves
special recognition.
At Writer’s Digest,
we want to see what you can do with 1,500 words or less. We want to laugh, be
moved to tears, feel tension and fear. We want something special.
And if you can
deliver it, the prize we’re offering is well worth it: $3,000 plus a trip to New
York City for the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference.
Start brainstorming
and start creating—because, pretty soon, you’ll need to start editing to hit
both the word count and the kind of emotion necessary to grab a reader’s
attention.
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F+W, 10151
Carver Road, Suite 300, Blue Ash, OH, 45242 USA
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