Word for Words Blog for Writers

Nonfiction techniques in fiction Anyone who has studied journalism will recall that a good lead must include the five Ws and an H: who, w...

Start well Appropriately, the last installment of the editor's revision checklist is on beginnings and endings. Here are consideratio...

This installment of the editor's checklist for revising fiction comprises theme and emotional core. First, some definitions: Theme is t...

Keep your main story in focus The next installment of the editor's checklist for revising short and long fiction comprises plot, subp...

Motif: The echo of an interesting character The next items on our editor's checklist for revising short, or longer, fiction are meta...

How will your characters change? Before the month of love began, we had started reviewing the editor's checklist for revising short f...

C. M. Keller is an award-winning novelist and author of Screwing Up Time. She loves old movies and poison rings. In her spare time, she se...

Debut novelist O'Connell Debut novelist A. J. O'Connell, a graduate of Fairfield University's low-residency Master of Fine ...