Word for Words Blog for Writers

When people ask about critique groups for writers, I generally steer them away from those that don't address their genre. Yet, cross-gen...

 Find the flash in your short fiction  As e-readers and devices get smaller and time gets shorter, here's how to edit short fic...

A colleague recently asked me to read the first draft of a captivating personal essay, but something was missing — the right title and the ...

Break writer's block by writing Writers who say they can't write often mean they're afraid to write. Reasons include not kn...

Emotions in scenes reveal character Why show emotions in scenes instead of telling how characters feel? Because readers like discovery ...

To emotionally invest in a story, readers need to trust the writer, and a writer who creates a serious story with a tongue-in-cheek tone is ...

Law and Order has much to teach writers about dialogue, raising the stakes in a story and plot twists. Recently, four words grabbed my atte...