Writing Methods

Most writing advice tells people to add more. More description. More backstory. More emotional interiority. Layer it on, pile it up, make sure the ...

The Secret Weapon: Multiple Projects at OnceMost productivity advice says focus. One project. One goal. Eliminate distractions. Pour everything int...

When Writing Became Full-Time: The Birth of Routine"I'm not a sprinter. I'm a long-distance runner." Haruki Murakami said that decades ago, and he...

There's a specific breed of frustration that only hits after weeks of preparation. The one-sentence summary is done. The paragraph summary, done. C...

In a 2011 survey of published novelists by Writer's Digest, 73% of respondents who used outlines reported that their manuscripts required fewer str...

"I know my character wants revenge. I just don't know if he'd slam the door or walk out quietly." That sentence -- overheard at a writers' conferen...

Most writing advice tells writers to plan more before drafting. Here is the counter-intuitive truth: planning too much is almost as dangerous as no...

A study of 2,000 published novels found that stories with clearly defined character arcs received, on average, 40% higher reader satisfaction score...

Most writers stall at the exact same place. They've got their one-sentence summary -- tight, punchy, the story in a nutshell. Then someone says "ex...

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Einstein was talking about physics, but the principle cuts straight to the h...

Why Does the Snowflake Method Work?"I used to be a seat-of-the-pants writer," physicist-turned-novelist Randy Ingermanson once admitted. "Then I wr...

"There is no real ending. It's just the place where you stop the story." Frank Herbert said that, and he was talking about Dune -- a novel that use...