Featured Writing

Train a Comin’

by N. Ryan Tucker “Train a Comin’” placed first in Southern New Hampshire University’s 2024 Fall Fiction Contest. I don’t remember makin’ the devil no damn deal. Musta bargained with him when I was a kid. Can’t call to mind much of them times anyway. I knew it weren’t no…

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Top Writing and Publishing Tips from Acclaimed Novelist Warren Adler

By Warren Adler I’ve spent the best part of my life writing, thinking about writing and publishing, and, lately, more and more about the dramatic, revolutionary changes that are taking place in the way we communicate with each other and how it impacts on our future as writers. The fact…

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Advice to Writers: Stephen King on the Craft of Short Story Writing

Bestselling author Stephen King discusses the art of writing short stories and short fiction in this video interview, and speaks about how many new writers forgo writing short stories to focus on writing a novel, sometimes before they are ready to navigate “the quagmire of the novel.”  

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Advice to Writers: Anne Rice

In this video, bestselling writer Anne Rice offers advice to writers. The author of 32 books, Rice’s latest work, “Prince Lestat,” will be released in late October 2014.

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Crime Writers Give Their Best Tips for Authors

by Gabbi Hall Crime writers tell some of the most tantalizing and thrilling stories, taking us into criminal minds and behind the scenes of solving a crime. Authors Karin Slaughter, John Harvey and Kathy Reichs share their advice for aspiring writers in these Cornerstone Publishing videos. Karin Slaughter, author of…

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Setting the Scene in Fiction Writing

by Amanda Marsico Essay-writing season is dwindling down and there are only a few more weeks of classes left which means I get to share another set of tips and insights from the 2013 James River Writers Conference. In the third session I attended, Kathryn Erskine, Elizabeth Huergo, and Dean King, led…

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Advice from 2013 Finalists for the Library of Virginia Literary Awards

by Amanda Marsico I’m here with installment two of the James River Writers Conference 2013 sessions review. The second session I attended was led by the 2013 finalists in fiction for the Library of Virginia Literary Awards: Gigi Amateau, Clifford Garstang, Robert Goolrick, Lydia Netzer, and Kevin Powers, moderated by Peggy…

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Advice from the Field: Don’t Ever Give Up

by Scott L. Miller   Don’t ever give up. I worked on my first novel for twenty years off and on, tossed characters, cut it in half and rewrote it 17 times. If someone tells you that you don’t have what it takes, that’s one opinion. Write for yourself, not…

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Creating Villains Audiences Will Fall in Love With

by Alycia King Almost everyone loves a character that is good and fights through every problem he or she is faced with. But what about those characters that aren’t so righteous? The villains. There’s no law that says you can’t have both a villain protagonist and a gripping story. Jeff Lindsay, author…

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Laura DiSilverio: 3 Things I Know Now That I Wish I Knew Then

Laura DiSilverio is a professional author who has written nine books published as Laura DiSilverio, Lila Dare and Ella Barrick. Her 10th mystery, “Swift Run,” debuted in November (St. Martin’s Minotaur). She taught writing for three years at the United States Air Force Academy and now teaches four to six times…

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