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  • 40 Free Writing Contests: Competitions With Cash Prizes

    40 Free Writing Contests: Competitions With Cash Prizes

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    Have you ever Googled “writing contests”? Many require reading fees or prizes—like seeing your work in print—that you can only receive if you pay for it.

    Some legitimate contests charge small entry fees, but often a fee can be a red flag for a scam, so those might be the ones you want to stay away from. 

    Besides, there are plenty of free writing contests that encourage and inspire boundless creativity with real cash prizes and career-advancing opportunities! Since it can be hard for a writer to know where to find them, we did the legwork for you.

    We found 40 reputable, well-reviewed, free writing contests for poets, fiction writers, essayists and more

    With thousands of dollars in cash prizes and numerous opportunities to secure a publishing contract, you’re sure to find the right free writing contest for your work.

    If you don’t mind paying a little money to enter, our friends over at Smart Blogger have rounded up some great writing contests that have small entry fees. And if you’re still hungry for more opportunities, we also have posts on writers grants and writing fellowships.

    Fiction and nonfiction writing contests this year

    Ready to share your novel or personal essay with the world? Whether you’re a newbie or more established writer, you’re likely eligible for a few of these contests.

    Here are some fiction and nonfiction writing contests worth considering.

    1. L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest

    Whatever your feelings about L. Ron Hubbard’s work and philosophy, the prizes for this regular contest are nothing to sneeze at. Every three months, winners earn $1,000, $750 and $500, plus an additional annual grand prize of $5,000.

    Submissions must be short stories or novelettes (up to 17,000 words) in the genre of science fiction or fantasy, and new and amateur writers are welcome to apply.

    Deadlines: Quarterly on March 31, June 30 and September 30

    Website: Writers of the Future

    2. Inkitt

    This boutique publishing firm offers cash prizes and promotional packages to winning authors. Submit a novel of 10,000 words or more in any fiction genre (no fanfic or poetry).

    Inkitt’s writing contest runs monthly and gives authors the chance to win cash prizes up to $300, exclusive book badges and promotional packages while showcasing their books to Inkitt’s audience of more than 3 million users. Winners are determined by Inkitt’s unique algorithm based on overall reader engagement.

    Deadline: See individual contest pages

    Website: Inkitt

    Disclosure: Inkitt is an advertising partner of The Write Life. We hold our advertisers to high standards and vetted this contest just like others on this list. 

    3. Drue Heinz Literature Prize

    You can win $15,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press with this prize, awarded for a collection of short fiction.

    You may submit an unpublished manuscript of short stories, two or more novellas or a combination of novellas and short stories. Your total word count should be between 150 and 300 typed pages. You must also have already published a novel or book-length work of fiction “with a reputable publisher,” or no fewer than three short stories or novellas in nationally-recognized journals.

    Deadline: Annual submissions must be postmarked between May 1 through June 30

    Website: University of Pittsburgh Press

    4. Young Lions Fiction Award

    This $10,000 award recognizes “young authors,” which the rules define as any author aged 35 or younger. Submit any novel or collection of short stories published or scheduled to be published in the calendar year. Works must be written for adults; children’s or YA pieces are ineligible.

    Deadline: Submission information is available on the award website

    Website: New York Public Library

    5. Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prizes

    One of the best-loved small presses in the creative writing world, Graywolf Press hosts a variety of contests for both established and up-and-coming writers. Graywolf also offers smaller fiction and nonfiction prizes, with genres rotating by year; 2020 was a nonfiction year, so fiction was up in 2021, then back to nonfiction in 2022, and so on. These awards include a sizable advance—$12,000 in previous years—as well as publication with Graywolf.

    Deadline: Contest is held annually with rotating genres

    Website: Graywolf Press

    6. The Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans

    Hosted by the prestigious Iowa Review, the Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award is offered to U.S. military veterans and active-duty members writing in any genre about any subject. Manuscripts of up to 20 pages will be accepted, and the first-prize winner will receive $1,000 and publication in the Review. A second place prize of $750 is also available, as well as three runner-up prizes of $500 each.

    Deadline: Biennially

    Website: The Iowa Review

    7. Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence

    For 15 years, this contest has provided visibility for emerging African American fiction writers and enables them to focus on their writing by awarding a $15,000 cash prize. Eligible authors should submit a work of fiction, such as a novel or short story collection, published in the calendar year. (Galleys for publication within the year are also accepted.)

    Deadline: Annually. The entry window closes on December 31

    Website: The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence

    8. PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

    Honoring the best work of fiction published by an American author in a single calendar year, this award has been given to the likes of John Updike, Philip Roth and Ann Patchett. Novels, novellas and collections of short stories are all eligible.

    The winner receives a hefty cash prize—up to $15,000 in the past—and an invitation to read at the award ceremony in Washington, D.C. Plus, there are no submission fees or application forms to deal with; just send a PDF of each book (as many as you’d like) to awards@penfaulkner.org.

    Deadline: Submissions will be accepted from July 1 to September 30

    Website: Pen/Faulkner

    9. PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers

    This contest requires you to have already published a short story in a literary magazine or journal or cultural website. But if you’ve made your debut (but gone no further), you may be eligible for the generous cash prize of $2,000, which is annually awarded to 12 emerging writers, whose works are then published together in an anthology.

    Short stories of up to 12,000 words are eligible and must be published in the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is given. Additionally, keep this in mind: Submissions are only eligible if submitted by an editor. Authors may not submit their own work.

    Deadline: Submissions close November 1

    Website: PEN America

    10. Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards

    Fiction and nonfiction writers who have recently published a book that “contribute[s] to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of cultural diversity” are eligible for this award, which offers $10,000 cash as well as media and publicity opportunities. Plus, winners receive their prize at a ceremony in Cleveland.

    Submissions must be published in the prior year (so books published last year are eligible for the award this year).

    Deadline: Annual submission window is September 1 through December 31

    Website: Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards

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      11. Marfield Prize (aka National Award for Arts Writing)

      Presented by the Arts Club of Washington, this award seeks to honor nonfiction books that deal with the “visual, literary, media, or performing arts.” The prize is $10,000 and may be awarded to works of criticism, art history, memoirs and biographies, and essays.

      Deadline: Annually in the last quarter of the year. The submission window in 2023 is October 15

      Website: The Marfield Prize

      12. W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction

      If you’re a war buff, this competition is for you. It awards $5,000—and a 24-karat-gold-framed citation of achievement—to the best piece of fiction set during a period when the U.S. was at war (war may either be the main plot of the piece or simply provide the setting). Submissions may be adult or YA novels.

      Deadline: Annually on December 31

      Website: American Library Association

      13. Friends of American Writers Chicago Awards

      FAW presents two annual awards: an Adult Literature Award for literary fiction or nonfiction, and a Young People’s Literature Award for a children’s/YA book.

      Authors must reside in the state of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin—or they must set their book in one of those locations. Prize amounts vary from year to year, but you don’t have to bother with an application and all winners are celebrated at the organization’s May luncheon.

      Deadline: Annually in December

      Website: Friends of American Writers Chicago

      14. Hektoen Grand Prix Essay Contest

      Hektoen International, an online journal dedicated to medical humanities, offers two prizes annually for essays of no more than 1,500 words: $5,000 is awarded to the winner and $2,500 to the first runner-up. Eligible topics are broad so long as they have a relation to medicine, and many include art, history, literature, education and more.

      Deadline: Annually; September 15 is usually the deadline

      Website: Hektoen International

      15. Biopage Storytelling Writing Contest

      There’s no denying it: social media is a huge part of our modern-day lives. It’s easy to get used to limiting our communications to 280-character and emoji-strewn snippets, which is why this marketing firm is hosting an essay writing contest to “remind people of the benefits of writing.”

      Essays of up to 5,000 characters (roughly 1,000 words) will be accepted, and right now they’re looking for stories of COVID-19 quarantine life. The grand prize winner will receive $300, and five runners-up will be awarded $100 each.

      The contest is free to enter, but you’ll need to register for a Biopage account to be eligible.

      Deadline: The contest ends January 31 each year

      Website: Biopage

      16. St. Martin’s Minotaur / Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition

      Writers 18 and older who have never had a novel published (in any genre) are eligible for this prize, awarded to an original book-length manuscript where “murder or another serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story.” The winner receives a publication contract with Minotaur Books and an advance of $10,000 against future royalties.

      Deadline: December 17 each year 

      Website: Edgar Awards

      17. ServiceScape Short Story Award

      ServiceScape, a platform matching freelance writers, editors and graphic designers with clients (i.e. a great place to look for paid writing work!) offers a yearly Short Story Award of $1,000 to a winning fiction or nonfiction work of 5,000 words or fewer. The winner will also have their story featured on the ServiceScape blog, which sees thousands of readers each month.

      Deadline: November 29 each year

      Website: ServiceScape

      18. Stowe Prize

      This biennial prize of $10,000 honors an American author whose adult fiction or nonfiction work has had an impact on a critical social justice issue (as did Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin). The book must be written by a U.S. author and have been published in the United States during the previous three calendar years.

      Deadline: Contact the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center for this year’s deadline.

      Website: Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

      19. The Diana Woods Memorial Award in Creative Nonfiction

      Creative nonfiction essays of no more than 5,000 words on any subject are eligible for consideration for this award, whose winner receives $250 and publication in Lunch Ticket, the literary and art journal produced by the MFA community of Antioch University Los Angeles.

      Works must not have been published elsewhere. Award winners are required to submit a 100-word biography, recent photo and a short note thanking the Woods family for their generosity and support.

      Deadlines: Biannual reading periods are in February for the Summer/Fall issue and in August for the Winter/Spring issue

      Website: Lunch Ticket

      20. The 2023 Brandon Langhjelm Memorial Essay Contest

      Each year, this Canadian organization offers three prizes, ranging from $500 to $1,500, to the essay with the most thoughtful, well-reasoned arguments around a specific human-rights theme. (For example, 2022’s prompt was, “Canadian governments are making Digital ID technologies a precondition of access to essential services and goods. What can Canadians do to protect their Charter rights and freedoms against the dangers of these technologies?”)

      The contest is open to Canadian college and university students, and essays should be 2,500 words or less in length.

      Deadline: November 5

      Website: Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms

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        21. Write the World

        For young writers ages 13-18, these cool contests also serve as mini workshops. Recognizing that “a first draft is never perfect,” submissions actually receive peer review by authors, writing teachers and other experts and writers are given the chance to revise their pieces based on this feedback before submitting them for final prize consideration.

        Contests vary each month, but there’s a $100 prize for the winner and $50 for the runner-up (plus $50 for the best peer-reviewer). All three are featured on Write the World’s blog alongside comments from a guest judge. And since each month’s prompt is from a different genre, developing writers get a chance to test out different styles.

        Deadline: Monthly

        Website: Write the World

        22. Prose.

        Stuck with writer’s block and looking for a way to jumpstart your escape? Prose offers weekly challenges meant to spark your creativity; many are just for fun, but look for the weekly numbered challenges posted by Prose (rather than community members or sponsors) for a chance to win money.

        Prizes are typically between $100 to $200 and word counts are low—some as low as under 150, some as high as 500. So even if all you get from the prompt is a chance to flex your brain, it’s not a bad deal.

        Deadline: Weekly and monthly

        Website: Prose.

        23. The Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing

        First-generation immigrants have a chance to win $10,000 and publication by Restless Books for telling their stories (real or imagined). The contest alternates annually between fiction (novel or short story collection) and nonfiction (memoir, essay collection, narrative nonfiction).

        Deadline: Submission window is usually between December and March

        Website: Restless Books

        24. AFSA National High School Essay Contest

        The U.S. Institute of Peace and the American Foreign Service Association sponsor this annual high school essay contest, where the winner receives a $2,500 cash prize, an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., and a full-tuition paid voyage with Semester at Sea upon the student’s enrollment at an accredited university. Essays should be between 1,000 and 1,250 words and have to answer all aspects of the prompt as well as demonstrate an understanding of the Foreign Service.

        Runners-up get a pretty sweet deal too, a $1,250 cash prize and a full scholarship to participate in the International Diplomacy Program of the National Student Leadership Conference.

        Deadline: April each year

        Website: American Foreign Service Association

        25. Science-me a Story

        Born in 2018, the Society of Spanish Researchers invites talented and original writers to write a 100-word blurb for a hypothetical novel. This might sound really easy, but your blurb has to quickly hook readers and make them want to read more. Open to anyone over 18 anywhere in the world, your real or fictional short story for this competition must be either in English or Spanish and “conceived from the objective of scientific dissemination to primary school” to qualify for the cash prizes: £150, £100 and £50. 

        Deadline: April each year

        Website: Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom

        26. VCU Cabell First Novelist Award

        Virginia Commonwealth University sponsors this award that honors an outstanding debut novel published in the preceding calendar year. While you may have published previous books in a different form, the submission must be your first published book marketed as a novel.

        The award is a $5,000 cash prize, and the winning author must agree to attend the award event, usually scheduled for November.

        Deadline: Annually; the submission window runs from July 1 through December 30

        Website: Virginia Commonwealth University

        27. Daisy Utemorrah Award

        The Daisy Utemorrah Award is for an unpublished manuscript of junior or YA fiction written by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples currently living in Australia. Generously supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund and the State Government of Western Australia, the winner of the award receives $15,000 and a publishing contract with Magabala Books.

        Deadline: Submission window usually opens at the beginning of each year

        Website: Magabala Books

        28. Short Fiction Prize

        If you’re an undergrad at a college in the U.S. or Canada, this writing competition is for you. (Traditionally, this contest has encouraged applicants with an Asian background, but anyone is invited to apply.) Submissions should be no more than 7,500 words.

        One winner will get a $1,000 prize as well as a scholarship to the next Southampton Writers Conference.

        Deadline: Submission window is usually between March 1- July 14

        Website: Stony Brook University | Lichtenstein Center

        29. Bacopa Literary Review Contest

        The Bacopa Literary Review is an international journal published by the Writers Alliance of Gainesville. Each year, it opens submissions for pieces in four genres: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and prose poetry. Find detailed guidelines for each genre on its website. First place gets $300, and the second prize in each of the four genres gets $100.

        Deadline: May 30 each year

        Website: Writers Alliance of Gainesville

        30. Insecure Writer’s Support Group Annual Anthology Contest

        As long as you stick to the guidelines, The Insecure Writer’s Support Group’s annual contest welcomes your 5,000- to 6,000-word (previously unpublished) creative story. But before you send it off, make sure your story is polished and formatted! Plus, the prizes aren’t too shabby—winning stories will be edited and published, authors will receive royalties, and the top story will even get to give the anthology its title. 

        Deadlines: September 1 each year

        Website: Insecure Writer’s Support Group

        31. New Voices Award

        Presented by Lee & Low Books, an award-winning children’s book publisher, this award is given for a previously unpublished children’s picture book manuscript of no more than 1,500 words written by a writer of color or Indigenous/Native writers who’s a resident of the U.S.

        The winner receives $2,000 cash and a standard publication contract, and an additional Honor Award winner will receive a cash prize of $1,000. You may submit up to two manuscripts.

        Deadline: Watch the website for details. 

        Website: Lee & Low Books

        32. St. Francis College Literary Prize

        Since 2009, this biennial literary award has honored mid-career writers who have recently published their third, fourth or fifth work of fiction. The winner receives $50,000 and may be invited to the St. Francis College campus in Brooklyn, New York, to deliver a talk about their work or teach a mini fiction workshop to St. Francis students.

        Deadline: Biennially. The contest was not offered the last three years due to the pandemic and limited campus access

        Website: St. Francis College

        33. Future Scholar Foundation Short Story Competition

        The Future Scholar Foundation is a nonprofit organization started and run by high school students in Redmond, WA. Their mission is to empower young students to develop their self-expression skills through monthly short story competitions. Their efforts have been recognized by the Seattle Times and Northwest Asian Weekly, and their short story competitions have received hundreds of submissions from over 15 US states and five countries.

        Deadline: Monthly on the 28th

        Website: Future Scholar Foundation

        Free poetry contests to enter

        Curious about opportunities for poets? Your stanzas—rhyming or not—could be worth a fair amount of money in these poetry competitions.

        Check out these poetry writing contests.

        34. Black Voices in Children’s Literature Writing Contest

        This contest is open to Black writers who are over the age of 18 and residents of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin.  It’s hosted by Strive Publishing and Free Spirit Publishing and seeks to fill the need for Black representation in children’s and young adult books. Original board and picture books for children aged 0-4 and picture books for ages 4-8 are eligible, provided they feature contemporary, realistic Black characters and culture and focus on character development, self esteem, community and other aspects of positive childhood development.

        Three prizes, ranging from $250 to $1,000, will be awarded, and the first-place winner will be “seriously considered” for publication, though it’s not guaranteed.

        Deadline: Usually late July, each year

        Website: Free Spirit Publishing 

        35. James Laughlin Award

        If you’re already a published poet, this is the award for you; it’s given for a second book of poetry due to come out in the forthcoming year. The winner receives $5,000 and an all-expenses-paid week-long residency at The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. In addition, copies of the winning book are distributed to 1,000 members of the Academy of American Poets.

        Deadline: Annual submission window is January 1 through May 15

        Website: Academy of American Poets

        36. African Poetry Book Fund Prizes

        The APBF awards three prizes annually for African Poetry. The Luschei Prize for African Poetry gives $1,000 for a book of original African poetry published in the prior year.

        The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets gives $1,000 and a publication contract for a book-length collection of poetry by an as-yet-unpublished African author.

        The Brunel International African Poetry Prize is a new prize that grants £3,000 to a poet who was born in Africa, or has African parents, who has not yet had a full-length book of poetry published. (U.S. citizens qualify.) To submit, you’ll need 10 poems.

        Deadlines: See individual prize pages or details

        Website: African Poetry Book Fund

        37. Tufts Poetry Awards

        Claremont Graduate University presents two awards each year to poets they deem to be “outstanding.” The Kate Tufts Poetry Award grants $10,000 for a published first book of poetry that shows promise.

        The Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award grants a mammoth $100,000 for a published book of poetry by an established or mid-career poet.

        Deadline: Submission window is July 1 to June 30 each year

        Website: Claremont Graduate University

        38. Graywolf Press Walt Whitman Award 

        The Walt Whitman Award is a $5,000 prize awarded, along with publication, to an American poet with a winning first book manuscript. He or she also receives an all-expenses-paid six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center in Umbria, Italy.

        Graywolf Press is also one of the publishers of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, “a first book award dedicated to the discovery of exceptional manuscripts by Black poets.” Winners receive $1,000 and Graywolf publishes every third winner of the prize.

        Deadline: July 1 to September 1 each year

        Website: Poets

        39. Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest

        Now in its 23rd year, this humor contest wants your best published or unpublished work for a grand prize of $2,000; runners-up are awarded $500 and 10 honorable mentions will receive $100 each. Writers of all ages from eligible countries can submit an original, humorous poem with 250 lines or less, and it must be in English.

        Deadline: April 1, each year (and no, this isn’t an April Fools joke)

        Website: Winning Writers

        40. The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize

        This writing competition is looking for the best piece of unpublished, themed writing. For example, one year, the theme was “Untamed: On Wilderness and Civilization.” Submissions may be prose, poetry or non-academic essays. Maximum word count is 2,500, and this is open to all nationalities and to anyone 18 or older. The winner gets a £10,000 cash prize, second place gets £3,000 and third place gets £2,000.

        Deadline: Applications open at the beginning of each year. Follow the Alpine Fellowship on Instagram for updates

        Website: The Alpine Fellowship

        Where to find more legitimate, free writing contests

        Looking for more opportunities to submit your work? Here are a few great sites to keep an eye on for writing contests.

        Winning Writers

        A number of the contests found on our list came highly recommended by this site, which compiles some of the best free literary contests out there. Along with a wide range of recommended contests for writers of all stripes, Winning Writers also lists some contests and services to avoid, which is just as useful!

        They also offer a handful of contests themselves, including the North Street Book Prize.

        Poets & Writers

        Another fantastic source for legitimate writing contests we consulted when compiling this list, Poets & Writers vets competitions, contests, awards and grants to make sure they’re following legitimate practices and policies. It’s worth checking out regularly as it features both annual and one-time contests.

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          We’ll also send you our weekly newsletter, which offers helpful advice for freelancing and publishing. You can unsubscribe at any time.

          This listing contains affiliate links. That means if you purchase through our links, you’re supporting The Write Life—and we thank you for that!

          The original version of this story was written by Kelly Gurnett. We updated the post so it’s more useful for our readers. 

          Photo via Viktoriia Hnatiuk / Shutterstock

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        • Where to Submit Short Stories: 30 Options for Writers

          Where to Submit Short Stories: 30 Options for Writers

          Good news! You can finally stop stressing about where and how to submit your short stories—we compiled a list for you. 

          Trying to find a sense of community comes with the territory of being a writer. Whether you’re looking for the right writing contests or residencies, it’s hard to know where to begin and how to find the right home for your personal work. 

          In this guide, you’ll find 30+ magazines and literary journals that publish short fiction (and nonfiction). Our list includes a mix of publications across various genres and styles, ranging from prestigious, highly competitive options to those specifically seeking new and emerging voices.

          Plus, international writers, a lot of these are open to you, too! 

          30 Outlets that Publish Short Stories

          While we’ll give you a brief idea of the flavor of each magazine and site, you’ll definitely want to spend some time reading your target publications before submitting to become familiar with the sort of pieces they prefer. 

          Many of these short story publishers accept original submissions that are simultaneously submitted elsewhere. Just make sure to withdraw your submitted submissions if you get your story published!

          Ready to get started? Here’s where to submit short stories.

          1. The New Yorker

          Might as well start with a bang, right? Adding publication in The New Yorker to your portfolio puts you in a whole new league, though it won’t be easy. Author David. B. Comfort calculated the odds of acceptance at 0.0000416 percent!

          It accepts both standard short fiction as well as humorous short fiction for the “Shouts & Murmurs” section. No word counts are mentioned, though a quick scan of the column shows most pieces are 600 to 1,000 words.

          Deadline: Open

          Payment: Huge bragging rights; pay for unsolicited submissions isn’t specified. As of this post’s publication, no rates specifically for short stories

          2. The Atlantic

          Another highly respected magazine, The Atlantic, publishes both big names and emerging writers in fiction and nonfiction. Submission guidelines advise, “A general familiarity with what we have published in the past is the best guide to what we’re looking for.”

          Deadline: Open. Fiction stories are submitted to fiction@theatlantic.com

          Payment: Unsolicited submissions are generally unpaid

          3. The Threepenny Review

          The 3P Review is quarterly arts magazine focuses on literature, arts and society, memoir and essay. Short stories should be no more than 4,000 words, while submissions to the “Table Talk” section (pithy, irreverent and humorous musings on culture, art, politics and life) should be 1,000 words or less.

          Deadline: January 1 to April 30

          Payment: $400 for short stories; $200 for Table Talk pieces

          4. One Story

          One Story is just what the name says: a literary magazine that publishes one great short story every three to four weeks, and nothing more.

          Its main criteria for a great short story? One “that leaves readers feeling satisfied and [is] strong enough to stand alone.” Stories can be any style or subject but should be between 3,000 and 8,000 words.

          Deadline: January 15 – May 31 | September 3 – November 14

          Payment: $500 plus 25 contributor copies

          5. AGNI

          Thought-provoking is the name of the game if you want to get published in AGNI. Its editors look for pieces that hold a mirror up to the world around us and engage in a larger, ongoing cultural conversation about nature, mankind, the society we live in and more.

          There are no word limits, but shorter is generally better; “The longer a piece is, the better it needs to be to justify taking up so much space in the magazine,” note the submission guidelines.

          Deadline: Open September 1 to December 15; February 15 to May 31

          Payment: $10 per printed page (up to a max of $150) plus a year’s subscription, two contributor’s copies and four gift copies

          6. Kindle Vella

          Rather than seeking a magazine or journals editorial approval, you can publish directly to Kindle Vella’s short story program. Here, your work will go directly to market and its success will be determined by the general public, not by an editorial team. You also don’t have to wait months on a response as to whether your short story will be published. You can upload and be published on Kindle Vella in under 48 hours.

          For a full review of Kindle Vella, read this article.

          Deadline: Open

          Payment: Royalties on KDP reads

          7. Barrelhouse

          Published by an independent nonprofit literary organization, Barrelhouse’s biannual print journal and online issue seek to “bridge the gap between serious art and pop culture.” Its editors look for quality writing that’s also edgy and funny—as they say, they “want to be your weird Internet friend.”

          There’s no hard word count, but try to keep your submission under 8,000 words.

          Deadline: Currently open for book reviews only. Check the webpage to see all open categories and sign up for the email list to receive updates on submissions

          Payment: $50 to print and online contributors; print contributors also receive two contributor copies

          8. The Cincinnati Review

          The Cincinnati Review publishes work by writers of all genres and at all points of their careers. Its editors want “work that has energy,” that is “rich in language and plot structure” and “that’s not just ecstatic, but that makes its reader feel ecstatic, too.”

          Fiction and nonfiction submissions should be no more than 40 double-spaced pages.

          Deadline: The review accepts submissions during three time periods, September, December, and May. Submit earlier in the month because they will stop accepting submissions when their cap is reached.

          Payment: $25 per page for prose in journal

          9. The First Line

          This cool quarterly is all about jumpstarting that pesky writer’s block. Each issue of The First Line contains short fiction stories (300 to 5,000 words) that each begin with the same pre-assigned first line. 

          If you really want to get ambitious, you can also write a four-part story that uses each of that year’s first lines (which is due by the next year’s spring issue deadline). To find each issue’s assigned first line, check out the submission guidelines.

          Deadline: February 1 (spring); May 1 (summer); August 1 (fall); November 1 (winter)

          Payment: $25 to $50 (fiction); $25 (nonfiction) plus a contributor’s copy

          10. The Georgia Review

          Another one high on the prestige list, The Georgia Review features a wide variety of essays, fiction, book reviews, and more across a wide range of topics. You can read specific requirements for each in the submission guidelines, but the common theme among them all is quality, quality, quality.

          Bear in mind submitting requires a $3 processing fee if you’re not a subscriber.

          Deadline: Opens on August 15

          Payment: $50 per printed page; contributors also receive a one-year subscription to the quarterly and a 50% discount on additional copies of that issue

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            We’ll also send you our weekly newsletter, which offers helpful advice for freelancing and publishing. You can unsubscribe at any time.

            11. Boulevard Magazine

            Boulevard Magazine is always on the lookout for “less experienced or unpublished writers with exceptional promise.” It accepts prose pieces (fiction and nonfiction) up to 8,000 words (note: no science fiction, erotica, westerns, horror, romance or children’s stories).

            There is an online submission fee of $3. Free if submitting by post.

            Deadline: Open November 1 to May 1

            Payment: $100 to $300

            12. Story

            Story Magazine is, you guessed it, all about the story, whatever shape it takes. Each issue—printed tri-annually in February, June, and November—is “devoted to the complex and diverse world of narrative with a focus on fiction and nonfiction.” Luckily, you don’t have to stick to any formal guidelines in regards to style, content, or even length; they consider all “short” narrative length work, from flash fiction to novellas. There is a $3 submission fee.

            Deadline: Open

            Payment: Regular payment rate is $10 per page upon publication

            13. Vestal Review

            Prefer to keep your short stories extra short? Vestal Review publishes flash fiction of no more than 500 words. Its editors are open to all genres except for syrupy romance, hard science fiction and children’s stories, and they have a special fondness for humor. R-rated content is OK, but stay away from anything too racy, gory or obscene.

            There is a submission fee of $2 for each submission. 

            Deadline: Submission periods are February to May and August to November

            Payment: The author of an accepted print submission gets $25 and a print copy; $10 for accepted web submissions

            14. Flash Fiction Online

            Flash Fiction Online allows for slightly longer flash stories—between 500 and 1,000 words. Its editors like sci-fi and fantasy but are open to all genres (except for nonfiction and poetry!). As with Vestal, stay away from the heavier stuff like erotica and violence. What they’re looking for is developed, empathetic characters and discernible, resolved plots. Unlike many of the other publications, they will accept previously published work, which you’d submit in the reprint category.  

            Deadline: Open each month for submissions from the 1st to the 21st of the month.

            Payment: $80 per story; two cents per word for reprints

            15. Black Warrior Review

            Black Warrior Review publishes a mix of work by up-and-coming writers and nationally known names. Fiction pieces of up to 7,000 words should be innovative, challenging, and unique; its editors value “absurdity, hybridity, the magical [and] the stark.”

            BWR also accepts flash fiction under 1,000 words and nonfiction pieces (up to 7,000 words) that complicate western traditions of truth-telling, and “foregrounds the history of emotions rather than the history of facts.” There is a $3 submission fee.

            Deadline: Submission periods are December 1 to March 1 and June 1 to September 1

            Payment: A one-year subscription to BWR and a nominal lump-sum fee (amount not disclosed in its guidelines)

            16. The Sun Magazine

            The Sun Magazine offers some of the biggest payments we’ve seen, and while its guidelines specifically mention personal writing and provocative political/cultural pieces, they also say editors are “open to just about anything.”

            Works should run no more than 7,000 words. Submit something the editors love, and you could get a nice payday.

            Deadline: Open

            Payment: $300 to $2,000

            17. Virginia Quarterly (VQR)

            A diverse publication that features both award-winning and emerging writers, VQR accepts short fiction (3,500 to 8,000 words) but is not a fan of genre work like romance, sci-fi and fantasy. It also takes nonfiction (3,500 to 9,000 words) like travel essays that examine the world around us.

            Deadline: Submissions read July 1 to July 31

            Payment: Generally $1,000 and above for short fiction and prose (approximately 25 cents per word) with higher rates for investigative reporting; $100 to $200 for content published online

            18. Ploughshares

            Ploughshares’ award-winning literary journal is published by Boston’s Emerson College. They accept fiction and nonfiction under 7,500 words and require a $3 service fee if you submit online (it’s free to submit by mail, though they prefer digital submissions). You can also submit your significantly longer work (7,500 to 20,000 words) to the Ploughshares Solos series!

            Deadline: June 1 to January 15 at noon Eastern Time

            Payment: $45 per printed page (for a minimum of $90 per title and a maximum of $450 per author); plus two contributor copies of the issue and a one-year subscription

            19. Carve Magazine

            Writers are in for a treat! Carve Magazine accepts poetry, short stories and nonfiction submissions, not exceeding 10,000 words. They accept literary fiction only and are not open to genre fiction (i.e. thriller, horror, romance, etc.). They also accept novel excerpts but only those that can stand alone in the story. There’s a $3 submission fee, but you can subscribe to the magazine to skirt past it.

            Deadline: Open all-year-round from anywhere in the world

            Payment: Pays $100 and offers feedback on 5 to 10% of declined submissions

            20. Daily Science Fiction

            Sci-fi and fantasy writers, this one’s for you. Daily Science Fiction is looking for character-driven fiction, and the shorter, the better. While their word count range is 100 to 1,500 words, they might consider flash series—AKA three or more flash tales built around a common theme. 

            Deadline: Open except for the period between December 24 to January 2

            Payment: Eight cents per word, with the possibility of additional pay for reprints in themed Daily Science Fiction anthologies

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              We’ll also send you our weekly newsletter, which offers helpful advice for freelancing and publishing. You can unsubscribe at any time.

              21. JMWW

              JMWW is a literary journal that publishes fiction stories with up to 300 words and flash fiction of no longer than 1.500 words, and it’s open to any genre as long as the story is well-crafted. To up your chances of catching the editors’ eyes, note that they like “strong characters whose motivations are not always known to us but can be explained within the confines of common sense,” as well as surprise endings (nothing gimmicky). 

              Deadline: Open

              Payment: No pay specified

              22. Smokelong Quarterly

              SmokeLong, a literary mag devoted to flash fiction, publishes flash narratives up to 1000 words—and that’s a firm word limit, so be sure to stick to it. The SLQ aesthetic remains “an ever-changing, ever-elusive set of principles,” but it most likely has to do with these kinds of things: language that surprises and excites, narratives that strive toward something other than a final punch line or twist, and more which you can see in the submission guidelines. Think you can handle that?

              Deadline: Open

              Payment: $50 per story upon publication in the quarterly issue

              23. The Master’s Review

              The Master’s Review’s New Voices category is open to any new or emerging author who has not published a work of fiction or narrative nonfiction of novel length—not including authors with short story collections. Submit your flash fiction of 1,000 words or your piece of fiction or narrative nonfiction of up to 7,000 words. Though, editors are honest: There are no submission fees, but they’re highly selective. 

              Deadline: Open

              Payment: A flat rate of $100 for flash-length stories; $200 for short fiction

              24. Ruminate Magazine

              Both emerging and established writers are encouraged to submit fiction or creative nonfiction stories that “engages the contemplative spirit of our journal and embraces curiosity and discovery rather than resolution.” Both genres are capped at a word count of 5,500 words. 

              Want another option? There’s no pay for this one (just contributor copies), but The Waking is Ruminate Magazine’s online publication space and they’re looking for short-form prose, fiction and nonfiction that is “holy, nutritious and crucial.” Keep your submissions to 1,000 words or less.

              Deadline: July 2, 2020; fiction reading periods are April 1 to June 30; January 15 to June 30 for nonfiction

              Payment: $20 per 400 words, plus contributor copies

              25. Asimov’s Science Fiction

              Have you ever wondered where George R. R. Martin’s Daenerys Targaryen first appeared on the printed page? Well, this is it! An established market for science fiction stories, Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine has won numerous Hugo and Nebula Awards, and the writers they’ve published have led successful careers. 

              They want you to submit your character-oriented, “serious, thoughtful, yet accessible fiction,” but there’s room for humor as well. While science fiction dominates what the magazine publishes, you’re welcome to submit borderline fantasy, slipstream and surreal fiction—steer clear of sword and sorcery, explicit sex or violence. While there’s no specific word count, ASF seldom buys stories shorter than 1,000 words or longer than 20,000 words. 

              Deadline: Open

              Payment: 8 to 10 cents per word for short stories up to 7,500 words; 8 cents per word for each word over 7,500

              Check out this helpful video from our friends at selfpublishing.com for writing a short story.

              26. Slice Magazine

              Got a fresh voice and a compelling story to share? This one’s for you. To bridge the gap between emerging and established authors, SLICE offers a space where both are published side-by-side. In each issue, a specific cultural theme becomes the catalyst for articles, interviews, stories and poetry from renowned writers and lesser-known voices alike. Short fiction and nonfiction submissions should be 5,000 words max.

              Deadline: Slice published their final issue in the fall of 2021 and are no longer looking for submissions

              Payment: $400 for stories and essays; $150 for flash fiction pieces; $100 for poems

              27. Cricket Media

              Cricket Media wants to publish your finest quality writing for children of all ages in one of its four literary magazines—you have options! Open to submissions from writers of every level of experience, CM’s mags are interested in a lot of things, no matter what genre: realistic contemporary fiction, historical fiction, science fiction and fantasy, folk tales, myths and legends, humor, and even westerns. Their advice? Focus on telling a good story that’s well-plotted, character-driven and has a satisfying conclusion.

              Most stories are 1200 to 1800 words in length; however, they occasionally serialize longer stories of up to 6,000 words. 

              Deadline: Varies; check the guidelines to learn the deadlines for each lit mag 

              Payment: Up to 25 cents per word 

              28. The Dark Sire

              Horror writers, you’re up! A fairly new literary journal, The Dark Sire is a quarterly online and print journal that “explores speculative fiction works for enthusiasts” of gothic, horror, fantasy and psychological realism in short fiction, poetry and art. ​Subjects of particular interest include: vampires, monsters, old castles, dragons, magic, mental illness, hell, disease and decay of society. No word count. 

              Deadline: Open

              Payment: None, but they promote writers through author events, social media outreach and the (in development) TDS podcast

              29. The Common

              Based at Amherst College, The Common is an award-winning print and digital literary journal published biannually in the fall and spring. They seek fiction and nonfiction stories and dispatches (800-word notes, news and impressions from around the world) that “embody a strong sense of place: pieces in which the setting is crucial to character, narrative, mood and language.” Stick to a 10,000 word-count and you’re solid. There is a $3 submission fee.

              Deadline: Reading periods are March 1 to June 1 and September 1 to December 1; subscribers can submit for free year-round

              Payment: $100 for fiction and nonfiction submissions; $50 per dispatch

              30. The Antioch Review

              The Antioch Review is currently paused and not accepting submissions. Check back in the future.

              The Antioch Review rarely publishes more than three short stories per issue, but its editors are open to new as well as established writers. Authors published here often wind up in Best American anthologies and as the recipients of Pushcart prizes.

              To make the cut, editors say, “It is the story that counts, a story worthy of the serious attention of the intelligent reader, a story that is compelling, written with distinction.” Word count is flexible, but pieces tend to be under 5,000.

              Deadline: When operational, open except between June 1 to August 31. No electronic submissions

              Payment: $20 per printed page plus two contributor copies

              31. Literary Orphans

              Literary Orphans is currently paused and not accepting submissions. Check back in the future.

              Fiction comes first for this short fiction and art magazine. Editors want your fiction of any genre, but they have a need for micro-fiction, flash, and short stories that are 2,000 words or less (but 1,500 is their sweet spot!). Creative nonfiction is also accepted for the bi-monthly Literary Orphans issue on the main website; just keep your story to 5,000 words max. Plus, teens under 19, there’s a category for you, too. Submit a story of no more than 3,000 words to its “TEEN SPIRIT” section

              Because they receive a high volume of submissions, editors ask that you submit your *best* piece. But here’s where it gets interesting: If you can’t choose just one, send both! (As long as both stories combined don’t surpass 2,000 words.)

              Deadline: Currently no open calls for submission, but check back in the future!

              Payment: Not specified

              Short Story Submission Tips

              With hard work and patience you can see your short stories published!

              Here are a few tips to keep in mind when looking to submit short stories

              • Take time to read through the literary magazines before you submit. You will have a better idea of what they are looking and know which magazines fit best with your writing style
              • Read the submission details before you submit. Each publication has different specifications for submissions – make sure you fulfill their requirements
              • Be patient. Many of these publications have a small team and a lot of submissions. It is normal to wait several months before hearing whether an article will be published or not
              • Keep track of which articles you have submitted to which publications. Because can submit the same short story to multiple publications, you will need to withdraw that article if it gets published. You don’t want to accidentally publish the same piece in multiple places
              • Don’t give up! While you might receive multiple rejections before you get your first piece published, with hard work it will be worth the wait once you get your first piece in print!

              The original version of this story was written by Kelly Gurnett. We updated the post so it’s more useful for our readers.

              Photo via Nito/ Shutterstock 

            • How to Write a Picture Book: Bring Magical Stories to Life

              How to Write a Picture Book: Bring Magical Stories to Life

              If you want to write a picture book, this post will help!

              How do you win a marathon? You run really fast for 26.2 miles without stopping.

              Like winning a marathon, writing is easy to describe, but hard to execute.

              Writing a good book is a magical art that blends creating interesting characters, placing them in intriguing settings, and weaving an engaging plot with page-turning action and authentic dialogue. Easy, right? Not so much.

              And if writing well wasn’t difficult enough, writing picture books puts additional limits on the author. These children’s books are shorter than adult books, so there’s much less time for story arc or character development. The author is further constrained by the audience’s age; most kids won’t understand adult vocabulary, scenarios or themes.

              Think you’re ready to try your hand at this creative project?

              write-picture-book

              Here are a few tips for how to write a children’s book:

              What exactly is a children’s picture book?

              Picture books are typically, but not always, 32 pages. They are published in larger trim sizes (e.g. 8.5” x 11”) and can contain anywhere from zero to 1,000 words. Fiction picture book word counts under 500 are most common.

              Picture books are anomalous in that they can be written at a reading level higher than the age of the intended audience. That’s because picture books, unlike easy readers through YA, are often read to a child by an adult.

              That said, truly timeless picture books, like “Where the Wild Things Are” or “A Sick Day for Amos McGee” can be enjoyed by kids of any age.

              As the name suggests, these books have pictures on every page. Illustrations help tell the story, describe the setting, set the mood, and convey information about the characters. They provide visual appeal to young readers, and help the author tell a story in fewer words.

              Ironically, in traditional publishing, an artist illustrates a picture book after the manuscript is accepted by a publisher. So it’s common for a picture book author and illustrator to never meet or even speak with each other!

              If you self-publish, however, you’ll have the ability to pick an illustrator who will work directly with you and execute your specific vision for the project. This is a great option for anyone, but even more so when it’s kids writing a book for other kids. They know what kind of books they like and what other kids their age will like. See Me And My Afro and BFF’s: Grace and Isabella for examples.

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              Elements to include when you write a picture book

              While there’s no formulaic prescription for writing a picture book, certain crucial elements should be considered: plot type, genre, setting, theme, appealing main character, point of view and tense, word choice, love/friendship, re-readability, and satisfying ending.

              Let’s dive into each one.

              Plot type

              Which picture book plot type is best for your story?

              Often called a sausage story, a “series of events” is just that, a string of small episodes, as in “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”. “Discovery” plot types begin with the character laboring under a misunderstanding. Eventually, they discover something and reverse their situation or outlook, as in “Green Eggs and Ham”.

              “Wish fulfillment” plot types have a deserving main character wish for something and subsequently receive it, as in “Cinderella”. Contrast that with “purpose achieved” plots, where the main character has to struggle to attain a goal, as in Swimmy.

              If you want to learn how to write an incredible children’s book (& publish it to sell!), click here to watch this free training by Self-Publishing School, taught by a bestselling children’s book author!

              Genre

              Choose your story’s type of fiction, such as fairy tale, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, humor, mystery, mythology, poetry or science fiction. In my own writing, I don’t pick the genre first. I devise story concepts, then see what genre fits best, but some writers prefer to plan their genre before outlining their story.

              In some cases, the choice of setting (Alpha Centauri = science fiction) or main character (Abraham Lincoln = historical fiction) dictates the genre. And yes, you can write horror, but it should be mild and humorous — more like “There Was an Old Monster” than “The Call of Cthulhu”.

              Setting

              Picture books generally occur within a single setting. What is the best time and place for the story to occur — on a farm (“Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type”), in a medieval castle, aboard a pirate ship in the Caribbean, or on a spaceship orbiting Mars?

              Theme

              What positive message will the story convey?

              Examples include: beauty is in the eye of the beholder (“Shrek”), do unto others (“How the Rhino Got His Skin”), look before you leap (Curious George), and so on.

              Main character

              Is the main character interesting or endearing enough that the readers care about what happens to him/her? Can readers easily imagine themselves within the story?

              Main characters in picture books are usually the same age as the readers, typically either kids or animals.

              Rarely are they adults or inanimate objects, but there are exceptions: “The Day the Crayons Quit” features crayon characters. Here are some suggestions for naming fictional characters.

              Point of view and tense

              Which point of view and tense are most effective for this story: first-person present tense, second-person future tense, third-person past tense? Once that choice is made, be consistent

              Word choice

              It’s far more powerful to show than to tell. Anton Chekhov said, “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

              The low word count of picture books requires the author to be scrupulous in their word selection. Don’t dilute the impact of your writing with weak words, and self-edit wisely.

              Consider “the sun had nearly set” with “the sun kissed the horizon.” Characters should act, not get ready to act. Use strong, descriptive verbs. Contrast “Josh started to get up” with “Josh vaulted up.”

              Love/friendship

              Does the story feature love or friendship that resonates at an emotional level? Is there a strong bond between characters (“Frog and Toad”) or an enduring message (“The Little Engine That Could”)? Will readers laugh (“Flap Your Wings“) or have a catch in their throats (“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore”)?

              Love and friendship help form a bond between the reader and the story.

              Satisfying ending

              Is there an unexpected twist (“The Monster at the End of This Book”) or satisfying payoff (“I Want My Hat Back”) at the conclusion of the story?

              A satisfying ending is the unexpected surprise that completes the child’s reading experience. It is the cherry on top of a good story.

              The Ultimate Test of a Well-Written Picture Book

              We’re making up a word here, but bear with us. The word is re-readability. Re-readability can’t be added to the recipe like any other ingredient. Rather, it is the result of considering all of the above elements.

              Is the tapestry you’ve woven rich enough to warrant multiple readings? The ultimate proof that you’ve written an engaging and entertaining story is that kids read it over and over.

              While at first glance it may not seem like it, a great deal of thought goes into the few words that comprise a picture book. Every single word counts. Shakespeare was right when he said, “brevity is the soul of wit.” And as far as we know, he never even wrote a picture book.

              For another helpful angle on this topic, check out Self-Publishing School’s article on How to Write a Children’s Book.

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              Have you written or want to write a picture book? Comment below and let us know.

              This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

              This post contains affiliate links. That means if you purchase through our links, you’re supporting The Write Life — and we thank you for that!

            • 5 Powerful Writing Techniques That Bring Stories to Life

              5 Powerful Writing Techniques That Bring Stories to Life

              Take a moment, close your eyes, and recall a story that truly engaged you as a reader — one whose world and characters became completely real for you. Got one?

              Now, take off your reader hat and don your analytical writer hat to think about what makes that story so captivating. Which writing techniques did the author use to bring the story to life? Was it the wrenching appeal to your emotions, the vivid and brutal action scenes, or the high stakes facing a character? Mastering these and other storytelling methods is the key to writing your own engaging tale.

              Just as a lion is the product of all the zebras it has eaten, a writer is the product of all the books he or she has read. Reading the works of skilled writers is a fabulous way to hone your craft and learn how to effectively employ the writing tactics that help you create your own captivating story.

              Here are five great examples of writing techniques that bring the story to life for readers, as demonstrated by five accomplished writers.

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              1. Invoke multiple senses

              With any experience, you pick up more than just its sights. By describing sounds, scents, tastes and sensations, you’ll immerse readers in your story’s world.

              The following scene from Saladin Ahmed’s “Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela” does a wonderful job of pulling the reader into the story by using senses other than sight.

              Her voice is more beautiful than any woman’s. And there is the powerful smell of jasmine and clove. A nightingale sings perfumed words at me while my mind’s eye burns with horrors that would make the Almighty turn away.

              If fear did not hold your tongue, you would ask what I am. Men have called my people by many names—ghoul, demon. Does a word matter so very much? What I am, learned one, is Abdel Jameela’s wife.

              For long moments I don’t speak. If I don’t speak, this nightmare will end. I will wake in Baghdad, or Beit Zujaaj. But I don’t wake.

              She speaks again, and I cover my ears, though the sound is beauty itself.

              The words you hear come not from my mouth, and you do not hear them with your ears. I ask you to listen with your mind and your heart. We will die, my husband and I, if you will not lend us your skill. Have you, learned one, never needed to be something other that what you are?

              Cinnamon scent and the sound of an oasis wind come to me.

              2. Create intriguing, complex characters

              Readers want characters with whom they can sympathize (Harry Potter) or revile (Tywin Lannister) — or both. They want to get to know the characters and learn more about their experiences in the story.

              In the following excerpt from “The Children of the Shark God,” Peter S. Beagle introduces us to the protagonist quickly, but in a way that makes us care about what happens to her.

              Mirali’s parents were already aging when she was born, and had long since given up the hope of ever having a child — indeed, her name meant “the long-desired one.” Her father had been crippled when the mast of his boat snapped during a storm and crushed his leg, falling on him, and if it had not been for their daughter the old couple’s lives would have been hard indeed. Mirali could not go out with the fishing fleet herself, of course — as she greatly wished to do, having loved the sea from her earliest memory — but she did every kind of work for any number of island families, whether cleaning houses, marketing, minding young children, or even assisting the midwife when a birthing was difficult or there were simply too many babies coming at the same time. She was equally known as a seamstress, and also as a cook for special feasts; nor was there anyone who could mend a pandanus-leaf thatching as quickly as she, though this is generally man’s work. No drop of rain ever penetrated any pandanus roof that came under Mirali’s hands.

              Nor did she complain of her labors, for she was very proud of being able to care for her mother and father as a son would have done. Because of this, she was much admired and respected in the village, and young men came courting just as though she were a great beauty. Which she was not, being small and somewhat square-made, with straight brows — considered unlucky by most — and hips that gave no promise of a large family. But she had kind eyes, deep-set under those regrettable brows, and hair as black and thick as that of any woman on the island. Many, indeed, envied her; but of that Mirali knew nothing. She had no time for envy herself, nor for young men, either.

              As authors, we must give readers insight into what makes our protagonists tick. What motivates them? What are their aspirations? In this passage, we learn that Mirali, while not conventionally beautiful, is a kind soul who works hard for her parents and is appreciated by her community. And the key? We quickly start to become invested in what happens to her.

              3. Evoke strong emotions

              writing techniques to capture strong emotion

              In this scene from Frost Child by Gillian Philip, it takes the reader a moment to realize what the child witch is feeding her newly-tamed water horse — and that moment allows the strong emotion of horror to set in.

              “He’s very beautiful,” I smiled. “Make sure he’s fully tame before you bring him near the dun.”

              “Of course I will. Thank you, Griogair!” She bent her head to the kelpie again, crooning, and reached for her pouch, drawing out a small chunk of meat. The creature shifted its head to take it delicately from her hand, gulping it down before taking her second offering. She stroked it as she fed it, caressing its cheekbone, its neck, its gills.

              I don’t know why the first shiver of cold certainty rippled across my skin; perhaps it was her contentment, the utter obliteration of her grief; perhaps it was the realisation that she and her little bow had graduated to bigger game. The chunks of flesh she fed it were torn from something far larger than a pigeon, and as the kelpie nickered, peeling back its upper lip to sniff for more treats, I saw tiny threads of woven fabric caught on its canine teeth.

              By revealing a previously undetected detail that helps readers understand the implications, the author causes them to wince and recoil — and wonder what happens next. Of course, we have many emotion-evoking arrows in our writing quivers — humor, love, determination, anger, and so on. These strong emotions keep the reader engrossed in the story and curious about the characters’ futures.

              4. Use rich character voice

              The voice chosen by the author has a profound impact in how readers interpret the story and view the characters. In the following excerpt from “The Adventures of Lightning Merriemouse-Jones” by Nancy and Belle Holder, the voice and sentence length quickly convey the time period and lighter tone of this comic horror story.

              To begin at the beginning:

              That would be instructive, but rather dull; and so we will tell you, Gentle Reader, that the intrepid Miss Merriemouse-Jones was born in 1880, a wee pup to parents who had no idea that she was destined for greatness. Protective and loving, they encouraged her to find her happiness in the environs of home — running the squeaky wheel in the nursery cage, gnawing upon whatever might sharpen her pearlescent teeth, and wrinkling her tiny pink nose most adorably when vexed.

              During her girlhood, Lightning was seldom vexed. She lived agreeably in her parents’ well-appointed and fashionable abode, a hole in the wall located in the chamber of the human daughter of the house, one Maria Louisa Summerfield, whose mother was a tempestuous Spanish painter of some repute, and whose father owned a bank.

              The longer sentences, combined with the choice of words like “environs,” “pearlescent,” “vexed,” “abode,” and “repute,” place the reader in a Victorian setting even without the reference to 1880. The narrator’s voice also clearly sets a tone of felicity and humor.

              Just as the narrator has a distinct voice, characters should have their own unique voices to help readers distinguish one from another and to convey aspects of their personalities.V oice is a terrific tool to help readers get to know and appreciate your characters.

              5. Pull the reader into the action

              Of course, interesting characters and engaging dialog are important, but writing gripping action scenes is a skill all its own. Jim Butcher has mastered this skill, as shown in this excerpt from “Even Hand”:

              The fomor’s creatures exploded into the hallway on a storm of frenzied roars. I couldn’t make out many details. They seemed to have been put together on the chassis of a gorilla. Their heads were squashed, ugly-looking things, with wide-gaping mouths full of shark-like teeth. The sounds they made were deep, with a frenzied edge of madness, and they piled into the corridor in a wave of massive muscle.

              “Steady,” I murmured.

              The creatures lurched as they moved, like cheap toys that had not been assembled properly, but they were fast, for all of that. More and more of them flooded into the hallway, and their charge was gaining mass and momentum.

              “Steady,” I murmured.

              Hendricks grunted. There were no words in it, but he meant, I know.

              The wave of fomorian beings got close enough that I could see the patches of mold clumping their fur, and tendrils of mildew growing upon their exposed skin.

              “Fire,” I said.

              Hendricks and I opened up.

              The new military AA-12 automatic shotguns are not the hunting weapons I first handled in my patriotically delusional youth. They are fully automatic weapons with large circular drums that rather resembled the old Tommy guns made iconic by my business predecessors in Chicago.

              One pulls the trigger and shell after shell slams through the weapon. A steel target hit by bursts from an AA-12 very rapidly comes to resemble a screen door.

              And we had two of them.

              The slaughter was indescribable. It swept like a great broom down that hallway, tearing and shredding flesh, splattering blood on the walls and painting them most of the way to the ceiling. Behind me, Gard stood ready with a heavy-caliber big-game rifle, calmly gunning down any creature that seemed to be reluctant to die before it could reach our defensive point. We piled the bodies so deep that the corpses formed a barrier to our weapons.

              A well-written action scene thrusts the reader smack into the middle of the story. It’s another way to evoke emotion and empathy for characters.

              Though the protagonist in this story is actually a crime lord — not a character many of us would normally root for — you’re on his side, aren’t you? The writer’s skillful action writing technique has you imagining yourself behind the defensive barrier, wielding a shotgun, and praying the torrent of lead will prevent the demonic onslaught from reaching you.

              Readers want to be taken on a journey to another place and time, with characters they care about and whose company they enjoy. Help your readers feel like they have a stake in your story’s outcome by using these writing techniques to bring your characters and settings to life.

              As a writer, which books or authors do you read specifically to learn from their techniques and writing skills?

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            • The Second-Person Point of View: Give Your Story a New Perspective

              The Second-Person Point of View: Give Your Story a New Perspective

              You’re not someone who cares about tradition in your fiction, are you?

              You’re willing to explore. You’re striving for meaning, and you want interesting experiences.

              Well, that’s the second-person point of view (POV) for you: nontraditional, explorative, meaningful and interesting.

              It also sounds a bit like an ad for an exaggerated travel agent or a self-help book, doesn’t it? There’s a reason for that, and we’ll get to it later. But first, I have a little riddle for you…

              Is this blog post written in the second-person point of view?

              By now, you know I use the word “you” quite a lot. In fact, many bloggers address their readers personally as “you.” Does it make our writing fit the second-person POV?

              As you may have guessed, the answer is no.

              True, I’m addressing you as the audience. But there’s still a protagonist to this story, and it’s me, in the first person. I’m the person behind this post.

              What is second-person point of view?

              Let’s start with a second-person point of view definition.

              In fiction, pure second-person POV uses the perspective of a single character, the protagonist, to tell the story. This character is well-defined, with habits, traits and a unique personality. The reader is simply placed “behind” this character, seeing and experiencing the world through his eyes, body and mind.

              Need a second person example? It sounds like this:

              Eventually you ascend the stairs to the street. You think of Plato’s pilgrims climbing out of the cave, from the shadow world of appearances toward things as they really are, and you wonder if it is possible to change in this life.

              — Jay McInerney, “Bright Lights, Big City”

              As you can see, there is no “I” in this second person example. There might be a “he” or “him,” whenever the protagonist is interacting with someone, but your principal pronouns are “you,” “your” and “yours.”

              For that reason, it’s a bit hard to create a variety of sentence structure in this POV. Starting every sentence with “you” can quickly grow old.

              If you try using the second-person POV, watch out for this issue. You can alternate pronouns by writing about items and other characters in your protagonist’s environment. For example, here’s an excerpt from from Italo Calvino’s “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler:”

              Adjust the light so you won’t strain your eyes. Do it now, because once you’re absorbed in reading there will be no budging you. Make sure the page isn’t in shadow, a clotting of black letters on a gray background, uniform as a pack of mice…

              The good and evil of writing in second person

              The second-person POV casts the reader as the protagonist. That means she’s “forced” to act and think in ways that might not be authentic for her.

              If you, as the writer, pull it off, this POV creates instant, complete empathy between the reader and the protagonist. It makes every thought and action her own and evokes emotional responses from her gut.

              If you aren’t successful, though, reading in this POV can be a highly annoying experience for your audience.

              Writing in the second person means treading a fine line. When you write in this POV, you’re very clearly attempting to manipulate the reader’s thoughts and emotions. Not all readers will take well to this strategy.

              But that’s OK! All good writing manipulates a reader’s emotions; consider how we connect with characters like Holden Caulfield and Harry Potter. After watching the world through their eyes in third-person limited POV, no one can resist feeling for them — even though Holden is a fairly unlikeable character. That intimacy is emotional manipulation at its literary best.

              The challenge of the second-person point of view is to manipulate your reader’s thoughts and impressions without forcing feeling and emotion where it doesn’t belong. You want it to feel natural, not kick your reader out of the story by trying too hard.

              How do you master this balancing act? By reading great examples of the second-person point of view, testing it in your own writing and sharing your work with others for feedback and advice. A writing accountability partner or group will be invaluable in exploring this POV.

              When should you choose the second-person POV?

              There isn’t any perfect genre or type of work for a second-person POV story, though author Rebecca Demarest suggests that this perspective works best in short stories or “scattered chapters” of a longer manuscript.

              This POV seems to work particularly well when an author is reflecting the Zeitgeist. By speaking in the second person, the author can hold a mirror to society, revealing emotions, actions and particular nuances of the times.

              A prime example of this use is “Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas” by Tom Robbins. He captures the crash of an American dream and the economic wavering of the early 90s:

              As far as you are concerned, the real fun stopped back in the eighties. Before your time. In those days, somebody in your position could earn major money. Jumbo money. You read about it, dreamed about it, all through college. How typical of your luck that when you finally arrived in a position to poach your golden eggs, the goose had a hysterectomy.

              The majority of audiences can relate to these timely themes, so they’re a good bet for an exploration of character, society and empathy.

              Other popular places to use the second-person point of view are poetry, interactive fiction and choose-your-own-adventure stories.

              Will you try writing in second person?

              Give the second-person POV a try. See what playing with this perspective can do for your writing, whether it’s in a new story or by tweaking the point of view in a story you’ve already written.

              It won’t be a fit for every writer or for every story, but you just might find you enjoy writing in the second person.

              This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

              Photo via Joyseulay/ Shutterstock 

            • The Ultimate Guide to Working with Beta Readers

              The Ultimate Guide to Working with Beta Readers

              Is there a better feeling in the world than writing “The End” in your manuscript? It’s a moment to be celebrated: you’ve done it. You’ve written and completed an entire book. Not everyone can say they have.

              But you’re not finished. No, not even after you wrap up your self-edits.

              It’s time to pass your manuscript off to beta readers — volunteers who provide feedback on your book. If you’re thinking about skipping this stage and just hitting “Publish,” you might want to reconsider.

              The ultimate guide to working with beta readers

              In this guide, we’ll explain what a beta reader is, and why you need beta readers to make your work-in-progress stronger.

              What is a beta reader? (And why do you need one?)

              Software companies release beta, or test, versions of their programs to work out kinks and bugs before releasing to the general public. Businesses offer beta versions of their courses so they can tweak the content to ensure it serves the needs of their students.

              Authors need beta readers to understand how people read their book and, like software companies and businesses, to identify confusing or irrelevant spots. Every author has weaknesses. You do too — but you’re blind to them.

              Beta readers won’t be. And soliciting feedback from beta readers is your chance to address the weak spots of your manuscript before you publish and share it with the world.

              Who do you want as a beta reader?

              As easy as it is to get them to help, best friends, significant others and family members are the worst beta readers. They know and love you, so they’re predisposed to loving whatever you write — no matter how good it is. While you might enjoy their glowing comments on your work, it won’t be the feedback you need to improve your manuscript.

              Here’s who you want to enlist:

              • An acquaintance or a friend of a friend. People close to you can muddle through confusing sections or sentences to guess what you meant. That won’t give you useful feedback. Pick someone who doesn’t know you well enough to figure out your meaning.
              • A member of your target audience. If your book doesn’t resonate with your readers, you’re not going to sell copies.
              • Someone who’s not afraid to be honest. You need positive and constructive feedback.
              • Someone who’s reliable. This seems obvious, but people can overcommit. Be conscientious of your betas’ time and priorities.

              You need more than one beta reader. There’s no set number, but three to five is a good start. If you’re bootstrapping your book, find even more betas: good beta readers can mean forgoing the cost of a developmental editor.

              You might send your first beta reader draft to two or three people. Then you’ll implement their feedback and send the next draft out to the following group two or three people. Do this a few times depending on how much work the book needs.

              The reason we don’t recommend sending out your manuscript to all your beta readers at once is because even after the first batch of feedback comes through, there might still be kinks to catch.

              Also, let’s say you rearrange scenes, add an epilogue or rewrite some parts of the book. You’ll want to get feedback on the new version, too.

              After you have an idea of who you want, it’s time to find them. Look at your network. Reach out to people already in your community who fit the criteria. Consider posting in writing groups or on your social media channels. You can even hire betas on Fiverr, or join Facebook or Goodreads groups. Don’t be afraid to ask. Many people will be honored you want their help.

              Why should you always work with new beta readers?

              As beta readers become more familiar and comfortable with your writing, it can be difficult for them to see the flaws.

              Try to add a few new people to your team each time, preferably one or two who have never read your work before so you get fresh eyes on your work. You can connect with new people by asking your current beta readers for suggestions. They probably know a friend or two who’s willing to help out.

              For people you stop working with in the beta reader stage, consider moving them to your Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) team. They’ll still get a free copy of your book, but it will be closer to finished, and won’t need the same in-depth feedback. Instead, your ARC readers will help you gather reviews for release day.

              The beta reading stage can be long and sometimes difficult if you don’t already have a team in place. That said, it’s definitely worth it, and your beta readers can do wonders for your story.

              How do you prepare your manuscript for a beta reader?

              Even though betas help you edit, that doesn’t mean you can skip the self-editing step. Your betas can only raise the quality of your manuscript, not perfect it. That means you need to hit all types of editing (developmental, copy and proofreading) before handing it off to them.

              As you edit, create a “needs-to-be-fixed” list. It might be something like “add character” or “move section to a different chapter” or “add description to opening scene.” Ask your betas to pay close attention to these items because they’ll be able to determine whether you’re on the right track — or not.

              When you get ready to hand your manuscript over, ask your betas which format they prefer. Microsoft Word lends itself best to receiving feedback because it’s easy to add and delete comments, and most people have access to the program. Even if you prefer not to write in Word, converting to .doc from Scrivener or Google docs is simple. Some readers may prefer a hard copy, especially if your manuscript is long. Make it easy for them — they are donating their time to help you.

              If you send Word documents, create and save a document for each person. Give it a specific name, like ManucriptNameBetaReader’sName.doc. You can merge these documents into one, but when you start incorporating edits and throwing everything together, it’s easy to accidentally delete a comment you need. If you preserve the originals with comments individually as well, you’ll be able to recover any lost feedback.

              What do you want from your beta readers?

              Feedback, yes. But don’t be vague: give your betas clear instructions about what feedback you need.

              Remember that “needs-to-be-fixed” list you created during self-edits? Use that to guide what you need from your betas. Here’s a basic formula for instructions:

              • Have betas comment with their thoughts or take notes as they read, even if it’s to say, “Ooh, I like this” or to make predictions about what will happen next. This shows you how people read your book. It also helps you pinpoint where changes need to be made and gives you a feel for how they reacted while reading.
              • Specify what kind of feedback you’re looking for. My betas looked for:
                • Areas they felt were missing something or weren’t developed enough
                • Sections or scenes superfluous to the story
                • Any part of the story, dialogue, or narrative they didn’t understand or found confusing
                • The flow and pace of the chapters
              • Ask them to focus on certain aspects of your book. My manuscript had weak worldbuilding, so I had them pay close attention to it.
              • Tell them to supply “whys,” not “shoulds.” “I’m confused here because…” or “I don’t like this because…” will be more helpful than “You should do…” statements.
              • Set a due date. But build in cushion — if you want it back in three weeks, tell them you need it in two.

              Another idea is to send your beta readers a list of questions. Since beta readers aren’t professionals, they don’t always know what to look for in your manuscript. Ask them questions to help guide their experience.

              Those who have beta read before — either for you or another author — will have a good idea, but if they’re new to beta reading, asking smart questions helps to give them some guidance.

              Some generic questions you might ask include:

              • Did the opening scene capture your attention? Why or why not?
              • Did you notice any inconsistencies in setting, timeline or characters? If so, where?
              • Did the dialogue keep your interest and sound natural to you?
              • Was the ending satisfying and believable?

              If you have specific concerns about your story, be sure to ask about that, too.

              I suggest keeping your list of questions short (about 15 or less). Too many questions might turn some people off.

              Remember, your readers are doing this for free. I never require anyone to answer my questions or take notes, but making the suggestion helps guide them and improves the type of feedback you receive.

              How do you deal with feedback from a beta reader (without freaking out)?

              It’s both exhilarating and terrifying to share something you’ve poured effort into. What if they hate it? The trick to dealing with feedback without freaking out is your mindset. Here’s what you need to remember:

              • Your goal is to make your book better, and you can’t do that without constructive criticism.
              • Your betas are nice people who want to help you write a better book, not tear you down.
              • Having something to fix doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer or that your book isn’t worth publishing.
              • You don’t have to accept every piece of advice you get.
              • You can do it.

              Dealing with beta feedback is where many writers give up. Don’t be one of them. Sorting through feedback — especially if it’s conflicting advice — gets overwhelming quickly. I had more than 500 beta comments on my novel. Cue the panic!

              When you feel that panic and overwhelm — and you will — stop and take a deep breath. Remember: this isn’t about you; it’s about your book. They’re not the same. Pull your ego out of the equation and focus on writing the best book possible.

              And if that means deleting 7,000 words from the end of your book and rewriting it, gird your fingers and hit the delete key. That’s what happened to me, and look: I survived.

              Image: Beta Feedback

              How do you implement beta reader feedback?

              Once you’ve beaten the inevitable freakout, you have to evaluate each piece of feedback to decide what to revise. Think critically about what your betas said and how it fits into what your book, characters or plot needs to accomplish.

              If your book is about how you started your business, for example, and your beta says, “I want to know about your childhood,” but your childhood has nothing to do with the beginning of your business, you can ignore the comment. Yes, ignore. As the author, you have the power to accept or reject feedback.

              Because I asked my betas to comment as they read, I created a new Word document with all 531 comments. New documents are important: If you decide your original wording is better, you want to be able to revert back. Tracking changes and creating new files makes this easy.

              But before I changed anything in my manuscript, I went through each comment and made one decision: keep or delete.

              Comment #1: “I like the disjointedness of the beginning.” Delete.

              Comment #5: “You’ve used ‘eyes’ three times in two sentences.” Keep.

              Comment #7: “The others didn’t notice the door?” Comment #8: “She’s been there how long, and she’s just now going through the door?” Keep. Keep.

              Comment #13: “At what point does frostbite become an issue?” Though this is a good question, only one beta pointed it out, and she’s never experienced cold weather. Delete.

              Once I’d gone through the entire document and deleted comments, the remaining ones became my new “needs-to-be-fixed” list. These items can range from tasks like copyediting (comment #5) to adding information (comments #7 and #8) to rewriting entire chapters (the last 7,000 words).

              Don’t take feedback at face value — dig deeper. Notice how two comments expressed disbelief at the door. That’s a red flag. But it’s not just about answering their questions — it’s about understanding the missing story elements.

              From their comments, I knew I had to flesh out the setting (why the door is hard to notice) and how the setting affects my characters (why one girl would wait to go through the door and why the others didn’t notice it). Confusion means you’re missing something, and it’s up to you to figure out what it is and how to fix it.

              When you implement feedback, get in touch with your author gut. Your instincts will tell you what needs to be fixed and what’s fine as is. Listen to it. Not sure what a beta meant by a particular comment? Don’t be afraid to follow up with them to ask for clarification.

              Once you’ve incorporated your beta feedback, you’re one step closer to hitting “Publish.” Congratulations — and best of luck with the final stages of the process!

              Don’t forget to thank your beta readers

              Finally, remember to thank your beta readers. Unless you paid them, your betas volunteered their time and effort to help you produce a better, stronger manuscript, so make sure to show your appreciation. 

              I’ve found that all the beta readers I’ve worked with have been more than happy to simply receive a book for free, even if that means they have to leave feedback on it. Most are surprised and excited when I tell them they’ll also be receiving a print copy of the book when it’s finalized.

              You don’t have to send out print books, but do make sure your beta readers feel appreciated for the time they put into helping you. If your betas are writers as well, you could even offer to be a beta for their future writing projects.

              Have you worked with beta readers — or been one?

              This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

              Photo via Impact Photography / Shutterstock 

            • Self-Editing Basics: 10 Simple Ways to Edit Your Own Book

              Self-Editing Basics: 10 Simple Ways to Edit Your Own Book

              Writers’ victories are short-lived indeed.

              For a brief moment after completing a first draft, writers sit back, breathe a sigh of relief, post a self-congratulatory humblebrag about finishing our manuscript, and then immediately think about that one character whose arc we forgot to complete, or that we’re pretty sure we overused the word “that,” or that those squiggly red lines scattered throughout our manuscript are surely incorrect.

              In other words, the joys of #amwriting give way to the trials of #amediting.

              As a strong (and biased) believer that every author needs an editor, your first line of literary defense shouldn’t be a professional editor. Rather, you need to learn how to edit —and really, how to self-edit — before sending your manuscript off to be edited by someone else.

              Book editing at its best

              As a full-time editor, I witness dozens of simple mistakes authors constantly make. If only they’d take the time to learn and incorporate better self-editing techniques, they would become better writers, endear themselves to their editors, and maybe even save money on a professional edit.

              Furthermore, beta readers and early reviewers will be grateful for the creation of a readable early draft.

              If you’re ready to self-edit your book, consider these 10 tips for book editing.

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              1. Rest your manuscript

              “Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.” — Henry David Thoreau

              When you’ve finished typing the last word of your masterpiece, set it aside for a few days. If you can stand it, set it aside for a week or more. In On Writing, Stephen King relates that he places his finished drafts in a drawer for at least six weeks before looking at them again.

              Why rest your draft for so long? You want to try to forget everything you’ve written so that when you do come back to self-edit, the book almost seems as if someone else wrote it. You want fresh eyes, and the best way to do that is to rid your mind of what’s been filling it for so long.

              2. Listen to your manuscript

              “So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” — Dr. Seuss

              Hearing your words spoken makes mistakes glaringly obvious. You can enlist a (patient) friend to read it to you, or you can go the friendship-saving route, which has the benefit of being free: use your computer’s built-in speech synthesis function.

              If you’re a Mac user, click the Apple logo at the top left of your screen, select System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Speech. Choose a System Voice and Speaking Rate you can tolerate, then select “Speak selected text when the key is pressed.” If you want to change the keyboard combination, click “Change Key” and follow the directions. I prefer Option+Esc.

              Once you’ve enabled your preferred shortcut key, simply highlight any text (within any program) that you want to hear read aloud. Then hit your shortcut keys and follow your words on-screen as your computer reads them aloud.

              For PC users, make use of Narrator, part of the system’s Ease of Access Center. Press “Windows+U” and click “Start Narrator.” Since the program is intended for blind users, it will automatically begin to read any text your mouse encounters. To turn this off, hit “Control.” To have Narrator read a paragraph, place your cursor at its beginning and type “Caps Lock + I.” To have Narrator read an entire page, press “Caps Lock + U.”

              3. Search for troubling words

              “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” — Mark Twain

              All writers have specific words and phrases that (which?) always cause them to (too?) second-guess whether (weather?) they’re (their?) using them correctly. If you know what your (you’re?) troubling words are, use your word processor’s search function to locate every possible variant of that word or phrase.

              To help you consider what your troubling words might be, here’s a good starting list, excerpted from the first chapter of Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing:

              • a lot/alot
              • affect/effect
              • can/may
              • further/farther
              • good/well
              • i.e./e.g.
              • into/in to
              • it’s/its
              • lay/lie
              • less/fewer
              • that/who
              • their/they’re/there
              • then/than
              • who/whom
              • your/you’re

              If you’re unsure of how to properly use these words, there’s no shame in looking them up. Grammar Girl likely has the answer, or check The Write Life’s post on how to edit for invaluable tips.

              edit books

              4. Remove or replace your crutch words

              “I can’t write five words but that I change seven.” – Dorothy Parker

              Do you know the top 10 words you use most frequently in your manuscript?

              Outside of necessary articles and prepositions, you may be surprised at what words you tend to use over and over. One client of mine used “suddenly” too often, making every action seem unnecessarily rushed. Personally, my crutch words tend to fly in the face of the age-old encouragement for all writers to “eschew obfuscation.”

              In other words, I tend to cash in ten-dollar words when five-cent words suffice.

              Scrivener makes it simple to discover your crutch words and is available for Mac, iOS, and Windows users. In Scrivener’s top menu, go to “Project > Text Statistics,” then click on the arrow next to “Word frequency.” If necessary, click the “Frequency” header twice to sort your words by frequency. You’ll then be presented with what could be a jarring list of the words you might be overusing. (To include your entire manuscript in the frequency count, be sure to have your entire manuscript selected in Scrivener’s Binder.)

              For Microsoft Word users, there’s a free Word Usage and Frequency add-in, but other, less technical online solutions may also help, like TextFixer.com’s Online Word Counter or WriteWords’ Word Frequency Counter.

              No matter how you determine your crutch words, go back through your manuscript and see where you can remove or replace them.

              5. Remove all double spaces at the end of sentences

              “I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” — Elmore Leonard

              If tapping two spaces following your sentences is an age-old habit ingrained into you since before the dawn of modern digital typography, may I suggest ingraining another practice?

              Conduct a find-and-replace search after you’re done writing. In Word, type two spaces in “find” and one space in “replace” and hit enter.

              Voila! You just time-traveled your manuscript into the 21st century. (If you’re interested in why you should only use one space, read Slate’s Space Invaders: Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period.)

              6. Search for problematic punctuation

              “An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

              Are you a comma chameleon, adapting that otherwise innocent punctuation mark to do work it was never meant to do? Or does your manuscript need a semicolonoscopy — a thorough check-up on proper semicolon and colon placement?

              If you know you have trouble with certain punctuation marks, conduct a search for that mark and figure out whether you’re using it correctly. If you’re still unsure, let your editor fix it, but make a note to ask him why.

              7. Run spell check or use an automated editing program

              “Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you’ll die of a misprint.” — Markus Herz

              Writers sometimes become too accustomed to the colorful squiggles under words and sentences on their digital pages; I know I do. In an effort to get ideas on the page, we might run rampant over grammar and usage.

              Yet those squiggles mean something. At the very least, run spell check before sending your manuscript to an editor or beta reader. It’s a built-in editor that I’m not sure every writer uses to their advantage. You may not accept every recommendation, but at least you’ll save your editor some time correcting basic errors.

              You might also consider trying out automated editing programs; The Write Life provides an overview of the best grammar checkers. I have yet to try them all, but I’m a fan of Grammarly.

              8. Subscribe to The Chicago Manual of Style

              “To write is human, to edit is divine.” — Stephen King

              When an editor returns your manuscript, they may cite particular sections of The Chicago Manual of Style. If you’re unfamiliar with this Bible of the publishing industry, you may not be aware of precisely why the editor made a certain change.

              By subscribing to CMOS (it’s only $39 a year), you’ll be able to look up issues on your own before sending your manuscript off to an editor or beta reader. Sure, you shouldn’t get too hung up on some of the issues (editors have their jobs for a reason), but learning more about the mechanics of writing can only help you become a better writer.

              You can also buy the hardcopy version of The Chicago Manual of Style, but I recommend the online version for its ease of use.

              9. Format accordingly

              “The Real-World was a sprawling mess of a book in need of a good editor.” — Jasper Fforde

              While preferred styles may differ from one editor to the next, you can show your professionalism by formatting your manuscript to conform to industry standards.

              Such formatting makes it easier for beta readers to consume, and editors prefer industry-standard formatting, which allows them more time to edit your actual words instead of tweaking your formatting. Here are some basic formatting tips:

              • Send your manuscript as a Word document (.doc or .docx).
              • Use double-spaced line spacing. If you’ve already written your book with different line spacing, select all of your text in Word, click Format > Paragraph, then select “Double” in the drop down box under “Line spacing.”
              • Use a single space following periods.
              • Use black, 12-point, Times New Roman as the font.
              • Don’t hit tab to indent paragraphs. In Word, select all of your text, then set indentation using Format > Paragraph. Under “Indentation” and by “Left,” type .5. Under “Special,” choose “First line” from the drop down menu. [Note: Nonfiction authors may opt for no indention, but if they do so they must use full paragraph breaks between every paragraph.]
              • The first paragraph of any chapter, after a subheader, or following a bulleted or numbered list shouldn’t be indented.
              • Use page breaks between chapters. In Word, place the cursor at the end of a chapter, then click “Insert > Break > Page Break” in Word’s menu.

              10. Don’t over-edit

              “It is perfectly okay to write garbage — as long as you edit brilliantly.” — C. J. Cherryh

              Set aside an hour or two to go through this list with your manuscript, but be careful about over-editing. You may start seeing unnecessary trees within your forest of words, but you don’t want to raze to the ground what you’ve toiled so hard to grow.

              A middle path exists between exhausting yourself in a vain attempt for perfection and being too lazy to run spell check. Do yourself and your book a favor and self-edit, but be careful not to go overboard.

              If you’re creating a professional product, your self-edits shouldn’t be your last line of defense against grammatical errors. In other words, I don’t offer this post to write myself out of a job. Even in going through the self-editing steps above, you’ll still need an editor to ensure that your manuscript is as polished as possible.

              Plus, going through the editing process with a professional editor will help you become a better self-editor the next time you write a book.

              Do you self-edit? What tips and tricks work best for you?

              This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

              Photo via GuadiLab / Shutterstock 

            • What Happened When a Yale Grad Found Herself Writing Chick Lit

              What Happened When a Yale Grad Found Herself Writing Chick Lit

              Many years ago, before I’d even opened a blank document on my laptop, I imagined the sort of novel I might write someday. It would be an Important Book, one that would unveil a deeper aspect of the human experience.

              Maybe, if I were lucky, the book would be reviewed by The New York Times and shortlisted for a few awards. My former classmates would read the book and tell me it brought them to tears, and my name would be mentioned in the same breath as Anne Tyler and Richard Russo. Perhaps Jeffrey Eugenides would invite me around for tea.

              I will be the first to admit these ambitions were both unrealistic and steeped in snobbery.

              But at the time — and even now — those were the types of books and authors praised by the literary establishment. If I wanted my fellow Yale grads to take me seriously as a writer, clearly that was the kind of book I needed to write.

              And then I sat down in front of my laptop, and what came out was — to steal from my book cover — “Bridget Jones with a killer cinnamon bun recipe.” Ahem.

              Here’s the thing: I loved Bridget Jones. No, make that present tense: I love Bridget Jones. I love books by Sophie Kinsella and Jennifer Weiner and lots of other authors who write so-called chick lit. So why is it any surprise that when I sat down, that’s what came out? And why, initially at least, did I try to resist it?

              I’ll tell you why: because I worried my friends and family — and the public more generally — wouldn’t respect me as a writer if I wrote those kinds of books.

              Ridiculous? Of course.

              Unfair? Entirely.

              But in a world where “chick lit” had become a pejorative term, and as a woman who had spent her life chasing intellectual pursuits, I had trouble reconciling the book I thought I should write with the book I was meant to write.

              When everything changed for me and my story

              Then one day, as I poked around Twitter for a few minutes, I came across a tweet from Jennifer Weiner.

              I can’t remember the exact wording of her tweet or what, specifically, she was referring to, but the gist was this: the book chooses the writer, not the other way around.

              At that moment, everything came into focus for me. I didn’t need to label the kind of book I was writing. Plenty of other people would do that for me. What I needed to do was write, to help the story that was bottle up inside of me escape. It didn’t matter if that story was chick lit or a gory thriller. What mattered was that I told my story, my way.

              Write the book within you

              When it comes to writing fiction, there is so much talk about craft and form that it’s easy to start thinking you’re somehow cheating if the writing comes easily.

              Believe me, even when the writing comes easily, crafting a novel is never easy. There will be hours and hours (and hours) of revisions. There will be scenes that don’t work and dialogue that falls flat. There will be times when you wonder if your story is, in fact, the worst novel ever written.

              Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. But I guarantee it isn’t nearly as bad as it would be if you tried to write something other than the book living inside you.

              So shut out all of the voices, real and imagined, telling you to write a certain type of book or not to write another.

              Write the book deep within you, and instead of trying to be the next Richard Russo or Anne Tyler or Jeffrey Eugenides, do something even better: Try to be the first you.

              This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

              Photo via Vadim Georgiev / Shutterstock  

            • How to Use Writing Prompts to Become a Better Writer

              How to Use Writing Prompts to Become a Better Writer

              Writing prompts are everywhere, from published collections to free online tools. But when you use them, are you getting all the potential benefits?

              Even among writers who take their writing seriously both artistically and professionally, this question isn’t often asked. After all, prompts are pretty straightforward, right? Find one, brainstorm, write.

              If I’m being totally honest, when I first started writing fiction, I didn’t get all the hype around prompts. What was I supposed to be doing with all these random collections of ideas? Should I get a book of prompts and try one every day? Should I subscribe to a blog and try every prompt that hit my inbox? Should I join an online writing community?

              I couldn’t understand what made one prompt better than any other, and I got overwhelmed. It was enough to turn me off prompts altogether for several years.

              But this spring, I committed to writing a new story every week. It didn’t take long for me to start seeking ways to keep my concepts fresh … and so I decided it was time to give prompts a second chance.

              And that’s when something finally clicked for me. It turns out, the prompt itself doesn’t matter nearly as much as what you do with it.

              Want to make sure you gain all you can when you use writing prompts? Follow these tips.

              Fully explore the prompt

              It’s easy to feel like you’re under a ticking clock when reacting to a prompt (sometimes, you literally are). But don’t just roll with the first idea that comes to you. When it comes to creativity, quantity breeds quality.

              The first ideas we get tend to be the most obvious, or the most familiar. But one of the benefits of prompts is that they stretch our creative capacity. So flex that imagination and take the time to come up with many different story premises before committing to one.

              I recommend focusing on possible story directions for at least 10-15 minutes before you do anything else to get past the easy ones and start coming up with more intriguing, exciting angles.

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              Draft ’til you’re done

              Let’s be real: That creative high you get from prompts is only going to take you about 15 minutes into drafting. But don’t stop writing! Finish that sucker.

              It can feel like the ideas (or even just the burst of creativity) are the whole point of using a prompt, but there’s so much more to it than that. Prompts also give you the opportunity to practice those oh-so-critical elements of the storytelling craft, such as plotting, characterization, worldbuilding and even editing. Don’t shrug off an opportunity to hone your skills.

              Get feedback

              This is another critical aspect to using prompts to hone your skills. No writer is able to judge his or her own work objectively. So once you’ve done as much as you can on your own, get outside input.

              If you have a critique partner or writing group, that’s perfect. If you don’t, there are plenty of ways to join one, or just ask a friend to give it a read. A person doesn’t have to be a writer to tell if something reads well — they just to be thoughtful and willing to share an honest opinion.

              Submit it

              By now you’ve got a fantastic story on your hands. Don’t let it just sit in a folder in your laptop. Find a literary magazine that’s a good match and submit it!

              Some prompts even offer their own opportunities to be published. For example, DIYMFA’s Writer Igniter is seeking submissions for an anthology to be released this fall, but you’re only eligible if you use the Igniter to create your story.

              Go back to square one

              Congratulations, you just prompted your way to an awesome story, snagged a byline and sharpened up your writing skills along the way.

              Why not do it again? The more you practice, the better you’ll get, and the more bylines you’ll win. And since you took the time to brainstorm lots of ideas at the beginning of your last prompt, you’ve got a slew of ideas already, waiting to turn into stories.

              Do you use writing prompts to help you develop stories or practice your skills? Share your strategies — and your favorite sources of prompts! — in the comments.

            • This Writer Reads 365 Short Stories a Year. Here’s Why

              This Writer Reads 365 Short Stories a Year. Here’s Why

              It is hard to deny the power of a short story. A good one can command your attention, present unique characters in unpredictable situations and deftly tie up all the loose ends by the end.

              Unlike a novel, a short story doesn’t give an author sixty thousand words to shoehorn in every possible idea or to resolve complex situations. Short stories have to contain tight plots and believable (but not clichéd) characters, and they have to convey everything concisely.

              This is no easy feat, which is why reading and understanding short stories offers an author so much value — and why I now read one every day.

              Why writers need to read short stories

              About a year ago, already an avid novel reader, I resolved to read more short stories. My rationale was simply that I hadn’t read enough of them, and should be more familiar with the form.

              After reading more than 50 of them, I realized I intuitively understood far more about the craft of writing fiction than I ever had before. It wasn’t an instantaneous progression, but as I worked on my own short stories and novels, as I fleshed out characters, as I reworked plots, my writing became more fluid and I felt like I had a sudden wealth of stories to draw on.

              I’ve been reading and writing regularly since I was seven years old, so why would I suddenly understand more after a few weeks of a new habit?

              Because short stories offer a condensed version of everything a novel does.

              Short stories aren’t missing any important elements of fiction; they still contain a complete story arc and developed characters, they still reach a climax and include a denouement. While they may be notably shorter in length, short stories include all the same elements as novels, crafted extremely well to preserve space.

              This is why I was suddenly improving so rapidly. A regular short story reader can quickly become familiar with hundreds of plots, hundreds if not thousands of characters, new settings, styles and other elements of the story. While reading a novel might show you a particular author’s interpretation, plot structure and character development, a collection of short stories can easily provide 15 or 20 “case studies” in the same size book — so you can learn much more quickly.

              But then there is the problem of actually reading them. How many short stories have you read? Is it more than novels? It should be. After all, they’re shorter. But most of us decline the opportunity and favor longer works instead.

              There is comfort in reading novels because once you’re familiar with a character, you can enjoy a fairly long journey together until the end. In a short story, however, you only have each other for a handful of pages before it’s over. Appreciating each short story requires a little extra focus and dedication, and this makes it easy to say, “another time maybe. Today, a novel.”

              How to make more time to read

              Everything is easier when you have a habit in place. If you take time off from work to write but don’t have any habits or schedules, you’ll eventually crawl back to your cubicle, forced to admit that you somehow spent the entire staycation browsing the Internet, binge watching Netflix and eating Nutella straight out of the container.

              This is a normal human behavior (well, maybe not the Nutella part): Without an effective schedule, it is entirely too easy to push off the work you want to do and prevent yourself from being productive in the short term. It is a myth that reading or writing requires a lot of time.

              Create a daily habit

              First, set a goal. Having seen the benefits of reading short stories, I’ve resolved to read 365 a year — one short story, every single day.

              The best way to solidify a daily habit is to decide to do it before anything else. The earlier in the day you enlist a new habit, the more likely you will do it because you don’t have any good excuses. If you plan to do it before you go to bed, you’ll tell yourself you’re tired, you’ll do it tomorrow night, you pushed it off too long. If you do it first thing in the morning, however, you wake up and there it is, your new habit.

              I’m sure if I was really dedicated I would read my story before making coffee, but that’s too extreme for me. So I get up, make coffee, and start my day by drinking coffee and reading a short story. As it probably takes me 20 minutes every morning to drink my coffee anyway, it doesn’t even impact my morning schedule. If you’re a habitual morning rusher, then maybe get up 10 minutes earlier. You don’t need a lot of time.

              The first day I tried this habit, I didn’t expect I would like it. Before even cracking my first anthology of short stories, I anticipated it would feel weird — usually, I’m a night reader — and mornings are meant for boring productive things like newspapers and shaving, not reading stories about pro bono detectives searching for missing husbands in stairwells. But I went ahead and read a story anyway.

              It was awesome. I felt more awake after I finished it. I spent the day occasionally thinking back to it, processing themes and concepts, and — most importantly — even if I got jammed up at work, wrecked my car and got lost in the Amazon with nothing but a toothbrush and some duct tape, I had already read a short story. No matter what, I met my goal for the day.

              Enjoy discovering new inspiration

              It proved to be an easy habit to initiate and an even easier one to maintain. Set a deadline first thing in the morning, be aware of the big picture (365 stories a year) and stick with it.

              If it seems like a simple suggestion, that’s because it is. This isn’t a groundbreaking system, just a way to familiarize yourself with almost 400 extra plot lines, tons of fascinating characters, and great examples of pacing, narration and sentence structure, all while drinking your morning coffee.

              Do you read short stories for inspiration or to improve your craft as a writer? Have you noticed a difference in your work?