1. Mary Lee Settle’s “Question” Writing Strategy 2. Ray Bradbury’s Library Scene 3. Orson Scott Card’s Mindfulness Approach 4. Robert Louis Stevens...

Force yourself to disengage from your manuscript and you might come back sharper and more aware of what you want to say. "If you get stuck, get awa...

“Write it as a letter aimed at one person. This removes the vague terror of addressing the large and faceless audience and it also, you will find,...

“What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks, ‘The cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat.’ And it might be just the most boring and...

Even after you’ve given your draft an edit to identify structural and flow issues, you’ll need to proofread it with a discerning eye. Identify spel...

If you’re ever agonizing over whether or not you should take something out, Mark Twain has a very simple strategy for you: “Substitute ‘damn’ every...

“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.” Be cautious about using too many adverbs: their mere exi...

Aside from his world-famous Gun technique, Anton Chekhov had some more neat advice on editing: "My own experience is that once a story has been wri...

“The best advice I can give on this is, once it’s done, to put it away until you can read it with new eyes. Finish the short story, print it out, t...

Raymond Chandler’s strategy for chapter-writing: “When in doubt how to end a chapter, bring in a man with a gun.” Now, this probably isn’t going to...