Writer Unboxed

I once heard an editor describe commercial fiction as “potato chip reads”. Have you ever actually eaten a giant bag of potato chips? Afterward, did you feel sick? Not just sick to your stomach but also faintly empty in spirit? Potato chip reads leave us feeling like that because they lack meaning. Now, that is [...]

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My work in progress is undergoing a major transformation. The beginning has to go. I need to drop a character, add a plot line, give more significance to a subplot, enrich connections between characters, and make sure I infuse tension on every single page. All of this work begins on a draft of a manuscript [...]

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It’s the cliche beyond the cliche: we do, nearly all of us, judge a book by its cover. A cover image that’s beautiful, arresting, and/or unique will draw the eye of potential readers, and a less interesting cover can certainly turn a potential reader off. It isn’t the end-all be-all — it seems unlikely that [...]

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Therese here. Please welcome Jen Haupt to Writer Unboxed. Jen is a frequent contributor to such publications as O, The Oprah Magazine, Parents, and Reader’s Digest, and she has a blog on the Psychology Today website called One True Thing (she was kind enough to interview me on that site not too long ago). Though Jen is [...]

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Thanks to Jeanne Kisacky for inspiring the following cartoon with her recent Writer Unboxed post:

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The foundation of writing a novel is plotting, and there are a plethora of books on the subject. One of the most popular methods comes from literary agent Evan Marshall. His book, THE MARSHALL PLAN, has been popular with novelists for over a decade because of its down-to-earth usefulness in helping novelists construct their plot. Marshall’s literary agency, The [...]

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