Today, we have a different sort of Take Five interview for you, as one of our contributors has just begun a Kickstarter campaign in an attempt to bring to market a game for the literary minded. Please read on to learn more about Ray Rhamey’s new endeavor, and be sure to watch the fun video [...]

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Kath and Therese stepping in with a special introduction. As you know, Take 5 interviews at Writer Unboxed are generally dignified affairs, allowing authors to reveal details of their latest novel–the backstory, inspirations and writing process–via five pithy questions. We are proud that T5′s have become something of a classic. When we send T5 questions [...]

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In her speech at Book Expo America (BEA) last week, Divergent superauthor Veronica Roth talked about her experiences as a reader and a writer. Like many of us who love writing as adults, she loved reading as a child, though she confessed to going through a phase of not reading at all. As she put [...]

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John Vorhaus is releasing the third Radar Hoverlander novel, and we couldn’t be more thrilled! THE TEXAS TWIST is out now, and the latest installment in Radar’s adventures looks to be as hilarious and addictive as John’s first two novels in the series, The California Roll and The Albuquerque Turkey. From the flap: WORLD-CLASS CON ARTIST RADAR [...]

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Erika Robuck’s novel HEMINGWAY’S GIRL (NAL/Penguin) was selected as a Target Emerging Author pick, a Vero Beach Bestseller, and has been sold in two foreign markets to date. Her new novel, CALL ME ZELDA (NAL/Penguin), published on May 7, 2013, and looks to be another successful blend of history, mystery and compelling prose. The book begins [...]

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As those of you who follow my work know, I’m dead keen on process. I think it’s important for writers not just to write, but to watch themselves writing and observe their evolving approach to their craft. That, I believe, is how a writer goes about growing. So with every new novel I write, I [...]

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This past month, Kitty Bennet’s Diary, the third book in my Pride and Prejudice Chronicles, released. Thanks so much to everyone here at WU for letting me share a bit about the book here! Q: What’s the premise of your novel?  Kitty Bennet’s Diary is the third of my diary-format imagined sequels to Jane Austen’s [...]

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Trained by reading hundreds of submissions, editors and literary agents often make their read/not-read decision on the first page. A customarily formatted book manuscript with chapters starting about 1/3 of the way down the page (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type) has 16 or 17 lines on the first page. The challenge: does this narrative compel [...]

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Bestselling fantasy author and valued WU contributor Juliet Marillier’s latest release, Prickle Moon, is garnering big buzz and advanced praise. Prickle Moon is an anthology of Juliet’s short fiction, including some new stories. Magical, diverse, hopeful tales: Juliet Marillier’s “Prickle Moon” delivers masterly storytelling by a master storyteller. ~Gemmell Morningstar Award winner, Helen Lowe. She [...]

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I recently had the pleasure of launching Kate Forsyth’s wonderful new novel THE WILD GIRL, published by Vintage Books in Australia, at an event in Sydney. I interviewed Kate here on Writer Unboxed when her previous book for adult readers, the stunning blend of history and fairy tale BITTER GREENS, was released in 2012. Kate [...]

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You’re no fool. Right? But is it possible, perhaps, that you do foolish things sometimes? It is. We all do. As writers, we’ve pretty much all wrong-footed it at least once or twice. But how do you know what’s foolish? Being too confident is a classic writer’s mistake, but so is being too shy and [...]

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On my blog, Flogging the Quill, I critique (“flog”) the opening pages of novels submitted by wannabe novelists. I think it’s equally instructive to flog the pros. Fifty Shades of Grey was suggested, but I can’t find an ebook sample to download to extract the first page. So we turn to the second novel suggested. [...]

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