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October 2009 |
The Writer
The essential resource for writers
Join thousands of successful writers when you subscribe to The Writer magazine. Each month The Writer is full of features you can use to improve your writing, including before-and-after examples of improved writing, more literary markets than ever before, practical solutions for writing problems, selected literary magazine profiles, tips from famous authors and hands-on advice.
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Features Get Started: How to write about family and friends without losing them By
Julia Tagliere Here's some fresh advice on an age-old topic: how writers can balance creative freedom with their subjects' right to privacy. |
pg. 13 |
Breakthrough: Become a critic--without being an expert By
Todd Wallinger How one writer built up his writing skills, then pounced on an opening for a theater critic at his local newspaper. |
pg. 14 |
Off the Cuff: Homage to my mentor By
Bill Glose A novice's relationship with an experiences writer blossomed into an unexpected friendship. |
pg. 15 |
Poet to Poet: 23 writing prompts to get you on a roll By
Marilyn Taylor These strategies--from free writing to composing a "bad" poem--have unblocked many a poet. One of them may be just what you need. |
pg. 17 |
In the 'lab' with Michael Connelly By
Jeff Ayers This top crime-fiction novelist used newspaper reporting as his "research laboratory," then turned L.A. into a crucible for his popular cop Harry Bosch. |
pg. 20 |
Archive: 13 maxims for novelists By
Mona Simpson in 1992, our bestselling author offered a few words of wisdom on everything from committing to your craft to evaluating criticism. They still ring true. |
pg. 24 |
The (not so) creative process By
Joni B. Cole Why the slow, uninspired slog that we've all experienced is essential, and can even produce inspired writing. |
pg. 26 |
Patterns of behavior By
Lynne Griffin A St. Martin's novelist and family specialist shows you how to put temperament research to work in your fiction. |
pg. 28 |
Great Openings: Set the narrative hook By
William G. Tapply Editors and agents are impatient people, notes this author of 30 novels, and will reject a novel on the basis of five pages, at most. Hook them with your opening, however, and you have a chance. Here's how. |
pg. 30 |
What makes me stop reading a mystery novel By
Hallie Ephron If you're working on a mystery novel, an award-winning reviewer and author steeped in the genre has some issues she'd like to discuss with you. |
pg. 33 |
Win repeat business By
Roy Stevenson Tips for freelance writers on how to develop a strong relationship with editors that keeps on giving. |
pg. 35 |
On making people cry By
Kathy Stevenson Some brief observations on the value of developing a writer's thin skin that absorbs beauty and pain. |
pg. 36 |
'True' stories, and necessary lies By
Tim Bascom A memoir writer reflects on what he considers the inescapable distortions of memory in describing one's past. |
pg. 38 |
Freelance Success: Contracts 101: What you need to know By
Kelly James-Enger For writers, it's essential to have a good understanding of contracts. Here's a legal primer you can actually understand. |
pg. 40 |
Market Focus: Outdoor rec markets see active writers By
Ligaya Figueras How to paddle, pedal, run or hike your way to an adventurous writing assignment. |
pg. 46 |
Literary Spotlight: The Iowa Review By
Melissa Hart The spotlight is on the literary journal The Iowa Review, describing its tone, preferences and contributors. |
pg. 48 |
Departments Letters Take Note Some feel the pains, others feel the pleasures of writing By
Chuck Leddy |
pg. 8 |
WriteStuff A critic's love letter to used bookstores By
Chuck Leddy, Steve Weinberg, Jeff Ayers Reviews of "The Book Shopper: A Life in Review" by Murray Browne; "The Elements of Story: Field Notes on Nonfiction Writing" by Francis Flaherty; and "Rogue Males: Conversations & Confrontations About the Writing Life" by Craig McDonald. |
pg. 42 |
Market listings Automobile; aviation; current events/politics; general interest; literary; and mystery/detective magazines By
Compiled by Martha Lundin |
pg. 49 |
How I write Jay McInerney By
Laurel-Ann Dooley For Jay McInerney, his latest book, the story collection 'How It Ended,' marks the first time critics are reading his work and not holding his one-time "party boy" persona against him. |
pg. 58 |
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