March 2005

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.

Features

60 agents tell you how to get in the door

By Brian Hill, Dee Power

Our writers surveyed more than 60 literary agents to give you the goods on how to land one. See what they discovered.

Top writer takes you behind the scenes of Law & Order

By Kinney Littlefield

Emmy-winning writer/producer Rene Balcer offers the insights of a master storyteller for the small screen.

How to write a spellbinding fantasy

By Candy Davis

Just as a filmmaker can go overboard with special effects, the fantasy writer can be a little too dazzled by magic at the expense of a story. You've got to use it right.

Writer envy? What to do about it

By Diana Burrell

Let's be honest: Envy is often a serious occupational hazard for writers. Here, we dish on some choice tales and tell you how to get over this hang-up.

The synopsis--a vital selling tool

By Robyn Conley

Your novel synopsis should be a compelling, vital selling tool--not a dry "book report." Here are some tips on how to do it.

3 essential tools for screenwriters

By Michael Thunder

If you're going to write screenplays, you need to know about the three essential tools for pitching an on-spec script: the long line, synopsis and treatment.

Departments

Editor's notes

The great agent hunt

By Elfrieda Abbe

Take note

Tom Wolfe and Philip Pullman on the virtues of entertaining readers--plus other literary notes, Dear Writer, and information on contests and conferences.

Get started

The all-important query letter

By Robert Bittner

Your query is how you get your foot in the door. Learn from some editors what its essential elements are.

Breakthrough

Debut author finds success selling abroad

By Holly Kennedy

When it came time to shop her novel, the writer found that selling foreign rights first opened the door to an American publisher.

Net//Working

Can the spam

By Moira Allen

Inundated with junk e-mail? Here are some easy ways to stop the flood.

Off the cuff

Turn up the volume

By S. Kay Murphy

Creating a little white noise in your writing environment might be just what your muse needs.

Bottom line

Easy ways to beat writer burnout

By Kelly James-Enger

Pushing your boundaries, varying your work and pursuing "dream" projects can help you stay fresh and avoid writer burnout.

WriteStuff

Reviews of three books about writing and selling a screenplay.

Market focus

Get an edge in arts freelancing

By Julia M. Klein

If you're interested in writing about the arts, here are some strategies to help you succeed.

How I write

Jodi Thomas

For novelist Jodi Thomas, diligence, on-site research and a heavy regimen of rewriting are some of the keys to success.