September 2012

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
Second person puts 'you' in the story
By Mary Miller

Second person, if done skillfully, can thrust readers into a drama  in a way they aren’t with first or third person.

Newly jobless, writer moved ahead with a goal, a deadline and a plan B
By Rex Owens
After taking a cash buyout from his day job at age 58, the writer decided it was time to get serious about shopping his novel.
A sweet taste of giving up
By Marcy Campbell
When our writer encountered a block, she flirted with abandoning the craft altogether.
It's never too late for these classic must-reads
By various contributors

Here are 25 enduring titles you may have missed or forgotten—but perhaps shouldn’t have.

Kicking down fences with Margaret Atwood
By Gabriel Packard
At 72, the distinguished writer has pushed herself to work in a variety of genres, dramatizing issues of gender, power and society.
Make your home page pop
By Karen M. Rider

Follow these basic principles to boost your Web traffic.

Put objects to work in your fiction
By Paola Corso

Something as simple as a quilt or an accordion can mean much more than just itself, opening a window onto theme, character, setting, tone and more.

How to take your fiction to the next level
By Pamela Redmond Satran

A Simon & Schuster novelist who wasn’t creatively satisfied after five novels offers tips on getting even better.

Want to get published? Be a contrarian
By Diane Speare Triant

Put an ironic twist in your approach and you just may hook an editor.

The art of writing about 'sacred' things
By Kelly Caldwell
The author offers advice on one of the thorniest problems we face—how to address those issues and people that are seemingly private and off-limits to readers.
5 free and easy ways to promote your book
By Erika Dreifus

No huge marketing campaign in the cards for you? Read these tips to get your work noticed.

Grab 'em by the eyeballs
By Diane Goettel

The executive editor of an independent press advises you on how to get and keep the attention of small-press editors.

Hugely successful--but never complacent
By Glenn Hunter

With 61 bestsellers on her résumé, Sandra Brown still feels that the more she writes, the more she needs to learn.

Make your novel ready for submission
By Marilyn Allen, Coleen O'Shea

Before contacting agents, review this six-point checklist to get your manuscript in top shape.

Conference Insider: Florida Writers Conference
By Martha Lundin
You don’t have to be from Florida to join this lively group of writers in their annual conference.
Writing for readers with disabilities
By John K. Borchardt

By tweaking topics you already cover, you can reach a new audience and boost your income. Here’s how.

Juked sings praises of emerging writers
By Melissa Hart

We describe the tone, preferences and contributors of a standout literary journal.

Departments
Editor's Note: Raising the stakes
By Jeff Reich

Take Note
A few well-chosen words about picking ourselves up after rejection, a useful roundup of tablets and e-readers, plus Stephanie Dickison’s Letter From Toronto, a question for Ask The Writer, and more.
Write Stuff
Reviews of four new books about writing.
Markets

This month, a list of publishers and self-publishers.

How I Write
By Sarah C. Lange

For novelist Lauren Fox, a detailed outline gives her a sense of security—but also the freedom to veer off the path.

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