You don't have to write a whole story - just the most important sentence in the story. That's right, send us the best opening line y...

That first line of a submission that hooked one of our editors so hard s/he requested the full and then contracted the book. 1. I would have...

Okay, more first paragraphs to critique. #4 - From Cynthia: “Get out of bed and take off your clothes.” It was a command, an order. Rebecca ...

Okay, as promised, we'll analyze a bunch of "first paragraph of story" sent in to us. Three today, more next week. The first p...

Favorite First Lines When you love books as much as we do (as many of you do), it's hard to select only thirteen great first lines. The ...

There’s a certain amount of irony inherent in the fact that I am writing a blog article about great beginnings…and I can’t find a way to sta...

by Nick Conrad We’ve mentioned before that backstory, while important, shouldn’t define the character. Likewise, backstory shouldn’t be defi...

To really develop a character, you, the author, must know them inside and out. Here are thirteen questions to help you get started. 1. To wh...

By Meghan Miller If you were asked to describe yourself, you'd probably come back with basic facts: your name, your age, where you live,...

by Raelene Gorlinsky On Tuesday I listed the steps for getting your submission ready and sending it in. So, what do you do after that? (Besi...