authors on writing

Miscellany

What’s in a Pen Name?: How I Went From Gothic Fiction to Bubblegum Pop

James Baldwin famously claimed that “every writer has only one story to tell,” and I’ve found that to be true. In my work I find myself grappling with the same set of ideas in different settings, changing scenery and characters to illuminate the same set of human truths. But if…

Margaux EliotNovember 4, 2025

Miscellany

Where Science Meets Spellcraft: Building Worlds on the Edge of Magic and Math

“Magic's just science that we don't understand yet.” — Arthur C. Clarke, paraphrased. Science is a crucial element in science fiction stories, but for me, a creative, geeky, STEM girl, it’s crucial in the telling of great fantasy as well. The concept of “science as magic” was pretty much embedded…

H. Leighton DicksonNovember 3, 2025

Miscellany Popular

Cliffhangers: How Readers Really Feel and Why This Author Loves Them So Much

I have a confession, y’all — I’m one of those readers who waits until an entire series is out before reading, just so I don’t have to suffer through cliffhangers. Did you gasp in outrage? You should, because I’m also one of those authors who loves to write them. I…

Abigail OwenOctober 23, 2025

Miscellany Popular

On Not Minding One’s Own Business

I’d been taking notes towards the idea of writing a book titled Gina School since I attended an anniversary party in 2019. Seated on one side next to the successful adult daughter of the couple whom we were gathered to celebrate, and flanked on the other side by her boyfriend,…

Gina BarrecaOctober 16, 2025

Miscellany Popular

Waiting for Woodstock

As her husband battles Alzheimer’s, author Marcy McCreary faces down questions of mystery and memory in her fiction — and in real life. In her latest novel, The Summer of Love and Death, Marcy McCreary takes us back to the summer of ’69, where a certain world-famous music festival…

T.M. BlanchetOctober 14, 2025

Miscellany

Writing About Place: The Power of Setting in Stories

Early in the morning, in a high school classroom, it’s hard to engage a group of teenagers in creative writing. Yet, this public high school in Massachusetts had written and used a grant to hire me as their fall semester writer in residence. So here I was, once per week,…

Áine GreaneyMay 29, 2025

Miscellany

Debut Author Talks About Publishing, Mythology and Monstrous Women

Emily Yu-Xuan Qin’s debut release, Aunt Tigress, is a snarky urban fantasy perfect for fans of Seanan McGuire, Ilona Andrews and Ben Aaronovitch. Inspired by Chinese and First Nation mythology and bursting with wit, compelling characters and LGBTQIA+ representation, readers will eat up this gory story — and the sweet-as-Canadian-maple-syrup…

BookTribMarch 18, 2025

Guest Article- The Last Man in Paradise Syed Massood

Fiction Miscellany

How One Author’s Character Came to Life and Challenged His Worldview

Azaan, the protagonist of The Last Man in Paradise, surprised me. I suppose that sounds a bit bizarre coming from an author — after all, I created Azaan and I wrote out everything that happened to him. I ought to have had full control over him and, therefore, he should’ve…

Syed M. MasoodMarch 18, 2025

Fiction Miscellany

Alli Frank and Asha Youmans Tackle Writing as a Team Sport

Humans have engaged in sport since the beginning of our time. Around the world people compete in camel racing and hot chili eating, ping-pong and cheese rolling, yo-yoing, bullfighting, war games and team sports of all kinds. Reasons for participation include practicing discipline, seeking challenge, a quest for perfection, notoriety,…

Alli Frank and Asha YoumansJuly 8, 2024

Nonfiction Nonfiction - Featured

Alice McDermott Shares Writerly Wisdom in “What About the Baby?”

For almost four decades, award-winning fiction author, essayist and teacher Alice McDermott has impressed readers with novels about loss, resilience and nostalgia that bind strong-knit communities. What About the Baby? Some Thoughts on the Art of Fiction (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is her newest work, a collection of essays about…

Gisèle LewisAugust 16, 2021

authors on writing

What’s in a Pen Name?: How I Went From Gothic Fiction to Bubblegum Pop

Where Science Meets Spellcraft: Building Worlds on the Edge of Magic and Math

Cliffhangers: How Readers Really Feel and Why This Author Loves Them So Much

On Not Minding One’s Own Business

Waiting for Woodstock

Writing About Place: The Power of Setting in Stories

Debut Author Talks About Publishing, Mythology and Monstrous Women

How One Author’s Character Came to Life and Challenged His Worldview

Alli Frank and Asha Youmans Tackle Writing as a Team Sport

Alice McDermott Shares Writerly Wisdom in “What About the Baby?”

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