Writers Helping Writers^®

Writing Craft

How to Use Hidden Experiences to Pull Readers In

July 22, 2025

How to Use Hidden Experiences to Pull Readers In

July 22, 2025

No matter who your protagonist is—a formidable galactic emperor, a morally complex teenager, or the retiree down the street with too many cats—readers must find something fundamentally relatable about them,…

Phenomenal First Pages Contest – Guest Editor Edition

July 17, 2025

Phenomenal First Pages Contest – Guest Editor Edition

July 17, 2025

Hey, wonderfulwriterly people! It’s time for Phenomenal First Pages, our monthly critique contest. So, if you need a bit of help with your first five pages, today’s the day to…

Writing 101: Avoiding Purple Prose

July 15, 2025

Writing 101: Avoiding Purple Prose

July 15, 2025

Purple prose is one of those writing problems that’s easy to see in someone else’s work but hard to spot in our own. Simply put, this writing is overly elaborate…

How to Find Symbols in Your Settings

July 10, 2025

How to Find Symbols in Your Settings

July 10, 2025

We all want our writing to be layered. Like a gourmet meal, we want there to be more to them than just what’s seen on the surface. In stories, this…

Behind the Scenes: A Day in the Life of a Cowriting Team

July 8, 2025

Behind the Scenes: A Day in the Life of a Cowriting Team

July 8, 2025

Learn about a day in the life of a cowriting team with Resident Writing Coach Christina Delay and her writing partner, Julie Glover. We’re often asked why and how we…

The Emotion Amplifier Playbook for Antagonists

July 1, 2025

The Emotion Amplifier Playbook for Antagonists

July 1, 2025

We all know the importance of tapping into our character’s feelings and conveying those clearly to readers. When we do this, readers connect with our characters and become invested in…

Help! My Romance Draft Is a Mess (Now What?)

June 26, 2025

Help! My Romance Draft Is a Mess (Now What?)

June 26, 2025

Author Accelerator Certified book coach Stuart Wakefield shares what to do if your romance draft is a mess. You finished your draft. Maybe you poured yourself a glass of something…

Should You Write What You Know or Aim to Experiment?

June 24, 2025

Should You Write What You Know or Aim to Experiment?

June 24, 2025

Savannah Cordova suggests ditching writing what you know for the new and improved version: Know what you write. Show-don’t-tell! Kill your darlings! Don’t use adverbs! Sound familiar? Most writers will…

Writing 101: Semi-Colons & Other Tricky Punctuation Marks

June 24, 2025

Writing 101: Semi-Colons & Other Tricky Punctuation Marks

June 24, 2025

Punctuation can be surprisingly difficult, especially when it comes to lesser-used marks like semi-colons, dashes, and colons. When these marks are used incorrectly, readers are either distracted or confused. Because…

Why You Deserve to Go on a Writing Retreat

June 17, 2025

Why You Deserve to Go on a Writing Retreat

June 17, 2025

So, You Want to Go on a Writing Retreat? A writing retreat is a designated period and space where writers gather to focus on their writing projects. Often such retreats take…