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What If You’re Writing Novellas? Now What?

Jane Friedman

A novella is perfect, perched between prose and poetry, allowing the reader (not to mention the writer) plenty of space and time to think about things. Like most writers, I wanted someone else to read it. Its nice when a novella approaches an elongated prose poem. A novella is better. Is that what you feel?

Prose 136
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The New Chicago’s Here! The New Chicago’s Here!

Arrant Pedantry

There are several other firsts in the new edition, but for any concept to make it into the Manual , it has to be something that writers and editors might encounter as they get their words and images ready to publish. The 18th edition is also the first to cover emojis—mainly in terms of Unicode but also relative to sentence punctuation.

Prose 325
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7 ways to write beautiful prose

The Write Life

Writing beautiful prose isn’t something every writer nails in the beginning. Strong prose often reads like poetry. The term “purple prose” refers to writing that might be a bit too flowery. That’s not always a bad thing—lots of readers and writers love flowery prose. Avoid or reimagine cliché phrases.

Prose 96
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Structural Mastery: Why the Classics Endure

Jane Friedman

Weve come across many authors who believe that plot points amount to paint-by-numbers storytellingor that only genre writers need to worry about structure. Case Study 2: The Great Gatsby A protagonist in disguise Some writers cite The Great Gatsby as an example of a passive protagonist done right.

Prose 139
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How to Write a Well-Balanced, Meaningful Sentence

Enchanting Marketing

We’re all bad writers. ” This blog post is inspired by the delightful book One True Sentence: Writers & Readers on Hemingway’s Art , a collection of 38 interviews examining some of Hemingway’s most interesting sentences. We often think of writers as being in charge of a story. It’s a collaboration.

Writing 276
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The Secret Sauce to Being a Good Writer

Jane Friedman

Here’s a controversial opinion: Writers are born, not made. If you’re a natural-born writer, then you’ll write your ass off either way. To be clear: Sometimes it takes “real” writers years, even decades, to succeed. Not everyone, ergo, is a writer. The second thing about being a writer is: My God, read a LOT.

Writer 128
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20 Break-In Magazines for New Freelance Writers

Make a Living Writing

Ever wonder where new freelance writers land their first assignments? If you’re a freelance writer just starting out, and you’ve had challenges trying to: Gain traction. Freelance writers (even if you’re new) can get paid to write, if you know where to look. Willing to work with new/unpublished writers. Grow your network.

Freelance 100