While a sharp query goes a long way to inviting in the agent and editor, even that won’t pique their curiosity if they skip ahead to the novel start and the pages don’t deliver. How can you produce an infallible story opening? Action, voice, an immediate interest in the characters, and a hook that pulls in the reader and which is designed around your particular genre. While what works will optimize certain invariable elements, the presentation and emphasis will be completely unique to the work you’re writing.
Author G. Miki Hayden, your class instructor, is a writer about whom The New York Times once said “[she leaves] us immersed in a world that never existed with people whose vibrant [presence] on the page is never in doubt.” Miki will address your writing very specifically and personally in this class to get your novel off to the right start!
If you want more online education, see the full list of WDU courses here.
Ask the Expert: Speculative Fiction with Richard Thomas
This event is a Q&A and “Ask Me Anything” where you can ask Richard your questions about writing, editing, teaching, and publishing. Tips and tricks, dos and don’ts, industry secrets, you name it. If you like, you can even dial up one of your stories that is giving you trouble and ask specific questions about what might be wrong with it and how to fix it! We will be focusing particularly on speculative fiction, but general questions about writing and publishing are welcome as well.
Annual Writing Competition
Writer’s Digest’s oldest and most popular competition, the Annual Writing Competition, is currently accepting entries. Winners of the 93rd Annual competition will be announced in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue of Writer’s Digest!
EARLY-BIRD DEADLINE: May 6, 2024
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Writer’s Digest Tutorials
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