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Tips, insights, and guidance from our editorial staff for fiction and nonfiction writers of all genres.

Editor’s Eavesdrop: An Intimate Conversation with Ken Follett and Lee Child Considering writing and publishing perspectives from two masters of their genres

[by Ross Browne]

One silver lining to the challenges of the writing life in 2020 is the growing number of popular authors doing online events with their fans. This gives us the opportunity to get up close and personal (if only virtually) with some of the biggest names in publishing, and in many cases pose questions to […]

By |2025-01-22T22:06:14+00:00December 13th, 2020|Behind The Bestsellers|Comments Off on Editor’s Eavesdrop: An Intimate Conversation with Ken Follett and Lee Child Considering writing and publishing perspectives from two masters of their genres
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Revise Your Book, Hollywood-Style A novelist, screenwriter, and editor shares his take on a secret weapon for manuscript revision

[by John Robert Marlow]

Are you an author who

  • Has never tried using an outline?
  • Likes the idea of outlining, but gave up on it because it was too much trouble—or just didn’t work for you?
  • Uses an outline for initial story planning, but not for revisions?
  • Would rather have a root canal than use an outline?

If so, you’re not alone. Let’s […]

By |2025-09-04T15:44:20+00:00|The Writer’s Craft|Comments Off on Revise Your Book, Hollywood-Style A novelist, screenwriter, and editor shares his take on a secret weapon for manuscript revision
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Spotlight on Developmental Editing An overview of why it’s needed, how it works, and what to expect from the process

What Developmental Editing Really Is—and Why It Comes First

When many people think of editing, they picture cryptic symbols and scribbled margin notes in red or blue pencil—move this paragraph, delete those words, add a hyphen, fix that spelling, capitalize this letter. And yes, that’s part of the process. But it’s only one part, […]

By |2025-06-18T17:50:48+00:00|The Editor’s Craft and Process|Comments Off on Spotlight on Developmental Editing An overview of why it’s needed, how it works, and what to expect from the process
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The Role of Mystery in Fiction An editor's take on the value of mystery in all genres of fiction

[by Peter Gelfan]

Unlike nonfiction, fiction’s motor doesn’t run on information, but on its opposite: mystery.

I’m not talking about mystery as a genre, but as the essential quality in all fiction that cultivates curiosity, stimulates the imagination, invites participation, and generally keeps readers reading. Every step of the reader’s journey should be fraught with questions, not only […]

By |2024-01-06T21:03:15+00:00|The Writer’s Craft|Comments Off on The Role of Mystery in Fiction An editor's take on the value of mystery in all genres of fiction
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Don’t Confuse Plot with Plot Event An editor's thoughts inspired by Robert Ludlum, Matt Damon, and Jason Bourne

[by Ross Browne]

It wasn’t all that long ago that the news hit Hollywood that Matt Damon was considering bowing out of his leading role as Jason Bourne. The untitled film he considered passing on would have been the fifth in a series based on a trilogy that we have Robert Ludlum to […]

By |2024-01-06T21:11:19+00:00|The Writer’s Craft|Comments Off on Don’t Confuse Plot with Plot Event An editor's thoughts inspired by Robert Ludlum, Matt Damon, and Jason Bourne
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What Writers Can Learn from Lee Child & Jack Reacher A lesson in handling exposition in mystery and suspense novels

Exposition: a discourse of information. (Often necessary, but also challenging to handle skillfully.)

In an earlier post for mystery writers, I talked a little bit about the value of resisting the urge to lecture your readers on what you might have learned in the course of researching your story or what you might know from your own in-the-trenches […]

By |2024-01-19T23:26:21+00:00|The Writer’s Craft|Comments Off on What Writers Can Learn from Lee Child & Jack Reacher A lesson in handling exposition in mystery and suspense novels
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