Over the past six months, I’ve been working on yet-another-final-draft of a novel. As I got to the end of this draft, I thought I wanted to tell you the story of how I got through it, how I g…

YouTube video by The Drowned Kingdom Saga

I frequently joke that I’ve become the third wheel in my marriage: my husband is having an affair with some bloke named Claude. I mean, if he’s up late with Claude, night after night, t…

Much on our minds nowadays is the issue of human-written versus machine-written fiction. There’s a lot to say about that, but for me it leads to a question: What actually makes human-written fictio…

Writing stories is like having a whole host of people in your head, each with their own mind, will, history, flaws, and needs. On the best of days as a writer, I feel like I am simply channeling my…

There is, reportedly, a clinically diagnosable condition known as hypergraphia. It is characterized by an intense urge to write or draw. People speculate that Brandon Sanderson, that prodigious pro…

Do kids these days still talk about main character energy? It was used for awhile as both a compliment and insult–compliment when noticing that someone was confident and taking charge of thei…

Welcome back to another installment of Author Up Close, my exclusive series for Writer Unboxed where I interview authors at various stages of the publishing process. Today, I’m delighted to s…

I moved recently. My new place is great. It’s all set up, but that took some doing. Unpacking. Arranging. Assembling some flat-pack furniture. Hanging pictures and art. Naturally, I needed tools. W…

Given the association of misfortune with this day, Friday the 13th, I guess you could attribute it to the (bad) luck of the draw that, for the second month in a row, it’s my day up. And this time I…

The holidays before these last holidays, my wife and I, our kids, and my in-laws went to Ecuador to cruise around the Galapagos Islands. As wonderful as that sounds, full disclosure, I had some dou…

The conceit of a story set at a wake or vigil certainly isn’t new. Five Hours with Mario (Cinco horas con Mario) by Spanish writer Miguel Delibes, tells the story of Carmen Sotillo’s hours sitting …

Two very recent WU posts (HERE and HERE) got me thinking about how I read. In one mode, I read manuscripts with an agent’s eyes. In another mode, I read novels (published or pre-) as a craft analys…

Do you remember the scene in that classic film What about Bob? in which Bob arranges to have himself tied to the mast of a sailboat? He wants to be included in his friends’ activities despit…

I swear, I know what the word doomscrolling means. After all, it’s been around since the twenty-teens, and was added to dictionaries several years ago now. I’ve regularly used the term, even in ess…

It might be a surprise to some of you that, when it comes to magic in story, WU’s resident fantasy geek (yours truly) is not the most ardent proponent. This is the case in regard to both my reading…

Though today’s post is not an insightful rumination on fiction craft or the publishing business, and isn’t as polished as I might wish it to be, I hope you’ll stick with me. This is a post about gr…

YouTube video by Willow Wraith Press

In fiction, it is not at all uncommon to meet characters whose parents are lacking in some regard or another. Some parents are physically present but emotionally distant; some die for the sake of t…

“…spent years running from the prince who bound her into his service.” “…a runaway queen and a reluctant prince are thrown together on a quest…” “…as her kingdom barrels toward destruction…” “…King…

We hear actors talk about immersing themselves into a character, often using techniques rooted in the methods of the great character actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski. But why don’t we tal…

There’s been a palpable feeling here on WU through the opening weeks of 2026. Behind many of the posts and comments I’m sensing alarm and outrage, disappointment and sadness over the state of the w…

There’s been a palpable feeling here on WU through the opening weeks of 2026. Behind many of the posts and comments I’m sensing alarm and outrage, disappointment and sadness over the state of the w…

YouTube video by Zachary Shaye

This week marks our 20th year online here at Writer Unboxed, and I hope you’ll indulge a little reflection. First, the personal. Guys! Twenty years! What an incredible ride it’s been as…

For many of us, it is so hard to focus right now. Writing can seem impossible. Even reading, almost always a source of comfort, is a struggle. So where then can we turn for escape, for inspiration?…

Who are you? When you meet someone new, how do you answer this question? You might start with your name, but after that, how do you describe yourself to a stranger? What aspects of yourself do you …

Come to me in my dreams, and then By day I shall be well again! For so the night will more than pay The hopeless longing of the day. From Longing by Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) Several years ago, I …

YouTube video by The Drowned Kingdom Saga

A few days ago my journaling prompt* was, CURSED DAYS, which was, in turn, based on a prompt from Molly Prentiss called WHAT ELSE? Both prompt titles felt way too on the nose for the state of thing…

YouTube video by Philip Chase

“Hope’ is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the song without the tune – And never stops – at all – —Emily Dickinson On the way to a writin…