I often find that putting dialogue onto the page for your characters is one of them ore challenging aspects of all writing.

Good novelists create characters who are complex. unique, and have relatable human needs and feelings. Joyce Carol Oates is one of our best contemporary novelists, and has created a host of memorable ...

Everyday writing tools are quietly deciding which characters lead, which serve, and which never appear at all. In hundreds of thousands of AI-generated stories, those choices consistently favored ...

Encountering characters who look, speak, and behave in familiar ways can help readers feel seen, heard, and, most of all, included. As writers, we want to create diverse and representative characters, ...

Here’s a hard truth: most minor characters in fiction are cardboard cutouts. Walk-ons. Bodies in the room. They often exist only to hand over a clue, get stabbed in an alley or die screaming at the ...

After 35 years of teaching fiction writing, the prize-winning author shares her wisdom. First tip? Don’t write what you know… I don’t think it’s a bad thing to want to write a first sentence so ...