38 Helpful Articles About Writing and the Business of Writing: Check Out The Charlotte Readers Podcast Community Blog

There are many ways to learn how to write better in your chosen genre. Options include undergraduate and graduate programs, writing organizations (in-person and online), craft books, writing groups, critique groups, writing coaches, editors, writing buddies, online articles, online videos, watching and listening to authors read their work, reading books in your genre, and more.

One way that we add to the mix of writing resources at Charlotte Readers Podcast is by encouraging authors to submit to our Community Blog, where we feature blog posts on our blog page of the podcast website, link them in our newsletter and talk about them on the podcast.

In this post, I link to 38 articles that appear on the Charlotte Readers Podcast Community blog as of August 28, 2022, with a brief description of the topics and brief excerpts. I encourage you to click on and read the articles that appeal to you and if you are an author with information to share about the craft or business of writing, we encourage you to submit HERE.

A Walk-On Approach to Creativity, by Landis Wade

This article explores the walk-on mentality of creativity. Will you wait to be anointed by a third-party gatekeeper, or will you jump in with both feet.

Excerpt:  A walk-on is a self- motivated person willing to work hard, a person who loves the activity so much that what the critics say doesn’t matter. And that, my friends, is often more important than raw talent. To channel Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic,” the universe is going to offer you a good idea and when it does, you have a choice to make. Are you going to walk-off or walk-on?

The Shame Game, by Rachael Brooks

This article explores how to survive the one-sided fight with yourself when you feel shame.

Excerpt: Everyone has felt or is currently feeling shameful. At times, it is hard to avoid. However, if we are more intentional about recognizing shame, we are more equipped to eliminate it. I find that half the time, it is something I create in my own mind anyway. So, stay strong, stay true to yourself, and stay proud of who you are!

Folding Up, by Mary Bess Dunn

This article explores how year-end retrospection about what you read the previous year can offer insight and inspiration, and how one should not feel guilty about putting a book down that doesn’t resonate with them. The author also shares and discusses books that were important to her that she read in the previous year.

Excerpt: I resolved to break the habit of finishing every book I start. Too many aspects of my life are guilt ridden—reading should not be one of them. I gave myself two guidelines: I must read the first 50 pages, and, if within those pages I haven’t made a single notation or underlined a single sentence, phrase, or word, I should seriously think about putting it aside. Life is too short. 

The Formula: Add, Subtract, Reorder, Clarify, by Nora Gaskin

This article focuses on four elements of one editor’s approach to editing: add, subtract, reorder, and clarify.

Excerpt: Add may seem obvious. Add words. But where and how? There’s a Seinfeld episode in which George’s girl friend tells him she saw her ex and “ya-da, ya-da.” Writers ya-da, ya-da. They avoid the hard scenes. They forget that readers can’t read their minds. They collapse time. Ya-da, ya-da is funny in a sit com. It can frustrate readers and a frustrated reader may wander off to get a snack and forget to come back.

On Writing and Creativity, by Miranda Kossoff

This article explores one author’s take on what it means to be creative and how to overcome the idea that you’re not.

Excerpt: People often say to me, “I’m not creative,” or “I could never write a book.” I respond by asking, “how do you know if you haven’t tried?” You may try. You may fail. You may learn something. You may try again with a new approach. You may succeed.

Why to Join a Writers’ Group – and How, by Sarah Archer

This article explores how one author creates a community of supportive writers through participation in critique groups, with tips on why and how to join them.

Excerpt: Googling writers’ groups in your area is probably the simplest and most obvious way to look for groups to join. Meetup.com specifically lists writers’ groups across the country. I’ve found groups through libraries and local bookstores, so checking their websites or stopping by in person are also good ideas. And writers have a way of finding each other, so once you join one group, you may find yourself being introduced to others.

How Filmmaking Has Helped Me Write Novels, by Timothy Reinhardt

This article explores how the discipline of film-making can make you a better writer.

Excerpt: Words are precious. Being a Russian history major, I have a fondness for thousand-page novels. One screenplay page translates into one minute of film. So, I immediately faced having my script slashed. Appalled at first, I grew to understand how precious each word was. An actor brought this point home to me, when he saw my draft and commented, “This isn’t dialogue, it’s a series of speeches.” I did not initially agree, but then listened as this talented person reshaped my words to be sharp and witty. I soon changed my style of crafting dialogue.

Crazy Book Guides?, by Cathy Pickens

This article explores the love of books, how to discover them, and how to help others who want to read but who don’t know what they like, find a book that suits them.

Excerpt: I feel we’re losing the battle. How can we serve as guide into the magical book world? Give the newcomers confidence to find their own way? Through a book club? Reading time with children in your life? Being a reading buddy at a school? Books or store certificates for gifts? Buying books when you can? Putting a book you love in the hand of a friend who might love it? What’s your path as a crazy book guide to bring books and new readers together?

Get a Grip on Rejection, by Carrie Knowles

This article explores the idea that rejection has value, but once the lesson is learned, it is time to move on.

Excerpt: When you get a rejection, read it, think about it to see if there’s anything to learn from it, then throw it away. Don’t ever let your rejections define you…or take up precious space in your files! Move on.

The Schrödinger’s Cat of Writing: “Show, Don’t Tell”, by Paul Reali

This article explores the age-old advice to writers of “show, don’t tell,” and reminds writers that some writing rules are made to be broken, or at the very least, tweaked.

Excerpt: The balance of showing and telling on the scene level varies by genre; for instance, literary fiction and memoir will have more exposition than thrillers and mysteries. This balance will also vary widely inside a single book, because this is how writers control pacing. Showing moves the story forward in real time. Exposition (telling) is time travel: it lets us skip over the dull bits (car rides, baths, staring out of windows), flash back to an earlier time, or stop time entirely so that we can sit and listen to a character think.

Finding Time to Write in a Busy World, by Brooke Reynolds

This article dives into the question facing writers with busy lives outside of their desire to write: how do find the time?

Excerpt: Find a routine. Are you a morning person? Then wake up just a few minutes early each day to jot those thoughts down. Are you an evening person? Then curl up in the quiet of evening and write those stories while others dream. When do I write? Whenever I can. On weekends, it’s early in the morning when the kids are still asleep. During the week, it’s after the kids are in bed when I can sit down with a beer and my laptop. Just keep writing! 

Kimmery’s Top Twelve Writing Tips, by Kimmery Martin

This article by an author whose medical thrillers have been praised by the New York Times, among others, offers twelve practical tips for the perfect novel. Hint. This is sarcasm. Do the opposite and all will be well.

Excerpt:  Use Lots of Adverbs. Adverbs are how you describe things. Use them liberally and festively: people love that. Just ask Stephen King or Elmore Leonard. Use Similes Creatively and Copiously Her hair was dark like the octagonal black squares of a new soccer ball and her eyes were as cerulean as a crayon. The Oxford Comma If, You, Want, To, Be, A, Writer, You, Must, Share, Your, Important, Opinions, On, The, Oxford, Comma, With, Everyone.

Write the More Challenging Book, by Colin Cerniglia

This article explores the question of whether to write the more cookie-cutter non-fiction book that seems to do well for many authors or the one that you are more passionate about that also happens to be more challenging.

Excerpt: As we all know, writing is a laborious process. We might as well write what makes us happy and passionate, even if it is the more defying route to go! So that is my challenge to you: if you come to a fork in the writer’s road, I hope you choose to be assertive and write the book that takes you out of your comfort zone and into a world of adventure!

How Reading Can Lead to Cultural Understanding, by Mark West

This article explores how reading can make you more empathetic and more understanding of what people who aren’t like you face in their lives.

Excerpt: By reading literary works about people whose lives are different from our own, perhaps we, too, can come to a better understanding of how others experience the world, and that is a meaningful step in the process of resisting prejudice. 

What is a Rollerblading Moment, and Why Do You Need One for Your Story?, by Emily Cantaneo

This article explores how to hook your reader and why. The foundation for the article was an anecdote shared by the main character in the opening pages of Jenny Offill’s 2014 novel Dept. of Speculation that went like this: “I met an Australian who said he loved to travel alone. He talked about his job as we drank by the sea. When a student gets it, when it first breaks across his face, it’s so fucking beautiful, he told me. I nodded, moved, though I’d never taught anyone a single thing. What do you teach, I asked him. Rollerblading, he explained.”

Excerpt: Why are rollerblading moments so effective? I have a couple theories. First, they are impressive because of their economy. Notice that Offill doesn’t need to take pages upon pages to show us that she is clever, observant, funny, and emotionally affecting. She does it with a handful of words, with one anecdote. This restraint is impressive and makes the reader eager to see what other feats Offill has in store for us.

There is No There to Get to, by Claire Fullerton

This article explores the idea that writing is about more than the way one is published, if published at all.

Excerpt: I believe all writers write for the same reason, which has something to do with wanting to compare notes in this business of living. Whether we’re published, or by whom is not the point, the point is all writers are on the same path, propelled by an inexplicable urge to communicate, in whichever way they choose to tell a story.

Finding the Courage to Finish Your Manuscript, by Kathy Izard

This article explores why “finishing a manuscript and seeing it published requires uncommon courage.”

Excerpt: You will be showing up for yourself again and again. You will be wrestling words onto the page with nobody watching. You will be finishing chapter by chapter with no one paying you or offering you a prize. It is a slow, steady, uphill battle but like a mountain summit, there is a pretty great payoff at the end. When you can look back over 250 pages and see how far you have come, it is its own reward. Whether you ever make a bestseller list or receive a royalty check, that view alone is worth the climb.

Multiple Unreliable Narrators: What I Learned from Stevenson and Faulkner, by Marc Jampole

This article explores story-telling from multiple points of view with unreliable narrators.

Excerpt: An unreliable narrator is a narrator whom the readers cannot completely trust. Sometimes the narrator doesn’t know everything the readers do. Sometimes the narrator is a liar, or has personality flaws that distort the perception of reality. A child narrator is inherently unreliable, because the child sees and understands on a simpler, less nuanced level than adults do. Utilizing a series of unreliable narrators enabled me to get inside my characters in an immediate fashion—we don’t view their actions and words through the mediation of an omniscient and objective third person, but experience it first hand as the characters do. 

Voltaire Said it Best, by Erika Hoffman

This article explores the author’s desire to write mysteries and what she did to learn more about the craft. With tongue in cheek, the foundation for the article is a piece of paper taped to her desk, with Voltaire’s words: “The Secret of Being a Bore is To Tell Everything.”

Excerpt: If you aspire to pen a mystery, I suggest a few things first: Go to a mystery writers’ conference; read a bunch of mysteries; and join Sisters in Crime where the magical Hank Phillipi Ryan had been a past President. She gave us pointers: 1.) Write a page a day. 2.) Distill your book into a 25-word logline. 3.) Have a great first line. 4.) Keep a timeline of your story so there’s some structure. 5.) Think about the three acts of a novel like this: Act One— “Wow! That’s strange!” Act Two— “Yikes! Now what?” — Act Three: “How exciting! So, that’s what happened?” 6.) While writing you should ask yourself: “What would a real person do here?”

Fellow Writers, Take Care of Yourselves, by Frank Morelli

This article explores how demanding writing a novel can be and how writers might take care of themselves in the process.

Excerpt: When living out your dream requires so much in the way of time, energy, and emotion and provides so few opportunities to unplug from the adventure and recuperate, it’s important to steal time for yourself. To create idle moments in your life designed to recharge the battery. That’s easier said than done, so I’ll share a few of the mental refreshment activities I’ve found to be most beneficial, most accessible, and most affordable.

The Importance of Reader Requests and Reviews, by Paul Attaway

This article explores the value of good online reviews and how, when writing them, readers don’t have to write a literary book review.

Excerpt: What makes a good review? One that is authentic and not paid for. The review does not have to be long. The best ones say what the reader liked about the book. Quite simply, reviews are the most trusted form of advertising.

Creating Silence to Let Your Writing Speak, by Tessa Afskar

This article explores one author’s thoughts on writing and how a key component of her process is the quiet time that helps her writing flourish.

Excerpt: Creativity requires quiet time—a rested mind that hasn’t been bombarded with internal or external stimulation. Those silent stretches are part of my writing process. I don’t always enjoy them! But they are necessary for my mind to work the way it was designed to do. And it’s very important to respect that design. Work with it, rather than try to force it to operate in a way it wasn’t meant to do.

Eight Tips for Eight Months of Editing, by Elaine Kelly

This article offers eight specific things to focus on during the self-editing process and what writers might look for when tackling them head on.

Excerpt: Plot: My first draft seemed like a series of anecdotes, so I changed it so that each sentence moved forward either the plot or the character arc.  I created a chart showing which chapters had the main character making progress towards her goal, and which chapters had her struggling with a crisis.  My chart revealed where I needed to add a crisis and what to subtract from the final denouement.

Crossing the Rift, by Joseph Bathanti

This article focuses on what you get when many voices step in to offer their poetic perspectives on an important event in human history, in this case, 9/11.

Excerpt:  Because of the diversity of poets and their respective acculturations, their lived lives, the colors of their skin, their ancestry, faith traditions, and sexual orientations, their often-complex relationships with America – the book organically took on an identity of its own. As Robert Frost declared: “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.”

From Family Legend to the Printed Page, by Barry Swanson

This article explores what one author did to turn an interesting family history story into a historical novel, with tips for how to do it.

Excerpt: Research might seem tedious but it is necessary. Learning about another period of history can be exciting, especially when telling the story of a family member. I have a bookcase full of WWII resource books, novels and even manuals. Those were invaluable as I did my best to understand the immensity of that conflict and the daily struggles of those men and women who served.

The Pencil Chronicles, by Heather Westerfield

This article explores the author’s experience of learning to write and experiencing the challenges and joys of writing while incarcerated.

Excerpt: Since being incarcerated, I have been diagnosed with a personality disorder, which was completely unknown to me and causes me to appear emotionless and detached. Yet, in my writing, I am able to express emotion effortlessly allowing people to see a deeper, more intimate side of me that doesn’t usually come through in everyday conversation.

Help! I’ve Got Writer’s Block, by Maggie Smith

This article explores writer’s block, starting with the premise that “writer’s block is sometimes not about the writing itself” and is sometimes due to the desire for perfection, timing, or the fear of the process or the topic to be explored and ending with several tricks to overcome the problem.

Excerpt: The average person has 70,000 thoughts a day so trust me, you’re not out of ideas. Instead, you need to give yourself permission to explore the ideas you’re having. Carry a notebook with you for a week and jot down ten interesting things you see, hear, smell, touch, or taste daily. Write a sentence at the end of the day that incorporates those notes and imagine how they could fit into your story.

Pat Conroy vs. Bo Duke: Failure Can be Good for the Soul, by Cliff Yeargin

This article explores failures of well-known authors, serving as comfort to writers that even the most successful authors have failed, along with advice about how failure can be a good thing.

Excerpt: Sometimes failure can be good for your soul AND your writing career. The big boss lady of an agency in New York City rejected my first book with this note, “When we said we were looking for new Southern writers, we meant the NEXT Pat Conroy…Not the NEXT Dukes of Hazzard.” FAILURE. Embrace it. She identified my Target Audience and my Brand…for FREE! Besides, the Dukes of Hazzard was on the air for six years and 147 episodes. And down in my neck of the woods, more people know less about Amy Tan and Mahjong and a LOT MORE about Rosco P. Coltrane and Boss Hogg.

It Takes a Village: Finding Your Writing Peers, by Sita Romero

This article explores the importance of finding writing peers to assist the writer in their writing journey.

Excerpt: If you aspire to write, all I can tell you is this: don’t wait for an excuse to find your people. Look for others who are doing what you are doing, who will lift you up and support you on your journey. I know I wouldn’t be the same writer or person without the support of my Friday writing group. I can’t imagine spending the last five years trying to birth a book into the world without the support I’ve had in the last two years with this group of writers.

Writing and Creativity Books on My Bookshelves, by Landis Wade

This article offers a glimpse into the writing shelf of one author, with writing craft and creativity books written by the likes of Stephen King, Anne Lamont, Jessica Brody, Lisa Cron, Elizabeth Gilbert, and more.

Excerpt: Writers must read to be writers. They must read books in their genre and outside their genre to see how better writers do their work. It’s also nice for a writer to have books to refer to on writing, creativity, punctuation, style and legal issues. Here are a few of mine. 

Writing a Sequel and Maybe a Series, by Paul Attaway

This article explores things that an author should think about when writing a series.

Excerpt: I researched what constitutes a series and the challenges and opportunities presented when writing one. I was intrigued. The first thing I learned is that there are different types of series. For instance, in a dynamic or serialized series, the books are not standalone books and should be read in order and plot and character arch are important. A good example of this type of series is the Hobbit series or the Godfather movie series. However, in a static or episodic book series, the stories rely upon one or more recurring characters and each book is a separate installment in their lives. A good example is a private detective series or other mystery series such as the Agatha Christie books.

Mountain Climbing and Alligator Wrestling, by Lee Zacharias

This article explores writing methods, drafts, the writing process, and what it takes to complete a lengthy writing project, starting with this anecdote: There’s a saying among photographers: “Nobody cares how many mountains you climbed or alligators you wrestled to get the picture. All that matters is the picture.” Only novices believe that if they just had this lens and that camera they could produce award-winning shots. 

Excerpt: When the book, essay, poem, or play finds its audience, you may find yourself taking questions. Because you’re a writer, not a photographer, you can talk about the mountains you scaled and beasts you battled, knowing that it wasn’t really the height of the hills or fierceness of the foes, or even how you fought them, but the fact that you did. In the end it’s not fountain pen vs. keyboard, sketchpad vs. ream of cheap copy bond, Mac vs. PC. It’s not the camera, not the lens, but the material that wouldn’t let you go, and your perseverance. You. You and only you. 

Write What You Know?, by Joel Shulkin

This article explores, once again, the question whether you should write what you know. This author explores how writing what you know is a much broader concept than one might think.

Excerpt: At its core, the advice to “write what you know” is suggesting that, if you’re searching where to start, you should use experiences and knowledge you already have. If you set out to write a book about a nuclear physicist dealing with a problem involving a nuclear power plant, you better already know a fair bit about the topic, or you’re going to be spending most of your time researching nuclear science before you even start to write the story. Why? Because readers expect your story, even if science fiction or fantasy, to have some connection to reality, which means you need to know what you’re talking about. If your protagonist tries to repair a nuclear reactor with a Phillips head screwdriver, you can bet a reader will call you out.

Squeezing the Excess Out of a Poem, by Kenneth Chamlee

This article offers practical advice for how to make your poems tight and meaningful, with a fun analogy to car camping and backpacking.

Excerpt: Think of inclusive experience in a poem like going car camping. You pack the trunk and back seat with a roomy tent, sleeping bag, a two-burner stove and gas lantern, maybe a lawn chair, a screen room, and an ice chest with raw meat and beer. Weight and space are not a big concern when you’re loading up a car. But later you want to go backpacking, now you have to streamline, reduce weight and space. You will want a lightweight tent and sleeping bag (shelter, not luxury), a compact stove and only the necessary utensils. Food choices are recalculated for nutrition and volume. You must carry only the essentials, because you and the pack frame are now the mode of transport. Think of a poem in its essence as the relative lightness and freedom of backpacking as opposed to the loaded car of experience that was packed in your garage.

Ideas for Aspiring Authors, by Brian Langhoff

This article explores the question would-be writers often ask authors: How do I write a book? This author starts with a statement that is one-part mystery and one-part simple: “You write it in a way that works for you.”

Excerpt: Be open to using a good editor and proofreader to provide feedback and make the necessary corrections that will make your novel even better.  They are a great resource for ensuring your story is the best it can be.  Even the greatest authors use these resources because there is value in a fresh set of eyes.  They are your last chance to ensure your novel is everything it can be and to ensure it will be engaging for your readers.

The Most Powerful Tool in a Writer’s Arsenal, by Tracey Buchanan

This article explores the reality of what is needed to complete the task–perseverance–with three suggestions for how to get there.

Excerpt: Perseverance is different from stubbornness. Stubborn people are determined not to change their attitudes or position on something even when a good argument is made to do so. Persevering people, on the other hand, continue in a course of action despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.

How to Write in Your Third Language, by Micki Berthelot Morency

This article explores how to speak with immigrants and how, if you are an immigrant, you can learn to write in a new language.

Excerpt: Of all the things I have lost coming to America, I have also gained a new language. I have only ever published in English. Go figure! It happened when I caught myself one day “thinking” in English. I knew then, I could also write in the new language.

My Characters, My Friends, by Leslie Hooton

This article explores the importance of characters in a novel, and how and why to get to know your characters.

Excerpt: I walk around with these people in my head all day long. I may only dictate a few words on the computer, but I write lots in my notebook that may or may not make it on the published page. I need to know my characters. And when reviewers describe my characters as “old friends that they enjoy spending time with,” I know I have created a good character. They know that person so well that they have adopted them into their fictional friend group. Characters should inhabit the page fully formed.

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