Writer's Digest

Characterize Through Another Character’s Eyes My father calls me a “character,” because I tend to say the first thing that pops into my head. My mother calls me “individual,” which is her polite way of not quite understanding the way I dress. —Me Before You, Jojo Moyes (Contemporary Fiction) Corinne’s 15 years younger than I am, and there’s always some emergency—a carburetor that’s dead, a fight with her boyfriend, a crash on 95N. Corinne is one of those people for whom life is just the space between crises. —Small Great Things, Jodi Picoult (Mainstream Fiction) Characterize Through Action War was declared at eleven-fifteen and Mary North signed up at noon. She did it at lunch, before telegrams came, in case her mother said no.* —Everyone Brave Is Forgiven, Chris Cleave (Historical Fiction) *BONUS: These are also the first…

Last year, I helped my cousin edit her college admissions essay. She had to write 600 words on a topic of her choosing. Aside from the fact that the prompt was so broad as to be overwhelming and meaningless, 600 words isn’t much space to explore an idea. She sent the essay to me, and I left a few comments here and there, but she’s a great writer and didn’t need much help. The essay topped out at around 625 words, and fully and clearly explained her idea. Well done, Hannah. Until she copied it into the submission portal. It was too long, and the “submit” button wouldn’t appear until the essay was shortened. So, in a Google Doc, we tweaked and fiddled with contractions, word choices, and rephrasing until miraculously it…

STEVE SHELL is an award-winning storyteller, writer, and voice actor born in the far reaches of southwest Virginia. Steve currently lives in Asheville, N.C., where he taught high school English for 16 years and was a host and main stage performer for The Moth StorySLAM from 2015–2020. Steve was a nationally ranked slam poet for a long time and does really nerdy stuff like playing in the Society for Creative Anachronism where he studies and teaches medieval bardic traditions and produces “The Knowne World Bardcast,” a podcast focused on the music and oral traditions of medieval reenactors. CAM COLLINS is a native of Wise, Va., where she cut her teeth on the creepy folklore of the region. A lover of all things that go bump in the night and a dyed-in-the-wool…

Thank you for all that you do. I know that there isn’t much you actually have to do for me but you have the biggest heart. I’m glad to have you in my life. You give me a second [of your time] and it makes me not feel as alone as I would even though we do have a tendency to argue. I’m working on stopping that so that we only have to worry about having a good time.” The author of this hand-written note is unknown, as is the recipient. It was found in a book returned to the Oakland Public Library in Oakland, Calif., likely used as a bookmark. It says so much, yet reveals so little. Who were these people? What was their relationship? Did they ever stop…

A s I speak with Toni Lepeska about her grand-prize win in the Writer’s Digest 3rd Annual Personal Essay Awards, it strikes me by the passion in her voice that this is someone who takes her writing career very seriously. She’s been a professional journalist for 30 years, and she says that her favorite stories to cover have always been about people rising above adversity. “Those stories, I think they resonate with people because we all have something that challenges us and that maybe we think we cannot beat,” she says. “Those stories can be so inspiring to people.” She recounts a particularly impactful story of a woman who had a facial tumor that led to her being permanently disfigured—but it was her optimistic attitude around her diagnosis and treatment that…

A SHORT LIST OF SHORT POETIC FORMS Since we’re keeping it short in this issue, what better time to share a short list of poetic forms that keep things short—at least in terms of lines and syllables. No rambling free verse or repetitive sestinas here. Instead, play with one of these tiny poems. The Fib This is a trick form, because this poem is often short (fewer than 10 lines), but it could theoretically go on forever. It’s a poem that follows the Fibonacci sequence for determining how many syllables are in each line. So, one syllable in the first line and the second line, followed by two syllables in the third line, three syllables in the fourth line, five syllables in the fifth line, eight syllables in the sixth line, and so…