Writer's Digest March/April 2013 (PDF)

Get Personal With Your Writing

FEATURES

True Story

Your truth doesn't have to be stranger than fiction to be just as compelling. Here's how to borrow tools from fiction to pen a true-to-life memoir that reads like a page-turning novel.

by Elizabeth Sims

The Novelist's Guide to Writing What [Only] You Know

Transform personal experience into powerful fiction, and you'll tell stories like no one else can.

by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Family History Meets Memoir

If you've been researching your family's history, but aren't sure where to go from there, take heart. These 5 techniques will help you use your findings to bring your family's story (and your own) to life on the page.

by Rebecca Mcclanahan

Go Organic

Are outlines and formulas polluting your writing? Cultivate more satisfying stories by mastering these 6 secrets of writing organically.

by Steven James

The WD Interview: Emily Giffin

Emily Giffin doesn't care if you call her books chick lit, women's fiction or the second coming of Jane Austen. Her career began with Something Borrowed, but her success is for keeps.

by Tiffany Luckey

Looking Onward and Upward

The winner of the WD Self-Published Book Awards refused to let the gatekeepers of the publishing industry stand in her way,she knew her story deserved to be told.

by Marielle Murphy

WRITER'S WORKBOOK: Developing Subplots

Adding Depth To Your Story Through Subplots

by Jessica Page Morrell

Building Subplots From Multiple Viewpoints

by Donald Maass

Using Subplots To Enhance Subtext

by Larry Brooks

INKWELL

Playing Politics

Do your political opinions have a place in your fiction? Here's how to be poignant without polarizing.

by Mari Passananti

PLUS:

• 5-Minute Memoir: At the Feet of America's Oldest Working Writer
• Title Trauma
• Poetic Asides: Glosa
• Questions & Quandaries: Perplexing Pluralizations
• Rejection Letter Bingo

COLUMNS

MEET THE AGENT: Holly Bemiss, The Susan Rabiner Literary Agency

by Kara Gebhart Uhl

BREAKING IN: Debut Author Spotlight

by Chuck Sambuchino

FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK: Word Limits; “Smutty" Language; Kid Talk

by Barbara Poelle

YOUR STORY: First Things First, Contest #45

STANDOUT MARKETS: Bancroft Press; Alaska Quarterly Review; Family Circle

by Tiffany Luckey

CONFERENCE SCENE: Pennwriters; The Muse & The Marketplace; Dallas–Fort Worth Writers

by Linda Formichelli

REJECT A HIT: Great Expectations

Spoof-Rejected by Amy Marincik

PLUS:

• ONLINE EXCLUSIVES
• EDITOR'S LETTER
• CONTRIBUTORS
• READER MAIL