There’s no such thing as a “sure thing” when it comes to anticipating the sales of a book based on a query letter. But agents leap at the chance to represent authors who deliver well-executed, high concept manuscripts.

(How to Develop High-Concept Book Ideas to Find More Success With Your Writing)

Simply put, “high concept sells,” according to Paula Munier, senior literary agent and content strategist at Talcott Notch Literary Services, thanks to its measurable audience appeal and big-screen adaptability.

High concept queries rise to the top of agents’ slush piles—and bestseller lists—because they offer something broadly applicable but totally new or a new spin on a familiar model. In a conference presentation on the topic, Angie Hodapp of Nelson Literary Agency broke down the contents of your average agent’s slush pile:

• 85 percent of queries are quiet or derivative (e.g., a generic vampire story) or blandly situational (e.g., watch someone deal with a divorce).
• 10 percent are so outside the norm that an agent can’t imagine how to make it work.
• 5 percent are “I must read more!” They offer something completely new or a brand new take on something familiar.

Most high concept fiction is found in that 5 percent of the slush pile. “High concept ideas tend to stick in a person’s mind,” says Danielle Burby, an agent at Nelson Literary Agency. “High concept is all about big ideas, high stakes, and clear communication.”

What Exactly is High Concept?

High concept stories:

• Appeal to multiple pre-existing audiences.
• Have series potential.
• Cross genres (which gives it the opportunity for placement in bookstores on a center display).
• Display general human appeal (vs. genre-specific or formula-based appeal).

A high concept idea is based on a simple “what-if” premise that can be pitched in one to three sentences. It tends to be an original twist, adaptation, or blend of ideas that have been successful in the past. Nearly every idea has been had before, but playing with variations on what has already been done gives you a better chance of being unlike anything else out there.

The goal of a high concept pitch is to make the person you’re pitching to wonder why no one has thought of your idea before.

“I tend to think of high concept as straddling genres,” Burby says. “You have women’s fiction with a dash of thriller or horror with a literary twist or contemporary with magical realism, etc. It boils down to finding a big idea that immediately makes people sit up and take notice.”

High concept sells in Hollywood too, and it’s there that you can find some exceptional inspiration for developing high concept ideas as well as pitching your “same but different” idea.

“High concept is no substitute for mastering your craft,” writes the screenwriter, producer, and script doctor who goes by the pseudonym The Unknown Screenwriter. “It’s simply the most effective way to capture an agent, manager, or producer’s interest.”

Well-executed high concept ideas can take off, leading to the creation of subgenres based on the appeal of one or two predecessors. For example, The Matrix franchise triggered a decades-long stream of films and comics targeted at the broad range of audiences interested in gritty action, sci-fi, technothrillers, and darker superhero stories as well as sub-spins on those.

As a great example of a high concept book that performed well and has also been turned into a movie, Burby cites Bird Box by Josh Malerman. “I love using What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty as an example of a well-executed [high concept] hook,” Burby says.

(What Is (and Isn’t) High Concept Fiction, and How Do You Pitch It?)

Generating the High Concept Idea

How do you reach that wow factor that puts queries in that 5-percent portion of the slush pile?

“It has to be a big idea we haven’t seen before,” says Munier. “What publishers and producers really want is ‘the same but different.’ As in ‘just like (insert blockbuster here), only different.’” There are a few ways you can get started with your base idea and plot.

• Twist a trope. The Hannibal Lecter stories twist the serial killer trope by having Lecter—ostensibly a villain himself—aid the protagonist.
• Blend popular stories (and embrace them as comp titles when you’re pitching). Burby cites One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus, a mashup of The Breakfast Club and Pretty Little Liars.
• Put a new spin on a classic. Apocalypse Now is Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness transplanted into the Vietnam War era.
• Rip from headlines. Dry by Jarrod Shusterman and Neal Shusterman speculates about the escalation of the California drought.
• Advance a conversation generated by real-life issues and current popular fiction. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas addresses income disparity and police shootings of people of color.
• See what’s popular on shelves and the screen. Marlon James’s Black Leopard, Red Wolf leveraged the popularity of Game of Thrones.
• Think action over introspection. Most high-concept stories are plot-forward. “You need the great character and the compelling emotional arc, but the plot also needs to be high stakes and filled with twists and turns,” Burby says.
• Combine genres. Neil Gaiman’s American Gods blends drama, mystery, fantasy, and classic mythology.

Pitching the Home Run

The ability to present a high concept idea as such is another skill entirely. “High concept pitches are very appealing because they immediately tell a reader what to expect from a story,” says Burby. “This clarity is helpful for pitching to every person in the process of a book’s life (from editors to sales teams to booksellers to readers), which is vital because every person in that process hears about so many books all the time and it can be hard to grab their attention.”

One of the best ways to get an agent to understand why your high concept idea is new and where it fits into the market is to explain it in relation to what you’ve twisted to reach the idea. Try these approaches:

• “It’s a buddy cop story but with .” (“What if two diametrically opposed cops were suddenly [placed in a totally new and unexpected situation]?”)
• “It’s a teen girl’s first romance story but with .” (“What if a teen girl suddenly met [someone totally unlike anyone you would expect in a teen romance story] and they [did something totally unexpected]?”)
• Leveraging Munier’s “the same but different” principle, you can also phrase it as “X meets X,” such as: “It’s Breaking Bad meets Outlander.” (However, you should probably avoid extremely popular or ambitious titles because they’re difficult to live up to. There are exceptions, of course. George R.R. Martin pitched the Song of Ice and Fire series as “The Lord of the Rings meets the Wars of the Roses.”)
• “It’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off meets Firefly.” (This tells us that it’s funny but probably has serious themes, and likely takes place in space.)

Embrace clarity and brevity as well as the what-if premise. “I learned very quickly when I became an agent that I couldn’t sell anything I couldn’t pitch in 50 to 75 words or less,” says Munier.

(Take Two: High-Concept Ideas Make a Screenwriting Career)

Hooks & Concepts 

Note that while every high concept idea can be explained as a “what-if” question, not every book that can be explained as a “what-if” question is high concept. Every high concept idea has a hook (like the bullets above), but not every book with a hook is high concept.

Wait, what?

First of all, let’s clarify what a hook is. A hook is the story in a nutshell. For example:

• Suicidal man learns what life in his town would be like if he had never been born. (It’s a Wonderful Life)
• Jamaican bobsled team competes in the Olymics. (Cool Runnings)
• Kid becomes a space wizard to thwart an evil empire. (Star Wars)

All of these films are high concept and have a strong hook, which can be rephrased in a variety of ways.

This hypothetical hook, on the other hand, is not high concept: “It’s Romeo and Juliet with a gender swap.” For a story to be high concept, “Whatever element you twist has to impact the plot, not [just] the characters or the setting,” Hodapp says.

To impact the plot, you must return to that what-if question—the premise—and then add characters.

The mockumentary horror-comedy What We Do in the Shadows twists genres and styles with comedy and friendship, making it a powerful high concept idea. For this film, the “what-if” question could be: “What if a group of immortal vampires lived together like contemporary bachelors in New Zealand?” Then add a cast of unexpected characters, comedic antics, and boom—the highest of concepts. Multi-genre audience appeal, lots of heart for human appeal, two spin-off TV shows, and an upcoming sequel. Here’s a high concept pitch based on the premise:

Filmed in mockumentary style, this comedy film features a group of vampires who room together in New Zealand. When a visitor they intended to drink blood from unexpectedly turns into a vampire, the group struggles to adapt to the norms of modern life while the new vampire struggles to fit in.

To distinguish between a story with a strong hook that agents will love and a high-concept story, Burby uses the book Finding Fraser, which is about a fan of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander who goes to Scotland to find her own Jamie-esque true love. “This is a book that will appeal to a specific subset of people and that, as an agent, I am intrigued by because I know immediately who the audience is and how to communicate about this book with its intended audience in a way that will get them to buy it,” she says.

Although it has that strong hook and a market waiting to devour it, Finding Fraser isn’t high concept—but Outlander is. Outlander also has a strong hook: “Woman falls back in time in Scotland.” The element that completes the high concept circle is its wide audience appeal, which Gabaldon achieved by straddling multiple genres: romance, fantasy, historical fiction, and more.

So clearly high concept isn’t required to get published.

(A Hook for Every Book)

“Low concept,” so to speak, could refer to any story that is more concerned with character development and other craft elements than punchy and summarizable plots and multi-category appeal. And there is plenty of audience potential to be found there.

Literary fiction, for example, has historically focused on artful prose or experimentation with structure and character development, typically tending to be internal, experimental, and introspective.

However, contemporary literary fiction demonstrates a leaning toward high concept. Munier points to Lily King’s Euphoria, Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, and Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad as examples.

Genre fiction doesn’t have to be high concept either. There you’ll find audiences with a certain itch and genre-specific expectations that must be fulfilled—and that’s the core of what you need to get a piece of genre fiction published. Consider the persistent popularity of mystery novels that demonstrate variations on the same formula.The audience for that type of story is usually looking for a certain tone, type of character arc, etc. There are exceptions, of course, that are high concept, and they often have the power to open up new opportunities and tropes within the genre.

Memoirs typically aren’t high concept; instead, they focus on introspection, family, and personal change. But again, Munier reminds us that high concept can appear anywhere, citing the memoirs Educated by Tara Westover, The Year of Less by Cait Flanders, and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

And what about kids’ books? “Most people don’t tend to think of picture books when you think of high concept,” Burby says, “but I would say The Day the Crayons Quit is a fantastic example of a high concept picture book.”

Write Your Story

Highly sellable ideas that aren’t high concept have something strikingly groundbreaking and genre-defying about them, usually execution-based: Hodapp cites movies that offered something totally new when they arrived, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey or Pulp Fiction. One example from literature is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, where the found-document, interactive shape of the book defines what it is. These typically don’t “work” more than once without seeming derivative or overly echoic.

If your idea isn’t high concept, don’t sweat it—it’ll still be sellable if it’s strong enough. Aiming for high concept gives you a statistically great shot at getting the attention of agents, editors, and publishers, but writing the story you want to tell takes priority over chasing trends and trope-twisting just for its own sake.

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The post Mastering High Concept Ideas appeared first on Writer's Digest.

A high concept idea is based on a simple “what-if” premise that can be pitched in one to three sentences. It tends to be an original twist, adaptation, or blend of ideas that have been successful in the past. Nearly every idea has been had before, but playing with variations on what has already been done gives you a better chance of being unlike anything else out there.

The goal of a high concept pitch is to make the person you’re pitching wonder why no one has thought of your idea before.

Literary agent Danielle Burby of Nelson Literary Agency is an aficionado for high concept books. Here, she offers her best tips for whetting a pitch for a high concept book to a razor-sharp edge.

“The best way to hone your pitch is to practice it on friends and family. What are the elements that spark genuine interest rather than polite nodding? What concise description captures both character and stakes?

Keep it simple. You don’t need to pack in a lot of information. You just need to pack in the right information. Jordyn Taylor, a client of mine, is working on a historical YA called The Paper Girl of Paris (forthcoming summer 2020) and when I was putting together the announcement of the sale, I was trying my hardest to squeeze the most information possible into the smallest amount of space (character names, conflict, stakes, how people were connected etc.).

It was dense and overwhelming and it wasn’t working. Then the editor and I realized all we needed to convey was that the story is about: A girl in the present who inherits a secret apartment in Paris that has been locked since WWII and a girl in Nazi-occupied Paris who joins the French Resistance.

You get the unique setting (Paris). You get the “what if” (i.e. what if I inherited a secret apartment?). You get a sense of high stakes (WWII and French Resistance). It accomplishes everything it needs to accomplish, and by not packing in too much information, you allow the important pieces of information to breathe rather than smothering them in too much detail.”

Write better. Get published. Build your network.

Writer’s Digest Annual Conference | August 22-25 | New York City

The post How to Hone Your High Concept Pitch appeared first on Writer's Digest.

(7 Comedy Writing Techniques & How Clichés Are Used in Writing Humor)

I went to the Gotham Comedy Club to watch a friend, the extremely talented amateur standup comedian (and WD Advertising Director) Tony Carrini, perform amid a lineup of about 10 other performers. Tony performed like an absolute pro, easily getting more laughs and showing better pacing and character than the vast majority of the other comics.

But one of them understandably stole the show when he made a surprise appearance—totally unannounced and unadvertised—at the venue.

When the host announced that Jerry Seinfeld was about to take the stage, I didn’t fully register what was happening. But there he was a moment later, rattling off jokes with the ease and rhythm of, well, one of the most famous comedians of all time.

Apparently, Jerry makes a habit of spontaneously showing up at the club to test out jokes for future paid gigs. He had a couple of notecards with him, I assume with notes on the new material, but left them on the stool behind him and only glanced at them once, instead pacing the stage and engaging the crowd of about 30 attendees.

The routine was easily one of the funniest I’ve ever seen—in fact, one of the funniest I’ve seen him perform, so I’m hoping to see the set in one of his larger-scale shows soon.

But the real ace in the hole for me was the short Q&A he provided at the end of the set.

One clever audience member, themselves an aspiring comic, asked him how he comes up with his material.

(6 Tips for Successful Comedy Writing)

In response, Jerry Seinfeld himself shared a five-step rundown of his comedy writing process, which is not only useful for aspiring standup comedians, but also has broader applications for writers looking to add comedic elements to their own work.

Here’s (roughly) what he said:

Comedy Writing Tips from Jerry Seinfeld

Step 1: Start with a funny topic.

The funniest part of Jerry’s routine began when he started talking about how ridiculous it is when people console you over a death by saying, “At least he died doing something he loved.” Instead, Jerry insisted he’d rather die doing something he hated so he wouldn’t have to keep doing it—something like cleaning a row of portable toilets.

He managed to get about five jokes out of the portable toilet topic, and the whole house was howling by the end of it.

He said he came up with that particular (sub)set of jokes when he was discussing the death-consolation topic with another comic and mentioned the portable toilets in conjunction with it. His comic friend told him, “Hey, that’s a funny area. You should do more on that.” And so he did.

In other forms of writing, you can generate whole books, stories, and chapters this way. Brainstorm ideas and topics that you find interesting or funny and see where they take you—you might find a whole novel hiding in a portable toilet.

Step 2: Think of emotions and images around the funny topic to come up with more jokes.

“Think: How many jokes can you get out of a subject?” Jerry said. “Two to three is good; four to five is great; more and you’re a master.”

In the series of jokes about the horrors of portable toilets, Jerry miraculously managed to get big laughs without directly mentioning human waste. Instead, he focused on specific images and emotions around the experience of interacting with a portable toilet—the dread inspired by the hinges on the door, the way you feel inside of one, the mental scarring and lack of sleep you experience when the sight of its contents is permanently branded into your memory.

Jerry’s jokes—and really, most standup jokes—often rely on relatability (cue his iconic “What’s the deal with that?”) and surprise (as in the unexpected way he describes an ordinary experience). Thinking about the way the topic makes you feel and the visuals around it makes it more relatable and provides you with more surprising elements to work with.

(Comedy Writing Secrets: Triple the Funny)

You can also apply these tactics in other forms of writing: Relatability will draw the audience in and make them more sympathetic to your characters, while surprising circumstances and creative language keep them turning pages.

Step 3: Assemble the jokes logically and connect them.

As I mentioned before, he transitioned into the topic of portable toilets from the death-consolation topic, from which he had already drawn four or five jokes. From there, he stayed on portable toilets for about five more, each joke flowing easily into the next.

Not only that, but if one of your jokes is too similar to another, you can still use both if you arrange them right. “You can put separate similar jokes into two if you put space between them, he advised.

The first joke and the last one were fairly similar, referencing the experience of dread and mental scarring you experience inside. The second one was punchier and funnier, so he placed it at the end of the set after two less similar jokes.

You can bookend a chapter or scene with humorous elements in the same way—introduce the joke at the beginning, and hark back to it at the end to get a laugh out of your readers.

Step 4: Compress the jokes and adjust the pacing.

The most interesting part of his discussion was around pacing.

“I’m not that funny,” Jerry said, stunning the room. “So I became obsessed with the technique of standup comedy. The closer you can get the jokes together, the bigger the laughs will be. Compression is a very important aspect.”

The goal is to trigger “the roll”—that is, deliver one joke quickly after another so that the laughter builds on itself, people don’t have time to fully stop laughing, and each joke makes everyone laugh harder. This technique also keeps the audience loose and more ready to laugh at the next joke, regardless of whether it’s actually funnier than the previous one.

(18 Ways to Write Funnier Fast)

For those of us who write books, screenplays, and stories, this advice helps you think about your narrative pacing. The closer together your jokes, the funnier your scene has the potential to be.

Step 5: Test out the jokes in smaller groups.

Basically, do what Jerry did at the Gotham Comedy Club—try out jokes among a low-stakes crowd to see how they do before trying them at a larger venue. For amateur comics, that means testing out jokes with your friends and family, seeing how they react, and then trying open mic nights and amateur comedy shows.

If you write comedic stories or books, that might mean having an editor or critique group read it to offer feedback before pitching and/or publishing it.

So there you have it—comedy writing advice from one of the greatest comedians of the current (and previous century). Whether you write comedic stories or you plan on delivering standup, Jerry’s tips can help you perfect your technique, timing, and structure. Break a leg!

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If you’ve already registered, we look forward to seeing you there! If not, check out some of the highlights we’re looking forward to at the conference, and register today.

The early-bird deadline is March 26! Register now to get your best price.

1. Keynotes by Min Jin Lee and N.K. Jemisin

The incredible three-time Hugo-winning and groundbreaking (no pun intended) N.K. Jemisin will present the opening keynote at the conference. We look forward to learning from her what it takes to change the landscape (OK, pun sort of intended) of genre fiction and craft her world-building-rich Broken Earth trilogy—among her wealth of excellent short fiction.

On top of that, we were so endlessly charmed by Min Jin Lee after our recent WD Interview with her that we couldn’t help but ask her to join us at the annual conference. The multiple award-winning Pachinko author will present the closing keynote of the conference, gracing us with her clever advice and smooth wit.

2. Pre-Conference Workshop with Jordan Rosenfeld

In her pre-conference add-on session on Thursday, August 22, How to Write a Page-Turner: Mastering the Art of Tension, Jordan Rosenfeld, author of How to Write a Page-Turner (Writer’s Digest Books, 2019) and five other books on writing craft, will demonstrate the secrets of page-turning tension, strategies for building character tension and the essentials of creating plot tension. In addition, you’ll learn how to balance scene elements for maximum tension and how to build powerful images that layer in subconscious tension. Register for this special preconference workshop here.

3. Pitch Slam!

If you’ve attended before, you know that the Pitch Slam is your rare opportunity to pitch your book directly to professional agents and editors actively looking for new voices. Advocate for your book in a high-energy environment, and you might just become another Pitch Slam success story. Register for Pitch Slam here.

4. Tactical and Practical Fight Scene Workshops with Carla Hoch

Take it from someone who spent our 2018 Novel Writing Conference in rapt awe of Carla Hoch: You cannot. Miss. These. Sessions.

Carla’s workshops on writing fight scenes—which include physical demonstrations, practical explanations and gruesome discussions of how different wounds work in real life—are an unforgettable blend of experiential and informative learning, with value for writers in any medium.

5. Agent-Author Adventures with Jeff and Janet

In what may be the most staff-anticipated session on the roster, author Jeff Somers will join forces to present together on the agent-author relationship.

Jeff will discuss the role of agents in an author’s life: offering sage career advice, buying him drinks, telling him how smart he is, bailing him out of jail, telling him his writing is brilliant, helping him choose projects, mailing him checks, all while tormenting him on a near-daily basis. Meanwhile Janet Reid, who is Jeff’s agent, will reveal for the first time ever what feats of strength and magic rituals Jeff had to perform to secure representation, what she does when Jeff digs in his heels about plot twists, contract language, or wearing pants to this writing conference. You’ll get insight into her perverse pleasure in tormenting Jeff about publicity, promotion, and living in New Jersey.

6. Screenwriting and Adaptations with Jeanne Veillette Bowerman

If you caught screenwriter and ScriptMag editor Jeanne’s sessions last year, you know her insights and stage presence are unparalleled. Discover what Hollywood is looking for in a story and writer, how this complicated industry works, as well as essential techniques that grab a producer’s attention and make the execution of your story as good as the hook, all while taking the audience on an emotional ride. Plus, she’ll reveal what it takes to get your book adapted for the screen.

7. Engaging Wisdom from Steven James

Get twisted with the masterful Steven James, who presented last year’s enthralling and hilarious preconference workshops. He’ll present two sessions: one full of craft wisdom about plot twists, covering how to develop endings that leave your readers stunned, thrilled, and panting for more; and the other on how to actually become more like Steven himself! In a unique and all-new session, he’ll teach you how to shape talks and speeches that are gripping, attention-getting, and make an impact, and help you develop storytelling skills such as voice, gesture, and pacing while you learn how to sharpen the skills you already have.

Register for WDC19 today! We can’t wait to see you there.

The post 7 Experiences to Look Forward to at the 2019 Writer’s Digest Conference appeared first on Writer's Digest.

To the uninitiated, Reddit can seem like the Wild West of the web—and that’s not entirely inaccurate. But “the front page of the internet” is also a wealth of information, knowledge, resources, inspiration and so much more. Part anonymous message board platform, part social news and media aggregator, Reddit has more than 520 million regular monthly visitors and more than 1.2 million active subreddits, or categorized message boards that you can subscribe to in order to make popular submissions appear on your “front page” when you visit Reddit.com or the mobile app. The most common subreddits include /r/aww for cute critters, /r/pics for neat photos, and /r/askreddit for posing social questions to the community—but really, there’s one for everything. And I mean everything, including one dedicated entirely to photos of bread stapled to trees, but also including several excellent writing subreddits that provide critiques, craft and publishing advice, ideas and prompts, and more.

I’ve been participating on the site for more than six years, including maintaining a fairly active presence on several of these writing subreddits while lurking on others, so I thought I’d supplement my 101 Best Websites for Writers feature in the May/June 2019 issue with a guide to the many Reddit destinations where writers can find useful information and resources.

First thing to know: Reddit is anonymous and very, very public. Don’t post personal details unless you want the whole world knowing them. Plus it’s usually against the rules.

Speaking of, be sure to read and follow the rules of the subreddits you visit, or you’ll risk your post being deleted—or even having your account banned.

Also, especially in the writing subs, Redditors don’t pull any punches with criticism, and the communities include basically every demographic in the world (with a tilt in favor of millennial men), so steel your heart and mind before engaging or posting questions, images or written work. Upvote content you enjoy and engage with other users’ posts to encourage activity and community in each sub.

Reddit for Writers: 44 Writing Subreddits to Explore

General

Below are the two general writing subreddits—the differences lie in the size, personality, and attitudes you’ll encounter in each one. The first is the largest subreddit and community dedicated to writing, but the latter is more typically open to critiques and has more flexible rules around what you’re allowed to post.

• Writing (/r/writing)
• Writers (/r/writers)

Critique & Community

• DestructiveReaders (/r/destructivereaders): “DestructiveReaders isn’t about writers being nice to writers; it’s about readers being honest with writers. We deconstruct writing to construct better writers.” Remember when I said that Reddit isn’t for the faint of heart? That’s especially accurate in this writing critique subreddit.
• WritersGroup (/r/writersgroup): Visit this community for constructive and thoughtful peer-review of your written work. While this group is helpful and has a decent amount of subscribers, it’s not terribly active.
• NaNoWriMo (/r/nanowrimo): A community dedicated to support and advice during National Novel Writing Month.

Publication Advice

• PubTips (/r/pubtips): Started by user MNBrian, who works for a literary agency and also runs the Habits & Traits newsletter, this polished subreddit features wisdom from a variety of publishing experts and allows you to post your query letter for easy community critique.
• SelfPublish (/r/selfpublish): This extremely helpful subreddit is a place “for writers to discuss the process of self-publishing, share experiences in the ‘industry,’ and read up on self-publishing news.”
• Publishing (/r/publishing): This reasonably active community is great for “talking about publishing—the industry, the future, trends, and ideas.”

Genres, Forms, and Age Categories

• Poetry (/r/poetry): This supportive community of over 300,000 writers is dedicated to all things poetry, including advice on submitting poetry for publication, discussing poetic devices and forms, and appreciating great poetry. Its sister subreddit PoetryOC (/r/poetryoc) is a great place to share your original poetry and also has a sizeable following.
• Screenwriting (/r/screenwriting): This large and versatile community offers excellent resources and a sense of community for screenwriters—and writers of all kinds, for that matter—including advice from flagged experts who participate regularly.
• Fiction (/r/fiction): This group is for writers and readers and can be a great place to look for ideas and casual feedback. It’s accessible to a broad range of writers, from those who casually pen short online fiction to traditionally published work.
• Fantasy (/r/fantasy): With almost 600,000 subscribers currently, this subreddit is “the internet’s largest discussion forum for the greater Speculative Fiction genre,” featuring “respectful dialogue related to speculative fiction in literature, games, film, and the wider world.” Great for writers and readers.
• Mystery (/r/mystery): This sub is for readers and writers, but it’s a great place to discuss the genre across the board, and the community provides writing help as well.
• EroticAuthors (/r/eroticauthors): Do your tales get steamy? This subreddit—which, in case it wasn’t obvious, can be NSFW topically—encourages discussion of the craft and business of publishing erotic works. It’s especially valuable for self-publishing advice.
• WritersOfHorror (/r/writersofhorror): In this active community, submit your horror-genre stories and scenes for critique, ask for advice from the community, or share interesting finds related to the genre.
• NoSleep (/r/nosleep): I’m not a horror writer and, generally speaking, it’s not my favorite genre, but NoSleep is one of my favorite subreddits in general. The content, short horror stories, is created by amateur and professional horror writers, and readers who enjoy the content populate the comment sections and upvote their favorite stories (with trophies for the best stories awarded monthly and annually). Here’s the fun part, though: The community comments and responds to stories as if they are 100% real. The immersion is thrilling.
• Songwriting (/r/songwriting): This sub is a helpful place for songwriters to find feedback, offering advice, and generally discussing the songwriting process.
• SciFiWriters (/r/scifiwriting): This community of speculative fiction and science fiction writers is a wealth of discussion, critique, and inspiration for those whose work falls under these genres.
• YAwriters (/r/yawriters): Discuss your young adult WIP, including “titles, characters, plots, themes, settings, critiques, and any information pertinent to authors and genre.”
• Journaling (/r/journaling): This is more of a hobbyist’s subreddit, but its visual theme is aesthetically polished, it’s active, and it offers a fantastic place to work on mindful journaling that can help you improve your writing habits and apply them to other projects. Plus, some of the art here provides great eye candy for those of us whose writing notebooks are equal part doodles.
• Comicbooks (/r/comicbooks): For comic book writers, readers, artists, and appreciators.
• Nonfiction (/r/nonfiction): “A place for non-fiction writers, agents, publishers and editors to discuss their craft and industry.” (Note: This subreddit is very small and not very active.)

Freelance & Article Writing

• FreelanceWriters (/r/freelancewriters): This laid-back subreddit invites participants to share experiences, ask questions and seek feedback—plus all the fun of complaining about clients and the freelance life.
• Journalism (/r/journalism): This active sub is a great resource for keeping tabs on the world of professional journalism.
• TechnicalWriting (/r/technicalwriting): Ever wanted to get into technical writing? Fun fact: It pays a lot better than many other writing practices if you have the right certifications and experience. Learn about it in this sub, from breaking into deep info for pros.

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Prompts

• WritingPrompts (/r/writingprompts): With over 13.3 million subscribers, this subreddit—which was featured in our 101 Best Websites for Writers roundup in 2019—is the place to flex your creative writing muscles. Find years worth of prompts, respond to the latest ones and get feedback on your work from eager readers.
• ScreenwritingPrompts (/r/screenwritingprompts): This small community allows screenwriters to find prompts tailored to their craft.

Inspiration, Motivation, Commiseration, and Fun

• JustWriterThings (/r/justwriterthings): The best place to post and read your favorite crappy but relatable memes about the writing life.
• KeepWriting (/r/keepwriting): Pure writing motivation from an active group. “A subreddit dedicated to helping writers improve their craft and fuel their creativity. Whether you’re looking to get feedback on an idea, hear a critique, or get unstuck in a story, this is the right place.”
• Comics (/r/comics): This one is mostly just for fun, but find relatable webcomics to keep you going—or, you know, distract yourself from writing. Or, if you’re a comic writer yourself, post your own!
• GetMotivated (/r/getmotivated): Motivational memes. Think Shia Laboeuf yelling at you or Terry Crews reminding you to eat your yogurt.

Tools & Information

• Worldbuilding (/r/worldbuilding): Even if I weren’t a writer, I would subscribe to this subreddit. A lot of what you find is artwork, but some of the participants are extremely talented and can teach you more than a thing or two about bringing your imaginary world to life on the page.
• Etymology (/r/etymology): I’m extremely active on the subreddit (sharing some of the Useless Etymology insights), so this is a bit of a plug for one of my favorite internet diversions. But seriously, learning about word histories and how languages are developed can not only help you polish your writing in general—it can also help you apply the same principles to naming characters and locations, developing fictional languages, and more.
• ConLangs (/r/conlangs): This subreddit just generally fascinating, but it’s quite active and incredible for writers who need to build languages for their stories. It’s “focused on the discussion of constructed languages (conlangs), tools and activities to aid you in the construction of your own conlang, and creating a community environment where we can all enjoy conlanging together.”
• TodayILearned (/r/todayilearned): This sub is interesting for anyone, but personally I find it to be a great mine for story starters and detail building. You can find facts about history, science, language and so much more.
• Psychology (/r/psychology): Get to know your brain—and everyone else’s, including your characters’! This active subreddit will help you dive into the inner workings of any mind.
• AskMeAnything (/r/iama): Can’t interview a famous person for an article or book? Not to worry—odds are they’ve done an AMA before. Search the archives of the subreddit for interesting community Q&As with figures including Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Edward Snowden, Dr. Jane Goodall, Buzz Aldrin, and even the Cookie Monster.

Research & Experts

• AskHistorians (/r/askhistorians): Got a question about the time period your book is set in? Look no further. AskHistorians has verified experts waiting to respond to your every query. Plus, check the archives for some seriously fascinating inspiration.
• AskScience (/r/askscientists): Same idea—use this resource to get all your science facts straight. The community’s experts include physicists, astronomers, mathematicians, medical doctors, biologists, neuroscientists, and more. Both this sub and AskHistorians have strict rules about sourcing information, so you can be sure you’re getting correct details.
• AskScienceFiction (/r/asksciencefiction): So maybe AskScience can’t answer your oddly specific question about what happens when you transport Jello to a fictional planet ruled by bees who breathe helium. AskScienceFiction has your back.
• NoStupidQuestions (/r/nostupidquestions): Like Mastercard, for everything else there’s NoStupidQuestions. Also the archives are a wealth of story ideas. (See “How do you repair relations with crows?“)

Books & Reading

• SuggestMeABook (/r/suggestmeabook) and Book Suggestions (/r/booksuggestions) — These are both great if you’re looking for your next read, but they can also be a clever tool for coming up with comp titles. Hint: Describe your book as if it’s one you’re looking for and the community will recommend similar ones. Instant comp title recs!
• Books (/r/books): Reddit’s book club. (No seriously, they have their own book club you can join. And it’s huge.) Talk about books you’ve read!
• Literature (/r/literature): Like Books but with a focus on “deeper discussions of plays, poetry, short stories, and novels.” Especially great if you’re into literary criticism, history and theory.

This is far from a comprehensive list of subreddits for writers, but it’ll certainly get you started. If you didn’t see your genre or form here, try searching for it—you’ll likely discover a subreddit full of your tribe waiting to engage with you and help you succeed.

Click to continue.

The post Reddit for Writers: 47 Writing Subreddits to Explore appeared first on Writer's Digest.

These mobile apps for writers, compiled by myself and the brilliant Cassandra Lipp, represent some of the best tools you can use on your mobile device for productivity, writing inspiration, community, and more.

11 Free (or Mostly Free) Mobile Apps for Writers

1. Werdsmith (werdsmith.com)

Werdsmith is a free mobile app that “turns your iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch into a portable writing studio, so you can write any time, any place.” You can categorize ideas and projects, track word counts and writing time, and formulate novels, screenplays, poems, and more. Some users have complained of crashing after word counts get into novel-lengths, but the majority of reviews are extremely positive, and the Werdsmith team is good about responding to issues and bugs.

2. Agent Obvious (agentobvious.tumblr.com)

Agent Obvious gives you access to a searchable database of over 500 tips from literary agent Laurie Abkemeier in your pocket. New tips are added each week. The app was developed based on Abkemeier’s Twitter feed, “Agent Obvious Tip of the Day.”

3. Hanx Writer (hanxwriter.com)

America’s father Tom Hanks produced Hanx Writer, which turns your cellphone into a typewriter, complete with clacks and dings. Users can cut, paste and share documents as well as turn off the option to delete text, like a real typewriter. It’s the actor’s tribute to an era when words on paper made lasting impressions.

4. Coffitivity (coffitivity.com)

Coffitivity recreates the noise of a busy coffee shop for those that need background noise in order to get their best work done.

5. Cold Turkey (getcoldturkey.com)

If the self-control to not touch social media or other distracting websites during your writing time isn’t one of your strengths, that’s OK. Use Cold Turkey to block out certain websites during this scheduled time, or turn it on any time you wish.

6. Coggle (coggle.it)

Planning out books, especially sci-fi and fantasy books, is easier with story maps. Use Coggle to create and edit a color-coded story map. The app has paid options, but the free is great for experimentation and occasional use.

7. Bear (bear.app)

Bear is an iOs app that allows writers to draft prose and create notes and to-do lists with flair—and keep them organized in one place. Add hashtags, links, and emojis to your notes, or create sketches with your fingertips. Free access comes with plenty of great features, or upgrade to get more.

8. Google Keyboard (get it here)

While this isn’t strictly meant to be a dictation app, its connection to the Google Suite makes the best free dictation app we’ve been able to find. It has a wide variety of options and voice commands that make it flexible and easy to send and backup text—and even add images during dictation.

9. Grammarly Keyboard (details here)

Add Grammarly Keyboard to your smartphone or tablet and have the app automatically check anything you write for spelling and grammar mistakes. The autocorrect feature is particularly helpful for text messages, emails, and social media posts.

10. Flora – Focus Habit Tracker (flora.appfinca.com)

Flora provides positive affirmation for achieving your goal of staying distraction-free. Set a timer for how long you would like to focus on a goal, and flora will plant a digital tree. Check in that you have achieved your goal, and the tree will grow. Leave the app to peruse another site, and the tree will die. Categorize your goals to track how much time you spend on each item, such as research, writing, and editing. Achieve your goals regularly in order to maintain a garden.

11. Tap (taptaptap.co)

Tap by Wattpad allows you to read and tell stories that play out through one text message at a time. If you’d like to know what happens next, simply keep tapping. Authors can also add other interactive elements such as images, video and multiple-choice options. While taps are limited under the free version, a premium subscription allows unlimited taps.

Honorable Mention: Lists for Writers (thinkamingo.com/lists-for-writers)

Lists for Writers is exactly what it sounds like: This app compiles a variety of lists—including lists of names, character traits, plot lines, occupations, obsessions, action verbs, and more—to help writers and students come up with brainstorming ideas. It didn’t make our main list because it costs $2.99, but I have found it to be useful and worth the price.

Discover more digital resources for writers in our May/June 2019 issue! Catch it on newsstands or subscribe today.

The post App Happy: 11 Free (or Mostly Free) Mobile Apps for Writers appeared first on Writer's Digest.

Writing Prompt: Trash Tales

Take a walk around the block near your home or work, and note the pieces of litter and discarded items you find along the way. Write a story or a scene based on the items you see lying around.

Post your response (500 words or fewer) in the comments below.

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About Nicole

Nicole Bezanson is a junior agent with Metamorphosis Literary Agency, having honed her skills for writing and editing through a wide variety of educational programs. She received her BA in Sociology with a double minor in Anthropology and Environmental Science from Saint Mary’s University in 2010, her paralegal diploma with honours in 2011, and between 2013 and present has completed courses and certificate programs in transcription, cultural competence, technical writing, management, and communications. She most recently finished her agency internship with Metamorphosis in November of 2018 and in addition to working as a literary agent and writing contemporary young adult fiction, Nicole is also a technical writer for a global manufacturer of CPAP masks, machines, and other products that manage sleep-disordered breathing.

When she isn’t busy updating her manuscript portfolio or responding to queries, she can usually be found reading, horseback riding, or pursuing her new hobby of learning to cook. She and her husband share their home in Eastern Canada with a collection of disabled cats and a lifetime’s worth of books.

What She’s Seeking

Middle grade and young adult fiction in all forms and genres, new adult / college-aged novels, and adult contemporary, romance, horror, and psychological thrillers. Manuscripts featuring animal appearances are always appreciated, cats and horses in particular, as are stories taking place in Canada or ‘up north’. Nicole loves to read about small towns, cowboys, social and mental health issues, protagonists with pets, and romantic and mysterious subplots, but is not a great fit for historical fiction, non-fiction, or memoirs at this time. She requests to only be forwarded fantasy novels focusing on mythical creatures – mermaids, unicorns, centaurs, and the like.

How to Query

• Submit queries at http://QueryMe.Online/nicolebezanson
• Or email her at: nBezanson (at) metamorphosisliteraryagency (dot) com

Click to continue.

The post New Literary Agent Alert: Nicole Bezanson of Metamorphosis Literary Agency appeared first on Writer's Digest.

Complete the following sentence and write a scene or story that begins with it:

“It’s strange to think that I never would have known about ____________ if I hadn’t taken that left turn.”

Join us for our 5th Annual Thriller & Mystery Virtual Conference, with live presentations by: Paula Munier, Gar Anthony Haywood, Naomi Hirahara, Hank Phillippi Ryan, James Scott Bell, Larry Brooks, and Jane K. Cleland! Register now.

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Writing Prompt: Shine

You’re lying on your back in a soft carpet of early spring grass, watching familiar constellations drift across a clear night sky. Suddenly, you notice a particularly bright one among the others… and you’re quite sure it wasn’t there last night.

Have you written something amazing? Submit your best work to the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition:

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