writing

This Space Exploration Video Game Might Cure Writer’s Block

21 Bone-Chilling Secrets About R.L. Stine

The author who terrified (and enthralled) you as kid spills on writing, the state of horror, and his history with humor.

How Dictation Software is Changing the Way We Communicate

It makes us think before we speak.

What Does It Take to Be a Freelance Fortune Cookie Writer?

They might not be tall, dark strangers, but their stories are fascinating nonetheless.

A Chart That Diagrams Closing Sentences From Classic Novels

The closing lines of novels are grammatically different than their opening lines. Here's how.

Meet the 8-Year-Old Girl Who Started Her Own Monthly Newspaper

Hilde Lysiak's publication covers fires, fundraisers, and town hall meetings.

Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum | Public domain via Wikipedia

Hemingway's Recipe for Fillet of Lion

The author liked to hunt big game. He also liked to eat it.

A portrait of the writer Mark Twain—author of several unfinished manuscripts—circa 1900.

10 Famous Authors and Their Unfinished Manuscripts

When an author dies with their work unfinished, do we let it molder in vaults, stash it away in archives, or publish it for all the world to see—even if that’s not what the writer wanted?

15 Kurt Vonnegut Quotes About Writers and Writing

Author Kurt Vonnegut hated interviews, but when he did give them, his insights into writing were especially valuable, sage, and practical.

21 Words From David Foster Wallace's Vocabulary List

He was always on the lookout for new words, which he kept in a growing file on his computer.

10 Writing Tips From Stephen King

The Author Who Wrote in Bookstore Windows

In case of narrative emergency, break glass.

10 Facts About Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

'The Bell Jar,' which came out just one month before Sylvia Plath died by suicide at age 30, is the writer's only published novel.

The Origin Story of the Ballpoint Pen

Hungarian brothers László and György Bíró are credited with inventing the pen we still use today.

Robots Are Learning to Write Poetry

Where Did the Paperweight Come From?

Where Does the Hashtag (a.k.a. Octothorpe) Come From?

The Very Particular Details of Emily Dickinson's Funeral

It should come as no surprise that she had very specific plans she wished to be followed upon her passing.

The Story That Launched Nellie Bly’s Famed Journalism Career

Ray Bradbury's Lost Interview On Madmen, Writing, and Cars

"You write to please yourself. You write for the joy of writing."

10 Charming Facts About Jane Eyre

Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel 'Jane Eyre' was an instant hit—and many of its themes were taken from the author's real life.

11 Writers Who Started Late

Forget “under 30” or even “under 40” lists. Some of the world's most celebrated writers didn’t hit their literary stride until their mid-forties or later.