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Evan Swensen

The Quiet Courage of Writing with Conviction

“Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.” With those simple words, E.B. White distilled what countless …

Evan Swensen

Why Good Dialogue Matters More Than Clever Plots

I’ve read manuscripts where the descriptions sang, the plots marched forward, yet the dialogue limped. Characters spoke like mannequins, stiff …

Evan Swensen

Surprising Secrets of Library Books

I love the smell of a library book. The musty paper, the ink softened by time, even the faint whiff …

Evan Swensen

Why Writers Must Learn to Throw Their Words Away

“The wastebasket is a writer’s best friend.” With this simple truth, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Nobel Prize winner and master storyteller, …

Evan Swensen

If You Confuse, You Lose A Publisher’s Perspective on Author Sites

The first time I heard Donald Miller say, “If you confuse, you lose,” it stopped me. I’ve spent decades working …

Evan Swensen

Meet the World’s First Author: A High Priestess from 2300 BC

When I tell people the world’s earliest known author was a woman, I usually get raised eyebrows. The fact often …

Evan Swensen

From Sickness to Clarity

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.” George Orwell spoke these …

Evan Swensen

Why Most Books Fail Before They’re Finished

I’ve been around writers long enough to recognize the same quiet frustration settling across their faces when we talk about …

Evan Swensen

How Salt Seasoned Our Words

I keep a saltshaker on my table, like most people. It’s ordinary, nothing special. Yet hidden in those small grains …

Evan Swensen

Power in Doing and Writing Well

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” Those words from Benjamin Franklin still carry weight, not because …

Carl Douglass

HOW TO WRITE WITH ACCENTS, DIALECT, SLANG, COLLOQUALISM, AND ETHNICITY

PART XVI Oceania, continued: New Zealand: How to speak British beyond England (continued), course 308 Norfolk and Pitcairn Island dialects …

Evan Swensen

AI Shift Shaking Publishing — and What Smart Authors Do Next

The rules for being discovered are changing, and not in the authors’ favor. For years, writers leaned on the quiet, …

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