Category: Letters From The Editor

Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing one of our very first contest winners, G.N. Boorse, on his latest project, Void Press. This small, independent press is focused on providing high-quality, personalized publishing services for authors. And while they’re not the first independent press to hit the market, they do offer a unique pricing structure and a focus on print

I think all authors have, at one point in time, wanted to be able to do a little more with their e-books. Regarding the future of e-books, the limits on formatting for some of the biggest distributors, like Amazon, have produced books that feel a little generic. Which is unfortunate, because aesthetics can add atmosphere and drama to a story.

National Poetry what? You heard right! The month of April has been dedicated to celebrating the art of poetry. An art form that has been around since before human beings put pen to paper. We all know that poetry exists. We’ve all heard a verse or two in our lifetimes, so why do we need a full month dedicated to

Remember when we talked about the most common character types in fiction? Well today we’re going to focus on dynamic characters, the characters that change over the course of a story. That change is called a character arc. Many of the best works in fiction have dynamic characters that change throughout the course of their story. Nearly everyone has heard

There are two kinds of writers in the world; the planners and the improvisers. Or at least that’s how it seems. Reality is rarely so cut and dry. In fact, even the best improvisers often start out knowing which direction they’re heading, if not their final destination. And even the best laid plans are subject to change when the need arises.

A story is nothing without the characters (even common character types) that populate it. Each of the types of characters used in fiction have ways to make us care about the events that unfold on a page. They are the ones that give breath to the written word-who take us along with them on a journey in which we can

Flash fiction, micro-fiction, the short short story, the palm-sized story, postcard fiction, nano-fiction, these are all names for a style of fiction known for it’s brevity. While traditional short stories can range anywhere from 1500 words to 30,000 words, these stories are usually limited to 1000 words or less. These pint-sized narratives are stripped of all of the fluff and

It’s go time. Time to write that perfect blog post/short story/novel that’s going to get you noticed. You’ve done all the research and you know all of the points that you want to address. This should be easy, but as you get stuck rewriting your first sentence for the 10th time, the panic starts to creep in. Your piece is

Let’s talk plot. We all know the basic concept, right? The plot is what happens in a story. Seems simple enough. However, it’s actually one of the most difficult and overlooked elements in writing. A good plot is more than a series of events that just happen; it drives the action of your story in a way that keeps your

Many writers feel that using a writing prompt is a waste of time. They lump them into the same category of the dreaded high school writing exercise, “How I Spent My Summer Vacation”. [pullquote cite=”Julia Child” type=”right”]You’ll never know everything about anything, especially about something you love.[/pullquote] Recently, I read a blog post in which the author proudly proclaimed their

Welcome to Literative’s official blog! We’re very excited about the upcoming launch of our contests page and we hope you are, too. It’s a great opportunity to create new content and be recognized for that content. You might be wondering why we decided to create a writing site designed around contests. Well, there are a couple of reasons really. The story