If you’re wondering whether to pursue writing, we can go over some of the most common myths about publication to help you make your decision.

Have you thought of making the supporting characters in your novel the stars of their own lives? It’s the key to developing more interesting secondary characters, according to a Penguin Random House editor.

Anton Chekov was an acclaimed Russian playwright and short-story author. He was also famous for the writing concept of “Chekov’s Gun.”  Jane K. Cleland, mystery author and writing teacher, explained it as the writing principle that everything mentioned in your story must serve a purpose.

The first thing a reader of a novel wants to know is the main character, according to best-selling suspense author Hank Phillippi Ryan.  If you’re writing a novel, she said your opening page must have these four important things.

I’ve always wanted to read Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse-Five” for their popularity and critical acclaim. When I finally caught up with my to-be-read list, I read them both at the same time. They taught me three important lessons in writing.

Countless writing books, articles, and workshops tell us to avoid the deadly “info dumps” and flashbacks when writing a novel. Even if you’re writing literary fiction, remember that it’s not an excuse to meander in back story.

I met Bret Lott, the best-selling author of Jewel, during my first ever fiction-writing workshop. I chose his class because I loved Jewel. Guess who else loved it? Oprah. Lott is the first best-selling author I’ve interacted with.

Agora, an imprint of Polis Books, has acquired “Multo,” a contemporary thriller by Filipino American writer Cindy Fazzi in a two-book deal.

Dashiell Hammett’s seminal detective novel, “The Maltese Falcon,” opens with the mysterious Miss Wonderly hiring private eye Sam Spade and his partner, Miles Archer, to follow a man who eloped with her sister. It’s a classic red herring. Readers of mysteries, crime fiction, and suspense novels love red herrings, but where did the term originate?

Most fiction writers have probably written a MacGuffin without knowing it. The term, popularized by the filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, refers to something that drives the plot of a story.