What Software Do Novelists Use to Write a Book?
Most novelists write in Word, and I do too. The free alternatives, when Scrivener or NovelCrafter is worth it, whether to handwrite the first draft, and which tools format a novel for print.
Category: Writing Craft (Page 3)
Artificial Intelligence“Forbidden” AI Prompts: Why Viral Prompt Lists Are Mostly Junk
Secret and forbidden ChatGPT prompt lists go viral every week. A couple of the prompts help, most are filler, and the thing that makes AI answers good is the context you give it.
MemoirsThe Fear of Being Judged for Your Memoir: My Father Told Everyone to Burn Mine
Almost every memoir writer is afraid of being judged. I mailed a 2,000-page autobiography to twelve relatives and my father told them all to burn it. Here's what I learned about writing the truth anyway.
FictionShould You Only Use “Said” in Dialogue Tags? My Rules for Tags and Adverbs
Readers skim right past dialogue tags, so use the plain ones and don't bury anything important in them. My simple rules for said, tag variety, adverbs and action beats.
Artificial IntelligenceClaude Opus 5.5: What the New Release Means for Writers
Anthropic released Claude Opus 5.5 on September 22, 2026, claiming Fable-level work at 40% less than Opus 5. The parts that matter to writers are the style-rule claim, a sharp drop in invented quotes, and one admission buried in the…
Artificial IntelligenceWhat an AI Detector Score on Your Manuscript Is Worth
An AI detector looks like a breathalyzer and works nothing like one. It measures resemblance, not residue, and careful editing is what makes honest writing fail it.
Artificial IntelligenceWhat It Costs to Fix an AI-Written Manuscript
The author thinks he is eighty percent finished. He is at page one, and somebody has to tell him. Here is what an AI-written manuscript really costs to turn into a book.
GhostwritingWhen Your Own Memoir Sounds Like Bragging
He sold six companies and told me chapter eleven reads like a highlight reel. It does. That is the premise, and the problem is almost never too much achievement.
MemoirsThe Quotation Marks That Get Authors Sued
His father said you will never amount to anything. Or did he? Memory reconstructs dialogue, it does not record it, and the quotation marks are what turn a memory into a claim.
FictionWhen Your Memoir Should Be a Novel
Every chapter is addressed to four people who will never read it. That is when I suggest we write it as a novel, change the names, and move the industry.
GhostwritingThe Clients Who Pay and Vanish
He signs, he pays, he says next week. Next week does not come. Some of these files are ten years old now and I still have them.
Artificial IntelligenceThe Work You Would Never Have Started
Every productivity claim measures the same thing. The interesting category is the work nobody ever attempted, because the alternative was not a slower version. It was nothing.