As literary magazines continue to move from print to online, it’s important to separate the chaff from the wheat. This list attempts to do that. Below are the online literary magazines that attracted my attention, boast the best names, have the most accomplished stories, showcase the work in outstanding design, and have the best chance […]
Articles about sex scenes in books usually fail in one of 3 ways. They often: The sex scenes below are literary fiction. But don’t run away! They’re really good sex and really good writing, and yes, those things can be combined. I’ll prove it to you. Just read the first couple of excerpts below and […]
These 20 love sentences are not only true, they are also beautiful. I’ve taken all of them from writers of literature, modern ones writing in the last 40 years. This is your final warning: these love sentences are powerful. Don’t blame me if you need a Costco-sized tissue box. Watching a sappy movie might make […]
The governing wisdom about writing sentences says not to repeat. Repetition is bad. Repetition is sloppy. Writers are encouraged to consult a thesaurus and change up that pesky offending word. But is this really true? Literature is full of repetition. Literary writers constantly use the literary device of repeated words. I think the only type […]
How do you pick the most beautiful sentences in literature? Are beautiful sentences full of nice turns of phrase? Or are beautiful sentences full of wisdom? Must beautiful sentences be full of risk and ambition, or can they be subtle and simple? Must beautiful sentences make you feel something? As I was combing through thousands of lovely sentences to make this […]
Hi, I’m John Fox, and as an editor I’ve helped hundreds of authors write, edit and publish their novels. If you’re planning on writing a novel, you’ve come to the right place. Let me guide you through the process. Now, you’re probably intimidated to write a novel. You should be. At least a little. They’re […]
Although we mostly focus on writing craft here at Bookfox, sometimes I talk about other subjects, like marketing your book or technology. And recently, I did a podcast about how a new technology, NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), can help writers. Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn interviewed me for her podcast, asking all kinds of […]
I often find action movies boring because I have the same criticism every time: More backstory. I want heroes and heroines and villainesses with complicated motives that are tied to experiences from their pasts. Without backstory, characters become puppets, their actions serving only the advancement of the plot and not their own growth and […]
Young Adult novels, or YA, has been spiking in popularity. According to Publisher’s Weekly, sales of Young Adult novels rose by 18.6% between 2020 and 2021 despite the pandemic. In addition to being an incredibly fun and innovative genre to write in, YA books can be easier to publish. Once published, they can be more […]
What are NFTs? NFTs are digital collectibles. If you remember collecting baseball cards when you were a kid, an NFT is a digital version of that card. You can also have art NFTs, video NFTs, music NFTs, and, of course, book NFTs. It’s just a digital file with the ownership recorded in the blockchain. NFTs […]
