He got up and sat on the edge of the bedstead with his back to the window. “It’s better not to sleep at all,” he decided. There was a cold damp draught from the window, however; without getting up he drew the blanket over him and wrapped himself in it. He was not thinking of anything and did not want to think. But one image rose after another, incoherent scraps of thought without beginning or end passed through his mind. He sank into drowsiness. Perhaps the cold, or the dampness, or the dark, or the wind that howled under the window and tossed the trees roused a sort of persistent craving for the fantastic. He kept dwelling on images of flowers, he fancied a charming flower garden, a bright, warm, almost hot day, a holiday—Trinity day. A fine, sumptuous country cottage in the English taste overgrown with fragrant flowers, with flower beds going round the house; the porch, wreathed in climbers, was surrounded with beds of roses. A light, cool staircase, carpeted with rich rugs, was decorated with rare plants in china pots. He noticed particularly in the windows nosegays of tender, white, heavily fragrant narcissus bending over their bright, green, thick long stalks. He was reluctant to move away from them, but he went up the stairs and came into a large, high drawing-room and again everywhere—at the windows, the doors on to the balcony, and on the balcony itself—were flowers. The floors were strewn with freshly-cut fragrant hay, the windows were open, a fresh, cool, light air came into the room. The birds were chirruping under the window, and in the middle of the room, on a table covered with a white satin shroud, stood a coffin. The coffin was covered with white silk and edged with a thick white frill; wreaths of flowers surrounded it on all sides. Among the flowers lay a girl in a white muslin dress, with her arms crossed and pressed on her bosom, as though carved out of marble. But her loose fair hair was wet; there was a wreath of roses on her head. The stern and already rigid profile of her face looked as though chiselled of marble too, and the smile on her pale lips was full of an immense unchildish misery and sorrowful appeal. Svidrigaïlov knew that girl; there was no holy image, no burning candle beside the coffin; no sound of prayers: the girl had drowned herself. She was only fourteen, but her heart was broken. And she had destroyed herself, crushed by an insult that had appalled and amazed that childish soul, had smirched that angel purity with unmerited disgrace and torn from her a last scream of despair, unheeded and brutally disregarded, on a dark night in the cold and wet while the wind howled
The Blog
20 Facebook Groups for Writers 
Everyone tells authors that they have to promote themselves on Facebook, but nobody really wants to hear other people promote their books all the time. So the 20 Facebook groups below are not for self-promotion. They’re for community building. Maybe someone you meet in one of these groups will help you find your next writing retreat, or […]
Read More 4 Character Questionnaire Tests — Can You Pass Them? There are lots of character questionnaires out there stuffed with 200, 300, and even 400 questions. This is overkill. It’s not about how many questions you can answer, it’s about what questions you’re asking. The majority of questions on these questionnaires are filler that waste the author’s time. I mean, “How does this character view […]
Read More 43 Tremendously Funny Books (With Excerpts!) I love a good laugh and I love reading, so of course I like books that can make me laugh. I don’t simply mean books that I occasionally smile at while I read. I mean books that make me look like a crazy person in public because I keep laughing out loud. This all stemmed […]
Read More 50 Brilliant, Original Questions to ask an Author Authors are tired of getting the same questions at every interview. They’ve answered them a hundred times and will not be excited to answer them yet again. I can tell you exactly the questions writers get time and time again at every book reading and interview: Where do you get your ideas? What is your writing process […]
Read More 33 Writing Contests for Teens (Publication & Cash) In a world where J.K. Rowling’s manuscript of “Harry Potter” was rejected 12 times and Kathryn Stockett’s manuscript of “The Help” was rejected 60 times, it can be easy to become despondent about publishing your fiction, even more so for teenage writers aching to voice their thoughts to the world. However, there’s an abundance of writing competitions […]
Read More Creative Writing Prompts for Young Adult (YA) Fiction Young Adult (YA) literature has become increasingly popular over the last few years. It’s probably because “Twilight,” “Hunger Games,” “Divergent,” “The Fault in Our Stars” and a handful of other YA books have been turned into movies. I like to think that’s the case because the books were great stories. Say what you want about […]
Read More 23 Best Books on Writing Published in 2015 and 2016 As creative writers, we tend to get stuck. Whether it’s racing against the clock, summoning our inner novelist, battling our worst critic, or even putting pen to paper, we realize that sometimes we could use a helping hand. But with an endless trove of books on writing and books about writing, which one best suits your […]
Read More 10 Writing Tips from Dancers I first got into writing when I had to write a poem in the 6th grade. I had never thought much about writing before then, but I ended up getting the best reaction and the loudest applause from my classmates. You can imagine what this did for my 11 year old ego. After that I […]
Read More Advice for Recent MFA Graduates What do you do after an MFA? You drink whiskey, that’s what you do. But after you’re done with the whiskey, you read this fucking article. This is the advice that recent creative writing MFA graduates need. Sure, you can click away, or save it to read later, but God help you if you don’t […]
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