Weekly Roundup: The Craft and Business of Writing

Constance Hale wraps up  her New York Times series on writing with The Voice of the Storyteller.

Open Culture shares Kurt Vonnegut's Eight Tips on How to Write a Good Short Story.


In her Writers Don't Cry column, Susan J. Morris reminds us that "it's important to understand the tricks—and the traps—of first person narration."  

Morris also offers a few choice words on the powerful effect of punctuation and resisting the almost irresistible appeal of exclamation points, elipses, and em dashes.

And, Ben Yagoda explains why your editor may have been wrong to remove the comma following a sentence opening conjunction.

Children's book writer and editor Nina Hess reminds us that nerves and neuroses exist on both sides of the red pen.

Baltimore Sun editor John E. McIntyre points out the pitfalls of putting marketability before editing and answers the question of who is best equipped to tell an author she has spinach in her teeth.

—Kathy Lyon