The wider desk
Companion studios
The YA Desk is one room in a larger workshop. These free studios by Stewart Ferris cover the rest of the novel — time, openings, names, people, word count, and the past.
Historical fiction
The Scriptorium
A working guide to writing historical fiction so readers live in the past — and to placing the finished book where they will find it.
Writing hours
Found Time
The desk companion to How to Find Time to Be a Writer. Carve pockets out of an ordinary week and keep a first draft moving.
Word count
Quillmark
Log the day’s work, hold a daily target, and set a manuscript length that actually fits the shelf you are writing for.
Openings
The First Line
Principles, tests, and examples for the opening sentence — the promise a novel makes before the reader has agreed to stay.
Names
Nomina
Pick a character’s grain — origin, temper, element, role — and receive given names and surnames whose etymologies actually fit.
Characters
Dossier
Nine sections of lists — class, accent, desire, trauma, politics, the lie they live by. The dossier writes itself as you choose.