2019-10-01_Writer_s_Digest

WritersDigest.com I 5

OCTOBER 2019 | VOLUME 99 | NO. 7

EDITOR’SLETTER

The Power of Storytelling

“If my story isn’t told, it will get lost.” Th is

was part of a conversation the author Alice

Hoff man, this month’s WD interview subject,

had with a woman she met at a reading (Page

42). Th at woman had survived the Holocaust

and was afraid she wouldn’t be remembered. It

set Hoff man down the path to writing her lat-

est novel, Th e World Th at We Knew. I had the

honor of talking with her about the book, her

writing advice, and how critical it is that we tell

our stories even when it hurts.

Hello once again, dear readers. Welcome

to our October issue. Th is is our annual agents issue, in which we give you a

carefully curated list of agents who are seeking new voices and stories (Page

22). Meet the Agent columnist Kara Gebhart Uhl has pounded the pavement

and beaten the bushes to fi nd 27 agents who are all on the lookout for what

you have to write, the tales that you have to tell. She also did a fascinating

deep dive into literary fi ction with a roundtable of fi ve agents who are seeking

it (Page 32).

Storytelling matters. We hear this quite a bit these days, from content mar-

keters on Twitter to Tyrion Lannister in the series fi nale of Game of Th rones

(whatever you may have thought of it). To me, storytelling isn’t a sales tactic or

a clever plot device. Storytelling is what I and the rest of the team here at WD

live for. It’s in our bones. I suspect it’s in yours too, if you’re reading this letter.

What story do you so strongly want to tell? Th e good news I have for you

is that this issue is full of excellent advice to help you do just that—from

brand-new novelist, Beth O’Leary, interviewed by our own Cassandra Lipp

(Page 14); to fi nding the agent that’s a perfect fi t for you (Page 8); pitch-

ing whole groups of stories via anthologies (Page 38); and honing your

Hollywood hustle, if you want to see your story on the big screen (via Jeanne

Bowerman’s always-outstanding column, “Take Two,” Page 62).

You’ll notice a new column this month as well, “100 Years of Writer’s

Digest” (Page 17). WD has a major milestone coming up in 2020—our 100th

anniversary. We’re planning a year-long party to celebrate and getting it

started a little early, by going back into the wealth of wisdom we have in the

WD archives. Th is issue features the best advice Margaret Atwood gave our

readers in her 2004 WD interview.

So what story do you want to tell? How do you want to tell it? Get reading,

get writing, and get going!

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Ericka McIntyre

SENIOR EDITORS

Jeanne Veillette Bowerman,

Robert Lee Brewer, Amy Jones

ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR

Cassandra Lipp

ART DIRECTOR

Wendy Dunning

ILLUSTRATOR

Emily Iles

EDITORS-AT-LARGE

Tyler Mos s

Jessica Strawser

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Jane K. Cleland, David Corbett,

Bob Eckstein, Jane Friedman,

Steven James, Barbara Poelle,

Elizabeth Sims, Jeff Somers,

Kara Gebhart Uhl, Don Vaughan

PUBLISHER

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

WRITER’S DIGEST

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