writermag.com • The Writer | 1
FEATURES
May 2020
Contents Volu m e 133 Nu m be r 5
22
DEPARTMENTS
8 From the Front Lines
Unfamiliar waters
How to navigate some-
one else’s experience
successfully.
BY YI SHUN LAI
10 Freelance Success
You never “make it”
Here’s why I realized
that’s OK.
BY PETE CROATTO
38 Literary Spotlight
Mothers Always Write
BY MELISSA HART
40 Conference Insider
Mendocino Coast
Writers’ Conference
BY MELISSA HART
IN EVERY ISSUE
2 From the Editor
4 Take Note
42 Markets
47 Classified advertising
48 How I Write
12 10 biggest grammar
woes, solved
A guide to commas, clauses,
commonly mixed-up words, and
more, with can’t-fail tricks to keep
your writing clean.
BY TONI FITZGERALD
18 Cut the fiction flab
Four actionable ways to
tighten – and help editor-
proof – your stories.
BY RYAN G. VAN CLEAVE
22 Writing for the radio
Novels have words. Movies have
images. But radio drama – a work
of fiction produced solely for
listeners, not viewers – relies on
sound and sound alone. Here’s
how writers can successfully
use audio to tell a complete and
compelling story.
BY DEVON ELLINGTON
28 Lights! Camera! Action!
Behind the scenes of plays
and screenplays
BY KERRIE FLANAGAN
36 Eviscerating envy
Jealous thoughts invading your
brain? Show that green-eyed
monster to the door.
BY ANICA MROSE RISSI
Cover: Macrovector/Shutterstock