How studying Comedy Improv improved my writing — and can help you, too!

How being a TV producer taught me to be a better writer.

Learn 10 ways studying the great storytellers of art history can make you a better writer.

We’ve all heard it a million times: to be a writer, you must write every day.

But in a world of jobs and kids and cooking and sleeping and shoveling snow, how are any of us supposed to find the time to sit down and write? Every day? Impossible…

I’m a novelist, so I know the feeling: You conquered your fear and started your novel. You wrote for months or maybe years. You survived the long desert known as “the middle.” You wrote your favorite parts; the parts that made you want to write the story in the first place. And then, you wrote the last sentence. Added the last period. The End.

How to improve your writing by choosing better details

I’m an art-historical novelist, so I’m very familiar with the on-going debate at the center of historical fiction: Is it the novelist’s duty to serve the HISTORY or the FICTION? Readers expect to learn something from historical fiction — to …

Writers and actors SEEM so different don’t they? But they are really very similar, both striving to “live truthfully in imaginary circumstances.” This post will help writers begin to study the craft of acting to go deeper into characters, create more compelling scenes, and take their storytelling craft to the next level.

Find a recommended Author Coach, Editor, or Web support — for writers!

Stephanie Storey hired an editor before sending her debut novel, Oil and Marble, out to publishers. Should YOU hire an editor before you send your book out into the world, too?

Bestselling author Stephanie Storey’s top 5 tips for writing a killer query letter. If you follow this advice, I can’t promise that you, too, will get your first choice agent, but I can promise that you will write a better query letter… And increase your odds of getting someone to read your manuscript.

My top 10 favorite screenwriting books that an help novelists write stronger, faster, more compelling stories.

For those of you who want to pick up a few acting tools to learn how to create better characters, write more compelling dialogue, and craft stronger scenes, here’s a list of some of my favorite acting books for you.

Often when I teach a writing workshop, my students ask for my favorite books about the craft of writing. So here’ s my odd list—a combo of books about writing prose, screenplays, and even musicals to help you find the kinds of books you want to read to improve your craft.

Now that my debut novel has hit the Los Angeles Times bestseller list and garnered glowing reviews (including from The New York Times), other writers often ask which books helped me develop my craft.