Epistolary Novels, Finding Your Theme, and the Science of Good Writing

Can letter writing teach you how to write a novel? Can your socks help you identify a theme? What do neuroscientists have to say about writing? Find the answers by checking out these links to our favorite stories from around the web this week. Have something you’d like to see us cover here? Let us know in the comment section!

Our Favorite Stories:

1. Why Writing a Book Through Letters Is Beautiful and Wild (The Guardian)
2. Theme and the Power of Socks (The Writer)
3. 6 Scientific Tips to Improve Your Writing (Futurity)

Staff Book Picks of the Week:

The Marvels (Fiction) Brian Selznick

This Week in Writing, 9/5-9/11

Do you ever worry that one day someone will invent a robot that puts you out of a job? If you happen to be a choose-your-own adventure novelist, that worry just might have become a little bit more real. Check out that story and a few other highlights from around the web this week. Have something you’d like to see us cover here? Let us know in the comment section!

This Week in Writing, 8/29-9/4

Happy Friday! Once again it’s time for our weekly roundup of stories about writing, books, and authors. Have something you’d like to see us cover here? Let us know in the comment section!

Our Favorite Stories:

1 Tips for Aspiring Writers in 12 Infographics (Ebook Friendly)

2 Writing Tips from a Supreme Court Justice (Time)

3 J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Trivia Tweets (Salon)

That’s How You Say It? 9 Words with Tricky Pronunciations

If you read a lot, you probably have an excellent vocabulary. But it also means that you may know a lot of words that you’ve only seen in writing and never heard spoken aloud. Sometimes even common words are easy to misread. Language enthusiasts have coined the term “misle” for a word that leads you to incorrect assumptions about its pronunciation.