Katrin Schumann asks, what happens when, after a long time writing and editing, you once again find yourself at the beginning of an entirely new project?

Some of you have been writing for a long time, and you likely have a manuscript or two going already. You may be astonished by how long it's taking to get your writing to where you want it to be—and perhaps you're learning about the utterly transformative power of deep editing.

This month at DeadDarlings, we spoke to two graduates of the Novel Incubator program—Belle Brett and Stephanie Gayle. They told us all about their recently published novels and the craft lessons from class and life that they applied to their books.

Belle Brett’s debut novel, Gina in the Floating World follows twenty-something American expatriate Dorothy Falwell’s unplanned reinvention from bank intern to bar hostess in 1980’s Tokyo. According to Kirkus Review, “Brett’s engaging and compulsively readable debut traces one woman’s erotic coming-of-age in a frank, intelligent manner… A sharply observed and unforgettable debut.”

What drew ...

Last month at DeadDarlings, we were lucky enough to speak with three authors who’ve recently had new novels released. You can read the full interviews with Jenna Blum, Julia Fine, and Rebecca Makkai on our site, but we thought it would be fun for us to share what edits they took on before publishing their latest work. 

Jenna Blum, best-selling author and Grub Instructor

Jenna Blum, a 20-year Grub Street teacher and New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us (Harcourt, 2002) and The Stormchasers (Dutton, 2010), has just published her third novel ...

Jamel Brinkley's debut collection, A Lucky Man, has garnered great praise from all corners of the literary community. According to Publishers Weekly, “the nine stories in Brinkley’s promising debut address persistent issues of race, class, and masculinity across three decades of New York City’s history.”

The traditional publishing process can be full of surprises for a first-time author. Here's what a few writers publishing in 2019 have learned since signing on the dotted line.

We make all sorts of assumptions about what it will be like to actually become published authors for the first time