Congratulations! You survived 2017. To serve your holiday time-wasting needs, here’s our most popular posts of the year. Like last year, the three winners were all on the topic of social justice. In these posts, we encourage authors to envision the world they want to see. Books will not change the world in a day, but they remain a powerful tool.
If you need a break from the long march of social justice, we’ve got plenty of craft focused posts as well. This year, our readers were particularly fond of magic and romance, two subjects that are as tricky as they are rewarding. We hope you enjoy our work as you brace for 2018.
Our Top Ten Posts
Six Signs Your Story Is Queerphobic
For better queer rep in your story, look out for these red flags.
Six Misogynistic Messages From The Orville
How MacFarlane's Star Trek parody failed its female cast.
Five Signs Your Story Is Transphobic
Five storytelling tropes that harm trans people—and what to do instead.
Five Common Romance Mistakes
Five tropes that could make your love story run aground.
How to Create an Eclectic Magic System
How to keep your folkloric magic system mysterious without making it feel random.
Five Tropes That Make a Protagonist Boring
Why your main character might make readers snooze—and how to fix it.
When Dark and Gritty Is Just Exploitation
Tragedy can make for high drama, but appropriating it from someone else can do real harm.
Seven Ways to Bring Characters Together
Seven ways to help your at-odds protagonists find common ground.
Five Magic Items That Break Their Stories
Five powerful artifacts that proved a bit too strong for their story.
Six Novels With Weak Throughlines
If a story's central problem is weak or its focus meandering, boredom ensues.
Oren Ashkenazi