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RELIGION IN FICTION
There’s something extraordinary of how Lehane leverages Catholicism. Lehane “describes himself as a ‘literary Catholic,’ using the faith's atmospheric impact on storytelling rather than adhering to strict dogma.” – Google AI Overview. If you’ve lived around Catholic churches and attended Catholic ceremonies like I have, having grown up for a time in Brooklyn, New York, and then basically everywhere else I’ve lived, primarily in Miami, you understand what’s happening, or feel
Cully Perlman
Apr 19 min read
TWELVE GREAT SHORT STORY WRITERS YOU SHOULD READ
Like thousands of other readers and writers, the book has changed the way I think about writing. There’s just something magical about that book. It’s like when you watch a Tim Burton movie for the first time (or, frankly, any time) and compare it to anything else. There’s a story there. There are characters doing things in Saunders’s book. Each story is somewhere between a few pages and sixty pages. And the stories are all just so different than anything else out there.
Cully Perlman
Mar 1815 min read
GUEST POST: JOHN DUFRESNE COMES UP WITH NOVEL TITLES
If you’re like me, more often your title will emerge during the writing. Before it does, however, it’s a good idea to have a working title or titles as you go. A working title keeps you focused and on track—until it doesn’t. To this point, E.L. Doctorow wrote, “You’ll find a better title, and it will have a certain excitement for you; it will evoke the book, it will push you along. Eventually, you’ll have to choose another title. When you find the one that doesn’t get used u
John Dufresne
Mar 39 min read
2026 WRITING CONTESTS
If you’re looking to test the literary waters without querying literary agents, or if you’re just starting out, consider submitting your short stories and novel excerpts to literary journals and literary contests. Some offer payment in author copies while others actually pay you for your work, especially if you win or place in literary contests. Below are a good number of literary contests and journals with upcoming submission deadlines. So, polish your work and get your entr
Cully Perlman
Feb 195 min read
WRITING TIPS FOR BEGINNERS
Edit. A lot. I know, I know. I’m using “A lot” a lot. Good. It’s called repetition, and I’m doing it on purpose. Repetition is something that emphasizes. Repetition creates a rhythm. A mood. It makes you, the reader, remember what I, the writer, wants you to remember. It helps with clarity and other things we writers do in terms of the tools at our disposal.
Cully Perlman
Feb 1711 min read
BOOK REVIEW: STONE ANGELS by Helena Rho explores the sexual exploitation of Korean women and girls during the Asia-Pacific War
We’re reminded of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, when Macbeth stares at his hands out of a sense of guilt: “Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?” Macbeth asks. If you know anything about Korean culture, you know how prominent the concept of avoiding shame is, as well as how important traditional displays of respect are, especially concerning the halmeonis and hal-abeojis, the grandmothers and grandfathers, who rule over Korean families
Cully Perlman
Feb 98 min read
YOUR EVOLUTION AS A WRITER FROM BEGINNING TO FOREVER
Beginning writers are easy to spot. Often, it’ll only take a line or two for someone with experience to realize what stage of writing you’re at, and what they’ll expect to encounter as they read your short story (most writers begin writing short stories, as they are, well, short, and thus less intimidating to attack when learning how to write). I was a beginning writer many years ago, and I recently found a few of my short stories. They were better than I expected, but they w
Cully Perlman
Feb 312 min read
TOP 10 CREATIVE WRITING VIDEOS
While we lament what the world is and has been becoming for some time, not just in politics and interests, in literature and the world’s collective move away from “serious fiction,” many of us still know that no matter how much we know, we’ll never know enough. We continue learning. We continue writing. And we continue seeking out the resources that maintain our growth when it comes to the craft we love.
Cully Perlman
Jan 277 min read
How You Can Use the World Around You to Create Your Characters
One of the best ways to pick up characters is by listening to the conversations around us. When you’re at Starbuck’s with your computer, listen to the conversations the people around you are having. Are they excited? Sad? Perturbed? Perhaps angry about something that’s happening to them at work? In their lives? Between them and their significant other? If so, write down the interesting parts. Or tape the whole thing, if you don’t feel like you’re being too creepy. Look over f
Cully Perlman
Jan 136 min read
Is It Worth It to Query Literary Agents in 2026?
More and more agents are closed to queries or are only open to queries via referrals. Which means you shouldn’t waste your time querying them. They won’t likely read your query, and it’s possible you’ll just be considered a rookie or annoying. It’s like putting a no soliciting sign on your door and still having the Avon representative knocking at your door. If Avon is still a thing—I have no clue and I’m not even going to bother to Google if it is.
Cully Perlman
Jan 79 min read
CHARACTER ARCS IN FICTION
Character arcs make readers care about the characters. Readers can relate in some way to what a character is going through, and so they understand why and how a character throughout the story. No, characters don’t need to change. Anything is possible in fiction. But characters who don’t change, who have no arcs, will probably not be as interesting to your readers. These are known as flat character arcs. Flat characters may already know who they are.
Cully Perlman
Dec 29, 20255 min read
THE BEST CHRISTMAS NOVELS YOU SHOULD READ RIGHT NOW
What better time than the holidays to pick up that book you’ve been longing to read? Hopefully you can do it by the fire, in a quiet setting, maybe near the Christmas tree or the menorah or a stack of Zawadi by the kinara. Anyway, here are some holiday novels you may want to check out while you have the time for a little holiday escapism.
Cully Perlman
Dec 23, 20252 min read
FREE NOVEL MASTER CLASS WRITING RESOURCES
We figured because it's the holiday season, we'd post some free novel master class writing resources. There are a lot of templates out there that you can purchase, some online, some in Word documents, Google documents, Excel spreadsheets and so on, but I find free resources or templates you create for yourself based on your needs to be the best ones, especially since there really is no need to pay for something you don’t have to.
Cully Perlman
Dec 22, 202515 min read
How to Write First Drafts of Novels in Weeks or Months
The shortest time it took me to write a first draft of a novel is three weeks. That’s writing all day every day, including weekends. I get that way sometimes, where I have a lot to say about some topic or other, and the stars align, writing-wise. It doesn’t always happen, but when it does, it’s pretty special. It’s a magical feeling I get where I sit down, I start writing, and the writing does not stop. For anything. Not to watch a TV show or movie. Not to read. Not to do any
Cully Perlman
Dec 9, 202510 min read
NovelMasterClass’s 200th Blog Post – What Makes a Writer a Writer?
NovelMasterClass’s 200th Blog Post – What Makes a Writer a Writer? Today’s a special day. Today is NovelMasterClass’s 200th Blog Post – What Makes a Writer a Writer? It’s a milestone that’s taken just over three years to accomplish, and I’m proud of what I’ve done in that time. Today marks the two hundredth post thrown up on NovelMasterClass.com . We’ve had interviews with some great authors, professors, and nonfiction writers, and we’ve learned plenty about the craft of writ
Cully Perlman
Dec 1, 20257 min read
From Poetry to Prose: One Writer’s Journey into Middle Grades Fiction
Before I was a teacher, I’d been a newspaper reporter, and before that, I’d been a neighborhood snoop. Some of my adolescent interests involved using police scanners and CB radios. I knew things about our town and neighbors that few teenagers would have cared about: who’d been arrested, where the latest car crashes occurred, whose house burned down. This acquisition of semi-dark knowledge eventually motivated me toward journalism, where I could use writing and investigation s
John Davis Jr.
Nov 11, 20254 min read
WRITING THE BEGINNING, MIDDLE, AND END OF a NOVEL
Two days ago, I completed another full edit of a novel I’ve been working on for 23 years (yes, 23—that’s not a typo). I have a beginning I sort of like. I’ve worked on it again and again for over two decades. The beginning of my novel, which deals with the mental trauma experienced by a young boy in a small town, trauma that naturally follows him through the rest of his life, including during WWII and upon his return home, starts out with a lot of violence. Things change.
Cully Perlman
Nov 4, 20257 min read
A Letter to Writers
We live in a time when some of the greatest books every written have been “banned.” It’s a direct attack on the First Amendment under the guise of “protecting children.” Of course, this comes down from the top, and the top is a man who has had to pay a woman for having raped her. It comes from a man who calls his victims liars. A man who has created a country where if you’re not white and republican, you’re the enemy, and so he’s terrorizing anyone brown-skinned, or from othe
Cully Perlman
Nov 2, 20255 min read
IS FINDING TIME TO WRITE IMPOSSIBLE?
Finding Time to Write is up to You. We're all Busy. We all have Jobs. Ask Yourself This: Do I Really Want it? For some people, the answer is absolutely. For others, not so much. I bring this up today because someone in one of the writing groups that I’m a part of on social media made the comment that they weren’t able to start anything because they weren’t going to be able to finish it, or something to that effect. They have a full-time job (I don’t even think they have kids,
Cully Perlman
Oct 28, 20256 min read
5 Motivational Writing Tips to Get You Back to Work
So, on this beautiful Friday (it’s beautiful where I’m at and looks to be pretty nice all over the U.S., though Tropical Storm Melissa looks like it’s becoming a hurricane), I want to share 5 motivational writing tips to get you back to work.
Don’t Edit While You Write. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard this one before, and you know what it means. But it doesn’t have to be a full-on, abandon that adverb that sticks out like a sore thumb sort of “don’t edit.” Take that thing out!
Cully Perlman
Oct 24, 20255 min read
Writing is a job. It's fun. It's trying. It's hard. But if you're committed to getting published, you have to put the work in. Come to Novelmasterclass.blog to get tips, read and watch interviews and book reviews, and learn how to write.
THE LOSSES
A novel
"I've just read Cully Perlman's hefty, ambitious, and radiant debut novel, The Losses, and I was flat knocked out. This is much more than a promising first novel by an inordinately gifted writer; it is a dazzling literary achievement. Perlman is an enchanter, casting his spell with lyrical prose, evocative details, and spellbinding characters. He explores familial chaos, reckless behavior, and tragic love with poise, savvy, and tenderness. What talent, what nerve, what a wondrous and spellbinding novel."
--John Dufresne
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