For four decades, an English professor at San Jose State University has run a fiction contest for a single opening sentence to "the worst of all possible novels." He has decided to retire the contest.

Although she hated the acrid taste and bite of the cigarette she had just lighted, the woman with tousled gray hair, narrowed eyes and a sneer of a mouth sauntered over to the tired-looking man at the ...

“She had a body that reached out and slapped my face like a five-pound ham-hock tossed from a speeding truck.” That sentence, submitted by Lawrence Person of Austin, Texas, was the Grand Prize Winner ...

If you’ve got a story to tell, tell the story. No need to dress it up in a tutu. Many moons ago, my late friend John Van Doorn strolled ‘round the newsroom flashing a $5 bill, promising it to whoever ...

All advice is suspect. I'm not suggesting you break all the so-called rules of creativity you've collected. Only that every tip can be counteracted with its opposite. And some advice is just plain bad ...

I'm not a huge fan of Stephen Pinker's psychology, but he is a solid writer, and I respect his perspective on many subjects. So when he wrote a Chronicle article on "Why Academics Stink at Writing" I ...

When it comes to recognizing good literature, you've got all kinds of prizes - the National Book Award, the Nobel, the Booker. But when it comes to recognizing truly bad writing, there's the ...