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Here are my reasons: As the author, you are too close to the material. Writing which may seem clear in your mind could be confusing to the audience. Small mistakes in grammar and poorly-worded s...
I think, the worst way to introduce a new character is starting by detailed description of her/his background and motives before the character starts acting. She was and old kind woman. Her five ...
It really depends on your story. Sometimes a conlang (constructed language) will look silly, but sometimes it's almost necessary. For instance, I'm working on a story in which alternate dimensions...
An invented language can be a tool for exposing the traits of a culture. Different languages not only sound different, but they feel different. They shape ideas differently. They are also shaped...
To a certain extent it depends on how closely entwined your reference is to the intended appreciation of the story. To take the example of a pop song: if you need to listen to the song to really ge...
I can think of two suggestions: Have the character sing or quote the verse you're referencing. If you were to have this brainwave in real life, you'd have to explain it to your friends who haven'...
All of the previous answers are good. One technique I didn't see mentioned is that the reader can infer some of the POV character's looks when the POV character compares him or herself to other pe...
This isn't really any different than any other important information you want to get across early. Here's a few thoughts: A character considering how s/he might look to others is classic and pret...
The other answers are absolutely correct about the use of action tags, but I think there's a larger issue here. You don't really want to write "just" dialogue. That would be a screenplay. Action t...
People are multi-faceted, some more than others. You would arguably assign more of this trait to your main characters, and allow very minor characters to by default adopt more of a single faceted a...
Well, first and foremost - do you believe in the character? Do you think he/she is sympathetic? If so, you're already in a good position - because you have a believable, sympathetic character, you ...
My answer is: steal a little. For example, your character needs to be a big spender, or a big gambler. If you have a friend who is impulsive in every capacity — overly generous with money, dashes...
I use Q10 a lot and find that it really helps me focus. But I'm not certain that it is all down to the fact that it is full screen. It also has keystroke sounds and a carriage return like an old st...
I don't believe that full-screen writing on a computer, which is designed expressly to allow you to multitask, helps to eliminate distraction. The problem with becoming distracted is not in seeing...
In general I find that discussions over the tools associated with writing are distractions from writing itself, in much the same way that I used to distract myself with endlessly tweaking my IDE/te...
I created one of my own because I have a windows computer and I like to program. I have a version on my work computer to help with notes and keeping a log of what I'm doing. The home copy is more p...
If you're an Office 2007, Office 2010 user, you can use Word with no Ribbon. I do this when I'm working on some creative writing. It's a combination of things. I like using Word 2010 but want to s...
I've used TextRoom and Bean (plain text mode in both) - I just typed stuff in Markdown markup, converted it to HTML, and did all of the further editing in OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice. My own theory...
Full-screen writing environments help me focus but I bounce back and forth between two specific tools depending on the eventual destination of the writing. The two I use most often are Scrivener a...
Remember the guideline about every "scene" has to contribute to the overall story you're trying to tell. Any chapter that doesn't further the overall story in some way should be cut. This means th...
Writing isn't emotional; stories are emotional. Paint isn't emotional; pictures are emotional. Notes aren't emotional; music is emotional. While some words are certainly more emotionally changed ...
An ending does not have to be happy; it has to be satisfactory. That is, it has to affirm something that the reader believes, or wants to believe, about the world. That can be something sad. It is ...
Simply the best ending: And they lived happily ever after, at least until she died of cancer, their children got crushed by a train, and the bombs at last fell in WWIII. Seriously though, I t...
In 1999, a book called The Last Ringbearer was published in Russia: it’s an account of the War of the Ring, from the losers’ perspective. It hasn’t been professionally published in the US, out of f...
TV Tropes is a good resource for looking up clichés in literature as well as other media.
