Search
I have been thinking about creating an imaginary world, too. In fact, I have been creating them in my mind. I have to find time to put them down in writing or at least dictate into the recording ap...
Quit bean-counting. Finish the novel and then go back and worry about whether the first act works. Methods for structuring a story are guides, not laws. The novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel...
I would say no. Not for a book. Regardless of how you are defining cliffhanger, I don't think you need an aaiiigh!! moment at the end of every single chapter. A chapter should end for a reason, bu...
In real life, conversations ramble, so it's unsurprising if your dialogues ramble as well. This is not necessarily a bad thing. In realistic literary novels, it would be unsurprising, or even expec...
Orson Scott Card answers your question precisely and eloquently in his excellent Character and Viewpoint, under the heading One Name Per Character. Go, read. For posterity, I'll summarize: Names...
I also dislike repeating "He" or "John" over and over again. I have a little rule that I use when it gets on my nerves. When I talk about a single character, then I use different variants, eg "the...
Once your document is compiled, you can go through and change the # to three returns, which is what's usually used. (The only time I see multiple asterisks is if a scene end happens to fall at the ...
I think the easiest way to signify that you've left a scene and are entering a new one is one of two things. first, you could just hit the return button a few times. most readers realize what this...
In Chicago style, "chapter" is lowercased, even if it is used as a title. (An example from the Chicago Manual of Style Q&A page: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/Capitalization/Capit...
Whoa I do not know where you learned to write, but at our book and Ebook formatter service, we use flourishes to separate subchapters in a book. Sometimes small ones some times larger ones. This is...
Well in the book IT they switch from different point of view and different time periods a lot but how Stephen King does it is he does this thing where he numbers sections in the chapter, I’m explai...
Nobody is perfect, not even proofreaders. But first, let's get some terminology straight: Copyediting is a catch-all term for editors who revise, make changes and suggestions, and so on. Of cours...
I would go with option 2. However, you do not need to manually build the structure. I instead recommend using a tool such as Tree which should handle the pretty-printing for you as below: $ tree -...
Wasabi offers two approaches to it (you can find them both here) either indented root/ # entry comments can be inline after a '#' # or on their own line, also after a '#' readme.md # a c...
About.com refers to this as the Reference Line:- http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/letters/l/bl_mblock_p.htm
I found it very helpful to use an idea collection, which allows you to prioritize your projects without having the feeling that you miss some of them. It takes one great burden of your shoulders th...
To me the structure is fine, but your POV character definitely needs an arc, and a goal, These trips should have an arc that mirrors hers. My example, off the top of my head: She may, on the firs...
This poem is one of the best ever written, for my tastes, and is worth reading. http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/stevens-13ways.html The poem has thirteen stanzas, each contributing its ...
As I see it, there are two possible ways for a character to influence others after death, but each has a number of variations. First, the character could directly influence others after death. Th...
I find it interesting and intriguing, I want to know more. However, what stroke me the most is the absence of important details. He enters the strip club, no mention about the presence or absenc...
If I'm understanding you correctly, I think what you want are case studies to demonstrate your points. So you put forth one of your arguments — "switching to the individual bucket version reduces ...
The key is to establish a strong foundation first. Someone who is resistant to change will need to see why change is necessary, how it can be accomplished easily and cheaply, and then feel the pres...
Try something like this: This quote is often attributed to Carl Sagan, but I can find little evidence to support that attribution. Regardless, I think this quote is important because...
There are two reasons why legal documents have sections in all caps. The first is that some state laws are very specific on having a certain font size (usually no smaller than...) and some method o...
I believe you should only include angles if they are actually important to the plot; not if they are "artistic." If you need to show a bee flying up Mark's nose, perhaps. But even then, aren't you ...
