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I would use commas between each component, and use "and" only if the last component is seconds. I learned way back in intermediate school that "and" is only used before fractions (so 10,247 is said...
You need to know your characters first to be able to know how they'll react to the whole situation. Is the "Agent" a kind master, or is she a cruel bitch? If she's a bitch, is it just a façade she ...
You're essentially asking if it's possible for a human being to be unbiased. The answer is no, it's not. Even in the case of professional manuscript evaluators working for total strangers, there is...
This is one of those things you can't always determine on your own. Give your finished story to several people to read and ask them to tell you if they felt like they understood how the world worke...
This will always be a matter of preference, but I'd err on the side on little exposition. As a reader, I get bored by an info dump and usually stop reading. The only exception is humour, like the H...
If I can interpret "I'm still very new" as "writing my first novel", then skip this, go back to your story and keep writing. Ignore everyone telling you anything about how to write. Because all thi...
Knowing nothing about this particular style, my impulse would be to define it on first reference in each kind of copy, and use the abbreviation after that. So the first time you use it in running ...
The character has to tailor a solution to fit a given problem, but you are not so limited. You can come up with a problem to fit a clever solution. Take some obscure thing you happen to know, tha...
Primarily, cheat by writing the story backwards. Start from the end revelation of the implicit story (the crime) and progress towards beginning, iteratively removing any simplicity. Start with the...
It depends on the style guide you are using. APA format (and I believe Chicago) specify not using TM or R in the text. I suspect that most style guides say the same. TM = trademark, which a compan...
Ten out of 66,000 words would be acceptable to me, particularly if the proofreader has only gone through it once. You always catch more on the second round because on the first you're reading for b...
You're working with a human so you'll usually be disappointed if you expect perfection. But as the author you are right to have high standards. There are proofreading techniques, such as breaking ...
Read out loud whenever you get the chance. Hearing a word spoken adds another point of reference to the word--along with seeing it, interpreting it, and, potentially, writing it--and, like hearing ...
I heartily endorse and strongly reject your key assertion. I can't picture Nabokov sitting there looking up synonyms, nor do I believe that it's a habit any aspiring writer should make heavy us...
I have wrestled with this question as well, and there was a time I didn't even know how to articulate the question (which itself exhibits the problem). The problem: You can read and hear words an...
If it's okay with Stephen King, it's okay with me. I have proofread my book no less than ten times and I still find errors. I'm not perfect and neither is anyone else. I feel confident that most...
I have to edit my own books frequently. But I publish ebooks -- which allows you to update the ebook file if you find errors. With printed stuff, you really need a second pair of eyes to find ty...
Aim for as few errors as possible. Editors and publishers may overlook the very occasional error, but not if they see five a page. Get your manuscript proofread as much as possible before you send ...
A few things I've done, with some success, with students: Supervised writing sprints: have the student write in the classroom or during office-hours for a short, intense amount of time. Whatever ...
There's a technique that can be helpful for someone imprisoned by perfectionism, but it does require a certain amount of willingness to try it: The idea is that you commit to producing a certain a...
The standard way of calculating word count, aside from simply using the "word count" feature of your word processor, is to format your document in standard submission format and then multiply the n...
It also would depend on dialogue I think. I pulled out a book last night that had 4 novels in one. Page size was around 8x10. I looked up the first novel and the original paperback had 200 pages. I...
On the flip side, let me comment that one thing I really dislike in many works of fiction is when we are told that someone is a villian, but he never actually does anything evil. To take a well-kno...
Yes you require permission from the copyright holder of the lyrics in question to reproduce them in a book. It is not treated as referenced materials. Whether you intend to profit from the book or...
It adds a little difficulty to reading and thus a little chance to screwing up. Although, especially in first-person stories it's a very common and quite nice literary tool to leave the protagoni...
