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If this were a question about usage in a technical paper or an essay, I'd suggest referring to a style manual for guidance. However, outside of formatting and punctuation rules, I don't think there...
The writers Margaret Mitchell, John Irving, Graham Greene, Mickey Spillane, Richard Peck, Edgar Allan Poe, J.K. Rowling, and Agatha Christie all famously write/wrote their endings first, according ...
Any course you have to take in order to take a subsequent course is a prerequisite. It doesn't make any difference if you take the initial course your first year, third year, or sixth year. The pre...
You could use empty brackets with a space between them. Brackets are generally used to alter a quote inline, such as fixing grammar or to add information like a name so the quoted material will wor...
I would go with the following. It is possible for God to "[desire] all people to be saved." To me, this suggests that the original quote clearly implied the word desire; a rephrasing like It ...
In this example, just move the word in question outside the quotation marks: It is possible for God to desire "all people to be saved." It's more difficult in the case that the word in questi...
Agree with "cut the Gordian knot" answers recommending you change your lead-in to the quote so you don't have to change the quote. The problem with that solution is that you can't always do it. S...
I think this may be a Heisenbug. I've linked to the wiki, but basically this is a problem that appears only when looked at too closely. I just came across this in my programming studies, and like m...
em dashes are usually used to denote an interruption or sudden change — whether in dialogue, thought or narrative — ellipses are for pauses, again in all respects. 'I just don't see why— 'I d...
I'd use ellipses for pauses, dashes are usually used for interruption. "I found this - " "That doesn't matter, look what I found!" As opposed to: "She... She's dead."
Make sure you have legal consent from everyone who's writing you are using, as it could lead to some pretty serious legal stuff. But if you have the legal consent of all the writers, you should be ...
If you've ever read Darren Shan's Demonata series you'd know that switching characters can work effectively, as he uses three different main characters who meet up at the end. So there is definitel...
George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" kills off many important characters as the story progresses, and characters you might have thought were the main protagonist or the "hero" are frequen...
Excellent question. The boundaries between different forms of derivative work are constantly being pushed and redefined. "Derivative" has come to be used mostly as an insult, but as you rightly poi...
Excellent question. It really depends on how you use each similarity. If you make it very obvious that your story has taken elements of the Harry Potter stories (-For example.) then it will be pick...
As this answer says, it's important to state your assumptions, whatever they are. Sometimes there just isn't enough data, though, and I understand your question to be about what to do in that case...
While it's possible to expand a short story into a novel (c.f. Ender's Game), what seems more common in my experience (citation needed) is for the short story to become one part of a larger novel. ...
Another good way to approach your question is to consider what a short story is in terms of substance (not just length). The definition can certainly be nebulous, since it varies from writer to wri...
I made a novel called "I Attempt to Write the Worst Novel Ever" once, and my answer to that is: Make your novel a story, but make them short stories connected by a single continuity. By this, ...
Not my mother tongue, so bear with me :) In my eyes, 'writing' consists of (at least) three areas of abilities and knowledge. The creative (what does happen in my, for instance, novel?) The st...
There are some really, really great books and blogs out there. And a lot of mediocre ones. And a lot that are self-help books about motivation and getting over "writer's block" that is really const...
There seems to be some confusion about what is being discussed here. Half of the answers are using the conventional definition of "Formal Writing", which involves the solemn and decorous applica...
My general rules, adapted from AP style: In narrative prose, use digits for 10 through 99. Use digits for 100 and above unless the number can be expressed in two words (like two thousand or f...
Typically, this is an Epistolary First Person (on wikipedia it's listed as Epistolary novel) if the narrator is presenting facts after they have happened in such a manner as to be read as a false d...
It is personification. Simile and metaphor are both comparing X to Y, but in different ways. A simile always uses "like" or "as": "The rustling of the branches was like trees whispering to each ...
