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I think it's unusual that there would be no religion post-apocalypse. Surely some people would become more religious given massive social upheaval. I think it's fine if your main characters aren'...
A convincing story needs to acknowledge that human beings, since the origins of the species, have sought, individually and/or collectively, answers to fundamental questions about the origin of thin...
In my opinion, in a post apocalyptic world, you MUST have religions. Not one religion, but MANY religions. Every 3rd or 4th settlement should be some kind of a religious cult. Cults tend to be ...
I'd recommend against an overview. Short stories are short, and figuring out what they are and what they're doing is often a lot of the story's bulk. You want them coming in like a real reader woul...
Ask an expert. Obviously, research is an important first step. But there's only a finite amount of research you can do, and without intimate knowledge of the subject, you have no way of knowing w...
I agree with Cyn's answer. All I'd add is if you're worried about such sentences' clunkiness you can do three things: Say what the list is about before presenting the list; If this is likely to b...
You've definitely created a diverse group but I don't think that's what you meant by unique. I can't tell either way from the descriptions you've given, but the characters need to have more to the...
It actually takes very little to make a character unique It's not in the clothes, but it might be the clothes. It's not in the color or gender, but it might be the color or gender. But what do I...
So this recalls a Key & Peele sketch featuring two office workers, one who is an ordinary office worker and the other who is a flamboyant gay stereotype cranked up to 11 who believes that said ...
Get thee to a writer's group! Find yourself a group that meets in person (or by video or phone, if you must). Where you take turns reading your work out loud to each other. If that doesn't come ...
I think this is more of a stylistic choice. Personally I disagree with Galastel and would keep consistency of tense. The switch to present seems like the narrator is suddenly giving me a lecture ra...
How does one incorporate trans/nonbinary characters without making their gender the main focus? The same way you would any other character. Introduce them, and then... let the character develo...
I write LGB main characters, at least. (Nothing against TQ, just haven't had a story that needs that). My approach is to "show" not "tell". The female MC flirts with females. Or she picks up a gir...
I would recommend just leaving it completely untranslated and let the reader pick up the basic meaning from context. In this case, we only really need to know SAHU is an insult and the direct trans...
Is it alienating to readers who are white and straight to be put into the shoes of someone who is drastically dissimilar to them? Is it alienating for a modern American to read a story about m...
I don't think it's alienating, but it does press my suspension of disbelief a bit to have such a large fraction of the cast be LGBT characters. Gays are something like 3-5% of the population, with ...
I think you are fine provided that you do not bludgeon the reader with the sexual orientation of your characters. I do not mind reading about characters that happen to be gay or bisexual as part o...
Creating characters with diverse backgrounds (sexual, racial, gender, etc.) should be worked into the story if it makes sense and it should be done well. Anything else would come off as low effort....
Yes this is a great exercise. That's exactly what Stephen King advises in his audio book "On writing". He explains that, in order to improve you have to practice, but also to maintain your level a...
It kind of depends on the quality of your writing. Because if you pump out 365,000 words a year, but they aren't high quality words, then it ultimately doesn't get you closer to publishing (if that...
Two things to keep in mind. First, stereotypes exist for a reason. Pattern-matching and association are what the human brain does best, and when lots of people notice the same thing, that many ex...
It sounds like you are grappling with the finer points of opening In Medias Res - right slap bang in the action. This is a tried and tested opening move. What you will be looking to establish righ...
This question is opinion-based, as firstly, only you can know what will work best for you, and secondly, there is very little chance that anyone will agree on what it is 'best' to listen to. All we...
Get out of your own stereotypes, and stick with actual science. When any male tells me he can't write females, I think they need to break through the false stereotypes of male and female roles. T...
I would set it off into its own lines and use italics. Since it will happen multiple times, the reader will assume that it's background and characters may or may not hear what's said (or even noti...
