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This is another version of this question: Intentionally leaving out a part of the story, for a more interesting reveal? In other words, it is a how do I tell something given that I have chosen a n...
Simply think about how you learn the background of other people in real life. You get some hints from what people do, what others say about them, and from the context in which they appear. Then yo...
You know when you are going against the conventions too much when you are feeling forced to go against the conventions just for the sake of going against the conventions. The work then starts to ...
Stories are inhabited by archetypes. That does not seem to be a choice. It seems to be what the human psyche craves. One has to ask, after all, why we like stories at all. We can suggest some pra...
You need to focus on what is going on emotionally within your character. You are not correct in saying the first part of your story has no antagonist. You clearly do have an antagonist right from ...
You have to work to play against stereotypes (without using another), because readers recognize stereotypes (even if they are not part of that group) and many of us are offended at the writing, on ...
I'm facing a similar issue with the book I'm writing. As a member of more than one minority group, diversity in literature is very important to me. But at the same time, I'm very conscious of the...
In dialogue and first person narration, I think this sort of thing would be a nice addition (then again, I always hear the phrase "this sort of thing" in Dermot Morgan's voice, so I'm probably not ...
Don't know what use this information will be after the other elaborate answers but... I work at a used bookstore and these types of books (especially the old choose-your-own-adventure books) tend t...
Yes - but it's a difficult market and you might want to check out similar genres The traditional book market is likely declining in many aspects, but there are many similar types of media that are...
I use a program called yWriter6. It is developed by an author, Simon Haynes (who also happened to be a terrific programmer) and tailored to most writing needs. It can be downloaded for free. What ...
https://archivos.digital/about-archivos/ ARCHIVOS sounds like what you need. (I saw a demo about it at BaltiCon last year, and it's in my pocket as something to explore when I have brain-space ...
The New York Times ran an obituary for R.A. Montgomery, creator of the Choose Your Own Adventure book series, that referred briefly to the state of the market. Bantam Doubleday Dell, by then a ...
Well. I'm learning as I go and I haven't seen the series. But here's what that sounds like to me. You've identified rhythm and meter. Maybe these can be imagined as dialog that varies in its stacc...
In Media Res Your idea of starting right in the middle is a good one and is used by the best stories. Readers quickly become bored with stories which just tell a lot of backstory. The idea is ...
Make the character bored, not boring. Whatever the reason that you want to show how your character is bored for chapters, exactly that reason should be making the story interesting. If that doesn't...
What do you do during that time? Worldbuilding. Show us the world the character lives in. If it's different to ours, show us how it's different, and make us care about it. If the character is o...
While my knowledge of hebrew is exactly zero, my native language is also gendered and also uses the male as the "fallback" option. 10+ years ago, using the male would have been the normal and acce...
Often titles of respect are in the plural form, this works in Hebrew as well. איך מרגיש כבודו הערב? Variations on this theme are used regularly, and the male כבודו is used even when addressing a...
I don't know Hebrew or gendered languages, but if the character does know who is behind the door, then perhaps rephrase the line to not USE the pronoun: "How is it going?" "Everything alright?"...
Verify if you can use a non-gender-modifying word to reference to the person. I don't know Hebrew but in Portuguese, for example, the word "pessoa" (person) is always used in the female, doesn't m...
My understanding is that most novels (specifically in the sci-fi/ fantasy genre that I'm writing in) introduce very early in the story at least some sort of notion of an antagonist, a plot or an...
What I would personally do in this situation is a "How We Got Here" scenario. Start off towards the climax of your story, with the protagonist facing down (or preparing to face down) whatever the ...
It may feel you're overdoing it. I don't think you need to represent every facet of humanity in there, you have enough it seems already. Overdoing it may result in each character being underdevelo...
For first person narration by one of the characters, the idea that they find nothing special in what they're seeing or doing can be used as effectively as specifically mentioning it to give the rea...
