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Low vs High Fantasy: A sliding definition Humans love to makeup labels and group things, but some [many? Most?] subjects don't actually play as nice as we might like the deeper we dive into them. ...
It can often help to clearly separate who you're talking about. If you have different genders in conversation, it's easier, but you'll just have to find another separator for other situations. Like...
Added to the TODO list. Would it be better to mark these questions as being meta questions, or to exclude them from the list altogether? 2019-12-13@20:31: This has now been completed thanks to ...
You just need to get a better grasp on when using context is enough and when it isn't. Quoting from your examples: "There isn't much we can do unless you tell us why you were there." The cop ...
I believe low fantasy can encompass stories which have no magic. In some examples I've seen of low fantasy there is no magic but the setting in which it takes place is an entirely fictional worl...
I endorse Evil Sparrow's answer. If, however you must lead with the old man for some reason, you can return from the room back to him with a paragraph break. Paragraph breaks are (small) disconti...
You need a motivation, insanity is not a motivation. What you are proposing will break the suspension of disbelief. Does the character think it is funny? Do they have a grudge and just want to pas...
It's generally fine for minor characters to be shallow, especially if their impact on a scene is minimal, and putting more effort into your main characters than your side characters is perfectly no...
There is also a genre called "Science Fantasy", also "Hard Fantasy" (borrowing from "Hard Science Fiction", which doesn't break any laws of physics) and of course just plain "Science Fiction". The...
This issue has been fixed with the last deploy after I submitted a pull request.
I just joined, so I'm a bit late to the party, and to begin with I wasn't exactly a particularly prominent SE user. I'd just like to quietly express interest in the idea of also importing vote info...
There are three types of conflict in fiction, man vs man, man vs nature, and man vs self. Man vs man and man vs nature are not particularly interesting in themselves without the element of man vs s...
Question: Grammar mistakes. Low-level vocabulary. Are there any other tricks I can use? Answer: Yes. A. We can trust the reader. A very occasional grammar mistake goes a long way to get the ...
I believe you show, don't tell. This comes down to the design of the personalities involved. The older guy is the big problem. The boys in school can be just unaware of the law, or think (as many...
I'm reading the question with an eye toward language rather than to the actual intent or ultimate purpose of the declaration you're considering, Becky. In other words, my answer has nothing to do w...
When thinking about the story of a videogame it is important to first think about how important the story really is to your audience. Sure, a better story will in general be better, but if it's tak...
In addition to Galastel's answer, I would add the non-writing worry: People that know you, including your brother and family and possibly friends, may read your book and recognize you, themselves, ...
The general principle, which would apply in this case as much as in any other is, establish the base and describe the deltas. Don't describe anything in complete detail. Rather, call up a general i...
It is worth observing that some objects have literal structural elements. Buildings, for instance, have a network of load bearing members that allow the building to stand up, as well as countless p...
This question seems to implicitly (at least) confuse behavior and diagnosis. Behavior is how the person acts, and novels are all about behavior, no matter which narrative POV is chosen. Diagnosis i...
All that has been said here about doing research, and about the advantage of the author's omnipotence, is valuable. But there is a more basic answer as well. Don't show how the sausage is made. You...
I believe Tor has open novella submission windows. Not 100% certain, but that's who I'd check first.
"Better" is subjective. Reading popular authors will show you that adverbs are OK--and sometimes quite good--to use. For example, it would be difficult to rephrase something like They rarely spoke ...
I would find this approach highly unrealistic. For one, those reel-to-reel tape drives do not EVER record sound; they are strictly digital. I worked with them extensively in the 1970's; for a time ...
