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Misdirection works better if there is something to be misdirected to. To extend the metaphor you used in your question, if you want to make people think someone is a redshirt, it helps to have an a...
Along the other valid answers, I'll suggest audiobooks. I don't hate reading, but lately I have little time to spend on a single book. Audiobooks are convenient since they allow you to enjoy a bo...
In the short passage I am writing, the starting point is that one character is being held at gunpoint, and the end point is that she now holds the gun, having disarmed the opponent. The idea is t...
Am I allowed to use art (album covers) in my book? If not what sort of permission would I have to obtain? The album covers are not in the public domain.
I think the bigger problem with your story is that it sets the wrong reader expectations. Readers come into the story not having any idea what will be payed off, except maybe some hopes of what the...
If you read names from popular novels you feel like the names define characters. They fit perfectly to the personality of character. For an e.g. Harry Potter, Robert Langdon, Jason Bourne, etc. I ...
Lots of novels go into detail about music, movies, TV shows, and other art and culture relevant during the setting of the book. Also technology. In some cases the cultural details are important...
It is perfectly fine for your story to end with the "bad guy" winning. Consider for example George Orwell's 1984: He loved Big Brother Complete and utter defeat. 1984 is one of last century's...
What came to my mind immediately is Foreshadowing Foreshadowing is the art of giving "hints" of what is about to happen in order to build tension, and a pretty common literary device. In your e...
I've been blogging for a while and I only write my thoughts and opinions on topics such as world peace, social matters, art & culture, and various other topics. I want to make a living writing ...
what are the important elements to consider, and how long should the description be, before getting on with the narration? The most important element to consider is why the reader is reading i...
As you say, they are philosophical; and they seem powerful because they seem true and momentous. I ask you, to what end? Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same. He is explaining...
Here's a thing you need to consider, a frame challenge if you will. When setting your story in the 1950s, or in the 1920s, or even in the 1800s, your characters can speak the way people spoke back...
Reading! Read for pleasure, and in the field you want to write in. Sometimes, read strategically, analyzing a paragraph/sentence/section you really like or dislike. Sometimes, try to paraphra...
In almost all the LitRPG stories I read, the start of the stories is full of system messages, +1 here and there, even damage prompts saying "Goblin hits Hero for -8 HP". Classes, skills, experience...
Neil Gaiman writes: Don't worry about trying to develop a style. Style is what you can't help doing. If you write enough, [...] you'll have a style, whether you want it or not. (Neil Gaiman, Th...
It's an entirely Western thing to not have illustrations in novels. The general consensus I found in other boards is that, "Illustrations lack maturity, thus they are only in children's to YA books...
I paid an illustrator to do the art for my picture book and I now own the artwork. Am I then allowed to submit to agents as an author/illustrator? How does this work?
I think you are not writing a story, you are writing a vignette that captures a moment; this is more akin to poetry or a painting or a song or photography, those all (aim to) capture a feeling, emo...
There are as many ways to tell a story as there are people to tell. And, how people tells stories has evolved continuously from the dawn of humanity and will continue to grow and change until the ...
No, offend alway. If every artist asked this question art would not exist. You are bound to use cliches and tropes. All cliches and tropes are based on real life stereotypes. All stereotypes are...
You are falling victim to the etymological fallacy: the false belief that the original meaning of a word is somehow its one true meaning. If you look up "necromancy" in dictionaries, you find thin...
The short answer is that you can't. Symbolism is really a property of a culture, not an individual work. Symbols are a kind of second order language, and you can no more make up symbols out of whol...
A love interest is not the only reason to risk life and limb. IRL there are many stories of people risking life and limb to save children, sometimes losing their life. In psychology there is a real...
First, TV serials are virtually impossible to end in a way that satisfies the audience. The whole dramatic structure of a TV drama militates against bringing it to a dramatically satisfying conclus...
