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I've seen it more than once. It can be a bit jarring, but it can also work fine. It depends on the plot and the writer. Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising pentology: the first book is about three ...
Every protagonist wants something and is struggling to get it. Every plot point in a story consists of the protagonist's attempt to get the thing they desire and the things that frustrate that desi...
I'm reading a (proposed) novel for a friend, and they've used large chunks (as in, full paragraphs verbatim) from online sources within their text, usually sourcing from encyclopedias. The way they...
I wouldn't put too much stock in it, especially if they're a Voice-Over Actor who only appeared in a decade or so. I would take a look at his acting credits i.e. which shows he's been on and look ...
Speculative stories about God, or gods, can show up in the realm of speculative fiction, science fiction, or fantasy. Consider the following examples: Some of the stories in Wandering Stars, ed....
What genre best describes my novel about the life of a character whose entirely fictional history includes many realistically humorous interludes as well as some serious, even tragic incidents? It ...
Here's an example to consider: Peter was most dreadfully frightened; he rushed all over the garden, for he had forgotten the way back to the gate. Now you may be thinking that this example ...
I've got a book that I think is interesting and action packed - a traumatic scene begins right in the prologue, but chapter one is a bit slow while I introduce characters, the setting, and weave hi...
Are there any authors who went down in history as "masters of descriptions" (either of characters or of locations) or similar? Of course, there are many different aspects one can use to regard a w...
This is a constant struggling point of mine. Most of my settings take place in fictional worlds often inspired by various parts of human history. For instance, one of my stories is located in an A...
You are either presenting real science principles or you are writing a novel. You can't do both. You might as well say that you are presenting a symphony concert but first you are starting off with...
I have an idea I'm working on, where there's a huge backstory that I'm not sure how to deal with. In my particular case, the backstory and main story are these: The backstory begins as stereotypi...
Personally, I'd be leery of writing a book with an ending in which the good guy is betrayed, fails and dies, which is your back story. If evil prevails, then I would prefer to refer to it later. S...
When writing Fantasy, Historical Novels, or even Science Fiction - language patterns and terms are incredibly different back then (or in the future), then we have now. How can you properly convey...
Few realistic choices are that hard in themselves. What makes them hard is history. Does Spiderman save Mary Jane or a bus load of schoolkids? Easy, save the school kids. The needs of the many,...
How does one go about finding and joining a critique group for nonfiction? I'm writing two different non-fiction books: A collection of pieces written by a relative, collected and edited by me. ...
Engaging the reader's imagination, usually through building a complex world and characterization. Your plot happens the way your story describes it. Re-reading a plot usually gives nothing new to a...
I suggest we also have "The Expander" You asked for something other then "Plotters" or "Pantsers". I would venture to offer the "Expander". An author who writes notes and even entire unpublished...
I am writing a formal research paper (for a competition called National History Day), using the Chicago citation style. I am using as a source this article. I would like to quote/reference the let...
The letter is a primary source, as you already know. This is the actual artifact, the letter the young woman received from NASA. The article about the history of these events is a secondary sourc...
A is strong, B is weak, they fight and B wins because he's the good guy is indeed a boring story. There is probably more to the story, so tell it. "Rocky" is an entire movie about nothing other th...
You can certainly have an ensemble cast, and you can certainly send a team on a shared quest. Hundreds of novels and movies do exactly that. But while a team can have a shared plot, a plot is not t...
Subplots are forms of a story that are used to lead in important pieces of information for your overarching story. Think of subplots as the bricks that build your wall, (the entire arc). Subplots ...
This topic has been discussed--but please advise me on this particular test case. The title of the fiction novel is "Shorter of Breath" -- a reference to a lyric in Pink Floyd's "Time." Chapter n...
First, the KJV is most definitely not in Old English, a tongue that had not been spoken for centuries when the KJV translation was done. It is written in modern literary English. Modern English has...
