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Reading broadly is one of the best things a writer can do, aside from writing a lot, but reading only what you consider good writing is somewhat limiting. Books that have issues have a lot to teach...
Third person is not just a grammatical category, it is the whole angle of attack on the subject matter. Most particularly, the third person brings the protagonist into the frame (assuming, of cours...
You have understood correctly. From the Purdue Online Writing Lab: In MLA style, referring to the works of others in your text is done by using what is known as parenthetical citation. This met...
It sounds like you're describing an ensemble cast, where there are several key characters but no single main character. While the page I linked to talks about TV/movies, the same applies to writte...
We solved this by adding overview files in Markdown format into the source tree and making one small configuration change. In Doxyfile, we set GENERATE_TREEVIEW to yes. This enables the sidebar t...
While Lauren is correct about the grammatical difference, the actual impact on the reader is virtually nil. It isn't at this level that texts have impact on readers. The levels on which text chiefl...
It does not matter if the reader expects them to die or not, it matters if they care whether they die or not. Suspense is not mathematical in nature, it is moral. It is not about how likely an even...
The problem with plot armor is not false safety, but false peril. The central peril of a story is always moral, not physical. It is about what a character wants and what they are willing to do to...
Novels are about people. This is true for Christian novelists such as Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, Walker Percy, or Flannery O'Connor, just as much as it is true for novelists of no faith. When a n...
If you have "a lot" of differences among the three media, then you have three different stories coming from the same kernel of an idea. Write them in whatever order you like — for pleasure, for mon...
A movie can establish a scene very quickly based on visuals. Once a scene has been established visually, you can cut back and forth between scenes very quickly because the viewer instantly recogniz...
If you want the Big Reveal to be taken seriously, just present it as such. Make it serious. A 4th wall break cannot happen unless you specifically want it. Sure, some of your players will smirk and...
I don't know games, but comic books play with 4th wall breaking a lot -- it's part of what makes Deadpool & She-Hulk so powerful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She-Hulk#Breaking_the_fourth_wall...
This sounds like you are describing a literary device known as Deus Ex Machina (The God in the Machine). It is a device use to get an author out of a plot hole for which there is no satisfactory re...
There are names and there are brands. Lots of people have the same name and it is not reasonable to expect that no fictional character to have a name that no one else does. Brands, on the other h...
I would suggest starting with three very basic questions: What does he want. Why does he want it? Why can't he get it? If you can't give clear and consistent answers to those questions, you don...
Let's come at this from a different angle. There is a difference between the ending the reader wants and the ending that they find satisfying. An happy ending can be emotionally empty. A sad ending...
This is called your setting Setting is a very real part of any book, and especially of fantasy novels, as they take place in an unfamiliar setting, and therefore require more explanation. Setting ...
I think what's being missed here is the idea that what makes something a "perfect" world is not the same for everyone. If you want an example of a utopia, try The Wizard of Oz and the subsequent 1...
Motive. Why did the person do it? Helpers and Hinderers. People who assist in or impede the investigation. They can range from the detective's partner to evil minions to muckety-mucks on either si...
I agree - this actually needs more commas. One of my favorite resources for grammar is from a community college's website: http://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/marks/marks.htm (Well, it used to be a...
You are concerned that a document containing a recent, past date (like from last year) will make readers think your document is out of date. One way to address that is to use dates that are obviou...
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...
There are two places a novelist may find a character: inside of themselves and out in the world. The desire to write may come from many places: sometimes from a desire to "express oneself", sometim...
Other answers assume that the problem you are having is inertia, and perhaps they are right. Perhaps you just need to start writing and keep writing. But perhaps inertia is not the problem. Perha...
