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On top of all the above answers, I would like to add that self-identity is not the same as sexual orientation. A person may lean towards some kind of biological orientation, but the self-identity v...
The reason this is often recommended against is because by mixing them you find yourself unable to meet certain genre conventions. Fantasy readers want swords and lords, sci-fi readers want spacesh...
A lot of wonderful books combine both science-fiction and fantasy. And why not? If magic can exist in books set in the modern age or in the past, why not in books set in an otherwise realisti...
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C Clarke There's a reason that science fiction and fantasy are frequently shelved together - separating the two...
I'm of the opinion that "Don't Mix" should be seen more as a caution than a prohibition. A very useful caution, but a caution nonetheless. Hard sci-fi and pure fantasy work with very different wor...
A few lines is not a problem. What you will want to do is cite the lines. As long as they are properly attributed and not used in a way that could be damaging to the work you should be fine. IANAL
As a reader, I wouldn't think twice about that brief "break" of POV. I also don't generally analyze "what point of view is this in?" while reading. I think, if it works in the story and flows well,...
This will be a matter of opinion. My opinion is no, it is not okay. I write in 3PL myself, exclusively, and everything I write is as if the MC is seeing it. You are doing nothing but saving space,...
The main problem with gender bias in books or movies is not so much about parity or percentages, but about force. Whenever it seems forced is when things tend to go wrong and be received badly. Th...
These days, anything could "come off to somebody as somehow sexist", but I don't see a clear path from one to the other. Specifically, a story with a predominantly female cast would not, by that f...
Run on sentences are sentences without a pause. No place to take a breath. By using what might otherwise be a run on sentence as free verse poetry, you are creating those pauses. You have some c...
First, thank you for asking this question. All too often, I encounter things in the media where I desperately wish people had asked questions like this beforehand. It can be especially painful in...
I think in large part this is due to the fact that we're all the hero of our own stories, and so when we read a story about someone we adopt some of their story where it fits with our worldview. I...
Many poets pair their artwork with their prose, probably the most notable is Rupi Kaur in her bestselling poetry collection Milk and Honey. Here, here, and here are some examples of her poetry and...
Don't forget that nobody (except perhaps students on a film-making or screenplay-writing courses) ever reads screenplays, even those of classic famous movies. Write one by all means if you feel com...
Well, it may seem obvious, but you need research. From your point of view it may seem really difficult, since you didn't have any experience of schools after first grade, but don't worry. Most of ...
This is a classic problem for writers. I once heard a lecture by Isaac Asimov, a well-known science fiction writer, where he said that his first attempt at writing fiction was set in a small town, ...
This is a difficult question to answer. In my mind, it depends upon your goals in writing the story. In technical terms (if one studies the craft books on writing), it depends upon the genre of the...
Add other characters who also fit all the "not replaceable" chosen-one requirements. You could have several heirs, a highly trained merc squad, a prophecy which covers all first-born daughters conc...
A possible answer I thought of: Meet the Everyman The Everyman (or woman) is a character who's the epitome of being normal. This is played quite often in media to make the audience sympathize mor...
Time travel v. 1: Back to the Future model. In this model people can go back in time and change the past; however, they must avoid the grandfather paradox or else a "bad thing" will happen like di...
While other answers have done well in suggesting specifics, let me try to generalize a bit. Avoid narrative simplicity. And yes, this is three simple words which will cause you no end of extra wo...
If you're writing A Series of Unfortunate Events, it works. Because the purpose is to educate the reader (or allow the reader to be the one that says "I know what X means"). If you're writing a s...
Have your character tell the stories of those around her as if she were a leaf blowing in the wind. The story unfolds from her interaction with the other characters, but the focus is never on her, ...
When everyone is chosen, no-one is. Game of Thrones comes to mind. Every character seems to be important and yet they die with such frequency that you can't ever know which are important enough to...
