Search
This question really comes down to the definition of story (and, to a certain extent, of fiction). If we take story in the broad sense of a sequential narrative and fiction in the broad sense of an...
I don't have examples of what you ask for, but in the revision: You could say that the role of "characters" is that they have choices and intents. The sun does not choose to rise, the volcano does ...
Yes, it is absolutely unprofessional. I won't say it's never effective, but that's not what you asked. Professional design avoids those devices - for several good reasons, some mentioned in other ...
Andrew Sullivan's Dish (fka The Daily Dish) is about as mixed-topic a professional blog as I can imagine, and it does staggeringly well. The core may be politics, but there are a lot of other ideas...
Complex, well-rounded characters can add a lot to a story; on the other hand, lots of good stories manage without them. What you want to avoid is characters that feel flat, unbelievable and/or cl...
If each character has enough development, I think that sounds fine, and interesting. "Ensemble" is the correct word. Would the first and last chapters star everyone? (everyone who's still alive, th...
I've got a lot to say in response to this, but I won't get around to it in the next 24 hours. Until then: The Jane Austen Book Club has a structure extremely similar to what you're describing. (...
Yes, self-doubt is part of the process. Write it, polish it as much as you can bear, and hand it off to some friends who are capable of giving you good feedback. Or find a professional editor. Par...
My first thought would be to try to find any written records or any studies done of the time period in question. There are tombs with hieroglyphics. How much has been translated? Are there any comm...
1) If piece is only printed: I would footnote it, and put the full link at the bottom or at the end, depending on your piece. That being said, I would only use such a construction for citing sourc...
In fiction, I find active voice will usually lead to a more direct connection from the characters and action to the reader. Passive voice can be useful when the writer wants to demonstrate emotiona...
By far the best way to find an agent is to go to a writer's conference and pitch to as many of the agents in attendance as you can. This not only pretty much guarantees that the agents are legit (t...
If I'm following you, it seems that the travelling itself isn't important, but that the characters have traveled is advancing the plot. You can cut out most of the actual journeying, showing the ...
I use points in the travel scenes for character development, and skip the rest with a sentence. "It was a two day walk before they got to the travel barge headed down the Black River." Then one o...
It depends on the magazine. Many publications have submission guidelines, and you might check those for what anything required in the cover letter. I found an interesting variety of requests with a...
If you're asking yourself this question, you may well have a problem, or... this could be normal writers' insecurity. Sherlock Holmes, say, was a polymath who was believable because he was an ...
There are an infinite number of plots. The claim is that there is a limited number of types of plots. This list that Aaron Digulla quotes is a list of types of plots. Being an orderly species and...
David Gerrold has always shied away from numbering chapters; he just puts in a section break and keeps writing. Of particular note are his books When HARLIE Was One, The Man Who Folded Himself and ...
Another suggestion: Today, you write for an hour, finish, close the document, walk away. Tomorrow, the first thing you do is take 15 minutes to re-read what you wrote, fix typos, correct grammar, ...
Applications: I cannot say enough good things about Scrivener, from Literature & Latte (for Mac). It's not a word-processing program, it's a writing program. You can organize notes, drag "notec...
"The man" also works. The man's job was very stressful...The man only knew his boss by one name... If you give him any other identifiers, like "tall" or "with sunglasses," that will allow you so...
On the off chance that this isn't a novel, just be consistent. Some writing (academic, non-fiction, and news, for example) is edited to a style guide, and most style guides will have a preferred wa...
Speaking as a writer, editor, and typesetter: use three dots, no spaces. The spaces are unattractive and potentially allow the line to break mid-ellipsis. As far as the "high ASCII" character, th...
I don't know about creative, but I imagine it will help strengthen your facility with the language. You will be working to re-create a thought, an image, a sound from a foreign language into Englis...
I'm just now reading the Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin, which has plenty of good swordfights and describes the mechanics pretty well. Mercedes Lackey is good at describing tactics o...
