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The plural of anecdote is not data... but speaking from my own experience, sci-fi and fantasy are just about all I read. So it doesn't matter how popular the Girl Who Kicked the Dragon Fire Tattoo ...
The English is fine, but as Janet at EL&U said, it does feel artificial. Not because of the phrasing, but because of the content - C is announcing her intention to do something very uninteresti...
I write blog posts in the present tense even if I'm writing about something which happened in the past, because it's funnier to be "present" as the gag is unfolding. I prefer novels in the past te...
Here's what I'm familiar with: a lot of people see present-tense as a description of something happening right now, while past-tense is a narration of events that have already concluded. So: Some...
This can really change very drastically from author to author and from story to story. There's no doubt that developing characters and then building a plot around them is a great way to come up wi...
Story arises out of a challenge to character. The same event may challenge some characters and not others. A given character will be challenged by some events and not others. So, to create a stor...
There is no rule that you have to produce an equal volume of words in order for your correspondent to appreciate you. In fact, if you quote every sentence individually, inserting "I agree" or "goo...
how about something like "I agree with all the points you've made here. You covered this thoroughly and did an excellent job. I could not improve upon this."?
I think you're on the right track. The point of italics is to alert the reader that the words are not in the same language as the rest of the text. I like the logic that the English-spoken "si" wo...
I will say zero! Reasoning below... I presume you mean magic, or other species with human level intelligence (or more), etc. So that is the part I would say has a lower bound of zero. I think fant...
I think Kate's answer covers this nicely, but I just saw an Israeli film called Footnote which, IMHO, does exactly what you're asking about. There are great examples here for your question (and in ...
1 is correct. See this overview on Examiner.com, and individual user experiences. It's a pay-per-click site - it's not going to earn you fame, fortune, or even a respectable line for your CV. If y...
I've seen two or three hash marks ## or -30- at the end of press releases and news articles.
I think it looks fine. I agree that "hi there" needs to be fixed.
Emails saying "thank you" for something are generally informal; style is less of an issue than simple gratitude and sincerity. So there's really no problem with your email, unless you've got a part...
There are two hooks here I find compelling: The first two lines give this great, "Why, of course we remember every toy you've ever played with, Sir" vibe - it's like a toy store crossed with Wode...
I think it's fine, because you as a company are creating an instruction manual which is going to be used by specific people. It's not literally a public Wikipedia. To make it as clear as possible,...
It would be bad style to publish documentation that did that, but since a wiki is designed to be edited by many people who will each have their own quirks and don't usually consult house style guid...
Either of those is fine ("&" is just another way to write "and") and will be understood. Another formulation you'll sometimes see is "Aug 4-5, 2011", but this is better for things that are con...
I think you're going to need to figure out which is more important to you - getting traditionally published, or keeping dgital rights. Not that you can't necessarily manage both, but it'll be a lon...
I am not in academia, but I would actually be annoyed to see a shortened URL as a footnote. You aren't writing it by hand; as far as I know there aren't maximum printed page requirements; if it's b...
You are going to have to edit at some point. That editing may mean taking out huge chunks of text, entire plot lines, entire characters. If it's easier for you to do that early on, edit as you go. ...
Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress. These are desktop publishing programs, which are designed to do exactly what you want to do (among many other things): lay out printed pieces like a magazine.
Sure, why not? I think thanks should be in front and information should be at the back. Gratitude should be expressed early on, and homework should only be offered if the reader is still intereste...
WARNING: This answer contains numerous links to TV Tropes, an irreverent taxonomy of common tropes in film and fiction. TV Tropes is highly addictive, wasting hours of "just checking the definit...
