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One of the worst things that happens in advice given to writers is that individual criticisms get inflated, either by the speaker or the hearer, into iron-clad universal rules. Thus, a perfectly re...
No, it is not eccentric at all. As I am sure you can tell from reading your two examples, the first is livelier and much easier to read -- and that is 95% of the argument in any question of style. ...
There is no substitute for experience, but when a story feels forced or inaccurate the root of the problem is almost always motivation. Authors can and do divert wildly from how actual places loo...
I am an old writer. My advice is simple: Steal experience! To be more specific, you need to study some existing fiction that is in the best-seller, well-reviewed, or highly acclaimed realm. When I...
Just because a scene is written from a character's point of view does not mean it is written based only on information available to the character. The first responsibility of the narrative it to ma...
Either italics or quotes are fine to introduce the term; you could even bold the phrase if you're introducing many specialized concepts throughout your work. I wouldn't capitalize it or otherwise f...
As another answer noted, landing pages are of limited utility -- you need them, but you shouldn't assume people will start there. It sounds like your modules are all inter-related, even if one cus...
You can very clearly blend elements of genres. Lots of people have done it. The real question is, will it produce a work with crossover appeal? That is, will it appeal to fans of both genres? A go...
In this context, I would take it to mean someone who cannot be reasoned with. When dealing with a mountain or a rainstorm, you can't reason with them or reach a deal or a compromise with them. When...
A character does not have to be described at all to feel real. In many stories we are told little of their appearance beyond whether they are male or female, and occasionally not even that. Where ...
You have to ask yourself, "does it matter in any specific way?".The answer is usually "no." I usually describe characters very generally, and NEVER in prose. If they are described, they are descri...
The word "character" is used in two different senses. There is "character" in the sense of "characteristics" -- the way that a person does things that is different from how others do things. If som...
In general, a "good flaw" will matter, meaning it will impair the hero in their quest, and presents an obstacle for them to overcome. Not necessarily permanently, but for the purpose of this story ...
I'm afraid that you have gone about this a bit backwards. The basic structure of a story can be described in many ways, but one of the best and most well-founded is that of the hero's journey, as d...
There are many ways of describing story structure, most of which are essentially pointing to the same thing. One of the simpler ones is that proposed by James Scott Bell which is a small elaboratio...
A good story creates an experience. The reader draws their own conclusions and has their own emotional reactions to the experience it provided. Some will therefore find your ending more of a downer...
There is no copyright on ideas. You can retell the ideas from other books freely, as long as you are actually creating new words to describe those ideas from scratch. If you are taking chunks of ...
This is perhaps a bit cavalier, but I'm going to say it anyway. A blog needs either a personality or an editorial calendar. People are interested in people, particularly in people whose interests...
There is an old piece of advice in writing circles that says "slay your darlings". When a story has been worked and reworked many times, you will have created a number of great scenes, great charac...
I was in just this position as few years ago. Extensive comments from an editor at a top house, mostly critical. I did a rewrite and got a "better, but not quite" back. No invitation to try again, ...
Books are classified for various reasons. The word literature is used in more than one classifications scheme. For the purpose of selling books, "literary fiction" is a genre like any other. Genr...
You are writing a story, not a psychology textbook. Stories appeal to our hopes and to our sense that the world is (or our wish that it should be) a fundamentally orderly place, by which I mean a p...
First of all, let's be clear: "aggressive and angry" is not "emotionless." He's either one or the other. Second, "a bad man redeemed by the love of a good woman" can fall very easily into cliché. ...
IANAL, but this is one of those questions where you can start out by asking, are other people doing this. If not, there is a good chance that the answer is that you can't do it either. This is es...
In real life, we experience emotions ourselves and we observe them in others. Thus some emotions are observed but not felt and that is fine. As far as felt emotions are concerned, we feel emotion...
