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At the heart of every story (or most stories, anyway) is a character arc, and in the center of a character arc is a decision, a hard decision, a decision that will cost the character something valu...
The quality of any storyline or character is in the execution. Having one characteristic in common with many other stories does not, by definition, make it a cliché. That said, if you're worried ab...
Many people have a list of the most important things, like the overall story-arc and when to reveal which part of the plot so that it's easy to see and check these things. It's also a good idea to ...
The virtuous transgressor is one of the oldest and most popular figures in literature. We find them everywhere from Robin Hood to Dirty Harry. How can a transgressor be virtuous? We all have basi...
Based on the answers, specifically this answer to the question What software is available for keeping and organising notes about your world? on our sister site WorldBuilding.SE I would recommend ch...
For punctuation and capitalization: The easiest thing to do is open a best selling book of fiction, published by a well known author, and look at their dialogue. Pay attention to the details, when...
Just saw your edit: However, I'm using it simply just to convey to the reader "the car was going super fast" in a fancier way. In that case, I'd say use neither mph nor km/h. When you see a c...
Find Consequences. It depends on how "dispensable" it is. Conversation, beliefs, philosophy, loves and hatreds, likes and dislikes, sympathy's and passions, are all parts of being a real person; w...
The objection I think most people of faith have to their depiction in works of literature is not so much the author's lack of respect but the sheer ignorance of many writers about what people actua...
I am not a lawyer, this is just my layman's understanding from reading cases. Consult a lawyer for a more definitive answer. You have to worry about defamation. For example, if you name the dog af...
I don't think her forgetting is a hint; you could show that easily enough in a conversation. "Anything interesting happen today?" "Not that I can think of. Why?" "I'm going crazy, I swear I...
This is a supplement to this answer. Readers, especially technical readers, notice small variations and especially inconsistencies. If you talk about "removing" a resource in one place and "delet...
Do not describe his general demeanor. I believe in The Mentalist, Patrick Jane's origin was dissheveled, unshaven, suicidally depressed and he came wanting to help capture Red John, the serial kil...
Welcome to Writing, ndasusers. We are unlike other Q&A sites, in that we focus only on questions which can help other people. As no one else is going to have this question, your question is off...
"Am I changing POVs if I'm describing what two or more characters are sensing". Not necessarily. If you are writing in what is awkwardly called "omniscient POV" then you can can tell what any numbe...
I do not agree that this is parallel grammar. The second sentence after the paragraph is much different than the first. it IS related content and can be condensed by a semicolon, (related by virtu...
The goal of a technical documentation is to tell the reader what they need to know to continue working. They are not interested in reading a nice play on words or particularly interesting ways to p...
I will disagree with others. I am a professor involved in AI, and the easiest way for you to think about a super-AI is to understand what Intelligence IS. Predictive power. Intelligence is the abi...
If it is a translation for a specific audience, (as the OP says) then I would translate to approximate equivalents, not exact equivalents. unless the tone was calling for exactness. So a gallon is ...
This may depend on the specific context and personal preference. My experience regarding writing Blog articles comes mainly from a couple of fiction short stories, which is quite different from w...
It only prevents development if the earning of new experience stagnates. As in most RPG's the challenges your characters face should become harder and harder, which means that they will earn more...
You are making the mistake of describing things we cannot see. And your spelling will get you rejected by a reader immediately. First, JAMES SMITH, 17, walks slowly into a bar, with a vacant ...
No. You do not even have to describe the face of your protagonist (the main hero of the story). I've read several published authors that don't do it, but I am away on business and have no access to...
I don't think making Mallory stronger is the issue, but more varied. This sounds like a one-note character to me. What happens after she always reaches a point of despair? Somebody rescues her, or ...
It is fine to do that, many authors do that. However, the question the reader will have is what happened to the other two characters? You made them prominent in the beginning, getting equal time fo...
