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People can be intelligent and competent yet still unable to do their job. The military might be underfunded (seems really unlikely but you can set your story up however you like). You might be th...
Some stories simply need more room to breathe. You might be having so much trouble because your story can't lose 1/3 of the words and still tell its tale. 1500 words is not huge to be begin with....
It's not uncommon for people to start off writing works that are either straight up fan fiction or so strongly "inspired" by someone else's work that they might as well be. And that's okay. What'...
Basically to prevent a D.E.M. you need to introduce the skill (or person) early, and sustain reference to it (or them) frequently; so they do not fade from the reader's mind as a possibility. FOR...
"Uneven writing density" is something that happens to me too, in my first draft. Then I go and add material where I've got only a skeleton, trim the excessive fat. One thing I found is, sometimes ...
Two tropes you might want to look into are Chivalrous Pervert and Lovable Sex Maniac. The Chivalrous Pervert would be thinking about sex a lot. He would be unable to avert his gaze when that would...
"Pervert" covers too much ground, or is too general a term. Pedophilia is a perversion, and you won't get any sympathy for a guy that wants to have sex with children under 10, or wants to see pictu...
You are better off with the ladder; it is easy to climb a ladder using only one good leg, if your arms are functional. The other leg can be completely broken. Just use your hands and arms to hold u...
Sometimes when a strange thing happens in a story, for example a knife being found in a weird place, it can seem like a mistake by the writer. By highlighting the strangeness (whether by having the...
Which answer is the one that's going to get you to sit down and write? That's the correct one. It's way too easy to get stuck on process. "I just have to do X, then I can write!" When I finally...
Yea, the similarities are there and they are evident. There's nothing wrong about being impressed with another author work. The point is that sometime some concepts and ideas influence us so deep...
Are you citing the French edition? (the original) If so, it's perfectly legitimate to make your own translation. I'm not sure where the English translation is coming from. If it's a duel langua...
The question largely depends on whether the game and its particular rules are important to the story or not. Take, for example, Quidditch, from the Harry Potter series. The game constitutes a majo...
I'm not sure that can be done, especially if the MC is bored with it. It isn't a good idea to try and thrill the reader with the same thing again and again and again anyway! So do it once, and th...
When bored, the mind often just wanders in thoughts of its own. The repetitive scene can be a moment for the character to express his/her thoughts, or for the author to introduce flashbacks. You ca...
So much of this depends on your ability as a writer. In the hands of one author, a monster like this could enhance the story, with a different author, it could cause people to throw the book acros...
Different writers give different advice depending on what bit them the hardest when THEY were learning to write. Every beginner has different strengths and weaknesses, the same goes for beginning ...
Nudity can be implied: a dress hitting the floor or a woman shown topless from the back. (Those are TV Tropes links, you've been warned.) If a character walks in on another undressed character (or...
Should I write my story if I haven't established a plot? Yes, You Can Be A Discovery Writer. Discovery writers, like myself, "discover" their characters and their plot as they go along; it is...
This is going to be up to the director, but I think you basically don't show anything that can't be seen in a tiny string bikini. So there is a strong suggestion of nudity (because there are no str...
The problem I see with your writing, the answer to your question, is that you need to immerse yourself in your character's emotion. Put yourself in that emotional experience, in that moment. What d...
Yes. Write it anyway. Because here you are at the very beginning of a novel second guessing yourself. At this stage, the most important thing is that you are sitting down writing. So write. ...
If you give the audience action, you've got to give some reason to care for that action. I wouldn't want to be reading about a whole lot of violence between some people I know nothing about - I'd h...
You might consider starting a blog and posting your work there. After a while, maybe look for some anthologies accepting submissions (there are many that benefit charities and will have themes lik...
While there are already many good answers, there's one option which I haven't seen mentioned (if I just missed it, sorry about that): Your hero may discover that the solution to the problem wasn't...
