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I'm going to say that it depends. It depends on the message an author wants to transmit and how they write it. Let's say I'm writing a romance. X starts out single and looking for their soulmate a...
It's impossible to make sure your book is interpreted the way you want it to be. Some writers have actively disavowed particular audience interpretations of their works. In many cases the audience...
practice physiognomy | look at yourself in the mirror | practice physiognomy physiognomy here means: what do micro-expressions say? whether it says anything or not is not of import, does the look ...
This notion that a novel has a meaning that we can ferret out and interpret has been a staple of English teachers for decades. Essentially it is an attempt to turn a novel (or any other work of art...
I sensed as if he became sad from the way he spoke after telling him that I would go with her. Try describing the "I sensed". What is your character observing exactly? Let he be our eyes loo...
Picking an Alias, also for Picking a Character Name One approach is to use a common name as your alias. This doesn't have to be Smith or Jones, Here is a list of the Most Common Surnames in North ...
Both J.K. Rowling and K.A. Applegate are examples of people who used simple pseudonyms to write for a target audience (middle school boys) who wouldn't initially pick up their books if they realize...
If you do this, lean into it Skipping a scene in an otherwise continuous story will always be jarring. The last thing readers want to feel is "this doesn't make any sense". You want your story to ...
It's true that because the MC is the focus, he also carries the burden of making mistakes, sometimes for character development, sometimes for the plot. That can make people like the MC less, while ...
Visually distinguishing a character's dialogue is not a bad idea. Sir Terry Pratchett used this tool quite a lot. Most notably, his Death spoke in ALL CAPS, including small caps when needed. (Small...
Look for Jeff Bridges' character in the movie Fearless (1993). That concept is the motif of the movie. He is a person who survives a plane crash, and he has a life change experience where he is n...
As long as you don't keep people hanging too long and you do the skip at an appropriate time, it can work. Bob meets Charlie on a chatroom. They talk for a while, then Charlie has to go to bed ...
Another option would be to let your characters talk about the actions in the missing time without letting the reader know. You will never believe how I got out of there! and then end of stor...
What I suspect you're really asking here is, "How do I make scenes involving this character feel adrenaline-filled and emotional?" To answer that question, you have to realize that portraying this ...
In 1, maybe Charlie says: "How did you find me!" I didn't give you any clues!" And Bob says: "You thought you didn't. With enough internet skill, you can track any post to it's sender." In 2, ...
I would challenge her lack of fear, if her ability can't trigger automatically as stated in comments she should still have some fear of death, things can happen around her that she isn't aware of a...
As I understand, you decisively want to refuse giving an explanation, right? You could add "unnecessary" details to imply a story that has the readers imagination going wild for you. Axel and ...
Psychopathy is characterised by persistent antisocial behaviour, impaired empathy and remorse. (source: Wikipedia) Your character needs to care for others. Watching a person get hurt, let alone k...
Time is an illusion in storytelling--one that you, the author, create. You can skip millenia just by saying that they passed, and you can spend as many pages as you wish to describe a single moment...
Do you HAVE to? Of course not. But how many copies are you expecting or hoping to sell? I've self-published 4 books. All non-fiction, which I think is rather a different market from fiction, but w...
John specifically has a wide array of cross-cultural appeal, originating from Hebrew and having a variant in just about every European and Near Easter language family. It's super easy to solve you...
Try choosing something that reflects the attitude of the narrative voice and establish a difference as soon as it's needed. For example: Slutty Susan took a long vape hit and Susi queen bee just r...
You might want to break up the three scenes with something else, but generally speaking, yes, it's okay to focus on character development even if there isn't a ton of plot movement. Maybe add in a...
Trying to not offend in general, as a goal in and of itself, is automatically a losing proposition. Posed as an optimization problem, it resolves to saying nothing and reaching no one. You cannot ...
What if they spend three nights (and three scenes) at the same pitstop, but the scenes greatly develop the relationship between two important characters? Yes, that would be fine, with one cave...
