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I'm just sitting here laughing and laughing... My spouse is going through something similar. Comic book series with 4 issues a year (e-comic only) and a book collection every 4 issues (e-book and...
Thrillers are about nearly constant conflict and keeping the reader constantly wondering how something will turn out in the next few minutes / pages. I say "nearly" because you need some "story" s...
If I understand you correctly, the subject of your documentary is standing on the brink of a major change: there's his life up to "now" (what you call "act 1"), and then there's the way things will...
How do people in Real Life fall in love? They get to know each other. They share some interests, so they enjoy spending time together, and have common things to talk about. They respect each other....
There are whole books on characterization; it is difficult to treat in a few hundred words. What makes characters stand out from each other is what makes the people around you unique; their attit...
I was a division manager of a public company, at one point in my life (for four years). Not all managers are the same, But for me: Skip the emoji, just tell the truth and ask for a decision. De...
I believe you have to give the boy a skill that the girl really likes. Obviously it can't be fighting; but a bullied boy can still be highly intelligent, or artistic, or musical, or something mor...
You can structure a story so that the decision to do things differently is the climax, and thematically, the conflict is finding the fortitude to make that decision. It's a little abstract, but it ...
I am a discovery writer. HERE is my answer to the "How to Open a Novel" Question. However, I do have a formula. Open with a name. In your case the name of your (real) protagonist (the imprisoned ...
I don't think this should preclude a happy ending. From what you write, it looks to me like a girl, that was not even "dating or anything" boy X but was "in love" with him, had sex with another bo...
In my opinion, the chosen one is made that way, whether they know it or not. IRL, the kings of old were warriors, born with a talent for fighting that was recognized, cultured and taught, if they w...
First, homosexual or bisexuality is not necessarily something that enters into her everyday life. A good way to give clues toward that is to devise situations in which she can defend others that ...
First off, I reckon a female artist like Lady Gaga or Madonna would work better as a hint than David Bowie. As others have pointed out, liking feminine men doesn't necessarily mean you like women a...
People Say in Jest What They Mean in Earnest. I am adding a separate answer because I thought of something unrelated to my first. The above is a saying with much truth in it: People often joke abo...
Reverse order of importance. The order of entry is an opportunity for you to create conflict. To do that, you should list them in the order of reaction by the MC, greatest last, so you can move ...
Are chapters with a single character inherently more difficult for an average reader to connect with? And why that should be? I mean, I don't have the average reader preferences (nobody has, proba...
I suspect you don't have tension; in the sense that the readers are not wondering "what happens next?" Your character may be cold and scared and (loves being alone? That kind of doesn't fit here)...
I second @Matthew Dave answer: if that's the story you want to tell, you definetely should. As for examples of this happening... Several spoilers ahead: Martin's Song of Ice and Fire Obery...
I think this is a bad idea. I agree that you will be left with a poem, NOT a song, and if that is the case, open with a rhyming poem that reads like a poem and promises the reader something about t...
A related question: How to open a novel? It sounds like your prologue opens in medias res - in the middle of the action. You already have orcs marching, preparing to fight. Since, in terms of plot...
Chapters have been as short as a single sentence; Stephen King is famous for a single sentence chapter. Other famous authors have written chapters of a single page. In general, a chapter break occ...
While I get with what you are saying, and I deeply agree, sometimes genre conventions can be useful. If you want to tell a story - let's say, featuring a distant future and space-travel - you don...
You must comply, resistance is futile. It is precisely because genres are used to sell books that you should be very much aware of what is expected within the genre you write. You need to tell yo...
I would finish the word with two dashes (also called an em-dash, but for traditional submission format, two regular dashes are used to indicate this), no space between the last letter of the half w...
Since you are writing a group, consider what character traits are missing in the group without the character you're struggling to write. Does your group have a comic-relief? A moral compass? A quie...
