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I have a friend who is a rather ambitious (writing and otherwise), and has even self-published a couple of books. I know having a sense of self-confidence is a good thing, but just churning out lu...
So, the question is, how reliable is the advice: If the reader doesn't need it, cut it. If the scene doesn't progress the plot, cut it.[emphasis added] I think you are conflating "needed" with...
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 ...
Of course. Yes. All the time. One advantage of this approach is that the reader can (almost) always know more that the point of view character. Another advantage is the ability to explore a comp...
I'm writing a short essay on gender undercurrents of conversations, i.e. how do different people approach communication and problem-solving in their relationships. One way to phrase this is in term...
Disclaimer: I don't know much about litRPG, but I may be able to help some. First, a quick internet search for "how to write litRPG books" brings up articles such as this and this. Of course, tho...
Here's a slightly different approach. Write the story in such a way the MC's death has something to compensate it, such as your character becoming irredeemable by dint of their actions of personali...
There are many ways to do this, and for just as many reasons why this can make perfect sense. Let's start with popular means, and look at the reasons this makes sense. Disclaimer: I don't know...
Looking back on your career as a writer, what is the most fundamental piece of advice you wish you had known about – or that you had taken to heart – when you set out to become a writer? Before ...
To me, Stephen King's advice (as seen in a live interview, and asked what advice he had for aspiring writers): Basically he said, if you want to write, write. Every day. Don't worry about plotting...
The way you describe them they are not different You mention that one of the options is about building up small steps, hinting at the fact that he will unlock something. The other option is abou...
In a month or two I will have a book out on how to do things like this (Structured Writing: Rhetoric and Process, from XML Press). The big question is, what are you going to use to do the selecti...
In Short: Your character should be villainous because they have the qualities of a villain, not because the group they are from gives them villainous qualities. I think your real question is "how ...
While there is no one single way, here's a practical approach. You need to be capable of answering a few crucial questions about your work: What is the work's overall feel and style? What, about...
My story happens as a result of one of the main characters getting murdered. I'm wondering how to get readers to care about someone who's not even in the story (as far as the readers know anyway) o...
The classic approach is to go into the events leading up to the volcano eruption via a 'one year (moth/week/day/hour) earlier' chapter. Make sure that you are not merely describing the events but ...
Have a conversation first. Explain herself to her confidant, make it clear she IS a shapeshifter, and willing to prove it, until the person she is talking to demands a demonstration. Then provide ...
One of my bugbears about writing is the editing process. I'd much rather get it right first time, rather than chop this and change that afterwards. Other industries would not tolerate the rather c...
I'm a research scientist and professor at a university. We tolerate exactly this "rather curious approach" to research, of multiple refinements until we zero in on something interesting. We do expe...
So I am writing a story that is in my head for millions of years already and it is finally progressing. I like how things going for a first draft and I am pretty happy to get things going. But lat...
This is basically a follow-up question I asked here: Scene switching and how to do it? I always considered it normal for a chapter to have between 3000 and 5000 words. And people around here thoug...
I'm increasingly having to write User Guides as part of my job and I need routes to make this into a more interesting exercise. Hence, I was actually looking for something completely different whe...
Short answer: all three options work, so experiment. James Scott Bell wrote a whole book on how to write from the middle. I haven't read it yet, so I don't know how good the reasons are for doing ...
Whatever feels right. You could also write the start of each chapter and slowly fill each one out. This way you start with the rough outline, then move to a roadmap with small steps, and then you j...
As everybody else says, all options are viable. You can start from a scene that's bright in your mind and write to it and from it, you can throw scenes on paper and then connect them, you can start...
