Search
As in anything,if you truly have a passion for story telling or creative truth, this is the main ingredient for "going for it" because even if you aren't able to make a living,your doing what makes...
On bolding: Assume that on a casual browse, the reader's eye will always leap first to headers, and to words in bold. They'll help him understand the structure of your piece, and the most important...
I'm not sure if this answers your question, but are you talking about a system like this one? I also found this resource about outlining a Novel that I think would be good to use. They are two re...
For my epic fantasy novel I used index cards to identify some of the key characteristics of most of the characters. This helped me whenever I had to reference a character that I hadn't used in a co...
With realistic novels- I assume you mean thrillers. And not 200 pages on how Betty goes to work and comes home everyday. :) All selling novels have an element of fantasy and make believe. In thril...
"Realistic Fiction" isn't a single genre. You've got literary fiction, thrillers, mysteries, romances, and more. Each has its own target audience, some wider than others. Moreover, bestseller list...
I'm assuming that when you say "realistic fiction", what you really mean is "non-fantasy fiction". Then the answer is, of course fantasy has less of a readership than "realistic" fiction, because y...
Writing, of course. If you want to write fiction, then writing fiction. Anything else might be helpful, but it's not practicing the actual thing you want to be getting good at. Reading might give ...
Easy answer: You need to practice writing. Complex answer: You can try for decades to carve wood and assemble it to a table; if you are doing it wrong all the time, you'll never become a carpenter...
John Smithers and I read the same proverb. :) In The Rivan Codex, which is the encyclopedia/slush book for David and Leigh Eddings's Belgariad/Malloreon series, Eddings says (I'm paraphrasing from ...
I'll say it for what it's worth... The best way 10,000 hours of work translate into 'writing-work' is by getting at least 10,000 strangers that only know your work (ie. not you personally) to like...
I don't think it does. Sure, in music and sports, public speaking and race car driving, practice makes perfect. But in many things, such as cooking and painting and writing, passion and talent shin...
The thing is that people tend to confuse writing with writing. Think, for a moment, of winning a marathon or singing an opera. Everyone can hurry along to a degree or sing under the shower, yet no...
A lot of it is just convention. Most people seem most accustomed to reading past tense, so it tends to not be noticed by the reader. There are exceptions to this, however. YA, especially, has ...
I think there's too much focus on characters and plot - the story is what matters and the characters and plot provide the skeleton that holds the story together and gives it shape. A book like "The...
In addition to your guesses: A chapter break can also be mostly for dramatic purposes; the scene can continue over the chapter break with the same characters and POV. (Think of a commercial break,...
If you are writing content, then use the proper sematic markup that indicates a break; e.g. a paragraph style made for that purpose. Are you designing a style sheet or the layout of a work to be p...
If you are looking for some sort of lowest common denominator, Kindle may be a good platform to target. Kindle has 2 concepts. Chapters, and *** breaks. You could in theory use blank lines on Kind...
I was taught (long ago) to use three centered "---" on a line by itself in order to represent, within a chapter, a scene change or the passage of time. e.g. if somebody falls asleep; then "---", th...
It's not clear if the OP is referring to self publication or seeking representation. My understanding is the industry standard (when subbing to an agent, for example) is defined. It may vary by a...
As little as it is recognizably fantasy for the editor. Ok, just kidding. First you have to be aware of the fact that the "not strong enough fantasy element" wasn't the real reason why the editor ...
As a basic boundary, Fantasy depends on what couldn't be. The amount of fantasy can be slight, or it can be grand, but that strangeness element must be there. More importantly, for a work to be rec...
I think the key question here is: what element in your story do you see as being a "fantasy" element? There's no denying we've seen plenty of fantasy published that skirts the edge of mainstream. ...
Well, I think it also depends on how you personally feel about your text. Many, many years ago, I ran across this same question. The professor (Jim, I don't remember if it was you or not) took two ...
Characters. You have to make us care about the characters. If we really care about the teacher; if we believe in the passion of the person trying to get the teacher fired; if we see the effects i...
