Posts by John Smithers
You can work together at the same document with tools like Google docs, but that maybe gets a little bit messy over time if you want to track all the changes. To make the changes visible (I'm not ...
I think underlining for emphasizing is a little bit old-fashioned. But if you write for an audience which is used to it, why not? If you want to publish your writing online, I would advice against...
Let's come down to your real issue: You are deleting your novel starts without even getting close to the end. You want to get rid of other ideas. They threaten to replace other ideas. what's co...
Keep in mind that a book is not a movie (yes, this sounds trivial and stupid, but bear with me). Movies uses images so they are easy imaginable. Opposite to that producing images in the reader's h...
Do you want to piss your readers off? No? Then call a tragedy a tragedy, a drama a drama and a romance a romance. This question is all about customers' expectations. You can call your story a roma...
Writer's block is a myth. Talent? Well, it's a problematic and often misused term if you ask me. Replace it with "skill" and then you have something to work on. Skill you can train, skill you can ...
If I can interpret "I'm still very new" as "writing my first novel", then skip this, go back to your story and keep writing. Ignore everyone telling you anything about how to write. Because all thi...
Your novel should be as long as it needs to be. Not shorter, not longer. Too vague? Well, that's writing ;) Honestly I think we already answered this question, but I can't find it. To summarize ou...
You can do both. You can start from an existing city (maybe give it a new name) and change the areas which do not fit (GTA comes into mind). If you have already an idea for the setting like "Oh, t...
I've read a lot of novels in my life and I cannot remember one, that uses bold for emphasizing. But maybe that's just my memory problem. I prefer italic, but honestly, that is a matter of taste and...
Because I said so myself, let me answer your question: No, you do not have to. If you look at the answer you linked to or at mine above, you see that they suggest techniques which aren't easy to ...
If it is ok for your personal style (or specified company style) than yes, it is. Otherwise leave it. As I have learned it in school (and I'm from Germany so it does not refer directly to English)...
Punctuation marks where invented to increase readability. So for God's sake, get rid of these semi-colons; my eyes are bleeding. If you really need the differentiation which shall be achieved with...
Most important part is, reducing the story to the core plot. Some say you should only need three pages to summarize your story, some say one page should be enough. But if you can reduce its core to...
Get a woman! Yeah, for proofreading, what did you think? This irking notion is not so much different from all the other irking notions which assail your mind during writing. If you write about a ...
I had to laugh when I read the header of your question. We try to encourage people jumping into NaNoWriMo and just write, and with that we unsettle people who are already well prepared. One Monkey...
I think JSBᾶngs’s last paragraph nailed it, but to add to the confusion let me show a German perspective: People in the whole world "love" German for its ability to construct long names. A vanity ...
From your question I assume that the player knows the term "MP", i.e. it’s not for internal use only. Storm my brain: Out of MP for this task Needz more MP!!!1! X: insufficient MP to use [name ...
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 ...
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...
If all your stories started at chapter one and ended in the middle, then try writing the last chapter first. Then the chapter before the last. You also can jump to the first chapter in between. Fro...
I've seen novels with illustrations. But I wouldn't care too much about it, because I'm sure your publisher will tell you, if he thinks it is a good idea. If you want to self-publish, I would incl...
After reading the questions, I have one question: Are you serious? You want to sell cars, but you have no clue about the different brands, the different models, which series is very often in the ga...
Imagine the situation: You pedal uphill, your muscles are aching, your face is a grimace of pain. There is resistance (called gravity) which does not want that you reach the top of the hill. Where...
Two tips for submissions (no matter how short the story is): Write just a letter/email and ask for permission to send them your story. In this letter (like in every cover letter) you should descr...
