Posts by S. Mitchell
See editing as a different form of creation: from something not so good you create something brilliant. Frank Cottrell Boyce opened my eyes when he said that being used to writing films he was used...
Different collections of hymns have significantly different editorial policies. Many modern collections will, for example, change 'we are sons' to 'we are children' so that they conform to modern s...
It depends on what you are trying to do. Present tense creates tension because the reader doesn't know what is going to happen -- is the narrator going to live after the bomb explosion, for example...
I would recommend going to Webtoons and looking at what is there. On the main site are the featured artists and studying what they do is worthwhile. There are also competitions and a place for begi...
If you are using short exerts and acknowledging the source, you don't have to ask permission or pay royalties (pictures are different). A quotation from a poem or a novel at the beginning of a chap...
One is where you can connect to the millions of sites already created -- .com. The other -- .org -- is where you sign up to create your own site. The two are fundamentally different. If you want to...
You can criticise me, but if I get a name like the one you have used (I can't easily see how you get to the pronunciation you give), I simplify or skip it. The consequence is that hard-to-say names...
I would say it is definitely a new paragraph if only to indicate 'he' didn't say 'I thought ...'. I teach that you start a new paragraph when you change speaker, place, time or character. Here the...
The original books always used the second person 'you'. (I still have one on my book shelf.) Other variations may use the first person. There are many variations on the theme. For example, some re...
Several years ago we invited a storyteller/author to visit the school to talk about writing and tell some stories. To prepare for his visit, I read a large section of one of his novels to the class...
Advice about adverbs is complex. I will try to explain simply. Adverbs make writing more vibrant and interesting – sometimes. The 'sometimes' comes from the type of adverb. There are different ty...
The answer to this is very subjective. Some books lend themselves to being made into a series (whether that is three or more) and some don't. Consider books like 'Mortal Engines' -- everyone, just...
Even though I can touch type quickly, I have gone back to writing drafts by hand. It is not speed of writing that determines the speed I produce something: it is speed of thought. If I am thinking ...
You would say 'Block D' when referring to a place.
I would accept the sentence you have written, usually. It depends on the context. Tenses in English are actually incredibly complex. (I have recently written a simple guide for distinguishing betw...
I agree with what Mark Baker said, but you might want to consider the following. If she said it is your intellectual property, that suggests you still own the copyright and you didn't give it away...
No. Simple answer. If it makes sense to the reader and people want to read on, do what you want with the plot. Twists can add a great deal to a novel. If you can keep thinking of them and the reade...
You could use symbols and motifs. This sounds very obvious, but like all literary techniques, if done well it works. It could be the use of the colour red. It could be the mention of a poetic work....
You could try looking at lists of homophones and homonyms. These lists can give you ideas about similar sounding words. However, in the end, you just have to keep practising. Sometimes it does take...
In a novel it is conventional to start a new paragraph when you change: -- speaker (yes, every time) -- place -- time -- character -- topic You can change the 'meaning' of your text just by ...
Perhaps one way to see it is that you are representing reality, not copying it. In the same way that a painting (even those of the photographic realism school) represents or shows reality rather th...
Although the following might seem obvious, some of the things I tell my students include: don't use 'then'. If you have written it well one thing follows from another. Secondly, avoid starting sen...
I have seen bold and I have seen inverted commas. I haven't seen combinations. Simply say which you are going to use at the beginning. For example, I just found this in 'Beginning Android Applicat...
Creating original similes and metaphors is incredibly difficult. When teaching students I find that similes are easier than metaphors. It is possible to write similes and then convert them to metap...
I have been told that the sentence you should cut out is the one you love the most. I have found this true of my own writing: a really interesting section just has to go because it doesn't fit with...
