Posts by Kirk
Text Compression Compression of text is a lot like refactoring code. A lot of people here code, so maybe they'll appreciate this concept Abstraction A complex idea can often be represented by a ...
Yes, Back to the Future 2 literally does this; as does "the good place". As long as you stay on point and it doesn't rock the boat too much, it's fine. But this should probably be the first disaste...
I suppose it depends entirely upon what you're hoping to acheive. If the liminal location isn't there for any other reason to show geographical distance, then you probably don't spend any time focu...
I think this is a TV/Comic problem. What I mean by that is you're used to ingesting stories which are made for TV, probably broadcast; or comics where each issue must progress with the same cast an...
You can do it. But the expectation has to be set that this is possible, and it should be written like a tragedy. The market for such a book may be small, but it isn't nonexistent. Check out the gr...
Don't Write, Tell Stories. Stories began as an oral tradition. There are story telling competitions every year and some of those people never write down a thing. Look up stuff like oral tradition ...
There are no hard and fast rules here about what will work. What we believe to be true is often based on the context of our upbringing and that has changed from era to era AND location to location ...
What you might want is what I can the mile marker outline. It's not a blow-by-blow; instead, list your major events and/or set peices. It's up you to figure out what the road trip actually looks li...
Classes teach what study, experience and opinion believe to have produced prior success. Corollary, businesses prefer what has been previously successful. A sure win is money in the bank. If only ...
What should a character interview contain to be successful where the goals are: characters with strong voice who are established with a distinct 'personhood' (?) and are generally interesting to fo...
The snowflake method may help you organize your thoughts and build a story in the way that you want. There are ten steps which move you back and forth between creating characters and creating plot....
It kind of depends on the quality of your writing. Because if you pump out 365,000 words a year, but they aren't high quality words, then it ultimately doesn't get you closer to publishing (if that...
Why wouldn't it be possible? Yes. Fifty Shades et al are Twilight fanfics. Note that you may have to reskin a work (change characters, names, settings, etc) to get far enough away from the origina...
You can't know that you will be until you try Unfortunately, the way you know you can be John Grisham (short of a DNA test) is by dedicating yourself, and years of effort, to getting published; at...
The Quick Route to Distinction The Fatal Flaw This is some part of the personality/self that is out of control of the main character, or at least if it's going to be fixed it's going to take an e...
No, it is very difficult to make any story great. And there is a ton of thought and intention that goes into picking even the right story to tell, from the right vantage point. It is not uncommon f...
What is hot today will likely not be hot when you're done writing/revising/securing an agent/editing and then get published. Writing a book and polishing it (for experienced writers) takes about a ...
You can but don't need to. Alternate realities which are present day with some slightly different characters/events are totally fine. Unless you're planning to reference things that are happening t...
In Movies there's the concept of Set Pieces. These are exciting moments in your story you want to hit that will be lavish and engaging, both for you and the reader. Set Pieces can act as mile marke...
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 ...
Question For those who have been published or are in the publishing industry: Can a new author get a longer work published these days? (near 200,000 words) Would it be smarter of me to try and ...
Repeating what I've said elsewhere. Writing Excuses is a podcast that specializes in Sci-Fi/Fantasy. They have a master course, that I mentioned earlier (season 10) on how to write a novel. It's fr...
It sounds like you're writing top down. Try bottom up where you're having difficultly. Let the characters lead and follow their interests. Introduce conflict and goals at that level. You should sta...
Yes, I was breaking too many rules. It's over a year later. I finished the book based on advice here, largely sticking to my original timeline and expected word count. The novel has been placed in...
What you're trying to do is called foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is essentially providing the groundwork for a later event. The typical rule that is followed is the rule of threes. If something is i...
