Posts by Neil
More detail about why you have this dilemma would help, but I can answer this question in a general sense. I'm assuming you're writing fiction based on the historical setting of World War II Europe...
Since you're writing this for your exam, your teacher is the authority on how to handle this. I'd ask them. If they're not available, you'll need to make this decision on your own. In the absence o...
This doesn't have to be a problem at all. A "B" plot is an opportunity to enhance the main story by setting it off with something that feels a bit different and gives the reader some variety. It'...
We can't tell you how to write your story, but this is a kind of question that comes up from time to time, the sort that asks: "What is the correct way to do this thing?" Making a rule for yourself...
Footnotes and citations in fiction (and, in particular, children's fiction) are extremely rare, and I recommend against using them. It's often said that ideas are common; it's how they're used an...
Is Writer's Market a viable place for a freelance editor to find possible clients? As I understand it, the book is geared towards writers finding agents/publishers, but I've never even paged throug...
The passive voice is a grammatical tool, and like any tool it can be overused. However, passive voice does have legitimate uses; there are times it makes sense to use it. This is particularly the c...
I don't think there's a name for the technique aside from nonlinear storytelling or nonlinear narrative. A story is "nonlinear" when it's not told in the order in which events occur, but the for a ...
In a very general sense, the publishing process for new writers works something like this. This is not comprehensive: there are alternate routes, and there are always exceptions! 1. Author writes...
I don't think it matters what your state of mind was when writing; if anger motivates you to write, then why not use that as a muse? What matters is whether the finished work is any good or not. ...
Using first person might work best for a situation like this. You'd be able to easily convey inner thoughts, use quotation marks for strictly dialog, and have the option to format intruding other "...
Just because a shift in expression or body language happens quickly doesn't mean you have to describe it quickly. You could expand the above to something more descriptive. For example: C1 doub...
There's no universal standard for this, or at least not in fiction. Books generally pick one style and stick with it. Larger narrative breaks than a section break can be indicated by starting a new...
TL;DR - Read. Learn. Write. Finish what you write. Never stop repeating the cycle. Reading Reading and writing is a cultural conversation. People write books to say something. Other people read ...
Have you ever read a few words, or heard a description of a plot twist, and thought, "that sounds like something thus-and-so would have come up with"? We all have, and that's because the writers we...
Book layout is a very specialized field. If I were writing a book of my own, I'd save up the extra money for a layout person, particularly if the book had a lot of tables or illustrations, or if it...
Your academic department may have posted guidelines for this. For example, the Rutgers Graduate school has posted an Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Style Guide, complete with sample pages. They...
There's very little you can do to improve the flow of the articles, short of rewriting the articles themselves. A collection of columns will always be a collection of works written separately. Howe...
Sometimes it may be difficult to tell if a book is based on real events, but often the book makes this explicit. "Documentary" is a term generally applied to films, not books. But there are books...
Go to Preferences > Corrections, and uncheck this: Sentences will no longer automatically capitalize the first letter.
Unfortunately, the magazine's website doesn't have anything useful to say. So one would imagine that standard cover letter advice would apply here. (I got some of this information from the links at...
You become a book editor by getting a job as an editor, and you do that by demonstrating competence and getting references. It's the same chicken-or-the-egg dilemma as in any field. Editors of ma...
What paragraphs accomplish Text that isn't split up into paragraphs is often referred to as a "wall of text" and can be very difficult to read. Paragraphs are used for a few reasons: Organization,...
I agree with Lauren's answer: A prologue is anything before the main body of a text, and can be whatever the author wants it to be. What matters is that it reads well. However, in my experience, ...
Nonlinear narratives are a particular favorite of mine. Yes, it's possible to do this, but it can be tricky to set things up so they're not confusing to the reader. But if you have a good reason to...
