Posts by Cyn
Yes, your characters should speak naturally, not as if they were reading a formal piece of writing out loud. But that doesn't mean you won't edit it. Take the example of radio interviews. They r...
The only issue to worry about is that your reader knows who is speaking and can remember who the characters are scene to scene. How you accomplish this is up to you. That being said, it's a littl...
Every book is going to play around with reality to some degree, though some do it more than others. Every case is different. Is this a story that would end up on a "I can't believe they survived!...
You can't plagiarize yourself. It's actually pretty common for writers to turn a short story (or several) into a novel. Your only issues are about copyright. If you self-publish the stories, you...
I put a paragraph break in your question as an edit, but it's still a huge block of text (now two huge blocks). Chapter dividers are a grander version of that. They give your reader a chance to...
Write it as it is. When you write dialogue, you don't write it up as formal English (or another language). You write what the characters say. If someone squeals or rolls their eyes or starts cho...
Commas tell you when to breathe. They can be for actual pauses (as when you read it out loud and take a brief pause) or they can be to tell your brain how to break down the sentence. Either way, ...
There are 144 books with the word "Seinfeld" in the title. Most are about the TV series, about the creator, or by him or his family. But a few use the name as part of the phrasing and/or to refer...
Just Desserts From TV Tropes: A villain ultimately finds their evil deeds come back to bite them. Literally—they end up getting eaten. This does not include a Heroic Sacrifice. But may ...
Here's an example of multiple timelines done in a way I found not just confusing, but random and unnecessary. Chronological can mean in order by date and time, or it can mean that the different PO...
If you've established your world as one with fantasy species, it's okay if you don't mention every one early on. Lots of novels and screenplays throw new species into the mix later on and that's f...
The 8th Edition of the MLA has changed the approach to citations: Like earlier editions, this handbook includes information on evaluating sources, avoiding plagiarism, using quotations, con...
To me, the answer is more about you and your writing process than about constructed languages. I am not constructing a language but I've done lots of worldbuilding that will never be visible to my...
The book exists in the present, so the characters do as well. The author, though, exists in the past, since he's no longer with us. Mark Twain wrote about a boy, Tom Sawyer, who has adventures...
While you don't need to follow a style guide here (except your publisher's of course), it's helpful to look at them. The AP Style Guide (Associated Press) is a good one because it's for American n...
Lots of novels go into detail about music, movies, TV shows, and other art and culture relevant during the setting of the book. Also technology. In some cases the cultural details are important...
I agree with Jason that you should also give a first name or initial with the last name to differentiate it from yours (or anyone else mentioned who shares that last name). This advice is geared f...
Everything you put into a book that is not your original work must be done with permission. This refers to both artwork and text. Items in the public domain have blanket permission for others to ...
Photographs belong to the photographer (or to a business which has a contract with the photographer such that they own the copyright). It makes no difference if the subject is alive or dead. A ...
Exactly how you do it depends of course on your story. One way is to simply use them with no explanation and let the reader figure it out over time. Or you can indicate the past within the quotes...
Your name is fine. I would not choose an initial for a surname because people will wonder what you're hiding and you have to file extra paperwork for a pseudonym. But of course you can always tel...
There are multiple ways to approach this and any of them can work. The important thing is that it's very clear to the reader. My novel is structured as follows: Prologue set in 1939. Body of no...
You can't drift off into the distance when you leave a room. Unless it's a really big room. You can drift out of a room, but you disappear rather suddenly, when the line of sight through the do...
It's fine to use action to insert a beat in the dialogue, or just as a change of pace from tags. But you must separate out each person's actions (whether it's speech, thought, or something else) i...
A few alternatives: She dived into the flower. She dived into the zinnia's flower. She dived into the petals. She dived into the zinnia's center. Or, simply: She dived into...
