Posts by Cyn
I think it depends on the specific style/genre as well as your relationship with the publisher or agent. There are formal queries and then there are chats you have with someone in a position to ge...
Legal and wise are not the same thing. Legally I believe you're in the clear. There is no trademark on government symbols. But if you use the actual symbols from the USSR, you are writing yourse...
I'm writing a middle-grade novel in English. I have time-traveling kids from 1995 America who go to Ancient Egypt to join the Exodus. None of the kids speak anything but English (aside from a few...
I think of Steampunk as being science fiction (with some fantasy elements) based in the Victorian era. The term "punk" might turn off some readers. Simply being unfamiliar with it might be the t...
Say you wrote a piece that was about something wonderful that had happened to you. A piece that exuded happiness and contentment. Someone—probably the very same person you discuss in your questio...
Formality of address shows more than just the relationship between characters. How one character addresses another does show the level of intimacy between them. But it can also show: Their hist...
The line between science fiction and fantasy is often blurred. And that's okay. Genre is often more about marketing than anything else. As a general rule though: SciFi has science and technology...
If you're writing A Series of Unfortunate Events, it works. Because the purpose is to educate the reader (or allow the reader to be the one that says "I know what X means"). If you're writing a s...
If your inspiration story is in the public domain (which all of Shakespeare is), you have no legal obligation to disclose your source material. Though with Shakespeare, people will of course figur...
A lot of wonderful books combine both science-fiction and fantasy. And why not? If magic can exist in books set in the modern age or in the past, why not in books set in an otherwise realisti...
You can't. I mean, sure, write your book matter of fact. The advice I give out a lot. It works. But it's not just about what you say or don't say in your book, it's about the choices you make....
Whiplash is a physical injury caused by your body moving in one direction then very suddenly switching to another. To a degree that can only come from something like a severe car accident. The em...
Dark humor (aka black humor) is about finding something funny in a difficult situation, one where humor is usually not acceptable. Dark humor is not about being offensive. While some humor is del...
Imagine if you set out to write a book based on a true story. You then interviewed your main subject talking about her experiences. That interview was your primary source material. You would be ...
You're going to have to change your setup. Either: 1. Stop re-reading your work before you write more. This will feel frustrating to you but it may be a rule you have to give yourself so you can...
Different phrases can often mean the same thing. "Her face paled" and "she looked sick" (with context that it was a sudden change) more or less mean the same thing in American English (probably ot...
Determining your audience is radically different depending on whether or not your work is fiction or nonfiction. In fiction, the first division of audience is by age. Is your work for children, t...
Yes. Evoking visuals as metaphors in a way that leaves out verbal explanations of meaning is part and parcel of many (if not most) novels. Your example doesn't quite do this as you state, since i...
This is true of children and cats: They're all my favorites because I love them equally. But this one is my special favorite. It's also true of characters. In a real life situation where you're ...
Nope. You don't have to give the backstory at all. Sometimes it's just not important to the story. Do make sure the reader understands the setting, but then just tell your tale. That being said...
Style isn't something you can copy in this way. Plot, character descriptions, turns of phrase, are all things you can copy enough to get in trouble for it (either legal trouble or trouble from you...
You have a few choices here: 1. You can group each person's actions together more (I've also edited a couple errors). The tall figure was overwhelmingly tall. It stood in the corner of the r...
No. Winds are not waves. You can describe each of them if you wish. Billowing and petulant have nothing whatsoever to do with each other. Billowing means "filled with air and swelling outward....
Yes. It's your story, so it's okay. And I can't be the only American who wasn't all that aware of the difference and whose eyes gloss over the two (I can only see them as different now that you'v...
I see it as if you were reporting the dialogue between a couple of people sitting a table over from you in a public place. If you want the words, write it as dialogue. Quote it normally and attri...
