Posts by Cyn
How technology works is sometimes in a novel or movie or other work (some authors give you every last detail, like Andy Weir) and sometimes it's just there as a given. While avoiding explanations ...
Make each of the three, full well-rounded characters who have multiple interactions with not just each other but other people. And with distinct and believable personalities. Show how the two tre...
At a bare minimum, you need a central landing place to direct people to in your marketing. The important items you want to cover are: Title and brief description (genre, audience) of your book. ...
Make the character part of the setting. There are various methods for making a person in a story appear to be the main character (or at least a prominent one). For example: Giving her a name (o...
How do you know what the sparrows are thinking? I mean that sincerely. If you're watching them, you attribute dialogue to them because they're obviously communicating things to each other. They ...
"Show don't tell" is a general rule which basically means: immerse your readers in your story. It's not meant literally (as others have pointed out) and it doesn't just apply to body language. Fo...
Similarities are not the same as cliches. Various pantheons have a lot of overlap because they draw on universal aspects of humanity. Food. Fire. Home. Love. Children (and childbearing). Pro...
I think it's a mistake. You certainly can do it and probably get away with it. But why make a tonal shift so severe if there's no real reason for it? Even though these are different characters, ...
I wrote this before the poster indicated that this was a speech. My advice still applies, it just needs to be on a shorter timeline. Write what you want, show it to people you trust, revise, then...
Creating fictional places within a real world setting not only works in fiction, but it's extremely common. Creating the the fictional space is helpful because it allows you to flesh it out howeve...
Young adult vs adult fiction isn't about the age of the characters (though that usually does vary too), it's about the age of your readers. If you're writing for adults, then write for adults and ...
Dialogue quotes are for things a character actually says. If your character says "hahaha" then fine. But I've never heard anyone do that. You might get a single "ha!" but that's an exclamation n...
Think about why you're doing this. Your readers liked everything about your story except they wanted more of the ending. So instead you're giving them more of everything except the ending? I thi...
Behold! The Mighty Ellipses! The demon...she? he?...gestured towards the supply wagons. Ultimately, it's a matter of personal style. Dashes, parentheses, ellipses are all correct. Part of ...
If you format the email as separate from the narration, that will take care of most of the transition between the narrator and the text of the email. Set it aside in its own paragraph and do one o...
I say, ignore it. Sort of. I think you're right that the primary characteristics aren't the problem but it's all in how you flesh the race out. If your goal is humanoid aliens with human levels ...
Adapted from my answer to Can I self-publish a book on the Kindle store when I'm under 18? Absolutely, whenever you publish something with multiple authors—whether it's a collaboration or a work w...
Yes and no. I don't think many people purchase a book because of the cover. The cover will not give you direct sales (maybe a couple...). But imagine that you are looking for a book. Either kno...
Nothing is too weird to be published. Truly, nothing. But plenty of works will not interest any of the publishers that currently exist. Even many works that are totally mainstream don't get publ...
No one can copyright an event The events that happened to your father don't belong to anyone. They just are. Different people will have different knowledge (or beliefs) about various portions of...
The best way to avoid overly general openers is to write them. Go ahead, write them all down. Get them out of your system. If you don't, they're gonna be on your brain distracting you. Once you...
Yes, you need to mention it. If race, ethnicity, culture are important (hint: they're always important, even if they don't change the story, they're part of who your character is, just like gender...
If they have lines or specific actions, it's important to give them all names. Why? Because each one will be played by a different actor. Each actor needs to know where s/he is at any given time...
You have answers about the differences between poems and lyrics. I will focus on the how. What techniques can you use to make this transition? I wrote a lot of song lyrics when I was in high sch...
Yes, you can. And many authors do. But, as others have pointed out, it's something you need to tread carefully with. My novel has a prologue (and an epilogue). I had it in my head since I conce...
