Posts by Cyn
I think what's tripping you up is the idea that your male characters need to be characters that could not possibly be female. This probably comes from traditions of valuing what men do and devalui...
Wands have been a feature of magic for decades and perhaps much much longer. Tinkerbell in Disney's version of Peter Pan (1953) has a short wand that works with a flick of the wrist. I could com...
A theme isn't a "meaningful moral" Or even a regular moral. A theme is the central idea and a moral is a lesson. These can overlap, but they're not the same thing. It's okay to develop your the...
Asking for a certain number of pages, along with particular formatting, can seem like a holdover from a pre-computer age. They forgot to update their requirements! And sometimes it is. But anot...
I would add a paragraph for each story under the story title, then separated from the story by a line or something like that. Like how many cookbooks do it. Sometimes they explain about the recip...
Your question is a bit all over the map but, ultimately, it's about tone. Your silly example would be fine for a first person narrator who loves puns and can never be completely serious. If it's ...
Something is very off about this being, and everyone knows it. Except it's not. When someone is very off, people steer clear. The creepy guy who hangs out in front of the supermarket makes h...
Use an outline or old updates as a template Basically, you're taking minutes. What happened, who did it, and the rough order it happened in (with some grouping by category). Taking minutes from ...
Write for your audience. There are certainly many audiences who might not have the literacy level (or education) to do well or want books written at a upper secondary school level or higher educat...
Your example doesn't look ugly, it's just something that ought to be saved for dialogue. I wouldn't use it in non-fiction, for example. Another method is to italicize the word. This example i...
There are two other common options. Italics. Murder, she said. And nothing at all. Murder, she said. Or more likely set up as narration. She said murder. I prefer anything to the...
The answer is two fold: Ask your teacher. Google it. I can't ask your teacher for you, but I did a quick Google search. Since you added the mla tag, I assume that's the format required. So he...
What you describe in the question sounds perfectly fine to me. So if other people are telling you (or you're telling yourself) that it's not quite right, the problem isn't what you're doing, it's ...
Coming to this question 2 years after it was posted, I find the following: Of a total of 11 reviews, there is 1 5-star review, 1 4-star review, and 9 1-star reviews. Nothing in-between. Of the l...
There are multiple ways to write a song. Sometimes a composer will pick up already written lyrics. Sometimes a lyricist will work off of an already written melody and arrangement (less common for...
Use an appendix The appendix is the perfect spot for longer documents you wish to include within a work (not just for a memoir). You can have as many as you want. Name each appendix. Appendix A...
The publisher decides everything. If there is payment. What money is available for payment. How that money is divided up. If the money is per unit, what the units are and how to count them. If th...
The example you give in your question is all about age and gender. And age is the one category you need to be mindful of while you write. Most people know in advance the age group they are writin...
The Writer's Market books will give you the lists of agents (with what they're looking for, contact info, etc) and articles (also in their Writer's Digest magazines and websites) on how to write th...
Do any of them have a confessor? The most literal interpretation of this is that they're Catholic and confessing to an actual Priest who is sworn to secrecy. I don't know what real life Catholics...
There is no conflict between duty and conscience The man's duty is to neutralize the asset, with minimal loss of life and resources on his side. He would be doing his duty if he killed the asset ...
People can be intelligent and competent yet still unable to do their job. The military might be underfunded (seems really unlikely but you can set your story up however you like). You might be th...
Have the narrator tell the action in that place, not show it. Then show Old Man's reaction. Example: "Nothing gives you the right to do this." Old Man sat back down in his chair, hoping Taylor...
It's not uncommon for people to start off writing works that are either straight up fan fiction or so strongly "inspired" by someone else's work that they might as well be. And that's okay. What'...
I would tell someone about the story. Tell your partner or friend or your writing group. Just be sure to do it in writing. Or record your voice if you prefer that. Email, text message, handwrit...
