Posts by Thomas Myron
This could be a misconception of mine, but I've noticed that the popular fantasy novels of today seem to nearly all have main characters who are children or teenagers. I have a list of some off the...
What you are doing is called being original. It's not frowned upon; it's something most every writer strives for, especially with fantasy. The real challenge comes with making it believable. There ...
This is a common problem I face as well. Sometimes there's nothing you can do about it, and have to leave two that's together. But usually, you can fix it by using the following rule: Replace a '...
I'm a plotter, meaning I plan and develop my books before ever writing the first draft. I've given a good deal of thought to character, stakes, and the other parts of novel creation, and I feel lik...
Several people have said that you should look into the historical names for clothing. However, as you pointed out on what's answer, a name that the reader is not familiar with can confuse him. This...
I've always felt that my writing is very sequential. It's a chain of events. This happens, then this happens, then this happens, and so on. Not to say that the events are boring, but I just always ...
Background I studied writing in depth before ever seriously trying it myself. I read a lot, and I looked at reputable books on the subject. Over the years, I combined what I knew into a formula wh...
Let me open by saying that I wasn't entirely sure how to ask this question and stay on topic. This is my best attempt. I do believe this question will help other writers. As an author, I want to ...
Any word with quotation marks around it which is not a direction quotation implies the word is false or the statement is not wholly true. If it's freezing outside and I go out, I might say that I...
I believe writing in the first person gets the reader closer to the character. As far as I know, this is generally accepted as true. That's not all there is to character development, certainly, but...
The first thing you should do is look at the answer to this question. Then realize that this is not an issue, but something that you can use greatly to your advantage. However, you still have the p...
In novels which contain a constructed language (conlang), there are areas where the rules of pronunciation can be specified. These areas have the disadvantage of either being before the story and r...
First of all, let me explain that I am a plotter, and that I am an extreme case. This means that I develop my novels basically down to the scene before I even think of writing a first draft. This i...
You capitalize The if: It begins a sentence. It is part of the name. So if the inn is The Cloak and Dagger Inn, everything is capitalized (except the and of course). If the name is the Cloak...
It is my belief that male and female readers are more or less the same. There are differences in how we view things, but those differences do not stop us from liking the same book or movie. I can s...
In my current novel, my main character has a rival for whom he has a deep personal hatred. Think Harry Potter and Malfoy, but with something solid at the beginning. I'm attempting to come up with a...
I'm a plotter, meaning that I develop and plan my novels before I ever start writing them. In my case, this is almost something of an extreme, as I develop every part of the novel carefully and the...
Yes, I have to admit it. I don't like horror movies because (shocker) I find them scary. Unlike other people in my house, I do not like being scared. Especially right before I go to bed. I dislike ...
Tokein. Jane Austen. Steinbeck. The greats of the past. I often come across people on this site and elsewhere who use the works of these great authors and others as examples and reservoirs of advic...
This is called your setting Setting is a very real part of any book, and especially of fantasy novels, as they take place in an unfamiliar setting, and therefore require more explanation. Setting ...
I am currently occupied with the all-too-familiar pursuit of banging my head against a brick wall. In this case, I am attempting to make my novel original. Here's why: I've been developing the th...
In his book How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, Orson Scott Card mentions the differences between fantasy and sci-fi readers, and even says that an author should stick to only one genre, as t...
Your trouble in finding a word is that it does not exist. You will need to use adjectives and other descriptions to properly describe it. My first piece of advice would be to find a good example ...
This is a question that doesn't directly apply to me, though I can easily see myself having this problem. I thought I'd run writer's block for a loop and find the answer before the problem arose. :...
Hi hebbo and welcome to Writers SE! Generally asking what to write is off topic, but I think this is an exception, because it is actually a common problem in writing (at least for me). It's not a n...
