Posts by Standback
It depends on a lot on what you're trying to say; what structure and focus you give your article. Basically, if your article prompts the question "why isn't anybody fixing this?" or "can't anythin...
There are a few related issues here, which are tightly intertwined: How big is my readership? A small readership usually mean comments are few and limited. There's nobody talking, and there's nob...
The great difficulty here is that there are no absolutes. The same piece could be achingly poetic or achingly dull, depending on whether it's part of a literary drama or a high-octane adventure. T...
FSC 100% means that all the wood in the product comes from FSC-certified forests. FSC Recycled means all the wood or paper in the product comes from reclaimed material. FSC Mix means a...
Another really useful tool here is foreshadowing and buildup. This is your first defense against the feeling of "awww, he just made that up": make it clear that the elements surprising the reader ...
All you need to do is establish the idea of progress in magic. You need to introduce the reader to the magic system as it stands at the beginning, sure. But for this case, you also need to demonst...
What you need to do is define the relationship between the subplot and the primary plot. In other words, you need to know what role the romance subplot is playing in your story. Almost any relatio...
Your goal, as the author, is for the characters to bond over the journey. But what is your reader reading for? Your reader doesn't know that the characters are meant to bond by the journey's end....
There are different ways to format written text. Examples include: Quotes: A warning etched under the sign read “Electromagnetics strictly prohibited.” Italics: A warning etched under t...
Short, simple, straightforward words like "I" and "you" don't really interrupt reading flow with moderate repetition; they're clear and unobtrusive. The only thing to do right at the start is get ...
This is less of a story structure and more of a trope. (You can have very different story structures leading up to that final revelation.) Also, I don't know how many story structures actually have...
As you suspect, an unsolicited email is not good news. America Star Books is a well-known scam. The offer shoddy, overpriced self-publishing and promotion packages. They make their money charging ...
My advice here would be: don't think in terms of "right" and "wrong"; think in terms of structural arcs. You need to figure out what options for arcs you have, and which of those you actually want ...
There is a balance between maintaining point of view, and maintaining suspense, which can crop up whenever your protagonist or your POV (point-of-view) character is planning ahead in any detail. T...
It's important to understand what NaNoWriMo is, and what it isn't. One of the things that it is, is a powerful demonstration that yes, it is possible. If you write your words every day, they will ...
You definitely want to avoid the kind of clash you're describing. Intuitively, the section is composed of smaller subsections, which expand on particular areas. So a clash feels like you're saying...
It's vanishingly rare to need a constructed language in written fiction. Orson Scott Card sums this up in How To Write Science Fiction And Fantasy: Invented languages are a lot more fun to mak...
In general, your characters will be assumed to be fictional, unless you give overwhelming reason for them to be considered otherwise. Which means that you're asking the wrong question. There's no ...
Heavy-handed is the opposite of subtle. Even by its dictionary definition, it can take two forms: It can mean being clumsy - imagine trying to do delicate work when your hands are very heavy. It ...
Work with reputable proofreaders and designers, who have proven track records with satisfied clients. Anybody with a reputation to maintain will have no profit from plagiarizing clients' work. Fir...
In a lot of detective or mystery novels, the detective is the POV character and the protagonist, but the initial hook has little to do with him. Some crime has been committed, and the detective is ...
You have several different options here, depending on what effect you're trying to achieve. Chat room dialogue is a little tough to work with, because it's pure dialogue, with no emotion or actio...
Not really, no. That would be like trying to learn a foreign language without ever hearing it spoken or seeing it written. You can certainly write, inasmuch as you can write words down on a page. ...
It's very hard to guess what precisely your teacher meant, but here's the closest piece of advice that I know: A story's ending should mirror its beginning, because otherwise, you have probably beg...
The second option is OK, if you can smooth out the phrasing. What would be more ideal is if you could rephrase to avoid the problem, to avoid lumping the two items together in the first place - fo...
