Posts by Lauren Ipsum
If you're concerned about too many accidents, then try to find a way to add some purpose to some of them. 1) It's doubtful that you can find a way for a comet to land in someone's garden delibera...
I would only capitalize "the Assault" in this context if the people involved are imbuing the event with such importance that there can only ever be one assault in their lives. It's THE assault, so ...
To start with, you have too many invented terms without definition all in a row. Hearthsoul, assassin pouches, luck fairy? You also have enough mistakes that I really can't tell if some of these t...
Well, if it's fanfic specifically, then something about the source material got your brain going. Go back and rewatch the show, play the game, chat online with other fans, surf tumblr, read other f...
I think an abstract or quick summary isn't a bad idea at all, especially if your audience is not necessarily familiar with the process or the parts, or if there's a lot of jargon involved. I may ...
Get it on paper, and make sure it's funny to you. Then find beta readers and editors and see if it's funny to others. You can always fix something after it's written, but you can't edit a blank p...
You should establish the character early on, but I don't think you can develop anyone all in the beginning. What point is there for the story, then, if the character is done developing? The reade...
Raise the stakes. Give him some urgent reason for doing something or being there. Take something away from him which he has to find, recover, or fix. Add a ticking clock. Why is he visiting his ...
I think it's the "tongues" which caught everyone's eye. That faux high English hearkens back to Tolkien's diction, which makes people recall his version. Change it up. Rearrange the order and add ...
The Rama series by Arthur Clarke would fit that bill. the first book was very hard scifi, basically a history book, and books 2 to 4 were a trilogy about a specific family and their travails.
Everything is about him. The other characters talk about him, plot about him, worry about him, try to contact him. Everything is about what he's doing or where he's going and with whom. Scenes wh...
Find a recording device. Press record. Hold your nose tightly. Speak your dialogue. Add coughing, wheezing, and other effects as appropriate. Press stop. Press play. Transcribe.
Is it correct? Strictly speaking, it's not wrong, but it's really hard to hear someone saying a parenthesis. Is it usual? No. In fact, I can't remember ever seeing it. Is it understandable? I gue...
It will ultimately depend on the quality of the writing, but no, I have no problem with authors crossing genres. JK Rowling wrote a crime novel and... whatever the hell The Casual Vacancy was suppo...
Why is it an issue? Don't you know anyone with a black sense of humor? People crack jokes, particularly sarcastic ones, in the darkest of hours. I wouldn't find it problematic, particularly if you'...
George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, aka Game of Thrones, is the biggest current example. Three dozen? perspectives and counting. Introduces a new world with a huge political social conflic...
I can think of at least two ways to demonstrate your character's nationality and accent without having to mention it constantly or write the dialogue crazily: 1) There is a difference between acce...
Stage business. B takes a drink. C eats something. B lounges back in his chair, looking thoughtful as he listens. C winks at the serving guy. B rolls his eyes at something the protagonist said, and...
Serve the plot. I actually don't mind having a 10:1 ratio if the one scene packs a real punch. I wouldn't arbitrarily make half your scenes the other POV if it doesn't do anything to advance or i...
Watch the show Leverage. (It's about five criminals who turn Robin Hood, and they spend quite a bit of time breaking into buildings and stealing things.) Watch the entire first season, at least. Ta...
Make them a list of sentence fragments. Poetic license. They sound better, and it helps each thought stand distinctly.The run-on is a little exhausting to the ear. The green pieces of paper fol...
My sense (as a reader, not someone who's published a YA novel) is that you kind of want to liken it to a PG-13 movie. If it's too graphic for a 13-year-old to be watching in a movie theatre, it's p...
I think it's important to figure out why you were bored by the mining community setting. Is it because the character made too much of the details without giving the reader a sense of why they were ...
Why plug it? Have the loophole pointed out or discovered in the epilogue. It can be discovered by the bad guy, or by an innocent who is easily captured/corrupted by the bad guy. Presto: instant seq...
I'd be fine with all caps here. It's emphatic in a different way than italics. To me I hear the volume and force behind the word, not just the intensity. Compare: His breathing quickened. "Da...
