Posts by Amadeus
The most likely explanation is that your queries are poorly written, or the agents you are querying are poorly suited to your work (or feel they are after reading your query). If you are getting ...
Actually, in romance the clichés to avoid are the obvious ones. "weak, helpless woman" (or princess) needs "strong, brave male" (knight in shining armor) to rescue her, and rewards him with love an...
All of those examples imply there is some specific kind of secret knowledge you can learn quickly that will change your life. In your example, "really famous" is not specific enough. First, in wri...
OP: ... because the descriptions aren't attached to a person's actions. But you write as if the descriptions ARE attached to somebody; somebody not as rapt as the narrator, and this person has an ...
It is hard to overdo good dialogue; but not all dialogue is written well. Too often a great deal of dialogue is a one-sided speech about how the author feels; it sounds preachy and unrealistic, be...
What you should have done, and should do in rewrite, is make it clear to the reader a traitor exists, perhaps make it clear a poison that does exactly that exists, etc. You can do that early in you...
I have seen, IRL, a solution to this problem. I would say, make one (or both) of the characters unavailable; already coupled with or wanting a different romantic interest, and make it clear that t...
This is very similar to your later question; I will copy part of my answer there. But you really shouldn't be posting basically the same question more than once; you can edit your questions if you ...
I can't say I cope well with rejection. That said, I query in small batches, so I can revise my query (and sample pages) as I go, if rejected. I have books and online resources for how to write q...
One approach to this is what I would call a "family first" story; it is a product of our familial and tribal instincts. The idea is that group loyalty trumps all law and morality. The "group" can b...
I think of legends and mythology (I took a college elective on it) as being about black-and-white extremes, like writing for children too young to process nuance, too young to appreciate flawed her...
Although I personally have no problem either writing or reading explicit sex scenes (sex is a form of entertainment, after all), if you feel constrained by your distribution options, I would make t...
To be science fiction, the story must depend upon fictional science or scientific achievements. Although that is most plausible for the future, it could be set in the present or past; e.g. we could...
I am of the opinion that nobody wants to read about the world I built! Or really I mostly sketched it. I don't think people want a museum tour, I think they want a story. If what you built does no...
Coming of Age is about becoming an adult. This is often for young adults the transition to a sexualized person; being interested in sex and romance, knowing what it is about, perhaps experiencing s...
The easiest way to show your technology fits science fiction is to have it break, and then get it fixed by an engineer with a spare part or something. More generally speaking, in the reader's min...
I don't think it is important at all for main characters to be outstanding in the looks department; if fact it can be a detriment. They can be more sympathetic to readers if they aren't that good l...
I had a similar issue in a story of mine; a letter is the catalyst for the action that is basically the whole story. The way I approach this (and many other writing problems) is to remember the pe...
You have a logic problem. If humans have no control over their destiny, then why does this human need to "make a choice?" He can't, his destiny is to "sacrifice everyone he holds dear". Period. In ...
Am I to believe that the person will move on and not check it out simply because it was clearly homemade? Yes, believe that. Of course, believe that on average, you will still get some percent...
Do you wish to sell the book? Happy endings outsell unhappy endings about 10 to 1. This has actually been studied to some extent, and the difference comes down to word-of-mouth: Even if people say...
Don't do it. You shouldn't be doing something in writing that isn't at least tolerable. You need a different style of writing. I say that as a writer that has gone over a three page scene THIRTY ...
Stories can make the game very much more immersive. That said, it depends on the game. We don't have to know a back story in order to play Battleship, or fight zombies, or shoot bad guys on one si...
I think in general you want your character to suffer pain, or inflict it. You want to create conflicts where there were none before; not tectonic conflicts but more minor ones. Problems that reveal...
I do not think you would get accurate feedback, because in a synopsis like that the readers are not invested enough in the characters and story, and the twist is likely to leave them flat. The key...
