Posts by Amadeus
I would say that in writing, in particular, we shouldn't break the simple rules of grammar and spelling and many other basics. My reason for that is quite simple, if you writer "gramer, speling, n ...
I would go analytical on this one. Talk about the missed opportunities, the lack of conflict, what makes you not give a crap about the characters, or the issues being presented, or in fact the reso...
I wouldn't shy away from "tiptoe", if I have a non-human species that has been around longer than humans, I consider everything I write about them translation of their language to English. If they ...
I look for popular names, but not the MOST popular names. For example, I just googled "most popular names in the UK" and found this at the top link. An excerpt: Boys Oliver - 6,259 Harry - 5,031 ...
I don't think the problem is a "limited point of view", many good stories are told in first person; and many stories are told in third with a limited narrator: They only know the thoughts and feeli...
I am not a lawyer, so all of this is a layman opinion. If the design on the cups is something done by the set designers or artists employed by the movie, then they own the copyright on that design,...
If you are having trouble outlining, or trouble following or completing a story from an outline that you wrote, you should try discovery writing. I am a discovery writer, and I finish books. In Th...
In novels you can parse sarcasm because you know the characters, specifically you know what they know and how they think, so you know the difference between a serious suggestion and a flip suggesti...
I think this is a matter of opinion; but you come close with In fact, not every person using the expression would be aware of its provenance. It becomes an "expression" or "colloquialism" when it ...
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...
The marketing environment for books has become immensely more complicated and crowded than it was in the past. Partly due to the ongoing information explosion (which lets you and discuss this at al...
One way this has been done is by using a human foil; perhaps somebody that doesn't trust the robot. The way this works is the robot presents as a caring human you could care about. But the robot w...
I suggest this long answer of mine (90 votes) on a similar topic; it will define some of the terms you are using. A "sentient" or self-aware being (machine or biological) will have an internal mod...
The safest time to take a break is between projects, I think. Taking a break in the middle of a project could kill it, there is too much of the project still in your head, held in 'working memory'....
In general, if you are going to be using magic or any non-scientific element, you need to introduce that very early in the first half of the first act, probably in the first pages of your story. T...
As a former university professor at one university, and now a full time research scientist at another, I would just add a footnote for any weeks in which the site was down. As a note, which is what...
Are major mystery subplot(s) in a fantasy story distracting or make a story more appealing? More appealing. Here is an examination of the structures of Harry Potter that concludes the first four ...
Edited in response to OP's edit: I think it would be a mistake to tell them who, and I think it would be a mistake to go with an agent that is only prompted to read your full manuscript because an...
I think of an ellipsis as a moment in which emotion and feeling overwhelms narrative thought. That is how it is being used here, a pause for the narrator induced by internal sensation (desire) and ...
My approach (which I have taken) would be to abandon that story, think much more about Cindy the Vampire, and write a story in which she is the sole hero, and her anger and explosions end up having...
It is hard to answer from what is in your question, but scenes you feel are too short are (in my experience) under-imagined, or under-conflicted, or you are engaging in too much 'telling' about how...
You are just talking about a twist ending, there is nothing wrong with it. Consider The Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis. A wildly successful twist ending, to be sure. SPOILER ALERT In the end, ...
It can be done. If I were doing this, I'd use a character with some skill set that doesn't apply for most of the book; my break-in specialist, the dragon tamer, the assassin, a pilot, etc. So it m...
No. They are often left off, if the context makes it clear who is talking. If I only have Mike and Nancy in a scene: "I had ice cream at lunch," Mike said. "I thought we agreed we would ha...
Your initial instinct is correct; who cares? My advice is to re-read some best selling popular fiction. Stephen King, JK Rowling, Orson Scott Card, Dan Brown, or others you like. But switch off ...
