Surtsey‭

There is no correct answer. As some have intimated a character's description is only necessary if it's relevant to the story. My personal technique involves giving a reader a vague enough descript...

posted 5y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Oh God! not the dialogue tag debate . . . again. Firstly, those who believe 'said' is the only valid dialogue tag and dialogue tags should be invisible are misled. It's fine if you don't write a l...

posted 7y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Firstly, you don't say what type of editor you are. Different editors perform different functions. Before continuing with my answer I must admit to my own bias. Based on experience: independent ed...

posted 7y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Yes, you may use prominent people in history pretty much any way you choose. Obviously libel laws apply. Generally you cannot libel the dead, however some US states permit lawsuits where the descen...

posted 7y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

As a novelist my preference is for what I call an 'active narrator'. The terminology confuses most as they think I'm talking about sentence construction and the benefits of 'active' or over 'passiv...

0 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Is 'creative writing' simply a synonym for 'fiction'?

0 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

I'm sorry but I don't think your example works. You're in first-person but you're not in the moment. You're switching between an internal and external view of the scene which makes it disjointed W...

posted 7y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

I have a series in which one of the main characters dies at the end of book one. From book two the dead character becomes to first-person narrator (Part of the plot - she wonders how she's around t...

posted 7y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Poetry has no specific definition. In the modern commercial era it has no value. On the one hand it can be described as 'short literary fiction'. The other view is that poetry is simply song lyrics...

posted 7y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Because I think you're possibly on the wrong track, I'll weigh in four or five areas for you to think about. (1) Writing your experiences isn't fiction. It may be good practice for writing in gene...

posted 7y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

It is generally taken that if I tell you a joke, then have it explain why it's funny - it's not probably not funny. I continually return to one of my own short pieces. If I submit it I believe it ...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Mark Baker‭

The answer is no. Simply because there are no elements that should or should not be included within a novel, mystery or otherwise. There are no correct formulas. This is evidenced by Dwight Swain's...

posted 5y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Yes. There're a couple of things to unpack here. The general rule is: a new subject requires a new paragraph. A character or person qualifies as a new subject. It is important to remember: dialogu...

posted 5y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

As others intimated you can do pretty much anything you want with ancient / mythological characters. However, what you cannot do is use a representation from a film. e.g. You can use Thor but you m...

posted 5y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

There are technical differences between a play and a screenplay. Amadeus has set you on a good path. The, often overlooked, important difference between a play and screenplay is the required loca...

posted 5y ago by Surtsey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭