Posts by 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 ...
I constantly run into questions like this. They intimate to me too much fancy booklearnin' and nowhere nearly enough thinking. THE POV IS HELD BY THE LAST PERSON TO PERFORM AN ACTION. Cindy woke ...
A have long and unpopular theory about the evolution of acceptable story formats. If all human life originated in Africa and you believe the two tribes theory, then the rest is logical. The tribe m...
I recently asked a question about my current project for a serialised e-story and was informed by the stalwarts that my format was not new. I contrast my own techniques with many of those being pro...
The process isn't the big deal others seem to think it is. I don't believe there are hard and fast rules to writing but I believe an author should apply a set of rules to a particular work. Ask yo...
My experience tells me that a disproportionate number of wannabe writers are prudes. I recently wrote a scene where a female character is watching TV. The build up is complicated so I'll have to ex...
Your question is moot because you're overthinking your issue. There is no 'general reader' because we all live in different bubbles and have different knowledge bases. For example: I'm currently wr...
I'm considering writing my latest story in the style of a TV series. The plan is to write 13 episodes of 10-12,000 each. Episodes will be published weekly on Kindle over a three month period. If se...
If anybody has an answer to this question I'd love to hear it. And, yes, it is on topic because I've used the obsession in a story. Here's the thing . . . There's a difference between text and sp...
It alarms me that you've written a novel and then opened a new document to start again. The best advice I can offer is to leave your novel for a month - don't even think about it. If you're itchi...
If English if not your first language the usage of "now" is difficult to fully comprehend. It has many nuanced translations but is most often used to mean "in this moment". It is also used to empha...
I've written enough to know the kind of writer I am, my voice, my style. I am often accused of making the reader work too hard to put the plot points together. In my latest story: a man experienci...
The original "kick ass" government operative was James Bond. Since then we've had Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer. James Bond Jason Bourne Jack Bauer Seriously? Of course we all know "Hannibal" rh...
There are several adequate answers already provided. However, you are presupposing that their is a way of writing that pleases every reader. There is not. I, generally speaking, do not appreciate...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Is 'creative writing' simply a synonym for 'fiction'?
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...
