Posts by DPT
Welcome to the SE. What is the story? The gayest drag queen in the world would probably watch a story about the Vietnam War as long as it was done well. I'm certain there's at least one or two ...
It sounds as though you are expecting your first draft to not be horrid. I discovered in college that the beautiful poetry I wrote, and that I would proudly thumbtack to bulletin boards around cam...
+1 Mark Baker. In addition, you can pad a character with other characteristics. Don't make A's special ability his only reason to be in the story. Give him a personal goal he's working toward. Giv...
It depends. Are you in an omniscient perspective? Are you in a limited perspective? If limited, you'd only describe those attributes that the point-of-view character notices. So, if the point of v...
It's not clear if the OP is referring to self publication or seeking representation. My understanding is the industry standard (when subbing to an agent, for example) is defined. It may vary by a...
Some of my beta comments fall under the category of 'I the reader am frustrated by what I do not know' - and I've gotten this comment in my real life group too. The reader wants information as s...
I have learned over the past fifteen months of writing fiction that every scene needs to have tension and advance the plot. This is good. But, I find that as I read my novel (again and again) to ...
For the agents--You will only need a perfect query letter and opening pages. If you find an agent that requests the full manuscript, you can explain your situation. If they find your story compelli...
I think Standback has a great perspective here. Answer: Symptoms of crying are one thing. But you can do other things with this emotion, and you should. You can go into the character's thought p...
I think the nude scene in Titanic is 'tasteful' because of the motivations of the two characters. Sure, they are attracted to each other, but Rose at her heart is rebelling against her mother and h...
I'd suggest grouping them into manageable sizes, making some sort of joke out of it, and making mnemonics with their names. Here is a very bad example. It's only to make the point. Finding good n...
It sounds as though this is your first novel. Congratulations! You have accomplished something very few people ever do. To answer your question, consider these points. What is the arc of your st...
You go through piece by piece because you will want to assess each instance. Sorry. That's my answer. Someone may have an easier answer, but easy does not mean better. Look at each instance. Just d...
Ditto to the other answers. I break it down into specific goals. Each pass requires about a week. Check commas and other grammatical issues. Fix instances of passive voice. Make character voices c...
Authors need to understand which scenes in their stories to cut in order to help the reader enjoy the story best. Knowing what works for the reader and what does not is a key skill for authors. B...
Yes, your instincts are correct. You are outlining your characters, which you need to know for yourself as the author, but you are putting that down on paper within the story - and - we do not need...
Don't toss out any literary device you have. Yes, this can work, and work well. In TV it's called the "How we got here" trope. Some examples are The Emperor's New Groove, Fight Club, Inception, an...
The advice is simple. Nail your butt to the couch and type. It won't always be fun, and your first draft will be very bad. If your expectation is to finish a beautiful story painlessly with a bli...
We are good at pattern recognition and if you keep the bizarre names to a minimum you should be OK. Long is fine, so long as they can be scanned and not confused with one another. I rather like T...
I've been reading a book about a related topic and the author touches on this. They refer to James Bond as the example of this type of opening: the opening to every movie is a fast paced action sce...
In this case, think in terms of the process a draw-er would use to draw that concept. They would start with an oval, like an egg. "It was like an egg." In this case, it is longer than an actual...
In biomedical science, you have the opportunity to discuss the human health impacts (and bring in broader societal ramifications) of the medical issues you're covering. My guess is that you reviewe...
I've changed a secondary character into a murderer, and it changes everything. This change also opposes my core philosophies, that life and art should strive to reach something higher - not somethi...
Another trick that can help is to print it out. As soon as it is a hard copy, you will see problems that were not in the e version. Try it with a chapter or two. You'll see. I see the changes imme...
Of course. Yes. All the time. One advantage of this approach is that the reader can (almost) always know more that the point of view character. Another advantage is the ability to explore a comp...
