This article focuses on novels, but its advice can be applied to any long-term project.
Do you tell yourself that you're going to write and never do it? Do you keep talking about your book but leave it sitting at chapter 2 for five months straight? Is it difficult for you to sit down and actually write something?
Most people don't write because there are so many easier ways to spend their time. Their favorite show is on at eight. Oh, look, their friend just posted a bunch of photos online. Then they feel like baking cookies. And suddenly, a day that was supposed to be productive has been spent on TV, the internet, and food.
When I tell adu
Help! I have a Mary Sue! by MissLunaRose, literature
Literature
Help! I have a Mary Sue!
You know that you have a Mary Sue when she upsets the monochromatic color scheme of my Writer's Guides.
Mouse over blue text to see a note.
Internet communities often lash out at writers who create Mary Sues. Declaring the writing to be below their standards, they proceed to punish the creators. They mock the characters, verbally abuse the writers, and write hyperbolically about how much they wish the characters would die.
Bullying writers (who may be very young) is only going to make them afraid to write—and therefore improve—or share their work. Not only that, but it discourages other writers from speaking for fear of public
Writer's Tip: Show, don't tell. by DarlingMionette, literature
Literature
Writer's Tip: Show, don't tell.
Show, don’t tell (SDT). It’s one of the few consistent pieces of advice that all writers have heard at one time or another. Even the most amateur of writers parrot it back, but knowing the phrase doesn’t necessarily mean that we understand it, or how to implement it.
So what does “Show, don’t tell.” really mean? SDT is the idea that instead of telling your readers what’s happening in a story, you show them. This seems like an abstract concept to most of us, but what it boils down to is this: using words to give your readers an idea without having to directly state it. There are many ways good writers
A Writer's Guide: Believable Characters by DarlingMionette, literature
Literature
A Writer's Guide: Believable Characters
I know a lot of you out there are aspiring-writers (I’m one myself!) and sometimes we get so caught up in this “must publish!” attitude that we get lost in our stories along the way. Sometimes there comes a point when we stare at our half-finished novel and say “I’m stuck. “ Usually these moments happen when we don’t know where we’re going next with our story, and usually that’s because somewhere along the line we’ve strayed off the path and we aren’t quite sure how to get back.
One of the things that you may find helpful if you’ve never done it before is to take a reall
Proofreading Tips #7: Introductory Clauses by GoldCoinComics, literature
Literature
Proofreading Tips #7: Introductory Clauses
As the name implies, an introductory clause is a dependent clause at the beginning of a sentence. The preceding sentence, in fact, contained such a clause. Use commas to separate introductory clauses and certain phrases from independent clauses. Introductory phrases of more than five words or phrases containing verbal elements also require commas. Dependent clause openers include:WhenIfAsAlthoughBecauseAfterThoughDuringBeforeWhile
Some examples are:
"As expected, she could not turn in the homework on time."
"In the fall of last year, we held a family reunion." (use a comma after a phrase containing five or more words)
"To decide, they held a