Gahks

With stories, planning doesn't work for me. I just run with the plot and let it grow organically. That uncertainty and the suspense factor (the need to know what happens ...

Trust your story. If you don't believe in it, neither will the audience. When you run into problems, relax and take a breather for a couple of days, then come ...

Hey Dee! Pleased to meet you! I'm Gahks by the way. *handshake* Put up a post in the Welcome forum so we can get to know more about you! Anyway, ...

He wanted beauty; she wanted money.

How do you open a novel? Good question. There's no set way of writing an opening, no magic formula. You need to experiment with different ideas until you find your ...

Telling is useful in segues between scenes, or filling in gaps between important plot points. However, for the most part, you should show as much as you can. Showing is ...

Joining the Gender Bender group might be a good idea indeed. Sketch out one character's entire biography. Most of the details you put down won't end up in the novel, ...

Current events and what generally is right/wrong with the world. Family and friends. Beliefs, values and interests. My Chinese culture. Most importantly, my dream to be a real writer.

Don't make big cuts if you don't need to. A lot of small cuts can have as large an impact as editing out a whole chapter or scene. If anything, ...

"The semi-colon is a gift to any writer." - Dianne Doubtfire. The semi-colon, in the words of the OED, indicates "a discontinuity of grammatical construction greater than a comma but ...

Pronouncing the "h", also known as aspiration, works in both senses. Here in the UK, anyway.

Hmm... possibly...

Only bring in backstory if it's relevant to the main plot and adds depth to it. Episodes of Law & Order are a good example.

Cliffhangers are about SUSPENSE. Suspense is key to any successful book. It's also known the "need to know what happens next." As the word might suggest, the conclusion of the ...

You have to plan the deaths carefully, so that you don't lose the reader's interest. A great example of this is Robert Bloch's 1959 suspense novel Psycho , later the ...