RacheDrache

Generally speaking, you come across two types of writers in regards to plot. There are the Planners, the Architect types, who sit down and, well, plan things beforehand. The most ...

When it comes to writing accents and language variation, I have a general rule of thumb. It's called the Mark Twain Rule. It goes like this: "Unless you're Mark Twain, ...

I pronounced it "Kay," and my second instinct would be "Say." Depending on what the rest of the name was, that might change. Most guides go in the back of ...

What Rosey said the second time. Only, even better, you can use whatever features the ghost chooses to characterize the ghost. If he sees the two guys as "the fat ...

I don't think there's any established ratio for this, unfortunately. I'd say a lot depends on what your goals are for your novel and for your writing in general, and ...

But in case you're not referring to second-person POV, what you probably mean is a style of third person omniscient that was quite popular in Kipling's time and before that. ...

The answer to your question, I think, is "subplots." Her being attracted to him and not knowing he's a vampire is one thing... But are vampires common and known in ...

Rachael Elg was the original pseudonym that I came up with. How I landed on 'Rachael' is a bit of a long story involving mistaken identity, but 'Elg' is an ...

Italics! They work great for signaling to the reader that the text he or she is reading is not, for the lack of a better word, normal. Kind of like ...

Oh, how I've been hoping someone would ask this question, or more specifically notice this in his/her writing. Why? Because it's something that every writer actively trying to improve his/her ...

You could also leave it as 23:52. A lot of it depends on the style you're writing in, of course--length and complexity of sentences, the Point of View, essentially the ...

I going to be summarily shunned if I say that I've never had a problem coming up with names for characters? Since I write high fantasy, I just make them ...

First, Harry Potter isn't an urban fantasy. I'm not even sure Twilight counts as an urban fantasy, although it's much closer than Harry Potter. The first thing that comes to ...

Yeah, I'd advise against attempting to make your own language completely. Doing that takes a Ph.D.'s worth of knowledge and several years--it took the guy who made the language for ...

Though, why do they have to be Japanese-sounding? Why not invent your own language/naming system and your own culture?