Sam

Read/review a hundred books. - I kept track of what I read one summer when I was in fourth grade. I read nearly sixty books. Looking back at last year, ...

*hugs Wiggy* You must post this. And no, that's not a request, that's a demand. ^_~

Oh, totally. Historical fiction is difficult to do in that you have to work in the history and not make it seem overly-obvious, but it's really cool when someone pulls ...

If it's an adult whose name I don't know, I usually use 'sir' or 'ma'am'. Nebraska is in that weird balance between north and south, though- part of the time ...

The first thing you've got to decide what kind of "story clichès" you mean. There is no such thing as a completely original plot- they're all clichèd. They've all been ...

Maybe you've spent all night working on a story, just to find out "your characters need some more flaws". Or even that "I couldn't identify with your character". This is ...

Always writing in the same spot tends to hinder some people- it's like, "Oh, I'm not sitting on top of the mailbox, guess I can't write! *wink wink*" Not a ...

*claps for Brad* A few things of agreement, dissent, and general support: Do we trust people who have doctorates in art history to give genuinely enlightening commentary on a new ...

I've always grown up in or near really small towns, and they have rather strange names...but the trick is that they're familiar, but not entirely recognizable. Take a drive off ...

And also, when people critique, thank them. This might seem like kind of a conceited thing for me to say, but the majority of people who critique put a lot ...

I want the readers to really get involved with my characters, and feel his or her pain and sadness, I know you say happiness after this, but pain and sadness...these ...

Oh, sure. Jack beats me to it. ^_~ Currently, the list goes something like this- Decemberists, Shins, Sufjan Stevens, White Stripes, Belle and Sebastian. Things that have a mix of ...

That's the fun part of developing your own style- you can totally tell it's yours, as compared to someone elses'. So, yeah. Practice at your craft, and it shouldn't be ...

I'm a slave to the section break/italics thing, though most people don't like it so much. I would try to avoid the 'memories filling his head', or something of the ...

Yeah, I mom and dad and friends would always buy me little journals and things so that I could keep a diary, just because I loved those "Dear America" books- ...