ankhirke

Some people go right bang into the hook, but sometimes, depending on the agent, it's better to introduce yourself first - like when you've met an agent at a conference, ...

If you don't have a particular beginning in mind, then the first tip to starting off your story is: Don't start at the beginning. Start writing your favorite scene, or ...

If you're talking about flow in your prose, then one thing that has often been suggested to me, and which really helps is reading your stuff out loud. No one ...

I don't know how developed your characters are, but I think the thing you're going to want to think about now is setting; no character grows up in a vacuum. ...

I'm with Kibble: Said and Asked are usually the only two I'll need. Answer/reply is second. And then maybe one or two whispered/hissed/screamed/muttered in rare occasions when said seems to ...

Well, the fey were NEVER good, and vampires DON'T sparkle. THOSE books, if anything, are corrupting the original myths. My recommendation would be the same as I would give a ...

Forgive me for the obvious answer, but I'm going to say it anyways: It depends. It's much like asking if third or first or second person is a good idea. ...

I wouldn't get too caught up in EVERY detail of your world. But you probably should find equivalents for everyday things that will be used often. It doesn't even have ...

You can search by ethnicity, first letter, gender, meaning, and related names. Is fun!

Oh solipsism. Read about it: It's kind of a demented form of self-centered exisentialist idealist monism. A certain anime immediately comes to mind: the Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruka. Definitely an ...

That's a little better, but I'm still not clear on the main focus of the book. Here's an exercise that may help us, and will definitely help you: the first ...

I agree with Kylan. there isn't really a lot of information about plot here - just a couple of hooks and character names that have been used elsewhere. What's the ...

Okay, so for my current project (a sequel to my novel-in-editing) one of the main plotlines is that my MC is learning magic. Now, I want to show some of ...

Ah editing. How we love to hate you. Some really good tips here, Seraphina - and ones that too often get overlooked. Finishing it is really the main part. I ...

Reading. A lot. Seriously, it's become so I can't even get through a book without thinking - "oooh, and what if Character A was this instead of that, and Character ...