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Good stories center on the clashing of characters’ goals and motivations. Sometimes a character’s goals and motivations arise from a faulty understanding of a situation. Here are four writing prompts for stories that center on misconception. Man vs. natureA person important to our main character is accused of committing a horrible crime. To clear his name,…

While analyzing your own draft, try deconstructing the piece into the various elements of fiction (plot, setting, character, point of view, theme, style, etc.). This can be beneficial in determining what is missing. Revising the manuscript by focusing on one element at a time probably isn’t very workable, however. These elements work together to make an…

One of the most common abbreviation mistakes that new writers make, especially when penning academic papers, is the Latin phrase et al. Part of the problem is that we don’t know Latin; another part is that neither do our computer spell checkers. Et al. means “and others”. Et is Latin for “and” while alii is Latin for “others”. In modern English, we don’t…

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of…

Good stories center on the clashing of characters’ goals and motivations. Sometimes a character’s goals and motivations arise when there is suspicion of others. Here are four writing prompts for stories that center on distrust. Man vs. natureThe power goes out, and a group of people in a somewhat isolated location find themselves at the mercy…

• Use sensory details rather than internalized ones One way to make your writing more vivid is to use sensory details rather than internalized ones. Sensory details (blue, sour, loud, smooth) are specific rather than general. Internalized details (angry, pleased, innocent, civilized) amount to using fuzzy words and give no real impression of what is being described. • Mimic…

Sometimes the only purpose of a story’s sentence is to say that nothing happened. Such sentences are called “nulls”. An example would be the sentence “He said nothing.” Fortunately, nulls are easy to spot: If your story were occurring in real life, nulls would be the points where nothing happens. Nulls can be deleted from the…

One dilemma that novice writers often run into when writing a new draft of their story is a fear of cutting too much exposition. It’s an unfounded fear. You probably can’t cut enough exposition. No story should include writing that slows the forward movement of plot, amounts to lecturing the reader or forcing him to read…

A book signing, reading or other presentation centered on your book obviously is a good way to promote your title. To be successful, however, your presentation will need to be promoted as well. Some forms of promotion work far better than others. It mainly depends on where you are presenting the book. If appearing at a…