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Good stories center on the clashing of characters’ goals and motivations. Sometimes a character’s goals and motivations arise from seeking something so badly that he no longer cares if he must influence or control someone unscrupulously. Here are four writing prompts for stories that center on manipulation. Man vs. natureAn expedition is marooned in a remote…

Here’s some valuable information for authors: the difference between capital and capitol. Capital has a number of definitions, but the one most confused with capitol is when referring to a city that is a governmental or administrative center, as in The capital of Georgia is Atlanta. It also can refer to a city of prominence in some industry or field, as in Detroit is…

“Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.…

Many readers enjoy books in which they attempt to solve the story’s central problem before the main character does. To add to such readers’ pleasure, authors sometimes will create “diversions” when plotting the book. These diversions are known as head fakes, as they’re plot actions that appear significant but really aren’t. The term is borrowed from…

Q: I have a lot of books at home and all the books have a half-title and then they have a title page with the name of book and author. Why do books have to have both a half-title page and a title page? – Lauren A: Thanks for your question, Lauren. The two title pages are…

Should you have an unfinished story or chapter, begin a 15-minute writing session by revising it. After five minutes of that editing, continue writing the story or chapter where you left off. ______________ My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new…

Q: While reading a guide to marketing one’s book, the author talked about including “book specs” in your press releases. She didn’t explain what “book specs” are, though! Can you tell me? “Book specs” are the following about your book: date it was published; publisher; ISBN; price; pages; cover (hard or paperback); trim size; website URL.…

Sometimes writers struggle over which of these two phrases to use. One definitely is better than the other – usually. Different from means “to contrast two things.” For example, if you wanted to show how one football team is strikingly dissimilar to another team, you might write The Los Angeles Rams play an offensive scheme that is different…

While the exact years that one enters middle age is uncertain, the spelling is very definite. Middle age, a noun that means someone is about 40 to 65 years old, is two words (like ice cream) with no hyphen. For example: At the end of middle age, most people’s children have left home. When using the word as…