Recent content by Roc

If I put in my two cents, I would say use: [thought], she thought. No italics. As someone mentioned, there is an emerging standard in the publishing industry to erase distracting grammar—too many commas, apostrophes, capital letters, etc.—and italics is one of those things. Some people refer to...

I think one of the most difficult things about story ideas is that you have to find one you are utterly passionate about to carry yourself through the arduous process of writing a novel. But, even then, it isn't the worst thing. I can think of 2 ways that have helped me develop ideas or...

I don't think I agree with the last two posts about taking influence from Christianity. Plenty of stories, famous ones like the Chronicles of Narnia, for example, have grounded their plots by making them parallels to religious tales. As for however lazy it is — well that's not for them to judge...

I probably don't make it easy for myself, but when I'm writing I refrain from breaking things up into chapters and for the most part it turns into a long stream of story where I chop it up by indenting a few lines when I feel like I need to move to another scene. In simpler words, I don't break...

You make a really good point and I always love when people do number crunching. Although if his story is in the infancy that it is now, it is simple to change how the numbers work.

CupofJoe makes a good point about their numbers being so low compared to magician's that they might be hated by the majority of people, seen as obtrusive or destructive. Though that also depends on how their powers work; do they have to enact them through will or is the anti-mage's ability...

So recently I've been toying with the idea that one of my characters has AIDS. The only problem is I haven't begun my research yet and was curious if any of you could shed some light on it. More specifically, what would happen to someone with AIDS if they were taken to a different planet where...

Hey guys. I'm curious how you would feel about a certain race of characters not using contractions when they talk or write. Would this become awkward or stilted? It is also going to be juxtaposed by characters that do use contractions. It is worth mentioning that I won't bring attention to...

I agree with A.E. It's going to take as long as you need it to take. If someone tells you it takes 3 months and you're 2 months in and aching to write but thinking that you need to plan for another month, that's not a good approach. For some it takes zero time to plan and they just start with...

If you want an astronomical approach, Saturn has like 30 moons or some ungodly number. It becomes a question of how big your moons are. Are they like Earth's (the biggest of all the moons) or like Saturn's? 2 moons wouldn't phase me at all, like Pauline said, it is actually refreshing to add...

Thanks everyone who posted. You all get a thanks because every post helped me out and provided insight that is tough for a writer on their own work to see.

That helps me quite a bit, Mara. I think at the moment my mc's goal isn't very pronounced. I'll try and make it more apparent.

As I continue to write my story, I can't shake the feeling that it comes off as passive and boring. The only entertaining moments to me are the dialogue. Is there any quote/advice/inspiration you can give me to help shake away this feeling? Perhaps personal experiences. Thanks guys.

I'm almost to the middle of my story, and it has gotten to the point where I hardly use my outline anymore because I deviate so much. I find that as I write, I discover better ways to approach a conflict or more interesting routes my characters can take, and use those over what my outline says...

This is so true. I mentioned I write 1000 words a day and it has been going fantastic for almost a month, but I have done this before, and if you even slack off one day, it has terrible consequences. But otherwise, I don't hate writing. I literally procrastinate so bad that I won't write, I...