Sensible. And that's assuming she can't summon fast enough to put new edges on the sword after each kill. (The step above that would be to hold...
The only exception here would be something like a blunderbuss, an early shotgun-- with "just dump some bullets and nails and anything you want...
Another thing is, what are the mages going to do when guns start to appear? I can think of some really useful spells, that a combat-minded mage...
I like this. I think some loss of energy is pretty much inherent when characters split up. Just by comparison, you've had the first tale (or...
True enough. There are different schools of thought on what a teaser could be; I'm just sharing a lingering impression I had from the days of...
I've always thought the most elegant teasers were limited to one chapter, or maybe part of one. Seeing something go past that single unit looks a...
I don't know if this is much help, since First Page Stress is pretty well inevitable, but: Relax, and trust S.S.S. Sustained Style is Sacred....
Well played, sir, well played. And that includes the final explanation in its own right.
The main thing I noticed about the first version is how much it suddenly Tells us, especially in the first lines: "intent on parleying with her...
Much of it is knowing your own style. Whatever degree of length and poetry you want, try to be consistent about it. Let your reader know this is...
True. But then you have to make some big, obvious changes to them to make it clear you're doing your own version, and still strike a balance so...
There's a trick I use for things like this. I take the phone book's index of its Yellow Pages (or to be less dated, any website with a really...
Here's another dimension to it: Oftentimes what makes a word important is its relationship to the other words on that page, and to how that fits...
Two of my favorite guides to starting a book come from Lisa Cron and Janice Hardy. Also, speaking of Flogging The Quill, Janice has her own...
You can also look at alternate history stories. Poul Anderson's Operation Chaos was one of the best early ones to create a version of today's...
One small point, that will help this make a better impression on those readers with some musical background: even one octave is a major jump when...
Another tip is that if a beat mentions a second person, then it can clearly mention the first again to pull us back to them being next to speak....
Like people have said, first impressions matter in the story-- and starting with a school doesn't mean it can't start dark. But I would advise...
TV is good at this kind of near-miss presentation; another example is Frasier's infamous Maris, Niles's crazy wife. They built her up as such a...
Stirrups and cushions would be essential, if you think for a second what it would be like to sit on a wooden stick for hours and try to hold on--...
