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Writing romantic scenes and fight scenes: 6 parallels
Writing romantic scenes between lovers and writing fight scenes (between lovers or heroes and villains) might sound miles apart. Yet both share common important elements: 1. Structure (shape, purpose, clarity and direction) There are four things great scenes of all types (not only ro...
July 13th, 2017
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Choosing description words: 10 questions to ask
There are endless ways to describe someone, from physical description to verbal tics, personal views and more. Here are 10 questions to ask about your description words to help you make your writing vivid: 1: What are the most precise, descriptive nouns? Often when we think of description ...
July 3rd, 2017
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8 foreshadowing laws: How to foreshadow right
What is foreshadowing? Generally, the term means a 'warning or indication (of a future event)' (OED). As a literary term, it means creating earlier scenes to build suspense, anticipation or understanding ahead of later plot developments. Learning how to foreshadow is a useful skill for creating ...
June 29th, 2017
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Writing an action story: 8 tips for strong pacing
'Action' and 'pacing' are two crucial elements in all stories, particularly in action/adventure and mystery/thriller novels. Knowing how to write action well keeps your tale engaging and fun. Here are 8 tips to help you pace your action story: How to write action better: Understand strong...
June 26th, 2017
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How to master plot development: 8 steps
Plot development means ensuring that your novel contains what makes stories enjoyable to read: Action and event, change, wonder and surprise. Here's how to improve your plot-writing skills: Eight steps to develop a plot structure Know the crucial elements: What is plot? Write plot expo...
June 19th, 2017
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Character profiles: 5 questions for a detailed cast
Character profile writing is a useful way to build a rounded idea of your characters. Knowing your characters' appearance and persona inside out makes scenes practically write themselves, sometimes, when you bring characters together. To create a character profile, ask these 5 questions and writ...
June 15th, 2017
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How to describe hands: 6 ways to make characters real
Describing hands is useful for showing characters' psychological traits and personality, age and more. Many amateur writers stop at describing eye colour or how characters say their dialogue. Yet there are many different physical details you can use to show a character's nature. Read exampl...
June 12th, 2017
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Writing an affecting novel: Examples of tone and mood
Tone and mood are two powerful elements of writing that affect how readers feel. Tone tells us a lot about characters - a protagonist whose tone is mostly sarcastic, for example, might seem jaded. Mood is closely tied to place. The atmosphere of a story setting, how characters feel about it, aff...
June 8th, 2017
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Novel structure: 7 tips for structuring your book
Understanding how to structure a novel makes your story easier and more satisfying to read. Good structure creates plot clarity and cohesion. Read 7 tips for how to structure your book, including story structure examples from accomplished novels: 1: Understand basic story structure 2: Lear...
June 5th, 2017
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Examples of adjectives from top authors' novels
Adjectives - words that describe nouns or pronouns - add specificity and detail to writing. The literal definition of adjective is 'throw towards', from the Latin prefix ad- (towards) and the verb jacere (throw). That's what great describing words do: They 'throw' readers into your fictiona...
May 29th, 2017
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How to edit your novel: 8 simple steps
Learning how to edit your novel before a professional editor even sees it is smart. When there are fewer minor errors, a hired editor can focus on large-scale issues: Plot holes and inconsistencies and issues of style and tone. To edit your own writing, try these 8 simple steps: ...
May 25th, 2017
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How to write cliffhangers: Suspense examples from books
Learning how to write cliffhangers and suspenseful scenes is a crucial skill, whether you write mystery thrillers, fantasy fiction or another genre. The suspense examples from books below show how to bring readers to the intolerable state of not knowing that makes us race to turn the page. ...
May 22nd, 2017
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