Spice Up Your Writing With Dialogue by Judy Cullins Does your chapter sound like a report? Does it go on and on with past tense sentences that tell, rather than show? To spice up your self help, non-fiction or fiction book and even promotional writing, you need to use much more dialogue. Why? If your aim your book at agents and publishers, the first action acquisition editors make is to find a section of dialogue. It is difficult to put just the right words into dialogue--to convey character and emotion. Tips: 1. "You can't be serious, she said in astonishment." So, show how astonished through dialogue or beat. 2. Stop using -ly verbs such as "I'm afraid it's not going well," he said grimly." Examples: Percy burst into the zoo keeper's office. "Is something wrong, sir?" "Don't you realize you're killing those poor innocent creatures, you heartless fascist? 3. You have heard about show, don't tell and all -ly forms tell. Condescending example: "I'm afraid it's not going very well, "he said grimly. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Fantasy Worldbuilding Resources So, you've got tens or hundreds of pages of biology and zoology and anthropology and history and theology notes about your world. Your world is so real to you that you're dreaming about it. Now sit down and write your story, but remember to be very, very careful about how and how much of your worldbuilding you include. As a general rule, the goal with worldbuilding should be to make it invisible. Use worldbuilding to ensure that your world and its rules are consistent and realistic (at least, as realistic as fantasy novels get), because readers will notice if they are not, but treat it as the stage on which your characters play, without overwhelming readers with fascinating (to you) details that are irrelevent to the story. Readers are not going to care about how your characters believe the world was created unless it somehow affects the plot.
Writing Genre Fiction: Structure Chart World Building Worksheets Part 2 | FutureImperfect For Part Two of my world building worksheets, I thought I’d include some of the best worksheets that are also my favorites. In real journalistic style, I’m going to put the best ones first. One of my favorites is a classic world building worksheet that is astounding in the details it covers. It is the World Building form from Patricia Wrede—each link within this link opens up a whole world of information you create yourself—but as Patricia will tell you—if a section doesn’t work for you, don’t use it! Not only that but this link is the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America site which you should probably investigate anyway. ****Highly recommended Another big favorite of mine that really helped me out in learning how to actually flesh out my characters’ worksheet information is the link below. ***Recommended Like this:
Writing Realistic Injuries Quick Contents Introduction General remarks What's normal?Reactions to injury - including emotional reactions, fainting and shock. Introduction Characters climbing cliffs with broken arms or getting knocked out for an hour or so and then running around like nothing happened, bug me. I’m not any sort of medical expert - research for this article has come from a variety of sources from medical texts to personal experience – (I’m just a teeny bit accident prone…) I do historical reenactment and a large part of information here comes from the ‘traumatic injury’ (or ‘the nasty things that can happen to you in combat’ information we give the public and new members to make them go ‘urggh , I’m glad this isn’t for real’. Back to Quick Contents General Remarks There’s a lot of ‘relatively’ and ‘probably’ in this article because everyone reacts differently to injury. What’s Normal…? For a normal, reasonably healthy adult the following reading are ‘normal’. Pulse rate between 60-100 beats per minute.
Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds - Day 0 By Michael James Liljenberg. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth, but the Earth was formless and void and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. Day 0: In the Beginning God: Theology Before even the first day dawns, one of the first issues you must at least address is theology. There are a few basic answers to the theology question Atheism/Agnosticism: Many Science Fiction stories assume an Atheist or Agnostic answer. Naturalism: Atheism is often equated with naturalism, but naturalism is more than rejecting the idea of a divine being. Monism: This is something of a middle ground between Atheism and Theism. Pantheism: Is kind of the next step. Animism: Animism is classic paganism. Polytheism: Classic polytheism, like the mythologies of Egypt, Babylon, Greece, China, Rome, has a group of gods who often compete with each other for worshipers, position, power, and prestige. Monotheism: This is the idea that ultimately there is one God. Religion & Magic:
Story Structure & Plot - Novel Writing Tips Conflict and Character within Story Structure The Basic Three Act Structure The simplest building blocks of a good story are found in the Three Act Structure. Separated by Plot Points, its Act 1 (Beginning), Act 2 (Middle), and Act 3 (End) refer not to where in time in the story they lie but instead fundamental stages along the way. In the Beginning you introduce the reader to the setting, the characters and the situation (conflict) they find themselves in and their goal. Civilizations Calculator This calculator determines the numbers of suitable stars, planets, life-bearing planets, and civilizations which might arise in a galaxy. The algorithm includes numerous factors that can influence the number of advanced, species-wide civilizations which might arise in a galaxy during the era when life and civilization can arise. Click here for general information and on the topics for more specific information. In the first part of the form, enter your favorite dimensions of the habitable zone in the galaxy. It is modeled as a flat ring and dimensioned in light-years. Then enter the values for calculating the number of civilizations. Results are presented in a printable format showing the most significant digits. This calculator was created by Jerome L. © 2006 Jerome L. The algorithm includes two simple assumptions: a star can give rise to only one life-bearing planet, a life-bearing planet can give rise to only one technological civilization. Galactic Habitable Zone Stars & Planets
Patricia C. Wrede's Worldbuilder Questions: Index Index About This Page This page is not Patricia Wrede's web site. So far as I know, she doesn't have one. So if something is broken send your comments or complaints to me: webmaster@larseighner.com. This page is not for young fans of Patricia C. This page is about creating fantasy worlds. This page (actually the many pages in this section) are derived of a number of postings Ms. Originally the questions did not have the sort-of-alphabetic arrangement I have given them here. I put the questions on the web many years ago and obtained Ms. The implications of all of that are: these pages have no connection with any software product, any building-block toys, game creation system, or any other product which uses the word "Worldbuilder" as a trademark. Index of Patricia C.
CALLIHOO Writing Idea Generators: The 37 Dramatic Situations The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations Georges Polti says that all stories boil down to just 36 dramatic situations and takeoffs of those situations. Somebody else out there added #37. If you're stuck for a situation, try this. A situation appears below randomly (in bold print). (Note: In several cases, specific gender in the original descriptions has been replaced with non-specific gender. Your situation: 29. Still stuck for plot ideas? Cosmic Thoughts | Oblique Strategies | Random Science Fiction Story Ideas