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You convey extreme speed visually,and perhaps as accompanying sound. If you want the reader to feel something, you need to make that felt by a POV character in the story. Reader's tend to identify wit …

You can use simple language, if you want a good example read passages from the Harry Potter series. It is written for children, but enjoyed by tens of millions of adults as well. (Except, as Steven Ki …

I think you don't understand the author's job. The author of a story imagines the situation, the scenes, the characters, and their personalities, and does the engineering to turn this into a coherent …

This is not foreshadowing. Unfortunately, for American audiences, calling out "Marco" is comical; it is reminiscent of the childhood game "Marco Polo", a call and response game similar to hide and see …

You must put a spotlight on it. A big spotlight. This incident is a plot point, it is not a "hook". You must show that your protagonist has no idea what happened, but she is being blamed. The bully's …

Sorry, this sounds like just another boring wish fulfillment story by a beginner. Stories are not interesting if the hero doesn't suffer. The whole point of being a hero is that they get kicked in the …

Disclaimer: In no way do I endorse verbal or physical abuse; I am talking about writing fiction and getting into the head of a fictional character. I am not talking about any real person, in the boy o …

Hence the "Stranger in a strange land" trope, of most fantasy. Meaning, somebody unfamiliar with the magic enters a magical world, and needs explanations. We see this with Harry Potter, he knows nothi …

It sounds to me you are writing intellectually, and not emotionally. And it sounds like you are doing a lot of "telling" instead of "showing". It doesn't take many words to get an intellectual idea ac …

Yes, this is called "Discovery Writing", and Stephen King is one practitioner. In this method, we develop an interesting character (or several of them), set up their normal world, and typically we hav …

I think you have to plan both, with a very good idea of the finales of each. The problem is that you need a story strong enough to publish first, but sequels are even harder. Because you need to be ev …

Mary was exhausted, walking the sidewalk to the bus stop. She didn't even like this part of town, the ratty stores, the broken curbs. It looked -- Suddenly something blocked her foot in mid-stride, sh …

Well, I'd translate into familiar terms, just like the original translator: Is the unit 'sežanj' really a fathom? Or just approximately the same measure? I doubt the "galley of the Doge" is a Croatian …

Another time-tested technique that can be successful is "Stranger in a Strange Land." …

The "antagonist" you open the story with is who the reader will assume is the "main guy" and try to identify with. It is okay if that guy is an anti-hero, it is even okay if the reader hates him. I pr …