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Not all advice is equally helpful to all writers. Some pieces of advice aren't even equally helpful to the same writer during different stages of the writing process. Like using a satnav, always exercise judgment before blindly yanking the wheel and driving into the nearest lake because a disembodied voice told you to.
That said, I think both bullet points ...
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If someone else did it well, I shouldn't write it
This statement is very easily disproven - by looking at pretty much any mainstream genre. For example, the fantasy genre contains many different good books - LOTR, Mistborn, etc. Some people might begin writing a fantasy novel and then say "Tolkien and Sanderson did it well - what's the point?" I ...
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Consider for a moment a SciFi/Fantasy story, where our Intrepid Hero must journey across the world/galaxy. Along the way, they discover that aliens/elves/dwarves/goblins aren't as bad as they thought, and overcome a xenophobia/racism that they didn't even realise that they had.
In the end, they return home, only to realise that everyone they used to know is ...
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Should I story board/outline the novel and hand it over to a ghost writer directly to write from scratch?
Or should I write a "bad" first draft and hire an editor to rewrite it, ideally in a more compelling manner.
That rumble in the distance is the sound of a thousand plotters and pantsers, marching towards this thread to wage war on each other.
...
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The way I've heard it said is as follows...
Only show blows that are important. Gloss over unimportant parts of the fight with generalized dialogue because it doesn't provide any useful information to the reader.
Focus on events which show reversal of the situation. One party or another gets the upper hand, the fight escalates, there is a significant change ...
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This is a complex question and it deserves a full answer, so I'll break my answer into two parts: how to write an interesting fight scene and how to specifically explain why a character wouldn't make optimal moves in a fight.
How to write an interesting fight scene
The best advice I have ever received about writing interesting and exciting fight scenes that ...
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My advice? Take the plunge, and do the best that you can. Don't assume that because you're used to writing scripts that you can't layer in the description. Just picture in your head the scene and describe it. Then, higher a developmental or someone else to help fix it. Don't send it to a ghost writer.
I've written with quite a bit of economy of description, ...
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At heart this is a worldbuilding question. What shape the conflict takes depends on a number of setting and motivation related factors.
For instance, who are these foreigners? Are they explorers, looking for gold in a distant land, and are they the first people to make contact with this tribe? Exploration missions are expensive and dangerous. If a member of ...
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Think first about the country you want your city to be in. Then find out who the first people were that discovered your country. Let's say you want to name a city in Britain. The first people there were the Romans. Think about what the Romans could find special in your city. Maybe there were, I don't know, many bears as they arrived. So you take the Latin ...
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Any tips for getting over this hurdle and either skipping over autobiographical writing or making it mentally/emotionally easier?
If writing about your life is therapeutic, do it. Buy a small notebook, write with a pencil and keep an eraser nearby in case you need to walk back your words. Keep it locked away in a safe or drawer when you're not writing so ...
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Ah, the dilemma: How to get in touch with your private thoughts and feelings without hurting others or exposing yourself to hurt?
It's likely that, if you keep private writings around, someone will eventually read them. Your knowledge of this limits you from being honest and expressive while you're writing.
The simple solution, and one practiced by many ...
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I think about how people who are involved or who know me would react if they ever got the chance to read it.
There is one easy way past this block - write so you would be happy with the writing if they read it. If someone made a terrible decision, e.g. robbing a bank, and you want to portray this nicely, then do so. Explain the hunger they feel, the need ...
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Writing for the screen is not the same as writing a novel. However, there are many similarities. For example, you have to be prepared actually write rather than just talk about it, you have to edit what you have written, dialogue has to sound realistic, characters have to be three-dimensional, there has to be conflict, etc.
If I was you, I would start with ...
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Description is always a game of point of view. Even if you are doing 3rd person narration, you want to pick a point of view character for this action. Then, don't describe this like a sports announcer sitting on the sidelines. Instead, try to see it as your character would. They wouldn't take in everything, so give us what they would actually notice, and ...
answered Jun 22 at 21:00
Chris Sunami supports Monica
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How important is the sentence is your narrative? If not very important, then "everyone poured into the streets." Bad on you if you haven't set up the reader to understand that "everyone" refers to those of all species. If it is important, and this is perhaps the first time you are showing eqivalence amongst the species, then maybe ...
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If you can't visit in person, I recommend setting up remote interviews with first-hand participants in the environment you are writing about.
For example, to create a realistic hospital setting, I'd recommend interviewing former inpatients and nursing staff. If you have a specific region (e.g., Los Angeles) in mind, you could post a notice on the LA ...
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I worked at two different hospitals. Both used a visiting hour policy, but made exceptions as long as everyone was relatively quiet. Most exceptions involve coming to life and death: our labor and delivery only allowed 1 or 2 visitors so everyone else stays in the waiting room until they can see the baby through glass, hospice wards are similar except a ...
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There seem to be many different ways that the conflict could work. These are my examples:
Methods
War - all-out battle, think crusades and religious persecution - kill all the heretics and convert their children
Missionary activity - think Christian missionaries or the Jewish Chabad movement.
Force - pushing the elders and leaders into teaching the young/...
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I believe this may be a duplicate, but I'll try answering.
1. Is repeating a scene through a second POV advisable?
I think that that is the whole point, reinterpreting the same event with new eyes...
Though to avoid boring the reader it does need to be distinctive and preferably adding new elements that the original pov character didn't see like something ...
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