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8 Tips for Writing Dialogue for your Characters Anybody Can Write a Novel   Chapter 5 “Choosing and Designing Characters” – Section 4 “Dialogue” With Links to Supplementary Material Dialogue is a tricky topic, and for two key reasons. The first is that creating realistic dialogue is a difficult skill to master—even in day-to-day life—without speech coming out plastic, pointless, or otherwise unconvincing. The second problem is that the proper dialogue for your story is deeply rooted within the other elements—the characters, the setting, the genre, etc... Because of this, writing dialogue tha

Part 2 available here: I've hesitated for my as long as I've been online about whether or not I should openly post about this, but lately I've come to the conclusion that if we neurodiverse people don't speak for ourselves, no one will. Will people try to use this as a weapon against me to invalidate what things I have to say? Undoubtedly. But I think it's my responsibility to share it despite the bullies and small-minded haters. I'm autistic. I've shared this with people individually. You might already know. I was diagnosed with a nonverbal learning disorder when I was 17. It's a diagnosis which essentially boils down to "she's on the auti

WARNING: May collapse under weight of own genius at any moment

You Have No Right To Live: Hey, what are you doing? That's mine, now give it back. You're stupid, you should just go die! Okay, I'm sorry... What, you failed again? Just how much money do you think we're spending on this, Do you think it just falls from the sky? I can't believe you; and don't give me that look! You better straighten up now you hear me And if you keep looking like a dead fish, I'm going to make you wish you were one. I'm sorry... Hey, being around you is driving me nuts, You never want to do anything, you don't even care, Why bother even breathing if you're going to act like you're dead! I'm sorry! You're Pat

"Hi, I'm-" "I know who you are." "You do?" "You're the guy who thinks he's invisible." "I have a name-" "It isn't important. Because you really don't think it's important." "All right. Since we've started out this way, let me just tell you, I know you too." "Yeah?" "You're the girl who is broken." "I am not broken." "You're the girl whose eyes close every night and open the next morning, only to find you have never slept at all." "I sleep well. Besides-" "You're the girl who dreams of a happy ending even though she has seen seventeen...no, eighteen unhappy ones in her eighteen years." "Happy endings are over rated. And you're-"

It takes 14 minutes and twelve seconds to walk to your home from mine every day.  Your mother never fails to smile at me when she opens the door. I never fail to notice that it doesn't reach her eyes anymore. You leave your door open an exact two point three centimeters. I don't think you do it on purpose. There is something wrong with the wood that has left it that way. I pause one foot outside the door and listen to you cough, trying to determine how sick you feel today. I hate that every time I think you are particularly ill, I am always right. Six months, seventeen days and fourteen hours. That is how long its been since the d

 "What are you doing?" "I think…I finally figured out percentages." "We learnt those in the third grade." "Yeah, but we always complained that we'd never use them in real life." "And you know how to use them in real life now?" "Eighty four percent." "What's that?" "That's the percentage of how many basketball matches you lost to me when we were kids." "That's not fair! You're taller than me!" "Fifty two percent." "Is that how much taller than me you are?" "No. That's the percentage of times you speak out of turn and get into trouble for it." "Very funny." "Twenty three percent." "Let me guess, that's how much I annoy you?"

5 Tips for Establishing Character Voices Anybody Can Write a Novel   Chapter 7 “From Story to Art” – Section 9 “Speech and Voice” With Links to Supplementary Material After you finish your first draft in all of its rough, unpolished, corny, sappy, unorganized glory, you will likely note something rather disturbing about your characters. They all sound the same. And, upon further analysis, you may even discover that they all sound like you. Fear not! This is to be expected, and but another factor to be adjusted and improved in the many drafts to come. Tip 1: Annotate how each character's speech pattern differ

 Of the nearly eighty female prisoners that had answered my request, I had narrowed my choices down to two of them.  The first was a voluptuous, porcelain-skinned brunette that would make my brother drool in seconds.  The second was a golden-haired, frail little piece of work, and normally I would have dismissed her during the first round of eliminations, but something kept her there.  Maybe it was the way she stared at me with her venomous green eyes, but I couldn't be sure.  In any case, I had my two choices set before me, each isolated in separate cells on opposite ends of the jail so that I might ob

I've heard so many people tell those who suffer depression to just 'cheer up.' I wonder if they can really believe that it's that simple. Depression isn't just sadness. It is emptiness, it is misery. It is pain and nothingness at once. When you are truly depressed you lack the ability or will to cheer yourself up. No one just 'has depression.' You suffer from it. This is depression: You will wake at 5, 6, maybe 7am, feeling as though you had only just fallen asleep. It's likely you did. If you don't have to be somewhere, you could lie in bed for another 3 hours...too tired, too miserable and pathetic to crawl out of you bed. Or maybe you wi

7 Tips for Adjusting Your Story's Pace Anybody Can Write a Novel   Chapter 7 “From Story to Art” – Section 11 “Pacing” With Links to Supplementary Material Have you ever received or given criticism for a story being too rapid and confusing or too slow and boring? Perhaps you had a specific scene that you just couldn't get to fit right with the epic scene that followed. When writers find these issues, it is very often a problem of incorrect pacing in the text. The speed at which the reader perceived the story was simply not working to make the timing work to create a dynamic experience. Today, I'm going to tal

Denial: He stands before the mountains and sighs, knowing that they reach toward the heavens He begins his climb his hands soon bloodied, his fingers digging into the hardened stone He continues to drag himself against the crags that scrape against his peeling skin Unwilling to end his climb prematurely though the rocks continue to slice into his flesh Blood is drawn with a single desperate gasp as pain rings out throughout his frame His feet tremble and his hands grow numb but still he continues to climb ever higher... The winds threaten to throw him from the face of the mountain and they slowly begin to waste him away His bod

*This part is for newbies. Skip down to the dashes if you already know this stuff.* Okay, so first of all, a zombie is a reanimated corpse that lurches around looking for human flesh. Different breeds may be reasoned with, or even "cured" back to the original personality. However, the most typical zombies: -Are incoherent. They will not be reasoned with or threatened. -They don't sleep. -They seem to like brains, but most will settle for a nice hunk of your flesh. -The come in different speeds, from crawling to shambling to running. Most are shambling along at a slow slow walk. -They do not drown or asphyxiate. -Some will burn easily w

1. The difference between being thin and being skinny is that when you’re skinny, everyone is constantly trying to get you to eat. As if you are deliberately starving yourself. As if they are soldiers and you are a war they must win, food instead of guns in their hands. 2. Seven years ago, when I first realised that I couldn’t sleep on my side anymore because my hipbones cut like knives into my skin, that I could count every single one of my ribs, I ate everything I found in the fridge till I threw up, and my mother assumed I was doing it on purpose. It took me three sessions of intensive therapy to convince the th

6 Tips for Writing and Storytelling from Stan Lee Recently, Stan Lee made a Youtube video in order to help along writers and storytellers of all types. And there is something wonderfully simple about how Stan Lee perceives writing. The following are the 6 tips that I picked up from listening to his lecture. Tip 1: Accept commissions as boundaries meant to challenge your creativity. Chances are that your writing dream will not take off with your book or comic becoming an instant hit. You will have to work for companies, accept commissions, and bide your time until you publish your masterpiece. When you do accept commissions and have to work

Overcome your Writer's Block: If you want to deal with writer's block the plan is simple, tickty-tock Give in to madness, go insane search for words in the midst of rain When you hit the wall on its painted face with your fingers and knees you'll find a trace The secret passage that will lead you through or perhaps you might be eaten by a grue... Oh well... Back to the rhymes that I use to explain If you try to go forward it will be in vain So try a new direction, upward or down Left or right maybe Charlie Brown? There are no limits except in your mind Now do a google search and what do you find? A pond of ideas now stagnant a

“Sleeping in class again are you Jake?” The sound of my name startled me. I jumped up and glanced around before meeting the eyes of my teacher. “I'm sorry Ms. Chigwa, won't happen again, I promise.” I heard stifled giggles around the room as my teacher shook her head. I want you to see me in my office after class, understood?” “Yes ma'am.” I sighed. I knocked on Ms. Chigwa's door, awaiting my punishment. “Come in.” She said flatly. “Well Jake I've caught you sleeping in my class so many times and I've given you so much detention it's proving to be ineffective. I'm giving you two op

You want to end it? Think of this. You write your suicide note... And you set it on the table. You take your razor, your silver, two inch razor. And you start to slide it across your wrist. You barely feel a thing. After all, the pain of life is more than the pain of the blade. And you take that belt you never wore, the one that was too tight, the one you starved yourself to fit into. And you wrap it once, twice around your neck... and you pull it tight. Barely breathing, you put the ends of the belt on something to hold you up. Something to strangle you. Something to kill you. And you die. And that's the end, right? Wrong. So, so wrong.

INTERVIEW YOUR CHARACTER (YOUNG ADULT VERSION) CONCEPT: Choose an original character you have created. All questions must be answered from the character's perspective. The character should remain "in character" throughout the interview. The character may refuse to answer a given question, but must say something in reply to it. The character must answer truthfully, but that does not necessarily mean that their answers must be true, only that the character believes them to be true. Have fun. CHARACTER: SETTING: CATEGORIES: . DESCRIPTION . VITAL STATISTICS . FAMILY . PERSONALITY . ABILITIES AND TRAITS . RELATIONSHIPS . HIST

I am the mighty Bass, feared by humans and robots alike. I am the right hand of Dr. Wily, the world’s most insane, yet technologically gifted mind in the world. Okay, Light’s just as famous, but he’s not insane. I have at my disposal, the mighty Bass Buster, a plasma weapon of unimaginable destructive potential and I have Treble, my mighty war hound! We combine into the unstoppable Gospel! You might ask yourself where someone of such unimaginable power would choose to lay his head at night…and…if you said the floor…you’d…ugh…you’d be right. This is insulting. Me, Bass, listed in the top ten

I recently solicited my watchers to ask me writing questions that I would then attempt to answer in a writing guide such as this. This article is my first response, and there will be many more to come. I've been asked to give advice on ways a writer can begin to put words on a page. The bottom line is as simple as this: sit your butt down and write. Duh, right? It's the only way I know to actually write. Sure, sitting your butt in a chair is easy, but getting your fingers to move and stay moving is a challenge. Here are three things that have helped me. 1) Have a goal. Your goal can be as simple as "describe the person in this picture" o