by Linda McGovern L. Frank Baum Chances are you have seen the 1939 MGM movie, The Wizard of Oz, at one point or another in your lifetime. But the chances maybe even greater that you do not associate it with L. Frank Baum, the author of the book on which the film was based. In fact, most…
Other people may be more like us than we imagine. (The Borrowers) Memories of friendship can last forever. (Bridge to Terabithia) Defending a country requires loyality and sacrifice. (Camp X) Every child is special to his or her family. (The Canada Geese Quilt) Imagination can be a powerful weapon. (Cougar) Jealousy can be destroying. (The Fairest) The power of knowledge. (From the…
In English, only two tenses are marked in the verb alone, present (as in “he sings”) and past (as in “he sang”). Other English language tenses are marked by words called auxiliaries. Simple Present: They walk Present Perfect: They have walked Simple Past: They walked Past Perfect: They had walked Future: They will walk Future Perfect: They will have walked The…
An important selling tool is the synopsis. For novels these can sometimes run many pages, but it’s also useful to have a shorter, one-page version, and it’s the primary selling tool if you are writing a screenplay. Try to aim for about 500 words. A good rule of thumb is to only name three characters…
This article, from Laura Backes, originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of the Children’s Book Insider newsletter and is reprinted here in its entirety with the CBI’s permission. While the CBI newsletter is primarily aimed at authors of children’s books, the advice given here is applicable to any work of fiction. If you’re writing a…
A SIMILE is a figure of speech where X is compared to Y , using the words AS or LIKE . For example: “My love’s LIKE a red, red rose.” “He was AS cold AS ice.” A METAPHOR is a figure of speech where X is compared to Y, and where X is said TO…
In the plotting and storyline process of writing, often times the term, ‘Scene and Sequel’ is brought into play. This is a very important aspect of the writing process, as the entire structure of your story rests on the way you compose each of these elements in your work. The scene and the sequel are…
This is a quick description of the query process for beginning authors. Why write a query letter? Unless you already know a literary agent, book publisher, famous author, or are extremely lucky, a query letter is your best chance to get your foot into the publishing business. What is a query letter? A query letter…
by Dr. Maurice Godwin As a result of the vexing opinions concerning exactly what deductive and inductive profiling entails, I felt that it was necessary to address some important issues surrounding the use of these terms. Deductive reasoning was first developed by Thales, Pyuthagoras, Aristotle, and other Greeks of the Classical Period (600 to 300…
based on material originally published at cinemoose.com, author unknown One of the things that every writer needs to know is the difference between story and plot. It’s very easy to confuse the two and many people often do. So what is the difference between story and plot? To put it simply, “plot” is the sequence…
by Ambrose Bierce I A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man’s hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack…
These favorite opening lines were originally collected by book clubs in New Zealand: Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person. Anne Tyler, Back When We Were Grownups Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last… Sena Jeter Naslund, Ahab’s Wife My mother…
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