What is Mary Sue Syndrome? The term ‘Mary Sue’ is one that has been used to describe a character archetype that is too perfect. It originated in the Star Trek fandom in a parody fanfiction. It is an archetype that is especially common in fanfiction. Essentially it is a character, usually the primary protagonist, who…
Homonyms and Homophones What do I mean by this? Let’s get into it. Homonyms and homophones are words that are similar but have different meanings. Homonyms are a kind of catch all term for homographs, words that are spelled the same, or homophones, words that sounds the same (with different spelling) and have different meanings….
What is a cliché? You hear it a lot, especially when talking about writing or producing media. So what are they? Clichés are phrases or ideas that are so overused that they are now boring and unoriginal, so the phrase has lost meaning or become a stereotype. Unlike tropes, which are story elements commonly used…
What is the passive voice? It’s something most of us have seen at some point. Especially in the early days of MS Word’s grammar checker, it was something I remember seeing the passive voice a lot when writing essays and school assignments. I didn’t really understand what it meant at the time, although I do…
So, you’ve got your book idea and you’ve started writing it. You’ve produced an outline and set up your plot, you’ve gotten to know your characters and how they are going to develop throughout your story. Great. But for some reason, your characters have developed a mind of their own. What if they decide to…
People always tell you not to edit until you’ve finished the first draft. Is this true? Or is there something to be said for editing as you go? Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of each option. Edit As You Go Pros of editing as you go Cons of editing as you…
Why You Still Need a Dictionary Word choice matters. English is a complex language with a lot of options for word choice. No matter how good you think your English is, it is important to be selective in your word choices. You need to make sure you are saying what you think you are saying….
Introducing Your Characters So you’ve got your characters and you are ready to start introducing them. Great! Where do you start? A lot of newer writers can fall into a trap when it comes to making the first introduction of their characters, especially the main character. Starting off your first page with a huge infodump…
Apostrophes – an easy guide to using them properly! Ah, the apostrophe, the bane of many a writer’s life. An elevated comma? Or an important punctuation mark that is chronically misused? It is definitely the second one. Apostrophes are commonly used where they shouldn’t be and not used when they should be. So welcome the…
