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Crossing Genres

Every genre has core elements that make that genre that genre. In order to Cross Genres properly, you need to know each of your genre's distinctive elements and make them Equally Important in the story.

Simple, no? However...

One of the most common mistakes I've seen in every genre of fiction: IGNORANCE.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Most of the common mistakes come with any writing that isn't so good—bad characters, bad plots, bad writing. The ones which are peculiar to alternate histories (fantasy and sci-fi) are bad research and bad extrapolation."
-- An Interview with Harry Turtledove --> http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue298/interview.html

The LAYERS of Fiction

------Original Message------
"If you have Action and Dialogue, do you really NEED Description too?
What is the difference?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Layers of Fiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dialogue Only
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Himawari-chan, I have your lunch!"

"Ah, Watanuki-kun!"

"Here you go Himawari-chan!"

"Thank you, Watanuki-kun!"

"You are very welcome, Himawari-chan."

"I see. Of course. Thank you, Yuuko-san. Do I need to tell you what she said?"

"No! No, you don't, and I don't want to hear it! I don't need a freaking baby-sitter!"

"Yuuko thinks you do."

"That's her! Not me!"

"Are you a fortune-teller?"

"No! Of course not!"

"I'll

Pesky Point of View

DISCLAIMER: Before anyone starts screaming about this article not emphasizing the Creative aspect of writing, please understand that this information was hammered into my head by my editors. This is what I had to learn to see my work published.

That doesn't mean you have to follow it! As with all advice, feel free to take what you can use and throw out the rest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pesky Point of View
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What is Point of View (POV)?
-- It's the view of the person telling the story.

First Person: I am telling the story.

Second Person. I am telling the story to YOU. (Diaries and letters are commonly written this way.)

Third

Character Development Question

Individual Character Sheet
(c) Helsinki-Harlot.deviantart.com

Name: (Full name, and nicknames).
Age/Birth Date: (x-) / (mm/dd/yyyy)
Race/Origin:Race (Country ; (father/mother) + Race ( Country; father/mother)
Birth Place: City, Country.
Zodiac Sign: (Depending on the culture they identify with, or what you're familiar with)
Class In Society Now/ Growing Up: (Lower/Middle/Upper; City/Country)
Sex: (F/M/etc.)
Gender: (What do they identify as? Ex. Female, Male, Trans, Gender queer, etc.)
Orientation: (Preference in partner(s). )
Main/Major/Minor/Side (Circle or Highlight)
? relationship to main character:
Character Transition: (How do they cha

When the Hero is NOT a Hero

Protagonist & Antagonist ~ A Different Definition
There are Three Essential Characters in Every Story. There may be any number of side characters, but in traditional Adventures, and Romances of every stripe the main conflict is usually, if not always, a triangle of complimentary opposites.

Translation: You could tell the WHOLE story with ONLY these Three Characters; perhaps not with any real detail, but you could still do the entire basic plotline. (Yes I know, I've said some of this before. Bear with me.)

THREE Characters?
Yep. I'm sure you're familiar with: Hero – Villain – Heroine (or Sidekick) already. Those are pretty darn

HOW do you make THE END?

"When will you make an end?"
- The Pope on the painting of the Sistine Chapel

"When I'm finished."
- Michelangelo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so you got this GREAT Idea for a story!

- This Great Idea...that births chapter after chaper...
- This Great Idea... that you can't seem to finish. (WTF?)

Crap.

So what do you do now?

HOW do you make an End?

Fairytales and Myths were my foundational reading, so they became my base model for how a story should finish -- by ending where you began with a solution.

This doesn't mean ending a story in the location it started, or that full irrevocable transformations don't happen, bu

Advanced Plotting-The PREMISE

Advanced Plotting ~ the PREMISE

-----Original Message-----
Could you tell me more on plotting story points? I can get the big story idea well enough, but I run into a snag deciding the whole causality thing -- A leads to B, leads to C, …etc."
-- Mad about Plotting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ah, so you wanna know how to put all the theories together to make a story, do you? (Gee, you couldn't pick the easy stuff could you?) Okay...

A story's Causes & Effects, the triggers that lead from one event to the next, comes from your Premise.

Just for the record...
A Premise is NOT a Concept!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Premise is the theoretical / e

10Q Writers' Tutorial: SettingTen Easy Questions to Fix Your Fantasy Setting
(may also work for sci-fi)

A fantasy story has to take place somewhere. And what better surroundings for your epic/tragic/blood-thirsty tale of war/love/orc-beauty-pageants than your mystical land of Neverheardofit?

Imagine it! The ragged mountains clad in purple fog. The bubbling streams sparkling with fairy magic. The sleepy-eyed dragons emerging from their noble lairs, their flickering tongues tasting the sweetness of battle in the air.

(Or just some spaceships and laser guns. This is a sci-fi tutorial too.)

You can certainly feel the magic (or techno-awesome) but, for some reason, your r

Writing Serial Fiction

Writing Serial & Series Fiction
Not just another Novel idea

Please note, this is how the Professionals do it. Those of you who are Not professional are free to write (and post) as you please.

To view the Main Plot vs Subplot graphic at Full Size, GO HERE --> http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp347/OokamiKasumi/MainplotSubplot.jpg

A Serial Story is Not a chopped-up Novel!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hear it time and time again: "If the story is too big, why don't you just cut it up into a Series or Serial?"

You can't just cut a novel-type Story in half to make a series, or use the chapters to serialize it. A true serial "episode" is its own Comple

Propaganda - Enemy of Fiction

The Enemy of Good Fiction
~ PROPAGANDA! ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many people have asked me, "Why don't you watch TV anymore?"

I do, sort of. I play movies that I buy and rent on my TV regularly. However, I Don't watch cable TV or local TV, and I NEVER watch sitcoms or Reality TV of any kind. If I want the news, I go to the internet.

Why Not? Because there's too much Programming going on in those programs, and not one drop of Reality in Reality TV -- especially the Law & Order ones.

TV = The Tool of Propaganda
By Phil Cunningham
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Posted WITH Permission.)

Propaganda and Advertising, affects us all. The two operate using the

Basic PLOTTING

Basic Plotting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A plot is the pattern a story follows, the most common being:

-- Beginning
-- Middle
-- End

All successful (read: popular) stories have patterns. Sometimes it's simple, sometimes it's complex, but all of the stories read or told often enough to remain in the popular mind of any culture have a pattern, a plot.

Here are some examples of simple plot patterns…

Traditional:
• He came.
• He saw.
• He conquered.

American Dream Version:
• He came.
• He conquered.
• He became very rich.

The Heroic version:
• He conquered.
• He became the leader of

RESEARCH is your Best Friend

RESEARCH is your Best Friend.

-----Original Message-----
"...for bigger fictions (maybe 10-20 chapters, or more) for a big fan fiction or OC fiction, how much do you plan out?" -- Wanna Rite Reel Gud
~~~~~~~~~~~~

How much do I plan out for one of my novels...?
-- I detail everything. Seriously. I believe in a Total Immersion style of writing. In other words, I want to know the world so well, I can simply step into the mind and skin of my main character and LIVE the story.

How do I do that...?

I start with a basic plot formula and extrapolate on certain points as needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Romance needs extra doses of lover's angst,

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Butterflies are Dying TodayI think
the butterflies are dying today
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And all I see left are
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How to Get a Literary Agentby *mree

Resources & Stock Images / Tutorials / Other

©2006-2013 *mree

Edit: Whoa. I *definitely* did not expect to see THIS in the daily favorites. O__O Thank you so much, everyone!

Part II!

Thanks for all of your wonderful replies to Part I [link] . It's always encouraging to know that there are so many aspiring writers out there.

Sorry this image is so..........long......... O_O But really, this was the minimum amount of info I could put in about finding a literary agent. There are alot of books out there on this topic as well, so if you want to know more details, look for them online or at a bookstore. I hope this helps you out, if you are an aspiring novelist!

Note: For poets, nonfiction, and short story writers, this tutorial is unfortunately not applicable..... The process of submission for those forms are vastly different!

Thanks again.

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~Owlflight29 Nov 1, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

O.O 365 day wait?!

Reply

~ElizabethSaphire Sep 27, 2012 Hobbyist Artist

o.o i think ill start blogging thanks to this BUT I SUCK AT STORIES AHHH
T_T i hate my iimagination at times, it fails to make things into words

Reply

~Innerdragon379 Aug 27, 2012 Student Writer

do you use the same agent for multiple publishes? I hae many stories of many genre

Reply

~Johnny-Spectre May 30, 2012 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

you have one for animation agents? I need one

Reply

*tsundoku Feb 28, 2012 Student Writer

This was great! I'm officially scared out of my wits now but I really enjoyed reading your tips.

Reply

!hetha884 Dec 29, 2011 Hobbyist Writer

i can only see a pic

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~Coral-Melodia Feb 25, 2012 Hobbyist General Artist

*epic late reply*
Most people who write tutorials do this. Just click the 'download image' button underneath the 'add to favorites' to view the tutorial.

And I love this tutorial! *favs*

Reply

!hetha884 Feb 26, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

thanks

Reply

~WrittenRevolt Dec 9, 2011

This has been (also) added to #theWrittenRevolution's Resources for Aspiring Authors.

Again, thanks.

Reply

~My-life-in-words Jul 19, 2011 Professional Writer

COOL!
Thank you so much.

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