Tag: character
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Guidelines for Writing Paragraphs — Part II (Dialogue)
As every writer of fiction knows, dialogue is an essential component of a successful story. Besides adding substance to the plot, dialogue gives flesh, blood, personality, and purpose to the characters. In nonfiction, a reader more often sees single statements from individuals who offer expert insights on a topic or who have experienced something that…
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Beta Readers Offer Helpful Revisions
Beta readers play a key role in the writing-publishing process. As their name suggests, they aren’t the first ones to see a draft manuscript. Alpha readers see the first draft as it is being written and offer feedback on clarity, character development, and plot continuity, and how the composition reads as a whole. Beta readers…
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The Great Gatsby: Why It’s a Great Novel
Any list of the 10 best American novels is certain to include The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story of a handsome social climber, who pursues a married woman while suspicions swirl around both his profession and his pedigree. I probably should have read this classic long ago, but only finished it within the last…
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A Review of Stephen King’s Night Shift
Stephen King is known as a masterful writer of horror novels, many of which have been turned into successful movies. But before he gained fame with such spine-tinglers as Carrie, It, and The Shining, King was a struggling high school English teacher who wrote short stories for men’s magazines to help make ends meet. In…