What elements make for a believable character? What can writers add that aids in the complete and utter suspension of disbelief? Lots of thing come to mind like quirks, back stories, associations, inner thoughts, tribulations - and the list goes on and on. However, something many authors have done with beloved recurring characters is to give them hobbies. Certainly Sherlock Holmes had several and varied 'pursuits'. Agatha Christie had Miss Marple constantly knitting. Let's try rounding out
Good Friday! Happy Passover! Or that great catch all - TGIF!!!
I recently chatted with someone who said they couldn't write - they thought they did well on email and documents for work, but trying to write a story was something they thought beyond their skill. I have to say, ESPECIALLY for that type of person, these writing prompts are the perfect way to just experiment and try seeing what you are capable of.
ComicFan has given us two great new prompts - I really hope you try one of them
For today's tip - we have a great writeup by Myr that we hope will be useful to you as an author. If you have a tip you think the community would find useful, please let Trebs or Renee Stevens know!
Writing for Technical Geeks
by Myr
As many know, I'm a rather technical person by nature. It is in my blood to research stuff into the ground so that I can understand all the angles of a thing. I think and rethink on things all the time. It is thus when I went into a writing blo
It's Wednesday again and that means it's time to feature some more stories from GA's very talented authors. Houdinii has done a great review of "Charlie", a touching story by Promising Author Hamen Cheese.
We also have a guest reviewer who is a board member but would rather do reviews anonymously, and we agreed as long as all of these reviews are under the same reviewer name. So here is "Fozzy Bear" with their first review - and what better first story for them to review than Mr. Anonymous b
How to get more traffic to your stories is frequently something author's are concerned about. What use is it to write a fantastic story, if people don't know about it. Here is one way - Cia writes about blogging as a way to increase your exposure. Check out her tip and let us know what you think! Also, if YOU have a tip, let me know. It may be one we feature on a future news blog entry.
Blogging for Exposure
by Cia
Do you blog? I didn't until about 3 months ago. I've writin
Being an admin on GA, and especially recently with working on this news blog, I've "met" and gotten to know quite a few people. Renee Stevens not only is a great writer, she also has been a fantastic help with so many things on GA and helped me so much with this blog. I really enjoyed reading Roan's review below - especially as I first read Eternity on nifty, and remember waiting for each new chapter. Now I get to really know an author I admire.
Eternity
by Renee Stevens
Review
We had a great week and now it’s that time again to take a final look at what was included in the News Blog over the last week.
On Monday we featured a story by Hosted Author: Krista entitled “Are You Christian?”, reviewed by Zolia Lily. Hopefully it gave you a slight insight into this author's writing, and if you haven’t already, go check it out and leave Krista a review letting her know what you thought!
On Tuesday we had a very informative tip written by WatchPatRun on Online Safety.
I love looking back over older GA Newsletters. This gem about editing was published in the December 2006 issue - but is still very relevant today. I hope you enjoy!
Editing Tips... How Far Should You Go?
There can be little doubt that editing is an extremely complicated process. Sure, anyone with basic literacy skills and a spellchecker can read through a story and correct spelling and grammatical mistakes. It's not exactly brain surgery. Yes, it takes a certain degree of skill a
Happy Friday (and for those who celebrate, Happy Cesar Chavez Day)!
ComicFan has come up with two new prompts - I hope you give at least one of them a try. If you do, share them with the community in the Writing Prompts forum.
Prompt 124 – Creative Cue – The Mystery You have been having a nice walk with your dog along the beach when your dog suddenly begins barking and tugging you toward pier. Deciding it is still a move back toward your car you allow the dog to lead you under the pier.
For today's tip, Cia found a fantastic "Ode to the Spell Check". It appears to have been written by Nico van Tonder from Zaire who wrote it around 1999.
Ode to the Spell Check
Eye halve a spelling chequer It cam with my pea sea It plainly marques four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word And weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong oar write It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid It nose bee fore two long And eye can
Today we bring you two more stories. One called L.A.F. from Promising Author, Linxe Termoil. The other story, Dangerous Impulses, is brought to you by Author, Greg_A.
L.A.F.
By
Linxe Turmoil
Reviewer: Renee Stevens Status: Complete Word Count: 12,017
I was looking for a story to do a review on and I decided on Linxe Turmoil’s story L.A.F. This story was first published as part of the 2011 Fall Anthology: Legends. I must say that it was an interesting
So is this spring break for you? Or does yours start later? Either way a good way to kick off the week is with out Hosted Author story review! Today, Zolia Lily reviews Are You Christian, by Krista. Enjoy!
Are you Christian
by Krista
Review by Zolia Lily
I chose to review this story never having read it before purely upon the recommendation of a friend, and I’m glad I did.
Christian, the protagonist of this story, finds himself attending school in small town North Caro
The sun goes down - I think about you. The coffee cup - I think about you... Oops - sorry... need to do the weekly wrap up, eh? Heh -and it WAS a great week to wrap up.
Monday started with Cia's review of Weeping Lily, by our Hosted Author Nephylim. On Wednesday, Frostina did a review of Over the Precipice by Promising Author Dark, and we got to see a glimpse of a story by Jasper, a new author who wrote Out of the Woods. Though this is still in progress, Michael9344's review makes it sound l
For the Blast from the Past, we have a review on one of GA's earliest Anthologies. So from the 2006 Summer Anthology: Going on Vacation, here is the review for:
Finding My Summer Adventure
by
nicks_a_writer
Reviewer: K.C. Status: Complete Word Count: 9,698
On a cold March night, wanting to find something hot and steamy to warm me up, I stumbled across a 2006 Anthology story from Nicks_A_Writer. From the first paragraph of, “Finding My Summer Adventure,” I was hooked
Happy Friday everyone! Our two new writing prompts to play with are from ComicFan:
Prompt 122 – Creative Cue – Word List Use the following words in story: Red hand print, shattered vase, new car, fifteen year old boy, and a spider.
Prompt 123 – Challenge Cue – Poetry Mention poetry and see the look of fear on so many faces. Choose whichever kind of poetry you prefer to write in, but it must be about one of three topics. Either your favorite season, favorite holiday, or your favorite pers
Today we have another very informative writing tip from Cia! Enjoy!!!
Said-bookisms
I'm betting you have NO idea what a said-bookism is, do you? I know I didn't; I do know what the term means though, in a general sense. A said-bookism is a speech tag other than said or asked. Quite often they are used to describe the speech or the tone.
A few examples: He laughed She shrieked They intoned He smiled
Now, these are really common in usage, yet frowned upon more and more. Somethi
Today, for our Author Showcase we bring you two more stories. One is by our Promising author, Dark, and it titled "Over the Precipice. The second story is from one of our newer authors, Jasper, and is called "Out of the Woods". Enjoy!!!
Over the Precipice
by
Dark
Reviewer: Frostina Status: Complete Word Count: 8,249
The reason I keep going back to check whether or not Dark has posted yet another short story is because he never fails to surprise me. Each one of his s
Cia has done it again and written what I think is a fantastic writing tip. Check it out and see if you agree...
Oops, it's wrong... or is it?
So many times I get confused by the complexities of English grammar, I'm sure many of you are the same. The rules are often contradictory, and the exceptions to exceptions are absolutely a quagmire of missteps and misspells waiting to trap you. I recently read an article that said to polish your writing skills, spend thirty minutes a month revi
Banish those Monday blues by reading this review by Cia of Nephylim's Weeping Lily. Then for a real treat, check out Weeping Lily for yourself!
Weeping Lily
by Nephylim
Review by Cia
Do you love music? Do you love beautiful men? Do you love beautiful men who love other beautiful men?
Then Weeping Lily by Nephylim is just right for you!
This story starts off with the excitement of a Goth band just finishing up a world tour on the same day their album goes pla
What a busy week. Did everyone catch the news that the Spring Anthology: It Wasn't Me is now live - we have some fantastic entries there!
So, we started the week with a review of Myr's fanfic Three Edged Sword. Andy021278's review was so good, I started reading the story. It's reviews like this that are so vital to the site - gives you a great flavor for the story so you can see if you want to go read more. And in this case, I personally say yes - more please!
We had two tips this week,
NOW LIVE!!!
The Spring Anthology, "It Wasn't Me" is now available for your enjoyment! Just click on the banner above to read. We had a great turnout for the anthology and there are many different and interesting takes on the theme. Thank you to all of the authors and their teams for the wonderful entries!
A Changelings Tale
Comicfan
Barbara Fleurnois
Bugeye
Birthday Surprise
Lugh
Cedris and the Shadow Man
Michael9344
Happy Friday. Looking forward to a great weekend, especially with the GA announcement coming out tomorrow morning.
What announcement? Well - check this news blog tomorrow and you'll see!
And as it's Friday, we have two new writing prompts to play with Today's writing prompts are brought to you by Comicfan:
Prompt 120 – Creative Cue – The perfect body Science has created the process. You no longer have to be unhappy with the body you were given. Now you can have exactly what you want
NOW LIVE!!!
The Spring Anthology, "It Wasn't Me" is now available for your enjoyment! Just click on the banner above to read. We had a great turnout for the anthology and there are many different and interesting takes on the theme. Thank you to all of the authors and their teams for the wonderful entries!
A Changelings Tale
Comicfan
Barbara Fleurnois
Bugeye
Birthday Surprise
Lugh
Cedris and the Shadow Man
Mic
Myr found this joke and shared it with us. It may be a joke, but it is also very informative! We'd love to know YOUR thoughts on it!
English Joke/ Writing Primer
I think a retired English teacher was bored.
THIS IS GREAT!
Read all the way to the end................. This took a lot of work to put together!
You think English is easy??
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to r
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That so sad. I only start read his stories few week ago and they really good and even helps me with school things and thinking what to do. Feel sorry for all his friends here to.
Everybody is undefeated at the start of the season. Whether the fan's cheery optimism is justified gets sorted out by playing the games.
Except for Cleveland fans. They are cursed to suffer.
I could spend a goodly amount of time on this one, but won't. I chose to focus instead on his last quote for the word of the day.
Pathological Liars, Psychopaths & Natural Liars - Differences
I am going to suggest a test that each you may try and is impossible to cheat at????
You would only be fibbing to yourself.
The Test!
This is a three part(3), times test. Close your eyes and say one of the types, whose face or what faces come to mind.
Do thi
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