In ON WRITING, Stephen King swears it's LaRoccas's. When I was a student, my teachers swore it was LaRoccas'. As an editor, I've heard first was US standard and second was UK standard. And answer is, I don't care. Just be consistent.

I once met an editor who said that spelling determines pronunciation. She's an idiot. Spelling isn't all pronunciation. It's also history. I'll say LaRoccas-zz whether it's LaRoccas' or LaRoccas's. So will you.

Jump up five paragraphs and read seventh word. Noun. Note that I didn't write pronoun. Just for fun, rule for pronouns and apostrophes is completely different.

It's is a contraction for "it is" and its is possessive. Who's is a contraction for "who is" and whose is possessive. There's is a contraction for "there is" and theirs is possessive. Etc. Possessive pronouns never use apostrophes. Its, whose, your, yours, their, theirs...

And there you have it. Apostrophe usage made simple.

Michael LaRocca's website at http://www.chinarice.org was chosen by WRITER'S DIGEST as one of The 101 Best Websites For Writers in 2001 and 2002. His response was to throw it out and start over again because he's insane. He teaches English at a university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, and publishes the free weekly newsletter WHO MOVED MY RICE?

Does this affect your plot down line? In certain circumstances, yes. For example:

Bruce is a studious clean-cut senior high school student. He’s portrayed as ‘geek’ for most of story, not a main character at all. Then writer decides to spruce things up and throws a dare at Bruce. Bruce accepts. He takes his friend’s ID and goes to a ‘Rave’. Big mistake, but a twist for reader. The ‘Rave’ is raided, Bruce ends up in jail because his friend is wanted by police and he’s holding fake id. He escapes and now tries to clear his name that somehow has crept into police files. A sedate YA high school book has now turned into a suspense novel all because of a character reversal.

When writing up your character(s) sketch, try to include opposite reactions, as well. By doing this, you can easily plot foreshadowing more convincingly ahead of game.

Remember that fiction is often, if not all time, crafted out of real people, real situations or real events. So think of a ‘real’ person and envision his reaction to several possible finales to a ‘dilemma’. Then start crafting ending with one of these ‘reactions’ while dropping subtle hints to a totally different ending than what your reader is expecting. Try to use this character reversal for a completely out of this world ‘awesome ending.’

Make sure your story propels forward, making your reader want to turn page. Bungee jump them out of a plane into a secret path that will drive them to finish line.