How to Research Absolutely Anything

Written by Stephanie Cage


Continued from page 1

4 - Tourist information Sometimes libraries aren’t much help becauserepparttar information you’re looking for changes frequently. This is particularly true in travel writing, where you can end up looking foolish if a hotel or restaurant has closed down since your visit, or a museum or gallery has changed its opening hours. That’s whenrepparttar 134983 area’s tourist information is invaluable.

5 - People If you haven’t found what you’re looking for using any of these methods, or if you want more details thanrepparttar 134984 average reference book provides, you’ll need to look for someone inrepparttar 134985 know who can help you out. For general information, museum curators, gallery owners and librarians are often very helpful, but sometimes you’ll need something more specific. In that case,repparttar 134986 best tactic can be to find an association related torepparttar 134987 topic. If you want to find out about details ofrepparttar 134988 Civil War for your battle scene, is there a re-enactment society near you? There’s bound to be someone who can answer your questions, and you might even get a chance to seerepparttar 134989 atmosphere of a Civil War battle for yourself and pick up some details you’d never have thought to ask about.

Finally, if that fails, fall back onrepparttar 134990 theory that everyone onrepparttar 134991 planet is connected by just six links and ask everyone you know (work colleagues, fellow writers group members, friends and relatives) whether they know anyone who might be able to help you. Tell them it’s for a book (or magazine article, or whatever) and most people are glad to help – that’srepparttar 134992 beauty of being a writer.

Stephanie Cage is a writer and researcher based in Berkshire, UK. She writes regularly for The Agony Column and newbooksmag and has also been published in e-Quip (the e-zine of the British Society of Comedy Writers) and Link (the magazine of the National Association of Writers’ Groups), where this article first appeared. Visit her at www.stephaniecage.co.uk


Awesome Endings

Written by Lea Schizas


Continued from page 1

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

Bruce is a studious clean-cut senior high school student. He’s portrayed asrepparttar 134965 ‘geek’ for most ofrepparttar 134966 story, not a main character at all. Thenrepparttar 134967 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 forrepparttar 134968 reader. The ‘Rave’ is raided, Bruce ends up in jail because his friend is wanted byrepparttar 134969 police and he’s holdingrepparttar 134970 fake id. He escapes and now tries to clear his name that somehow has crept intorepparttar 134971 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 ofrepparttar 134972 game.

Remember that fiction is often, if not allrepparttar 134973 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 craftingrepparttar 134974 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 turnrepparttar 134975 page. Bungee jump them out of a plane into a secret path that will drive them torepparttar 134976 finish line.



Editor in Chief and co-founder of two Writer's Digest 101 Best Writing Sites of 2005-Apollo's Lyre,http://www.apolloslyre.com and The MuseItUp Club,http://museitupclub.tripod.com and author of THE ROCK OF REALM, a YA fantasy book, http://rockofrealmnovel.tripod.com


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