Awesome Ending

Written by Lea Schizas


Awesome Ending

Bungee jumping, sky diving, secret mission, Indy 500: how do these events compare torepparttar art of fiction writing? Each one brings to its ‘doer’ an element of anticipation, exhilaration, unfamiliarity, and adventure. A pure adrenaline rush. And as a writer of fiction, this isrepparttar 148121 plateau you want your reader to experience.

Straying fromrepparttar 148122 anticipated ending to a twist makes for good reading, pleasingrepparttar 148123 editor, and upping your chance of getting accepted. But be wary. Your twist should conform alongrepparttar 148124 lines ofrepparttar 148125 story you have crafted thus far. Not an easy task to accomplish, but plausible.

For example: fifteen-year-old John stolerepparttar 148126 answers to his exam from his teacher’s desk. Throughoutrepparttar 148127 storyline, John has been portrayed as a ‘bully’ but every so oftenrepparttar 148128 writer has offered either flashbacks or little inconspicuous hints into John’s childhood. The reader assumes that John will either get away with it, or get caught and suspended. The author has grippedrepparttar 148129 reader into continuingrepparttar 148130 book to see where this will end up. Here comesrepparttar 148131 twist.

Because of these rare flashback insights, we’ve seen another side to John, although subtle, it’s still there. So when John ends up placingrepparttar 148132 answers back with no one beingrepparttar 148133 wiser,repparttar 148134 reader is stunned, surprised, but content with this twist ending because it has been subliminally build intorepparttar 148135 plot.

Ifrepparttar 148136 writer’s portrayal of John had been exclusively ‘bullish’, mean-spirited, unfriendly throughout thenrepparttar 148137 reader’s reaction would have been stunned, surprised and obviously, left cheated with an ending that holds no basis withrepparttar 148138 rest ofrepparttar 148139 storyline.

This is called character reversal, whenrepparttar 148140 character reacts different than whatrepparttar 148141 reader expected. And to pull it off, you must have planted subtle seeds alongrepparttar 148142 way.

Comma Usage Made Simple

Written by Michael LaRocca


COMMA USAGE MADE SIMPLE Copyright 2005, Michael LaRocca

Don't they drive you nuts?

You can visit allrepparttar rules of style you want, and you can read allrepparttar 147995 books and articles you want. You'll still be confused. You'll see inconsistency. You'll see experts who don't agree with each other. And, you'll pull out your hair. Unless you're me, since my hair's falling out all by itself. I think it'd do that even if I weren't an editor hunting down errant commas.

Well, folks, here are some rules. A bare minimum. Internalize these and ignore everybody else.

(1) Never put a comma between a subject and a verb. It's always wrong. The dog, barked. What is that? Idiocy. Read it aloud, and pause atrepparttar 147996 comma. Don't you feel stupid?

(2) If you want to separate a clause, put a comma on both sides of it. Otherwise, no commas at all. "The dog, who held a bone in his mouth, ran torepparttar 147997 porch." See how there's a comma on both sides? That's because you could skip that whole clause entirely and it'd still be a complete sentence. "The dog ran torepparttar 147998 porch."

If I deleterepparttar 147999 first comma, I have to deleterepparttar 148000 second one. You decide which looks best, two commas or none. But, one comma doesn't work. Try deleting either one and readingrepparttar 148001 result aloud, remembering to pause atrepparttar 148002 comma. It's a wreck, isn't it? You don't talk like that, so don't write like that.

(3) "He sawrepparttar 148003 cat,repparttar 148004 cat was onrepparttar 148005 couch." This is not a good sentence. It's two sentences. The one beforerepparttar 148006 comma has subject/verb/object, and so doesrepparttar 148007 one afterrepparttar 148008 comma.

Run-ons like that can emphasizerepparttar 148009 run-on nature of a character's words or thoughts, but userepparttar 148010 device sparingly. It's okay to break a rule, as long as you know what it is and why you're breaking it.

But inrepparttar 148011 example above, it'd be best to make them two sentences. If you find you just can't do it, consider a semicolon. Don't believe anyone who says semicolons aren't allowed in fiction. I wouldn't use one inrepparttar 148012 sample sentence, but I've used them in other sentences I've written. Sparingly.

But for something as lame as a sentence about a cat on a couch, it's best to followrepparttar 148013 rules exactly and make that two sentences. Do you really think your reader's gonna pop off for a beer or a toilet break between them and lose his place? As long as they're inrepparttar 148014 same paragraph, they'll be read together.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
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