Fiction

So you've decided to take on take on one of the greatest literary achievements known to man: Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace". Are you prepared to tackle a work so monumental that it covers...

Good characters are the building blocks of any story. What would "War and Piece", a literary monument of genius, be without its 125+ characters? A thousand or more pages of setting and...

In Masashi Kishimoto's manga series, Naruto, the story's hero of the same name faces a menacing group of adversaries, the Akatsuki. The organization becomes central antagonists in the second half...

Writing is like many other skills: it takes practice, practice, and more practice to become a really good writer. One of the best ways to practice your writing is to keep a writer’s journal or...

If you've ever taken a writing class or workshop, it's likely that you've seen the words "SHOW, DON'T TELL!" printed somewhere on your manuscript. "Show, don't tell" is one of...

Charles Dickens (1812-1870), author of A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, and Oliver Twist, is one of the most well-known writers in English literature, and one remarkably successful in his...

“Everybody wants to have published a book. Hardly anyone wants to take the time and effort to write one.” I don’t know who said that, but it seems so true. How many of us have revealed to...

"Naruto," the incredibly popular anime and manga series, has a vast array of websites dedicated to uploading manga chapters. Most of these are fan translated, and may be different from the...

Learning how to write a kissing scene in a romance novel can be difficult at first, but with practice, kissing scenes and other romantic scenes will become easier and easier to write.

Are you hooked on Law & Order, C.S.I., Criminal Minds or Numb3rs? Have you always figured out whodunit moments before the detectives cracked the case? Eager for even more great sleuthing? Then...

A simpler way to consult the universe about a newly released gizmo and gadget.

The sunset flashed its message that I do this every night.

More people finish their books when they've been planned out already. Although writing "seat-of-the-pants" is fun and equally viable, there are many benefits to be had by planning,...

Naruto, the incredibly popular manga and anime series, has earned a loyal following from its humble beginnings in Shonen Jump. Fans have kept up the demand for more Naruto manga, and since...

Comic books have long been collected by millions worldwide. In recent years, the comic book industry has seen a tremendous boom due to movie deals and growing fans. If you are new to comic...

For a fiction book to be great, it must be believable and draw readers in. One of the most important ways for a book to accomplish this is for the characters to be real and believable. You must...

Horror movies and ghost stories are a perennial part of our popular culture, and you may wish to try your hand at writing or filming one yourself. Before you do so, you need to devise some...

Few literary or cinematic figures have captured public fascination like gangsters. Their stories embody the dark side of the American dream, where ruthless entrepreneurs gain wealth and fame...

Are you planning a midnight campfire on Halloween? Do you want to tell your friends a spooky story? Learn the basics of telling ghosts stories.

"Boys Over Flowers" is the English translation of the popular Japanese manga "Hana Yori Dango" by Kamio Youko. It is the story of a poor girl, Makino Tsukushi, and her struggles within a school of...

With all the tasks and work that we do in order to pay the bills, it becomes impossible to sit down and do absolutely nothing. Doing nothing can sometimes be the most positive activity that the...

Writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby first created the X-Men in the 1960s. Since then, they have gone on to become some of the most popular figures in comics. The X-Men are mutants--born with...

Writing a children's book is not easy. The writing needs to be tight and interesting. There needs to be a definite plot for the story to work, and you need to have all the basic story elements in...

J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" books are a literary phenomenon, with millions of loyal fans worldwide. She developed an incredibly rich universe for Harry and his friends to occupy---one of the...

This guide is geared towards helping readers understand a few of the fundamental differences between what is just "writing" and what is "creative writing," as well as the...

Writing a novel is not easy. But sometimes the juices flow pretty good and you can connect to a character in a good way. Overall, it's a nice thing to believe you can do, that is, write a...

We've come a long way from quill pens and parchment or, for that matter, typewriters. Not only is technology making it possible for aspiring novelists to write more efficiently than ever before,...

Horror stories have been really appealing to people for the past 30 years. People really want to experience vicariously through characters the horror of being isolated, terrified and having their...

Wouldn't it be great to be able to spend your time doing exactly what you wanted to do and still make money?? I love to read novels but there is no way I'd be able to make money reading books in...

A science story, more commonly referred to as science fiction, is a story in which science plays a defining role in the plot and outcome of the story. This could be anything from the introduction...

Part 4 of 4! We've covered starting, continuing, and finishing your novel. But that was just the writing. What's little understood is that the magic happens here, in the editing phase. You've...

If you have a great idea for a 1930s detective novel, you may need the proper framework to make sure it's a welcome addition to the genre. Whether your idea is for the detective, the murderer or...

Romance novels are one of the most popular forms of fiction today, accounting for approximately 55 percent of paperback book sales. Because romance includes subgenres in almost every genre of...

Since the early 1960s the Marvel superhero has been part of the American cultural consciousness. Unforgettable, larger than life characters like Spiderman, the Fantastic Four and the Incredible...

The beginning of any work of fiction is perhaps the most crucial part of the prose; in the opening sentences and paragraphs, an author is charged with the task of both establishing the framework...

"Dragon Ball Z" is an anime and manga that received wide-spread popularity with both children and adult demographics. It enjoyed a comfortable spot on Cartoon Network's Toonami until the...

One important element of good fiction writing is point of view. The point of view you choose is the reader’s window into the story; they will see everything that happens through the eyes you...

Crime fiction is perhaps the most popular of the mystery genres, combining intrigue and heroics with a fascinating problem-solving process. In order to get started with writing a crime fiction...

Whether in anime or manga form, Naruto has been incredibly popular with both Japanese and American audiences. American publishing houses tend to take months to publish new Naruto manga, and...

Write Your Novel in a Month? You can't write a novel in a month. Don't tell that to the over 21,000 people from around the world who did just that last November in the 2008 NaNoWriMo

Are you hooked on Law & Order, C.S.I., Criminal Minds or Numb3rs? Have you always figured out whodunit moments before the detectives cracked the case? Eager for even more great sleuthing? Then...

It was the first movie that I'd heard had what we called profanity in it; the ending with Rhett telling Scarlett "Frankly my dear I don't give...." you know. I used to crack up when my...

Funny Lawyer Jokes are Available RIGHT HERE

Part 3 of a 4 part series. You've come to the end of your novel writing adventure. You've made it through the parts you hadn't figured out, and your characters are about to do the big things...

Tom Sawyer is one of the more popular characters created by author Mark Twain. The adventurous and playful Tom gets himself into a number of sticky situations with his antics in the antebellum...

Settling down to enjoy a good book is a favorite pastime for many Americans. According to research done by National Center for Education Statistics in 2003, 32 percent of Americans read books on a...

Historical fiction is a specific genre, set in the past and pertaining to historical events or people. The work must walk a fine line between fact and fiction: presenting historical details...

Some people read for pleasure while others read for academic purposes. The historical novel is a fictional account of historical events and characters. Reading historical fiction is similar to...

Writing a children's book allows you to experience your inner child, which can be a fun and nostalgic rainy day activity. However, when you decide to write a children's book on autism, there are...

Imagine standing next to George Washington as he crossed the Delaware, able to feel the December chill and fear the ice flows in the river. The purpose of historical fiction is to breathe life...