Fiction

The classic whodunit or puzzle mystery continues to delight its readers as it has since the golden age of the mystery in the thirties and forties. Whether you prefer a gentile British style cozy...

The market for romantic novels is almost insatiable, with lines like Harlequin or Kensington publishing hundreds of titles every year. You can write a story of your own to submit to such a...

Do you love books? Want to collect tons on the cheap? Read on!

Literature is categorized into various "genres" -- classes and forms of material that share certain general characteristics. For students, it is necessary to be able to discuss literature in terms...

Some of the most powerful stories in literature and cinema have a surprising common element: The death of a main character. At first glance, this would seem to be an instant turnoff. Why hang with...

A valuable way to read romantic comedies and love stories is by pinpointing the desire in the story. Whatever a character wants, that is what you want too as a reader and thinker. If the author...

Because sometimes horror can be the spice your fantasy novel needs.

There is nothing worse for a writer than to feel like you have nothing to write about. But that simply isn’t true – there is always something to write about! Unless you’re alone in the Arctic...

Ok, so you published a novel. Now what? You can't sit on the sidelines. Authors need to market the book or the book will likely not sell well.

"The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold is a fictional story of the brutal rape and murder of 14 year old Susie Salmon. Susie narrates her story from a personalized version of heaven as she watches her...

The unofficial definition of a Twilight Fan is a person who enjoys the Twilight books and movies. A Twilight Freak is someone who has gone well beyond the realm of the normal Twilight Fan....

So you’ve read Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn… You’ve even read the partial manuscript of Midnight Sun. Despite owning the Twilight DVD, you’ve watched the movie 47 times and are...

The “Fantastic Mr. Fox” was written by Roald Dahl in 1970, but its humor, charm and lessons are timeless. Out in theaters on November 13 – this loveable story, with an unlikely hero, will charm...

Manga is a term for Japanese comics, many of which are adapted in popular anime series like Naruto, Bleach and One Piece. Reading manga can be very entertaining and a welcomed break from dreary...

Every November, a group of people commit themselves to writing a novel. They call it National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Writing is a lonely activity, or, at least, one that usually requires...

We're going to try to learn how to write a novel, something like the ones written by Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Tui Sutherland, and Victoria Holmes, also known as Erin Hunter. So let's get started!

The story-writing process is one that varies greatly from writer to writer, not only in the way the writing process is approached but in the content of the story itself. No one can tell you what...

If you would like to read one of the best novel series out there, here's your chance. I have all available books 1-9. I have them in PDF form. You may purchase the entire series for $4.99 and I...

You need to get out of Hogwarts and do some investigating in the Shrieking Shack one night, but Professor Snape, as usual, is skulking around just looking to catch you doing something against the...

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...

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...