Chapter 5 Exercises for ABBCA by DesdemonaDeBlake, literature
Literature
Chapter 5 Exercises for ABBCA
GreenBat Tutorials Chapter 5 Exercises
For Atticus and Blake's Buddy-cop Adventure
Write-a-Novel Exercise 5.1
Go through the list of characters we started in the last tutorial, and mark down what story roles that each character fills.
Plot Premises
Protagonists
Officer Atticus Warner, blackbear, member of the Fourth Wall Border Patrol
Blake Parker, self-proclaimed anarchist and definitely not a narcissist. Antagonist
New Blake, a perfected clone of the original (open to better names) Sub-protagonists
None Sub-antagonist
Jaccobo, a jaguar crime lord and mistake in writing
Supporting Characters
The Chief (Theodore Sprout
Workshop: Outlining and Premise for ABBCA by DesdemonaDeBlake, literature
Literature
Workshop: Outlining and Premise for ABBCA
Atticus and Blake's Buddy-cop Adventure
(An Entry for the Workshop: “Outlining and Premise”)
Please note that this story is a work of comedy, and is supposed to be almost like a cartoon. For that reason you will see a lot of cop-movie cliches. I want them there as I plan to use each of them in a rather satirical way for a reason that fits the plot. In fact, I would be happy to hear any more ideas for additional cop-movie cliches I can add to it.
Your First Task
As mentioned above, plot premises are very important, not just so you can relate the story concept to your reader, but also, so you know what each path each character
21 Tips for Writing Humor by DesdemonaDeBlake, literature
Literature
21 Tips for Writing Humor
21 Tips for Writing Humor
Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 2 “Genres” – Section 9 “Humor”
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“The secret to humor is surprise.”
-Aristotle
There are many theories as to the nature, science, and reason for humor. It's an element of human behavior that seems objective in the skill that is required to execute it successfully, and yet just as subjective for how unpredictably it can hit every individual audience member. Today, I'm going to talk about the various forms that humor takes, and give you some tips for making your humorous story a success. T
Christmas in the Desert by DesdemonaDeBlake, literature
Literature
Christmas in the Desert
Christmas in the Desert
by Joseph Blake Parker
“Your heart is a muscle the size of your fist. Keep on loving, keep on fighting. […] Hold on for your life.” - Pat the Bunny
I stood in the sandy yard,
while friends waited for me inside;
They drank eggnog, and ate pie,
laughed and bickered in turn.
Meanwhile, I did my holiday duty,
to stand in the frosty wind;
And make the dreaded phone calls
to my family's shattered remains.
My mother weathering the season alone,
and grandparents fearing tragedy to come.
I felt the weight of their lives,
press on my shoulders and belly;
Distant, stiff, heavy, frigid, and fearsom
6 Tips for Writing in the Supernatural Genre by DesdemonaDeBlake, literature
Literature
6 Tips for Writing in the Supernatural Genre
6 Tips for Writing in the Supernatural Genre
Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 2 “Genres” – Section 5 “Supernatural”
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“People are always the start for me [...] gods, supernatural beings, immortals, the dead... these are all people to me.”
-Tanith Lee
Supernatural fiction, also known as Gothic fiction, is a sort of urban fantasy that involves themes such as subtle magic, monsters, the occult, demons, ghosts, God, the Devil, etc… It is similar to horror, dealing with the s
7 Tips for Writing Fantasy by DesdemonaDeBlake, literature
Literature
7 Tips for Writing Fantasy
7 Tips for Writing Fantasy
Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 2 “Genres” – Section 3 “Fantasy”
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“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it.”
-Lloyd Alexander
My editor tells me that I have a magical super-power, one that I feel I must now share with you. I have the magical ability to look at a shelf of books and pick out the absolute worst fantasy novel there. As a result of my super-power, I used to think I hated fantasy because it was filled with so many of the most tired and overused tropes in existence that I
10 Tips for Description in Your Novel by DesdemonaDeBlake, literature
Literature
10 Tips for Description in Your Novel
10 Tips for Description in Your Novel
Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 7 “Editing” – Section 8 “Descriptions”
"Setting shouldn't just consist of describing nature or a landscape, or of saying where something takes place. It is the world of specific people. It's not enough for it to feel vivid or credible; it should feel necessary." -Kaui Hart Hemmings
Last time, I said that the next tutorial I worked on would be on the topic of editing, and I had every intention of doing that. So I worked this entire time on that tutorial (minus time spent writing and traveling, of course) and made a slightly disheart
11 Tips for Editing Your Novel by DesdemonaDeBlake, literature
Literature
11 Tips for Editing Your Novel
11 Tips for Editing Your Novel
Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0 Chapter 7 “Revision” – Section 7 “Editing”
“Words are the coins making up the currency of sentences, and there are always too many small coins.” -Jules Renard
Once you finish with the drafting phase of writing your novel (the process of perfecting the plot elements and making the text mostly perfect through the process of many rewrites), you will reach the editing stage. Editing is the point in the novel-writing process where we begin to fix all of the technical errors and try to make each word, sentence, and paragraph perfect for pu
12 Tips for Punctuating Sentences in Your Novel-p2 by DesdemonaDeBlake, literature
Literature
12 Tips for Punctuating Sentences in Your Novel-p2
12 Tips for Punctuating Sentences in Your Novel
Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0
Chapter 7 “Editing” – Section 5 “Punctuation”
(Part 2 of 2. Click here for Part 1)
The Dash ( — )
The dash is the secret weapon of the writing realm—particularly to the writing student who has just discovered them and vowed to never use commas again! (Please don't make this vow; and yes, I was screaming.) Writers sometimes use dashes for two of the same primary uses that commas serve—to mark additional information and to separate clauses/phrases. So why might we use a dash instead of commas or parentheses? The dash
12 Tips for Punctuating Sentences in Your Novel-p1 by DesdemonaDeBlake, literature
Literature
12 Tips for Punctuating Sentences in Your Novel-p1
12 Tips for Punctuating Sentences in Your Novel
Anybody Can Write a Novel 2.0
Chapter 7 “Editing” – Section 5 “Punctuation”
(Part 1 of 2. Click here for Part 2)
“No iron can pierce the heart with such force as a period put just at the right place.” ~Isaac Babel
At the beginning stages of writing, presenting punctuation often seems like the enforcement of an arbitrary set of rules by which the man can judge us and assign value to our writing, as opposed to looking at the quality of what we are saying. Perhaps this is because of how grammar is taught in schools—not as a useful tool for e