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How to Create Fascinating Characters

News of a plane crash means more when we know someone on board. As fiction writers, our job is to create maximum impact when delivering a punch. We...
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Character markers help readers find their way

Have you ever noticed that kids in a new environment instinctively know which toys are there for them to play with and which ones are not? We have...
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The Use of Phonetic Dialect and Profanity in Fiction: Part 2

In the first part, we talked about why phonetics and profanity are perfectly okay in fiction writing so long as they fit the character you are...
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The Use of Phonetic Dialect and Profanity in Fiction: Part 1

The question of dialect in fiction has been hotly debated by pros and amateurs alike for years, and there is a sense that what was okay in...
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The origin of Halloween

In archaic English, the name for the Christian holiday of November 1st was All Hallows Day or All Hallow Mass. It meant the same thing as the...
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Patriotic summer reading for July

Readers of this column who are history buffs as well as word buffs may be interested in checking out a website called "History Matters" ...
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All the words not fit to print

The San Francisco Chronicle recently ran a column about annoying writing habits of journalists, including using the word “literally” to...
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The longest word in the English language

What’s the longest word in the English language?The answer depends on a number of things.It depends on the definition of “word,”...
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A little light summer reading: Caveat lector part 2

Caveat emptor means “buyer beware,” of course.So caveat lector would be another good adage to spread around, meaning “reader...
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Read any good e-books lately?

Summer reading clubs at local libraries are common, especially for kids getting out of school.Another easy way to keep up with your reading, if you...
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