A character whose weapon is a gun with red dot sight laser, except the gun is just a dummy that’s been carved out of wood and sprayed black, with a laser pointer pen taped onto it. It’s obviously fake to any character who knows anything about firearms, and it’s always a gamble whether anyone who doesn’t know anything about guns is going to be fooled by it. But that’s the neat part: The gun isn’t the weapon.
This character has a familiar, a big cat beast that’s been trained to attack on command, attacking whatever the laser is pointed at.
No wait it gets better: Instead of a vocal command or some sort of a gesture, the dummy gun’s otherwise useless trigger makes a very distinct clicking sound, which is the cat’s cue to attack.
If your dialog feels flat, rewrite the scene pretending the characters cannot at any cost say exactly what they mean. No one says “I’m mad” but they can say it in 100 other ways.
Wrote a chapter but you dislike it? Rewrite it again from memory. That way you’re only remembering the main parts and can fill in extra details. My teacher who was a playwright literally writes every single script twice because of this.
Don’t overuse metaphors, or they lose their potency. Limit yourself.
Before you write your novel, write a page of anything from your characters POV so you can get their voice right. Do this for every main character introduced.
Where is all of this advice in my English literature courses?!? (Probably in the second semester or second/third year, but still!!! I’m too impatient for that)
Asked by Anonymous:
