• "On Writing," by Stephen King (http://amzn.com/B000FC0SIM) - The first half is a good biography, and the second half is great insight into how Stephen King comes up with his stories. Not just the genesis of the story, but that actual "I sit down and do this, with this, in this type of environment." And then what to do when you finish your first draft. He is very critical of plotting, though. If you disagree with him about that, it's still good for everything else.
  
  
• "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White (http://amzn.com/020530902X) - This is a handy little book for proper grammatical and prose rules. How to write proper dialogue, where to put punctuation, and how to structure sentences to flow in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
  
  
• "Stein On Writing" by Sol Stein (http://amzn.com/B00HFUJP5Y) - I just picked this book up, so I haven't finished it--but it seems to be a little more in depth than Stephen King's On Writing. For instance, it looks more at not just what makes a good story, but what makes a good story appealing to readers. So whereas Stephen King preaches a more organic growth and editing process to write a story, this one seems to be more focused on how to take your idea and make it a good story based on proven structure.
  
  Honorable mention:
  
  
• "The Emotion Thesaurus" by Angela Ackerman (http://amzn.com/B00822WM2M) - This is incredibly useful when you're "showing" character emotions instead of "telling" the reader what those emotions are. For example, "He was curious," is telling the reader the character is curious. "He leaned forward, sliding his chair closer," is showing the reader that he is curious.
  
  
• I think it's easy for writers (myself included) to get too wrapped up in studying writing, or reading about writing. The best way to improve your is to write more, whether it's fiction or non-fiction, articles or short stories, novels or book reviews. The same principle applies to most skills, art especially. While reading about the activity certainly helps and is probably necessary at some point, you're going to just have to perform the activity in order to improve. Imagine reading about running more than actually running to practice for a marathon. Or reading about flying instead of getting hours in. Or reading about piano theory instead of actually playing piano. But if you're coming from nothing, it would probably help to read those three books before starting in order to start practicing with a good background right away, instead of starting with nothing and winging it on your own.

Plus one, it's really the best source.

Also, you can't go wrong with the book, Putting the Science in Fiction by Dan Koboldt. It's a far wider range of science topics than space, but very useful.

There's a book that does this, by one of The Writing Gals (who also have a great podcast on Youtube that covers all aspects of indie-pub romance).

Here's a link. Victorine Lieske goes through one of her own books section by section, breaking it down and explaining why she's written what she has.

William Shunn's format is pretty much the standard, so much so that some magazines/publishers refer to it in their submission guidelines.

And, as others have commented, English prose is written in paragraphs. Some style guides to English writing:

Short handbook: Strunk & White, Elements of Style. 4th Edition

Exhaustive reference: Chicago Manual of Style. 16th Edition which is kind of expensive. Or get the 15th Edition for the price of a latte.

Websites/Blogs:
Absolute Write Erotica Forum

List of top 50 Sex blogs by blog rank:
Top50SexBlogs

Also, check this one out:
Dirty Discourse

Books:

Writing Erotica: A Self-Publishing How-To Guide

How to Write Hot Sex:

I'd recommend buying a book on writing.

I would suggest these as good places to start. If you wanted to pick just one on this list, I'd say go with James Scott Bell's Plot & Structure.

• Novelist's Essential Guide to Creating Plot by J. Madison Davis
  
  
• Novelist's Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes by Raymond Obstfeld
  
  
• Write Great Fiction - Dialogue by Gloria Kempton
  
  
• Write Great Fiction - Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell
  
  
• Write Great Fiction - Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress
  
  
• Write Great Fiction - Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell
  
  
• Write Great Fiction - Description & Setting by Ron Rozelle
  
  
• The Rhetoric of Fiction by Wayne C. Booth
  

>Can anyone point me to some resources

Sure! Here's 8 blog posts and articles which might help:

What Makes a Character Likable? — Jennifer Ellis - Writing


4 Ways to Write a Likable Protagonist at the Start of His Character Arc

The First Rule of Creating Fictional Characters | Novel Writing Help

Writing4Success - Make Your Main Character Likeable

Jessica Brody | How to Make Unlikable Characters Likable


When Flaws Go Too Far: Avoiding Unlikeable Characters



Fiction University: Five Ways to Create Likable Characters

Six Ways to Make Your Villain Likable – Mythcreants

If you just absolutely hate blogs for some reason, here's a few posts on the topic on reddit:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

There's even a few books, if you like to do things old school:

Write Great Fiction Characters and Viewpoint

Elements of Fiction Writing - Characters and Viewpoint

Writing the Intimate Character: Create Unique, Compelling Characters Through Mastery of Point of View

Creating Characters: The Complete Guide to Populating Your Fiction

and

[Writers Guide to Character Traits](https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Guide-Character-Traits-Edelstein/dp/1582973903]

Hope that helps! :)

Depends on what was said. If it's the same thing, not enough depth, not connecting with the characters, poor prose then read some books on craft not just your typical craft books. This book is awesome, simple and FREE right now, https://www.amazon.com/Show-Dont-Tell-descriptions-characters/dp/3955337502/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=show+don%27t+tell&qid=1567056908&s=gateway&sr=8-1

This guy is great https://www.amazon.com/Verbalize-bring-stories-writer-guides-ebook/dp/B07B63CTKX/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=damon+suede&qid=1567056792&s=gateway&sr=8-2

​

There are youtube videos galore on writing, watch a few maybe pay for the Masterclass and watch everyone from David Baldacci to Judy Blume, even David Mamet looks good playwrite is even better to watch for a writer.

I would also read, read, read, read. Do you want to be the next Stephen King binge Stephen King, or is John Le Carre, then binge him. Read then kind of pick it apart, what is it about the author and their writing most appeals to you and how can you mimic that in your own way?

​

Then maybe join a critique group in your area or even on Facebook there are dozens out there.

Good luck

I too would like to be a published writer at some point, so I completely identify with your questions. I am 27 and sometimes wonder if it's too late for me as well but I have to keep telling myself that it is never too late. It's possible that your writing could only get better with age, as you are able to draw from more of your life experiences.

Here are some tips and recommendations that I have found to be useful:

• Read a lot and write a lot. Reading a lot will help you get an understanding of what works and what doesn't, what to do and what not to. You will be able to see good writing from bad writing and it will help you increase your vocabulary and get an understanding of formatting techniques although don't worry too much about that until the end. You have to be willing to write a lot as well. It will give you practice and teach you the best ways to get your ideas onto paper. Don't worry if it makes sense or not or whether or not it is part of the story you want to create, just get as much of it as you can out.
  
  
• You will have to put the time in to get the results. Writing is an extremely time consuming task and it can be difficult to find motivation especially if this is something you are doing on the side while still working a full time job. This is one of the things I struggle with, trying to find the time or energy to do the writing. Writing is a very energy-consuming activity for me and it requires my complete attention. Finding that can be difficult.
  
  
• Writing is rewriting. Don't be afraid to go back and rework everything once you get it out. Revisions will only make your work stronger.
  
  
• Don't use long or big words just to sound "smart" or "eloquent" or to make your work longer. More often than not, the first words that come to mind will be sufficient. Usually the most direct way to say something is the best.
  
  
• Don't show what can be said, don't say what can be shown. Try to find a good balance of not over describing the setting or provide too much description or narration. You can learn a lot just from what a character says and how they say it. Do not over-describe your setting, allow the reader to imagine things on their own, using their own experiences to create the world. Dialogue is probably the most difficult thing for me. Just be sure that your character's voices are unique and remain constant to who they are, even if the character's point of view is different than yours or what you believe in. Make sure what your characters are saying is truthful and believable to themselves. If the characters happen to be less than intelligent, show that in the way they talk.
  
  Some books I have found to be very helpful:
  
  
• Get yourself a good grammar book. I would recommend The Elements of Style. This one is quite good, comes highly recommended and has been around for 50 years.
  
  
• I am particularly a fan of Stephen King and his books. He wrote a book that was published in 2000 called On Writing. I have found it immensely helpful, a great book about the craft. I believe there is a 10th anniversary edition coming out this summer, probably with additions and updates. Half of the book, Stephen talks about how he got started, selling his first book "Carrie", stories from his life that influenced his work. The second half is his "Toolbox" section where he talks about tools and components to writing, vocabulary, grammar, dialogue, character description and development, narration, etc. It's all very frank and he tells you just exactly what you need to hear. Extremely useful.
  
  
• If you are creating an entire story (and not something short or small like poetry), you will need to have a good understanding of how the pieces are constructed, how to set up a beginning, a middle and an end successfully. I have this but have not read it yet, a book called Elements of Writing Fiction - Beginnings, Middles & Ends. So far it seems quite good and useful. When I was in college I took several screenwriting courses so this is something I already have a fairly good grasp on but it's still good to have something like this on hand to refer back to. I am more interested in writing fiction right now, as opposed to screenwriting so it is a bit challenging to change techniques. The two are very different.
  
  
• If you get to the point where you have completed a few pieces of writing and are hoping to get something published, you should probably start by picking up one of the Writer's Market books. I am interested in novel writing so that's the one that I linked to but there are different variations depending on what type of writing you are trying to get published. Just do a search on Writer's Market. The book contains complete, up-to-date contact information for book publishers, magazines and journals, literary agents, contests and conferences. There is a lot of very useful information in this book for when you get to that stage.
  
  I am certainly no expert but hopefully this is useful advice and helps motivate you to get to it!
  
  *EDIT: Added another recommended book.

Greetings,

As an English minor, I am aghast!

Mind you, not because you're whoring yourself out for tips—good on ya for that—but because you had the audacity to say, "Unfortunately, I haven't found a college class on erotica yet. One day, perhaps."

CHARLATAN! If it's one thing a person in the English department knows, it is that knowledge isn't bound to simple college courses!

Lucky for you, I have had ample opportunity to research said subject and have found you these!

1: How to Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors

2: Be A Sex-Writing Strumpet

Now you can hold your head high knowing that you're produced the highest quality smut one can afford to tip for!

The Book of Jewish Values: A Day-by-Day Guide to Ethical Living by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin might fit what you're thinking of? There are also a few basic-level mussar books that have daily readings, but mussar should really be done with a teacher, at least at first.

I also found this, this, and this on amazon, but I haven't read these and so can't vouch for them.

Also, if you're willing to hear a more orthodox perspective, ArtScroll has a whole selection of daily learning and inspirationals.

That's a pretty great article you linked! If you've got the dedication, there's a book called 90 Days To Your Novel that offers a day-by-day guide to writing a first draft of a novel. Your library might have it!

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find.


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Are you writing what you want to write? I am a big believer in writing to market BUT also writing what you love. There are some genres making hay that I thought "sure I can do that" but when I sit down to write it turns into pulling teeth.

You need to find out where your passion is and where your strengths are. For me, I know I can't write 100k epic fantasies but know a few people that loooove them. I can't write mpreg but know a few making 10k+ a month.

This book might help you. I haven't read it but I did take her Writing Better Faster course. It's not a course to learn how to write more words per hour but instead you figure out what works for you and what doesn't. I own the book and keep meaning to read it but from what I've heard it's similar to the course and makes you figure out what works best for you.

https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Writer-You-Need-Quit-ebook/dp/B07N36MHWD

You might be better off posting it in a writing forum rather than on Reddit.

https://absolutewrite.com/forums/forum.php Is a good one. There a subforum (hidden to non-members) that you can post your work in to get feedback. You have to have 50 posts before you can start your own thread in that subforum though--this encourages you to critique others' work and be active on the forum instead of just asking for help and then leaving.

When I was active on Absolute Write, I only critiqued pieces that that caught my interest within a paragraph or two (they started in the middle of action, had a gripping first sentence, had a distinct voice, vivid description, or an interesting/sympathetic character). I didn't critique anything that was horribly cliche, bland, slow, no voice, cardboard characters, etc. The former I was able to give a few specific suggestions to, while the latter was hard to force myself to read through when I knew I'd have to spend a lot of time giving advice on how to fix *everything*.

If you're not getting replies while other people are, it's possible that your story just isn't good enough to grab anyone's attention. How much writing have you done? How many books on writing have you read? If this is your first writing project and you haven't "studied" the craft at all, it's likely not going to be very good. Writing is a skill that requires a lot of practice and learning.

The "Write Great Fiction" series offers good advice on five main elements of writing stories: https://www.amazon.com/Write-Great-Fiction-Description-Setting-ebook/dp/B003YJEYCY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1537898259&sr=8-3&keywords=write++great+fiction&dpID=51Ac%252BAJ-EPL&preST=_SY445_QL70_&dpSrc=srch Not sure how old you are, but I read it in high school so it's good for young people starting out too.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Great-Fiction-Gloria-Kempton-ebook/dp/B005E8AEJ0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419339821&sr=8-1&keywords=dialogue

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Dialogue-Scripts-Effective-Handbooks/dp/1408101343/ref=wl_mb_wl_huc_clickstream_1_dp

the first is a great resource that I use for all of my dialogue. The second is more for screenwriting. They are both great, but if you only need one I would recommend the first.

There’s a book called “shoot your novel:applying cinematic techniques to supercharge your writing”

https://www.amazon.com/Shoot-Your-Novel-Techniques-Supercharge-ebook/dp/B00O4HSMMS

I own the book, it’s very good.

I imagine if you just said 'natas' or something, people would think it's a spanish word and wouldn't get that it's satan backwards. Or I could be projecting. I first saw it backwards in a chapter of my friend's Amok Fifth Dispatch: Sourcebook for the Extremes of Information....and didn't get it right away

Again, the niche thing is relatively easy. You should spend some time browsing a book store's fantasy section and look at what is being sold. Or look on amazon to see what's selling best. You don't exactly have to worry about this until you get an agent, but then its your job to figure it out. It also doesn't hurt to have it in mind. Fantasy is a bit weird because everyone can like it, young people, old people etc. But there's a difference between someone like Neil Gaiman and R.A. Salvatore. You have to figure out where you fit in to the picture.

Look through this and narrow your search.

Here's a few quick tips on submitting query letters: make it as straightforward as possible. Condense it to one page. Focus on two major things; what your book is about and who you are. It helps if you've been published somewhere, or have some kind of blog (i.e. built in audience). When describing your story or series, don't beat around the bush; tell the agent what it's about and what sets it apart or makes it original enough to consider.

Try to keep your query interesting without seeming crazy. Don't use wacky fonts, lots of exclamations etc. The more desperate you seem the less they'll want to take you on. You have to come across as being confident and excited about your work. It's a difficult process, but you need to put work into it if you want to be successful.

As far as what valasjak says, he's mostly right. I would argue against getting self published if you're ever going to be serious about getting an agent (90% of agents don't want to have anything to do with self published authors UNLESS their books are enormously successful, which happens roughly 1% of the time). The online stuff might work. Don't really know. Good luck.

Not exactly, see below. The short answer is the ten commandments.

If you want a REALLY good primer on Jewish values, beliefs, and thoughts, take a look at the following:

Jewish Wisdom

Jewish Literacy

Jewish Values

A Code of Jewish Ethics

Chaim Halevi Donin's books

Between R. Telushkin and R. Donin you will get a very comprehensive intro to Judaism. I have personally read at least 6 of the 9 or so books posted here, and have found both to be exceptionally well written and informative. R. Telushkin is a personal favorite of mine, and I think he nails it every time, not only in terms of accuracy and quality of writing, but in making it actually enjoyable to read. Aka, when I sit down with one of his books, I will clear easily 600 to 800 pages a day.

Hope that helps!

Is it the Chicago Manual of Style? There's a new one out.

I found this book helpful on this particular issue: Shoot Your Novel: Cinematic Techniques to Supercharge Your Writing by C.S. Lakin. The quality of her books on writing vary greatly but this one was particularly well done and helpful in my opinion. I think it very much addresses how to approach the problem you are describing.

buy this book if you want to have a list of interesting books

http://www.amazon.com/Amok-Fifth-Dispatch-Sourcebook-Information/dp/1878923129

review from amazon:

The definitive reference work surveying the outer fringes of our information age. This is a collection of over 2000 of the most bizarre and controversial books available from hundreds of publishers worldwide - with a description of each book and ordering information. Huge book! Topics include: Mind Control, Anarchy, New World Order, Drugs, Murder and Mayhem, Forensics, Sexuality, Strange Science, Dada/Surrealism & Art, Sleaze, Cult Films, Kitsch, Exotica, Occult, Satan, Freemasonry, Parallax, Tactics, UFOs, Crowley, LaVey, Nietzsche, Rockwell, Malcolm X, Bataille, Breton, Szukalski etc... CAUTION: Contains ADULT Material.

After several years, try a different approach. Consider following instructions in 90 Days to your Novel.

This breaks down your writing into approx 2hr/day chunks.

This book by George Friedman is a good unbiased look at the Geopolitical balance of power issues we face.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Next-Decade-Where-Going/dp/0385532946

If you want more than two books:

Stein on Writing is fantastic for learning an editor's perspective

Invisible Ink (not sure what happened to the Kindle edition) is more about storytelling in general but it's fantastic at breaking down what makes good movies good

How Not to Write a Novel will crack you up

> Is maximizing democracy always a benefit? If it were, a democracy of one would be ideal. Yet generally people recognize that there are problems that can't be solved without covenants of responsibilities enforced by an organization with the ability to override an individual's preference when it serves to ameliorate those problems.

A complicated question. There are tons of problems associated with democracy. In a democracy, with the right to vote, we are all capable of making binding decisions. In other words, I can force you to follow a law if I got a majority supporting me.

That is a pretty big deal. At the very least, you and me should demand that every person with the right to vote must be a competent person that knows to a reasonable extent what they are voting on. But that is not the case.

Then there is deliberation. In a mega democracy, debates and media play a vital role. They give us the information of which we make our choices. But the media does not give every opinion a balanced chance.

You point out that progress is a result of humans solving problems in groups, that would be impossible to solve alone. Therefor, most have recognized that individual preferences must be overridden by a system of law. The common answer to democracy relies mostly of the assumption that humans have an intrensic value, and from there we can gather what rights and values protect the intrensic worth of a human, and then see that a system which protect all rights and values of a human is likely a democracy. At least that is roughly what we gather from Robert Dahl. (From here, here and here, if you have access to any of them I can help finding relevant chapters/pages)

---
I recognize that democracy is a functional system to drive human progress, we cannot all have our way and democracy given that the system strives to follow the 5 democratic criteria of Dahl seems to do a good job of sharing burdens and boons among its members. The problem comes when you mix dictatorship and democracy. Let us say for instance, that the position of minister of health was auctioned off every fourth year instead of voted on. Who would be in charge? I'd wager it would be tobacco interests every period. I claim that a system where you auction off positions of power in a democracy would taint it and make the democracy dysfunctional. That is a problem today, because some of the most powerful positions are not within the government, but rather in the private sector. And there are no democracy in the private sector. We are all blinded by the fact that the government can issue laws over the private sector. In practicality, it hardly can. This mix of two worlds, one where power is given by capital and another where power is given by convincing large masses of people to vote on you (which often costs capital) gives us the tainted modern mega democracies where the tobacco industry is one of the largest lobbyists in the EU and two persons from the upper class ran to be the representative of the people.

But there is a reason not to include democracy in the workplace, or at least a reason for the wealthiest to resist it. Democracy will over time eventually lead to socialism (worker ownership, the proper definition of socialism, not the 'the more a state does, the socialester it is definition) which is why our system must not be fully democratic.

I would argue that it is not an opinion. Simply because there have been many Political Science papers that have been peer-reviewed and published indicating that in order for a democracy to function properly, people must be informed and participate.

A good book to read about it is The Democracy Sourcebook. Cites many of said relevant papers.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Democracy-Sourcebook-Robert-Dahl/dp/0262541475/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372186474&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Democracy+Sourcebook

> Fucking parasites.

It's not entirely their fault, tho they deserve a lot of blame. The one good reason to go traditional publishing is to get into physical bookstores. The problem with that is that unless you are jK rowling or stephen King, you'll only be there for a few weeks before being replaced with whatever is next in the publishing assembly line. I'm sure you've noticed that there are fewer B&N stores, and inside each one, the shelf space for books keeps shrinking in favor of toys and coffee bars. Bookstores have one insurmountable problem they cannot solve: finite shelf space. On Amazon or Smashwords, shelf space for ebooks is effectively infinite.

Here's two books on how to self-publish. The first, by Amazon itself, is free:

1. Publish on Amazon Kindle with Kindle Direct Publishing
   
2. Self-Publishing: A Step-by-Step How-To Guide