New York City vs. Chicago

I plan to format it in 5.5" by 8.5"...but I'm not sure on what I should do with the margins? Can you recommend the best margin sizes for me? And also, should I be formatting the margins with the "mirrored page"? Thanks so much.

I just recently published my book as an Amazon e-book. I have a Facebook page, a personal blog, and whenever I write a guest article on a writing-related website I promote my book. Now I am trying to find other places online where I could promote it. What are some great websites you would highly recommend? Thank you so much.

I am planning a trip around the United States that will take up a good part of a year, maybe a whole year. I am trying to find a travel buddy online, someone to take the trip with (I'm thinking someone fresh out of high school or college who wants an adventure, like me), but most forums or websites I find don't allow underage users.

Anyone know of a good place to find a travel buddy when I am still underage? Thank you.

I'm writing a fictional story about the Holocaust and I want to base many events off things that actually happened. Like, what sort of treatment the Jews had to endure through the 1930's and into the 40's, things that occurred in the ghettos and the camps, and so on and so forth.

Do you know of a book or a website archive where I could find these true account stories?

I've been reading personal memoirs like Night and the Diary of Anne Frank, but I don't want to have to end up reading fifty memoirs or something.

I've heard lots of people saying this is a fantastic series, and websites such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Goodreads are giving it 4.5/5 stars.

But then I've read excerpts from the book and I have no idea what everyone is hyping about. The writer is obviously inexperienced and doesn't know how to construct a story. The grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors are abundant, and the plot doesn't even move forward well at all.

So what is everyone so excited about? Am I missing something?

I just feel a bit confused here...because only a few online reviews I read mentioned "some grammar errors" - and if these reviews are accurate to the observations of the readers, we have a serious problem here.

I need a less feminine-sounding name for my pen name, as the genre of my book is more of the masculine type, and I've narrowed it down to two choices. They are

Elian Lisette

E. C. Elian

I cannot decide between the two. The first, I think, has more of an exotic feel to it (like Salvador Dali, Virginia Woolf, etc.) The second has more a stately feel (T. S. Eliot, E. E. Cummings, etc.) And I really like both.

So for now I decided to put it to a vote. Which do you prefer, off the top of your head? Which automatically stands out to you more? Thank you for your time.

- soon-to-be published author.

For fun I'm writing a comedy-horror story involving the Joker and Harley Quinn along with some Star Wars bounty hunters. It's going to be loaded with all kinds of horrific torture and death scenes, and I want them to be as creative as possible. Prying fingernails out won't cut it. So far the worst scene has been where the Joker stuffs a hand-sized windup doll down a guy's throat until it's lodged in his chest and then he cuts his eyes out with a screwdriver.

So, in case my dark imagination runs dry, does anyone have anymore nasty ideas? It can be as God-awful, perverted, fetish-y, or disgusting as you want. Just creative. Like involving seemingly innocent objects, such as children's toys and household items.

Thanks for the help :P

There is a scene in my book where the narrator/main character introduces and explains his psychic ability to the reader. It's a special ability in his head that allows him to constantly know the exact time in his current time zone, which he hasn't nor wants to explain to anyone else. In my final edit I went over this scene and it sounds unforgivably redundant and cliche to me.

The basic outline is: "I'm able to tell the exact time when I'm not distracted or so-and-so. As if some part of my brain keeps track of every second. I've never explained it to anybody, not even to my wife, but at least it's helpful".

This just sounds dull to me and I want the scene, however brief, to have more *punch*, as it's an important element in the story.

Any tips or advice on how to improve a scene like this? Any ideas on how to pull it off successfully? I want to be able to make this ability clear to the reader, but without the narrator sounding like an angsty Gary-Stu teen (which he isn't).

Thank you in advance :)

I'm writing a novel in first-person. The narrator is of lower-class and is not well-educated, so he does not have great skill in the grammar department. Here and there in the story, not often but on occasion, I put in a grammatical error on purpose - things like "I be walking", "ain't nothing", etc. These errors are used in his own narratives or mental monologues - not just the dialogue. But I do NOT have any spelling or punctuation errors.

If this is intentional with the purpose of revealing more about this character, is it okay to do? Are there 'exceptions' to the rule of using correct grammar in a story?

Or is correct grammar essential, with no exceptions?

I'm under 18 (that's all you probably need to know) and bottom line is, our family is real short on money, and I am trying to save enough to get myself an education. The problem is, I cannot get a job because of our location and jobs are really hard to come by here.

I've been writing for a very long time and I have a completed, edited novel I feel is ready to be published. My hope is that if I can get my novel published, I'll be able to help my family out plus pay for my college.

My first question is for anyone who has been published. What are my options? How do I get there? What do I have to know and what do I have to do? Is there any way to contact an editor?

My second question is: is trying to publish a novel to make ends meet even a reasonable idea? Will it help me and my family out in the end? Is this just a helpless shot in the dark?

I don't care if I sound stupid, talk to me like I am. I want to be published someday anyway and I want to start now to start making some money. Thank you so much in advance for listening and answering :-)

I get the notifications that someone has left a comment, but when I go to the page it says there are no comments. What's wrong??

Something like the lines to "Safe and Sound" where it goes: Don't you dare look out your window, darling, everything's on fire". Anything like that at all. please, and thank you :)

I hate dumb romantic comedies, mindless action flicks, and meaningless torture porn. I am honestly sick of this garbage wildly popular today. I'm tired of having everyone tell me to watch an "awesome" movie only to find it was utterly pointless.

When I watch a movie, I'm looking for something with a point or message I can take away. Something deep and meaningful, and not just eye-candy. It can be about a true story or a current issue or a deep truth, and I don't care how unsettling it is as long as it all has a point to it.

My question is, do you know of any movies that just might appeal to this pessimistic, sentimental, truth-hungry person? If you've seen or heard of any movies like this, please give me your input, and thank you so much in advance.

These are a few movies I have seen that did this for me, just to give you a little idea:

Schindler's List

Dances with Wolves

Saving Private Ryan

Unforgiven

I want to read some very dark poetry, bonus if it centers around violent and graphic themes and content. Something along the lines of "Blue is the color of my mom's swollen eyes, Red is the color of her blood on the kitchen tiles", which I just made up as an example.

I am trying to decide a last name for my character. Which one do you think fits best with her first name?

Maera Antares

Maera Sitara

This isn't so much which fits her personality as which one just "sounds" better. Thanks in advance.

This is my favorite time period in American History and since I've read lots of nonfiction about that era I want to start reading historical fiction.

My ideal themes are a coming-of-age story, a story about immigrants, or about family struggles especially during the Great Depression. I read "Mama's Bank Account" and I loved that one. I also loved "The Grapes of Wrath". If possible, though, a story set in a more urban area instead of rural.

Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated. I'll read YA or Adult. Thank you so much!

I'm writing an extremely dark satirical story, and I want to use popular quotes from literature/songs/movies/theater/etc that are typically seen as happy or cheery, but if used differently they could be very dark, creepy, or ironic.

The only one I have would be somebody singing "Silent Night" while shooting down a group of people, especially with the last line "Sleep in heavenly peace". That's all I got. Can anyone think of any more? Links to websites with quotes like these would be greatly appreciated. thank you!

I'm writing an extremely dark satirical story, and I want to use popular quotes from literature/songs/movies/theater/etc that are typically seen as happy or cheery, but if used differently they could be very dark, creepy, or ironic.

The only one I have would be somebody singing "Silent Night" while shooting down a group of people, especially with the last line "Sleep in heavenly peace". That's all I got. Can anyone think of any more? Links to websites with quotes like these would be greatly appreciated. thank you!

The story is about a 19-year old girl, and almost all of it is set at a boarding school. However, there is strong language, graphic sexual content, and graphic violence (as bad as prying off your own fingernails or vomiting blood, stuff like that). She has some of the problems of a young adult, like dealing with infatuation and school, but there are also major adult themes.

I was wondering whether I should consider it "Young Adult" or "Adult". What do you guys think?

they don't have to necessarily be German, but that would be a bonus.

I DO NOT like screamo music, but I like Rammstein's sound. If you can recommend any bands that sound like them and aren't screamo, I'll give you lots of digital hugs, thank you in advance.