So why am I having to scour the Web-verse to see if ‘my big puffy bed’ needs a comma? I’ve been a ‘professional’ writer since my first real job in 1990. A master’s degree in Literature (Or is it a Master’s Degree in Literature?). A writing tutor in grad school. I’m just finishing a 120,000-word novel. I should know this, right?

Learn the difference between a hero and an antihero. They are both protagonists, yet one has been viewed as more human than the other. This is not true, both are equally people, yet they are different in skill-level and appreciation.

Over the past five years I’ve been doing a small and formal study on my own. I’ve been surveying all of the writers in my area, especially in our local writer’s club. I’ve also talked to several of the local University extension program’s creative writing teachers and professors.

About 1 in 2 people have ever thought of writing a novel. With that kind of odds, how can you write that break-through novel? How do you go from idea to manuscript?

It’s exciting to start a new book. Though the first blank page can be daunting, as soon as you get words on paper you’re filled with hope. All too often, however, writers find they have to go backwards to correct typos, spelling errors, or facts. This article gives some of the reasons for going backwards and tells how an author may benefit from it.

I have always been a pen-and-paper kind of guy when it comes to my poetry and occasional prose. However, it would be very naive to think that the Internet has not had a profound impact on writing. Additionally, it would be foolish for any writer to discredit the Internet as a valuable resource for development and success.

How should a story ebb and flow? How quickly should the stakes be raised and how quickly should they fall again? These are all questions for the debut author to consider. I have read several samples of stories from potential new writers over the years and they generally fall into two categories: those stories that are descriptive passages, pages at a time; and those that rise to fever pitch and never come down long enough to allow the reader to catch a breath.

In the story structure that we in the West have become accustomed to, stories have a beginning, middle and end. The beginning can actually happen anywhere in the course of the story, but it is the moment that something happens that sets something else in motion. The middle is where what is set in motion in the beginning progresses and develops, often in unexpected ways. Now we come to the end, which may not seem like an ending at all.

The personality types are explained in this article. Knowing the personality types can aid in character development as well as maintaining continuity in action.

Professional writers have their own pace. When words are flowing, you may wonder if you should keep writing or stop and take a break. This article, by a long-term professional writer, details her approach to productivity.

When looking at story structure, it is important to understand the importance of and distinction between the beginning, the middle and the end. When dealing with the middle, many writers fall into the “muddle in the middle” and can’t quite get from the beginning to the end. There are some simple things to alleviate this muddle.

In the western notion of story structure, the three parts of a story are the beginning, middle and end. To examine the beginning of the story, it is where something happens that sets something else in motion, but it doesn’t necessarily have to appear in your story at the beginning.