What, if anything, would replace the written word? Perhaps telepathy--some form of direct mental communication. Or possibly, in a world where society has collapsed, it would be replaced with nothing. Maybe words will be upgraded to include more information. Maybe words could be invented that described such unique events and feelings that you could put …
To contract or not contract
What makes a writer decide not to use contractions? Especially in a story written in first person, they seem like a natural choice to make it sound more like a person speaking. In Borne, the narrator doesn't contract. Saying 'could not' and 'can not' and 'did not' etc, isn't exactly distracting, but I notice it …
Borned
When your viewpoint character is the least interesting character in the story, this might be a problem. I'd rather read about Borne. I'd rather read about Wick. I'd rather read about 'the Magician.' I'd rather read about Morde the giant bear. I'd rather read about the mysterious scientists in the Company building. I'd rather read …
Writing faster
Ten thousand words on the new project (the one I started, then stopped, then--guess what--started again) in a bit more than a month since I started it. This is pretty slow to be sure, but it's much faster than the glacial pace I crawled at for the first part of my previous novel, which took …
Name one
Name a first person novel where the character isn't annoying, stupid, or an asshole--I'd like to read it. Maybe it's because people never see their own faults, I suppose that's realistic but it's still annoying. (almost) Every novel I've read in first person the character does irrational, stupid, or asshole-ish things, and never acknowledges it …
Jonas David 