Questions

okay. i write books and im kinda stuck at this point. heres the scenario (this isnt real. just fiction): theres a kid (evan) who has an abusive mother, who is divorced. his mother was finally caught and his step-dad now has custody. but with only one thing of income, his step-dad cant support all the medical needs of this kid. so his step-dad gives custody rights to his sister, who has two kids of her own (jamie and zachk), both evan’s age (freshman in highschool when custody rights switched). evan and jamie are 14 and zachk is 15. well, evan has an older brother named chris. hes like 18 or 19, somewhere close to that. havent decided yet but hes graduated and looking for a nearby college. and he can drive.

heres the question: how old does a sibling have to be to get custody rights of a younger sibling if they are significantly younger? like, still in school or still a minor?

i just need to know the age, whether or not it appiles to siblings, or if its even legal cuz i dont know.
this wasnt to concern anybody. srry if it did. this may very well be happening somewhere else (not same names or same place, but the circumstances). i got the idea for this book from the numerous kids that are abused daily and nobody ever does anything about it. well, the fourth book os the only one that is basically real and really could happen. all the other ones in the series deal with dragons and werewolves and aliens and stuff.
- Raven

Here’s the short version of what I’m looking for, followed by half a billion questions. If you have asthma you’re my expert — thanks for your willingness to respond!

My main character is a teenaged girl with asthma living in the US. Would she be on a daily preventive medicine? How often and what time(s) of day would she take it, and would that be on a full or empty stomach? Are there side effects?

She has a rescue inhaler. At what point would she use it? How many times would she pump it? What are the immediate effects of using the inhaler? Does it have a taste? What’s that like? Does the taste linger, or is it pretty much while she’s getting the med? Does it have any side effects? How long does it take to stop an attack? Are there circumstances under which it doesn’t work? When would she decide to call for medical help?

How does it feel when an attack comes on? Are there early early signs (the way I can sometimes tell I’m about to get a migraine before the aura because I suddenly find it hard to read the computer screen)? What are the first symptoms? What are the sensations that lead to a full-blown attack? What are the feelings of an attack that’s subsiding? After it’s over, how do you feel? Do you rest or go on with your day?
- Illyria

Your story, be it novel, short story or novelette, is finished. Or is it? Before you send it to a publisher, check firstly that your story makes sense!

Maybe you read my article about The Final Draft. Well, before you reach that stage there’s this one to go through. It can be hard and you need to be tough with yourself, castings an editor’s eye - not that of a writer - over your work. So what is there to look for when editing and how do you go about it?

The first thing to do is to print your story out onto paper. Don’t ask me why but editing just doesn’t seem to work the same if you do it on your computer or word-processor. Then read your story. You might think this a waste of time - after all, you wrote it! - but I assure you that you’ll find mistakes, typos and a host of other little mistakes.

They’re easy to correct. Mark them in pencil as you go along. When you have finished your read through it’s time to begin editing in earnest. You will have almost certainly noticed plotting errors and the usual howlers present in every first draft (I speak from experience!) but here’s a rundown of vital points to check off during the editing process.

1. Do your characters behave as they should? Remember that, in fiction, people seldom if ever act ‘out of character’ - if your character has changed, this needs attention.

2. Do your characters react to each other as they should? Events in your story may well change the feelings and emotions your characters display towards each other. Do they mention events that have happened to them within the story? Real people would - your characters should follow suit.

3. Will it be obvious to the reader what the characters are doing - and why they are doing it? This needs to be made clear to the reader otherwise the ‘thread’ of the story may be lost altogether, your reader will become confused - and the story, for them, is over.

4. Do your characters react believably to circumstances? Again, this goes back to character action - don’t have a character brush off a situation if their character sheet says they would go berserk with rage at a given event - if this is evident, your plotting needs to be looked at. Don’t change your character’s reactions to paper over cracks in the plot!

5. Does your story timeline run true? It’s very easy to have someone in two places at once if you’re not in control of this critical thread. If you have a sub-plot, or, worse still, several sub-plots running, this can rapidly spiral out of control. Use a timeline record to help you control event timing, i.e. ‘10 pm Monday - Jake and Sally at Harry’s bar. Big Mike robbing bank.’ This ensures that Jake and Big Mike don’t ‘meet up’ somewhere at that hour!

Checking the above points will take time, effort and dedication. However, if you do not ensure that your story makes sense according to the points above, the only time you waste will be your own. Why? Simple. Editors today do not expect - and indeed will not tolerate - stories that simply don’t ‘hang together’. The days of droves of sub-editors making good your sloppy work are well and truly gone.

So - edit and re-edit. Be brutal. Be honest with yourself and your work and you will be streets ahead of those who do not take the time and effort that you do. Writing fiction is hard work - it’s up to you to make certain your work is the best it can be. I look forward to seeing you in print!


- Steve Dempster