9 Answers2025-11-05
More pages = more paper. So, while publishers inflate page count to try to get more value out of the book, more pages = more trees down. An 80k word novel responsibly designed to a 280 page book has a much smaller eco-footprint than the same words inflated to 380 pages. Why not value clear, concise, efficient design as much as great design?
3 Answers2025-12-16
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod is a warm, cozy, little poem that celebrates childhood and the imagination of kids in order to describe sleep. The three fishermen are proxies for children everywhere, and their boat, a wooden shoe, is probably just a crib or bed that the child has magnified in their imagination. The ‘nets of silver and gold’ are probably just a series of thoughts that cross the sleeping child’s mind just before he falls asleep and they disappear into nothingness, glittering for just a moment.
In my readings of various interpretations of the poem including links to Dutch folklore and even the Milky Way as a great river in the sky, I believe what makes this poem so powerful is that it is universal. Every culture has lullabies and children’s songs. This one turns ordinary bedtime into an adventure that is shared by all. The rhythm of the poem is soothing and at the same time the imagery stirs the imagination. Children can relish in the poetry while fighting to stay awake, while adults can be transported back to a simpler time and reminded that even in the quietest of moments we can experience the epic.
4 Answers2025-10-07
Unique noble titles can be so rich with creativity and cultural insight. I think of ‘Queen of Hearts’ instantly from Alice in Wonderland, a name that conjures up so much personality and heritage. While there are historical influences upon many titles, authors can ‘sew’ in as much or as little of other cultures as they wish to create something completely unique. Many video games, such as Final Fantasy, use titles that reflect their characters’ expectations of royalty and the weight of their heritage, whilst at the same time revealing more layers of humanity to their characters in a very fictional world. These titles help to make the story more relatable to readers. How cool is that?!
3 Answers2025-08-19
I am a huge fan of both danmei and wuxia novels, and Word of Honor is one of the rare exceptions of adaptations that did the novel justice. Faraway Wanderers by Priest is an incredible mix of martial arts and romance, and while the adaptation has been censored in many places, the drama did a fantastic job of portraying the intricate plot and developing relationships. A very notable aspect of the novel is the complex relationships between the many male leads, and especially the tortuous bond between Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing.
The drama illustrates the ‘soulmates’ theme through visual storytelling while the novel explicitly states it. The world building of the novel is far more detailed and comprehensive, including a more in-depth portrayal of the jianghu setting as well as the backstories of all the characters. Thus, if you enjoy the pacing and the development of the characters in the drama, then you will definitely love the novel. ‘Faraway Wanderers’ is a must-read for all BL fans as well as wuxia fans alike.
8 Answers2025-06-10
This is one of the most flexible genres when it comes to chapter length. You can have a cozy, slow-burn contemporary novel with 8,000-word chapters that are so much fun to read. Or you can have a fast-paced, indie rom-com where every chapter is around 1,500 words and you read them in one sitting. I guess it depends on the author and the story. High-tension romantic suspense is often written in short, sharp chapters to keep the tension up. Sweeping historical sagas can be written in longer, more leisurely chapters. There is no industry standard here. In digital format, 3,000-5,000 words seems to be the sweet spot for maximum reader engagement. It’s long enough to get fully immersed in a couple of scenes, but not so long that you get tired before you reach the end of the chapter. As long as the chapter ends on a good emotional high point or a cliffhanger of some sort, the word count fades into the background.
9 Answers2025-04-14
It is compared to Infinite Jest, a huge, showy, philosophical title. And A Little Life is its exact opposite: modest, contained, human. And all of contemporary fiction can be seen to fall into this dichotomy between Infinite Jest and A Little Life. For A Little Life is a significant novel as a flag-bearer for the hyper-realistic, emotionally complex, character-focused novel that eschews pyrotechnics and conceptual games in favor of the in-depth, true-to-life portrayal of a single, little human life. The title is a declarative statement of the novel’s aesthetic: no tricks, just the honest portrayal of human life.
4 Answers2025-11-26
'The Mallen Streak' by Vicki Cookson – a classic gothic novel where a family slowly but surely loses control of themselves as their famous legend threatens to consume them. The famous white streak of hair runs like a time bomb through the generations of this family, and it’s the root of so much pain and misunderstanding. But each generation also has their own unique struggles and voice, from the youngest hard-drinking son to the disenchanted, elderly matriarch, as well as the inevitably tragic love story of a working class man and a member of the upper-class family. The physical trait of the streak of hair is used as a metaphor for the inherited psychological trauma suffered by each Mallen. It’s a cracking read, spoiler free, that will have you reading it by the light of a fire on a rainy day.
5 Answers2025-07-15
When I read a BL story that I really enjoy, I like to seek out the rest of the author’s work. Typically, an author’s novels can be found on Wattpad, their short stories can be found on AO3 and they may be serializing another work on Tapas. By following the author of a story that I really like, I can add all of their other work to a “to read” list and really experience the full range of an author’s work.
By focusing on the authors rather than the platforms where their stories are published, I get to read other works by my favorite BL authors. The majority of the authors I enjoy publish their works on a variety of platforms – some may publish novels on Wattpad while serializing short stories on AO3 and releasing other works on Tapas. I follow my favorite authors so that I can add all of their works to a “to-read” list. Often, authors cross-post their work, or include links to all of their published works in their bio. This way of reading online is far more cohesive than reading a highly-recommended novel published on some random website.
5 Answers2025-07-18
If you want to read a great crime novel with a lot of heart, then I think The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens is your best bet. This is his most highly decorated book and for good reason. The intricate plot is excellent but it is also a very emotionally charged novel. Joe and Carl is a story about a man who has spent his life burying things and searching for answers to the questions surrounding a murder that occurred twenty years prior. Along the way, Eskens also explores themes of guilt and redemption. Eskens and his book were awarded the Rosebud Award last year. So, if you’re a fan of the genre then this is definitely one you should read.
3 Answers2025-05-16
There are many ways in which Geoffrey Chaucer’s Prolision to the Second Part of the Canterbury Tales and, above all, The Canterbury Tales have influenced novel writing in the centuries since. One major area of influence is the development of narrative and character. Novel writers have been greatly influenced by the simple yet effective technique that Chaucer and other medieval writers of vernacular employed. This is notably apparent in ‘The Canterbury Tales’ by which a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury tell stories, in each case a different tale, in which they themselves feature as characters, each story being told from the unique perspective of the individual storyteller.
The use of vernacular English by Chaucer in the majority of his work also had a profound effect upon literature. By writing in the language of the common man of his day, he made literature more accessible to a larger number of people, which is still the objective of modern novelists. Many attempts are made to capture the exact tone and dialect of characters in a novel today.
The famous writer is also remembered for the skill with which he combined humor with social commentary. A powerful commentator on society of his day, his characters are memorable because they are three-dimensional. Today’s novelists continue to be inspired by Chaucer’s work, nowable to draw on his legacy as they explore new narrative possibilities while striving to create more realistic and engaging characters.