How To Write On A Pdf Document With A Stylus?

My cat stepped on my Kindle once. The resulting annotation, “hhhhhhhhhh”, is to date my most profound annotation on the book.

I recently discovered author Judy Corry. At first glance, her novels appear to be typical YA/NA romance ‘fluff’. However, as I delved deeper into her stories, I realized that there is actually some real depth to her writing. Many of her stories revolve around the themes of self-discovery and healing and feature yummy romance along the way. I recently read her novel, ‘The Wrong Kiss’ and was hooked from start to finish. It had that addicitive quality where I would start reading a chapter and the next thing I knew it was 2am. Her dialogue is very realistic, often sounding like I’m listening in on a conversation between characters. Her pacing is also very good in that she keeps the story moving at a fast enough pace without rushing the important emotional moments. All in all, a very sweet and substantial romance author.

I often read PDFs on my Android phone, and bookmarking is super handy for keeping track of important pages. Here's how I do it: I usually open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Reader since it's my go-to app. Once the file is open, I navigate to the page I want to bookmark. At the top right, there's a bookmark icon—it looks like a ribbon. I tap it, and voilà, the page is bookmarked. To view all my bookmarks later, I just tap the side menu, select 'Bookmarks,' and it shows me the list. Other apps like Xodo or Google PDF Viewer have similar features, though the exact steps might vary slightly. The key is to look for the bookmark icon or check the app's help section if you're unsure.

One thing that always stood out to me about 'Twilight' is how the dialogue often feels clunky and unnatural. Characters like Bella and Edward frequently speak in overly dramatic, almost Shakespearean ways that don’t match how real teens talk. For example, Edward’s lines are packed with archaic phrasing like 'you are my life now' or 'I’ve never wanted a human’s blood so much,' which can come off as unintentionally funny rather than romantic. The melodrama works for some fans, but for others, it breaks immersion because it feels like everyone’s performing in a soap opera instead of having relatable conversations. Another issue is the repetitive descriptions—Bella’s constant mentions of Edward’s 'marble skin' or 'topaz eyes' become exhausting. It’s like the narrative relies on the same few adjectives to hammer home his perfection, which makes the prose feel lazy. Also, the pacing drags in places where Bella spends pages analyzing every tiny interaction with Edward instead of advancing the plot. The books could’ve benefited from tighter editing to trim down the circular inner monologues.

I love my e-reader but I sometimes miss the feeling of real paper under my fingers. It is easy enough to print a PDF from your Kindle if the eBook is in a DRM-free PDF format. You would need to connect your Kindle to a computer and find the PDF in the documents folder on your Kindle and print it from there. eBooks that are in Kindle book format (e.g. for purchase from Amazon.com) with DRM are trickier to print. There are plenty of e-readers out there that handle PDFs better than a Kindle (Kobo, PocketBook etc.). If you’re techy enough, you could also use tools like Calibre to convert your Kindle books to print and then print them. However, be careful to check the copyright on any book you try to print out, as some publishers allow limited printing for personal use. You can always try to stick to PDFs that are DRM-free or buy print copies of your favorite books to avoid any hassle.

Regressive character arcs are a powerful but underused plot device in fiction. Rather than growing and improving, the main character can get worse and worse until he becomes the embodiment of his worst traits. The arc of Walter White in Breaking Bad and that of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels are classic examples of this type of arc. They are powerful because they show how humans can sometimes fail in the same ways even when they have the chance to do better. In order to write a regressive character arc, you must first have a good idea of where your character started out and what made him vulnerable in the first place. Then you must be able to show how outside forces can slowly bring him down to a low point. First, work out what your character was like before they started to regress. Try to make them somewhat sympathetic and relatable to the audience before they start to decline. This could be a character who is ambitious but also insecure. They may be an idealistic character who is naive to the true nature of the world around them. A great example of this type of character development is Macbeth and his fall from king to murderer. Or perhaps the character of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, who was the idealistic district attorney of Gotham City before he was corrupted by the abuse of power of the Joker. It’s easier to make a tragic fall believable when your character starts off with virtues that are laudable to the audience. Of course, pacing is important as well. Usually, a slow-burning story is best for a regressive character arc, because you can illustrate how each compromise the character makes leads to greater moral failures. In the beginning, the character should be making somewhat positive choices for somewhat negative reasons. Compare how the character behaves at the beginning of the story to how he or she behaves at the end. (For example, Walter White told Jesse that he started making methamphetamine only to secure his family’s financial future, but by the end, he killed people simply to protect his own done-wrong self.) Surround your regressive character with foils, people who could have been just as good or better in the same situation. They may even attempt to pull your character back from the edge. How does the rest of the world react to your regressive character? Some people may enable his or her behavior, while others try to resist it. As for the end of your story, a regressive arc does not necessarily have to end with the death or decline of your main character. In fact, he or she could win everything he or she set out to achieve, but suffer such great losses that, in the end, the victory is hollow. It is a very chilling realization, watching a main character finally grasp the full extent of all that he or she has lost. While exploring a regressive character arc can be frustrating for some writers and displeasing for some audiences to watch, it can make for a very powerful and memorable story. There are many examples of compelling stories that do not have heroes. Rather, there are main characters who, throughout the story, slowly lose themselves to their flaws. Their downfall can be truly tragic, making for a story that leaves a lasting impression on the reader. Just be sure to make their decline believable and earn their downfall.

While reading ‘Born in Blackness’, Howard W. French’s latest book on African history, I kept thinking of how this book would stick with me long after I finished reading it. As someone who has lived and worked in Africa for decades and written for some of the world’s leading publications, French has a unique vantage point for his history. And what he sets out to do with ‘Born in Blackness’ – to challenge the predominantly Eurocentric view of history and to show how Africa’s contributions to the world were actively suppressed and subsequently rewritten – he does with great depth and detail. Much like one would read a book by a well-traveled uncle who is sharing forbidden knowledge, French’s writing is intelligent and easily followed by the reader. The obvious intention of his book is for historical revision, in order to hold people accountable for their distortions of the past. After finishing the book, I look at the “world history” section of most bookstores with suspicion, wondering what other falsehoods are being perpetuated on the public.

As a general rule, I prefer not to read PDFs on my Kindle. However, I have found that there are two methods that can make reading PDFs relatively hassle-free. The Kindle’s built-in ‘Fit to Screen’ option is sufficient for simple PDFs, such as novels or reports. However, for more complex documents, it is better to convert them to EPUB first using a free online service such as Zamzar and then transfer them to your Kindle using a USB cable. To read comics and illustrated PDFs, I use ‘Kindle Comic Converter’. It splits up the PDF into readable parts on your Kindle, saving you from having to reduce the font size so much that you can no longer read it properly. Some books even contain beautiful pictures which get preserved very well by this tool. For travel I simply email the PDF to my Kindle under the subject line ‘convert’. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.

It looks mostly the same to me as it did in the early days of our books, presses to drag open menus with small text. If I am typing out a note that is longer than a few words, I have a tendency to lose my place. Because of this, serious academic annotation is still best done on a tablet with a real stylus. The Paperwhite is perfect for casual underlining and 'wow' moments of insight. Not for detailed, hand written marginalia.

One of the best ways to elicit pity from a reader is to let them see the situation through the eyes of someone neutral or even unsympathetic to the hero in the early going. If a hard-bitten, cynical character can change his or her perspective on the hero and come to feel sorry for them, then that can elicit a change of heart in the reader too. We read through the eyes of the other character as they come to realize the depth of the hero’s plight. We see the worn patches on their backpack, or the careful calculations that they make to determine how to spend their money to get the most nutritional value from their lunch funds. The reader’s feelings are plumbed by watching the other character come to realize the hero’s plight, in a ‘show not tell’ way.