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Welcome, C.G.  Welcome aboard.

You'll be missed, Karin.  Happy Holidays!

Micheal O'Donahue's "How to Write Good."  Best advise ever--if you don't know how to end a story, have all the characters run over by a truck.  If it's a story about characters who drive trucks, have them run over by a big truck.

Hi, Gacela:

I'm not sure if it is worth signing up for; I'm still waiting on results.  If you get 500 'readings,' they consider publishing you, and they will market your book if they do.  They have contests with that as a prize.  However, I've had only about 200 readings, only a couple of writing buddies, and the contest I'm entered in hasn't closed yet.  So the jury is still out, as they say.

John:  Not so much in this book, but overall, it is a little ambiguous.  It's suggested in Book III (posted now on Inkitt) that it is vestiphobia.  Her sister suggests its a power play of a sort.  I might develop those, but except for a radical blooper, Out of Exile is published.  Onward and upward!

Rhiannon the Birds:  Out of Exile is now available at this link:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076W52H72

Thanks, John, Randy!  And I will definitely let you know when it's available.

When I noticed how often Dorothy Sawyers (a fairly decent writer) broke rules like these, I began, for amusement, noticing rules violation as I read popular or famous authors.  Everyone broke every one.  Rules are for teaching, as Gacela said, and for winnowing.  It provides a quick and easy way to reject a manuscript without doing the dirty work of actually reading the story.  How do you know what to do?  Have beta readers, see if they like it.

Welcome to the group and again, to the workshop.  I'm not sure whether you've posted or not; I recall responding to your presence, but it's too early in the morning (sips coffee) to know whether you're the one who had not yet published, of all the people I've said 'hi' to.

Hey, Great News, Marilyn.  Congrats!

You wrote: "How to Write Good. Love it. Wish I knew the answer. Right now I'm trying to shorten the chapters  on TNBW because I can't seem to shorten the dialogue. These characters talk and talk and... Well, that's how I go about characterization, I guess. As opposed to description or emotion. That's just me. Also, I've decided to write a book-length prologue. Something I've been threatening to do for years. I hafta hope that prose is entertaining enough to hook a reader because you know how shitty I am at plot. I'm literally (literally?) poring over every syllable. I stink, therefore I am."

First, you don't stink.  You write very engaging prose.  Second, Michael O'Donohue, of The National Lampoon, gave me the title, "How to Write Good."  One of his suggestions was:  if you don't know how to end it, have all the characters run over by a truck.  If they drive trucks, have them run over by a really big truck."  When the Lampoon wrote their spoilers, there was one movie where that actually happened, and they had to write, "No Joke."  The woman who wrote the popular Animorphs series had all the characters be in a spaceship that blew up, and Gene Roddenberry toyed with the idea that should be the end of Star Trek:  TOS.  I often wondered how he would have accomplished bringing them back.  Heinlein, in "The Rolling Stones," had the family support their space caravan by writing bad series.  They killed off their main character, then, when they brought it back, they had him just about to explain how he got out of his dilemma, then there was a Red Alert.  I figured, that would be how.  Let you characters talk and talk, just add the body language, some background.  I mean, "Waiting for Godot" was just two characters talking.  I think you should just forget about plot until you get about 120,000 words.  Then, look for some underlying principle and shape accordingly.  Then, have all your characters run over by a truck.  Cheers.