History Literature / HowNotToWriteANovel

* HoYay: "We're Going to Need a Bigger Closet", specifically for unintentional homoerotic subtext.

* PetTheDog: "[[EvenBadMeLoveTheirMamas But He Loves His Mother]]". We're told that trying to use this in order to make a one-dimensional villain seem human is a bad idea; instead we should try to make the villain ''not'' one-dimensional and make their evilness believable.

* UnintentionallySympathetic[=/=]UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Discussed in "Prince Charming Doesn't Deserve Me"; in the example provided, the author clearly intends the protagonist's boyfriend to be unsympathetic, but only gives him minor flaws, whereas the supposedly sympathetic protagonist would immediately be recognised by anyone sane as an unreasonable, selfish harpy.

* RunningGag: In an AliceAndBob sort of way, they use several characters multiple times: Chip; Jack and Synthya; LeonardCohen; Joe and Melinda (especially Melinda), [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the evil Nefaro]], [[SantaClaus Santa]]... there are many, occasionally unrelated. In addition to those, we have the phrase "medium-sized breasts," misuse of the word "ironically," mistranslations of "DeusExMachina," and several other small jokes that you wouldn't get if you started reading a random segment. There are also many, many one-off {{Call Back}}s and {{Call Forward}}s.

* {{Wangst}}: Warned against in "Compassion Fatigue": "Readers can identify with a protagonist who is a geek or a failure, but when all that character does is fail and wallow, identification becomes an unwelcome burden".[[invoked]]

* UnintentionallySympathetic[=/=]UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Discussed in "Prince Charming Doesn't Deserve Me"; the author clearly intends the protagonist's boyfriend to be unsympathetic, but only gives him minor flaws, whereas the supposedly sympathetic protagonist would immediately be recognised by anyone sane as an unreasonable, selfish harpy.

* {{Wangst}}: Warned against in "Compassion Fatigue": "Readers can identify with a protagonist who is a geek or a failure, but when all that character does is fail and wallow, identification becomes an unwelcome burden".{{invoked}}

* {{Wangst}}: Warned against in "Compassion Fatigue": "Readers can identify with a protagonist who is a geek or a failure, but when all that character does is fail and wallow, identification becomes an unwelcome burden." {{invoked}}

* {{Wangst}}: Warned against in "Compassion Fatigue": "Readers can identify with a protagonist who is a geek or a failure, but when all that character does is fail and wallow, identification becomes an unwelcome burden."{{invoked}}

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* RunningGag: In an AliceAndBob sort of way, they use several characters multiple times: Chip; Jack and Synthya; LeonardCohen; Joe and Melinda (especially Melinda), [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the evil Nefaro]], [[SantaClaus Santa]]... there are many, occasionally unrelated. In addition to those, we have the phrase "medium-sized breasts," misuse of the word "ironically," and several other small jokes that you wouldn't get if you started reading a random segment. Many, many one-off {{Call Back}}s and {{Call Forward}}s.

** The leg of mutton. It was the only clue.
** The second [insert incident here] at the laundromat.

* PetTheDog: "But He Loves His Mother". We're told that trying to use this in order to make a one-dimensional villain seem human is a bad idea; instead we should try to make the villain ''not'' one-dimensional and make their evilness believable.

* RunningGag: In an AliceAndBob sort of way, they use several characters multiple times: Chip; Jack and Synthya; LeonardCohen; Joe and Melinda (especially Melinda), [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the evil Nefaro]], [[SantaClaus Santa]]... there are many, occasionally unrelated. In addition to those, we have the phrase "medium-sized breasts," misuse of the word "ironically," and several other small jokes that you wouldn't get if you started reading a random segment. That's not to mention the many, many one-off {{Call Back}}s and {{Call Forward}}s.

** Don't forget that at least two people in the samples own cats named Bartok.

* PetTheDog: "But He Loves His Mother". We're told that trying to use this in order to make a one-dimensional vilain seem human is a bad idea; instead we should try to make the villain ''not'' one-dimensional and make their evilness believable.

* AnachronicOrder: They have no problem with this trope at the level of the broader form and structure of the novel (even recommending the use of InMediasRes if the chronological opening of the story is rather slow), but provide a example of it used rather poorly in "Linearity Shrugged", in which shifts in chronology and subject matter happen after every other sentence.

* NoYay: "Last Tango in Santa's Village".[[invoked]]

* DidNotDoTheResearch: The chapter ''Research and Historical Background'' in its entirety (except for "The Research Paper", which is about ShownTheirWork taken to its logical extreme).

** ''Folie adieu'' is used to refer to a sudden ToneShift ShockingSwerve at the end, causing crippling MoodWhiplash that makes the novel unsellable. It is a pun on a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folie_%C3%A0_deux folie a deux]], a "madness shared by two," and means, "Goodbye madness," not "are you [[BrickJoke FUCKING]] kidding me?"

* GeniusBonus / DidNotDoTheResearch: Their slam on ShownTheirWork throws in a whopper. The biologist mentions sexual reproduction's origin in algae 2.7 ''million'' years ago. That error is off by about three orders of magnitude - a factor of about a thousand. (To put that in perspective, it's like saying the distance between LA and New York is roughly three miles.) We certainly also don't have a common ancestor with algae at this time; any common ancestor between humans and algae would have lived long before this. Due to StylisticSuck, it's impossible to tell if the authors were sneaking in one more example of how important research is, including a little bonus, or failing biology harder than a Kansas school board while telling authors they cannot make afford to make such mistakes themselves.

** ''Folie adieu'' is used to refer to a sudden ToneShift ShockingSwerve at the end, causing crippling MoodWhiplash that makes the novel unsellable. It is a GeniusBonus and BilingualBonus; it is a pun on a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folie_%C3%A0_deux folie a deux]], a "madness shared by two," and means, "Goodbye madness," not "are you [[BrickJoke FUCKING]] kidding me?"

* ChekhovsPun: "Hello, I am the [example]!", "The Second [example] in the Laundromat"