larryhammer | Memos to self

Just because you spent 100 pages searching for a place the plot can go does not mean the reader should too.
When you have a shapeshifter, do not use "shift" to mean "move slightly" -- it's ambiguous.
If your werewolf is part of a pack, it must be as present in the story as his family. A pack is a second family and a were lives in the tension between the two.
If you put a troll in the basement, you need to know what a troll is.
If you write "that's just whack," readers will correct it to "wack." If you write "that's just wack," readers will correct it to "whack." You can't win here.
Realism is no excuse for losing narrative momentum.