Dear Geist,Why does the word fuchsia have so many letters, when gazillions of other words are being pared down to include only letters that are pronounced in the spoken word?

Dear Geist,Is there also a case for reading stuff that is radically different from our writing style, for the shock value?

Dear Geist,Why have people stopped putting the hyphen in “Asian Canadian,” “Japanese American” and so on?

Dear Geist,Why doesn't my writers group like the best personal essay I've ever written?

Dear Geist,Can you possibly tell me immediately, or sooner, the difference if any between luxurious and luxuriant?

Dear Geist,How many basic stories are there in English?

Dear Geist,Is it true that reworking a novel into a screenplay is a good way to see the story and the blunders more clearly?

Dear Geist,Why did my prof take a mark off the word whiskey in a short humorous writing assignment?

Dear Geist,Why does the word riff have such a wildly rich etymological past, while rift quietly goes around in a small space with a couple of lives?

Dear Geist,Do you have a simple guide for fiction writers on how many words a paragraph should have?

Dear Geist,What does the term “if and only if” mean in a book publishing contract?

Dear Geist,Why does our boss at the restaurant tell us wait staff never to say “No problem” to customers?

Dear Geist,Is there any way to prepare my mum for the surprises she is bound to find in the memoir I’m writing?

Dear Geist,What are the differences between a writing question, conundrum, dispute, dilemma, quandary and pickle, all listed at the top of Advice for the Lit-Lorn at geist.com?

Dear Geist,When someone writes and sends a letter, who has copyright—the letter writer, or the person it was written and sent to?

Dear Geist,Am I the only writer who revises by adding stuff to my novel rather than going after the text with a machete?