INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Before you begin any writing project, it's important to have a firm idea in mind of what you're writing about. This may sound obvious, but it's an important part of planning out any book-length project. Your opening sentence should relate tightly to this, and be connected to the themes, structures, and purposes that you establish here.  Know the story you want to tell. Decide which characters (real life people or invented, fictional characters) are relevant. Recognize what the crisis is in your story - and every story needs some type of crisis. Remember that every good story, whether fiction or nonfiction, should include some type of discovery/revelation that leads to some kind of subsequent change. Some writers feel that an outline is too restrictive. While that may be true for some people, many writers can easily get off track without an outline. You risk rambling and going on irrelevant tangents, or even forgetting to include some pertinent detail or event. A good outline should include:  a solid understanding of your subject the narrative arc of your book (what everything is building towards) the primary setting of each scene the characters involved (whether real or imagined) what each scene or chapter is attempting to accomplish (within the context of your narrative arc) Some beginning authors try to make the first chapter a prologue, or spend page after page describing a scene/landscape. Others try to use a false beginning, like a dream sequence that feels real. However, literary agents and audiences alike often feel unsatisfied or even cheated by these beginnings. Instead of relying on tricks or artifice, make every page relevant, engaging, and well-written.  Avoid tangential or irrelevant descriptions. Remember the piece of advice Anton Chekhov shared: if you put a loaded gun in a scene, it must go off.  Cut down on unnecessary descriptions by omitting needless adverbs and adjectives. If the reader can get an image of what you're describing from the nouns and verbs (and some limited adjectives), an adverb describing the verb is probably unnecessary.  Remember the old adage, "Show, don't tell" - in other words, depict the scene, person, or action, rather than telling the reader about it. Remember that not every single landscape, building, person, and action need a lot of showing. Focus on what's important and let the reader's imagination fill in the rest.

SUMMARY: Decide what your book is about. Outline everything. Make every sentence relevant.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: An Ash tree has a compound leaf structure, rather than a single leaf structure. Look for the thickened base of the stem, called a petiole, and decide whether there is a single leaf or 5 to 11 smaller leaflets that branch out from that point.  These 5 to 11 leaflets compose a single leaf. A Maple tree is an example of a single leaf tree that has one large leaf extending from the petiole. The only other tree that shares these two characteristics is a Boxelder tree. Yet, the Boxelder tree has three to five leaflets instead of five to 11. They are paddle shaped and look like small delicate leaves. They hang down in large groupings from the tree.   Don’t assume a tree without seeds is not an ash tree. Some types of ash are seedless. Seed clusters only form in late fall and early winter. Boxelder seeds are also clustered; however, they look like wings, rather than paddles.

SUMMARY:
Find a branch with leaves on it. Combine the opposite branching and compound leaves to decide if the tree is an Ash. Find light green or brown clusters of seeds.