qid int64 1 2.78M | question stringlengths 2 66.6k | answers list | date stringlengths 10 10 | metadata list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
47,259 | It is my understanding that the Cherokee, prior to the Trail of Tears were bilingual, being educated in both Cherokee and English. Is it possible that a Cherokee man in his late twenties would have the same accent as a fifteen-year-old Caucasian male? Both characters were Christian, educated in schools, and lived in villages of log houses. | [
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"text": "Basically, what you want to know, is whether a non-native speaker who grew up in a linguistically foreign culture can a... | 2019/08/11 | [
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47,266 | I am writing a short story, about a particular field with multiple specific terms, none of which are in English. (Specifically, I'm writing about bullfighting, but the question could apply to other fields.)
My POV character lives that particular field, so he would be using the proper terms, not more general nonspecific words. Anything else doesn't really make sense in terms of the narrator's voice.
When speaking in English, the proper terms are the Spanish ones. Those are the terms used in any and all related publications, fiction and non-fiction alike. As an example, the red piece of cloth the matador uses is called a *[muleta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muleta)*. No other word exists. Calling it a "red piece of cloth" makes as much sense as a professional swordsman calling the hilt "a handle", or worse - referring to a fuller as a "blood groove".
Trouble is, within the scope of a short story, my beta readers feel overwhelmed by the abundance of terms. What they're saying is, it's not that the meaning of each particular term can't be figured out from context, but there's just too many, too much effort required.
How can I alleviate the weight of foreign terms in the story, without sacrificing the main character's voice? It is important to note this is a short story, so spreading the term out more isn't an option. | [
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47,273 | India has a diverse range of languages and accents. Moreover, people from different parts of the country have different accents of speaking the same language as well. For example, a person from Gujarat state tends to speak English in an altogether different accent than a person from Karnataka state.
The accents add the local flavor when heard/spoken and I want to create the same flavor in writing. Instead of simply writing: "....*in typical Gujarati acccent*...", I want to add something more that gives *that* flavor to a conversation, but I am stuck here.
How to do a fair description of accent? And Is it even possible to describe an accent instead of just mentioning so much so that even the person who is unaware of that accent get to know it? | [
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"text": "Simply telling, e.g.\n\n> \n> he said with a heavy Gujarati accent\n> \n> \n> \n\nwould be m... | 2019/08/12 | [
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47,283 | So, this probably came up already thousands of times, though here I am. So let me explain...
I have a story I want to tell. I am planning for it to become a novel, possibly multiple novels because of its scale. It's quite a long ride, and I have the characters planned out so far, and I know where everything will go to. But now to my problem:
My story takes place in a "crapsack world", and starts with the MC wandering through it in search of something. So far, so cliché. The thing is, as the reader later on will discover, the world was not always that way, but the MC knows how it was before, and even lived in that world, which looked very much like our own. What's more, he witnessed the event where everything went downhill, where he (and everyone else) was betrayed by a person he had called a friend, and so he swore revenge and to try to revert the results of this event. The whole stuff before this turning point could probably fit into its own book. There is a whole world and society to describe, other characters (of which only two or three will even be alive in the main book I am wanting to write), and much character development for the MC. Especially how the event twists him into the Person he will be for the main part of the Story. But...this is not the story I want to tell.
What I fear is, either I start with this backstory, writing a whole book possibly, for everything to turn bad, and the next book starts with a whole other premise, or I start after this time skip, and introduce the backstory through dialogue, or flashbacks of some kind, which just doesn't fit the scope of this disastrous event.
So my question is, basically: **If I as a writer have a backstory that is so long it could fill a book on its own, but is not the story I want to tell but merely results in the main story being there to tell, but still is essential because of this fact, how do I go about it?**
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
Edit: Wow, many great answers and suggestions here, and very hard to pick one. Thank you all for your quick support!
As Amaheor' answer is very thorough on the general problem of "how to start a story" that also tackles the question regarding a long backstory, I accepted this answer. The other answers are also great, though, and gave very good suggestions and I wish I could have accepted all of them. | [
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47,299 | I am writing a short story where the narrator is recording a message to his daughter about some tragic event and in between the narration, the narrator sometimes tries to address directly his daughter.
Basically, the narrator recounts his story in the past tense, since it happened twenty years ago, then he shifts to the present tense when addressing his daughter in the middle of narration as if to give further context on the said events.
For example:
>
> What I saw on that night would forever haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. I was at a loss on what to make out of what I saw.
>
>
> Mapidul, there are things in this world that we humans are just not meant to know… things so unworldly, so fundamentally wrong that our minds just couldn’t comprehend it without losing our sanity.
>
>
>
Notice that when the narrator was recounting his nightmarish ordeal, he is talking in the past tense.
But when he shifts his focus to directly address his daughter, Mapidul, he does so in the present tense.
Is the shifting of tenses in the middle of narration an acceptable grammar practice? Or not?
Thanks. | [
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47,302 | In almost all the LitRPG stories I read, the start of the stories is full of system messages, +1 here and there, even damage prompts saying "Goblin hits Hero for -8 HP". Classes, skills, experience points galore.
For those that don't know, LitRPG (<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LitRPG>) - it is a genre more prominent in asian literature, where "transported into or living in a game-like world" kind of stories happen. Not to be confused with "trapped in a game world" like Sword Art Online, that is GameLit.
Then as the story progresses and the characters power growth characteristic of a true RPG creeps in, these elements are blatantly discarded, never to be mentioned again. Gone is the damage message, gone is the skill growth, gone is all but the most superficial elements of the RPG and it becomes just a normal (insert genre) story.
To the point I feel like the LitRPG element becomes just a crutch to get the story kickstarted. One that could be entirely discarded for the sake of brevity. Or sent to the Checkov firing squad.
But almost all authors do it that way. Therefore, is it a genre convention to do it that way? | [
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47,315 | I have written and drawn a children's book. It's an adaptation of the Hobbit condensed into 32 pages aimed at 4-8 year olds (can be read to and read by children). I had the book printed for private use (it was a Christmas present) but I would really like to publish it to make it available for others because so many people have asked me. But Tolkien's works are copyrighted.
My question is- can I publish it? And if not, would making name changes be enough, or would it still be an infringement? | [
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"text": "If the book is clearly based on the Hobbit and uses the names of characters from the Hobbit, you are treading on thin ice... | 2019/08/15 | [
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47,316 | I know a lot of books do it (Hijrp Potfeq, LOTR, Wheel of Time). It's even part of the "Hero's Journey". However, my book starts with the "inciting incidient" i.e. my main charatcer begins her first day at school. Part of the reason I did this was to subvert the expectation that a book has to start with the "normal world". Lately, however, I have considered sticking in an extra chapter or two in the beginning as a way to slowly introduce my reader to my world.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of staring a novel with the "normal world"? | [
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"text": "I would strongly advise against adding chapters into the beginning. Of course, it has to be said,... | 2019/08/15 | [
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47,317 | So I am writing a book, the start of the book sounds interesting even to the my "board" of readers. After a while I had 586 words in total **SO FAR**,I am not sure if my writing is nonsense. This is my 5th revision of the book, all the other ones were nonsense - my teacher told me.
Is there a good way to tell if my writing is nonsense? I would ask the group if they think it's good, but I am beginning to feel like they just don't care.
**just to clarify, my readers haven't read all of them, my teacher has read 3 of them and the group has read 2.**
A short example:
>
> I locked my door and walked down the stairs. Missing all the blood and the occasional dead body on my journey downstairs. The hairdresser was dead, I was
> thinking about how would I have a haircut. If no one existed after this
> I wouldn’t care about my hair style.
>
>
> | [
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"text": "I think you have several things going on here:\n\n* You are probably overthinking your writing. With less than 600 ... | 2019/08/15 | [
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47,331 | Writing can be a very difficult, frustrating, stressful and effortful process. It can also be very isolating to the writer. Given that writing is a form of communication, **what is the point of writing material that you're pretty sure no one else will ever read**? Isn't it a complete waste of your time and effort?
*Note: I saw this question posed in the comments to [another question](https://writing.stackexchange.com/q/47317/10479). I decided to post it as an official question --even though I have an answer in mind --because I feel NOT knowing the answer to this question was, for a long time, the biggest barrier to my growth and success as a writer. Other people's answers are welcome --this continues to be something I struggle with emotionally, even though I've embraced it intellectually.* | [
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"text": "For many years --decades actually --my goal with *every* piece of writing I wrote was that it be read and appr... | 2019/08/15 | [
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47,348 | One of the most common pieces of writing advice I hear is that you should write frequently and often. Writing regular entries in a diary should fit this criteria, but I'm hesistant to call my years of writing entries as serious, qualitative writing practice.
I do focus on more open-ended topics and don't usually deadpan describe everyday events. It's not uncommon to be incredibly meta in this, questions like 'why do I think this?' and the thinking that emerges from that can conclude by changing my own perspective or the way I think or approach a certain topic. I think that my problem with thinking of this as serious writing practice is because it's already a habit of mine and it feels like cheating to accept something that I already do and don't have to actively attempt to learn. It also isn't the exact same thing as trying to write an actual paragraph or chapter of a novel. | [
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47,353 | **I'm working on a novel that will have at least three distinct sections** in three distinct locations (the two main characters start in the first location, travel through the second location, and one stays in the third location). I have an overall story arc that connects the whole narrative, and I think there are strong storylines for each location.
**The problem is that the sections feel very different in tone, and stakes**, and I'm worried that the book will feel disconnected and episodic. There's no single villain in the book --the main characters are the only ones who travel from place to place, although there are connections between the locations. The story for the first section is more of an action/thriller. The middle section has some action, but is largely about a love triangle. The last section doesn't have as clear a genre, but the overall book is conceived of as a coming-of-age story. There's also elements of a quest narrative and a mystery plot.
I know --that's a lot! My tendency as a writer is to overthink and overcomplicate things. I don't want to get lost in the outlining here, my goal is just to tell the strongest possible story with these characters and these settings. I've thought about just focusing on one section of the story, but I don't think it really has resonance without the rest. I've also thought about going non-linear, with flashbacks and so forth, but I don't want to confuse or lose the reader. **How can I give this story a strong throughline that will keep it from feeling episodic?** | [
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47,354 | As I mentioned in my [other recent question](https://writing.stackexchange.com/q/47353/10479), my novel in progress has three main locations. I feel those three settings are strong, fully imagined places, with interesting storylines.
However, they aren't side by side, and this is a setting where travel takes time and effort. So I have two more locations that are basically transitional places between the other locations. The problem is that I'm not enthused about those locations. They're just places to pass through.
Do I need to put more thought and effort into those liminal locations? Or can I just drop them? They feel necessary both geographically and psychologically. But I'm not (yet) finding the magic in them. They're meant to be a slog for the characters, but I don't want them to be one for the readers. | [
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47,368 | A dialogue of mine contains the following sentence:
>
> "You fired all *three* of them?!"
>
>
>
Trouble is, I'm not sure I've ever seen a novel that used a question mark and an exclamation point together - it's something I normally see in comic strips and the like. **Is using the two punctuation marks together only acceptable in certain forms of writing, or is it safe to use it in a novel without it appearing childish and/or obnoxious?**
Using just the question mark doesn't really create the effect I'm aiming for. | [
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47,374 | I'm writing a story about a little girl who got bit by an unknown snake species and is being treated for it. Out of the 3 snakebite victims, this little girl seems to have the best prognosis. Here is a summary of what happens in the second chapter of my story, where I introduce a foreign language speaking character.
### Chapter summary:
>
> Pedez, the little girl's brother is at school and tells his dad about the situation during a break from his classes. He shows a picture of the snake. His dad, an expert herpetologist goes to the park where the snake was found and sets a lot of snake traps. Pedez hears the news the next morning about his dad setting the snake traps. On the news is some live footage of his youngest sister, Lolj and her mom, Piola at the hospital.
>
>
> He feels too sad and worried to just stay home with his older sister Alilenbra, so they decide to go to Grandma's and tell her about the situation. Grandma greets the two of them in Spanish, her native tongue. Pedez knows enough Spanish to communicate to Grandma about the snakebite situation but is clearly not fluent in Spanish.
>
>
> Grandma drives them to the hospital and offers Lolj some orange juice. Piola declines the offer, despite Grandma's justification that it will help her immune system fight off the snake venom. Grandma doesn't know it yet, but Lolj is blind. Piola says that Lolj needs her rest and is worried that she isn't ready to eat or drink anything since she got out of a gravely dangerous situation of not being able to breathe.
>
>
>
Grandma in my story speaks Spanish as a native language, Piola is bilingual in Spanish and English, Pedez is actively learning Spanish, Alilenbra and Bob, Pedez's dad, both understand some Spanish but aren't actively learning it, and Lolj can't understand Spanish at all yet.
So there are several ways that I can think of getting across foreign language in the dialogue. First off, there is writing the foreign language directly. However, I am not a native Spanish speaker or even conservationally fluent in Spanish. Also, given that I live in the USA, I don't know how many people will understand it if I write the foreign language directly. Then there is writing completely in English and just mentioning that it is spoken in Spanish. Then there is writing a romanization, in other words writing it the way that it is pronounced instead of writing it the way it is spelt.
**What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these 3 ways of getting across foreign language in my dialogue?** | [
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47,376 | I'm currently in the middle of writing several fantasy books and, even though I'm not done with any of them, I can't stop thinking about how my name will appear on my books once they are finished.
I remember reading somewhere that authors should go by names that are sort of related to their genre. I don't know if that's actually important or not.
If my name is Sage Piché, would that be good enough (Piché is pronounced pee-shay, by the way)? Or should it be S. M. Piché? Or should I come up with a new name altogether? | [
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47,384 | I was thinking about writing a short story depicting a real event that took place over 2000 years ago. I'm not using any real person, but I am using the place and it's surroundings. I've seen plenty of books, movies and songs being about the event, but wanted to be 100% sure that I'm not breaking any laws regarding it. | [
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47,386 | Do authors still get paid royalties for their old works? For example, If I decided to buy a copy of the "Odessa File" by Frederick Forsyth or "Kini and Obek" by Jeffery Archer, do the authors get paid royalties for them?
Another example would be me buying the Hijrp Potfeq series for my kid, maybe 10-15 years down the line (it would definitely be considered a classic by then). Would J.K. Rowling benefit from it? | [
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47,393 | I find myself often being irritated at elements in situations that help characters succeed, elements which are also highly unlikely or even illogical. But often, if not more, I find myself angered by things that too inconvenient. Improbably inconvenient. But am I alone on this? Is it a pedantic irritation or is unlikely inconvenience bad writing?
To be very clear: (a Fantasy setting) If characters are fighting a fight they'll never win, and a never before mentioned/foreshadowed/hinted at dragon swoops down and saves the day, that would be too convenient.
Oppositely, if the characters are winning the fight, but that same dragon swoops down and makes them lose, that would be too inconvenient, at least in my opinion.
Now, if I understand correctly, there are multiple components to this: The dragon hasn't been mentioned, for the dragon to appear is very unlikely and the dragon is irrelevant to what is happening (the fight). I believe there is small differences in inconvenience based on which of these three it suffers from. I'll tackle them in order.
In a book I was reviewing, there is this whole species that is enslaved secretly by some bad people. A resistance freed the species, and chose to hold them in airplane hangars, waiting for whatever, not important. The resistance had not planned ahead enough though, and neither had the author. The main character let's us know that "OH NO! You have all the males in one hangar together? If they are left like that, they kill each other!". Have in mind, this was the second last chapter.
So, this is a problem, and it comes out of nowhere, because it is based on never before mentioned information. To me, it comes off as cheap. Imagine someone is attacking the airstrip, and instead of kill each others, when the males are in the same room, they all give each others superpowers, and are therefore conveniently able to repel the attack. There could be a smart and scientific explanation to this, but it wouldn't matter, because if it hadn't been mentioned before, it would be cheap and too convenient.
Then you have inconveniences that are just very unlikely. Imagine our hero is chasing the villain, and he is close to catching him, and then he is struck by lightening. Too inconvenient. Also, this inconvenience suffers from the last one too, it is irrelevant. Unless the villain has superpowers or is a god, it is completely irrelevant to the story and the conflict in question that the lightening would strike our hero. Now, if there's a thunderstorm, these people are on top of a mountain and they have giant metal poles attached to their heads, then sure, it is a little less unlikely. Perhaps even more likely to happen than not. But relevant?
Though I must admit, I am very unsure in this "theory", as I have witnessed inconvenience and liked it, like in *Whiplash*, where the main character is hit by a car before attending the concert he was supposed to play at. Though, he was speeding, lowering the unlikeliness, car crashes are a widespread phenomenon, so it doesn't require mentioning, but is it irrelevant? From a narrative perspective, perhaps not?
Anyways, one thing is for certain, if convenience suffers from any of the aforementioned things, then it will not fly. But is it tolerable for inconvenience? My core question is really this:
>
> Is there narrative-wise an inherent difference between convenience and inconvenience, making it so that the same rules don't apply to the latter?
>
>
> | [
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"text": "The twin tropes you are referring to are [Deus ex Machina](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki... | 2019/08/18 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/47393",
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47,401 | I think I read somewhere that when writing, you shouldn't describe characters by their characteristics
i.e.
>
> The tall man walked across the room
>
>
>
Is this true? Maybe I'm misremembering | [
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"text": "This reads completely normal to me and I don't really see anything wrong with it. \n\nIf \"tall\" is what identi... | 2019/08/19 | [
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47,412 | I admire the writing style of many other writers and I try to emulate them, but most of the time it doesn't turn out how I want it to. Is this because it's not uniquely my own style, but rather forcing myself to write similar as authors that I admire? | [
{
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"text": "Neil Gaiman writes:\n\n> \n> Don't worry about trying to develop a style. Style is what you ... | 2019/08/19 | [
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47,418 | I’m having issues because while I’m in the process of writing I think my style has enough length to it, but when I go back and read my work it feels extremely fast. A scene I expected to take me fifteen minutes to read is over as soon as it started. Especially with dialogue. I enjoy writing dialogue so much—- when I hear it in my head, there are so many beautiful pauses, like the way an actor will let the silence hang for dramatic effect—- but apparently, I’m not translating that onto the page. Any tips on how to make scenes move slower (more specifically, dialogue) would be greatly appreciated. If anyone wants to see an example, just ask. | [
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"text": "You say that in your head there are pauses in the dialogue, but in the text they just aren't... | 2019/08/19 | [
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47,422 | Lately I've been thinking that I don't know of a single novel that has illustrations in it. I've tried finding out the reason why, and came across an [article published in The Guardian in 2011](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/13/illustrations-fiction-novels), but it didn't arrive to any conclusions or provided an explanation for this.
I come from a visual medium, so complementing the writing with visual aids seems pretty logical to me. I thought of two reasons why this isn't more common, first being that most writers aren't visual artists, which is reasonable, and the second that printing expensive, and pictures would increase the cost significantly. But in a situation where the writer also likes to draw / illustrate and is not bound by cost (an e-book for example), would there be any drawbacks from providing pictures with the novel?
Maps seem to be an exception for this, since they are somewhat common in fantasy works. | [
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"text": "There are exceptions to the \"no illustrations\" trend. For example, Susanna Clarke's *Jonath... | 2019/08/19 | [
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47,427 | Beginner here. So, I have tons of ideas for a novel, and in fact I want to write one (even a series), but I'm struggling a lot in actually starting writing the story. I have ideas for characters and their personalities, conflicts, etc.
But I don't feel very motivated or secure in putting my ideas into the paper and start writing the novel. Do guys have tips to help me about this? | [
{
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"text": "Something that has helped me is to have a list of the chapters of the novel with a short summary of each one. Don't w... | 2019/08/20 | [
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47,445 | I'm interested in starting a pleasure project: a fantasy story, along the lines of a witch delivering a prophecy to a king about a dangerous and deceitful foe who will overthrow him, and the king enlists three other witches to seek out and destroy this foe.
I want to draw on traditional, arguably "cliché" (?) fantasy species, like elves, orcs, goblins, dwarves, faeries, etc. However, I realize that many aspects of these races contain hidden racism--blonde-haired, blue-eyed, white elves that are completely superior, barbaric orcs with dark skin who just happen to be the only race that wears dreads/braids, banking goblins with hooked noses that *totally* aren't Jews.
How can I involve some of these older elements, *while leaving behind the racist subtext some of them carry?* | [
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"text": "This is a great question. **I think being aware of the problem is a good first step**. If you really do want to... | 2019/08/20 | [
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47,447 | How do we distinguish how a character pronounces a word and how it is spelled in a dialogue? For example, some people pronounce words in a different way than they should, how do you show that in a dialogue? Is there a way to do this properly? Is there a standard way?
For example:
>
> "I don't want to buy Ae-pple products, because they are too expensive
> for the quality you're getting."
>
>
> "It's A-pple, not ae-pple. There are two a's in English, the
> pronunciation is different, but they are spelled in the same way."
>
>
> | [
{
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"text": "As far as I know, there is no official rules on how to do this. Authors have resorted to various means to co... | 2019/08/20 | [
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47,465 | I paid an illustrator to do the art for my picture book and I now own the artwork. Am I then allowed to submit to agents as an author/illustrator? How does this work? | [
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"text": "Not a lawyer.\n\nYou paid an illustrator to provide artwork for your book. You (supposedly) ... | 2019/08/21 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/47465",
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47,474 | My character has super-senses, so anything that we feel, see, hear, etc. are heightened for him. So much so that when a flash bomb is set a few meters from him, he is greatly affected by this.
Symptoms are loss of balance (b/c it affects the ears), a ringing? sound, and only seeing white for about 5 seconds and then some after images.
How do I convey the loss of balance without too much description? I want it to cut-cut-cut without using "--" too much. The ringing as well. How do I convey that without an obnoxious onomatopoeia? I can imagine it clearly in my head as if it was a scene from a movie but dang action scenes are difficult for me.
But I couldn't avoid it and so here.
Also, here's an example for one of my drafts. Forgive me if it falls flat or short or confusing.
>
> Breathe—
>
> Breathebreathebreathebreathebreathe
>
> FUCK!
>
> What—exhale— too bright, too fucking bright—can’t—can’t see—
>
> Falling.
>
> Falling deep.
>
> Falling hard.
>
> It hurts.
>
> Everything is spinning.
>
> What the—what’s hap—
>
> Stop—stop, it hurts, fuckfuckfuck—
>
>
> A deafening ring resounds.
>
>
> “…ter—stand up, get up, please!”
>
>
> There are feet running past him.
>
>
> (Running into him, digging into his flesh, hurting, hurting, hurting—)
>
>
> He can hear the fear in their hearts, and feel the pain in their screams. He lies on the ground, feeling agony like a faraway dream.
>
> And even though it hurts, his body is healing far too fast to fail him.
>
> He doesn’t know what to do.
>
> He can see things, but he doesn’t quite understand why it’s happening.
>
>
>
etc. | [
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"text": "Related writing.SE literature:\n\n* [Effective techniques for describing pain](https://writing.stackexchange.com/quest... | 2019/08/21 | [
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47,490 | My main character is up against the world, or, rather, the world and reality are up against her. A good story is in some ways defined by its villain. 1984 personifies its villain by adding a representative of the oppressor, but in my story, there can be no such person.
With this in mind, can I build out the world and reality as a good villain? | [
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"text": "It's been said that \"a good villain has something to prove\". If the world is the villain from the protagonist's persp... | 2019/08/22 | [
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47,491 | I love creating characters, and for me it’s been the joy of writing for however long I’ve been doing it. I have maybe three or four unfinished projects which house characters whom I love, and they’re like little pieces of me and those around me. (I’m working hard to finish one of these in particular)
Recently I got an idea for another book—and I don’t think that’s a bad thing, I like a break from my other story sometimes—and I was super interested in this certain character idea. But... once I tried putting it on the page, all of the characters I had thought up seemed super unnatural and even unlikeable. I don’t understand why it’s not working. I used to throw out characters and they would have instant chemistry.
What can I do when this happens with my characters? Perhaps I just hit a bad idea and should throw it away? Thanks to anyone who answers or comments. | [
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"text": "It has happened to me. But I went with it. I made the characters really unlikeable. \nI think I was in an an... | 2019/08/22 | [
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47,507 | I’m confused about point of view. In my story—so far—I only reveal to the reader what the main character, a child, can see/hear. Not often, but at times, I write that the child “wondered” or he “noticed” or “they looked to him like”… In these cases I would have to be in the child’s head to know these things (maybe “noticed” could be ascertained from the outside). What is the point of view if I talk about what he wondered or thought or what something looked like to him, and what point of view is it if I never do that?
On another note: There are occasional points in the story, however, where it would be expedient to show what’s going on in, for example, a phone conversation that the child can’t hear. Or, for another example, place the reader in a car parked outside an apartment to show two other characters noticing the child walking in the building. I would only show their dialogue and actions, but at no time would I get into any other character’s heads. What point of view is this if I include those scenes with other characters actions that the child can't see, and what is it if I never do? (And just to be sure I understand, what is the point of view if at times, I include what another character is thinking?)
If I stick to describing scenes that the only child and hear and see, that of course is possible, and could be interesting, but, it’s severely limiting. So I’m stuck trying to figure this out before I go too far down any road. So far, there is no scene outside the child’s vision. I had a couple but I cut them on the advice that it might look like a mistake if there were only 1 or 2 of these moments, but what if I want to do it more often (but still not very often)?
Example: In one scene the child is having a phone conversation with his dad. But when he hands the phone back to another character, it would be convenient to keep hearing the conversation between the dad and the other character (but the child can’t hear any it because he left the room). If I stick to only the child’s point of view, then I can't show this and I have to find some way (which is very contrived at this point) to give that additional conversation info to the reader. If I can continue with the conversation, that would be helpful, but I don’t want to make a POV mistake (when is it one?). I might also want to extend scene after the kid leaves the room and the character sets down the phone and discusses what he talked about with another character.
If I do this, what might be a technique for doing this effectively and do you have examples?
I really appreciate the clarification as I've been reading about it online, but still can't seem to apply it my story.
R | [
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47,512 | Sometimes a situation will suit a well known author's quote and I do like expressions. Someone joked that I had no shame in paraphrasing. Is this poor form and if so why? | [
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"text": "If someone recognized it as a paraphrase, I’d call it a *[literary allusion](https://www.britannica.com/art/allu... | 2019/08/22 | [
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47,523 | I want people to understand what I write, but I do not want to use conventions such as plot or dialogue to tell a story.
Without a plot I have been criticized of not having written a story, but something that does not make sense. I do not use much dialogue in the stories, but there are characters in the story and they do exchange words.
These stories are between 400 - 1200 words. | [
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"text": "A knowledgeable Writing.SE user once said you could write fifty thousand times the word 'meow' and call it a novel. Su... | 2019/08/22 | [
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47,544 | I'm starting a new fantasy story, and although I had a loose idea of plot, I began sculpting my characters before writing anything. Creating images of them in my head, developing their personalities, mapping out their interpersonal relationships, and, my personal favorite, searching for people on Google images who look exactly like the person in my head, are all essential parts of how I develop my characters.
However, I'm having a bit of trouble getting started in the actual *writing*, and I'm wondering if that's because I chose to develop my characters before my storyline, and, as consequence, I am molding my plot to fit my characters, not vice versa.
What I'm asking is, is crafting characters before plot a bad choice? Which one is *usually* created first, and which one is most objectively better to start with? | [
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"answer_id": 47545,
"author": "SFWriter",
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"text": "**I believe you start with both of them together.** \n\nA young warrior overthrows an oppressive regime. \n\nA fae... | 2019/08/24 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/47544",
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47,546 | I am writing a visual novel and use a fictional country in "real-world" setting. Some cases have been bothering me and I'm not sure if it's legal to write this because it might be insulting(?):
1. To place my country I had to cut a part of China, so it is located between Russia, Mongolia and China.
2. I mention that my country's army has "some connections with Japan" and recruits children from there.
3. I mention that my country's army shoots up Mongolian illegal immigrants at the border.
Edit: To clarify, I do not have intentions of insulting countries, just want to write what would be suitable for my story and am afraid of law suits.
Also I live in Russia.
Edit: I can rephrase the question so it will sound like this: Can I assign fictional slightly negative traits to countries from real world in my fictional world? | [
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"text": "Alternative history is a mainstay of speculative fiction. Redrawing countries' borders is very often a part of that. So... | 2019/08/24 | [
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47,559 | I am writing a book that is set in England, but because I would get the book published in America I don't know what terminology to use. My main character is in the equivalent of 7th grade but in England they would call it Year 8, which might be confusing to my directed audience. Should I stick with American terminology or use English ones? | [
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"text": "If you're writing for an American audience, with an American publisher, then use an American dialect for your narration... | 2019/08/25 | [
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47,561 | When discussing the life story (fictional/non-fictional) of an inanimate object (like a brick not AI), is it appropriate to claim this endeavor as an autobiography of an inanimate object, when it seems like a first-person perspective of the same? | [
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"text": "You can claim it is anything you want; you are writing a fantasy about an inanimate object that can cogitate, observ... | 2019/08/26 | [
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47,564 | Recently we have seen multiple questions on various aspects of political correctness. They have sparked some measure of disagreement, which is what I wanted to examine here.
**To what extent should we fear giving offense with what we write? To what extent should we, as writers, actively seek not to give offense?**
Obviously, I do not argue here that we should deliberately hurt everyone in our path. Most of us don't want to offend people - that's as it should be.
But suppose I have a story element in mind. To what extent should I make sure it doesn't offend anyone? To what extent is it my responsibility? To what extent should it even be a priority - making it inoffensive? Suppose it does offend someone - does it mean I have to change that story element? **Is there some sort of balance?**
I have my own answer to this, but I'm curious what others think. For one thing, I'm not sure I fully understand the topic or have the right of it. Socrates, I believe, recommended hearing opposing arguments for the purpose of finding truth. | [
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47,573 | Basically I’m wondering whether it’s totally weird or if people wouldn’t give much thought to it. I’ll use Zootopia as an example. If the main characters (a fox and a rabbit) were in a relationship, would that be really off putting? | [
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47,580 | I'm writing for an amnesiac protagonist, in spite of the fact that I feel amnesia in fiction is usually a bad cliché used to avoid some of the background work of creating a character's family, friends, hometown, career, etc. Ideally, I'd like to hear an answer from someone who has written an amnesiac character before, and struggled with this same "interesting vs cliché" problem. How do you make the character's amnesia something interesting and engaging for your audience? How do you avoid making your audience groan? What kind of problems do you throw at your heroes? I'm more interested in plot considerations than character considerations. Examples of successful properties are appreciated.
**Why I'm using amnesia:** My big bad has used magic to (accidentally) cause the amnesia in the protagonist and his allies, and that's what causes them to become involved. I intend for all of the amnesiacs to have fully realized histories that may or may not come up down the road, but I don't have those histories created yet.
**On realism and offense:** This is magically-induced retrograde amnesia according to the typical trope - the characters might remember their names, they remember how the world works and retain their physical skills, but they don't remember their past. (They may recover it over time, but may not) I am not overly concerned with medical accuracy - this is magic, after all. I am aware that amnesia is a real problem that real people have to deal with, but this story is not about that, and is more aimed at entertainment than education. I do not intend to offend anyone - I'm just not aiming for that kind of depth here. | [
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47,594 | If you look up the exact definition for "pyromancy" or "necromancy" they refer to divination using fire and the dead, respectively.
However, if you were to ask a layperson what those words mean, they would simply say "fire magic" and "death magic".
I'm considering including these magics in my books. Except, now that I know the real definitions, I'm averse to using these words. I would use something to the effect of "pyromagus" and "necromagus".
But I'm afraid of creating a disconnect with the reader. They might read the word "pyromagus" and their brain will go "Hey wait. That's not the right word. The right word is pyromancy! Not pyromagus."
I'm just conflicted as to whether I should use my own words, or stick to the traditional words. | [
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"text": "These terms are very often used to mean magic, and I've never before encountered anybody discussing the anci... | 2019/08/27 | [
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47,596 | My main source of research about storytelling/screenwriting/how-to-write-a-book manual is [1]. But, the definition of "beat" given by [1] maybe can causing me some confusion.
In [1] we have a definition about what is an event and what is a beat.
A event is something which, naively speaking, is both a point of life's character and something that causes change: after an event occurrence the character's life is changed (\*).
A beat is something that compose an Scene: Events+beats = scenes. A beat is something that catalyzes the conflict (external or internal) between the character and the world. Futhermore a beat is something that gives you a "fine tuning" (i.e. you can add beats to introduce,for example, tension into an not-so-interesting original scene) for the great change of the scene.
But accordingly to source [2] the author gives us an slightly different point of view of structure: "Stories are divided into Acts, Acts into Sequences, Sequences into Scenes, and Scenes into Boans"
And also some youtube channels gives us something similar like videos entitled "The Boan Plot Structure" and so on. With this point of view in mind, is almost like beat and event are synonyms or an event is a more heuristic concept.
So, what is the difference between and Boan and an Event?( In particular on BOOK AND SHORT STORY writing process).
---
[1] MCKEE.R. *Story*. Itbooks, New York, 1997.
[2] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boan_(filmmaking)>
(\*) Then we have the notion of a Story event: the one which deals specifically with the character and an "trivial event" (or just an event) that do not deals with character (like an cup of glass fell from the top of an table and smashed to the ground). | [
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47,604 | I've heard that in order to write a non-fiction book I need to write notes and then put them together to make a book, but I'm writing notes from possible 4 completely different books, so when should I start turning these notes into a book?
Should I be in a hurry and write as soon as possible, even with poor quality? If I take too long, am I at risk of losing my memories and motivation to write these books? | [
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47,615 | Is having elaborate metaphors a bad thing in a short story (for the purposes of the story being accepted by a magazine)? How can I know if my metaphors are too elaborate? | [
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47,617 | Characters (and people) get angry at all sorts of things that might not make sense to the outside observer: Marny MsDfy and the word "chicken," words that are terrible slurs to one population but totally normal to others, overreactions due to mental illnesses, etc.
I feel like I have a relatively good grasp of how to portray anger in third person, rational or irrational. Readers are used to other people reacting differently than they would, as long as the character is consistent. However, if the writing is in first-person it seems that I need to take the reader.on the same journey of becoming angry.
How do I show the internal monologue of a character becoming angry? How completely do I need to evoke the same anger in the reader that the character feels?
**Edit:** @Rand Al'Thor, @Galastel, and @wordsworth all have excellent answers, but I chose @Stilez 's answer because the examples made everything more clear to me. Even though the trigger is irrational, the narrator's justification sounds like something a character would say for rational anger as well. | [
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47,619 | Is it possible to introduce evil characters (be identified as evil) before the action (the crimes committed by the characters) takes place? | [
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47,623 | I used the name *Primus and Primes* for my book and these are from the transformers universe. My concept is totally different. Is this a copyright infringement?
I introduced a secret society named "The Primus" in my book. In the transformers universe, Primus is the entity that created Autobots.
In my book I also included that the Prime is the superior rank in the secret society of Primus.
Do I need to change the names before publication? | [
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47,624 | In the ever swinging tone of a novel, one may wish to show a moment of peace amidst all the chaos. In my novel it happens a few times, most notably when characters are travelling across vast natural landscapes, or when they gaze at the stars at night.
Quite often, during a revision, I mark all these passages for deletion. I find them dull, and not particularly engaging. I wished to convey peace and show a moment in which characters let go of the struggle, but instead I find myself skipping over paragraphs of someone dozing off while contemplating the beauty of nature.
To give an example from a much more renowned author, my passages could be considered uglier versions of
>
> The sun was setting upon one of the rich grassy glades of that forest, which we have mentioned in the beginning of the chapter. Hundreds of broad-headed, short-stemmed, wide-branched oaks, which had witnessed perhaps the stately march of the Roman soldiery, flung their gnarled arms over a thick carpet of the most delicious green sward; in some places they were intermingled with beeches, hollies, and copsewood of various descriptions, so closely as totally to intercept the level beams of the sinking sun; in others they receded from each other, forming those long sweeping vistas, in the intricacy of which the eye delights to lose itself, while imagination considers them as the paths to yet wilder scenes of silvan solitude.
>
>
> [from Ivanohe]
>
>
>
I think that these passages might have worked in the past, but for today's literature they are not engaging enough. They look like they serve no purpose, they introduce no themes to the story, nor to the plot, and they could be mistaken as artsy info-dumps on the setting, with the drawback that the characters are not going to engage with these particular elements of the setting.
On the other hand, the goal of the passage is to break the fast-paced tone of the narration, shift the viewpoint, and give the reader a moment to breathe. Ideally it should come across as a short pause in the narration, rather than a 'ok, what's the trick with this description?' passage.
How can I reach the goal while making these passages more intriguing and engaging for the reader? | [
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47,625 | I'm planning out a long series (more than five books as is). It's very optimistic, I know. But I'm just wondering:
Would it be better to plan out my series as a trilogy, leaving room to expand if the series is successful?
I feel like publishers would regard trilogies as a safer bet than a long-winded series, but then again, I don't know much about the publishing world.
My background: I have not published any novels so far. If successful, these would be my first. | [
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47,634 | I feel there is a common audience trend in favoring the side characters more than the MC. And I believe "literary science" backs that up, in regards to character focus. That even though the MC's character and development is very good, it is harmed a little by the great focus on them, due to the audience becoming too familiar with them, and therefore bored.
With side characters, there is less familiarity/more mysticism, and less predictability. More wonder, perhaps?
Or maybe, MCs tend to simply be written worse? More boring and standard. That seems to be the case with Hijrp Potfeq (never read the books or seen the films). I have been told by many that Herrl is actually the least interesting character in the whole work. The most boring character, and perhaps more boring MC in all of *mainstream* entertainment. I've also heard a lot of people favor all the side characters in *The Walking Dead* over Pick Rrahus.
Conversely, speaking to a family member, they said they absolutely love Micheod Spemielx, the MC in *Prison Break*. Of course, they are not a critic, and furthermore, my whole question is spawned by the fallacious argument that "because it applies to some/all people I know/have observed, it is true for the rest".
But it might be that most audience members do like the MC the most, as one would assume considering they are the main character, who usually gets the most focus, development and generally care that is needed to create a compelling character. | [
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47,655 | This question is about hiding from the reader the fact that I am skipping some steps. Worse, perhaps, I don't want to show them, and I may have no clue or intention of figuring out how these steps should go: I simply want to go from scene A to scene B, jumping over how that could possibly happen.
Some examples, to give a reference:
1. >
> **Scene A**: Bob meets Chorkia on a chatroom. They are both using some random usernames.
>
>
> **Scene B**: Despite not having given him any personal information, Bob surprises Chorkia by knocking at his door.
>
>
>
How did Bob figure out it was Chorkia? And how did he find the address?
2. >
> **Scene A**: Parr is tied up by the robbers who invaded her home.
>
>
> **Scene B**: Parr is running outside while calling the police from her mobile phone.
>
>
>
How did she free herself without the robbers noticing? And where did she get the phone from?
3. >
> **Scene A**: Axel and Sisaq are stuck in the cabin under a snowfall so heavy that the door is blocked under the snow.
>
>
> **Scene B**: Sisaq is crossing the frozen lake by foot.
>
>
>
How did she get out of the chalet, across a wall of snow?
These are scene jumps that serve the plot, but they may not reflect anything reasonable in terms of physics or logic. The obvious solution would be to edit the text to give the reader a hint of how the feat was achieved, or how it could be possible. This is not what I am looking for.
I am instead interested in pushing the suspension of disbelief, and would like to find a writing device such that the reader will not notice the jump while reading.
At first I thought that if the stakes are high enough one may just read through to see how it is going to end. However, at my first attempt the high stakes resulted in a higher bar for consequentiality and my two beta readers spotted that it was not clear how Bob managed to get to Chorkia's hideout.
I wonder if it is an issue of POV. Perhaps focusing on one character during one scene, and on the other in the other scene can ease the transition. Or should I simply foreshadow it, e.g. " 'On the internet no one knows where you truly are.' thought Chorkia. ". I may be wrong, but this sounds like an unrealistic gimmick to me: who is taking their time to think that while chatting online?
The question thus remains: how to smoothly fool a wide audience to such an extent that they would not notice an unexplainable step occurring between scenes? | [
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47,659 | How does a person get an entry on Britannica, Encyclopedia.com etc. ? The person has a Wikipedia page and news references. Thanks! | [
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47,664 | I've just started noticing this word a lot in books. Something about it rubs me the wrong way. For example, I read a book where the following happened
>
> I stumbled to the ground and hit my head. I got back up. The walls and floors **seem**ed to be moving
>
>
>
That struck me as wrong; because since the character is experiencing it, for them the walls don't **seem** to be moving, they **are** moving.
I feel like that passage above would be much better if it was rewrote as
>
> I stumbled to the ground and hit my head. I got back up. The walls and floors **started** to move
>
>
>
It feels more active and definite, and I don't think anyones going to think that the walls and floors are literally moving
There's been many more times when an author has used the word "seem" and it's irked me. The word just feels kind of vague
I'm just wondering if this is just personal preference, or if there is some popular wisdom regarding the word. A quick google didn't bring up anything | [
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47,668 | Every piece of writer's advice I see will include something about "building a following" online, so that a publisher will be more likely to pick you up. The problem is, I don't have any idea how to do this! Besides that, I don't really have the time, what with working a full-time job and fitting writing in
Is a "platform" really necessary in this day and age to sell a book? | [
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47,672 | I am writing a story in which at some point two characters with the same name interact each other. I can't use their last name to differentiate because it's necessary for them to have no last name. There will also be no mention of the physical appearance of those characters, so, I can't use terms such as "Tall Zotn" and "Short Zotn". Only thing in the story is that one of the character will be in the first part of the story and disappear in the middle. Another character with the same name will take the center stage when the character disappears. Later they both meet and interact. So, to address each during that interaction, will it be right to say "New Zotn" and "Old Zotn" ? | [
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47,676 | For example, let’s say the main plot is that the characters are on a quest to go find something. Can an author spend three scenes in a row detailing what happens on their journey there, even if the only way the plot is moving forwards is by the implication that they’re moving in that direction? What if they spend three nights (and three scenes) at the same pitstop, but the scenes greatly develop the relationship between two important characters? | [
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47,695 | A story I am currently working on contains a scene where a figure with a certain character quite unexpectedly has a change of heart, and I am having difficulty finding a way of smoothing the transition.
Detailed description
--------------------
The transformation of the character (hereto referred to as A) could be represented as such:
1. A is cold, calculating, self-centered and has a strong sense of patriotic duty
2. A presumes B to be morally vile based on B's known actions
3. A confronts and interrogates B
4. B reveals true motives, which cast a different light on B's actions
5. A sympathises and decides to aid B in getting out of trouble
6. A is aware that only B benefits from this action and aiding B could have very serious consequences
This final action appears to go against all A's established character, but I believe A had become calculating and loyal to their profession as a result of experiencing hardships. The interrogation causes [cognitive dissonance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance) (or something along those lines), resulting in this change in character.
I am unsure as how to convey this information to the reader effectively.
EDIT: A intends to help B out, but then part ways later and hope their actions go unnoticed. | [
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47,711 | Imagine a fantasy hero with a 'time reset' ability like the protagonists of *Groundhog Day* or *Edge of Tomorrow*: they can 'rewind time' up to a few hours, resetting their own physical state and the rest of reality to whatever it/they were doing previously while preserving their memory of events, allowing the future to re-play in the same or different ways. Unlike those films, however, the character is not locked into reliving the same day, this is just an ability that's always there for them in life. In my particular idea the character doesn't need to die in order to trigger the effect, they can do so 'at will', but the same question applies in both cases:
**How can I avoid having this character sound ~~like a psychopath~~ completely bored all the time?!**
It's completely reasonable that a person living with such an ability would develop a complete dispassion for death and personal injury. Yes, they can still be hurt both physically and mentally, and pain is still painful, but all but the most abrupt injuries are *equally* unthreatening. Similarly the character doesn't really need to fear the short-term consequences of their actions - they can just reset away from any bad experiences.
These are personality traits that I'm finding hard to express without the character coming off as having no real investment in the situation. Obviously it would be very easy for such a person to *actually* turn into a pretty unsavoury character, but assuming that they have enough moral Plot Armour to remain a vaguely likeable protagonist, how can I give their thoughts enough depth?
For example, my character stumbles upon a thug holding up a store. She would have almost no hesitation in diving in to try and save the day: any disparity in strength or situation is a fairly minor concern; her only real danger is if she gets shot *specifically in the head*, otherwise she can just replay the situation as many times as it takes to get her desired outcome. But whenever I try to write an internal monologue of such a situation, it either seems like she's not thinking at all (which is certainly not the case, in fact she's thinking furiously), or that she's just completely dispassionate and unfeeling. I want the monologue to still feel adrenaline-fuelled and emotional, it would just be emotional in a subtly different way to what a 'normal person' would be feeling in such a situation, and I'm struggling to get a handle on exactly how. | [
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47,724 | I am currently writing an ongoing comic series, along with a co-author. Some of the characters in the book were created by me, some by the co-author, and some by third parties. All characters in this discussion were created for this series and are not licensed from another property.
The publisher's contract is with me and I, in turn, have contracts with my co-author, artists, and other contributors. I am in the process of updating the latter set of contracts, for creators that have continuing ownership in one or more characters. Of course I will consult with a lawyer before finalizing them but I wanted to ask about common practice around collaborative works.
**If there are derivative works (for example, marketing items like t-shirts or bobbleheads), or if the comic is adapted to another medium, what is the practice surrounding multiple character creators?** This is common in the comics industry but I don't know how to set up this in the contract.
I am in the United States and the other character creators are in various states in the US. The publisher is in the UK. The comics are published in English and available internationally.
Looking for elements that would be useful to include in a contract. | [
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47,729 | At one point in my story, the characters are addressed by a god. In the ensuing dialogue, this god has a more archaic way of speaking, but even so, I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to visually distinguish the god's speech from the other characters' speech. I think part of the reason is that since this is essentially a disembodied voice talking, I can't use the usual visual cues (gestures, facial expressions, etc) to highlight who is speaking.
I don't want to capitalize everything as I find long stretches of capitalized text hard to read, and I'm already using italics for thoughts and emphasis. Since the story is going to be published online, I can't rely on displaying the text in an actually different font, either.
However, I've played around with increasing the size a bit and I think it looks okay. But are there any reasons not to do this?
EDIT: Since it was raised in a comment and I didn't think about it before:
While the god's speech is usually on a separate line, occasionally it's interspersed with speech tags and descriptions. **Would it be problematic to have different sizes in the same paragraph?** (FWIW, in my current draft I'm using a difference of 2 size points.) | [
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47,733 | Of course developing a character is quite an intimate process. But still, like a story, you can in fact have some tools that give you some sort of axiomatic path on "how-to".
There is a TV writer named Shonda Rhimes. She has an interesting, but confusing, point of view about how she created a particular character. She said that for some characters she knows everything about their lives; for some others she knows almost nothing. Then, she said something quite curious: "I didn't know that character X was violent until that moment".
My question isn't about the particular process of hers; but rather about this "phenomena" that you (you as a writer, as a human being) can carry a character in your mind and suddenly you know something about her/his life (the character "tells you about him/herself). It seems that you have something "alive" in your mind.
Now, how can a creation of your mind (a character) do something that you don't imagine?
I suppose that when you read a book or consume some reference on how to develop a character and the author says something like "You must put your characters in situations to discover more about them", they're saying that your character must have some sort of "independent will, against the mind of their writer". | [
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47,735 | **Note:** This question deals exclusively with personal stakes (what the character could lose). It does not deal with public stakes (what the world of the novel could lose).
---
In my mind, there are two levels of stakes (not to be confused with the *kinds* of stakes): basic and deep.
**Example:** In the first season of 24, you have *basic* personal stakes. Seck needs to stop the terrorists to rescue his daughter. In LotR, you have *deep* personal stakes. Frodo needs to destroy the Ring, otherwise it will consume and destroy him. The difference is that if Frodo fails, he will, in some form, be incomplete and be unable to *continue* (again, in some form). In 24, we can assume that if Seck fails to rescue his daughter, he will be seriously messed up, but we can also assume that he will eventually *continue*. There's nothing saying or even suggesting that he won't.
While I recognize that basic stakes can work in certain scenarios, they always only seem to be *enough*. Call me a perfectionist, but I don't want *enough*. I want the maximum.
**Background:** I am an outliner, meaning I develop and plan every aspect of my writing before actually writing it. I operate almost entirely off of formulas and step-by-step processes. I cannot sit down and 'simply write'. That approach does not work for me.
**Problem:** I am currently trying to create a process by which I can generate deep personal stakes in my characters. Deep personal stakes boil down to a **need** without which a **character** is **incomplete** in some form, and cannot **continue** in some form (due to being incomplete).
I have tried looking up examples of stakes, but surprisingly, I couldn't find any. Just lots of information on how to make basic stakes and raise them. No one seems to even know about deep personal stakes. For this reason, LotR is the best example of deep personal stakes which comes to mind.
**Question:** Can you show me a process by which I can create deep personal stakes for my characters?
I will be glad to provide more details if necessary. | [
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47,738 | Following the answer of @Cyn and my comment (on [Doubt about a particular point of view on how to do character creation](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/47733/doubt-about-a-particular-point-of-view-on-how-to-do-character-creation) ): I would like to know more about how to "know" more about a true alived character. Now, if you think a little bit, the one will find a particular point of view that is tricky, I mean, say for sure what is an action wrote for an character and what is an action did by them.
I'll give you an feeble example: A character walking down the street sees a person asking for help, because this person needs to find a public telephone to talk about a urgent situaton. Then I "observe" my character actions and I conclude that this character helped indeed this person.
This example illustrates, at some level, what means "put your character in a situation". I gived my character the possibility to deny a help and say no; my character choosed to help. But the outcome of this situation is something that I imagined, I mean, is my mind. How can I know that my character's choose was a some sort of "independent thought" if I've imagined that outcome? | [
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47,742 | I am writing a book mostly about the history of my local airport. This will include the changes from the earliest airlines and airports til today. What I want to know, for example, I write about the change in food they were serving to include some of my memories about airline food I had or would that be considered a personal opinion and not allowed in this type of book? Would including any personal knowledge or experiences be OK? The book will be non fiction. | [
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47,748 | I want to say that the author uses Character A's "character development" to explore Character B.
In other words, the author builds on the personality of A to exemplify the nature of B.
What is another word that replaces "character development" in the context above? | [
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47,756 | Sometimes, I have trouble coming up with a way to end a description properly, especially one that's at the very end of a chapter. What are some of the things you can do, especially when the description just describes a set of actions taken by a character? Is there a way of doing this without going inside the head of the character and describing his psychological state or inner thoughts?
>
> He waved her goodbye, and then he sipped his cup of coffee while
> looking towards the window. When the elevator rang, he looked back at
> her with a smile to send her off.
>
>
>
I have no idea what you can do after that without describing his psychological state or inner thoughts. The character doesn't do any action and I don't want to describe his psychological state or inner thoughts, because the character is extremely unimportant to the story.
Two lines feels way too short, I am trying to add like 3-4 additional lines. | [
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47,757 | I wrote a dialogue, but I am not sure if it sounds natural. I try to keep dialogue super simple so that it doesn't feel unnatural, but aside from that, I am not sure if there's any golden rule I can follow to make sure the dialogue I write doesn't sound off.
Here's a small excerpt of what I wrote recently.
>
> ...
>
>
> Then I would have to shine the Bat Signal into the sky.
>
>
> Haha, yeah right. I'll be around the neighborhood if you need me. I
> might have to leave by the end of the month, so call me if you want to
> hang out. Cya!
>
>
>
I am not sure, but laughing and then saying goodbye immediately sounds unnatural, but the exchange is 2 pages long so I felt the need to cut it short, but it sounds unnatural a bit I feel like. Sounds almost like a dialogue from The Room (2003). | [
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47,768 | Often while writing a software requirement/change-request documentation, I need to include the quoted requirements descriptively, the impacted modules, the changes provided both in UI and in logic. While writing this out, the document often tends to get big (mostly 1000-4000 words - 5 to 7 pages of MS word). I make sure that nothing extra, needless or redundant points get added in the document. I also ensure proper formatting of the document for easy skimming and parsing of the reader with suitable visual aids, hyperlinks and supported citations (for further references). Still, what's required is required and I can't omit out the important details out of it.
I need to be concise but at the same time, I need to include everything that is required. And here I feel a standoff because I can't reduce the length of my document just because the end-readers feel it lengthier, and I can't keep the lengthy document because no-one would effectively read it up. How to tackle this standoff?
What I tried?
1. I create powerpoint presentation to showcase the changes and notifying all the changes verbally using that powerpoint in the meeting.
2. I tried to divide the internal requirements into phases and modules and for each of them, created separate documents.
What happened?
1. Creating powerpoint presentation and explaining stuff to team worked initially however, after a few time intervals there was nothing official on hand with us that could re-state the information/requirement. Maintaining the powerpoint was more cumbersome than the document. Plus, I had to write the document as well for official housekeeping and exchange amongst stakeholders. So it increased my time.
2. Some changes/features are big intrinsically and isn't possible to divide in sub-modules. So this doesn't work as well. | [
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47,771 | Losely related with my latest question: [Should one invest in a professional editor before querying?](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/47770/should-one-invest-in-a-professional-editor-before-querying)
I've finished - not without sweat - my second draft. While I'm satisfied with the overall result, I can't shake the feeling that something is not quite right with my novel. Maybe it came out a little childish, maybe there are useless repetitions of themes, or maybe, again, some characters are shallow.
As the author, I feel like I'm a little shortsighted right now. I can't point out the flaws exactly, or how to fix them; moreover, I'm not sure if they are actual flaws or they are *perceived* flaws.
This bias is one reason why I'm skeptical of going into a third, lone draft. The other reason is that I've worked almost nonstop on the novel in the last year, and I'm starting to get sick of reading the same scenes.
Of course, I'm no way special and I suppose the same could be said for a lot of author in my situation.
So, would it be a good idea to call a professional editor after the second draft?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | [
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47,777 | I am writing on my thesis, containing a lot of implementations. Due to readability, I locate all my source code in the Appendix. Is there a style guide on how to name these sections in the Appendix?
Currently, my approach is to structure them like this:
```
A. General Methods
A.1. def foo
A.2. def bar
B. Specific Methods
B.1. def ...
C. Further Methods
```
However, this looks kinda strange in my ToC, is there any style guide on how to name sections *only* containing source code? | [
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47,784 | For example:
>
> I sensed as if he became sad from the way he spoke after telling him
> that I would go with her.
>
>
> | [
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47,791 | It's not so much that I dislike my real name, but I have a few issues that make me uncomfortable with using it.
This is mainly due to the fact that it's quite unique, and while that is an advantage, it also means that it doesn't take long for people to find all of my comments, interests, group activity, forum participation, etc, etc.
It means that whenever I'm on a social network or public web page, as much as I want to comment on things and get involved, I see my name next to the comment box and refrain from posting anything - even if the comment is completely harmless or innocent.
So I decided that the best way to go about things is to write under a pen name or alias, and create social profiles / email addresses to suit that alias. But I have a few problems:
Primarlily, should my alias be completely unique from my real name, or should I have my first name + an alias surname?
The way I see it, having an alias online is great because nobody is going to meet you, but because of the nature of my writing, I aim to get myself out there and write about things I see and do, and people I meet.
Now if nobody knows me, a completely unique alias is fine, but if I'm going to be intorducing myself in places where people may actually know my real name, I'd prefer them to be able to shout over, "hey (name), what brings you here", without people who know me as my alias being confused.
Secondly, because I'm using my alias for all aspects of my life, as I would my own name, it's likely that sooner or later I'm going to become known as my alias, and therefore people searching for that alias online will find all of my comments, interests, group activity, forum participation, etc, etc - As in the beginning.
I guess aliasses are great if you have 2 or more main areas of expertise, like a childrens author who also writes erotic novels, or a garden/cooking blogger who also owns a mens magazine.
Any advice on how I should go about things? | [
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47,804 | I'm writing a story in English but I'm not a native. I’m a Brazilian Portuguese speaker.
It bothers me how repetitive and ambiguous pronouns can be. In my language we can use the equivalent to ‘this one’ instead of he/she/it etc. It’s less usual, but still sounds natural. But I don’t know how it sounds to a native English speaker. The only examples I found in English were archaic.
Example:
>
> Zotn saw Marua again after three years, and thought that **he**
> (Marua, not Zotn) lost a lot of weight.
>
>
>
Does it sound weird if I write instead:
>
> Zotn saw Marua again after three years, and thought that **this one**
> lost a lot of weight.
>
>
>
I wonder that something like ‘the guy’ could be used instead of ‘Marua’, but it would not sound good if Marua is a well known character by the reader. Of course I can use Marua again, but it doesn't work well in the sentence that concerns me. | [
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47,808 | I'm just trying to work around the whole "Adverbs are the devil" rule. Is there any difference between these two lines in regards to writing quality:
>
> He smiled patronisingly at them
>
>
>
And
>
> He had a patronising smile on his face
>
>
>
Is the second option better than the first one? | [
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47,823 | I’m making a linear visual novel with partial interactivity that allows the player to influence small portions of the story, but I just want to know how one goes about drafting something like that. The interactivity feature allows you to build a relationship with some characters, this is what can change different parts of the story. Thing is that I have several other characters whose growth I would like to cover, but don’t know how. | [
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47,826 | I have three variations of the same storyline and cannot decide which one I want to write:
1. erotic story turning dark and dangerous
A young adult man and woman fall in love. It is the woman's first time to have sex, and the narrative focusses on the sexual feelings and desires of the protagonists. As the couple discover the woman's sexuality, they find more and more dark and disturbing needs that eventually threaten the life and sanity of the two characters.
This is the original variant of the story. I abandoned it because the end is too risqué (involving massive sexual abuse and rape). I think it is a great story with intriguing character development and some relevance to current psychosocial developments, but difficult to write and easy to fail as well as hard to publish.
2. erotic story turning into a spy thriller
A young man and woman are sexually attracted to each other, slowly tease and approach each other, but before they can have sex for her first time, the progess of their relationship is interrupted by spy thriller complications. Lots of action and a scyfyish plot turn almost destroy their love, but they overcome their emotional difficulties, reconcile, have her first sex, and solve the thriller plot.
This is the variation I had decided to write instead of the original one. But the problem with this variation is that the first part of the novel would be an erotic story and the second a thriller with love story, and I'm not sure if the two parts fit together. I could write this and see how it turns out, but in my mind there is this disparity and I need to overcome it because the doubt hampers me.
3. love story turning into a spy thriller
The same story as no. 2 but without the more sexual tension at the beginning. Could be marketed as YA.
To solve the disparity of the sexualized first part and the turn to a more loving and supportive relationship during the evolving thriller plot I attempted to describe the desire of the man and woman for each other in more romantic, Young Adult terms, but this removes all the exitement from the story's beginning and I would have to condense it and incite the action more quickly, moving the focus away from the relationship and to the thriller plot.
I like all three variations of the story and would be equally exited to write them all. My question is which variation would be more attractive to agents, publishers, and the reading public? That is, which variations would sell best? The erotic novel, the erotic spy thriller, or the YA love thriller?
I have been struggling with this decision for weeks while outlining all three plots in parallel. How can I decide?
---
I found two related questions on this site that don't answer my question. [The first questions](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/28094/variations-of-the-same-story) asks about writing and publishing all variations, which is not what I want to do. I do want to decide and write only one. And the answers to that question do not deal with how to decide between variations so they apply to my present problem.
[The second question](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/21884/what-are-some-techniques-for-deciding-which-of-two-or-more-plot-directions-to-go) does deal with how to decide, but the answers don't help me because I have done what the accepted answer suggests and not been able to come to a decision.
But thinking about those related questions made me realize that my question is less about deciding between *equal* variations than about deciding between ***variations with more or less sex***.
So very likely the true questions behind my difficulty to decide are: How much sex can I write if I'm after mainstream success? | [
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47,827 | Most erotica today is written by and for women, and bestselling erotica is narrated from a female point of view. The "male pornographic gaze" that sexualizes the female body has been considered offensive by the predominant culture and mostly eradicated from contemporary mainstream literature. But men still lust over female physiology. Is it possible to narrate that experience of male sexual lust without offending female readers? How? | [
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47,833 | How can I make a side character's tangibility open to interpretations so the audience is unsure if she's even real?
My short story is about identity. My main character is being pressured by a friend to do something. I don't want to reveal anything to the audience, but I want to have like clues that could suggest that the friend isn't even real, just a figment of my character's imagination, so she can cope with whatever struggles she has experienced. What clues can i use to suggest they are actually the same person or that the friend isn't real? How can I make the audience question if the character is even real? | [
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47,840 | In [this answer](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/47836/16226), Amaheor makes the case for happy endings based on their far greater popularity compared to unhappy endings.
This leads me to wonder, what exactly makes an ending "happy"?
Before I go further, though, let me say that talking about a "satisfactory" ending doesn't address this question. Let's take it as read that both happy ending and sad endings can be "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory". My question is, among satisfactory endings, what, for purpose of assessing the market potential of a piece of fiction, defines a "happy" as opposed to a "sad" ending.
Let us also take it as read that books with unhappy endings can and do sell well sometimes. But it would certainly seem that the deck is stacked against them.
The quintessential happy ending is Cinderella. Poor girl goes to dance, marries prince, lives happily ever after. Windr is clearly better off in every way at the end of the story than she was at the beginning.
But what about Lord of the Rings, in which Sauron is defeated and the Hhere restored but Frodo is so crippled by his trials that he can never live happily in the Hhere again, but must pass over the sea from the Grey Havens. Frodo is not better off at the end than he was at the beginning (except perhaps in the religious sense of having achieved a heavenly reward). Is that a happy ending?
What about an ending in which our hero dies saving the world (Vony Stuqf in End Game, for the sake of an example that is likely to be widely known). Is that a happy ending?
Is any ending in which the protagonist experiences a moral triumph, regardless of their physical or emotional circumstances an happy ending?
Given a story in which the heroine does something very wrong which causes several deaths, but then makes a sacrifice that prevents something even worse from happening. Would you say that that is a happy ending? (This one is personal for me.)
Or do we need it to be "happily ever after"?
I am sure we all have our personal preferences, but is there any psychological or commercial theory or study that would define what "happy ending" means for the publishing industry and/or the reading public. | [
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47,849 | I've recently started getting into horror lately and trying to learn how all of the genre works so that maybe I myself can write good horror. But there's been one thing on my mind that's been bothering me a lot about horror. I don't know that while writing horror, what's going way too far and what's crossing the line.
What I'm mainly saying is that horror to me personally doesn't seem like a very easy genre to write. It really does seem like a very difficult and delicate genre of speculative fiction that all authors need to be careful with. Like horror authors need to make sure that the horror stories they're writing (whether it be for movies, TV shows, video games, etc.) are actually good and actually not too disturbing to the point where it's actually hard to watch.
I know I may be sounding all concerned about this but can you really blame me? If I ever do decide to become a writer, I really don't wanna create something that's hard to watch but when you make something hard to watch, that really does that sound like you ultimately failed in every way with your own writing piece. You ruined said piece forever. It really does sound like an objectively bad mistake that all writers (as well as all artists in general) should attempt to avoid at all costs. I know art itself is subjective and all but there really are some objective rules about all of it in order to make it actually good and teach aspiring artists about how certain types of art actually works.
So if any of you would politely ask me what are some of the things that do in fact make any type of horror story hard to watch and how I can try my very best to tame them all, that would be extremely awesome. I would highly thank you for your great advice because I know that a horror story is trying to be scary, but I think the only tone it's supposed to avoid is being hard to watch. I really do think there's a difference between both tones.
Please keep in mind that I'm not saying no horror stories should have any unhappy endings, any innocents getting killed or any blood or gore or anything. I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying that I really wanna know how I can make those things scary but not too scary to the point where it's hard to watch. Like I said, that really does seem like the kind of tone you're trying to avoid when writing good horror. If any horror experts out there can give some good advice on writing horror itself then that would be awesome! | [
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47,852 | Is there a better way to introduce acronyms through a dialogue? One way of doing it, is to mention what the acronym stands for at the beginning and then use the acronym afterward, but that's a bit weird and unnatural, because people won't say "National Aeronautics and Space Administration" they will say "NASA", so what's the alternative way of doing this?
For example:
>
> "The National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided to hire
> several contractors for the design of the module, but NASA haven't yet
> given all of the specifications yet, so we will wait a month before
> beginning the design. In the meantime, you can contact NASA for
> additional details on the specifications that they gave us."
>
>
> | [
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47,858 | I’m a beginner writer planning on learning how to write webcomics. My main one is an adventure/fantasy webcomic and the other is a card battle webcomic (I draw a lot of inspiration from anime and manga if you couldn’t tell).
How do I begin to learn more about writing (and drawing) this genre, and how to analyze stories? | [
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47,863 | So, let's say the main characters enter a building, a really big laboratory of sorts. They don't know what was being worked on here, because no one is still there, it's been abandoned recently. But for the plot to move on, they need at least a basic grasp of what was studied here, and the reader should get some background as well.
My question is thus: How can I integrate letters of former members/scientists of this Institution or book snippets on the matter as seamless as possible into the story? I envision this could take quite a number and this place is the main stay over the story, so I fear it would be dull that someone just "finds" a piece of writing every chapter or so. I have thought about prefacing each chapter with one of those writings, which would inform the reader without disrupting the story, but would leave the characters in the dark, which is not wanted by me.
Are there best practices for this sort of thing? | [
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47,872 | Is there a "right" way to interpret a novel? If so, how do we make sure our novel is interpreted correctly? I have been told that there's no way of interpreting the true meaning of a book written by an author, because we don't know the intent they had. So, is there a standard way of making sure a book is interpreted correctly, instead of leaving it to the readers like most people seem to do? If not, what are the alternatives? | [
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47,873 | In the Bible, the apple is a symbol for knowledge, immortality, temptation, the fall of man and sin. The book itself gave the apple a symbolic meaning. How can you as an author give an object like the apple your own meaning? And how do you make sure that your readers interpret the apple as having your own particular meaning instead of the "usual" biblical meaning? | [
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47,886 | I want to do a story revolving around the inverse of the Christian tale in the bible. In it, the savior sent by God is tempted by the adversary, similar to how Jisis is tempted by the devil in the desert. However, he ultimately succumbs to his human weaknesses and betrays his purpose, becoming subservient to this devil-like figure. The rest of the story plays out in a similar way, with him gathering apostles to spread the corrupted word, and then disciples ti further that cause, leading to a darker portrayal of the Christian faith, as it is successfully hijacked by Satan.
The point of the tale is that there are no chosen ones, and that gods are susceptible to the same failings as their creations. This is similar to what the prequels tried to do for an Anakin Skywalker, a messianic powerhouse who was destined to lead the Jedi order to a new future according to one individual but wound up destroying it. However, people hated those movies for various reasons, and felt that the payoff wasn't adequate enough.
How should this fall from grace be represented and done better? | [
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47,890 | So, I finally began writing my sixtieth or so first draft. And I noticed a small thing:
>
> As sunset came the sky became a river of orange and gold. Maybe like a lava stream? Gyvaris might have been a red dragon, but as embarrassing it was, he never saw actual lava in his life. The only time he heard about it was from his mother, the rest was left up to the wyrmling’s imagination.
>
>
>
It's still well in WIP, but I didn't plan for this on the character sheet, it just came randomly and I just added
>
> "Gyvaris spent his early years in a large forest, much like the one he later
> choose to settle in. His parents rarely ever went beyond its borders after he was born, and they never really explained why."
>
>
>
This did help develop Gyv as a character and establish that he has holes in his lexical knowledge despite his intelligence and resolve.
But I'm still afraid that this will lead to contradictions in other characters later.
**This is a useful thing but how can I prevent it from leading to contradictions later?** | [
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47,894 | I'm writing a story which requires frequent switching between languages, sometimes in the same sentence.
I thought about writing the foreign language in italics, but the problem is that I already use italics for emphasis, so it's not consistent and would be confusing. Underline looks strange and color is not possible.
Example: I want to do something like this, where the italics would represent the non-English language and non-italics represents English.
Wow! *You finally listened to my* stinking advice!
This seems to read the best, as it's all in English, even if it looks a bit strange (and I would hope the reader would understand once I set up this device), but it's a moot point because I'm using italics for emphasis elsewhere already.
I thought about writing the other language in the actual foreign language, but I cannot reveal the language at this point. But even if I could, I'd still have to footnote every sentence, which is also cumbersome and makes the readability difficult.
Are there a tried and true techniques to do this? | [
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47,898 | In the first discussion of the concept of "plot" given by [1] I, maybe, understood two different, but complementary, concepts of plot.
Mckee gives us a definition of Plot as:
>
> To PLOT mean to navigate through the dangerous terrain of story and when confronted by a dozen branching possibilities to choose the correct path. Plot is the writer's choice of events and their design in time.
>
>
>
So, here, plot means that "organization of events" in a structural sense: for instance, scene 3 will occur after scene 2. But also could mean something that deals with "deeper things" like emotion, and then the scene 2 could occur after the scene 3 just because something about scene 2 fits better concerning the "emotional time-line" of a character.
So how to use the concept of plot in writing?
---
[1] MCKEE.R. *Story*. Itbooks, New York, 1997. | [
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47,903 | Suppose I'm a local publisher. If I want to translate a book, print it and sell translated copies, how much should I propose to pay to the copyright holder? Is there some acceptable percentage of book price at Amazon to start with?
Here is an example: Suppose there is a book called *How to Jump High* which I would like to translate into Ukrainian. I expect to sell 1000 copies of this translation. I know that one can buy it for $100 on the Internet. How much should I propose to the copyright holder for such a license? | [
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47,908 | There is a problem as stories progress (especially in never-ending web novels) where the cast of characters keep growing. Some webnovels I follow are in the hundreds!
Is there a technique for authors to keep track of their cast of characters? | [
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47,912 | If I'm going to face down a dragon, Mob boss, evil corporation, or a demon from the 7 circles of hell or dystopian dictator, etc, it's not going to be to rescue my buddy Herxeck, or cousin Dommy. The best they are going to get are my harsh words and heavy disapproval muttered under my breath as I go into hiding. But if I had actually found real love and that was snatched from me I would move heaven and earth attempting to save her. So that is where my characters' motives come from.
However, I see the complaints so often now, buzz phrases being stuff like "manic pixie dreamgirl," "hero's reward," "nerd wish fulfillment," "women in the fridge," etc, etc.... Why is writing a love interest for the hero so widely ridiculed?
My issue is I enjoy those stories, they seem more realistic to me from the point of the hero. How can I write a story with a love interest without running into this kind of criticism? | [
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47,925 | [Metk mentioned in his answer](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/47928/32946) that plotholes aren't usually the end of the world, and that I shouldn't sacrifice too much of the story and the characters for the sake of logic.
But there's a breaking point where everyone goes "That makes no sense!"
The other is with an idea of mine: Essentially the parody of the 2003 Clone Wars miniseries by Gendy ~~Tarantino~~ Tartakovsky.
It takes the rule of cool, prevalent in the series, exploits and abridges it when Styropyro, Szertár, Sam O'Nella, and Ms. Frizzle overtake the series. They abuse Grievous with 7W laserpointers and flashbangs, blow Durge up with IEDs and destroy an army of 200+ droids with a blaster, a GoPro, a smartphone and Osu *Kissing the Tears* levels of jackhammering on the trigger.
There's silly stuff like when G blows up and only his head remains, he says MC (main character) stands taller as a warrior than he does. Nonetheless this idea's essence is **practicality > literally Semurui Recz but with laser swords**
One could argue that such moments won't harm the story's overall tone as a funny love letter to those who thought Holdo's driving skills are what ruined SW's worldbuilding.
**But what should I do when the story is actually serious and logic is a cornerstone of its premise but it could get in the way of other stuff?** | [
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47,941 | I have an idea for an anti-heroic sci-fi character whose character arc runs from spoilt rich girl, to a refugee in the rubble of human civilisation after an alien invasion, to crewmember and then captain of a pirate spacecraft, and ultimately to empress of all mankind.
Running through all of this, I have the knowledge that this character is a successful sociopath. She doesn't care even slightly about the people around her, but she is highly intelligent and self-disciplined, perhaps unusually for sociopaths, and is good at *pretending* to care, yet when circumstances allow, she can revel in her ability to kill, maim, torture (both mental and physical torture) or otherwise discard people who are of no further use to her or who have become inconvenient, with the justification that the situation made it necessary.
Now, I have the idea to conceal from the readers - at least until the end - the detail that this character is in fact a sociopath.
In the end, I am writing about the first Empress of Mankind in a fairly realistic, gritty style, and she is no saint. She kills people - or uses them and disposes of them in non-lethal ways - whenever she can justify doing so according to the persona that she tries to project, that of a "nice girl" when amongst regular people. The pirate crew she joins gives her the opportunity to act more as she chooses than she can when amongst law-abiding people. While ultimately mankind ends up in a better state because of her presence, that isn't her goal, but a side-effect of her tactic to remain popular and to not be regarded as someone who is dangerous and who should be avoided or eliminated.
How could I best write about this protagonist without giving away the fact that she is a sociopath, and only ever *pretends* to care about others in order to gain sympathy and co-operation... and should I *want* to conceal this fact? | [
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47,955 | Should you only use colons and full stops in dialogues? I thought about using a semi-colon in one of my dialogues, but I had second thought about it, because when we talk, we don't really differentiate semi-colons from colons, so it almost in a way nonsensical to use semi-colons in dialogues. What do most authors tend to do concerning semi-colons? Is it ok to replace semi-colons with full stops? When would you personally use semi-colons?
For example:
>
> "You need to record every action you make from now on; otherwise, the
> federal agents will arrest you for questioning." she recommended.
>
>
> "You need to record every action you make from now on. Otherwise, the
> federal agents will arrest you for questioning." she recommended.
>
>
> | [
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47,961 | Part of the character arc for my main character from [Can I conceal an antihero's insanity - and should I?](https://writing.stackexchange.com/q/47941/40449) is that she is a sociopath, prepared to do things that normal people would not. Part of her story arc is that while under-age (she's between 14 and 15 years old at the time), she - on her own initiative - engages in prostitution, with a few boys who attend school with her, as well as with an older man, in order to get the funds to obtain a piece of equipment that will prove vital for the later parts of the story. When she has what she wants from these relationships, she ends them, but in the case of one school boy who does not accept that their relationship has ended, and to let the other school boys to whom she was prostituting herself know that the consequences of going against her will will be dire, she reports them to the authorities, accuses them of rape, and they are convicted. In the case of the older man, she reports him to the authorities in order to fend off an accusation that she is a prostitute.
In case it matters, this is occurring in a slightly post-modern-day USA, (in either New York state or New Jersey) less than 5 years in the future, which is recovering from a disastrous alien attack some years before that had significantly disrupted everyday life, though at the time this occurs, things are slowly returning to normal. Laws are pretty much unchanged, at least in this area - engaging in prostitution is still illegal, as is a person over 18 engaging in sexual relations with a person below the age of consent.
However the reality of the situation is that not only did she initiate these relationships, she was sufficiently mature, even though under-age, to enjoy herself.
How do I show the reader that this character not only initiated but enjoyed these relations, and that her accusations of rape were false, even if her relationship with the older man was legally paedophilia - while *he* should have known better, *she* initiated the inappropriate relationship.
Since these relationships involve an under-aged girl initiating, engaging in and enjoying sexual relations, in the first case with a boy who is also under-age, and in the second case with a man old enough that he ought to have known better than to have participated, I am somewhat at a loss as to how to portray this. I don't personally condone what any of the characters have done, but I also need to show that my main character deliberately sought out that which she later turned against her clients.
If all the characters were consenting and of legal age, I would just include a sex scene... and elsewhere in the story I have done just that with other adult characters, but how do I show what I need to show in this case? | [
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47,965 | I have only been able to find lined notebooks with big spacing between the lines (8mm). I would like to have very tiny spacing (3 or even 2mm). I haven't been able to find them.
Also, I'd like to design my own notebooks with custom layout, so basically I'd like to be able to get a custom notebook with an arbitrary greyscale basis (whether lined, or with e.g. some text in the corner). To be clear I am talking about this being on all the pages of the notebook, not just the cover.
Is there a good online store that will print notebooks based on your custom design? (In the UK) | [
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47,979 | As much as I would like it, both in Worldbuilding and Writing, not every action is logical or "right".
There are two types of this:
**Imperfect information:** The character(s) lack vital information, making their choices a gamble.
**Characters being plain stupid:** The classic case when you look back and ask: "What was I thinking?"
Sometimes there's nothing wrong with charaters being stupid, other times it turns out terribly, for example, I hated that scene from [Babel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babel_(film)) where 2 characters were shooting with a hunting rifle at vehicles to see if its range really is 3 kilometers. It felt absolutely disgraceful, dumb, disgusting and upsetting, yet some could argue that they really didn't know what they were doing.
That leaves us the question: **How do I have intelligent or normal characters have moments of stupidity, that might or might not drive the plot forward, without feeling like they were possessed by the writer or just breaking character in general?** | [
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47,999 | A is a special snowflake, though for all the wrong reasons. You see, he was born with a special ability that allowed him to see premonitions of his and his loved ones' future in the form of still images. Of course, future here isn't immutable, and premonitions change as new information comes in.
While the ability is incredibly powerful, watching artistic renditions of his many possible deaths took a toll on A's mental health, making him reclusive, and neurotic. He became obsessed with fate and thinks it's out to get him "because his ability upsets the natural order". A could rarely ever tell others about his ability as it could change the premonition in unexpected ways. From the outsiders' perspective, he sometimes just gets the Thousand-yard stare and begins screaming, only to calm down later and refuse to tell why he freaked out.
Though it's not his fault, I'm still afraid the reader would get tired of A's antics, regardless that they can actually see his premonitions. Saying 'Poor A, he unwittingly pushes everyone away from himself" without ever seeing him do that is disingenuous and is considered poor writing. **I don't want to change how his charcter is, only how it's presented.**
This can be an issue with other characters where their behavior is rather annoying in-universe but you don't want it to be too annoying in the actual book.
**How can I ensure that characters like A don't get tiring in the long run?** | [
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"text": "A character has to have an arc and be seen to move along that arc. You can't show the reader the same thing they have s... | 2019/09/15 | [
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48,003 | I am trying to write a non-fiction book about summarizing core computer science concepts. I plan to self publish this book through the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing program. My target audience includes
1. undergrad freshmen
2. business managers working in a tech industry but have little or no technical knowledge
3. general public interested to learn more about computer science
I am curious what is the correct way to cite the sources if I were to adopt the IEEE or APA reference style? I understand how the APA/IEEE style is used (e.g I used them in my school's reports)
Thing is, I don't really see non-fiction book putting the references like this in the main body of their text,
>
> ADHD has a prevalence of around 5% among children (Someone, 2013) and 2.5% among adults **(Someoneelse, 2007)**.
>
>
>
For authors who adopted IEEE style, they also don't usually put the numbering e.g [1] in the main text. So is it okay if I just leave the references at the end of the book? | [
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"text": "Different publishers will have different preferences about this. An academic press is likely to prefer a more academic ... | 2019/09/15 | [
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