qid int64 1 2.78M | question stringlengths 2 66.6k | answers list | date stringlengths 10 10 | metadata list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
48,773 | Two people are dating, and one of them wants to tell the other they are humble, which they genuinely are. But I don't want it to seem like they're bragging or showing off about it.
In normal conversation, this might work out depending on the tone of voice. How can I show this through writing? | [
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"text": "I just wouldn't say \"humble.\"\n\nFind a situation in which they have done something that is obviously humble, lik... | 2019/10/30 | [
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48,786 | More specifically, consider the following examples:
1) Say my protagonist is a boy who has a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, wears round glasses, and has dark hair and green eyes. His name is NOT Hijrp Potfeq, he is NOT a wizard, and he DOESN'T attend Hogwarts.
Would this be considered copyright? After all, it's perfectly plausible that there could exist a person with these physical attributes.
2) Can my protagonist have a nickname like "Hijrp Potfeq" or "the muggle Hijrp Potfeq"? (again assuming he's not a wizard etc.)
Edit: Thank you for your responses. I have one more question. When referring to pop culture in your work, say the Hijrp Potfeq series, are you allowed to refer to characters by their nicknames (e.g. the Boy Who Lived)? For example, I know something like "Hey, you look just like Hijrp Potfeq!" is allowed, but is "Hey, you look just like the Boy Who Lived!" allowed? | [
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"text": "Copyright law varies by country, so there is no simple answer. \n\nBut if the first thing readers think of after r... | 2019/10/31 | [
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48,795 | As a writer, I used to write short stories and poems. As a reader, fantasy is my favorite genre.
I created some what of a language for my (first ) novel. It's phoneme, pronunciation, rules and a set of words.
The outline / first draft of my novel is also completed. It is an extra terrestrial fantasy story.
I am decided to participate in this Nanowrimo, and sets everything according to that.
But when I start writing, the problem arises.
How to implement my new language in my novel?
I am planning to write the novel in my mother tongue. But the invented language is the mother tongue of all my characters. Also none of them know my mother tongue.
The problem is about dialogues, if I write them completely in my new language, it will really difficult to readers. If I use only some words from my new language ( like words for hi, god, king, queen, land ) and write everything else in normal language will it feel wired?
How to do it in correct way? Please Help. | [
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"text": "So, there are several ways to do this: First, translate into English everything except proper nouns (specific names o... | 2019/11/01 | [
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48,805 | Let's say you decide to claim that time is absolute and not relative as Oonhtain said. Can you still use a title like "Oonhtain's time", "Relativity of time", "The geometry of time", "Time dilatation", etc? Why? I sometimes feel there's a gray area where it could be alright, but it's hard for me to identify them, but for a seasoned writer it could be a lot easier. What do you think? | [
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"text": "So, there are several ways to do this: First, translate into English everything except proper nouns (specific names o... | 2019/11/02 | [
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48,806 | can anyone tell me whether the written Chinese name should be in the order of "surname + given name", or another way around? And of course, in academic writing. I am a PhD student in Bristol, I receive the report from my examiners saying that I should put surname in front for Chinese names. I've been awarded that some of the academic articles displaying Chinese names in this order, but some are not. Could anyone one tell me which way is correct for academic writing? So frustrated... | [
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"text": "Chinese names are generally written like this **\"surname/family name + given name\"** ,for example: **Yang Ming**... | 2019/11/02 | [
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48,810 | >
> In the dark alley of my youth,
>
>
> **light, it shone from the cloud-ladden sky**.
>
>
> I've been listening to the chirping in the trees.
>
>
> Lately, I felt a bit more free.
>
>
>
I am wondering if this is acceptable. I am not sure if this is just called an inversion or there's a more specific technique involved here, but I was wondering if this is an awkward phrasing. I am also wondering if it's ok to put 3 almost unrelated sentences in the same verse in a song. | [
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"text": "I think the name for what you want to do is [Hyperbaton](https://literary-devices.com/content/hyperbaton/)\n\nFrom... | 2019/11/02 | [
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48,817 | Does a script usually have to come out like a play? Or, there should be a difference? | [
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"text": "A \"script\" is general; a \"screenplay\" is something to be filmed. A \"play\" is something to be performed on a s... | 2019/11/03 | [
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48,821 | The premise of my scene is basically that MC is electrocuted by scientists trying to trigger some sort of power in him. I've been writing his view (3rd person) the whole time before, alas I'm only describing things he notices.
And there's the part I'm not sure about. He wakes up by being electrocuted and basically can't think through the pain, so everything I write will be the thoughts he has that slip through his hands like sand.
Can I write it like that or should I change the view? I don't want it to be graphic, but I do want the reader to feel sympathy.
(I haven't written the scene out yet, but it will be something along the line of 'Pain was the only thing he could notice as he woke up. Was he even really awake? It didn't quite feel like anything outside the pain existed. He was distantly aware that he was being electrocuted, but couldn't find out how he knew. He couldn't quite dwell on it too.') | [
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"text": "I would advise a dream like haze of blending reality. Dreams can be influenced by real world stimuli (I once had a dr... | 2019/11/03 | [
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48,822 | There is a short story contest where the limit is five hundred (500) words and I want to know if that is a possible limit for a short story? | [
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"text": "Easily. There are entire categories of [\"flash fiction\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_fiction) that are e... | 2019/11/03 | [
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48,833 | I was wondering if there is a list of ideas on how to add beats to dialog. For example:
>
> "Listen to me!", `Zotn said excitedly.` "We can sell all these coins now
> and get rich today." `He got closer to Horah.` "Let me take care of it for you, ok?", `he said as he lowered his voice.`
>
>
> "But what are the risks?", `Horah said shifting in her chair.` "I'm sure it
> wouldn't be that simple."
>
>
>
My question is what are some alternatives that can be replaced for beat phrases like `"Zotn said excitedly"` or `"Horah said shifting in her chair"`. What are other things that people do while they talk? My list of things to add are short and I quickly run out of them. I really want them to add something to the scene and the character rather than just to break a long monologue.
Here are a few things that I have on my list:
* Replacing "said" with [other words](http://www.spwickstrom.com/saidexamples/)
* Doing something to their body: `scratching head`, what else??
* Doing various things with their props (glasses, cigarettes, etc.)
* Moving (shifting in the chair, getting closer to the other person, etc.) , what else??
* Saying (adverb)ly, like `he said excitedly.`
* Saying while there is a change in their body language or body: `she said smiling` or `she said with a twinkle in her eye` , what else??
* What else?
My problem is usually with the second or third beat in a monologue:
>
> "Listen to me!", Zotn said excitedly. "We can sell all these coins now
> and get rich today." He said as he got even more excited. "Let me take care of it for you, ok?", he said as he lowered his voice. "I can make you rich Horah, just trust me!" `----[usually harder to add beat phrases here]---` "I have made many people rich in the past. I know how this is done." `----[usually harder to add beat phrases here]---`
>
>
> | [
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"text": "You are trying to describe two talking heads. Or One talking head.\n\nDo not replace \"said\" with anything else th... | 2019/11/04 | [
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48,840 | I've heard a lot of people saying they skip descriptions if they are written as one bulk list, but others say it's important that we let the reader know what the character looks like and include all the intended details we want to reveal about their looks as soon as possible.
So, when describing a character, should you write their description in one bulk of text all at once, or spread the points out with other stuff happening in between like in the following example?
>
> Sweat dripped down her amber skin.
>
>
> Text
>
>
> text
>
>
> text
>
>
> She shook her head, gazing at him with her blue eyes.
>
>
> text
>
>
> text
>
>
> text
>
>
> She moved a lock of her dark hair from her face.
>
>
>
What is the best practice? And also, would the same rules apply to the POV character or not? | [
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"text": "In general, do not give a laundry list of features. The reason for this is you are asking the reader to *memorize* a... | 2019/11/05 | [
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48,842 | I wouldn't feel comfortable asking friends and family to read my work and getting their feedback. And I don't have an online platform to ask strangers.
What are my other options? | [
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"text": "I presume that the social networks can be a good starting point\nSubscribe to some niche Facebook groups that m... | 2019/11/05 | [
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48,843 | I’ve managed to write a fantasy book, *Lord of the Rings*-style. That is, a single story that would almost certainly be published as three separate books with multiple branching plotlines. Or at least, I’ve written the rough draft of one. Having more-or-less completed the rough draft, however, I’ve noticed a potential problem. My books are of dramatically different lengths. In particular, my first book is much longer than my second and almost twice the size of my third.
The way I see it, I have seven options:
**1) Polish up the story as-is**, and hope a publisher/agent will accept a large debut novel (strike one) that doesn’t stand on its own (strike two) from an unknown author (strike three). This still doesn’t address the issue of the different book sizes, which I imagine might be annoying for a reader.
**2) Split the first book into two smaller books.** This makes all the books about the same size, but I’m not sure I can have good “stopping points” for the plot threads between books 1 and 2 if I do this. Maybe with enough rewriting.
**3) Split the story into two parallel stories.** Of my three-and-a-half or so plots, my A and B plots are more closely aligned, as are my C and D plots. There isn’t much (direct) interaction between the two stories, though both are reacting to the same outside events, and the events of one story does have some indirect effects on the other story; without this knowledge, some events might seem to be happening “out of the blue”. Rewriting could probably fix this, though I’m not sure the overall…theme, for lack of a better word, could be maintained without all four endings.
**4) Cut, cut, cut from Book 1.** Maybe a subplot or two could be removed. Perhaps Plot D could be cut in its entirety (I’ve thought about cutting it anyway, since it isn’t vital and is rather darker than the rest of the story, but I’ve held off thus far because of thematic consequences to removing it). But trying to cut out half the book seems…ambitious.
**5) Further flesh out Books 2 and 3.** Adding a subplot to Plot B could be a relatively easy and effective way to fill out Book 2 (I’ve thought about doing this as well, as Plot B is somewhat anemic in Book 2); and perhaps some more details in Plot C would be good in Book 3, though perhaps that would simply be a distraction.
**6) Merge Books 2 and 3 into one.** I’m not sure I can do this easily, since there’s a bit of a time-skip between Books 2 and 3 and the climax of Plot B really wants to go at the end of a book. Still, perhaps fixable with serious rewriting. This still leaves Book 1 fairly long, and I suspect that from a publisher’s perspective a trilogy is a more attractive proposition (i.e., more potential sales) than a duology.
**7) Shelve the story for now.** Write another book, try to get it published and make a name for myself. This might help get Book 1 published as-is, though the dramatically different book sizes would still be an issue. Plus, my next book will probably be science fiction, not quite hard science fiction but close, and a rather different style as well.
I’d like advice on what to do, of course, but I’d also like advice on *how to decide* what to do. I’ve been stuck here for almost two months, unsure what to do. Each option requires a significant investment of time and effort, so there’s a huge incentive to get it right the first time.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
**Addendum:** Thus far I’ve tried to keep the question fairly story-agnostic, in the hopes that a good answer will help in more than just my particular circumstances. Since the details of my work might affect the answer, however, I include a brief summary below, with approximate word counts.
Before giving the breakdown of my plotlines, let me note one important point. Where *Lord of the Rings* has the characters start out together in the first book and then break apart into separate storylines in the second and third books, I go the reverse direction: characters start out separately in the first book and come together as the story progresses.
Okay, so here’s the breakdown:
Book 1 (255k words):
Plot A – 65k words
Plot B – 64k words
Plot C – 87k words
Plot D – 38k words
In this book, all plot threads are effectively independent. Mostly the characters are reacting to common events over which they have no direct control (an assassination for Plots A and B and an invasion for Plots C and D). Plot A ends on a cliffhanger, Plot B reaches a significant milestone, Plot C is ongoing and Plot D attains its climax.
Book 2 (144k words):
Plot A – 77k words
Plot B – 7k words
Plot C – 53k words
Other – 7k words
In this book, Plots A and B get loosely merged into one combined plot, which is part of the reason that Plot B gets so few words, though B doesn’t get much play in this book anyway. Plot C is still separate, and “Other” is just a character bridging over from Plot C to Plot B. Plot A ends on a semi-cliffhanger, Plot B gets no real conclusion at all, and Plot C reaches its climax.
Book 3 (128k words):
Plot A – 66k words
Plot B – 24k words
Plot C – 39k words
Here Plots A and B reach their respective climaxes, while Plot C is mostly a long denouement with a bit of interplay with Plot A. Some rewriting could alter the amount of interaction that Plot C has with Plots A and B. | [
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48,845 | I am writing a detective novel and wanted to include two best friends who are working together. Eventually they fall in love but one of my readers said it's too boring and cliché. Is that true? Should I avoid this? | [
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"text": "Yes, it is a cliché. I can list in my mind more than ten instances where work colleagues fall in love.\n\nBut if you... | 2019/11/05 | [
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48,852 | Sometimes (as an intelligent species, and therefore creative, speculative about reality and so on...) we want to experience some situations which aren't possible at all. Then as a writer you can create a character who "lives that cool stuff which I (the writer) WANTED but isn't possible." Well, this thought defines the notion of "A character who was born to fulfill an author's power fantasy [1]." But, again, as a writer you introduce a story. Then you have a character who has this "feature of a Canon Sue" but isn't.
Considering a part of this video [1], how can I identify a Canon Sue? I mean, suppose that you want to fly by yourself. Are you really creating a Canon Sue by inventing a character who can "live your dream"/"do something that the author wants to do but is impossible in our reality" (fly by yourself), even though you have a proper story of this character to tell?
---
[1] <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcXVGIi1m28> (in time interval of 3:16 - 3:20) | [
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"text": "You can definitely have characters that fulfill your fantasies. You can even have a character that represents y... | 2019/11/06 | [
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48,874 | I would like to write a children's story which is appealing to both children and adults. However, the world in which the story takes place requires the use of higher vocabulary and slang (it is a real world, for example, the petroleum industry). Most adults know the words, but children don't. Can I use footnotes to define or describe the word so that children can follow along as well?
Thanks. | [
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"text": "I don't think this is the right way to go about it.\n\nI have to say I'm not a fan of explanatory footnotes in *... | 2019/11/08 | [
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48,881 | I have been editing scrivener across devices, and when I edit text across multiple devices, the text appears midway between the lines. I can find no way to prevent this from happening in the first place, nor any way to fix it in documents I have already edited.
Here is a picture:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2w8W5.png)
Any help appreciated. Thanks | [
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48,886 | I'm new here, but I really want to make a question about using real name order like Templar, Teutonic, Santiago, etc in my fiction but not as an Order, but a name for a Cult.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6yxtw.jpg)
To make my question become more understandable, I will share my concept too. The picture above is my Novel Cover.
So I write a novel with this concept:
In another world there is an earth that fill by any kind of living things that created by God and Devs. In my world, there is only one God but for Devs there are so many of them. So to gardening the Earth, it's not just god to do that, Devs do the job too especially making human and other fictional creature like elf, org, goblin, etc.
FYI, I will explain what is Dev. A dev is a special creature that created by God that have same power like God with an exception: a Dev can not kill God, but a Dev can kill another Dev. I'm using term "Dev" to make a difference between God and "God" such as: Thor, Amaterasu, Spita, etc.
So the world in my story is another world concept that still using same map design and same name historical person like Juopne d'Arc etc but with more fiction.
Back to the Templar. The Templar is a cult that created by some human that created by God that really believe God is the only one allowed in this earth. So they attacking and killing the creature or human that created by Devs because they are not allowed here. I created this concept from white supremacy as my reference, so in my world maybe it called Human Supremacy or something (I'm still finding a good term for it).
And it's not just Templar that has same think like this, I want to put other real Ordo like Teutonic, Santiago, etc and make them as cult and do thing like Templar, killing and attacking other creature and human from another Dev.
Even The Templar is a dead Order today, so I think it's safe to make them like, you know, a bad guy from people created by Devs perspective.
Now the question is here
But how about other Order that still exist today? Like Teutonic, Santiago, etc, is it good if I make them like Templar in my story?
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wp1eJ.jpg)
Of course this still plan, and I'm still writing this Novel in my Wattpad (will not put the link here because I think it will break the rule, but you can find it with the title in the cover) and Templar itself is the first cult that come in my Novel right now.
I'm just afraid if I will be attacked by them (Teutonic, Santiago, etc) if I put their order name in my Novel (even it still not popular lmao). What is your suggestion? Is it safe to use the name or must I make another name? Or there is no rule about it so I am free to use their orders' names? | [
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48,887 | I have read many books where the character is in one place at a certain time and, without a scene break being utilised, they are all of a sudden in a different place at a different time, *but* it works smoothly and doesn't given the readers whiplash. Is it always necessary to use scene breaks when the character transitions to a different place, location, and time?
For example, a character is in the principal's office in the morning, then, without using a scene break, they're in the cafeteria at lunch time. Or, when a character is at home, say, in the evening, then events lead them to a different location, time *and* date, but a scene break also hasn't been used in this transition.
I hope this makes sense. It's just, I've read books where the author has used a scene break for transitions, and I've also read books where there are so many transitions in one scene, but it runs very smoothly.
Any help would be appreciated.
Edit: Referring to scene breaks, upon doing some research I see that there are two types of scene breaks; a soft scene break (an extra space between the paragraphs) and a hard scene break (the use of astericks or lines). I suppose what I am trying to figure out is when either of these scene breaks should be utilised. Are there any rules for this when creating a chapter? Or is it simply up to the writer to figure out how they would structure their chapter, even with all these technicalities. | [
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48,891 | I'm looking for a tool, that lets me enter and rearrange plot points into an outline and link them to other events and storylines in a graphical way.
Traditionally done with post-it's on a whiteboard.
Also I want to be able to use it on the road, without access to the internet, so it shouldn't be web based.
Is there a preferably free software that is able to do this? | [
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"text": "You could use either YWriter or Shaxpir to move parts of a manuscript around and rearrange things.\n\nNot strict... | 2019/11/10 | [
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48,893 | I'm currently writing a story taking place in the recent past in which (aside from the main plot) my characters get to spend some time in a big city. They end up visiting the tourist joints but also visit some museums/concerts, go to the cinema etc. In my first draft, I've left all that terribly vague, and on rereading it's painfully obvious that I have no clue what kind of events they're supposed to be attending. Now obviously I could make something up, but I thought I'd try to incorporate real events instead.
I'm keeping this question deliberately vague as I'm not looking for specific suggestions, but merely some guidance on how to find the information I'm looking for. So let me rephrase my question to be more general:
**How can I approach researching 21st century every-day cultural events (cinema, theatre, concerts, exhibitions) online?**
Restrictions:
* The **place is fixed** and is in **another country**, so I can't simply hop over to the local library.
* However, it's a **big city** in a country with an official **language I can speak/read**. (I'm assuming that makes it easier to find relevant information.)
* The exact **time frame is still open for change** but the story takes place over the span of a few months some time **between 2000-2015**. (In fact, I'm hoping that this research will help me nail down the time frame.)
* Similarly, **the venues and event types are similarly fluid**.
* While I've visited the city, **I don't know it well enough to know which venues/events might be generally interesting** beyond the obvious tourist targets.
FWIW, I've already made some progress on this research and may in fact end up posting an answer myself, but I'm interested in other people's suggestions. | [
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48,896 | Suppose my fictional character is a plastic penguin which happens to be very pompous. What do you believe is a better way to name a character?
1.A name which describes them physically
Ex. Plastic Penguin
2.Or one based on their personality?
Ex. Pompous Penguin
Thanks | [
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48,907 | When someone says that writing is good or bad, better or worse, is it merely a way to talk about whether something is popular, or interesting to you? Or is there more to it than that? Compare the two passages:
>
> Where dips the rocky highland
>
> Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
>
> There lies a leafy island
>
> Where flapping herons wake
>
> The drowsy water rats...
>
> -From "The Stolen Child", by W. B. Yeats
>
>
>
and
>
> The dog saw a frog
>
> On a log in the bog.
>
>
>
I'm less interested in why Yeat's poem is technically better (unless your argument is that technical quality is the only objective measure of quality in writing). Rather, is there writing that is better or worse? Is it possible to quantify such a thing?
(Obviously, this will be seen by some as primarily opinion based - since I'm asking what exactly opinions are or should be based on.) | [
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48,919 | I am a discovery writer. I wrote more than 50% of my first novel's first draft.
I got really confuse about some aspects of writing, so I took a break and analysed my plot. I've started developing my world much better and made an outline for the remaining story.
But once I finished it, I couldn't start writing the remaining portion. I feel like that I have already completed the task with the outline, so I'm struggling finding the will to write out the story.
How can I overcome this issue? | [
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48,923 | I have recently finished my 25,000 word novella and contacted some publishers and agents about a month ago. I have only heard back from a couple rejecting me but considering the format of my book as well as the fact that it is highly experimental and does not fall into any specific genre, I do not find it highly probable to get published as it is despite its quality.
I was thinking that a good way to get my name out there would be to take part in short story competitions but I am not sure if it is worth the time or if a better alternative would be finishing a longer book and trying to get that published first.
Your opinions on the subject are greatly appreciated and if you think that I should apply some different strategy all together I would love to hear that. | [
{
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48,924 | Is it possible to build a new character and/or world in a science fiction under a tight word limit? What aspects should be covered and what avoided? Also are there some similar previous examples to get inspiration and to learn from?
The main thing is that we cannot express the full thought process of a new character and thus are unable to show his/her characteristics and point of view. Similarly how is it possible to express or show what a new world looks like in the fewest words possible? Is it totally impossible? Or do I have to narrow down something?
For example, I'd like to write about a girl who transferred to a new world and found some new family members and some new powers. I'd like to convey the message that humans are special because they don't rely on powers and do work by believing in themselves, but I'm struggling to fit all this in the short word constraint. | [
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"text": "Narrow down.\n------------\n\n2000 words is a tight constraint indeed. While you **can show something** in that limi... | 2019/11/13 | [
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48,929 | [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/dXaFg.png)
So if I later refer to figure 2 (i) or figure 2 (ii) would it be better for the figure to be labelled as is Figure 2: Figure (i) shows cycle C? or
Figure 2: (i) shows cycle C or
Figure 2: Subfigure (i) shows cycle C
I'm not sure if this is the right forum but I didn't see a scientific writing forum. | [
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"text": "Using the simple expression: \n\n> \n> Figure 2(i) shows cycle C\n> \n> \n> \n\nis succinct and conveys the requi... | 2019/11/13 | [
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48,933 | Is writing a fantasy novel with no mages, witches, wizards or anything remotely magical a waste of time? Can it still be classified as fantasy? | [
{
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"text": "I believe low fantasy can encompass stories which have no magic. \n\nIn some examples I've seen of low fantasy the... | 2019/11/13 | [
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48,943 | When writing a series of fiction books in which characters, universe, and events are closely related, is it a common practice in English publications to provide a footnote kind of reference, for example:
>
> A key character A meets a key character B in volume 1.
>
>
> In volume 2 character A is telling C about meeting B.
>
>
>
I am wondering if at the end of the 2nd sentence somewhere in the volume 2 it is common practice to add a footnote along those lines:
>
> Character A met B in Volume 1, Chapter X, Section Y.
>
>
>
Or is it normally left to the reader to know and remember what volume 1 read? | [
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48,947 | Most of the characters in my story are well thought out and have realistic motivations and backstories, as I think most people agree that believable characters are important in writing (if you’re going for that sort of thing.) There is, however, one character which isn’t realistic and I think he reads as a caricature or just plain weird. I don’t really have an excuse for this, other than maybe saying “he’s insane”. Really I just need him to get in the way of my protagonist in minor situations.
I’m wondering if the character will stand out glaringly against my other characters. Am I being lazy to not delve into his psychology, or is it fine to put in varying levels of effort into different characters? | [
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48,968 | Cwukk Palahniuk is an author quite well known for writing first-person stories. He has a simple piece of advice for others who wish to do so as well: "Have your narrator say 'I' as little as possible." To my knowledge he doesn't elaborate on the quantity of "I" that is allowable.
After diving into a first-person story, I'm having difficulty writing narration without using "I" very often. In some situations, it just seems impossible to reformulate a passage to use it any less.
So how much is too much? Is it okay to use it often in some situations where it's just unavoidable? Should I worry less about it? Is Cwukk totally wrong?
The biggest problem comes from narrating actions:
>
> "I stood up and walked across the room, but even as I did so, she turned away."
>
>
>
It just seems hard to reformulate some sentences like that. | [
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"text": "Is \"my\" and \"me\" prohibited?\n\n> \n> I stood up and began to walk across the room. She turned away at my appro... | 2019/11/15 | [
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48,979 | I hear this advice a lot: "Treat your writing as a job." But it seems to me that this is easier said/done when it is actually paying off and, thus, one is encouraged to do it. But what if one is being discouraged by painful (even bewildering) rejections? How then does one 'treat it as a job' when it isn't even paying in any sense? | [
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"text": "Some people are volunteers, and they never get paid (except with a verbal or written thank you).\n\nSome pe... | 2019/11/16 | [
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48,986 | Can I say:
While for theorist A, this is perceived differently.
Ultimately, I'm asking if I can start my sentence with 'while' in this fashion.
Thanks! | [
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"text": "I don't see why not. Personally I'd go with 'whilst'. You are using the term as a conjunction so we probably need t... | 2019/11/17 | [
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49,011 | Every time I write and read the 'she's and the 'he's especially in the same paragraph it confuses me and that worries me if the readers will get confused.
Obviously through different actions and dialogues peppered through one would be able to differentiate the two same gendered characters from each other but it gets tiring to keep on writing
'The detective' or some other adjective describing the character or repeating their names.
How can I distinguish the two different 'she's and 'him's?
Say:
>
> "There isn't much we can do unless you tell us why you were there."
> The cop tells the woman.
>
>
> The woman nervously taps her fingers on her arms and answers her
> question.
>
>
>
From context alone you'd know the second 'her' in that last stence would be the cop. But as the paragraph gets longer sometimes the 'she's and 'her's gets confused.
Or sometimes in just this single sentence from a piece of writing I did, you could misinterpret the 'his personal study' to be either Zayathen's or the unnamed 'he':
>
> He looks down at the stone mask lying innocuously on Zayathen's table
> in his study and smiles.
>
>
>
I mean with context you could maybe guess the study is also Zayathen's but it could also possibly be the unknown 'he's study or it could be a shared study.
What I want to convey is that this is Zayathen's study and also his table and that the 'he' is intruding. But as they're both male how would I suggest that without being too wordy?
I guess I could say instead -
>
> "He looks down at the stone mask lying innocuously on Zayathen's table in the other man's study and smiles.
>
>
>
or even repeat his name again. Zayathen's study.
But is there another way to distinguish between the 'she's and 'he's in the writing? When I read others' works, I don't ever seem to notice if it's oddly placed or could be misinterpreted because I guess the mind just assumes but how can I distinctly differentiate them is my question without having to overtly rely on repeating 'the other man' or 'the detective' or 'the younger woman' etc ?
Sorry for the ramble. I just keep on noticing this issue in my writing and it really bothers me and I'm hoping others have some good suggestions/advice on how to well - reduce this issue of mine in my writing? | [
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49,024 | There are some words and phrases in my manuscript that I think are used in America. However, a beta reader tells me my character sounds British. Are there any online sources I can use to check the popularity of a word or phrase and/or where it is used?
Thanks. | [
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"text": "[Google's Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams) can be used to show the relative popularity of a word o... | 2019/11/22 | [
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49,027 | I want to be able to correctly categorise and identify different characters in a story, predominantly fiction. I have read a lot about different types of characters--flat, round, static, dynamic, protagonists, antagonists, hero, and so on--but I find it all so overwhelming.
Can there be more than one main character? can their be a protagonist *and* other main characters that the story focuses on? For example: Lofa is the protagonist, the story begins with *her* and will eventually end with her. But then we introduce two new characters who will largely impact her life, and they become the focus as well, we also see their growth in the story. Would those two new characters be considered the main characters as well?
And then we have all the other characters that don't play *large* roles in the story, but they are also important as well. For example, close friends, siblings, parents.
How do you categorise so many different characters? | [
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49,038 | I am an aspiring author, trying to get my 80,000-word traditionally published, though I will self-publish it if that doesn't work out.
[this](https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2017/02/18/avoid-overwriting/) article suggests that we avoid it altogether.
I've used Microsoft Word's clarity and conciseness tool to refine words like *have to* to *must*. However, I noticed that some things were over-described or a little repetitive, and I tried to fix that as best I could. My novel has already been developmentally and copy-edited on a pro-bono basis, and I revised it according to their feedback and suggestions.
I don't know if this would make me look lazy, but what if I made that look intentional by making my main character say in the present tense something like,
' Sorry if that last part was a little too long. I tend to think and self-reflect a lot. That's how I write in my diary, though.
I recently joined an online marketplace for writers, designers, and marketers, called Reedsy, to collaborate on a professional level. One proofreader who had read the excerpt said that although it was interesting, they felt it was a little overwritten. Another person said that the novel was too early in its stages for their services. However, I also received some positive feedback, as well. | [
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"text": "You're conflating two unrelated issues. When it all boils down, a first person account is basically all dialogue (o... | 2019/11/23 | [
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49,044 | Last year, I worked for an organization that published a weekly blog on its website. The blog was also published as a newspaper column and was included in a weekly e-newsletter.
One day, the owner/director of the organization, who regularly wrote for the blog, asked me to write an article on a topic of my choice. He explained that the majority of the articles written for the blog were by him, and that he was interested in the diversifying the pool of writers. I agreed to write and chose a topic which had to do with my other activities at this organization. On the day before the submission deadline I sent a draft of the article to the boss who was also functioning as the editor for the blog. To be honest my submission was a little short compared to the articles that had been previously published. I was expecting some feedback, but instead, the next day, I found out that the boss has almost completely rewritten the article, with only a couple of paragraphs from the original.
My reaction was to ask him to include himself as a co-author. However, he said that since the article was about me and that it was written in the first person that he did not want to include himself as a coauthor. So the article was published on the blog, as a column in a newspaper, and was sent as part of a newsletter to people on a mailing list, many of whom are acquaintances.
I have since left the organization, but this incident still lingers and does not sit well with me.
My question for the community here is - what would have been the correct course of action? Is it plagiarism if the editor rewrites an article without including himself as a co-author? Should he have indicated some kind of co-authorship?
Many thanks. | [
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49,046 | How can you write a book from the point of view of a character who is not the main character and introduce the main character later on, who you want the story to focus on? How do I do this in an organic and yet plot twisty way so that the audience says wait he's the main character?!
If you need any more explanation let me know. | [
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"text": "I don't know. Maybe the first line could be 'Call me Ishmael'. There is no requirement for the narrator to be the m... | 2019/11/23 | [
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49,053 | The plot of the novel is the following: The villain has body-swapped with the MC and I want to keep this hidden and reveal it as a plot twist in the middle of the story.
If MC real name is Zotn and the villain name is Ciwe and I start calling the MC as Ciwe, once I reveal the body change, should I keep naming MC as Ciwe or could I start using their real names (they haven't changed back bodies yet)?
EDIT: As you were asking for more details I'll give you: The narrator is in third person (so, none of them is the narrator). They both keep it secret, as the villain wants to be on the MC position, and the MC don't tell anything because he fears that people will think he is crazy.
EDIT2: I want to make chapters focused on characters. For example, one chapter will be focused on what Ciwe does, and the next will focus on what Zotn does, so that's why I thought using third person narrator. | [
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"text": "Interesting intrigue.\n\nWhen YOU write about the 2 characters, you should willingly mislead the reader by calli... | 2019/11/25 | [
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49,062 | I always face the problem of word limit. How can I shorten a piece of writing without causing its original essence to mar? How can I be effective in doing that? Are there any general rules?
For example, I need to write 50 words. NOT MORE. Now, that I've written 57, it seems impossible to me to cut the words to reduce their amount.
*Pacdo's peaceful appearance's just a disguise to conceal its disturbing inner world. Inside, it's a determined fighter against anxiety. To overcome it, panda spends hours devouring bamboo plants - a sort of stress-eating. So, here's the panda's advice: 'When vexed, when disturbed, when upset - try embracing a bamboo-based diet. No time for worries - make sure you chew properly'.*
(The question is *What does the panda say?*)
Any help would be appreciated. Huge thanks in advance. | [
{
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"text": "Interesting intrigue.\n\nWhen YOU write about the 2 characters, you should willingly mislead the reader by calli... | 2019/11/25 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/49062",
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49,065 | In academic writing, several articles on the topic of writing papers denounce the practice of "announcing" the topic.
As an example, if a paper were to read...
>
> The goal of this study is to not be a study at all but to be a fictional paper of only one paragraph included as an example on stack exchange to demonstrate how a paper announcing its topic reads. This goal of this sentence is to fit some more content in with the previous paragraph on how sentences announcing their topic come across to the audience. In conclusion, this third sentence reinforces the point of the first sentence.
>
>
>
Why exactly is "announcing the topic" best avoided? What is a good way to explain it to others what "announcing the topic" does to a paper?
Examples of articles denouncing the practice include:
* [From Arkansas State University](https://libguides.astate.edu/c.php?g=14501&p=78098)
* [Composition Course Hind's Community College](https://hindscc.instructure.com/courses/188266/pages/introductions)
* [Roane Community College](https://www.roanestate.edu/owl/Thesis-Statements.html)
* [Guide to Grammar.org](http://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/intros.htm)
* [Red Rocks Community College](https://www.rrcc.edu/node/481)
* [Writing Center University of Wisconsin-Madison](https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/process/thesis_or_purpose/) | [
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"text": "In this answer, I am going to explain to you why you shouldn't announce what you are about to write anyway.\n\nIt is... | 2019/11/25 | [
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49,070 | I need to learn Spanish and German for my short novel and I need to learn the language fast.
One thing I wanted to do is to learn the 100 most used connector words and learn to write short and simple sentences with them.
My character is an American in Europe and he speaks in broken German and Spanish, but in order to make sure he speaks broken German and Spanish I need to know how to not speak in broken German and Spanish.
By connector words I mean words that allows to tie two phrases together like: because, however, but, moreover, therefore, since, nevertheless, instead of, earlier than, later than, considering that, etc.
Is there a way to do this? Are there resources like dictionaries using machine learning for this purpose? | [
{
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"text": "I'm not sure if it's exactly what you searh for but there is this website for the top 1000 words in [german](ht... | 2019/11/26 | [
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49,081 | I watch Isaac Arthur and John Michael Godier; I’m looking for a site to help me write an online blog, that talks about a future science tech or idea every week (or every month; depending on my schedule). The site should
* be ongoing and consistently at once a week or month with new ideas, and
* postulate SPECIFIC and oftentimes creative ideas, and
* recommend amateur stuff. | [
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"text": "I would also look into searches for terms like \"Emerging Technology\", \"Near Future\", and \"Futurism/Futurist\". T... | 2019/11/27 | [
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49,102 | I have a serious problem. I am going to start writing a novel which includes a character called Ravana, from the Hindu literary text called the *[Ramayana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramayana)*.
Now, if I were to publish this, would it be illegal? I live in India, where the *Ramayana* originated. | [
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"text": "It *may* be illegal in some parts of the world if the material you're writing can be considered [blasphemous or he... | 2019/11/30 | [
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49,112 | I am writing a novel (it will eventually be a series of five novels) and there are multiple first-person narrators.
Each chapter starts of with the character's name in parentheses after the chapter number (ie: Chapter 6 (Tessa)).
In the first book, there are only two narrators and there is a mostly predictable pattern they follow, but as the books go on more characters are introduced and there will be a total of 5 first-person narrators, and the patterns of narrators will become less predictable.
The question is, should I use varying fonts to differentiate the narrators or a similar method, or is the varying narration and character's name in the title enough?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!! | [
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"text": "With only two characters, alternating between roman and italic fonts would be fine.\n\nBut with five charac... | 2019/12/01 | [
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49,134 | This concept is based off of an scp foundation wiki monster. <http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-231>
The birth of a POV character causes the deaths of tens of millions of people. As that character matures and learns what the devastation they caused, he feels terribly guilty and ashamed, and he has to come to terms with the fact that he caused the deaths of 10 million people, as well as other significant damage around the world.
Given the remorse shown by more ordinary murders can be interpreted as crocodile tears, a way to gain sympathy in order to not be held responsible for a crime, or for leniency, how can I show this character's remorse for events he is responsible for but had no control over without making him a self-pitying whiner? | [
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49,145 | I just wrote a long way into a first draft for Nanowrimo before realizing my villain’s evil plan kinda wasn’t interesting at best (and at worst was something we’ve all seen a thousand times before).
It’s a long story about the worldbuilding but it basically involved kidnapping and using the descendant of an ancient species to network with an artifact that would only work with people with the right magical DNA. Villain’s plan was to use that to reach their level of magical ability. It just wasn’t particularly interesting. I guess it feels reminiscent of a lot of generic sci fi action movie plots?
I’m curious if anyone can recommend a resource or offer tips on how to come up with better villain plots or write villains better generally? | [
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49,148 | If you have a character who is mute and uses sign language, how would you write what they’re saying?
I don’t know if it’s literary appropriate to use quotes or narrate.
Example.
Jon looked at the group of people in front of him and began to sign. “This is an example of a Christmas tree.”
Or
Jon began to sign that what he was showing was an example of a Christmas tree. | [
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"text": "Maybe something like\n\nZotn signed, “The lights on the Christmas tree are very beautiful.” \n\nHonestly, just repla... | 2019/12/04 | [
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49,158 | When I want to abbreviate the words "Equations" and "Recommendations" in a text, how can I do this?
**for example**
*Solving the above **eqs.** / **eq's.** is not possible unless by computers.*
*After discussing on the research results, we are going to present our **recomms.** / **recomm's.** .*
**Questions**
1- Which one is correct? **eqs.** or **eq's.** ? **recomms.** or **recomm's.**?
2- Is there a kind of freedom to abbreviate any word when it is needed? (For example when constructing a *PowerPoint* presentation, there may not be enough space to type the whole word in a text box and therefore I prefer to use abbreviations). | [
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"text": "Typically for any abbreviation or acronym, one should write the full word out the first time, followed by a parentheti... | 2019/12/05 | [
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49,166 | Background
==========
I am writing a non-fiction book on epistemology. After my book's introduction I have included a note to my reader where I have briefly described my motivation for the layout of the book and my style of writing and my approach to research. I end it with an encouragement to the reader to join me in my research endeavors by joining my email list and ways to get in contact with me.
Question
========
When Is a "Note to The Reader" section important, inappropriate or abused by the author?
Explanation
===========
I am not sure if these sections are always necessary or could be pedantic or belittling to the audience. I am a nobody in this field and I don't want to come across as an upstart, insulting the viewer's ability to comprehend my writing.
Could notes to the reader be off-putting? I personally don't think so, as I will skip it if I don't care. But I often find authors that are commonly misunderstood to still never use these sections in their new works. | [
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49,173 | I started buying storage auctions in the middle of this year. In the third one I bought I ran across an unpublished manuscript for a fiction book U Boat treasure by Czakfas Hafd.
He has no published works besides a boar hunter magazine, he was not an author. But this is complete 250 pages, never published. Like everything else I purchased in the storage, I own. If I throw it away, his work is gone forever. It is dedicated to submariners as well as his father.
I don't want to redo the contents or anything like that. Would I need to contact the family about it? It will need some going over make sure it's is grammatically correct but it is complete. I would begin the process of making this into an ebook right now if I know how to properly reference the author? He passed away this year and wife is deceased, does have children. | [
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49,183 | I am curious if this is a positive, negative, or neither here nor there. The analysis was done by Wattpad and it also included that fact that I write more like a journalist above anything else. The analysis was done by taking the first 3,000 words from my YA/Teen fiction novel and analyzing it. It's a new Wattpad feature. | [
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49,194 | I have been writing a story about a young pianist living with the great composers. After the composers have a meeting, it is decided that Mozart should be her first teacher. My main character's name by the way, is Lrcia. Lrcia and Mozart have lunch together and it turns for the worse for Mozart. He goes from his happy and humorous self, to being in a lot of pain and feeling nauseous. Lrcia, understandably gets quite concerned about him and stays by his side. He ends up needing to go to the ER and needing an abdominal scan done. Before he leaves for the abdominal scan, a high fever shows up in his vitals.
I have noticed however, that I am not getting across pain well in my story. Here is an example of where I am trying to get across pain:
>
> “Hello, I'm Doctor Horah. You must be Laapolp Mozart.”
>
>
> “Indeed I am. I came here as soon as I could after my wife, Azna Mitea Mozart told me that my son was sick and going to the ER.”
>
>
> “And your son is the famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, am I correct on that?”
>
>
> “Yes. And there he is on the bed, still in his red suit with golden lace on it. Azna Mitea sewed that up for him.”
>
>
> “Oh, don't remind me Laapolp. It took a month just to make sure the pattern would fit my son. And the lace edges, boy was that demanding.”
>
>
> “I'm glad you made it for me Mother. Ahh, the pain is worsening again.”
>
>
> Doctor Horah said “Now Wolfgang Amadeus, listen to me. I know you love your red suit and that everybody even outside of your city recognizes you in that suit. But, that suit is going to have to be taken off, lest you spoil your own suit.”
>
>
>
Ahh tends to be my go to dialogue word for the grunting, moaning, yelping, or screaming that pain causes. I'm thinking that a more effective way of getting across pain in that section of dialogue might be this:
>
> “Hello, I'm Doctor Horah. You must be Laapolp Mozart.”
>
>
> “Indeed I am. I came here as soon as I could after my wife, Azna Mitea Mozart told me that my son was sick and going to the ER.”
>
>
> “And your son is the famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, am I correct on that?”
>
>
> “Yes. And there he is on the bed, still in his red suit with golden lace on it. Azna Mitea sewed that up for him.”
>
>
> “Oh, don't remind me Laapolp. It took a month just to make sure the pattern would fit my son. And the lace edges, boy was that demanding.”
>
>
> “I'm glad you made it for me Mother."
>
>
> Before he could say another word, Mozart clutched his arm around his abdomen and curled up.
>
>
> With a sudden release of the curl, Mozart raised his eyebrows, and yelped "The pain. It's worsening again Mother.” and clenched his teeth as he took in another deep breath.
>
>
> Doctor Horah said “Now Wolfgang Amadeus, listen to me. I know you love your red suit and that everybody even outside of your city recognizes you in that suit. But, that suit is going to have to be taken off, lest you spoil your own suit.”
>
>
>
But, in general, I tend to have a weakness getting across pain in my stories. And if anything, pain is the most important of emotions to get across in a story if a character feels it. You would think that, as a person who has experienced a lot of different pains, that I would be great at getting across pain in my stories, but nope, I'm not. And, when I am trying to get across severe pain, as is the case with the dialogue I showed, pain being a weakness is definitely not good.
**How can I get across pain more effectively in my stories? The physical implications of pain such as curling up or raising your eyebrows help, but I don't want to bore the reader getting this pre and post dialogue description of pain whenever I am writing dialogue from a character that is in pain. At the same time though, just using "Ahh" before the actual sentence might undermine the pain or worse, confuse the reader and make the reader think that the character is calm when the character is anything but calm because of the pain. So, how can I get across pain more effectively in my stories?** | [
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49,212 | I know for certain genres, agents and publishers will only consider manuscripts that fit within their expected page count ranges. What's a good target for a standalone mystery novel? My current draft is sitting at around 70,000 words but I feel like the book would be stronger if I trimmed some of the fat. | [
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"text": "There's not really an \"ideal\" count.\n\nHarry Bingham (whose had some success in selling crime/mystery novels... | 2019/12/09 | [
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49,216 | I have some scenes in my novel that have nothing to do with the main plot, it's just to show the character development and the development of the relationship between two characters. Is this okay since the development of the romantic relationship is a sub plot of the novel?
For example, in my one scene the two characters just hang out and watch a movie. This is significant because before this point they never just hung out together without it being for a reason for the main plot. However, "behind the scene" is one character realizing he has feelings for the other character and the other character realizes that something has changed between them. | [
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"text": "Yes, absolutely. Every scene should advance **something**, but that includes the main plot,sub plot, characterizatio... | 2019/12/09 | [
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49,220 | Which of these is correct? The first? The second? Both?
verb then name:
>
> "She's late again," said Cuson.
>
>
>
name then verb:
>
> "She's late again," Cuson said.
>
>
>
I have almost always used the first version, but an editor said I should use the second version. She claimed the first version is grammatically incorrect even though it is common.
If the proper noun is replaced with a pronoun, then it sounds incorrect and even somewhat antiquated.
verb then pronoun:
>
> "She's late again," said he.
>
>
>
pronoun then verb:
>
> "She's late again," he said.
>
>
>
When I read a few novels, I checked the order, and it seems to be convention to allow "verb then name".
Is the first form allowed when writing stories in "antiquated English"? (i.e. - The story takes place centuries ago.) | [
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49,229 | Let's say I'm working on a fantasy series called MyWork, that is set in the present in a small town in the US. I have a fantasy series that I take inspiration from, InspirationWork, that is set in the present in a small town in France. Logically, the events that take place in that small town in France in InspirationWork could occur in the same universe as MyWork without affecting the events in MyWork.
Which of the following am I allowed to do vs. not allowed, and why? Would any change if I got the author's permission?
* Mention in public that the events of InspirationWork also take place in MyWork
* Have a character in MyWork make reference to the events of InspirationWork
* Have one of the characters in MyWork implied to be in touch with an InspirationWork character, without mentioning the character's specific name
* Have one of the characters in MyWork implied to be related to a InspirationWork character, without mentioning the character's specific name | [
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49,236 | I have been trying for a long time to figure out if my story is just considered Dystopian or Fiction.
It has things that are not in real life situations but it is also relating to an imagined society where there are great suffering and injustice. But yet it does not relate to any main futuristic points or into space adventures.
Or would you just consider it a 'dystopian fiction' genre? | [
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"text": "Dystopian is, by definition, a society that is as dehumanizing and unpleasant as possible.\n\nIf the themes in your boo... | 2019/12/11 | [
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49,241 | There is a novel-writing contest, from a native publishing house in my country. I would love to participate. Submissions are due in four month's time. I have an outline of my story.
Can anyone help me to find out how to effectively use that time for writing - editing-rewriting, which results in a better manuscript? I have a full time job and only a get maximum of 3 hrs per day for writing. | [
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49,244 | I have a story I want to write and I have the scenes in my head. Because of this, I keep judging and rewriting the first part because I'm never satisfied with it. How do I get over this perfectionism to keep moving forward? | [
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49,249 | So, I was thinking about one of my little worlds, when I stumbled into an interesting problem.
At first, this is a run-of-the-mill isekai (trapped in another world) story. The protagonist, an average high school student, is "transported" into a fantasy world. What's the catch? The description IS the catch, let me elaborate:
The first thing that happens to him is getting shot in the shoulder with an arrow, then chased down by some zombies, a siren head then comes and grabs him. He helplessly flails in the monster's grasp as it lifts up and shoves him into its "mouth". He tries pushing himself away with his only functional arm, but to no avail, while screaming bloody murder. He's ultimately saved by two major-but-not-protagonist characters. Oh, and he will have trouble using his injured arm for quite a while and also gets PTSD from this encounter.
He becomes somewhat better along the way, and even kind of competent, but never at the level a lot of other characters are on.
He isn't a hero, he has no special abilities, sure, he isn't an edgy neet either, but it's still pretty disappointing that his only purpose is to literally be a quest-giver to others. That's his only ability, he's a subtle loudspeaker of a god.
Sure he has a solid goal (get home) and more enjoyable personality than Kirito or Ainz and real stakes, not unsubstantiated paranoia. However, all of those are rendered moot if he's incapable of defending himself and his only power is that he knows where to plot needs his team to go.
**Yet, I wanted him to be a character that one can get behind... How can I accomplish that?** | [
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49,253 | Example:
>
> I said "Go Away"
>
>
>
versus:
>
> "Go Away", I said.
>
>
>
Which should come first?
I am writing medieval fantasy and stumbled across this problem. Speakers tend to speak a whole paragraph at times, and therefore which should come first? | [
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49,257 | As a non-native Anglophone, it can be a bit more of a challenge to do creative writing in English. Thesauri have helped me a lot, improving sentences like "Sokka caught his boomerang" to "Sokka snagged his boomerang out of the air". But there's only a limited amount of words related to the concept of catching something.
Where I am struggling more is in domains where the synonyms are much more numerous. In particular, insults. I was looking for a one-syllable word that someone would use to describe a generically stupid/silly person. [thesaurus.com](https://thesaurus.com) was really helpful. Perhaps a bit too helpful: I got dunce, dolt, twit, oaf, dope, chump, dork, sap, and many more.
I was about to chose dunce purely by gut feel, before I consulted my Kiwi friend who speaks the language natively. He could immediately tell that I shouldn't use dunce, for it is American, apparently. Twit on the other hand is British, and dork is closer to someone who is out of touch than genuinely stupid. I settled on dolt in the end; but I would not have known those things if it hadn't been for him.
The thesaurus didn't seem accurate enough for me, because it did not describe twit as British; and it can be a big interruption in writing to have to pause to find the right term, when there's twenty options to choose from rather than just a handful, and you would have to open twenty tabs to find the right shade of meaning.
So what I am looking for is perhaps an online dictionary that deals specifically with insults (and every insult, not just a bullet point list of "35 Aussie curses that will shock you" - I am in fact more often looking for words that are specifically non-regional), and/or a technique, strategy, or just some tips to help find the right word for something as inherently subjective as a dolt. | [
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49,266 | A sub-plot of my story, is that the protagonist is struggling with addiction to alcohol due to past events (which happen in the book). I'm worried that all the scenes will come off the same because he is always drunk. How do I show that he is drunk every day (or almost every day) and spiralling down into a full blown addiction, while also not being repetitive in every scene? (Keep in mind he is still functioning, just drunk while doing it). | [
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"text": "Without knowing more about your character I cannot be specific but the revelation is probably dripped . . . similar ... | 2019/12/13 | [
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49,274 | I'm trying out a style where I switch POV very often. It's written in third person, but everything described is things that are visible to the POV character, and you can hear their thoughts.
Now, because the characters are in a group of five, I thought that it could be interesting to keep switching between them. Sometimes I stay with one character for one-and-a-half pages, sometimes for only half a page. Once I described a character waking up, sluggishly interpreting what had passed in the night, and going back to sleep - only to then switch to the character trying to wake the first one up.
Obvious things are taken care of: I mark the transitions with some centred asterisks, and start off the next section with the first sentence revealing whose perspective this part has. I switch at logical pauses in the conversation, or when character A has decided to do something - so I can switch to character B reacting to that action. The question is if this technique can be considered inherently annoying to some or many readers.
And some objective questions, just to prevent this question from being closed as opinion-based: Do any professional authors use something like this? Do any style or guideline books warn against it? | [
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49,288 | Setting is standard space opera.
I am writing a story in which 2 characters are crewing a spaceship. The characters are:
(1) the captain, a female in her early 20s, who has grown up on the ship and recently taken it over from her parents.
(2) a crewman, a male of indeterminate age, who represented himself as an itinerant spacefarer and hired on for the voyage.
The spaceship is a commercial vessel in woeful state of repair (in fact it is a [coffin ship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffin_ship_(insurance)) which the owners want to fail to claim insurance). The ship actually requires a crew of 4, but is undercrewed because of lack of money.
The characters are on [alternating 4-hour watches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchkeeping), so at all times one is on the flight-deck, while the other is doing all other necessary work, and eating, sleeping, etc where possible.
For reasons of plot, it is necessary for the characters to trust each other and form a rapport by the end of the 15-day voyage.
However, neither character is likely to "open up" to the other.
For her part, the captain has lived most of her life on the ship, and does not have much experience with strangers. She is curious about the other character, but her instinct is to observe and speculate rather than to make conversation. She is also aware that should the crewman become troublesome, her options for escape or getting help would be limited, trapped as she is on a spaceship with him in deep space.
For his part, the crewman is taciturn and monosyllabic when he speaks at all, to the point that the captain once asks him "can you understand me?" when she talks to him. He shows no interest in the captain's personal life, nor shares any details of his own.
**TLDR**
How can I get two self-contained, uncommunicative characters working at different times but in a relatively confined space to build a rapport? | [
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49,297 | I want to use the name Leonardo da Vinci name for a presentation, but I I can't fit his whole name and would only like to use "da Vinci"
My question is...which is more proper, using "Da Vinci" with a capital "D" or "da Vinci" with a lowercase "d"? | [
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49,302 | According to [Plagiarism.org](https://www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism#main-content),
>
> copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not
>
>
>
is considered plagiarism.
Now let's say that I am writing a novel about a certain person's life and everything that this novel is based on is the events as described in the person's journal. Note that I will not be copying the journal word for word, but will instead only be using the facts and events as described in the journal as the primary and most probably the only source of my novel.
Is this considered plagiarism? If so, is there a way to get around it?
***Info based on a previous answer:***
*Well see, it will actually be a novel as I am not writing a factual account of the person's life, but in fact a fictional story based on the given facts. The journal given is merely an explanation of the events and listed facts while my novel will be in the form of a fictional story. Also, the journal was written in the 18th century, some 250 years ago, meaning that I cannot ask for their permission.* | [
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49,305 | Due to the evolution of modern media I prefer to depend on exposition through dialogue. I try to avoid *telling* the reader anything. With simple plots this is easily achieved (often through the romantic sub-plot):
A meets B. The characters are new to each other and therefore disclose a plethora of information; backstory, likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams etc.
With more complicated, multi-character plots this becomes troublesome:
Zajen and Cindy are besties: they know virtually everything about each other - they've know tales to tell. Subsequently, I introduce a new character, Lofa. We can now learn 'everything' about Zajen and Cindy because they need to bring Lofa up to speed. The problem this method creates is that Lofa is new, shiny, and features in the majority of scenes.
Lofa's domination can cause the reader to believe that she is the main character. My 'goto' method of dealing with type of character is simply to kill them, afflict them with some terminal illness, marry them off, get them fired, or otherwise despatch them.
Anybody got any better ideas? | [
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49,321 | I am writing a novel which is about a naive, good-for-nothing boy who is also suffering from low self-esteem. One day, due to some events, he gets some special powers and is unwillingly forced into a war which he never wants to fight in, and faces many dark and harsh aspects of today's world (as I want story to be pretty dark).
While in difficult situations, he always seeks an easy way to escape, doesn't bother to face them, and is not willing to sacrifice himself for others, but at same time he can't stand the guilt of not saving others when he's able to do so.
I am also planning to make him fight with his sister, who is totally opposite to him, but he loves her more than anything - same with his sister, who also loves her brother more than anything. And his hero work is also shattering his own personal and professional life (he also realizes how dangerous he is and is harming his own health while becoming a hero), and he faces a severe emotional breakdown that he doesn't want to become a hero.
I am a bit confused about how to develop him with these events, because these things may push him down. Will the urge to gain respect and guilt of not saving people be enough, or should I add something extra, like a sense of responsibility towards his family or a desire to protect them? I want him to sacrifice his life for others.
**What do you think I should do to develop him as a character? Should it be a single moment of realization, or a chain of events that changes his personality?**
And how do I make him more likable? Should his end personality be serious but calm (which I think will be more suitable with his original personality), or a bit casual or funny with the same serious and mysterious personality when needed? | [
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49,331 | I've looked at other posts here, but none really get to the bottom of it, and none are specifically like my question.
I'm writing the same story from two different perspectives. The first one is in 3rd person, and one of the characters often laughs. It might be described something like this:
**Chorkia laughed. "That's ridiculous."**
*or*
**Chorkia laughed and then turned away.**
Now I am writing the part from Chorkia's perspective, and I can't find a way to integrate the laughter, which is an important part of the way Chorkia talks (he is often laughing while he speaks). There are no dialogue tags, just a stream of consciousness.
Is it amateurish to say (it doesn't read that great to me):
**"Ha! That's ridiculous."**
*or*
**"Haha! That's ridiculous."**
It stand out especially because Chorkia laughs very often. There can be no dialogue tags (e.g.: "I laughed and then said, "ridiculous."). It has to be within the talking. If I leave out the laughing, then the tone is totally wrong because the character seems too serious. If I leave it in, there are so many "Ha ha"s. But maybe it's OK, or maybe there's another way?
Thanks!
Any ideas? | [
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49,340 | I am working on a book is going through the typesetting stage for self-publishing. In order to keep page count down, is it acceptable to typeset poetry with about a dozen of stanzas in more than one column?
The work at hand is a fantasy novel where there is about a dozen of songs ranging from 4-6 to 10-20 stanzas embedded in roughly 600 pages of prose. Some of those songs would have to be rendered in a single column due to the length of every line in a stanza, while many could be rendered in two columns as their lines are short.
We are capable of typesetting in multiple columns. As a beginner writer, I tried to find examples of occasional poetry (poems, songs) embedded in mostly prose, but nothing in my personal library contains such. I did find a few titles at stores, with poetry embedded in a single column, but those were relatively short poems with only a few stanzas. | [
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49,345 | To elaborate, this is a quote from a question regarding this that I have found:
"(Dean Wesley Smith) basically advises writers to just fly by the seat of their pants (without even having the slightest idea what the story is about) from beginning to the end, and then, when they are done, edit for punctuation, grammar and other mistakes and then submit straight to editors.
I am wondering if this method (fly by the pants, edit and then send) actually produces quality writing. The kind of quality writing that literary agents and editors are looking for. Is there anyone here who actually writes like this? And how successful have you been in doing this?" | [
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49,350 | I am setting up my story setting, a sci-fi story, and the people that I work with have created their own lore(s). Some of them conflict with one another. How might I combine these lore(s) into one, unified, lore?
For example:
[Mirexon] They were oppressed by a group of people which, in all essentiality, were like another nation. They were beaten and suppressed by these people, until they fought back. Now the Mirexon have prejudice and violence against this nation.
[Xalinx] They originated on their planet many centuries ago, as cave people. They were involved with the Mirexon for a long time, and are prejudiced at by the Mirexon. They traded and acted with other nations, but have "no idea" of the Mirexon incidents.
[Akarex] They originated from the Earth System and arrived in the current system about 210 years ago. They traded with both the Xalinx and the Mirexon, and took the Mirexon side in the oppression and rebellion. Xalinx is prejudiced against them because of this. | [
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49,357 | In technical writing the phrase "best practice" is often used to suggest that something is more accurate than other things. However, that's often very subjective, requires specific context, and suggested practices change over time.
In the software development field, there have been some [strong arguments against ever using the phrase](https://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/5164).
What's a good replacement? | [
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49,379 | I've been trying to write a good romance but it's falling a little flat. I think it might be because I've never been in love before. My favorite genre is romance (for reading and writing), but I'm kind of bad at writing it. I think it might be because I don't know how to write entertaining banter or deep conversation. Is this an unfixable problem? Should I just write another genre? | [
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49,382 | I'm sure we have all heard people say questions without putting the tone inflection on the end. I am writing a novel and I have a piece of dialogue where a character says:
>
> “Why are you here.”
>
>
>
because he's exasperated with the person he is talking to.
Is it acceptable to leave off the question mark at the end of a dialogue tag in order to indicate lack of tone change? | [
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49,387 | I would like to hear opinions about the use of parentheses around a word or part of a word to allow for more than one reading of a sentence.
I see this quite often in scientific English written by non-native researchers, mostly from Germanic Europe, although not exclusively.
Examples:
(1) We argue that one should distinguish between ‘deontic’ and ‘directive’ uses of **the(se)** modals, (...)
(2) she has worked on various **(un(der)described)** languages
(3) the nature of deontic modality and its status relative to other qualificational **(modal)** categories
(4) All **(inter)national** students are welcome at this lecture about Belgium, where you will learn more about your **(host)** country.
The parentheses in these examples allow for multiple readings. For instance, example (2) has at least four possible felicitous readings and a fifth that is infelicitous:
* *she has worked on various languages*
* *she has worked on various described languages*
* *she has worked on various undescribed languages*
* *she has worked on various underdescribed languages*
* \**she has worked on various der languages*
I argue that even though this use of parentheses is convenient for the writer, it makes for fuzzy writing. The ideas may come as vague or ambiguous. Additionally, the reading experience is less smooth since the reader is tasked with putting together a set of possible interpretations of the sentence and with deciding which of them apply and which don't. Moreover, if this strategy is used more than once in one sentence (4), the reader must decide which of the possible interpretations of each instance combine together.
Pros and cons of this strategy:
Pros:
* Allows for economic writing because the writer can say more with less words.
* Allows for the abbreviated expression of otherwise lengthy commonplace terms like intersubjectivity/subjectivity as (inter)subjectivity that may be repeated numerous times in one text.
Cinc:
* The relationship between the different readings is unclear. Are they
mutually exclusive? In other words, is it *and* or *or*?
* The reader is tasked with deciding on the appropriate reading of the sentence. For example, should the sentence be read multiple times, one for each possible interpretation?
* Parentheses may enclose clusters of letters that are meaningless, such as
*se* and *der*.
* Defeats the purpose of parentheses, which is to convey parenthetical
information. The information enclosed in the parentheses in theses cases isn't
parenthetical, but essential. | [
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49,390 | Prior to asking this question, I have found and read similar questions posted by other people and I have come away each time deeply dissatisfied and frustrated by the responses given. Here’s an [example](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/10667/does-self-publishing-via-amazon-or-similar-services-make-your-book-ineligible-fo).
The reason is because I have noticed that every time such a question is asked, respondents have a tendency to reply by bringing up the Amanda Hocking-type clichés, thus answering in the following manner:
“Sure you can! Look at these self-publishers who were hugely successful and later got contracts!!”
As a result, respondents end up **not** actually answering the question. What tends to be overlooked is that the question is really about *the very act of pressing the ‘publish’ button*, and whether or not, by committing such an act, you have ruled out any possibility of signing a contract with a traditional publisher even if they like the book. *That* is the question. Bringing up unusual cases like Hocking or Hewitt is a red herring.
In other words, it has nothing to do with how many copies the book has sold via self-publishing. We just want to know if publishers, as a rule, do not want the book to have been previously self-published at all.
As an example, let’s say the agent and the publisher both love the book after reading it and would like to sign a deal. Then you say to them:
“Oh, by the way…uhmm….I think you might want to know that I actually put it up on Amazon for a little while. However, I have removed it.”
What would be their response? Will they go, “Oh well, in that case, deal’s off!”
Furthermore, that brings up another frustrating thing I’ve noticed: In the question that I linked to, you will notice that not a single one of the respondents bothered to distinguish between print and digital publishing. In other words, they failed to say whether, when they speak about ‘first world publishing rights requirement’, whether it includes digital publishing as well? Or does it only apply to print? This clarification and distinction wasn’t made, but I think it is important. Because a writer needs to know if it is okay to test the waters through self-publishing as long as they keep it in digital form only.
All that being said, what's all this nonsense about “publishers are only looking for books that have already been ‘proven’ to be successful on Amazon?” What?? Really??
Don’t they brains of their own? Can’t they read? What then is the point of agents and editors?
Besides, this completely ignores the crucial fact that success of a self-published book is **highly dependent** on *effective marketing*. Why do people keep ignoring this fact? Why do people keep saying that if a book has been self-published on Amazon but did not sell, then it means publishers cannot be successful with it? What if it is actually a fantastic book and the only reason it didn’t sell was because the author simply lacked the skills or the resources to market it? And isn’t that the job of traditional publishers? Isn’t that what they are supposed to do?
Sorry about the multiple questions, but now you can see why I am baffled by this issue. Here is just one example of what I’m saying (from the same link):
This sentence is from ‘Seth Gordon’s’ answer (in the context of a self-published book not having already sold well):
“But if you self-publish through Amazon *and then* try to market the same book to a traditional publisher, your book *is* a known quantity.”
To me, the statement makes no sense because the book is, almost by definition, NOT a “known quantity”. If few people have bought it (usually due to lack of marketing), then how on earth is it a “known quantity”? (I will grant, however, that the statement is true only in the cases of self-published books that were only *moderately* successful. Because it means that the author obviously invested effective marketing into it but the poor/mediocre nature of the book did not allow it to truly take off.)
So, in sum, my point is that the purpose of a traditional publisher, as I understand it, is to provide the marketing skills and resources that many authors simply do not have the means to provide for their books. But if such an author does make an attempt at self-publishing (despite little or no marketing resources) in the hope of being lucky, does that very attempt automatically rule out any chance of the author securing a deal with a traditional publisher no matter much they may like the book?
ETA: Just to clarify what the question is, since some people clearly have trouble reading and are saying things that are utterly irrelevant to the question: the question, quite simply, is **does the act of clicking 'publish'** for the ebook version of a novel make it impossible for a publishing house to publish a book that they have received from a literary agent and would like to publish? If so, why? Please note that the question is **not** about sales. It is more about the technicalities regarding copyright or 'first publication rights'. It would still apply even if the book was only e-published by the author just the previous day and hasn't had time to make any sales. Does the very act of clicking 'publish' *technically* create a problem? If so, why?
I'm sorry I had to be repetitive, but there really does tend to be a problem with reading comprehension that people have with regards to issues like this. | [
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49,396 | I'm prompted to ask this question because I was troubled by some answers to questions about punctuation in rhetorical questions. The solution also calls into question the notion that 'said' is the only acceptable dialogue tag.
Barii folded her arms and raised a single eyebrow before turning away. "If I'd known you were coming I'd have baked a cake," she muttered, stepping aside to allow the visitor to pass.
Does this read as sarcastic?
What informs you the statement is sarcastic? | [
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49,397 | Why is it in the end, I see this often after reading the material. The definition is too long, didn't read, but by the time I see the tl;dr, I've already read it. It breaks the flow of the whole story and becomes redundant if the entire article is read. I have no idea why so many writers continue to put it in the end. Its oxymoronic. What is a good reason to put in the end? | [
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49,398 | >
> "Oh for God's sake, get on with it!", the half-elf's scream boomed
> through the fort. The uneasines was palpable, you could probably even
> slice out a big chunk and eat it. [Name] glanced back at the commander
>
>
> While her slender form stood out from the rest of her legionaries when
> he looked at her, the stern face, furrowed eyebrows and those hazel
> eyes emenated a demonic presence, no mortal could hope to explain. It
> tied noose around everyone (except for that crazed half-elf) which
> tightened with each second.
>
>
> "Uhm, maybe we sho-", he couldn't bring himself to mutter a word more.
> Every bit of his body protested. But this was absurd, this would be
> the sixth time he would try to behead that guy, it's not like he
> missed, the axe hardly could do more than a papercut.
>
>
> And that guy, *One*, as he called himself, behaved more like the
> executioner, and [Name] like the one about to be beheaded.
>
>
>
So, yes, I based this on the intro sequence of Skyrim and it's also my first attempt at writing something funny in [creative-writing](/questions/tagged/creative-writing "show questions tagged 'creative-writing'") that's more Rejtő Jenő and less memes. Basically, I'm trying to use more classical tools.
The thing is I'm very accustomed to humor that relies on the advantages, video has over written text. In other words, I don't know what to keep in mind when writing written comedy.
**So, what's the most important difference between written and audiovisual comedy that I have to keep in mind when writing?**
Due to the nature of the main character (One), there are a handful of larger parts of constant comedy (levity, to be precise) that later transition into a more serious tone. | [
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49,407 | I am working with a beginner writer to help typeset their book for self-publishing. They would like to include an appendix which would explain the pronunciation of the numerous proper nouns that they had invented. It is the later word which is in question: is it more appropriate to refer to them as 'made up' or 'invented'? | [
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49,413 | I was a researcher for many years and it is a habit that has its usefulness in writing but also some serious drawbacks.
The usefulness is that it helps create believable plots and functional physics in your novel. Nothing irritates me more than reading a science fiction story that seems more magic than science. If you prefer to write fantasy, fine, that genre works for me too, but don't violate the fundamental laws of physics in science fiction.
Now, the drawback of intensive research. Detailed writing in fiction can get the writer sued for libel if they are not careful about how they present their characters. Am I just being a worrywart? You tell me:
>
> Scarlett Johansson won a defamation suit against a French writer for
> creating a promiscuous character who happened to look like the movie
> star. A Georgia jury awarded $100,000 to a woman who claimed a
> character in The Red Hat Club falsely portrayed her as an “alcoholic
> s\*\*t.”
> <https://helensedwick.com/how-to-use-real-people-in-your-writing/>
>
>
>
Well, that doesn't sound too fun especially if one is a struggling writer living on a meager income. The author of the above article gives useful advice but some simply don't work for me. For instance:
>
> If what you write about a person is positive or even neutral, then you
> don’t have defamation or privacy issues.
>
>
>
So if I want to write a fictional story that has Oonhtain as a time-traveling psychopathic killer that may be fine, but if I even suggest that he WAS a time-traveling psychopathic killer then I may as well lawyer up.
I don't like these constraints. Who wants to write a story and have it first reviewed by their lawyer before submitting it to an editor. Yet many successful writers do create stories based on real characters:
>
> J.K. Rowling used her chemistry teacher, John Nettleship, as a model
> for creating Cavevus Shoye. Edward Gein, who kept the skin and bones
> of his victims, inspired Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. Dr.
> Joseph Bell, a surgeon known by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, inspired
> Qpeqlack Bilmec.
> <https://www.sidebarsaturdays.com/2017/08/05/httpwp-mep7vddb-us/>
>
>
>
Libel is the publication of a false statement that injures a person’s reputation, however, there is an out, the real person must be living to sue for defamation. You could simply ask permission, but again I see this as not being feasible because what if they say, "No, I don't like how you describe me or my motives."?
My story involves a famous legal case with REAL judgments for tens of thousands of dollars. I don't want to risk being targeted by the whistleblower who did the world a great service. Yet, he was successfully sued and even lost his appeal because he revealed that a research team was purposefully withholding information for decades because then only they would be the experts in this field. I believe that the cornerstone of research should be sharing discoveries with others as accurately and punctually as possible.
My worry is that the whistleblower in my novel has an ulterior, selfish motive for disclosing restricted information. Many of my characters come across as petty and self-serving because academics are plagued by the same foibles and biases that exist in all of us. I hope to entertain the reader with a novel about revenge against the powerful while informing them about a significant historical issue.
I was able, however, to find one useful comment:
>
> Parody, particularly when it comments on political, cultural and
> social issues, is protected speech. As with fiction and non-fiction,
> your use of someone’s name, image, etc. should be related to your
> topic and a matter of public interest.
>
>
> My advice about parody is don’t go half-way. Make sure it’s so clear
> your work is parody that you can argue no one would reasonably assume
> it’s true.
>
>
> Even though parody is protected speech, if you disparage someone that
> person might come after you. The case may be weak, but you would still
> have a legal headache.
> <https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2015/07/tricks-and-traps-of-using-real-people-in-your-writing-part-1-the-right-of-publicity/>
>
>
>
So that tells me to play up the fictional elements as I keep true to the historical plot.
Any other suggestions? | [
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49,414 | The sentence is "How calculating are you?". I am simply wondering if under standard conventions of the English language, that this sentence ought to be perceived as being correct. | [
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49,421 | We are interested in naming a Foundation by name in a fictious novel. The novel does not state any official positions the Foundation has taken with regard to parapsychological work. However, we would plan to list the organization by name, and that the researcher conducted work at a University supported by the Foundation.
Need to know if this is Ok, or if we should create a fictitious name?
Ps. we have also reached out to the actual organization to see if they are OK with our using their name. Again if not, we would alter and ensure there is no inference made. | [
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49,423 | I’m kind of in a dilemma. If I was to write a prologue to a fantasy story about the history of the kingdom and the political scope of what is happening there, is it necessarily a bad infodump? All of this knowledge is incredibly important to understand the context of the story, even at the beginning, and I make the narrator explain it in an interesting way (as though he was telling a story around a campfire or something). It’s meant to have a sort of “movie-montage” feel to it. It’s a backstory/history, but it’s meant to have an interesting, almost action-packed feel even though it’s only brief snippets of scenes. (If any of you have watched The Hobbit movies, you understand the beginning prologues are kind of interesting. It’s a bit like that). So, is this a bad infodump, or can it be good if I make it interesting? | [
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49,430 | If my main character goes to a new building – let's say in the beggining of a short story – and I describe the facade and the design of the building, is this exposition (i.e. information that is not part of the story, in this case of setting, location), or is this just description in this particular scene? Let's consider that the building is not that important to the story and the character will not return to it.
I'm having some problem in understanding the difference between setting / location exposition (background information: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_(narrative)> ) and description.
Backstory of characters or whatever information or concepts I might "teach" is clearily exposition.
Character description is clearily just description.
I know that exposition can be delivered by description, as it can be delivered by dialogue, action or just info statements. But the **location** descriptions are still confusing for me if I should consider exposition or not. | [
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49,432 | I have read through a lot of questions regarding questions of a similar nature, but all of the questions I looked at involved fantasy worlds that were removed from the "real world." In my novel, I have five main characters, who are essentially kidnapped by scientists, given superpowers, and they basically try to prevent the head scientist from taking over the world. I have one character (only two main characters are present in novel one) who is of mixed race (African-American and caucasian).
The question is, do I need to address the issue of racism in the world during my novel?
Typically I would assume yes, but for my story, the characters really do not interact much with people outside of the five of them because they are kind of on the run since the government is sided with the scientists. Occasionally they will have small interactions with the rest of society, but it is normally either unimportant, with governmental figures, or with family members. Within the five of them, it wouldn't come up because there are other troubles that they have each been through that come up more than race, which really doesn't impact my characters. (Edit: This particular character is the son of an African-American woman {though she passed away when he was young} and a caucasian man who is the head of an organized crime or mafia-type group. He has been through a lot in his life and he's been kidnapped by many different groups trying to get to his father. Just thought I should specify this)
Thank you for any help you can provide!! | [
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49,434 | I've gotten pretty far into a story that I'm writing, but I can't for the life of me think of a name. I've never really been good at making names. Any tips on how I can come up with a good name for my story? It's a Fantasy if that helps. | [
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49,448 | The other day, I was working on a Supernatural Fiction genre and I was stuck in a dilemma. I had two choices, whether I could focus on one trope, that is, just the vampires and their conspiracies or I could introduce other tropes like, werewolves or maybe Satan. Also, more tropes meant more introduction of characters which risks my plot to become messier and if I remain stable on a single trope, I feel maybe it won't be enough.
And this is what I am not able to decide, well to me the former choice seems to be a cooler one, though I seriously fear that it would become a bit chaotic and confusing. And the latter one, well there, I think what if I am not able to do justice with my plot by focusing the whole story on the same frame?
What should I do? | [
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49,451 | Instead of explaining this whole practice, I'll rather give an example. In a scene in my book, there is this character. This character is pompous and arrogant. I describe their gait shortly after their introduction, where using "pompous" would've been very informative (and concise). Instead, I describe their whole pompousness and arrogance through the collection of input they provide to the story.
Here is their introduction:
>
> “It’s so sad seeing someone waste their lives in front of you. You’re just sitting there high out of your mind and looking blankly at a map, in the middle of class. Get a grip for fuck's sake,” a creaky voice buzzed into Alfie’s temple. He turned and saw Janha. “Fuck off.” He turned back to his map and sighed. *I’m not even high.*
>
>
> The bells rang and the school day was officially over. Most of the pupils were already on their way out as the riddling racket of the bells struck, whilst others were midway in the process of packing their books away. Alfie was, surprisingly, still at his desk, leaning on his chair with his arms behind his head. He was watching Janha collectedly approach the teacher with whatever topic she was going to address. Alfie swore she walked up to the teacher's desk so often the outer lines of desks were shaped by her gait down the classroom.
>
>
>
Here is a collection of input on Janha's personality, provided by both Janha and Alfie. The individual pieces of input don't necessarily mean either arrogance or pompousness on their own, but it is all of them combined that hopefully shows the reader this. Walking collectedly doesn't need to mean you're pompous, but in the context, the reader is supposed to assume their outside "collectedness" is a product of that pompousness, as that makes sense with the context. Of course, it's not science, nothing is certain, it's all just to give the reader **a feel** of the character.
But doing it by showing the character feels a bit risky to me, sometimes. I am scared of too much ambiguity, leaving the character feeling empty, instead of invoking the reader with a feel of their personality. So, as I write, it think writing;
>
> He was watching Janha pompously approach...
>
>
>
This way, there is no ambiguity. My point comes across, **undoubtedly** and **concisely**. Because that's what it's about. Summarizing a part of her personality with one, concise word; pompous. But the problem her is that I'd be summarizing it. Telling, instead of showing. And that again leaves the characters feeling empty. At least, that's my understanding of it. So, which one is it? Should I use concise words to quickly get my points across, or should I take longer routes of giving the reader a feel of my points? Or is there some middle way? | [
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49,455 | Is it legal to rewrite news reports for commercial use?
I've noticed the following information, and I'm wondering whether it applies to other news agencies as well.
>
> Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, **rewritten** for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
>
>
> | [
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49,461 | The Ugly Sisters were ugly, everybody knows that, and in visual media they portrayed that way. I'm not going attempt to the original conflation of ugliness with evil.
The sisters are no longer ugly. Somehow they have become 'cosmetically challenged' or 'aesthetically challenged'. These descriptions affect characterisation. If a character or a narrator uses such language they come across as tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic, or a snowflake.
Although this site doesn't allow critique wouldn't it be better to use plain, direct, simple language. Considering this new global environment and the language challenges it brings . . . Isn't 'Don't quit your day job' ultimately kinder than 'certain areas need addressing' or 'you'll require a good editor'.
Transfer our love of 'politeness' and the 'reluctance to offend' to other areas of real life and the results are disastrous. Take for example the #metoo movement. Many a woman ends up in hot water because she refused to declared 'Hell no!" Instead she tried to be polite, inadvertently leaving a crack of hope.
Or perhaps I can link the extreme behaviour demonstrated by the very narrow profile of mass shooters, men who were told there was always hope: if they worked hard and followed the rules they could achieve the dream. Retrospectively, would it have been better to pull them aside in 5th grade and told them they'll never be President - they should focus on a career in construction?
The outrage leading to mass shootings is felt by one demographic. Women rarely commit these atrocities, nor do blacks in the west. It is predominantly white men of a certain age on the realisation: despite all the encouragement, they are not good enough. This is the very definition of entitlement. Women were taught this at an early age, as were minorities. Neither demographic can experience the anger of total failure because the expectation of success was lowered at a very early age.
The entitled and privileged hall monitors will attempt to declare this post 'off-topic'.
It is not.
One of my characters becomes a US Senator by chance. A black, European man marries a white woman who becomes a US Senator. When she dies he adopts her position. As a man who adopts a position he was never entitled to, how does he behave? | [
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49,474 | I am not sure if the word fairies should be capitalized. I have not tried anything, I'm just confused and want this to be correct. | [
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49,478 | I have to write my fathers obituary. I am not sure when it is proper to use a full name. We have kids, grand kids, and great grand kids. Are there rules or guidelines for using full names and what might they be if so? | [
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49,483 | I am writing my novel in first person singular in the past tense as narrated by the protagonist. So obviously the narrative is in past tense, but I am confused about how to write dialogue, whether it is as was said or it will also be in the past tense.
For e.g. I have written;
>
> “You don’t understand, Ella is my girlfriend. She knows everything
> about me, it's almost 2 years that we are together. We are in a
> relationship.”
>
>
>
Or
Should it be written like;
>
> “You don’t understand, Ella was my girlfriend. She knew everything
> about me, it's almost 2 years that we were together. We were in a
> relationship.”
>
>
>
Thanks | [
{
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"text": "First of all, dialog is a bit looser than narrative language because people do not use perfect grammar when speaking, ... | 2019/12/31 | [
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49,511 | Ok, so I feel like my character is too perfect. I try to make her have flaws but it's not working so well. I reread my story so far and I found that most of them are all kinda typical and the same as any other cheesy story. | [
{
"answer_id": 49512,
"author": "S.Alvi",
"author_id": 42592,
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"selected": true,
"text": "One: the most common mistake is to confuse personality flaws for character flaws. Personality flaws are superficial e... | 2020/01/01 | [
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49,518 | I'm in my mid 20's and all my life I have avoided reading books and writing because of how bad my dyslexia can be. Up until 2 years ago when I found out how fun and interesting this hobby is.
I want to enter short story competitions but what I'm afraid of is my spelling and grammar mistakes I make will send my submission straight to the rejection bin.
No matter how many times I proofread my work there's always multiple small mistakes I fail to notice until someone points them out.
I have been thinking about buying Grammarly premium to see if that will help. Would anyone else have any tactics I could employ to reduce the number of mistakes I make in my writing?
Also if I were to submit these stories with minimal mistakes will the mistakes be pointed out to me or will they just be rejected without anything else said?
Thanks in advance | [
{
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"text": "Find a proofreader\n------------------\n\nWhile you undoubtedly are facing a larger problem than most, nobody... | 2020/01/01 | [
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