qid int64 1 2.78M | question stringlengths 2 66.6k | answers list | date stringlengths 10 10 | metadata list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
66,655 | I want to write a book like Fyodor Dostoevsky.
If you read "Crime and Punishment", you know he does not describe his characters with clothes and appearances, he describes their minds.
I don't know how.
I'm practicing to learn how to write like him. Could you help me to write like him?
What should I do? | [
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"text": "Honestly I think the only way to accomplish that is to read as much Dostoevsky as you can. His writing wasn... | 2023/07/28 | [
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66,662 | I've read some of the other questions on this site about how to write a drunk person ([this link](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/49835/how-to-write-in-the-first-person-showing-that-someone-is-drunk), [this link](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/49764/how-to-write-a-drunk-character-slurring-in-sp... | [
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"text": "I don't think there is a 'universal' drunk train of thought. Without any info on the character's type, it's hard... | 2023/07/29 | [
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66,664 | I'm writing a screenplay with a scene were characters interrupt each other frequently. I think including the lines a character would've said if they weren't interrupted could help the actors and directors. Is there a standard way of doing this? | [
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"text": "The standard way is to put it on the screen. They can say it later in dialogue, perhaps. Another character can ask ... | 2023/07/30 | [
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66,670 | As the title says, I am having trouble describing a group standing around 3/4ths of a rectangle. This is what I have written *The students stood along the sides and far side of the stage, creating a wide U-shape facing the door.*
I am sort of imaging something like this:
[![enter image description here](https://i.sta... | [
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"text": "I can think of some better ways to phrase this. One idea might be: *\"The students stood on all but one edge ... | 2023/07/31 | [
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66,675 | I work for a US state DOT. We are trying to print our new standard specifications for construction. When we published in 2018, we got 1,000 copies for about $11/book. This time, we advertised for bids and got prices ranging from $100/book to $150/book! We expected prices to be higher due to the book being longer and on... | [
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"text": "I can think of some better ways to phrase this. One idea might be: *\"The students stood on all but one edge ... | 2023/07/31 | [
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66,678 | I'm writing the first draft of my first book. Lately, I have been working hard on it and reached about the 40k mark. At this point, I believe the main character arcs and main story events are done, with no room to add more without detracting from the rest of the story.
However, due to the genre of my story (fantasy), ... | [
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"text": "Here's my advice: don't worry about adding more just yet. It's your first draft. From my experience, it's goi... | 2023/08/01 | [
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66,684 | If someone sends a movie studio a movie script they wrote and the studio likes it, they presumably like the idea, not the exact setting and character names. So why not change those and call it their own? The end result, the published movie, will be quite different from the script anyway. So why would they pay for it?
... | [
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"text": "I see what you're saying, maybe, but if you change the setting and characters then all you have is a premis... | 2023/08/02 | [
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66,702 | I'm authoring a horror/corruption/murder novel. The book starts off with the Main Character telling the reader about who he is and his physical appearance (now in his 60s), how he got to be financially successful (starting work at age 15), introduces his wife very briefly (2 sentences), and an unexpected catastrophic e... | [
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"text": "I see what you're saying, maybe, but if you change the setting and characters then all you have is a premis... | 2023/08/05 | [
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66,704 | I am trying to describe how my protagonist reacts to congratulations from a friend about a genuinely significant career achievement. My protagonist is modest and self-deprecating by nature, and I am looking for a 'playful' expression that accepts the congratulation in a way that would be believable and appropriate for ... | [
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"text": "> \n> When I try to write this, however, I am getting caught up in minutiae\n> about how to describe the body mov... | 2023/08/05 | [
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66,713 | I'm writing my debut fantasy novel. So far, I've largely based the Ordinary World off of the hierarchies and politics of medieval Scotland. However, I'm having some trouble brainstorming a compelling inciting incident for my female MC. I want her to be strong but also feminine, and I feel like the "powerful, self-wille... | [
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"text": "It seems like you have a protagonist and a setting -- but you don't appear to have any kind of story at all.\n\n... | 2023/08/06 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/66713",
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66,720 | I’ve spent the past (counts on fingers) too many years working on my first novel. I was in college and found more enjoyment daydreaming and writing it down than listening in lectures. I had never written anything before and have learned a lot in the process.
I love my book and I believe its an okay book. But I know it... | [
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"text": "Take the win\n------------\n\n> \n> After entering the first few chapters in a writing competition, I learned **... | 2023/08/08 | [
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66,721 | I've had this story idea on my mind for months. It is rather taboo as its centered around a suicide and the afterlife, and I want to know the best ways I can go about it respectfully and considerately or if I should just scrap it as a whole.
Basically, it's about a girl who dies by suicide. The story is told from her ... | [
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"text": "I don't think that it would be disrespectful, considering the fact that a lot of suicide attempt survivors do express... | 2023/08/09 | [
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66,728 | In my world I had a idea for four power sources for superhumans. The four power sources were mutations, magic, technology, and skills. Mutations are genetic based superpowers. Magic users get their superpowers from different dimensions. Skill users being normal humans that are considered prodgies or expectational to av... | [
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"text": "I don't think that it would be disrespectful, considering the fact that a lot of suicide attempt survivors do express... | 2023/08/09 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/66728",
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66,734 | I'm setting out to write a mystery that is firmly rooted in the fantasy genre. The MC time travels to another historical era, where the MC has to solve a multi-faceted mystery (having both supernatural and ordinary elements) before she can return to her present day. The idea is that this would be the first in a series,... | [
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"text": "It's safe to say you are multi-genre or cross-genre.\n----------------------------------------------------\n\nIt... | 2023/08/10 | [
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66,760 | In scholarly writing, I'm often confronted with having produced a very long paragraph that has the structure with: a single topic sentence, then an internal list of sibling supporting points, with multiple sentences per point, sometimes with citations and quotations lengthening each point.
(Here I'm using First/Second... | [
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"text": "It's safe to say you are multi-genre or cross-genre.\n----------------------------------------------------\n\nIt... | 2023/08/15 | [
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66,765 | I was wondering how I might go about writing a character in a story that breaks the fourth wall and talks to the writer?
There are many examples where the character talks to the audience to give his/her commentary on the situation, but not sure if a character (in writing, no images or video) has paused their own story... | [
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"text": "In 2nd and 3rd person POV, the narrator is the storyteller. In first person, the narrator is the character. So unless yo... | 2023/08/15 | [
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66,775 | I am creating an action/adventure comic strip in the vein of Indiana Jones. Currently the character’s name is Panda Jack. The strip will have a title like “Panda Jack and the… fill-in-the-blank”. I am just trying to find out how I can know if that character name is taken. If it is, does that mean I can’t have a charact... | [
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"text": "In 2nd and 3rd person POV, the narrator is the storyteller. In first person, the narrator is the character. So unless yo... | 2023/08/18 | [
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66,781 | I'm a minor who's working on the second draft of my novel (the first was about 77k words). Can I traditionally publish my it when it's done? If so, then will my parents get credit for it instead of me since they'll probably have to sign the contracts? | [
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"text": "In 2nd and 3rd person POV, the narrator is the storyteller. In first person, the narrator is the character. So unless yo... | 2023/08/19 | [
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66,785 | A very similar question has been asked here.
[Writing a Super Intelligent AI](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/34783/writing-a-super-intelligent-ai)
I ask this question for multiple reasons. I was writing a sci-fi work and I decided it'd make sense that the characters have above human intelligence because ... | [
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"author": "Kate Gregory",
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"text": "How would you write a super strong character? You would have them lift things nobody else would lift. Or throw... | 2023/08/19 | [
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66,791 | I am writing my personal statement for my college applications centered around [Desmos](https://www.desmos.com/), the online graphing calculator. However, when I was getting feedback on my first draft, it seemed to me that my reviewers had a slight misunderstanding about what Desmos actually is. They seemed to be imagi... | [
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"selected": false,
"text": "How would you write a super strong character? You would have them lift things nobody else would lift. Or throw... | 2023/08/20 | [
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/66791",
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66,797 | I'm studying for a test and don't know which one of the two following bits of dialogue is correct, and I haven't been able to find the answer online since I don't know what it is called.
1. "Hello," Zotn says, "it's a beautiful day!"
2. "Hello", Zotn says, "it's a beautiful day!"
Thanks! | [
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"text": "Both are correct. Generally the first is done in American English while the latter is done in British English. Note t... | 2023/08/21 | [
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66,800 | This is surely some style guide thing, but I'll link and excerpt six Reuters headlines:
"[Pakistan military rescues...](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/children-stranded-chair-lift-900-feet-above-ground-northern-pakistan-2023-08-22/)"
"[Pakistan crowd vandalizes...](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacif... | [
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"text": "1. To a British reader, \"Pakistani crowd vandalizes...\" would mean that a crowd of people from Pakistan vandal... | 2023/08/22 | [
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66,818 | In a fantasy world where things like Asia don’t exist how would you get the point across that a person may be a pale Asian person with straight black hair and blue eyes and a heart shaped face rather than a pale white person with straight black hair and blue eyes and a heart shaped face.
Using descriptors like white b... | [
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"selected": true,
"text": "Descriptions, whether of characters, places, or objects, work best when they come in little pieces, and ideally... | 2023/08/25 | [
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66,820 | If I am asking my child to close the door completely, should I say, "Close the door good." or "Close the door well." | [
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"text": "The sentence is imperative, a command statement, not an interogavtive sentence that asks a question. You are not a... | 2023/08/25 | [
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66,823 | I'm only on my second draft of a novel I'm writing (the first was about 77k words), but I've been doing my research on what to do when I'm done with all of my drafts. I'm a minor and I want to traditionally publish my novel, but I'm not sure if mentioning in my query letter to agents that I'm a minor is a good idea. Wo... | [
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"text": "Many agents recommend that you do not mention your age in your query letter because it might unfavourably bias t... | 2023/08/26 | [
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66,847 | My writing project involves flashbacks and explanations that may already be hard to follow to the reader. But the most important point in it, is that in the end, no one remembers what ever happened. The narrator participates a little in the plot, but has no particular role in the turns of events.
I want to leave an am... | [
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"text": "Don't worry about repetitiveness, worry about comprehensibility for the reader. You don't want to be so creative wi... | 2023/08/30 | [
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66,853 | Consider that your story has a moral that points to the simple fact that we all have committed and contributed to your protagonist's crisis. The protagonist walks through life desperately needing help, and getting none. I do this in a way that is quite passive aggressive, initially painting society itself as the bad gu... | [
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"text": "Starting with your statement\n\n> \n> *Consider that your story has a moral that points to the simple fact that we all ... | 2023/09/01 | [
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66,856 | I’ve always wanted to write a book. I’ve finally gained enough courage to attempt to write a small novel, 100-150 pages. I’m 13, which I’ve learned is a small problem. I hate to say it, but I’m just gifted at writing. I have many adults around me who have the talent and I know I have it, I just doubt myself because I d... | [
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"text": "Give yourself some time.\n\nWriting is a difficult skill - not only are the 'rules' of English awkward and arcane, b... | 2023/09/02 | [
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