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copy right issue with using exact Text from a text book Here is a question related to a website providing mathematics solutions for students. Here are details: Students will enter the page number and problem number on the website, and the site will show the text of the Mathematics problem described in that text book; then the web page will show the solution to that math problem. My question is, is my web site violating the copyrights of the text book publishers for showing the text without their permission. This is not just a one page/one time issue. The site may show hundreds of pages from the book. <Q> Yes, this is violating copyright. <S> You're essentially copying their book. <S> And I'm guessing that you're doing it for financial gain, which makes it even worse. <S> Check the inside of their book for the copyright blurb. <S> I bet there's something about 'no reproducing, in whole or in part, without permission'. <S> This may not be the case if the book is old enough to be in the public domain, or if it has somehow been explicitly placed in the public domain (a creative commons license, for example). <S> But I doubt these things have happened. <S> Someone put a lot of work into writing that text book - why should you profit from that person's work for free? <S> Write your own questions! <S> Or, in case I'm being too innocent here, and you're not simply trying to find an efficient way to help students learn math <S> ... stop trying to help students to cheat! <S> They're given assignments for a reason, and copying the answer off a website won't teach them a damn thing. <A> Firstly, it is beyond doubt that the idea is fraught with copyright issues. <S> Even so, why would you want to reproduce the question in toto? <S> Referencing it by echoing back the question number, etc., should be a sufficient, elegant and preferable alternative. <S> Since the input includes the necessary reference details, you know the user knows the question, I suppose. <A> Yes, and unnecessarily. <S> There are a lot of open source mathematics materials/books on the market. <S> What, specifically, is your subject and grade year? <S> I'll link up a few examples of free materials. <S> Remember, it's not only a copyright issue, the person that wrote that math textbook is a teacher somewhere, making the same amount of money you're making as a teacher. <S> I'm a teacher too, there are alternatives. <S> It's good that you asked.
| Your website would be reproducing without permission, and that would ABSOLUTELY be a copyright violation.
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Any good side-by-side editor for script translation? I am in the process of translating a script and am constantly struggling with the side-by-sidevertical scrolling of the document. Does anyone know of an editor which is capable of "locking" two columns side by side? Something novel translators would use, or so. (Please, no recommendations of Word with columns turned on, or Excel...) <Q> If you are using Windows, you can select two separate documents and display them side by side. <S> This does not synchronize the scrolling between windows, but you probably wouldn't want that anyway. <S> If the content in one window surpasses the length of the content in the other, then you would need to scroll in each separately. <S> I am using Windows 7, and I can open two documents of the same type, do a Shift-right click on their icon at the bottom of the screen, and then choose the option to "Show windows side by side". <S> I don't remember the exact steps for earlier versions of Windows, but I know they are very similar. <S> This will allow you to use the editor of your choice and keep each screen positioned where you need it so that you can easily move back and forth as needed. <A> It also allows you to lock the vertical scroll-bars. <S> I expect it's limited to plaintext documents, so if that's what you have, give it go. <S> Many other text editors will be able to do the same. <A> This is not an ad for any site or tool! <S> But in Google Translator Toolkit, you can upload your file (editable file like *.doc/ <S> *.txt) and translate it in synchronized paragraphs User interface, and then download it and revise (for the linking words and the smoothness of the speech ) ... <S> and you are done! <S> The good things about this tool are: machine translation as a prior help <S> help of normal Google translate for difficult words. <S> synchronized texts and paragraphs (as well as you can resize the paragraphs) <A> Professional editors for translators like memoq have this feature. <S> However, there is a good free solution as well, using vim if you are not scared of the command line. <S> Install a vim editor. <S> Mac OS X has it pre-installed, for windows you need to download it for free. <S> Learn some vim basics (how to open a file, save, quit the editor etc), it's boring but you will not regret it. <S> Open the files you want by opening english.txt, then typing <S> :vsp french.txt or <S> just vim -O <S> english.txt <S> french.txt <S> You will see both files opened split-screen, you can switch between windows by ctrl+w and ← or ctrl+w and → type in :set scrollbind in the english.txt file switch to french.txt by ctrl+w and → type in : <S> set scrollbind in the french.txt file <S> Now both files are scrolled simultaneously. <S> You can adjust the width of the windows by ctrl + < or ctrl <S> + > <A> Sublime Text offers multi columns layouts and is a very lightweight text editor. <S> It doesn't have vertical scroll locking, but it does provide a mini-map of the entire document so you can see exactly which part of the document is currently on screen. <S> http://www.sublimetext.com/
| I've been using the free Notepad++ text editor lately for writing software code, and find it very useful being able to have two documents visible, side-by-side.
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Is emphasizing a point by underlining still appropriate? Instinctively I find underlining for emphasis distracting and much prefer bold or italic. From my research it seems underlining is a carryover from typewriters that were incapable of italicizing or bolding. I'm currently in a situation creating written content with others who love underlining as a point of emphasis and see nothing wrong with it. They sometimes include italic and bold in the same paragraph. Should I try and break the teams underlining-for-emphasis habits or change my perspective on it's appropriateness? <Q> No, no, no, hell no, frak no <S> , can I get a no from the peanut gallery? <S> oh, <S> and NO. <S> We are not typing on typewriters any more. <S> We are using computers. <S> Word processors, HTML, CSS. <S> Underlining means a hyperlink. <S> Period. <S> If you want to emphasize something, use bold, italics, indents, all caps, or any combination thereof. <S> The only exception is certain legalese, if the lawyers insist on underlining for some archaic reason which gives formatting weight in court. <S> Still annoying, but there's no arguing with Legal. <S> If the writers object, tell them, "But in typesetting, when something is underlined in the manuscript, that's what it means . <S> It's telling the typesetter 'italicize this.' <S> " <S> Brook no arguments. <S> (Sorry. <S> I am a writer, editor, and typesetter, and seeing underlined non-hyperlinked copy makes my blood pressure rise.) <A> I think underlining for emphasizing is a little bit old-fashioned. <S> But if you write for an audience which is used to it, why not? <S> If you want to publish your writing online, I would advice against underlining. <S> On the internet underlined text is associated with a link. <S> Mixing different styles (bold, italic, underlining) is confusing at best for the reader. <S> Is the italic section less important than the bold? <S> Does underlining strengthen more than bold? <S> Is the not emphasized text necessary at all? <S> The last sentence isn't a joke. <S> I've seen whole paragraphs underlined in some writings, wondering why they have written the non-underlined at all. <S> If they had skipped these, they could have skipped the underlining also. <A> As an answer to your original question, yes it is still appropriate, especially in certain business settings. <S> As to how you should respond to it or handle it, that depends on your situation. <S> First, ask yourself why your colleagues prefer underlining. <S> Is it because they are older and have done it this way for a considerable amount of time? <S> Is it a preferred standard in your current environment (work, school, etc.)? <S> Second, ask yourself how important it is to persuade them to change. <S> If there isn't any underlying reason to do it this way, then you might be able to suggest an alternative. <S> Check to see if there are any documented guidelines that might support either method. <S> If so, then use them to help you decide. <S> At my workplace, bold is usually interpreted as a sign of anger or frustration and is used very sparingly. <S> Italics tend to be the preferred choice here. <S> (I rarely see underlining used as a point of emphasis.)
| If you are not dealing with lawyers, then change the underlines to italics as a matter of course. Personally, I find bold font to sometimes be harsh, especially in a business setting. If you do not really have a good reason to break this convention (and emphasizing isn't one, if you ask me), then do not do it.
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How to explain a war scene? In my novel, I have a part where there is a war scene, and I need to explain it precisely from the king's point of view. How can I explain the war graphics vividly? <Q> For starters, avoid getting into details. <S> This is true generally, and even more so during battle. <S> People are moving quickly! <S> It is no time for details. <S> I've read a battle-scene where the author described specific attacks, and the impression I had was that the fighting was happening in slow motion. <S> With classical music in the background. <S> Really slow music. <S> The best battle-scene I remember reading included almost no descriptions of the actual battle, but of colors, emotions and cries. <S> Needless to say, this scene left a powerful impression, and I actually felt like I was there. <S> Of course, since you're writing this from the king's perspective - and the king is normally in the back lines - you'll have to get into overall detail of what's happening on the field. <S> After all, the king needs to know what's going on! <S> See also: Good action scenes <A> I'm just an amateur writer, but a seasoned soldier. <S> If I were to write a combat or battle scene, I think I would probably try to describe the calamity of battle. <S> Confusion sets in very quickly when you lose the initiative in a fight. <S> At that point, there is a good deal of sensory overload. <S> Training kicks in and fighting become an instinctive struggle for pure survival. <S> Extremely seasoned warriors can delay this outcome for longer than a 'greener' force. <S> So, if you have a well-trained military, with several campaign ribbons on its battle-standard, you might consider a very lucid and methodical description of the general mechanics of the fight. <S> If your force is inexperienced, I would use the opportunity to capture as many non-combat related details as possible during the fight, to heighten the reader's feeling of confusion in the fog of war. <A> How do you explain anything vividly? <S> Observe with all your senses, and add emotions and thoughts. <S> Do the research. <S> I will express hope that you have not personally been in a war scene, so you would have to find some other way of observing, or use your imagination. <S> You could watch combat footage or news reports of war, you could interview veterans, you could read war memoirs, or you could read other fictional books with war scenes. <S> Then don't just describe the parry-thrust-advance of swordwork, but how it feels to swing the sword — how it hits his opponent, the shock that comes back up the king's arm (or doesn't), the smell of perforated bowels, the smears of blood and brains, the terrible screaming of dying men. <S> Maybe find some Society for Creative Anachronisms chapter and talk to the folks there about how sword-fighting works. <S> (Substitute whatever weaponry or tech is appropriate for your setting, of course.) <A> Gritty details go a long way, so I would recommend not dwelling on them too much. <S> I feel like it would be more realistic for someone in a battle to be focused on fighting and staying alive, rather than witnessing all the atrocities happening around him. <S> There's an old adage along the lines of " <S> after the first shot is fired, all battle plans go out the window. <S> " If your king is in charge of this battle, at least in some capacity, it would be good to focus on how easily everything breaks down into chaos, both in a specific battle, and in troop positioning/tactics. <S> For example: Poor troop morale breaking formation running abandoning becoming obstinate Plans: <S> backfire <S> fail partially succeed succeed with undesired results <S> are not accurately communicated Unknown <S> , enemy plans/sabotage attempts: <S> succeed <S> partially succeed fail but with undesired results Equipment: <S> malfunctions is inappropriately apportioned (like wool uniforms being used in Africa) <S> Supply lines: are severed get <S> waylaid Sneaky tactics: night fighting "pretending" to run, only to achieve advantageous ground guerrilla warfare <S> Communication breakdown <S> pre-radio, commanders had to shout orders or have instruments announce them missives / carrier pigeons not arriving Etc, etc. <S> Even if they aren't your specific time period, the concepts can be easily adopted.
| Some books that hit these realistic difficulties of war as well as the gritty violence are Black Hawk Down and Red Badge of Courage . Leave details to the imagination, except where they serve the plot.
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Is writing a light read or "chick lit" a good option for an aspiring literary fiction author? I live in India and here light reads and "chick lit" have made a great impression. The youth are picking up such books like petrol on fire. Even non-readers are giving reading these genres a try. Titles like these have helped the publishing industry here to grow more than 100% in the last few years. Is it a good idea someone who wishes to become a literary fiction writer to write such a book; does it fix his/her genre? Is it going to demean his standing as a literary writer from the readers' point of view? Does he or she come to be characterized as a Light read or "chick lit" writer who cannot write in another genre, especially literary fiction? <Q> If you're worried about reader perception, use a pseudonym. <S> But I don't think that one genre is easier than another, which seems to be the assumption behind your question. <S> I think each writer needs to look at his or her own strengths and interests, and work within those. <S> Someone whose preferences and style run to literary fiction will have serious trouble writing a successful Romance, just as someone whose strengths are a good match for Romance will have trouble writing literary fiction. <S> What are these strengths and weaknesses? <S> Well, I'm not sure <S> --maybe it should be another question on this board! <S> In my experience, Romance requires a strong understanding of characterization and the ability to write simple, clean prose. <S> Subgenres within Romance will have their own requirements, of course. <S> So, if you want to write Chick Lit, write Chick Lit. <S> If you want to write in more than one genre, write in more than one genre, using pseudonyms as necessary. <S> But don't force yourself to write something you're not comfortable with in the interest of increasing sales; readers of all genres want well-written work by someone who's an expert in the genre. <A> You think too much. <S> If you want to be a writer, you should write instead. <S> No, seriously, this thinking (and the resulting "decisions") will take you nowhere. <S> If you read lots of chick lit <S> and you like it, then write chick lit. <S> If you disgust chick lit, then avoid that genre. <S> The readers will find out. <S> Because they are not stupid. <S> Which takes me to my next point. <S> Do you think your readers are stupid? <S> Why should they "demean" you, because you write in different genres? <S> If they really did, you would not want them as readers. <S> Skip that thought, it's totally useless. <S> If you like both genres, write in both genres. <S> But if you think, there is an easy genre (like chick lit), where you can make easy money, and there is this other reputable genre (like literary fiction) where you can show the world how great you are, then you are a snob and an idiot. <S> So I really hope, you do not think that. <S> Because there is no easy genre, there is no easy money. <S> Everyone thinking that should stop writing immediately or never start at all. <A> If you write something "lightweight," and then something "heavy" or "serious" afterwards, the readers of your "light" book might give the "serious" one <S> a try sooner than someone who never heard of you, because they like your previous work. <S> So you're establishing a built-in audience. <S> Can't see a downside there. <S> As far as the critics, it's their job to read the books to review them. <S> If the reviewer can't be arsed to get past your name on the cover because your previous book was Burning <S> But Age-Appropriately Chaste Desire in the Desert, the reviewer should be fired for refusal to work. <S> Write what you want to write. <S> If it's good, word will get out. <S> Don't worry about being pigeonholed.
| If you read lots of literary fiction and you like it, write it. Romances may have the reputation of being the home of 'purple prose', but I think most modern readers shy away from over-written stories, and prefer more simple, straightforward language.
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Using poetry in novels a good option? I write fiction as well as poetry. And many a times I use poetry as a tool to bring out that acute feeling of pain or love (as required) in my explanations. What if I use poetry to introduce or end a scene? Is it alright to do so, or does it also has some damaging effect? <Q> I do not see a problem with that. <S> If you choose a more disruptive approach, like putting the poem between scenes (or within one scene), you generate a "damaging" effect. <S> Many readers will be puzzled, you tear them out of your story and normally a writer tries to avoid exactly that. <S> But breaking a rule is not automatically a bad thing. <S> If you want to do it, try it. <S> I would probably not read it, but I could imagine that there is an audience which like this experiment. <S> The worst thing that could happen is that I'm wrong and no-one likes it. <S> Then you have failed and failing is good, because you can learn from it. <S> Experience is such a valuable thing, so go for it. <A> As an example, The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson opens every chapter with either a poem, or a snippet from an academic work from his fantasy world (mainly poetry, though). <S> My experience with this work is that, while I find the story amazing, I'm largely indifferent to the poems, and find myself often skipping them. <S> They're often a distraction at best, or self-indulgence at worst. <S> This is not because I'm against poetry, it's just that they seem to have little or no bearing on the actual story itself. <S> If you take the poems away, the story doesn't suffer. <S> You don't miss out on some vital info. <S> True, they do add a certain degree of richness and authenticity to the fantasy world, but for the most part, I couldn't see the point, and I honestly felt the books would be better without them, since they often break the flow of the narrative. <S> The point to be made is this: don't just insert the poems because you like poetry. <S> Ask yourself what purpose your poems serve. <S> Can the story live without them? <S> Are they integral to the story? <S> Do they fit in with your narrator, or your characters (i.e. who is telling the poem, and why)? <S> If you feel you still want poetry in your work, then I definitely suggest starting each chapter with the poem. <S> This means people like me could skip it (if we don't feel like reading poetry), and it doesn't break the flow of the story too much by appearing in the middle of a chapter. <A> One of your characters could "write" the poem and recite it to another. <S> But to stop dead in the middle of prose narration, insert a poem, and continue merrily along <S> is disruptive to the flow of reading. <S> Unless you're writing something truly surreal, where you're playing with the medium as part of how you're telling the story, I don't recommend it. <A> Poetry in a novel is dangerous because it backfires easily if it's bad, and (not to say anything at all about you) <S> it's often bad. <S> Or at least not good. <S> Or just plain puzzling, like it's been put there just because it's Significant and the reader doesn't know why it matters that it's poetry. <S> If the poem isn't good enough to stand on its own, the reader will be right to reject it. <S> Jo Walton had a nice snark in the first post of <S> her Rothfuss reread : <S> Apart from being that rare thing in fantasy, actually good poetry... <S> You have to be careful not to end up as one of her many targets.
| You could present the poem as something in a book which a character reads, or establish that your character is a poet who is always composing in her head and tends to think in verse, so the poetry is actually coming from her thoughts. I've read several books where chapters are introduced by a poem.
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What software can handle both revision control and layout? I'm desperately looking for a book publishing solution that can handle revision control and layouts. My issues/requirements are as follows: Typists are extremely non-technical and I would like to keep training to a minimum (that being said, I value revision control higher than training and will go great lengths to get RC implemented). Volumes spend almost as much time being edited before they go to layout as they afterwards. Hence, I need a way that non-technical people can work with a formated document without breaking the style (as per style: full, advanced text layouts - chapters, headers, footnotes, indents, etc) Revision control is CRITICAL. We currently have a spaghetti mess of versions (all in word so there hard to diff) and we need to rein in on the madness. While I work with svn/git from the command line all day long, most of the typists struggle with Word. While we will train as necessary, a proper cli (for me!) and as much automation as posible would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! p.s. I asked a software question here based on this question . If I'm in the wrong place, please point out where this question belongs. <Q> I don't know if there's one solution. <S> You may have to approach this from a few angles. <S> First off, you do need to train your "typesetters," but in procedure as well as the program. <S> (Someone who can't handle headers and indents is not a typesetter, but a typist.) <S> Second, while I loathe recommending anything by Microsquish, Word does do what you're asking for. <S> So you will have to invest in getting your typesetters trained to use Word's functions: templates, styles, headers/footers, sections, section breaks, indents, and so on. <S> It's not hard to find software trainers in major cities, and most will schedule lessons on-site if you have enough students. <S> Third, it sounds like you have problems with file management. <S> If your main concern is revision control (that you don't have seventeen Finals which have to be merged) <S> , then you should only have one master copy of the document. <S> It should live on a server, and it should never be worked on from a local hard drive. <S> All typesetters will have to access it over the network or from one workstation, period. <S> Since formatting is already chewing up a large part of your time, budget it as part of the process and try to make it a manageable chunk rather than an open-ended time-suck. <S> It will have to be part of the procedure that Tracking is ALWAYS on, and only authorized editors can approve the changes. <S> Lastly, while it may not be in your budget, a separate option might be to have ONLY text editing done in Word, and the layout done in an actual DTP program like InDesign or Quark. <S> That would address a lot of the indent/header/footer etc. <S> issues, because your Word typists wouldn't be doing that formatting work at all. <S> ETA <S> I had <S> one more thought re <S> process: <S> what about assigning projects per person, rather than allowing everyone in the group to work on them? <S> So only John works on the Smith novel, only Mary only on the Jones novel, and so on. <S> Would that cut down on some of the spaghetti? <A> Adobe InDesign has Version Cue . <S> And in newer versions there's Adobe Drive . <A> Would Google Docs work for you? <S> Maybe a Google Apps account for your organization? <S> This will work better if you can separate writing from layout. <S> That is, people write using Google Docs, applying corporate standards for text styles and for organizing stuff into parts, chapters, and sections. <S> Then a separate process does layout and typesetting. <S> Other than online tools <S> , I don't know of any software that is both writer-friendly and version-control-friendly. <S> Writer-friendly word processors typically save in a binary format, which is not easily diffable. <S> Markup-based text formats (docbook, TeX, markdown) that play nicely with version control tend to be challenging for non-geeks. <S> But I wonder... <S> Word processors' recent binary formats tend to be zipped XML. <S> Could you add svn/git hooks that unzip the files before committing, and re-zip them on checkouts? <S> That might improve diffability a tiny bit. <S> But merging (if you need it) will be a nightmare. <S> If the projects will be in use by only one person at a time, consider Scrivener. <S> Scrivener saves in plain old RTF files. <S> I use that for most of my writing projects, and version them all with git. <S> This works beautifully for my personal projects. <S> It's no good for collaborating, because there are a few xml files that combine both project information (e.g. how the individual RTF files are organized) with user information (e.g. which file is open, and where the carat is in each file). <S> Also, if two writers each add a file, they both get the same file name, and checkins collide in ways that are too difficult to untangle. <S> When I'm collaborating with geeks, I use a text format called Markdown, and use folders to aggregate chunks into larger chunks. <S> I doubt that Markdown can handle complex formatting... <S> but again, perhaps layout and typesetting could be performed separately. <A> I haven't tried it myself, but apparently TortoiseSVN can handle diffing Word Docs. <S> http://tortoisesvn.net/about.html <S> Found out about that in the answers to this stackoverflow post: <S> https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29810/is-version-control-ie-subversion-applicable-in-document-tracking#29837 <S> Update: <S> Team Drive <S> http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/en/project/TeamDrive <A> My suggestion might be quite a no-brainer, but this is something we have used at my old workplace, when we had run out of time and woke up to the nightmare of version hell. <S> (Like having files named SOMETHING_FINAL_FINAL_v2.doc...) <S> What we did was rename the files upon editing by including the date and time of the last edit. <S> Since your people are non-technical and you seem to be quite computer-savvy, I'd suggest you write a short command line script that does just this: opens the last version, lets you edit it and when you close it, makes a copy of the last edit with date and time appended to the file name. <S> If this is in place, the only thing left to do is to enforce using the script and make sure people don't open the file using another method. <S> This should work with virtually any text editor. <S> To make things even simpler, here is the actual code I used for version control (in a different setting), so nobody forgot to register the students who attended class and to make sure we had a backup copy after each modification (if in doubt about how to use it, etc., leave a comment <S> and I'll try to answer the questions): <S> @ECHO <S> OFFSET fname= <S> File_2_edit %date%@%time%.docxSET <S> fname=%fname::=_%SET todel=%fname:*,=%CALL SET <S> fname=%%fname:%todel%=%%SET fname=%fname:,=.docx%"File_2_edit.docx"COPY " <S> File_2_edit.docx" "%fname%"@ECHO <S> ON <S> But I wouldn't suggest this one for documents where copyright issues could arise or non-disclosure agreements have been signed... <S> It is really up to you, depending on what you feel more comfortable with. :)
| Looks like Open Office has a plugin that may do what you want: What you could also do (I didn't test this one that thoroughly), you can use e.g. Google Docs, where several people can edit the same document at the same time.
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Does reading books help writing skills? Just what the title says. I decided to improve my writing skills only for blogging purposes (for starters and no, it's not a part of new year's resolution). I am also not really good at writing (i.e. write a few paragraphs about simple topic/subject). I know that practice makes perfect, but I'm actually at the point where I would like to know what makes the beginning easier. Does reading books help writing in any way? I believe that my main obstacle for writing is inability to clearly express my thoughts. Will reading others' writings help overcome it? <Q> Short answer: <S> Yes. <S> Slightly longer answer: <S> Yes, a lot! <S> All reading is good, but not all reading is equal. <S> All reading will help you absorb the effective use of written language, will increase your facility with words, will enhance your vocabulary, etc. <S> But if you're really serious, you should spend at least some of your time in conscious, directed reading in the genre of your choice. <S> Fiction writers don't just read the masters, they study the masters. <S> They break down the plot structure of great books in order to understand how things flow; they look at characterization and dialogue, and see how great authors use these tools to create compelling reading; they analyze the strengths and weaknesses of different books, and try to understand why the great books are great. <S> In your case, you want to become better at blogging, so you should not just read but study blogs. <S> Find blogs you enjoy, and figure out why. <S> Find blogs you don't enjoy and spend just as much time analyzing the problems there, so you'll know what to avoid. <S> You want to work on clarity, so I would recommend looking at the structure of the blogs you find effective. <S> You're not reading for content so much as you're reading for style and technique. <S> And, while you're at it, read everything else you lay eyes on. <S> Writers read. <S> Absolutely. <A> Absolutely. <S> As you read, you learn subconsciously how to mold plots, create speech patterns, and make realistic characters. <A> Absolutely! <S> A blog entry is a short essay: studying <S> (thanks, @Kate Sherwood!) <S> essays, reading them closely, is always a good bet. <S> The best essay writer I know is EB White: <S> I reread White's work often. <S> One Man's Meat is a rich collection of good writing. <S> Perhaps you're looking for a list of rules or suggestions. <S> None surpasses Strunk and White, The Elements of Style . <S> "The Paris Review" has since birth published interviews with writers about the ways they work. <S> These insights can help. <S> Everyone will tell you to read good writing. <S> I think that bad writing is as valuable. <S> Sometimes, when I come across bad writing and I'm feeling virtuous, I ask why and how it's bad. <S> Then I work to improve it. <S> That exercise helps me greatly. <S> Please don't forget that writing is painstaking hard work: this answer took ninety minutes to write. <S> Finally, you must understand and embrace that good writing of any kind comes mainly from the heart.
| The more you read and absorb, the more creative and the better at writing you should become.
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Should I research what my protagonist’s job would involve, or just create it all from my imagination? My protagonist works in a pharma company and I really don't have a clue about how they work, what kind of a life they live and all. It is required for the plot to make him work in a company which produces drugs. At first, I thought of biotechnology and then ultimately landed in pharmaceuticals because well, they're the same (how stupid of me!). I know that one should write what he is an expert in. But this piece of work revolves around two things of equal importance. One of them is the company's conspiracies. Now, I am an undergraduate and I really do not know how my protagonist's professional life will be.Will my imagination suffice to construct the company, their history and his work-life or will I need to dive in the ocean of R&D?If so, can anyone please guide me as to where can I get an elaborated view of a pharma official's life-style (except searching for a real person who does work in one and ask him directly)? <Q> Why do you not want to ask a real person directly? <S> Most people are pleased if they can tell about their job, especially when an author says he wants to write about it in a novel. <S> This "writing what you know <S> " is becoming more and more dangerous, because it is widely misinterpreted. <S> It's just an advice, that you shouldn't be too disappointed if you try to write literary fiction and all you have ever read are romance stories (and vice versa). <S> So skip that "expert" nonsense. <S> You are a writer. <S> Your job is to make things up. <S> You can even do that without any research. <S> Some readers don't even care if what you write is like it works in real life. <S> After all they bought a fiction novel. <S> Just look at movies. <S> I'm a programmer <S> and I can tell you that every movie I have seen where a hacker is involved tells you totally rubbish. <S> But most people don't care (probably because they do not know better). <S> Now let us they <S> you care (or you care about the readers who care). <S> Then asking people working for a pharma company is the easiest way to get the interesting details. <S> An internet search should give you a good start also. <S> Yes, it's work, but don't expect someone is doing your job and <S> gives you an already elaborated view. <S> If you want to please the readers who care, then research is part of your job. <S> And very likely it will be a remarkable quality improvement for your whole story, even for readers who do not care about the details. <A> Books where the author has done prior research are better reads. <S> This is especially true if your audience has the job you're writing about or does the thing you're describing. <S> Not knowing what you're talking about leads to unbelievable plots and it alienates people who do know a little about the subject you're writing about. <S> Research will also give you more material to use when planning your story and when describing details. <S> Suspended disbelief will only get you so far. <S> For you specifically: Listen to podcasts with interviews of people in the area your character works in. <S> Look up some industry journals. <S> Most of the articles will be technical information but some of them will be career advice or interviews. <S> Search for and read job descriptions on a hiring site. <S> These will have a general list of job duties and qualifications. <S> Email someone in the field with a few questions <S> - you might feel nervous about cold-emailing someone <S> but I bet you will be shocked at how many people are willing to engage with people they don't know. <A> John Smithers touched on something that I believe is really important. <S> As John answered, your solution is to acquire the knowledge that you lack. <S> " <S> Writing what you know" is a call to diligence, not a prerequisite check. <S> In the course of learning about that field, you may realize you need to revise your plot or characters. <S> In order to tease that information out of anyone you engage, identify any key plot points or character behaviors in advance so you can ask the right questions.
| There are lots of professional and industry specific podcasts that chat about work life. Please do some research! The idea behind "write what you know" is that you should understand the subject matter well enough that you won't smack a reader out of disbelief with your ignorance or undermine your thematic concerns with naivete.
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How to improve my skill at writing a question? I'm a member of some SE sites, like SO and CSTheory. In those sites I'm an active member, I'm reading Q&A and also answering some questions or asking questions, but I think my writing is poor. I like to write letters without thinking about grammar (like a child), but I think I'm a bad writer, because too many times my questions and answers are being edited. In fact, most of my problems are in my questions. I don't know how to ask good questions, which means I can't express my problem well (but my answers are not too bad). I want to improve my writing, specifically when I want to ask long questions relating to my field (Computer Science). What's a good practice for this? <Q> I gave you an upvote for your question: I wish more on SO would ask it. <S> Good SO questions and answers are hard work. <S> I think that good questions have been edited and worked over to share some attributes: <S> They are succinct: not too wordy or overlong. <S> They are free of lazy jargon and ill-used shortcut words. <S> They get to the point without unneeeded discursion. <S> They are careful to stay on the point and on topic. <S> They follow the rules of spelling and grammar. <S> Professor Strunk's advice is best, imo: <S> "Vigorous writing is concise. <S> A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. <S> "This requires <S> not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell." <A> I commend you for wanting to improve your writing. <S> :) <S> For example, in your question above: I'm a member of some SE sites, like SO and CSTheory. <S> You need "and" between two items in a list. <S> You need to end a sentence with a period. <S> In those sites I'm an active member. <S> Indefinite article before the noun. <S> You then have a string of clauses which should be separated into sentences. <S> I'm reading Q&A and also answering some Q or asking Q, but I think my writing is very poor. <S> Join the two clauses with "and. <S> " <S> I like to write letter <S> s without thinking about grammar (like a child), <S> but I think I'm a very bad writer, because too many times my questions and answers are being edited. <S> You've written many posts (letters), so make that plural. <S> You are referring to "child" and "writer" as generics, so use the indefinite article. <S> Change the tense so it's not happening in the future, but describing a generic event which happens repeatedly. <S> You get the idea. <S> (I also changed the title of your question because you are asking about how to improve the writing of any question, not just technical ones.) <S> Other than that, read a lot and study how sentences are constructed. <A> One key to academic writing is to think about grammar. <S> Unless you are a completely fluent speaker who has spent much time thinking about grammar in the past so that it is effortless to get it correct, you will make grammatical errors unless you think about it. <S> This will distract and confuse your readers. <S> Other aspects of presenting a question--for example, presenting information in a clear and logical order so that a reader understands the relevant context--are also very important, but doing this well in the face of many grammatical errors is exceedingly difficult. <A> I just typed, "how to ask a good question" into Google and got some surprisingly good results.(I asked Google a good question. <S> LOL.) <S> http://faculty.gvc.edu/ssnyder/121/Goodquestions.html <S> http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#rtfm along with many others more specific to topics other than computing.
| I try to improve my questions by finding and studying good questions. You can look at how other people have edited your questions and compare the changes.
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Adding more characters as the story moves forwards I'm 20 and have been writing a lot of fiction since I was 11, and there is a story that I keep rewriting as I get older and learn more about writing and storytelling. Strangely I haven't done that much reading myself so the Dos and Don'ts are still a bit unclear. The main problem I have right now is that the story centers around several characters that together have to search answers about their origin. But these characters are introduced over time - in the beginning there is only one character (the most important character) but further characters are introduced, each with their own separate storylines from their perspective. Is this a taboo in writing? Should I focus on one or a few characters from the beginning to prevent it from becoming confusing and annoying? <Q> Sounds fine to me. <S> George R.R. Martin 's been doing it for about five thousand pages so far. <S> ETA: <S> Martin makes the vast array of characters work by starting slow, with one family, and building outwards as the family splits apart and the members travel. <S> Ned Stark goes from Winterfell to King's Landing, where we meet another family at the palace, which introduces us to the politics of the country. <S> That's a springboard to other families, other castles, and more politics. <S> He also helps the reader by keeping to one POV per chapter, and naming the character at the top of the chapter, so you know who and where the plot is focusing on. <S> (As some characters shift their internal identities, the names change as well, which is a nice touch.) <S> There's a huge character list with thumbnail descriptions at the end of each book, for those who have difficulty remembering who was doing <S> what to whom six years ago when the last book was published, and several maps as well. <A> I have a few rules for you which I made up just for your case. <S> Follow them rigorously: Rule #1: <S> Rule <S> #2: <S> There are no taboos in writing! <S> Rule <S> #3: <S> There are definitely no taboos in writing! <S> Now I hope we have made that point clear. <S> But for each rule there is an exception where you should do exactly the opposite of what the rule tells you. <S> The prerequisite for using or breaking rules is understanding the rules. <S> You are in the right place ;) <S> First: You cannot please them all. <S> There are readers who get confused with too many characters, no matter where you introduce them. <S> A pity, but that's how it is. <S> So let me tell you a story about Margret. <S> She had a sister, Susann, and they both visit her mother Ann. <S> They met Marie on their way to their Mom's house, the daughter of their neighbor Kate. <S> Kate and Laura, the aunt of Ann, know each other since childhood. <S> Sadly Laura is sitting in her rocking chair all day and Kate doesn't have much time visiting. <S> But she always loved that marmalade Marie was cooking. <S> Now ... where was I ... <S> oh, yes, who is my main character? <S> Yes, I'm overexaggerating, but I wanted to show you, that introducing characters in a short time period (all in the beginning) can be also very confusing. <S> Take your time introducing the protagonists to your audience. <S> But that does not mean that you should bore them. <S> Writing is so lovely complicated, isn't it? :) <A> IN order to be yourself, you must write what you feel led to write. <S> If you want to add POVs <S> (Point Of Views) as you go, then by golly do that! <S> I personally think it's a great idea and would love to see more people do it. <S> I have a similar story to yours, since I, too am about your age and have been writing since I was ten. <S> Have fun writing <S> and I'll look forward to seeing your book in print.
| Ok, back to your question: You want to avoid confusing your readers when introducing all these characters. There are no taboos in writing! Yes, there are rules in writing, what you should do and what you shouldn't. I say go all out on the story and make it the best book you can possibly write!
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How does one include sign language in a dialogue? If one character is using sign language and lip reading while the other is speaking normally, how do you represent the lines of the former? Quotations with "he signed" attribution or italics? E.g. "When did you first feel the pain?" asked the doctor. Two days ago, signed the patient. <Q> Italics make sense when sign is not the language most of the dialogue is in <S> (I think this is a common tactic for "secondary" languages). <S> I guess the only question I would have for you is what is the main language of the dialogue? <S> If it's sign language, I wouldn't give it second class treatment in italics. <A> Yes, italics is exactly how I'd do it. <S> Dean Koontz did that in Watchers, as I recall. <A> I think it would make the most sense to use the primary language in quotations, because as the previous answer stated, using too many italics would end up making the literature seem cluttered. <A> When it comes to actually writing the signer's line, I tend to write them between apostrophes. <S> I find it easier and a little more visually appealing than italics, but still allows the reader to differentiate the two languages. <S> I more commonly save the italicization for internal thoughts. <S> ' <S> I wish I could go to the park.' <S> vs. <S> I wish I could go to the park.
| But if sign is the main language in your piece, I would just put it in quotes like any other dialogue.
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How to write about things which depend on each other I am writing a technical documentation about a product. Now problem is there are many interrelated and interdependent concepts. I am just confused how to put them in order. I mean if I talk about first concept, it needs a little understanding of second topic and if I talk about second topic, it needs the understanding of first. <Q> There are two general approaches, depending on the amount of detail you need from the "other" concept. <S> For exmaple: To configure a subscription, do (blah blah blah) and specify the callback URL. <S> (A callback is a service you write that this service will call with updated data. <S> See Section X.) <S> If the topics or their inter-connections are more complicated, the other approach is to write a brief overview that introduces all the concepts. <S> Think of this as breadth-first documentation. <S> The overview should point to the more-detailed documentation on each topic. <A> This is very common in certain types of projects. <S> Just remember to follow the same relationship logic in setting out the individual elements in the main discussion. <S> Think of it as presenting a table of contents first and then the chapters in that same order -- only here the TOC is non-linear. <S> Do let us know how you look at this option. <A> I think this is a common situation. <S> Most of the systems have different parts that interact with one another, and with the external word. <S> The best presentations / documentations I have seen all start by first describing the environment in which the system evolves, with a high-level overview of the system itself. <S> Then they quickly present one or two common uses and how they are dealt with. <S> I think you should probably follow the same pattern. <S> Introduction <S> (gives some context) Overview (of the different parts) And then go on describing each part individually. <A> The only way of not having forward references is to build up everything from the bottom. <S> So you start with a glossary, defining the terms you are going to use. <S> In some cases, these can cross reference to each other, as they will all be in the same area. <S> Then you do your definitions - the basic processes that are involved, again with some cross reference if needed. <S> You can also do "see also" type references to later in the manual, so referring in the definition of a wizzlet process, you can say "for details on how to initiate and configure a wizzlet process, see section 26 below ). <S> This means that peple who want to refer to this for a specific need can follow these through, but it can also be read ignoring this. <S> Hopefully, by this point, you will be able to write the main bulk of the text, referring back but not forward <S> ( although further see also references might be useful - <S> these are to provide links that are not necessary to follow to understand ). <S> In your specific case, you would define the principles behind topic 1 and topic 2, with possible cross references if necessary, although if you can avoid them, even better. <S> The detailed interaction of these two is dealt with in the main text. <S> So, if you need a define Cyclone Bigit, which is created from a Convex Waddle, and the convex waddle only has a meaning as the progenitor of a Cycle Bigit, then you define the meanings first - what is a Bigit? <S> What is a Waddle? <S> Then you define the Cyclone Bigit, irrespective of how it is generated, or what it is for. <S> You also define - irrespective of context - the Convex Waddle. <S> Once you have these both defined, in a way that is insufficient to use them, but sufficient to appreciate their potential reference, you can explain how you take and define a Waddle and make your Bigit out of it. <S> Hopefully, someone reading it all through will have their understanding taken slowly through the whole process, and grasp what is needed by the end. <A> Whenever I'm in this situation I leverage the following: <S> Glossaries : Doing a glossary saves me from bloating a document with detailed explanations on "basic stuff". <S> I instead give a 1 sentence explanation useful enough for the rest of the context. <S> This one liner comes to me after writing the glossary entry and rewriting it several times after. <S> Metaphors : If one thing is to hard to explain to a target audience, sometimes a supplementary explanation will just do. <S> This works well when the metaphor is replacing other concepts than the central one I'm trying to focus on. <S> Cross-referencing : Sometimes you just have to explain the whole shenanigan, but rather do it one at a time and provide a link/reference to another section <S> (i.e. "see page X", "read section Y"). <S> Similar to when having to use glossaries, but a glossary entry alone wont be enough. <S> I use LaTeX and doing Glossaries and cross-referencing is easy as cake.
| If you don't need a lot, write about subject A, and when the first interaction with B hits add a parenthetical sentence, call-out note, or footnote (depending on your style guide) describing the other concept and pointing to its main documentation. You can try beginning with presenting a tree structure (not necessarily a diagram) for a quick overall picture of the elements and their interdependence at a glance -- an aerial view, kind of.
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Confusing writing in order to show how character is falling asleep - is it OK? Generally, writing something confusing is not good. On the other hand, a writer should show rather than tell . (Generally.) What I'm trying to do is imitate the way one's thoughts get all muddled while falling asleep. The settings: Character being hunted by people who are trying to kill her. Now she's hiding, and - after so much time on the run - is falling asleep. Her drowsy brain tossed at her fake, annoying sounds of questions and requests in voices of people she knew. She wanted to fall asleep and sleep but she couldn’t sleep because she couldn’t fall asleep even though she was very tired. She wanted to giver herself away to her pursuers, to sleep, to death. She was tired, like a brink crawling and skipping off and on the height of a wall together with something else that wasn’t exactly the opposite of the sort of idea that tended to laugh particularly because when it was time to throw the street under the most medium lightning snake nobody would have to. My question: Is this a valid way to demonstrate what the character is going through, or is it simply too weird and confusing? <Q> I like this idea, actually. <S> I'd straighten it up just a little: <S> She was tired, like a bug crawling and skipping off and on the height of a wall together with something else that wasn’t exactly the opposite of the sort of idea, sort of laughing <S> but not really meaning it particularly because when it was time to throw the street under the most medium lightning nobody would have to because she wasn't serious, not really. <S> There's just enough of a thread of an idea which can be followed semi-logically, without becoming entirely gibberish. <S> It's a cool technique. <S> Go for it! <A> I agree with Lauren. <S> I like the concept a lot. <S> It is a very difficult balance to try to use a unique literary device like purposefully garbled inner-dialog while remaining invisible as the author. <S> If you're too obvious it feels out of place, but if you're too subtle then it just looks like sloppy writing. <S> It's a bold move for sure. <S> I can think of a couple alternatives you might use instead of, or in conjunction with your idea... <S> They signal a reader to read this text in a different way without necessarily having to say anything at all. <S> Her drowsy brain tossed at her fake, annoying sounds of questions and requests in voices of people she knew. <S> She wanted to fall asleep and sleep <S> but she couldn’t sleep because she couldn’t fall asleep even though she was very tired. <S> She wanted to giver herself away to her pursuers, to sleep, to death. <S> She was tired... <S> note: not suggesting that structure specifically, just an example. <S> Alliteration is another poetic tool that could get the point you want across. <S> Wordsworth was the master of alliteration in my opinion. <S> Anytime I wonder if it's possible to make words sound like something completely unfathomable <S> I read his poetry and am usually inspired. <S> I don't have a specific suggestion here, but I do think that classical poetry could offer something more to your idea. <S> A final thought. <S> To answer your question as briefly as possible, I would say yes it is Ok. <S> The one thought I can't shake though <S> is, if you had not specifically asked if it was Ok, would I have noticed what you were doing on my own? <S> I think you might get a better response to your raw idea if you ask us blind next time. <S> It might have been the same, I might have thought it was really clever, but unfortunately I'll never know because I already knew what you were doing before I read your work. <S> Very interesting idea <S> Jacob, good luck with it! <A> I think the effect is absolutely worth working toward, but I'm not sure you're working in the right direction. <S> The excerpt you gave, for me, felt stimulating rather than lulling. <S> The first sentence was frustrating ('tossed at her' made me think the brain was tossing (like tossing and turning) in response to the voices) so my brain was on edge, and then the repetition of 'sleep' and 'asleep' seemed to intensify rather than sooth. <S> I'm not sure about the long sentences, either. <S> I think they tend to build toward a climax, rather than ease into relaxation. <A> You have to be the careful type. <S> I am annoyed with the repetition of something in your excerpt. <S> "She wanted to fall asleep and sleep <S> but she couldn’t sleep because she couldn’t fall asleep even though she was very tired. <S> " <S> This was very annoying as you have to wrap mind around it. <S> But, I think you should go for idea, nice to try it and see respone from website like this.
| Poetic offsets are a useful tool if not used in excess. So, absolutely OK to try, but this attempt didn't work for me.
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Is it frustrating not to know the narrator's gender? I have written a 1st person piece and reading it I realize it's very difficult to tell if the narrator is male or female. There are one or two clues, and they come pretty late in the piece. Would you as readers busy yourself with trying to figure out gender? Or do you think you would automatically assume one gender? and then would it be frustrating to find out you were wrong? Would you as a writer try to clarify this early on? -- edit: There are good answers. Obviously part of every answer is that it depends on what I want to achieve. To clarify, it isn't important information for the understanding of the piece, as far as I am concerned. I don't really mind if it was understood one way or another; I just want it out of the reader's way. <Q> Normally the purpose of fiction is to let the reader immerse into your story - to get him caught deeply into the world you have created. <S> If the reader is wondering about the narrator's gender all the time, there will be no immersion. <S> If he assumes a gender and it is wrong <S> then he will be ejected out of your story when he discovers his error. <S> If you want to avoid that, clarify the gender early on. <S> Otherwise leave it. <S> Maybe you want to play with the reader and fool him a little bit, that's your choice. <A> As a reader, I tend to assume a gender (often but not always the same as the author's). <S> The only reason this would bother me is that it's jarring when I discover I'm wrong, as I have to reimagine the character. <S> As a writer I do try to clarify it early, and that's the advice I've heard from others as well. <S> It's tricky in first person, especially if the piece begins with the narrator alone. <S> Mentioning their gender-typical clothing is a pretty simple way to do it. <S> Another possible trick is to have the narrator think of him/herself like "not my mother's daughter," "one of the boys," "the smartest girl in class"--anything that drops a clue early. <A> My response would have to be that the narrator's gender is irrelevant unless you choose to make it relevant. <S> I would say, in addition to that, that if you do choose to make the gender of the narrator relevant, that you should decide early in your writing whether you want to make it clear or hide it from your reader. <S> It can be a very powerful effect to cause the reader to realize they had been making a false assumption throughout your entire story. <S> The one warning I would give you is to not let it overshadow other ideas or plot twists that you want the reader to discover. <S> Depending on how jarring you make such a realization for the reader, it could have a positive or negative effect on the rest of your story. <A> However,if done deliberately to make a point it can be effective. <S> Heinlein did it in several of his novels with the main characters race. <A> I'd ask whether you are trying to <S> do anything with the reader's knowledge of the narrator's gender. <S> From your added comment it seems like you are not; in that case, I'd ask whether it's important for the story whether the narrator even has a particular gender. <S> Again, it seems like it's not. <S> I'd say, then, that you can improve your story by tying in this loose thread: give the character a motivation, or experience, or personality related to their gender. <S> The reader will make an assumption about all of these things and, if you don't accept the task of addressing the consequences, they will be left with a sense of incompleteness. <S> Write tight, is what I'm saying. <A> Part of the beauty provided by the written story is that the reader's imagination can paint a vivid image however that reader's mind may wander. <S> Otherwise, I personally may have my own narrator's voice that I like to imagine. <S> Being informed of the gender may remove that simple pleasure from the reading. <S> On the other hand, I like the comments about how it can be woven into the story line, and even end up being contrary to what the reader originally supposed. <S> And it could be quite fun for the reader to be taken in in that way. <S> (For example, a story about a boy growing up, as told by his best friend. <S> The majority of the story could be all about boys' things, but the narrator could end up being the girl next door. <S> That kind of story could be appealing. <S> ;) <A> If you characterize your narrator, then add gender. <S> If you keep your narrator the omniscient without characterization, no need to mention anything about gender. <S> Consider the 'Harry Potter' novels. <S> Is there any mention of the narrator's gender? <S> Or even that there is a narrator at all? <S> Now look at John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" <S> (I just happen to adore this book, and thus I am using it as my example). <S> The very first word of the novel is "I". <S> Since the narrator is characterized, the author must then tell us a little about who the person is. <S> It may be the intent of the author to string the reader along a bit- making the identity of the narrator part of the story. <S> But unless he/she has a good reason for doing it (intrinsic to the story), the narrator generally remains the anonymous omniscient. <A> I recently wrote a short story which was written in the first-person style. <S> As part of this I chose specifically not to disclose the setting and the gender of the character. <S> Everyone who read the story said it was brilliant, so in my opinion you don't need to disclose the narrators gender.
| I can only imagine that the narrator's gender is only important if it becomes part of the story. As a reader discovering your implicit assumptions about a character were wrong can be disconcerting.
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How can I edit my own, very old work? I have about a hundred pages of a novel I wrote in high school, I like the concept behind the writing but I'm finding it extremely difficult to go back and read/edit it again. I last edited the document in 2007. The work received lots of praise at the time but, as I look back and read it myself, it's embarrassing. At the same time I'm attached and want to finish it. I'm concerned with how much work editing it all would be and that makes me afraid I will never finish it. I'm thinking of three ways of handling this: Throw the old copy in the trash and completely rewrite it. I hesitate to do this because the amount of work was already intimidating; if I do this I think I might abandon the project. Read and edit page by page, fixing all the little things I don't like. This feels logical but I don't know if it's the best approach. Read the whole thing over once like a new reader before I start considering edits. <Q> There are three aspects to consider: <S> The plot <S> The characters <S> The writing If you want to know if the project is worth pursuing at all, read the entire thing from scratch. <S> Furthermore, read it and try to pretend you aren't the author. <S> Now: Do you like it? <S> Do you like the premise? <S> When you're done, do youwant to know what happens next? <S> Do you like the characters? <S> Do you care for the people you've beenreading about? <S> Do you understand them? <S> Do they feel real? <S> Do you like how it's written? <S> For the most part, does the prose work? <S> If you enjoyed the story as a story, and not as your story, then it's worth fixing. <S> If you hate the construction (the writing), break it back down into an outline, save the few sparkling sentences, throw it out, and start over. <S> Yes, it will be a lot of work. <S> If writing were easy, people would take up poetry for a summer job instead of flipping burgers at McDonald's. <S> If you don't like the plot, write up detailed studies of your characters and find something else for them to do. <S> Throw out this book and write a different one. <S> If you don't like the characters, figure out what the original purpose of the story was and tell it some other way. <A> Most authors writing a novella/novel length piece don't typically just do repetitive straight reads. <S> When working on large pieces I like to color-code my text for easier editing. <S> When I'm working from a simple formula I'll give the protagonist a color, the antagonist a color and the relationship character a color. <S> You can color large portions of description/dialog/action. <S> It makes editing large works much more reasonable and it makes it much easier to edit works you've set aside for a while. <S> There's no right number of revisions, but most well known authors I've listened to on the topic would say 5-10 revisions is standard for a novel. <S> Breaking my editing passes into sub-categories makes me vastly more effective and helps keep my attention on what I wrote, and not on what I remember having written. <A> Definitely the third one. <S> Reading the whole thing will help you decide between 1 and 2. <S> The decision between rewriting the whole thing from scratch and editing the latest draft depends both on how good the piece is, and how much your writing has improved since you last touched it. <S> If you've improved a lot, it might be easier to rewrite it than to edit it. <A> I've had the exact same problem. <S> What I ended up doing was a mixture of options 1 and 2. <S> For the most part, I'd rewrite the story paragraph by paragraph, writing the new one beside the old paragraph, then deleting the old one. <S> Basically, what needed editing was edited, and what needed rewriting was rewritten. <S> The advantage of this method? <S> -It felt like I was merely editing (because it was done in small chunks, and I was simply making changes within the existing manuscript instead of facing a blank page) when in fact I was rewriting . <S> Also, I didn't have to actually rewrite any part where simple editing would suffice, thus sparing unnecessary work. <S> Good luck! <A> It's good that you're embarrassed by it, that scrutiny will help you. <S> I'm in a similar situation with a novel I wrote <S> but I haven't let it gather enough dust to view it with fresh eyes... <S> I would suggest you open it up and read through the whole thing with a red marker pen, tear it apart like a college proffessor- with the cynicism of a publisher. <S> Good luck my man <A> If you don't like it that much when you re-read it, stow it away for a couple of years. <S> During this time you might try taking the concept and re-writing it with a different viewpoint character and a fresh setting. <S> That will give you another manuscript to work with down the road. <S> It may end up being the novel you want it to be. <S> Or it may not. <S> Or it may need to be stowed away for a number of years before re-reading. <S> Write a couple of novels between your current reading of the first novel you wrote, and the next reading. <S> So: say it's now 2017 <S> and you've written another 120,000 words between when you read your first novel and stowed it away. <S> NOW re-read it. <S> You'll be a different person and able to see it with new eyes. <S> I recently re-read a novel I wrote in 2007. <S> I'd re-read <S> it a couple of times in the intervening years <S> and I always thought there was something there <S> but I couldn't quite see what was crap and what was worth keeping. <S> And a lot of it felt too confessional. <S> I read it again with a friend a few months ago (it's 2015 now), and we workshopped it, and now I'm very clear that there's a LOT in it worth keeping, and I have an idea for an entirely different story I'm writing around it (expanding it from 50,000 to 90,000-100,000 words or so). <S> The context I'm adding makes the previous writing even more interesting than it was before. <S> So keep in mind: lots of writing improves over time, and even if it seems awful to you when you read it at 5 years, another 5 could make all the difference in terms of making it clear whether it's usable or not. <S> And in the meantime: write. <S> Write, write, write, write, write.
| Reflect on your self-criticism for a while and then undergo a massive rewrite; using your old draft as a guide (keeping whatever you like and what you feel works and trashing the rest) Don't throw it away, re-read it. For me color-coding is my favorite editing tool.
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Converting ms-word to ebook vs. writing from scratch? Can anyone, who has any experience with writing ebooks, recommend a way for me to proceed? I have a book in Microsoft Word heavy on mathematics: formulas (inline), equations (numbered) and diagrams. I want to create an ebook from it (both epub and kindle versions), I was thinking one of two ways: Convert Word document to ebook somehow Write an ebook from scratch, striping all ms-word formatting For #2 I am deciding between: LaTeX Markdown reStructuredText PS: I use both Windows and Linux - so don't worry about OS, I can use anything (except MacOS). <Q> After doing a bit of digging, Aspose Words Express is the best resource that I came across for converting your files. <S> I've used Calibre before, but I've had very mixed results. <S> Calibre is great for converting my own books for reading on various devices, but it can sometimes leave a lot of work in terms of editing artifacts for a press-ready piece of work. <S> I did use the Aspose converter a few times. <S> All I can say is that it works pretty well and that I was satisfied with it. <S> One technical note: the Aspose website does require a login to download, but the express version file converter seems to be completely free and available offline in the PC format. <A> Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords (which distributes to B&N, Apple, Sony, etc.) <S> all have their own conversion programs that start with a Word document. <S> I'm not sure how well they would handle the mathematical bits, but it might be worth a shot. <A> Any of the different converters that have been mentioned here may work, but more than likely, you will find at least some problems with certain formulas. <S> Because each of the different conversion programs use different processes or algorithms, it would be nearly impossible to write one document that would work for all of the different formats you want. <S> For example, one converter might render a decent version for the mobi file, but the epub file turns out to be unreadable. <S> It's fairly simple to do by just taking a screenshot and opening it MS Paint or any other imaging software and then cropping out the portion of the image that you don't need. <S> I have done this with great results for a number of books that I have formatted for others. <S> One word of caution, however. <S> If you have large images due to long, complex formulas, then people using smaller reading devices (smart phones) may have a hard time enlarging the image enough to make it readable. <S> You can test this by converting your file and then opening it on a smart phone to test it out before sending it off to be published. <S> If the image is too large, you may want to break it up into sections from top to bottom. <S> Don't ever section it from side to side because that will cause the images to appear out of order. <S> If your formulas are too wide, you may have to rewrite them so that they can be displayed better from top to bottom.
| The best way I have found to address this is to convert all of your formulas to images. You are likely to have to do some very thorough checking, regardless which method you choose, but Calibre and Aspose Words Express are both worth a try before you take the time to do a full rewrite.
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Will science fiction as a genre ever go the way of the western? It is a fairly undisputed fact that the genre of western fiction has had a declining audience for decades. The Western Writers Association still exists, but if I had never worked in a Border bookstore I wouldn't even know that the genre was still stocked (on an area spanning maybe 2 shelves?) in bookstores. A magazine which tried to focus on the genre and bring it back into more prominence in the 2000s folded after just two issues . The western's appeal - based in television and the cultural ethos of the time - seems to have faded. Will the same thing ever happen to science fiction? For example in the United States the space shuttle program has ended. Does this mean the end of space-focused novels? Will the genre change to focus on new developments in science or even fade from the popular consciousness? Or is there something different about science fiction's appeal from the appeal of the western, something that makes it more like romance? <Q> Westerns are essentially historical fiction, set in a very specific time and place. <S> And there's a mythos associated with that time and place that may be out of step with modern life. <S> Most successful modern westerns of which I'm aware have subverted the western tradition, making it grittier and more realistic. <S> I'm thinking of movies, but also Cormac McCarthy's trilogy, etc. <S> So maybe the traditional western tropes of simple, strong heroes and black and white hats/values no longer resonates with people. <S> Will the same happen with Science Fiction? <S> I doubt it, just because it's so much more wide-open. <S> Westerns are linked to one place, one time. <S> Science Fiction is anywhere, and almost any time. <S> Science Fiction doesn't have to be about space, it's anything set in the future of the world. <S> So even if society loses its belief in progress and science, it'll still be interested in figuring out what the world might be like in the future. <A> Science fiction has the advantage of being more loosely and broadly defined than the Western. <S> Westerns are limited by definition to a narrow group of settings. <S> But SF? <S> As Nabokov said , "If we start sticking group labels, we'll have to put The Tempest in the SF category". <S> Now, maybe " space opera " will go away after we've been in space for a while, sure, or some of the other sub-genres. <S> That in my mind is similar to Westerns going away. <S> We humans have always loved stories that deal with the nature of our world, the forces that control it, the problem of the future, etc. <S> In ancient times the stories were about the Gods - the Iliad , the Odyssey . <S> In later times we have, for example, the Divine Comedy - a work that falls squarely into the definition of modern fantasy! <S> But now that our world is explicated by science and we've become a scientific people, we use science fiction as the fabric with which we weave our myths. <S> I daresay we're always going to need myths. <A> I'd like to add, in the realm of screenwriting, science fiction as a genre is expanding more and more. <S> With the current state of special effects technology and the lower costs involved in making a beleivable story, the future is wide open for stories that previously were too expensive to make or even imagine on the big screen. <S> We will always look to the future and speculate on what it holds. <S> We now can bring these stories to light in ways nver imagined before. <S> And yes, Mary Shelly is considered the first science fiction author. <S> In her time technology was created to use electricity to galvanize metal and this sparked her imagination to speculate on what else it could do. <S> It also touched on themes such as man acting like God and overstepping his bounds. <S> Again, a prevalent concern in the early days of the technological revolution. <S> In the 1950's we saw science fiction movies that dealt with what could happen during an atomic appocalypse. <S> We were in the height of the cold war and this was on everyone's mind. <S> The original The Day <S> the Earth Stood <S> Still dealt with an alien intervention to stop an inevitable nuclear holocaust. <S> In the recent remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still we see a theme that deals with the environment and the reason for the alien visit is too stop us from destroying our environment. <S> Twenty years from now we may see another re-boot of the movie with another theme. <S> Perhaps controlling our population, or preventing us from strip mining every planet and asteriod in the neighborhood... <A> It will only go away if interest in/fascination with the future goes away. <S> Even if really bad things happen and science gets demonized (more than it already has been, LOL), it will still be around. <S> I saw a TV show the other day (title was something like the prophets of science fiction) which asserted that the first sci fi work was Mary Shelly's Frankenstein! <S> Although Sci Fi usually explores new science and technology and its possible impact on humanity, the best works really focus on who we are, where we come from, and "the meaning of life, the universe, and everything" <S> ;) . <S> Mankind will always ask those questions. <S> It's at the core of our beings. <S> Religion won't go away either for the same reasons (and more). <S> People will always ask, "What if ... ?"
| I wouldn't necessarily give up on the genre entirely, because there have been some successful recent iterations, but obviously it's in decline.
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Where should index and glossary appear in a report? I am writing my thesis and now wonder whether I should typeset index and glossary as an appendix or after them. There's no department-level accepted writing style, so my adviser's opinion might be different from that of my thesis committee. Hence, I am not only supposed to be accountable for my scientific participation; but also the typesetting and formatting of the thesis. This is why I am looking for a justifiable answer. For better or worse, the common practice for scientific writing style in Farsi (which I am supposed to present my thesis in) is to adopt and adapt style guides of English. <Q> This question is difficult to answer because there might be differences in departments/disciplines/committees/etc like Lauren Ipsum mentioned in the comments. <S> In which domain is the thesis (or report?)? <S> If you look in a book like "The Craft of Scientific Writing" by Michael Alley (1996), you see that he has Glossary and Index after the Appendices, but not as part of the Appendices , which makes sense for a readers point of view. <S> If I want to find out where something is mentioned, I start from the back of the book and have the index, next in importance are looking up terms I do not know (anymore), i.e., the glossary. <S> While this was a book on writing and not a thesis, perhaps this is a compromise for you and your adviser (don't go head to head over this issue) -- put them after the appendices ("Appendix x", "Appendix y", "Glossary", "Index"), but do not name them so. <S> After all, they are an important part of the work and not optional. <A> The answer is for you to do what the universoty or your department requires. <S> There is no universal answer to this. <S> For academic writing in English, one would likely be using the APA Style Guide or the MLA Style Guide . <S> (See this question for more on style guides in general.) <S> Different departments may have different standards, so check with your advisor. <S> There may even be more than one, so make sure you're using the right guide. <S> (Here's an example of a thesis style guide , but this will almost certainly not apply to your school.) <S> The bottom line <S> : Check what style guides your university requires and use those. <A> When I wrote my thesis, the Graduate School had a guide with very strict rules for the layout and formatting of anything that was to be submitted to them. <S> If you had something wrong (as in your margins off by 1/10"), they would not accept it. <S> Who do you turn the final copy of the thesis over to? <S> Check with that group.
| There may be a university style guide for you to follow, to handle issues specific to your educational institution.
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How do I create a book cover for my self-published book for under $500? I'm a self-published author, I write non-fiction. I would like my book to have a reasonably good cover and stand out among others, but I'm not ready to spend more than $500 on it. What are my options? <Q> $500 is more than enough to get a pro to do your cover for you. <S> It wouldn't be enough for an individual photo shoot, I don't think, but there's lots of people make stock-photograph covers for a couple hundred bucks. <S> Find a self-pubbed book with a cover you like, and see if you can find the cover credits. <S> Or, hell, find an industry-pubbed book with a cover you like; a lot of their cover artists are probably working freelance. <A> I think there a few different paths you may go here. <S> One way would be to try to find an illustrator who'd sell you the work of his own to be used as book cover. <S> You can do this on sites like IllustrationMundo, DirectoryOfIllustration (beware, lots of agents instead of actual designers on this website) and HireAnIllustrator. <S> It may be pretty difficult to find relevant works there, because those sites allow to search by illustrators, but not keywords that might be relevant to your book. <S> Another way is to try to craft one yourself with numerous software available. <S> Just type in "make book cover" in Google <S> and you'll be enlightened with tons of cheap-looking software packages promising you super skills in designing a book cover. <S> Finally, there are stock images websites where you can purchase an image to be used as a book cover. <A> Look for someone who is starting out and wants to build a resume (not someone who's already established). <S> With some work, you can definitely find a good young illustrator at that price range, and you'll help them in the process. <A> You might want to look at some of the artists listed here in the KindleBoards Yellow Pages . <S> You should be able to find a very talented artist who can help you develop an e-book cover for under $500 easily. <S> Some of the folks listed here are mediocre, but there are many who are amazing! <S> I personally have used Glendon Haddix for two of my book covers and have been most pleased with his work. <S> He does excellent work and is very responsive. <S> (He is also well within your price range.) <S> Some of these artists provide premade covers at very low prices, and most of them will provide examples of their work. <S> Take the time to look at a few and see if you find someone who has done something that catches your eye. <S> I'm sure you won't be disappointed! <A> Find a good artist and offer them a reasonable contract, but whatever you do, don't promote spec work! <S> As a writer you should know better. <S> Contests produce some good results, but that kind of thing devalues all of our work as artists. <A> You could try holding a design contest on 99Designs . <S> I just ran a logo design contest for $500 and received 50 different designs I could choose from and was very satisfied with the results.
| $500 is enough to find a good illustrator / designer. The most notable and closest to the book industry is Get Book Cover , which sells fine-quality illustration and photography works as book covers, allows keywords search and claims to have an in-browser editor to put title and author credits on the cover, as well as convert it to various formats for digital and print use.
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ISBN - does it uniquely identify book dimension? (I'm not sure this question fits here but this site seems the most appropriate within stackexchange network...) I'm trying to buy a some book from NHBS (a field guide). The problem is that the same field guide is often printed in 2 versions: smaller one for usage in the field, bigger one for comfortable reading at home. The question is: will both versions of the book have different ISBN, or it might happen that they have the same ISBN? Note that the dimension is often the only difference between the two versions, the publisher, year etc. will be the same. Does ISBN uniquely identify a book dimension? (Background: I must order the book from NHBS (my company rules), but NHBS doesn't publish dimensions of the book. So I look up the book dimensions on Amazon and then look at the ISBN, if it's the same. But then I must know that ISBN will surely differ for both formats!) <Q> It absolutely SHOULD be different for both formats. <S> That said... <S> If it were published by a big publisher, I'd be totally confident that it would be. <S> But I don't know anything about the NHBS, so <S> it's not impossible that they've gotten a little sloppy and not bothered. <S> And Amazon is a bit worrisome because they have their own book numbering system, and tend to include the ISBN as a detail, rather than their primary identifier. <S> So they might be a bit sloppy as well. <S> I looked at the books, and given the price involved, I think I'd give the company a call and make sure you're getting the right thing. <S> Personal contact can be fun. <A> I know that ISBN numbers are not the same when the paper stock is changed to be "acid free", so even with the same dimension a book could have different ISBN numbers. <S> Publishers use ISBN numbers to keep track of their inventory and costs/profits, etc... <S> So they certainly would want to know which dimension of the book was ordered more often, and of course the buyers would want think that if they ordered a book with the same ISBN number as someone else they would get the same identical book. <S> However I would think it is up to the publisher to decide. <S> For instance, if there was a minor adjustment to the paper size and they were no longer going to be offering the older size, the publisher may just decide to keep the same ISBN number. <S> To summarize: Different versions of the book may have different ISBN, or may have the same ISBN ISBN does not uniquely identify a book dimension. <A> I'm working with a writer who's self-publishing, and she had to get a different ISBN for the hardcover, softcover, and eBook versions of her novel. <S> I remember reading somewhere that if you issue a new version of the book (change the content in any significant way), you need a new ISBN as well. <S> So yes, it should be different, but I agree with Kate's suggestion to call the company and find out. <A> Officially, you should have a new ISBN number for every version of your book, including dimension sizes. <S> the only exception is for minor grammatical, spelling, punctuation and minor editing purposes. <S> If there is a change in a character's name or more than 5 paragraphs in the whole story are altered, it is considered a new Edition and needs a new number.
| I am pretty sure that the ISBN number would be different if the dimensions of the book were not the same.
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How can I cut my prep work to get to writing more quickly? When it comes to fiction writing, I love creating characters and watching them run with the story under my pen. I spend a lot of time at the office coming up with exciting ideas of what and who to write about, and on the way home, I can't wait to get to my desk or notebook. However, when I walk through the door, I inevitably turn on the TV, play a video game, or find some other task to take up my writing time. We all know people like that, right? It's not that these things are more exciting to me than writing. I've boiled it down to that they are easier to do. Before I can write, I have a lot of fleshing-out that must happen to my ideas before I can get to the "letting the character run with the story" step. Characterization, motivation, setting development, plotting, research, filling in any holes I've discovered through the prewriting process...all before I've put pencil to paper. It's much simpler to turn on a distraction. I think my problem is too much prep work. By the time I finish it all, I usually burn out on the story and lose interest in writing it. Is there a way to determine the bare basics of what I need to have figured out and to deal with the rest in the process of writing and revisions? Edit: I've received a number of great answers so far, each of which contains things I plan to apply, but I feel my question needs some editing to better explain my writing approach. As I've mentioned in a comment below, I have had tremendous success with forum roleplays. In this context, much of the "prep work," particularly setting and the overarching conflict, is already taken care of by the forum creator. I have only to create a character with their own desires, motivations, and obstacles before I can jump in. I realized after my comment that I enjoy plotting in my roleplays as well, but I usually do this as I'm writing, in collaboration with other players I'm working closely with. Usually I get in contact with them to suggest future events. I have tried to create a couple forum RPs of my own, but have burnt out before getting either of them running. Obviously developing setting and overarching conflict will have to be skills I develop to be a successful author. In the meantime, I think the closer I can bring my writing process to my roleplaying process, the better off I'll be. Any suggestions? <Q> I think the problem is that writing is work. <S> The stuff you call 'prep work' is essentially daydreaming. <S> All the usual suggestions will apply here, I think. <S> Set a daily or weekly goal for yourself - an hour a day of writing, or five thousand words a week, or whatever seems challenging but achievable. <S> If you have nothing to say, you can sit there and write about how you have nothing to say, but you absolutely have to get the words out. <S> Join a writers' group where you're expected to share your work. <S> Find a writing buddy who can nag you when you don't produce and praise you when you do. <S> Don't let yourself make excuses. <S> If you're serious about being a writer, you have to write . <S> In terms of what the bare basics are before you start writing - that's going to be something you have to figure out on your own. <S> There are people who sit down with nothing and write full novels. <S> There are others who outline exhaustively. <S> I think it depends a bit on genre: you can probably 'pants' a Romance, but you probably need an outline for a mystery or an intricate spy thriller. <S> Maybe you should start with some short works so you won't feel the need for so much prep and will be able to achieve a first draft in a short period of time. <S> Then find someone to share the work with; getting feedback is huge motivation, at least for me. <S> ETA: <S> Based on your ETA <S> I'm going to <S> You sound like a very collaborative person, so I think you may be struggling with the solitude of traditional novel writing. <S> If you absolutely want to write novels right away, maybe you could find a community where you could post chapter-by-chapter to get feedback and encouragement. <S> I'm not too collaborative at all, and I still benefit from having a small online community with whom I share my work as I go. <S> A novel takes a LONG time to finish, and it's really hard to put all that work in without getting any reward. <S> Alternatively, you could try co-writing something, but I think you'll have better luck getting a quality co-author if you have at least a few short stories to show that you're worth working with. <A> This is a common problem. <S> I myself conquered this only last year. <S> There is no one reason and no two writers suffer from the same set of reasons in the same proportion. <S> But here are some things to try out: <S> Start with any old nonsensical sentence or scene that comes to your mind and build it up. <S> I once started an exercise with "Mr. Frost popped another banana into his mouth..." <S> It became a short story of intergalactic intrigue and comedy <S> (I never finished it though, but that's okay). <S> Keep doing this until sentence formation comes to you naturally. <S> This may take months! <S> Prep work is definitely a plus. <S> But avoid analysis paralysis. <S> Go for more depth and less scope, initially. <S> What are the characters wearing? <S> What color are the walls? <S> What are their facial expressions? <S> What are the trees like? <S> What are the sounds you hear? <S> Build it up from there. <S> When you master the above two abilities, going from a scene in your head to a paragraph is easy. <S> It just takes practice. <S> It's kind of like learning the guitar -- first you think it's anatomically impossible to hold those chords <S> but you keep trying because you see people with much smaller hands do it. <S> Similarly, know that it can be done and just keep practicing and trying different things till you get it. <S> Check your writing tool. <S> It may be putting you off. <S> If you use a word processor, try switching to pen and paper for a while. <S> Or, try a less cluttered word processor. <S> After many years, I found that applications like Microsoft Word do not work for me. <S> I hate worrying about saving and backup. <S> A cloud based editor solved the problem. <S> This answer has some additional points that may be relevant. <S> Keep going until you develop the habit. <S> Share chapters with him/ <S> her as you progress. <S> You might find that this helps you not to abandon projects mid-way. <A> I'll address the question in the post, rather than in the title: " <S> Is there a way to determine the bare basics of what I need to have figured out and to deal with the rest in the process of writing and revisions?" <S> Since this varies for everyone, the only way to know for sure is to try different things and see what works. <S> What happens if you skip thinking about motivation, setting, plot, and just go from idea to churning out words?
| amplify my suggestion that you write something short and then get it out there for feedback. Freewriting exercises - Whenever you feel like it, open up your note book or your word processor and just start writing. You already know that too much prep works makes you lose interest. Character motivations, back stories can be built in after you gather some writing momentum. For example, paint your scenes and events in your head in detail. If you can, find a trusted friend with a good understanding and taste for your particular genre.
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Is it legal to write about trademarked material and use the terms? I am contemplating writing a technical book (and probably self-publishing it) on a proprietary programming interface for a well-known software package produced by a very large company. The company name and many of its packages are of course trademarked. Is it legal for to use their package names in my book? Is it legal to write about their software (in a good light, of course)? If so, how do I go about addressing the trademarks - in a foreword that states something along the lines of "foo is a trademark of bar"? I have some connections at the company, who I am possibly thinking about getting in touch with, as well. <Q> Also, make sure you capitalize their trademarked names or brands. <S> For example: Crisco oil or Fanta soda or Microsoft Office. <S> Below is an example of a disclaimer you could/should include to ensure that you are not trying to infringe on their trademark. <S> Product names, logos, brands, and other trademarks featured or referred to within this manuscript are the property of their respective trademark holders. <S> These trademark holders are not affiliated with the author or any of the author's representatives. <S> They do not sponsor or endorse the contents, materials, or processes discussed within this book. <A> Using a trademark term in a title is known as Nominative Use. <S> There is no problem with this as long as you don't suggest sponsorship or endorsement by the company. <S> Also you can't use their font/images. <S> For more info see this article on Wikipedia. <A> This probably isn't a direct answer, but I suggest obtaining an existing technical book of similar content and examining how its author addressed these issues. <S> Assuming this existing book was published recently by a reputable firm in your country, it would likely be a good example to work from.
| As long as you address the ownership of the trademark and make it clear that you are not affiliated with the trademark owner, there shouldn't be a problem.
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How do you track dependencies for your co-authors? I and one or more co-authors, sometimes geographically distributed, are working on a set of related documents. Sometimes I will make a change in my part that affects someone else's part; this could be anything from changing a name to adding a new concept (that later parts should then use or reference) to changing the scenario for a running example. For large changes one hopes we'd all be talking about it first, but sometimes smaller changes come up that it's not worth calling a meeting about. How do you track those dependencies so you don't lose track of them? Things we have tried include: Send email. Easy but can get lost. Have a central place to leave notes (shared document, wiki page, etc). This works pretty well if you can sort it by who/what is affected, so each person has just one place to look, but it can be kind of unwieldy if dependencies are vague or numerous. Use a bug-tracking system: works if everybody is using the same tools and the folks overseeing the bug database don't mind, but that's not always the case. What are better ways to manage inter-connected work with co-authors? Clarification: I'm talking about cases where I make a change and others will then have to make updates to their work, not about cases where I make all the relevant changes myself. <Q> To make the changes visible (I'm not sure if that's what you mean with "dependencies", but I guess so) <S> my best bet is a source control system like programmers are using it. <S> But to make use of its benefits, you should store your work in a comparable format. <S> What does that mean: <S> Tools like Subversion or Git store your document in a (central) database. <S> Everyone needs access to this database (the access is provided by the source control tools). <S> If someone changes something, then the change is stored (tagged with his name) to the database/source control system. <S> It also can be commented. <S> If the document format is human readable (like txt or xml), then a diff-program (which shows the differences between two files) can show the changes between the different versions of the file. <S> I know that Subversion can also do this with the Word doc-format (which is a binary format, i.e. not human readable). <S> So the changes are directly visible. <S> Additional information (why you made the change, for example) go into the comment. <A> In order of descending utility, IMO: Project/feature/bug tracking software, for well-defined product changes. <S> A must. <S> The email summarizes the context & change enough that other writers can tell whether it affects them. <S> The wiki entry provides details. <S> Wiki tags provide organization/classification and facilitate search/lookup. <S> Tags can include project names/numbers, bug numbers, and other thingies in #1. <S> Comments embedded in the doc can help point out details and locations of some doc changes. <S> Source-control change logs can also help for this, but are coarse-grained. <S> #1 is preferable, when it can be used. <S> Many doc changes reflect product changes, including bug fixes and new features. <S> The doc changes for these can/should be managed together with the changes to the rest of the product (the doc is of course part of the product). <S> #2 supplements #1 - <S> it is for anything that doesn't fit in #1 and doesn't need to be in the doc itself. <S> But it is often possible for #2 to reference thingies in #1. <S> An example of content for #2 might be a doc reorg - but even then it is often better to create a product project for the reorg, i.e., a doc project, and track it in #1. <S> #3 can help a writer who visits the result of your changes later. <S> It can point out things that are not obvious and are specific to particular content - like good code comments. <A> Software developers deal with projects with millions of lines of code and collaborative writing projects deal with content on the order of thousands or hundreds of thousands of lines of text. <S> I think the versioning approach used for software development is incredibly applicable to the writing process. <S> I've started writing a book (solo) <S> and I've tackled the problem of managing thousands of lines of narrative using the same technique. <S> I am writing my manuscript in a glorified text editor (Notepad++) and <S> this solution many only be applicable to this kind of approach <S> (Word docs will be messy, in other words). <S> I use Unfuddle.com <S> which has an "Issue tracking" thing that may be useful for communicated between collaborators. <S> I think the most important component is to have contributors consistently provide a reference number to an "Issue" when they are saving their changes. <S> This way when you look at the issue you are dealing with, you can see all the related changes throughout your document. <S> There may be a learning curve for contributors to adopt some technical skills, but depending on the size of the project I think it would pay off in the ease of managing the work.
| Email notification to other writers (broadcast) that refers to entries in #1 or to a wiki entry describing the doc change. You can work together at the same document with tools like Google docs, but that maybe gets a little bit messy over time if you want to track all the changes. As a software developer I use versioning source control software (SVN, GIT, etc) to track changes between a large set of code across multiple developers.
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How do you avoid the problem of a collaborative work having separate voices? I've not done collaborative writing before, but I've read several works, and sometimes the text strikes me as having a split personality: some parts were clearly written by one author, while others were written by another. (Note: I would give examples, but I can't remember any off-hand because I'm a bit sleep-deprived at the moment!) So, the story itself is cohesive, but lacks a unified voice, so much so that it's distracting. Obviously, authors have very distinctive styles, and this can shine through very easily, so my question is really how do you ensure a unity of voice, or at the very least, incorporate the distinct voices of the authors in such a way that it isn't glaringly obvious that two different people were writing? Would this come down to the editing process, or should you look at structuring the story in such a way that it can accommodate these different voices e.g. different narrators, POV's etc.? <Q> In technical-writing teams I've found that this drives the material toward the center; I have no experience doing this with fiction but would expect it to work. <S> But first sit everybody down to have the "don't take this personally; it's about the work" conversation to reduce the chance of bruised egos. <A> If you want to unify the voices: Get a tough editor. <S> Explain to him/her that you have two authors and you want to standardize their voices. <S> You might pick a passage or a chapter which particularly reflects both writers, and say "make it all sound like that." <S> Then be prepared to have a whole chunk of everything rewritten. <S> ETA: Examples of things which might be rewritten to create a balance of styles: <S> One author tends to use long, complex sentences with many clauses,interrupters, and parentheticals, and the other author uses shortchoppy sentences. <S> The longer ones may be cut and made into several,and the shorter ones may be joined, until there's a happy medium. <S> One author use lots of description. <S> The other is very minimalist. <S> Thedescriptive sections can be trimmed down to remove some flourishes,and the spare sections padded out. <S> One author rarely uses dialogue tags, even "said. <S> " The other usesattributives, action tags, and dialogue tags in every line. <S> One author uses elaborate metaphors, and the other doesn't use themanywhere. <S> Remove some and add to the other sections. <S> If you want distinctive voices: I like the idea of structuring to accommodate them. <S> For fiction, each author could take only certain characters/POVs. <S> So Raymond's sections have short choppy sentences, with little description, while Anne's have a more flowing and atmospheric style. <S> But Raymond only writes from the POV of a soldier, a general, and the vice president, while Anne writes from the POV of a concierge, a mad dictator, and the ambassador. <S> For non-fiction: Give the section an author's byline and quit worrying. <A> Two authors divide duties, not content One very successful technique <S> was the one used by Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp in their wonderful fantasy romps such as Land of Unreason and The Incomplete Enchanter . <S> Pratt, at the time the much more experienced and accomplished of the two, would rough out a plot. <S> They would bounce it back and forth until it was ready; de Camp would write the first draft; Pratt would rewrite it; then deCamp would do the final edit for submission. <S> What this method accomplished was to avoid carving the work up into separate chunks. <S> Instead, both authors had their fingers in all of it. <S> The quality of the result suggests that this might be a good way to do a collaborative work.
| For cases where you want a unified voice, if you can't get a tough editor like Lauren Ipsum suggested, try having the authors edit each other's sections. For fiction that can accommodate different POVs, dividing those up per author not only addresses this problem but can be a feature. Some attributives are rewritten or removed, and then some added where they are missing.
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What can publishers do for me in a niche market? I'm writing a book in a niche market, and it's my first one. It seems to me that the following things need to happen to publish my book: Finish the book Design cover (a friend is helping) Edit manuscript (help of multiple people) Convert manuscript into proper format for print and ebook (I can do this myself) Get the book printed (Amazon) Get the book available electronically (Amazon) Marketing for the book I can do some marketing on my own. I have a healthy readership on my blog that can be valuable for marketing purposes. I can handle most of the components I listed. Am I missing any major components to publishing? In the end, what do publishers do for me? <Q> Publishers are most useful with mass-market books. <S> If, for example, you had written a new horror or sci-fi novel it would be very difficult to achieve the same level of marketing you would get from them. <S> They also, if they're good, get your book in front of the people best suited to spread the word about it. <S> They have marketing connections in the industry that you can't hope to match without years of work. <S> They can not only get your book onto store shelves, they can encourage stores to make it more visible if they reallly want to sell it. <S> In niche markets they are less valuable. <S> In niche markets (like adventure motorcycling, which I'm assuming yours is about) there is a very limited audience to reach, they are primarily reachable through the internet, and getting your book into thousands of brick-and-mortar stores would result in a lot of unsold copies sitting around, because most people don't care about your niche (or any other niche, by definition). <S> With that said, there are better ways to get your book printed than Amazon that will still get your book ON Amazon (both printed and kindle versions) however, addressing that issue is far beyond the scope of this question. <A> Publishers can do all of the things you identified in your list for you, but the degree of commitment that they apply to each will vary based on a number of factors. <S> If they believe that you have a truly commercial product that has the potential to reach a very large fan base, they will devote more time and resources towards making your book successful. <S> The problem here is in getting them to agree to publish your book in the first place. <S> Since you indicate that your book is targeting a smaller niche market, your best chances of getting picked up by a publisher would be for you to find one that specializes in your type of product. <S> Failing that, you're facing a very difficult road. <S> It sounds like you already have a plan/idea in place for pursuing self-publication, which is most likely a more viable option for you. <S> There are a number of advanatages that have been discussed in other posts, but it will also require a lot more effort on your part. <S> In spite of that, you probably have a better feel for your intended audience than a major publisher would have, so you would probably have better success pursuing this on your own. <A> Your book looks like just the sort of rippin' yarn <S> I'd enjoy myself -- I was a corporate type in the US for many years, and unwound on a Triumph Tiger in the Rockies whenever possible. <S> Having said that, I hate your cover design. <S> Have you looked at cover designs for adventure motorcycling books in the shops? <S> Don't forget that they are there to attract a particular type of person and they are therefore all a little bit of-a-type -- bloke on bike on high mountain pass, bike on side in swampy jungle trail, <S> that sort of thing. <S> The purpose of a cover is to get the book off the shelves into the potential buyer's hands, and you've got a pretty distinctive look yourself and would probably "sell well" on a cover. <S> Books also have to be sold to retailers, and that is based muchly on synopsis, marketing, and cover. <S> Long story short, I'm afraid your friend who helped you with the cover has not served you well. <S> It looks like a cheap self-published book with dubious production qualities. <S> To answer your question, a publisher would have got you a much better cover than that. <A> Inspired by David Aldridge's answer, I think the value that a publisher can give you is to set the high standard for your book . <S> That's why they are a publisher. <S> It's not about doing trivial tasks that everyone can do. <A> They provide provenance and branding. <S> Once published by an established publisher, your book enjoys the provenance that comes with that publisher's name. <S> More people will buy, more publications will review, more foreign publishers will consider, more libraries will purchase, more book clubs will read, more movie studios will consider, a book with the imprimatur of an established publisher than one without it. <S> You may have your own brand, of course, but then if you publish with an established publisher the power of their brand is joined to the power of their brand, so you are still better off than with your brand alone. <S> They provide access to channels. <S> They have a channel to bookstores, a channel to review editors, a channel to libraries, a channel to book clubs, a channel to the foreign market, a channel to the studios. <S> They can get your book to places you cannot, and can do it much more economically. <S> Yes, Amazon is a major channel, but actually not the most effective one by itself, because it is terribly non-selective and does no promotion. <S> But Amazon is only one of the many channels that a publisher can get you into, and your performance in those other channels can boost your performance on Amazon. <S> Remember that while many books are purchased on Amazon, reader first discover those books on other platforms, and publishers have channels to those platforms that you do not. <S> Again, even if you have better access to some of the newer channels than they do, that simply adds to what they can do for you.
| Publisher do two things for you, other than those you have listed, and they are things that you absolutely cannot do for yourself.
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How can I keep up with my co-author's detail creation? Keeping track of details invented for a work of fiction is never simple, often requiring writing bibles and continuity editors. But when two people are working on the same book simultaneously, then you're not only dealing with the details you've made up, you also need to work around a slew of fictional details that your co-author sprouted up on their own. How can detail-organization techniques be adapted for collaboration, where they need to be shared constantly? How can an author keep abreast of a bunch of invented details their co-author thinks up? And when two co-authors have made up minor details which clash with each other, how can one resolve the conflict without knowing where and how the other used the detail? <Q> " Each file contains all current details for a particular category: cities, characters, items, species. <S> When making a minor change, the files are changed directly. <S> If it is a major change or addition, it is added to a discussion file, to be added later. <S> Before referencing something in your writing, simply check the lore file for that item. <S> While this requires a bit of work keeping everything up to date, I find that the work translates directly into making the end result as congruous as possible. <S> Additionally, it can help to record in the lore files the locations of references to the entry in your writing. <S> This way when a change is made to the lore, it is easy to find chapters and pages that may be affected by the changes. <S> Again, a lot of "not writing work," but in personal experience, it helps immensely. <S> As a slight aside, these lore files can also be helpful if you feel the need to include an index or release a sort of encyclopedia to your book. :) <A> The first step I would suggest is to develop a timeline and then place your characters on that timeline. <S> It would be better if each of you is writing from the perspective of a different character, because then you wouldn't have to worry so much about what the other person is writing. <S> If they have a significant event happening that your character should know about, then you'll be able to react to that. <S> (For example, if your character sees a pink glow around the moon, and both of you are writing about characters in the same city/region, then your co-author should probably comment on how their character sees it as well. <S> This would be easier if you have a detailed outline that identifies any critical bits of information. <S> Define your setting for each scene/chapter, and document any major events happening in that scene. <S> If there are fireworks going off, then each character might describe them from different perspectives. <S> Then if either of you goes in a different direction and decides to add something big, then just communicate that to your co-author. <A> Another suggestion would be to use some sort of distributed source control system to keep track of the changes that you each make. <S> Dropbox Dropbox has built in source control, so you can roll back to previous changes, and it is fairly simple to use. <S> Their Terms of Service kind of trouble me, but I may have donned my tinfoil hat in recent years. <S> Benefits <S> Easy to use Easy to get started <S> Track changes Syncs to multiple machines, making backups easier <S> Drawbacks <S> Your work is stored on someone else's servers <S> May not be able to see fine-grained changes easily <S> Git <S> If you're decently technical, something like git might be a better option, as you can easily see differences between check-ins, and keep track of who is changing what. <S> As a programmer, I use git every day, and that sort of mindset has become second nature to me. <S> This is beneficial when you're working with 10 other programmers/designers, and you need to keep track of who is doing what. <S> This would also give you the benefit of keeping all of the content on your own systems, making sure that it's not inadvertently copyrighted by some other entity. <S> The downside might be that Git was designed to work with non-binary files (such as flat text files), rather than proprietary Word files (or other proprietary file formats), so the change tracking might not be best used with Word files. <S> Benefits Track changes at a fine-grained level <S> Your content is always in your possession <S> Allows you to keep multiple branches of the same work Keep multiple versions in local source control before committing to the main repository Don't have to keep multiple, differently-named files to track versions Tons of resources to get you started, and keep things going Many GUI application options to choose from, regardless of the operating systems used by the contributors <S> Drawbacks Works best with non-binary file formats Requires more technical knowledge to learn and get setup <S> See what other writers here on the site think about using source/version control with their writing in this question .
| It would also help to periodically exchange content so that you can see what the other person is doing. My own habit is to use either Dropbox or Google docs to store what I refer to as "lore files. The main point is to document as much as you can up front.
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Is Scrivener involved in the editorial process, or is it strictly a writer's development tool? Is there any reason that an editor should know how to use Scrivener? I generally see manuscripts after they're out of draft but before proofreading. (I'm an editor.) However, I see a lot of talk about Scrivener on this site, and I'd like to know more about what it can do. I've read the developer's website . I suspect, given the love I see for the program, that this is an oversimplification, but it looks to me like a cross between an outliner, a note organizer, and a word processor. However, what happens when you have to send the writing off to the editor? Do you compile the project into Word format? What happens when you get changes back? If you want to keep going in Scrivener at that point, can you do so? I spend a lot of time on the notes I write authors, sometimes explaining why I made a change. (If they don't like my changes, then at least they know what the problem is.) Is there some way to Scrivener-proof my notations, or is that a non-issue? <Q> Scrivener does have a Comment or Sticky-Note function. <S> You can also use a Highlight to mark big swathes of text, change the color of inserted copy, and Strike-Through to cross things out. <S> As John Smithers wisely points out, Scrivener isn't just for writing the draft. <S> It also allows you to gather notes, keep audio and video with your story, create outlines, and cross-link your ideas (rather like a mind-map, as I understand it). <S> So if you give your Scrivener file to an editor, you aren't just handing over the file with the story, you're handing over the entire file cabinet. <S> As a writer, however, I would never turn over my sole original file to an editor, and as an editor, I would never expect to receive such a file from a writer. <S> It's partly because that's the original, and partly because the editor just doesn't need all the slush material. <S> The editor's job is to polish the final product, not to fact-check the universe. <S> So while an editor can work in Scrivener using commenting and markup tools which are similar to Word's, there isn't a compelling reason to do so. <S> (Other than hating Microsoft, which I totally get.) <S> When I have handed off my work for editing, I have exported as Word (you could also print to PDF) and the editor has used Word's markup tools for comments and corrections. <S> I then manually move those changes to my Scrivener document, because as the writer, I get the final say about what changes do and don't get made. <S> It is a little tedious, I agree, and if the writer really felt strongly about it, you could make editing in Scrivener work. <S> It's not a workflow I'd recommend, though. <A> Before Lauren shows up, let me provide an answer from a non-evangelist ;) ... <S> it looks to me like a cross between an outliner, a note organizer, and a word processor. <S> Yes, more or less. <S> It tries to replace all other tools an author would need to write a book, or better: to finish the first draft. <S> All other drafts can be done with Scrivener also, but it is not a "communication tool". <S> You can compile to the Word format and use Word for your notes, but then the writer has two tools (Word and Scrivener) where he has to sync his work. <S> Working with the Scrivener format is not an option here, because Scrivener does not use just one file what would be easily exchangeable. <S> A Scrivener project has a bunch of files for the chapters, scenes, notes, etc. <S> So communicating efficiently with an editor is out of the scope of Scrivener. <S> It was just not designed for that work. <S> Maybe you should ask a question if someone knows a good tool for that. <S> Ok, Lauren will suggest Scrivener :) <A> I downloaded the trial version of Scrivener and began toying with it in the fall of 2011. <S> I initially used it for outlining, I loved the corkboard feature. <S> I then decided to give it a try for NaNoWriMo 2011. <S> It was the first year I finished. <S> Attribute it to the intuitive interface, great tools or just having all your writing, characters and research in one program. <S> I love writing in scenes and being able to drag and drop these as I need to rearrange my story is priceless. <S> There is a free trial so why not give it a shot! <S> If anyone decides to buy Scrivener I was given a limited use coupon here <S> http://smworth.blogspot.com/2012/02/scrivener-coupon-codes.html <S> You’ll get 20% off – until it expires. <S> Enjoy!
| Scrivener is an all purpose writer tool.
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Do I need to know anything to write a short story that I wouldn't know by studying how to write novels? For a long time now, I've been reading books on how to get the first draft of a novel written. I've finally begun putting the knowledge I've gathered to practice and look forward to the results. In the meantime, I'm interested in trying to write short stories as well, mainly because they require less prep, the first draft will be finished sooner, and I'll have something to practice revising (I'm hoping if I become more familiar with revision it will help me through some of the issues that have demotivated me when it comes to writing novels). My question is, do I need to know anything to write a short story that I probably wouldn't have picked up in studying to write novels? Does the size difference significantly change the way I should understand issues like characterization, plot, conflict, theme, or anything else? I'd like to avoid buying a book on the subject if I don't have to, since I've fallen into the trap of study-as-procrastination before and what references I've seen seem to go back to the basics I've seen in novel-writing anyway, but I don't want to miss anything important either. <Q> I wouldn't say you need to know anything new, but I think you need to know a new side of the old stuff. <S> Writing short stories is a distinct skill: there are people who are masters at it, and people who are much better with more space. <S> A Gabe says, the basic elements of fiction are the same whether the work is long or short, but the way you use these elements is quite different. <S> Short stories rarely have subplots. <S> They rarely stray from the standard Climax, Rising Action, Climax, Denouement structure. <S> They rarely give much attention to secondary characters. <S> They rarely switch POV. <S> They rarely give a whole lot of back story. <S> The conventional wisdom is that writers have to make every word count even when writing longer fiction; this wisdom is even more important in a short story. <S> So it's not a whole new skill set, but don't assume that everything you learn from writing short stories will carry over to writing novels, and don't assume everything you've learned about writing novels will be useful when you're writing short stories. <A> A good short story has many of the same elements as a good novel. <S> However, a short story has one thing a novel usually does not: conciseness. <S> A short story has to deliver the same force as a novel, but in a much smaller package. <S> Think of a novel as a 280mm battleship shell. <S> It is large, heavy, and certainly gets the job done when it impacts a target. <S> A short story is more comparable to a 9mm pistol bullet. <S> It is small and lightweight, but delivered well <S> , it can accomplish exactly what is needed. <S> The difference then lies in delivery. <S> Those battleship shells can level a house, but they require massive quantities of energy. <S> A 9mm, nowhere nearly as much. <S> A 9mm requires much focus and precision in order to be effective. <S> A battleship shell, just point it and fire. <S> That is one thing that is rarely taught by studying novelwriting. <S> In response to your question, I do not think it is a matter of buying a book, however. <S> It is a matter of practice. <S> Take a novel that you have written or even one that you've read before. <S> Attempt to focus the plot and message of the book into a short story. <S> Evaluate the end result: does it make you feel the message, or was it lost in translation? <S> Rinse and repeat, as they say. <S> Focus on capturing the emotion and message of a piece, over its details and grandeur. <S> Before long, you will be an expert short story writer. :) <A> I often think of different forms of writing as a continuum along a line of compression. <S> In non-fiction you may have a book-length treatment being the least compressed, an article somewhat more so, etc. <S> In fiction a novel is the least compressed, then a novella, then a short story, then a "short short" such as the 50 word challenge pieces. <S> Those shortest pieces often verge on poetry, layering many meanings and significances into individual words and phrases to get the full message across. <S> In my experience the biggest and most important skill for a novelist who wants to write a successful short story is to be able to compress your story. <S> Your expression needs to be more compact. <S> You have less time to sketch your characters and make me, the reader, care about them. <S> You may have fewer characters to work with. <S> You have less space for conflict. <S> Your climax typically comes relatively later in the work and your denouement is shorter. <S> Your pacing is often faster, ratcheting up the conflict faster than in a novel but not so fast as to leave the reader feeling frantic. <S> The world of a short story may be smaller than the world of a novel, but it should be even more richly layered with meaning. <S> That's what makes short stories so wonderful to read. <S> For great examples, get a few years worth of Best American Short Stories . <S> Not only will you learn from what was deemed by an esteemed author to be the best short stories of each year, you'll have a lot of fun reading some great fiction. <A> A short story is the same as a novel, except you leave out the first 450 pages. <S> You just write the end. <S> It’s not a short novel <S> , it’s the shortest possible story. <S> There is no better way to learn how to write short stories than just to read a ton of short stories.
| Now, in relation to novels vs. short stories, a short story requires great focus. Character development, a strong plot, good descriptions, and realistic dialogue.
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A friendlier way to write charges or fees to clients? What is a better way to write in an email to tell my client that I will charge him a fee of say $100? Often, I feel very reluctant to write these ways: I will quote the hosting and development fees at $100. This sounds totally crappy. I will give you a quote of $100 for the development and web hosting. This doesn't sound very polite. It sounds like the client owes me something. The total charges/fees for the development and hosting is $100. [OR] The cost of the development and hosting is $100. / The hosting and development will cost $100. [OR] The hosting and development are charged at $100. Sounds more direct but still, the tone isn't very friendly. Feels like the relationship between the client and me is still at a "stranger" stage. What are some ways or examples to write in an email a quotation that I would like to charge my client, which sometimes is a sensitive thing, in a friendlier manner? <Q> There are two elements of a quote for which clarity is far more important than friendliness: <S> The description of your services. <S> The statement of your fees. <S> If you like, make everything else in your message friendly. <S> Then write a short line like this: My fee for these services is $100. <S> None of that <S> "I will quote" or "I will give you a quote" blather. <S> That's filler. <S> Also consider whether friendliness is what you really want. <S> You and this client are strangers, and this client wants you not as a friend, but as someone who can provide a service they need. <S> The client may read a friendly message as wishy-washy, or presumptuous. <S> It's hard to establish the tone of a relationship through text. <S> If you want to make your relationship more person, have a phone call or two, and be personable. <S> That will establish a relationship, and the relationship will set the context in which the client reads your email messages. <S> If the relationship is friendly, the client will read the message in a friendly tone. <S> But whatever you choose to do, when it comes to the terms of your agreement, favor directness and clarity over friendliness. <A> "The cost of the development and hosting is $100. / <S> I also use "I estimate the hosting and development will cost $100" if it's genuinely an estimate which might change. <A> But not to those clients, you have just started to work with.
| But write the description of your services clearly. The hosting and development will cost $100" are both fine. If you know the person you are writing to and if he or she is friendly with you, you can add a simple smiley like this :) at the end of your statement to make it friendly.
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How do I balance reading time with writing time? It's rare to find a how-to-write book or blog that doesn't have this advice: "Read. Voraciously. In all genres, especially your genre of choice, books both good and bad. You won't develop as a Writer unless you are a Reader." I'd like to spend more time reading fiction. It seems like a less paralyzing way of gaining know-how than the how-to-books (which I think tap straight into my critical side). I'm never more inspired to write than when I read, and my memories of the times I wanted to write most come from when I volunteered in libraries and was surrounded by book covers. Nowadays, though, I come home from work, play with my dog a few minutes, and head for the computer to write. I can usually come up with six or seven hundred words before I bog down (can't wait until I'm far enough into my novel to know where I'm going), then I give in and pull up Google to search for solutions to whatever problem I perceive is blocking me. Usually I spend hours getting caught in the web and never find whatever nugget I'm searching for. Every so often, I'll come across that bit of reading advice and say, "Yeah, that'll happen. It's hard enough to find time to write." On the other hand, if I could manage my time better, I'd probably find the time to read. My question is, how do I find a good balance between reading and writing? I'm often reluctant to pull away from the computer when I feel the writing is becoming a grind because I don't want to teach myself to abandon the project. (I know how to do that well enough already.) I suspect even if I did use my time more effectively, I'd keep churning away at my project until the day ran out. Not quite the main question, but I suspect tangent to it, is there a guideline for when to stop writing to make time for other ways to develop my skills? <Q> Let me get this straight. <S> Your "schedule" is: Coming home <S> Cuddling dog <S> Write 600 words <S> Give in Surfing for hours <S> You want more time for reading? <S> Cut your internet connection! <S> I mean it. <S> You also get more time for writing. <S> When you sit down for writing, unplug your internet connection. <S> Make it a big hassle for yourself plugging it in again. <S> Like hiding the router in a hole in your garden. <S> Give it the dog to play with. <S> Best: use two computers, one exclusively for writing. <S> If you hit stage 4 then do not surf, pick a book and read. <S> Don't tell it's not that easy, because it is that easy. <A> You mentioned that you have felt most like writing when you were in a library surrounded by books. <S> So go to the library to write! <S> I know a couple of folks who do just that, and they have been extremely productive. <S> They also are inspired by being surrounded by books, and they find that it is much easier to get a lot done without any distractions - which is another benefit of the library. <S> However, a lot of libraries now have wireless service, so turn off your wireless access to keep yourself from once again allowing the web to become a distraction and a time consumer. <S> You also mentioned that you can't wait until you get far enough to know where you are going. <S> It sounds to me like you need to do a little more organizing or perhaps even outlining of your story. <S> It doesn't have to be anything fancy like you had to do in high school English. <S> Just jot down some notes on who your characters are, what scenes they will find themselves in, and what type(s) of interaction(s) <S> they will have. <S> Note cards work really well for this so that you can rearrange the order easily and overlay character cards onto scenes. <S> A timeline might be even more beneficial. <S> Don't worry so much about how to write. <S> Just get in there and write until you finish your story. <S> You can worry about cleaning it up and making it more concise when you finish the first draft and start your editing process. <S> You may very well find yourself going through two, three, or more drafts before you feel it is finally right. <S> As far as making time to read, just schedule it. <S> You know when you have to be at work, you know what time you have available, you know what household chores need to be done, and you know you want to write. <S> Work up a schedule for all of those things and if reading is that important, then block out time to do it. <S> You may find that you want to spend more time writing anyway! <A> You have two other problems: <S> You're giving up too quickly on writing. <S> You surf too much. <S> First, as John Smithers wisely says, disconnect your internet connection. <S> The web will still be here when you come back, I promise. <S> Second, you say "I'm never more inspired to write than when I read." <S> When you hit 601 words and start to get bogged down, turn off the monitor (so you can't be distracted) and read, until you're inspired again. <S> Put the book down, turn the monitor back on, and start writing again. <S> The answer to "whatever is bogging you down" is, 98% of the time, not found on the web, unless it's a particular word or fact. <S> In that case, put in a placeholder and go back to it later. <S> The answer is usually in your head, and you're good at finding reasons not to work through it. <S> You are, as you correctly note, paralyzed. <S> As a third suggestion, I might add that if writing feels like a grind or a chore, set a timer. <S> Do the writing-reading-writing for a specific amount of time: start with 30 minutes, and work up. <S> When the time is up, turn off the computer (no fair surfing) and go do something else. <S> Something physical. <S> Play with the dog, make dinner, weed, clean the house, something not involving electronics. <S> This will let your mind go but keep your hands busy, which is when I get many of my best ideas (sometimes full scenes). <S> Keep a notebook in your pocket, jot down anything cool, and go back to your activity. <S> You are using the web as an excuse for procrastinating and not working through your issues (what's "bogging you down"). <S> Reading isn't going to solve your problems, so there's no particular point in making special time for it. <A> All you really need is a book and a bit of free time. <S> If you can sneak in four fifteen minute reading sessions a day, you've got an hour of reading done and seven hours of reading a week. <S> If you are a reasonably fast reader, that is easily a novel a week. <S> You can bring a book/ebook reader with you: in the bathroom over your lunch hour or during a work break in your car before or after work before you go to bed while waiting for someone <S> and you'll get some reading done each day, <S> probably a couple of chapters. <A> Dedicate two days a week to read instead of writing. <S> If you get ideas that you want to start working on immediately, let writing distract you, but let it be the only thing that distracts you. <S> Also, make sure you have an outline of some sort. <S> Part of your problem is that you're going slowly and getting discouraged, so you'll want to speed that up. <S> Here's an article that might help. <S> http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-i-went-from-writing-2000-words-day.html
| Your problem is not making time for reading. Unlike writing, reading time is something that you can sneak into the rest of your day. So: pick a book which is inspiring you, and put it next to your computer.
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Best practices for maintaining documented code examples? A good SDK (software development kit) includes plenty of well-documented examples. It also includes good tutorials and developer guides, which introduce concepts in logical progressions, typically showing only the relevant excerpts from the sample code. (Nobody wants to see a 200-line program inline in a book, but it's important to show that 20-line excerpt that demonstrates a principle right there in the section that talks about that principle.) This creates a maintenance challenge: over a progression of releases, interfaces or preferred coding patterns change. An IDE (a code-development environment) provides tools for finding the example programs that need to be updated (e.g. find all places where this function is called), but they don't tend to help with references in documentation. So what usually happens, in my experience, is that before a release somebody will page through the documentation looking for suspicious code snippets. This is, obviously, not 100% reliable. (Edit: the full examples are tested regularly, but that doesn't guarantee that the excerpts in the documentation remain in sync with the full example.) Currently we rely on the technical writers, who we hope remember which examples were excepted in documentation where, to react when the example code or the relevant interfaces change. The team is fluent with the bug-tracking and source-control systems, including subscribing to check-ins, but we are still relying on people's personal knowledge, which becomes a problem if people leave the team. (As is often the case, testing of documentation tends to be a low priority for QA.) I am looking for practices that have been used successfully to improve the ongoing accuracy of code examples in documentation. <Q> Python has a useful module called doctest . <S> It is commonly used to validate tutorial documentation and examples embedded as comments in the code. <S> The doctest module searches for pieces of text that look like interactive Python sessions, and then executes those sessions to verify that they work exactly as shown. <S> There are several common ways to use doctest: [...] <S> Depending on whether the examples or the expository text are emphasized, this has the flavor of “literate testing” or “executable documentation”. <S> Since the code you're interested in is merely excerpts from the full source, you would extract the excerpts from the tested code based on some metadata. <S> A language-agnostic approach would be to include the full source for each excerpt in the library source code or wherever the primary documentation resides. <S> Then when you want to build your tutorial/developer guide, you run automated tests on the code using your xUnit-equivlent with doctest -like connector code if necessary, and then extract the excerpts with Doxygen . <S> Regardless of what specific solution you implement, best practice for maintenance is to follow the DRY principle . <S> Do what you can to keep all of the source code in one place. <S> In your case, it sounds like this will require generating your excerpts from the original sample code each time you generate the documentation. <S> There's some discussion on the topic of code sample testing and maintenance in <S> The Pragmatic Programmer on pages 26-29 (DRY principle) <S> and further on pages <S> 100- 101 . <S> The authors describe vaguely how they accomplished what you need: [...] <S> using the DRY principle we didn't want to copy and paste lines of code from the tested programs in the book. <S> That would have meant that the code was duplicated, virtually guaranteeing that we'd forget to update an example when the corresponding program was changed. <S> For some examples, we also didn't want to bore you with the framework needed to make our example compile and run. <S> We turned to Perl. <S> A relatively simple script is invoked when we format the book -- it extracts a named segment from a source file, does syntax highlighting, and converts the result into the typesetting language we use. <A> One suggestion is to solve the problem outside of the IDE, and inside your versioning tool. <S> If you check in your documentation along with your source code to the same repository, then you can use command-line tools like 'git grep' to refactor code + docs at the same time. <A> ReadTheDocs <S> (a popular system for documenting code-bases) has an interesting feature which may provide an answer to this question: literalinclude . <S> With this directive, one can include code examples from another file within the documentation. <S> The particularly interesting part is that a subset of lines can be extracted from the source file via <S> the :lines: directive meaning that the source file could be a complete (executable, testable) example while only the snippet that is relevant to the documented section need appear in the docs. <S> Using this directive, it would theoretically be possible to include all examples in the documentation within the project's test suite. <S> I can't say I've ever gone that far myself - but having run into this precise issue more than once I'm now tempted to give it a try! <A> I would actually answer this with my graphic designer hat on: all code should be given a particular style in the layout program (font in particular, but type size, margins, justification), and then you just Search for each iteration of that style. <S> It's still manual, but you won't miss any. <A> There are several projects that come to mind that seem to do this well. <S> All of them use very similar techniques. <S> One is the Qt framework , another is a tool called Doxygen , and a third is the GTK+ Project . <S> In all three cases, the documentation for the project is primarily pulled out of the actual source code for the project. <S> The both are maintained together, often in the same files. <S> Documentation is stored as marked up comments in the code. <S> Generally speaking, the mark ups can specify everything from the creation of documentation pages, section on a page, cross references, the inclusion of code samples (including full and partial pieces of files), and even images. <S> Qt and GTK+ both use custom tools to accomplish this. <S> Doxygen is actually a tool for creating documentation from code, and as such uses itself to document itself. <A> The way we do this at my work is that all of the examples are tagged in documentation, and then during our nightly builds they all get extracted and compiled. <S> So if someone modifies the interfaces, the nightly build will catch this. <S> To help us with that we have some custom scripts. <S> Effectively different kinds of examples are marked differently, as they will need different wrapping code to be something that compiles. <S> So we have code that is just a little snippet, complete functions, complete classes, and then some full projects. <S> Each gets compiled, so they are at least up to date with the interfaces/functions. <S> We currently do not do anything for specific coding conventions, but if you have the first part working, you can then run some automated style checking. <S> Since we do not do this automatically, we do go thru them every so often by hand. <A> If I remember correctly, The Pragmatic Programmer specifically describes in the book how they built their writing system to make the code extract-able and executable.
| To write tutorial documentation for a package, liberally illustrated with input-output examples. Tools like Doxygen are intended for this purpose. The best practice would be that all of the code has to be compiled and potentially verified against some code rules.
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Is it acceptable for a tech book to consist of only 2 chapters? I am interested in writing a book on a particular class of natural products. It would discuss the products' isolation and biological functions - these are the two chapters that I can fit into the book. So my proposed book would only have 2 chapters, which may run to about 75-100 pages each. This intuitively seems like a very low number of chapters for a book, even though that's simply the number of topics I want to cover. Are tech books with so few chapters publishable? Is this something seen frequently? <Q> With the disclaimer that I'm neither a tech writer or tech editor: Scientific and academic books are generally organized by function . <S> Unlike a narrative book where the chapters are broken down by feel or by narrative rhythm, a scientific or academic book has a certain amount of material to cover, and it makes logical sense to divide the book according to those functional guidelines. <S> In this case you have two functional areas: <S> Isolation of natural products, and biological function of natural products. <S> However, I understand your hesitation. <S> Having only two chapters does feel a little strange. <S> Will those two chapters subdivide in any way? <S> Is there any structure within these two chapters? <S> If so, perhaps you can divide the book into two parts instead, and subdivide the parts into chapters. <S> Just take care not to have insanely short "chapters" or you risk making the book seem fragmented. <S> I'd also check MLA or APA (or whatever style guide you're using) for advice about chapterization. <S> I know that the Chicago Manual of Style addresses these issues, perhaps these academically-oriented style manuals do as well. <A> If I was in this situation, my inclination would be to break the book into "Part 1" and "Part 2" and then divide each of these parts into multiple chapters. <A> I don't think there are any hard and fast rules on how many chapters a book should or shouldn't have. <S> If you feel the book you want to write naturally and logically falls into two chapters, go with it. <S> However, and this seems to be a recurring theme on this particular Stack Exchange <S> , you may want to approach this from a completely different direction. <S> Have you thought about how your likely 'target market audience' may want to see the book structured for maximum and ease of information retrieval? <S> Would they see a two chapter book as being a logical and natural way to read about your subject matter? <S> Sometimes you have to look at things from an alternative perspective in order to work out the correct route forwards.
| I'd say any number of chapters more than one is "legal", but two is an awfully small number.
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Should I prefer long or short sentences in scientific writing? Currently, I am writing papers with rather short sentences : About half of them contain around 20 words, about 10% to 20% even less. I am doing this for three reasons: I find short sentences easier to read, prefer to show relationships using other means, such as colons and conjunctions (e.g. thus, because of, but), and thought the scientific community agreed upon short sentences being better. Now I did some research and came upon contrary statements , for instance: This presentation from the University of Manchester advises that one use short sentences. This article about the science of scientific writing prefers long sentences. The ACS Style Guide promotes the happy medium. So: Should I use long or short sentences, or a mixture, in scientific writing? Why? <Q> You want to do whatever makes the text easiest to understand. <S> For me, that means a mix of long and short sentences. <S> Scientific writing is already going to be dense and complex. <S> When you can, break up those long sentences with shorter ones. <S> It will make the material more digestible, and give the reader someplace to rest between thoughts, if that makes sense. <S> You don't have to talk down to your audience, but there's no reason to put them to sleep, either. <S> Paragraph-long sentences become a soporific drone to the reader's inner narrator. <S> Short ones keep folks up. <A> I would say that the sentences need to be the appropriate length to what you are saying, which is liable to be, on average, shorter than novel writing. <S> One of the reasons for using long sentences is to convey a mood, to put a lot of ideas together in one, to build and build the picture you are drawing. <S> In scientific writing there is no need for this, so this sort of long-winded sentence should be avoided. <S> However, it is also important to make your sentences make sense. <S> If you need to put a lot of information together. <S> Then put it in one sentence. <S> Don't chop them just for style. <A> As always, writing style is only a means to an end (in technical writing, at least), so there exist no rules that must always be followed. <S> Still, there are some general ideas that lead to good writing. <S> I'll provide an analogy from Software Engineering. <S> In Software Engineering, we have the concepts of cohesion and complexity of a piece of code, let's say a function. <S> A function is said to have high cohesion if all relevant parts to some task are handled by this function. <S> This is considered good, as the reader only needs to read this function to understand the execution of a task. <S> A function has high complexity if it is big and/or nasty, i.e. difficult to read. <S> This is considered bad. <S> When creating a function, you must sometimes be careful to make the function not too complex while remaining cohesion. <S> The same can be said of writing: your piece of text is most understandable if all relevant information is in one place (in this case a sentence, but we can also consider this on the paragraph level), as long as it isn't too complicated to read. <S> I see two reasonable approaches here: <S> Maximize cohesion while keeping complexity under a fixed 'limit'. <S> This means writing long sentences when you can, i.e. when they can be understood. <S> This is the approach that I personally seem to employ. <S> (I don't consciously look at the length of my sentences unless they are way too big) <S> Minimizing complexity while keeping the cohesion above a fixed 'limit'. <S> This means writing sentences as short as you can afford. <S> A risk of this approach is that you sentences get too much 'communication overhead': if you have a lot short sentences, you must indicate the relation between those sentences. <S> If that 'glue' has the size of half the length of your sentence, readability is at risk. <A> In the broader technical writing field, we often consider the Flesch Reading Ease metric, and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level metric, and the underlying assumption tends to be that one should write for the lowest grade level and highest reading ease score <S> that one can and still retain the requisite technical meaning and detail. <S> That is due to the generalized and often untypified audience we face in writing manuals, procedures, conceptual descriptions and technique descriptors; in this instance, you presumably know the general reading level of your intended audience is high, so I'd tend to balance your writing for that target audience in specific. <S> This would support the "mixed length" approach previously suggested, but I would add that there are a number of online analyzers which can help you assess the Flesch and Flesch-Kincaid scores of a given piece of text: it might behoove you to test your approaches to see how well you can match the expected reading level of your audience. <S> I'd also add the caveat that your goal in all cases is to serve your audience, and their task in acquiring and comprehending the information and concepts being presented: where longer, more complex sentence structures better support the information being presented, use them. <S> Where shorter sentences get the point across, use them. <S> If several linked concepts are essential to present together to aide in comprehension of a meta-concept, then perhaps semicolon splices and comma splices are appropriate.
| There are times when you have to write long sentences because you have to string a lot of information together, and separating the ideas will make them less clear.
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Not knowing a character's name. Would this be frustrating for the reader? I have a project I have been working on for many years. It is quite personal and is intended for a small audience. In the story, the protagonist is trying to find/help another character, who for most of the story is not named. The other characters know who this mystery person is, know the relationship between her and the protagonist, and will often refer to her by generic references or titles. I am worried that not naming her, or referring to her by name would be frustrating. Any thoughts? <Q> Your worry is a valid one; the reader could be frustrated by this. <S> However, this is something that can be taken care of in later drafts. <S> You may need to shore things up a little to clarify the mystery character and their relationship to the other characters. <S> Since we don't know much about your project - novel? <S> short story? <S> game premise? <S> movie pitch? <S> - it's hard to give you specific advice. <S> I hope the following scattershot suggestions will help: Will different people be referring to the mystery character by more or less the same phrase or title? <S> If everyone refers to "the MacGuffin character", then the problem is minimized. <S> Maybe different people only have their own pieces of the puzzle and don't interact. <S> If that's the case, they'd have no reason to use the same catchphrase or title for the mystery character. <S> If that's the case, your job is a little harder. <S> They'll come up with their own tags for the mystery character, but its possible to make them parallel in verbal structure. <S> Better yet, construct the nicknames so they tell the reader something about the character's relation to the mystery character. <S> If the rest of the tale is clear, the characters well-drawn, and the language fairly straightforward, then there should be a mysterious "vortex" when we get near the mystery character. <S> If it's the same feel each time, the reader will be able to make the connection. <A> If your story is for an audience of one, your reader can finish the story, look up from the page, and ask you "what's the woman's name? <S> " <S> Problem solved. <A> I don't believe not knowing a character's name would be confusing unless you make it so. <S> If you continuously refer to the same person differently from each of the other character's perspectives, or if you refer to the mystery person by using different titles, then that could become confusing. <S> You will also need to be careful using terms like "she" and "her", because depending on the context, your reader might not know who you are talking about. <S> Just concentrate on making sure that it is easy to understand who is being discussed wherever you use pronouns. <A> GO AHEAD <S> AND KEEP IT <S> A MYSTERY!!!! <S> Not only will this hook your readers and they'll want to keep reading, but it will add a different kind of perspective to your novel. <S> However, you might want to consider revealing this person's name toward or at the end of the novel, just to keep the reader happy that you concluded everything. <S> and that is JUST a suggestion.
| I'd suggest looking for commonalities between these characters who will refer to the mystery character. As long as you word your story well and pay heed to how you use your pronouns, you should be okay.
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Problems with constructing a complex sentence with many ideas in it I am trying to write a sentence that tells the reader that the works displayed that they are about to see will bring them back and forth between the real and virtual realms, in a figurative manner. The "borders" that I mentioned in the statement reflects some of the earlier references in the paragraph. This is the sentence that I wrote: The displayed works will set forth its viewers through a journey from the physical, passing the borders, into the virtual realm and back. The sentence is somewhat complicated since I attempt to throw in quite a few ideas together. The phrase back and forth , in particular, is split into "set forth..." and then "back" at the last part of the sentence. I am not sure if my sentence construction is correct and if the sentence delivers my intended meaning. Somehow, I find my phrasing slightly awkward. Is there anything wrong with my sentence construction/pattern that causes it to sound awkward or lose its intended meaning? <Q> The problem is actually with "back and forth. <S> " <S> That's because back is the return, but in the idiom it's placed before forth , which is the "going out" part. <S> If you use take over and bring back, <S> you'll eliminate some of the confusion. <S> Streamline it and cut some of the figurative fluff. <S> You want something more like: <S> The displayed works will take the viewers on a journey past the borders of the physical into the realm of the virtual, and then back again. <A> I agree that this sentence structure has some problems. <S> I really don't think it conveys the message you intended, or <S> at least not very well. <S> Here are a couple of suggestions on ways to improve it. <S> The first example is simple and to the point. <S> However, if you feel the need to mention the dividing border, then you can consider something like this: <S> The displayed works will carry viewers on a journey from the physical world into a virtual realm and back, transporting them back and forth across the dividing boundary that separates the two planes of existence. <S> I'm not sure what you mean by "displayed works. <S> " Is this a book, a collection of stories, or what? <S> You may want to simplify/clarify that a little better as well. <A> Here are some ideas. <S> Note, that "the displayed works" may be technically correct, but nobody says or writes that. <S> The awkwardness of your sentence starts there. <S> These pieces will send the viewer on a journey through the real -- and into the virtual. <S> or This work will take the viewer on a journey through the physical, across the border into the virtual, and back again! <S> or, if you were looking for something more direct, like in a story: Hang on to your hats, boys and girls! <S> Step on up and have a look, <S> you'll never believe what your eyes will see. <S> Pay two bits, and come on, strap in for the journey! <S> From the physical, through the virtual, the borders you'll cross and the things you'll witness your friends will never believe! <S> Of course that's last one has a side-show feel to it. <S> It does demonstrate something useful, through -- the fact that you don't need to cram everything into one sentence. <S> Final point <S> : One problem I see with your writing is that it's passive. <S> You can see that in the way you've phrased your question. <S> For instance, you wrote: <S> This is the sentence that I wrote: instead of: <S> I wrote this sentence: Or this: The "borders" that I mentioned in the statement reflects some of the earlier references in the paragraph. <S> which could be: <S> The "borders" reflect some of the earlier references in the paragraph. <S> Write more directly to you audience. <S> Don't be afraid to state what you're going to state. <S> Your writing will be cleaner, tighter and clearer if you avoid the passive voice.
| The displayed works will carry viewers on a journey from the physical world into a virtual realm and back.
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How can a new writer make a realistic estimate of his work rate? This question relates to my earlier question Habits and routines for my first tech writing job which I was told to split into two parts. My first technical writing / translation gig starts soon. A Japanese company has offered me a gig helping translate an Android business application + documentation into English. Their staff will do a rough translation, and I will polish it into something reasonably professional. The client has a clear idea of how long the job will take me, and wants me to spend a fixed number of hours working in their office. I have no way of knowing whether the client’s estimate is realistic. I need to start making my own estimates as early as possible but, if my computer programming experience is anything to go by, I’m the worst person to do that. If you ask a novice programmer, “How long will it take you to do Job A?” he answers, “A day.” If you break Job A down into sub-jobs and ask, “How long to do A1, A2, ... A10?” he answers, “A week.” If you hold him to that, he burns out in a month. How do I estimate how long the job will take? How do I avoid the trap of overpromising out of an abundance of enthusiasm and a desire to please the client? <Q> Estimates of how long work like this will take are always guesswork. <S> One can make some excellent guesses when one is experienced, but even then, it's advisable for one to take several factors into account: <S> The difficulty of the material. <S> Have you seen any of the text you'll be translating? <S> If you have, then you already have a rough guide as to how long this will take. <S> I suggest actually doing the cleanup work you'll be doing on a few pages of the material while timing yourself. <S> This is an amazingly simple and useful technique that I do with every editing or rewrite job before quoting a fee or setting any timelines, to avoid surprises for myself or for the client. <S> While this is much simpler with straight text (where you will have a word or page count), I imagine similar techniques can be used with translating an app. <S> (Perhaps another tech writer can chime in about this. <S> How do you estimate the volume of application text? <S> Is there a metric here <S> that's useful?) <S> Communication issues can also add time to a project. <S> In this case, I'm guessing the documentation team will be in the office where you'll be doing the work? <S> If you come across problems while doing the rewrite that are prohibiting you from proceeding, timely responses to questions from your client will make your job easier. <S> If your only contact is in Japan, you'll have to wait overnight for responses. <S> Familiarity with the material is also something that can add time to a project. <S> In this case, you have a technical background, but are you familiar with Android's quirks? <S> If not, add a little time to your estimate. <S> If, after getting a time estimate together, you find that the client's timeline is truly unrealistic, I recommend going to them with this information and discussing the issue. <S> If the two of you truly are at odds here, then this could easily turn into a difficult working situation that it'd be best to avoid. <S> On the other hand, if your estimate is fairly close to what they're looking for, then you have no problems. <A> I have an exhaustive list of tasks and approximated times it will take for each one, and then I enter this info in a metrics with a minimum 10% contingency (prefer 20%) to determine man hours. <S> However, one programmer suggested a simpler solution: actual time multiplied by 2. <S> If it will take you one week, tell them two. <S> You have to allow for risks and contigencies, changing priorities, and anything else that inevitably might happen. <A> Your computing experience is probably the best guide you have. <S> You know from this that a) some part of the translation will be easier than expected; b) some parts will be very tricky. <S> So, ignore the easier parts, estimate how many will be tricky. <S> This you should be able to ascertain from the length and complexity of the material - if you can gauge this. <S> Or can you make a reasonable estimate as to how much is liable to be complex. <S> Assume you will have to go back to the original translators for these pieces, and that they will take you a long time. <S> In the meantime, you will be able to get on with the rest. <S> So you total time is liable to be defined by these difficult pieces - as per software development. <S> So I would say, treat it as a software task, like translating user requirements into code applications, and you should get yourself a reasonable idea of whether the estimate is close or not. <A> A project manager I worked for used this rule: <S> whatever amount of time seems about right, double it and go with that
| You can then make an estimate of how much time the core project will take.
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Can I write reference books about a fictional universe from an existing franchise? I want to write some reference books containing details about the fictional universe of some popular franchises, such as Tintin, or Star Trek. This would contain short plot summaries (1-paragraph in length) and various details about the setting and characters. The information would be similar to material found on On-line encyclopedias, such as Wooieepedia, but completely original writing. I would use only the original stories (e.g. books or episodes) from the franchise as the source for the information. Can I write such a work or would I run into legal problems? <Q> A book discussing copyrighted and trademarked works can unquestionably be done. <S> It has been done, many times; search on Amazon for unauthorized guide to <S> and you'll see books on everything from Buffy to Barbie dolls. <S> The only question here is, how much trouble is it to get permission? <S> Do you even need permission to do a book which is, essentially, criticism and analysis? <S> I suggest consulting a lawyer, because even though this answer may very well be correct: Writing about something may well be legal. <S> However, there's no way of getting around the fact that publishing a book like this would be using trademarked properties to make money. <S> Even if it's not illegal, companies have to enforce their trademarks or they risk losing them. <S> (Copyrights and trademarks are very different animals.) <S> At the very least, publishers might want to get permission, even if no money is involved, to avoid receiving a cease-and-desist. <S> Knowing the answers to these issues would help smooth the way with potential publishers, although their legal department would likely deal with this once the book is sold. <S> If you're self-publishing, however, wouldn't have that advantage. <S> Finally, since its obvious that this has been done and can be done (see that Amazon link), you could also attempt to contact the authors of other, similar reference works <S> : See what they did, and how they did it. <S> If nothing else, it will give you more information on the process. <A> I am not a lawyer, so I defer to the next person's answer, but this is my instinct: <S> you're fine. <S> It seems preposterous to me that it would be illegal to write ABOUT someone else's book. <A> A similar issue reached the federal court in this case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Rock_Entertainment,_Inc._v._Carol_Publishing_Group_Inc . <S> Basically the appeals court found that there was a valid copyright infringement claim against a publisher who published a trivia book about the TV show Seinfeld. <S> AHA. <S> the original question was not limited to a single fictional universe, but was a reference for several. <S> Ultimately legal counsel could give the definitive word, but it seems reasonable to think that no reference guides would ever get published if you had to get permissions from everyone.
| So long as you don't claim your book is any sort of "OFFICIAL" reference, and don't steal their logos for your cover, it should be okay.
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What's the appropriate way to write numbers in educational contexts like papers? I want to know if numbers should be written alphabetically in educational contexts, for instance: 10 plasma samples out of 1016 cannot be ignored. Or Ten plasma samples out of one thousand and sixteen cannot be ignored. <Q> For a technical journal, you would want to use numerals, not spell out the numbers. <S> Our journals follow <S> The Associated Press Stylebook style (for the most part), which means that we do spell out numbers less than 10, but use numerals for numbers 10 and greater. <S> We also use numerals when the numeral is followed by a unit of measurement, even if the numeral is less than 10. <S> And we would not use a numeral to begin a sentence. <S> (So in your example, we would use this: "Ten plasma samples out of 116 cannot be ignored." <S> Or "Ten plasma samples out of 1016 cannot be ignored." <S> (If you actually meant to write out one-thousand and sixteen.) <S> Also, if your paper is accepted, most journals will have editors helping you with the style in your back-and-forth communications. <A> There is no single standard, but some things to consider: If the numbers are of comparable units, use the form you would use for the greatest number in your sentence, according to your style guide. <S> For example, if the greatest number is "10" and your style guide says to "write numbers ten or lower as numerals, and numbers greater than ten as words", and the numbers in your sentence were 3 and 10, you would write "Three plasma samples out of ten cannot be ignored". <S> However, if the numbers in your sentence were 10 and 116, you would write "10 plasma samples out of 116 cannot be ignored". <S> Except ..., as @JLG pointed out, you generally should not use a numeral at the start of the sentence; however, unlike @JLG's suggestion, I would recommend recasting the sentence so that no numbers appear at the start. <S> I suggest this because based on the point above, that would mean having to write out large numbers as words which isn't Also, please note that the expanded word form of 116 should be "one hundred sixteen", and that there is an inconsistency in your original post: is the value 116 or 1016? <A> Just a late thought: It depends on the impact you would like the number to have, if you use digits the visual reception of the quantity is immediate. <S> The spelled-out words has lesser influence and to some extend obfuscates the number.
| So I would think if the number is important it should be shown as digits, and if the application of the number is of greater concern it should be spelled-out.
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Avoiding "and" as a sentence structure I have a horrific habit I'm finding it very difficult to break. A disturbingly large portion of my sentences consist of the same structure-- two parts separated by "and." I don't know how to break the habit. Please help. Example: After awhile our words subsided, and I commented on a picture of his dog which hung on the wall over the television. This immediately invoked considerable excitement in him, and he asked me if I would like to see better. I uncertainly answered Yes, and he rose from the couch and headed for a doorway to the left. <Q> You have six sentences' worth of text in three conjoined sentences. <S> Not all of the pairings are necessary and some might not be "correct"; for example, you could just as easily conjoin the question and the answer, which are currently part of two different sentences. <S> One way to attack this problem is to break it into the six sentences and then ask yourself which ones really go together. <S> Join only those ones. <S> Another way to break it up is to not always use "and" for your conjunction. <S> Finally, you can mix up your structure more (see example below). <S> Putting all these ideas together, here is one possible revision of your text: <S> After a while our words subsided. <S> I commented on a picture of his dog which hung on the wall over the television, and he grew excited and asked if I would like to see better. <S> Uncertainly <S> I answered yes. <S> Then he rose from the couch and headed for a doorway to the left. <A> In addition to Monica's great suggestions for structure once you've located the problem, you need to develop a way to find all the problem sentences. <S> Either at the beginning or end of every writing session, search through your new text and look for and . <S> Look at every pair of clauses you've joined and highlight them. <S> Then go back and start rebuilding them, not using the same fix twice in a row if you can help it. <S> Whether you do this at the beginning when you're fresh (and you want to get back into the story, and can look at your work with a little distance) or at the end when you've run out of steam (so you feel like you've put it to bed for the night) is entirely dependent on your personal workflow. <A> Sometimes changing the words around can make the actions trigger each other because using and can make sentences sound like a list. <S> By having a mix of long and short sentences you can vary the pace of your writing. <S> I don't think I've quite kept your original meaning <S> but here is an idea of what I mean... <S> After awhile our words subsided. <S> Commenting on the picture of his dog immediately invoked considerable excitement in him, and he asked me if I would like to see better. <S> I uncertainly answered Yes, looking towards the photograph hanging on the wall over the television. <S> He rose from the couch, heading for a doorway to the left.
| You can also use semicolons to tie sentence clauses together, and you can use words like "then" to connect independent sentences.
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Color scheme for print and ebook I am currently writing a book intended for print (POD) and eBook (PDF/ePub displayed on different devices, including iPads). I use InDesign (CS4) to create the book. The book uses colors for the tables (rows in alternating colors). Looking at the book on different computers (or rather: differently calibrated screens) shows that on some screens a very light color is shown as white (which looks ugly) and others are distorted (e.g., too much cyan). Without going into color management, are there resources (e.g., recommendations for minimum color values)/formatting helps/color schemes freely available to ensure a more or less consistent look? <Q> epub (as well as kindle) are subsets of HTML. <S> So, in essence, there's no difference between reading an e-book on a tablet and reading a webpage on a computer -- and you get some of the same problems. <S> Color shifts between different computers has been plaguing web developers since the start. <S> I don't have inDesign, so <S> I can't tell you where to go exactly, but here are some things to try: <S> Set the color palette to be "web safe". <S> I know you can set your GIFs in indesign to be websafe, but I don't know about the rest. <S> If it takes you all the way back to the old school 256 color scheme, it may not work for you, though. <S> Initially, ipad was supposed to have a 24-bit color depth, but everyone's complaining online that it doesn't seem to. <S> So, start stepping that down. <S> In fact, if I were you, I'd step it down as far as possible while still getting the same effect. <S> Every device renders just a little bit differently, so you want to go for the lowest common denominator. <S> I believe bit-depth is where it's at, but if that doesn't help, start turning off features and reducing other settings that add complexity to the color rendering. <S> Change your colors. <S> Others render consistently across devices. <S> So, play around with other color sets if reducing complexity doesn't help. <S> It all revolves around quality - you want less, not more. <S> If you have inDesign, then I'm sure you also have a really high end monitor to use it on. <S> Tablets are not high end displays (with the possible exception of iPad 3) -- you have to target the low end. <S> One more thing to throw into the mix <S> : Remember that e-ink devices are black & white, so you'll want to make sure it works in grey-scale too. <S> Edit: I just noticed from one of your comments that you're using CYMK. <S> That's for printing, not displays. <S> Set it to RGB instead. <S> This alone may fix your problem. <A> I know a couple of people who have encountered this problem as well, and the way they addressed it was to convert all their charts to images. <S> They generally had better luck in seeing the colors rendered properly when they did this. <S> However, that introduced another issue in that the screen sizes for different e-readers, from Smartphones to Tablets to Computers, could cause distortions in the images. <S> However, since most e-readers will allow you to increase the size of an image to beyond the normal width of the screen, this turned out to be a more acceptable solution for them. <A> Just to sum up what I have learned in the meantime: It is not possible for the kind of book I wrote to do a print and an ePub-eBook version with the same document. <S> Reason being is that the print version (and an PDF Version viewed on an iPad or similar device) uses tables and a range of colors that look stunning on a medium to large display (and hopefully also in print, will take a while), but the hardware of ePub devices is too limited to achieve it there. <S> It's like the old days with Netscape, Explorer, and Oracle -- only worse. <S> Tables look awful unless you format them manually <S> (InDesign does not export them with formatting), and using a colored table-style does not make sense on a small device (screen too small for the tables to look good with this kind of margin effect and some device offer no color, i.e., the information value vanishes). <S> So the best solution is to create an own ePub version -- removing any color, replacing the tables (and the need for a color scheme) with bullet point lists, and keeping to basic formatting. <S> But doing both with one file is -- I think -- not possible for the formatting I have used, it would only cripple the print version/PDF ebook version. <S> Another problem is the formatting of the InDesign file itself -- there is a great guide to use InDesign for ePub creation here (unfortunately in German), e.g., the text has to be on continuous flow (it was not). <S> So, I think the answer is -- there is no need for such a color scheme if ePub is included, because you can never be sure that the reader is using a device that can display any color. <S> If going for print/PDF ebook and ePub, with complex formatting you might have to create two versions of it. <S> @Moderator <S> : Not sure, should I have written this as an addendum to my question? <S> Or not at all?
| Reduce the bit-depth of your color palette. There are some colors that just won't display the same, no matter what you do.
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How do you estimate the length of your screenplay in screentime? The title says it all. I'm talking about a feature-length film here, although I'm sure the techniques are universal. <Q> 1 page = 1 minute <S> That's the reason that all screenplays are written in 12pt courier font and the margins and spacing are strictly adhered to, you can tell how long a film will (probably) be at a glance. <A> <A> As said, 1 page (standard format) is estimated at one minute. <S> If you are worried and want a more detailed answer: If your dialogue is particularly dense or complicated, read it aloud with a stop watch, as you are intending it to be spoken. <S> Note that dialogue instruction (tone, volume, accompanying physicality) will take up room on the page that happens simultaneously with dialogue; and some action scenes ("they struggle for the gun", or "they fight"), for which you leave the choreography out, may take longer than the single line or two of action suggests. <S> Reading all the dialogue aloud is always a good idea anyway; it is surprising (to me) <S> how often I write something that sounds good in my head <S> but I stumble over when speaking it aloud; or it sounds "written" instead of spontaneously spoken. <S> If you are saying it aloud anyway, you might as well be timing it too. <S> For action scenes like a fight, you can (outside the screen play) imagine your own basic blocking, act out the fight, and use that as your timing guess. <S> But keep in mind the director will likely want incidental fighting short (not "set piece" finale fights, or early character motivation fights; but e.g. proving that a character can fight, or taking out a gatekeeper at the door to a club). <S> I recently re-watched Jack Reacher on basic cable and in his "proof" fight he beats down five bar fighters in about ten seconds and walks away unscathed. <S> That's really all you need to say in a script (except perhaps exactly how their leader was injured, because you want to show his bandaged face later). <S> Choreography is a job for a pro, but if you've seen enough shows you can imagine a good substitute fight. <S> Just don't watch a movie without a stop watch! <S> Unless your spouse insists you put it away. <S> Then, you know, count beats in your head.
| The standard for a script is to estimate that one page equals one minute.
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Why are some words in screenplays set in all caps? I believe I understand this and I'm looking for confirmation. Examples: It has become a tugging match with the Weird Man shouting, "I'lltake you to a taxi... I'll take you." Ahead, a group is gatheredon the sidewalk near two ambulances. People clamor to get a lookat a BLOODY BODY which lies on the street. DETECTIVE TAYLOR, 52, stands on the other side of the room, looksthrough a notepad. So do they do this because at that moment, the screen focuses on that item, character, or aspect? And/or is it also always done when a character is first introduced? <Q> Here's the money quote from the script formatting rules <S> that cornbread ninja linked in the comments: Some writers also use ALL CAPS when a sound effect appears in Action. <S> Others capitalize important props. <S> This would look like this: MORTIMER groans and pops a handful of aspirin. <S> The tea kettle WHISTLES. <S> Mortimer pulls out a SUB-PARTICLE SUPER BLASTER and blows the kettle to smithereens. <S> You can think of it as a way to mark the cues! <S> Now, a lot of times a cue will be expressed by the camera focusing on the new element, whatever it is - so I understand why you might think that's what the caps means. <S> But remember, a screenplay should generally avoid dictating directorial specifics like camera shots! <S> Instead, it's just telling the reader, "something new enters the scene, right HERE. <S> " That might be expressed with focus, but it might not - for example, when the BLOODY BODY is first referenced, maybe the actual film will only show partial glimpses of it for a little while before actually focusing on it. <S> Maybe they'll never focus on it at all. <S> At any rate, as far as I can tell using caps for emphasis in a screenplay is more of a good practice than a precise science with strict rules. <S> If you understand what kinds of things need to be emphasized, and you feel like you're managing to emphasize those things with the caps, then your precise decision on a handful of cases you're not sure about shouldn't make a big difference one way or the other. <A> When ALL CAPS is used mid-sentence like that it's usually because it's the first appearance of that thing on screen. <S> If you think about it, the focus of almost any scene will be the characters in it, so a BLOODY BODY is unlikely to get much screen time compared to say, DETECTIVE KATE BECKETT. <S> In some cases it may suggest the focus for the scene - such as "unnoticed by her captors, Beckett slips a KITCHEN KNIFE in her boot" - but ultimately the director will point the camera where he wants to point the camera and if it's a choice between a bloody body and Kata Stanic <S> he's going to point it at the star every time. <A> A production requires several experts who handle specific elements at the request of the director. <S> The CAPS are specific to help those experts do their task. <S> All props and foley sounds are in caps so the prop director and sound engineer are are alert to their task. <S> CAPs are also used to introduce a new character (though only the first time they appear) and at times to emphasize a certain action. <S> Again, they are not to be used as a mere gesture to emphasize a word, but rather have a very specific purpose JOHN runs in the room and pulls a GUN, he pull the trigger twice to no avail, then finally a SHOT rings out ( this is only correct if John had just appeared in the script for the first time) <A> To introduce a character for the first time, to draw attention to an element of the script: e.g. The POISON BOTTLE , the TICKING BOMB . <S> All actual breakdown for department heads will be done by the First Assistant Director (who numbers the scenes -- <S> don't you do that -- and rewrites your sluglines) and the Department Heads (e.g., Prop, Wardrobe, Mechanical Effects, etc.). <S> So, after introducing new characters, cap anything that makes sense and brightens the page. <S> e.g.: <S> The RAIN POUNDED the windows scaring FIDO. <S> JENNY, 7, cute, blonde, snuggles next to the now WHIMPERING Fido. <S> (In this example, you're letting Sound and the animal handler know <S> Fido has to whimper.) <A> Because capital letters writing is meant to signify the introduction of a signtificant physical element into the scene.
| In my understanding, this use of all-caps writing is meant to signify the introduction of a significant physical element into the scene.
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Where to find authors for highly technical articles? I've looked at some of the largest outsourcing sites. These have huge amounts of software developers, and huge amounts of casual writers. I'm having enormous difficulty finding authors that would be suitable to create technical white papers. My requirements are: Very Technical (experience in at least one programing language, and with at least one database) Someone who is comfortable writing marketing style or other more creative work (I'm not looking for a 'dry' technical document) How do I find a writer like this? Are there freelance sites dedicated to technical writers that I just haven't been able to find? <Q> One resource is Techwr-l , a large, long-running mailing list and web forum. <S> You can't just post job ads to the mailing list, but they accept ads/sponsorships. <S> I've never advertised there <S> so I don't know how well it works, but you could ask them about success rates. <S> You could also look into the Society for Technical Communicators (STC), a large professional organization. <S> My experience is that writers who can program are rare but not non-existent there. <A> I'm late to this discussion, but we call ourselves "programming-writers". <S> And yes, we are rare and expensive. <S> For example, on my current contract I add Doxygen comments into Java source file, read C++ files (the native implementation of many of the Java files), post the files on a Linux server where I modify Php and JavaScript, write SQL statements to interact with a MySql database, modify Windows BAT and Cygwin Bash shell scripts, while using emacs with custom modifications. <S> Most developers dread writing documentation and most writers do not have the technical breadth. <S> I suggest you try Craigslist and use the heaviest technical requirements. <S> Be prepared to be inundated with responses from the barely qualified (as in they wrote a VB program once). <S> doug <A> There are regional sites like this one: http://www.minneapolistechnicalwriter.com/ <S> (Check out their "Other Directories" tab.) <S> (Maybe ask to see their English class grades?) <S> As @Monica stated, writers who can program are rare. <S> You might ask a faculty member at a university (either a technical writing instructor or a programming instructor) <S> whether they know of anyone looking for freelance work. <S> If you find someone comfortable with your subject matter, then you can steer them in the direction you want your marketing copy to go. <S> My experience (in medical publishing) is that technical writers usually are not that comfortable developing marketing copy. <A> Given the number of software development books available, it's fair to say theres a lot of writers out there who can program, and with a healthy dose of google you should be able to find the websites for quite a few of them. <S> If you want a head start you then, as a writer with a published programming book, I'd be happy to hear about your idea if you want to drop me a comment on my website. <A> Search for Technical Writers on LinkedIn
| I think I would look for programmers who know their field but who can also write well.
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What should be put on scene notecards? (for novel writing) Once, a while back, I tried to use notecards when noveling to organize and develop my novel. The idea (a fairly common one, I believe) was that each scene is noted on a notecard, and you can then visually order them and add/remove scenes; it creates a high-level overview that helps with pacing and flow, and finding superfluous scenes to cut or holes that need an added scene. I liked the idea, but I couldn't make it work in practice. About halfway through the novel I had a stack of less-than-useful cards, that didn't seem to add any value to the noveling process. So, I abandoned it. Lately I started using Scrivener - which has a notecard feature - so I want to give it another shot. I think my problem may have been what I put on the cards. Some had lots of detail, others quite sketchy, and generally what I put on each would seem important at the time but later had me wondering what I meant. So, What should be put on scene notecards to make them useful? Especially, what are the set of things that should be on all notecards to make them useful as a whole as well as individually? <Q> It all depends on what you want on those cards. <S> Since I tend to worry about the details of a scenario when I'm writing it specifically, I tend to be pretty rough when I plan like this, but I recommend four basic elements be on all of your notecards: What characters are there. <S> Why they're there. <S> What happens to them. <S> How this affects the characters and the story. <S> With these guidelines, you shouldn't have any problems knowing where a scene is going when you actually sit down to write it. <A> For each scene, I like to note: <S> The POV character Goal: What the POV character wants in this scene. <S> Obstacle: <S> Who or what gets in the way of the POV character's goal. <S> Result: <S> Whether or not the POV character achieves the goal. <S> Reaction: <S> The character's reaction (emotional, thoughtful, or both) to what happened. <S> Dilemma: <S> The options that the character weighs, and the problems that lead the character to discard most of them. <S> Decision: Which option the character chooses and commits to. <S> Those are the basics. <S> I often note a few details or complications about some of those things. <S> And I might note my goals in the scene (demonstrate something about the character, set up or foreshadow some later event, reveal new information, hide some detail in plain sight, and so on). <A> I use an extensive array of index cards. <S> will a new card help to better organize my work, or will it obfuscate my process and clutter up my desk? <S> Don't take clutter lightly. <S> To much of a good thing can be bad. <S> The important thing is to use a tool, in this case index cards, only when your sure you need it. <S> I generally plot out five or six key scenes, and then as I write, I get ideas for scenes, and create a few index cards to fill some of unknown region between key scenes, revising these cards as I write and improving my grasp of the narrative.
| If the character has a significant dilemma (more than a paragraph) in response to something that happens in the scene, I'll note: The core thing I learned about index cards is make sure you know what information you want to put on them before use and ask yourself before pulling out a fresh index card
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Self-contained software environment for authoring research papers Does a self-contained environment for authoring research papers exist? Clearly, the concept might be a little unclear, so here's an attempt to better define what I mean: All sources used would be within the system; for example, a static-clone of Wikipedia. The workflow for researching, tracking source notation, fact validation, text-editing, and final review, would all be within the system. Use would be for basic education, not professional writing. General use of such a system would be based around reducing the overhead to learning to write research papers. For example, the first "research paper" would simply be finding a topic, rephrasing the supporting topic sentences, and writing a conclusion sentence. The expert/last would be manually tracking the citation of sources, doing original research external to the system, etc. UPDATE: Thought I might share additional "logic" on why I believe such a system would be of value. For starters, creative thinking/sourcing/independent research to me easy to separate from the action of rephrasing and summarizing information gathered in sources and presenting that information in a meaningful, yet interesting way. Beyond that, facts changed, but the skill required to present them roughly stays the same. By having a static source, it would allow all research, phrasing, etc. to be traced real-time, possibly even in a semi-automated way. Beyond that, Wikipedia is big enough, to write enough research papers to learn to write research papers, but allow people to select topics on their own. By keep the version of Wikipedia static, no links between the source and research would ever go broken, and as a result, ever paper on written on the system would be able to be used to teach other people and good and bad choices in writing a research paper, since the papers would also be wikis. <Q> One of the main problems with creating a self-contained software environment for research papers and other types of authorship is that we're dealing with all the information in the world that could be useful at any given time. <S> Though one could download the entire mirror of Wikipedia, attempting to parse that large of a database of information in a way that could be useful to you as an individual is nearly impossible. <S> For example: say you are writing about the advent of indoor plumbing in Great Britain. <S> Using Wikipedia, you might start out with an article that is absolutely relevant by name , but end up on an article that would seem to be completely unrelated, but is relevant by reference . <S> I would assume that the best way to work toward a platform such as this would be to look at your own goals in any given situation, and find something that suits your needs as close as possible, and use self control to weed out all of the "extra fluff" <S> that's out there and keep things organized. <S> Something like Evernote could be a good start. <S> Using a system such as this would not only provide you with a means to link to outside resources, but also copy those resources to a local/contained storage medium, thereby eliminating some of the pitfalls (such as link rot ) of strictly using online sources. <S> This doesn't help you with standard formatting, automated references or bibliographic information, but it could be a good start toward creating a system that works for you, while still allowing you the flexibility to change formats in the future. <S> My guess is that a system to perfectly fit the criteria you have put forth <S> doesn't exist today, not for lack of trying in the past. <A> Would an application like Mead Builder - Research Paper Edition be a start? <S> helps students write better research papers by prompting them to create a schedule based on a step-by-step process. <S> It also assists students with organizing their notes and sources and writing their paper in keeping with standard MLA format. <S> Sadly it has been discontinued . <S> I also appears that EndNote , although certainly not self-contained, nor structured for actual instruction, at least simplifies the reference portion by allowing one to search globally on-line from within the software and then automatically create and maintain the references as required. <A> Authorea by MIT is probably what you're looking for.
| While not explicitly solving the problem, Evernote (or an Evernote-like software application) could be extremely useful by providing a way for you to easily capture the research that you are doing, and allowing you to link between documents in a simple fashion, essentially creating your own cyclopedic system for whatever it is you are researching.
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How Important are essay writing conventions in the university level and above? I go to a CEGEP, which is basically pre-university in Montreal. In my Introduction to English class, I had a teacher who allowed us to go around the typical essay writing conventions. Conventions like outlining three points in your thesis and summing up those points in different words in your conclusion were thrown out. Instead, our essays consisted of logical points of progression; if I could prove point A, then I can prove point B, and then C, and therefore I've proven my thesis. This sort of progressive method allowed me to write some of the best essays I've written so far, and my favourites too. But when I took my second English class in my second semester, I was forced to go back to these conventions, which weren't horrible, but I didn't see too much use in them, as I never felt as though I required them to prove my point in a literary essay. I wanted to ask, are there strict rules about essay writing format in a university, other than the need for a thesis and 5 paragraphs? Or is the format irrelevant, so long as the essay does its job, which is proving the thesis? Much Thanks, Zolani <Q> Speaking as someone who's gotten As on essays through the entirety of an American education, I would say that the answer is-- <S> yes <S> and no. <S> That conventional scheme works very well, which is why it's so common. <S> But a good writer can pull off almost any kind of format for an essay: the sky is the limit. <S> In fact, the definition of what an essay even is is a very loose thing. <S> Essays come in a million shapes and sizes; sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a short story and a reflective essay. <S> If it's just not working no matter how you tweak it <S> , maybe try accepting that the format you've chosen is not right for that particular essay. <S> In sum: there are not strict rules. <S> Do a good job, make sure the reader understands exactly what you're saying and never feels lost, never loses sight of the essay's overall purpose, and you're set. <A> I have 30 papers to grade! <S> Going off script is, IMO, just proof you couldn't get your point across in the standard format so you ditched it. <S> To me it isn't a demonstration of strength, it is a demonstration of weakness. <S> If you want to be original, be original within the constraints of the system. <S> Once you demonstrate you can get a series of A's using the script, then I would put in the effort to read an off-script essay. <S> Before then: Expect B's or C's. <S> Prove your competence at walking before you try to convince me you can dance. <A> Ultimately, your format is still the same as a 3 pronged essay so to speak. <S> You start with your opener/thesis and then go into the body starting with point a, then point b, then point C, then conclude your thesis based on the body of work. <S> If you are writing a paper about a topic in which you are trying to assert that the Holocaust was bad, you would not start with your first topic being total deaths, what methods were used to torture/kill people, why that particular group(s) of people were gathered. <S> That sequence of prongs does not make sense in that order. <S> Just because it is a 3 pronged essay, that does not mean you throw out logical flow of the essay. <S> You will start out by stating why those people were gathered up. <S> Okay cool <S> now we have an understanding for why this guy did these things. <S> As a result of him gathering these people, these techniques were used to torture and slaughter them. <S> Okay cool, now we understand what he did with those people and the techniques he used against them. <S> Then we end it with the statistics of how many were killed/captured/ etc. <S> okay <S> cool, now we can see the results of him capturing and torturing people and we can agree that because of this flow, your thesis makes sense and agree with your conclusions. <S> You always want to have a logical flow. <S> You always want to tie in one point to the next. <S> So what you are doing is correct, but it is still that "conventional" essay writing. <S> You have your opener, thesis, prong 1, prong 2, prong 3, restate thesis, conclusion. <S> How you make them flow together is what makes the art and skill of an essay come to life. <S> If you do not make it flow well together, it will not make sense or enough sense for people to follow along and the essay fails it's job. <A> I'm a language teacher in my native country <S> and I do teach how to write essays. <S> The structure is always the same: Introduction Development Conclusion <S> Within the development, one should present arguments in a logical order, much like the one you learnt in the first semester. <S> Do note that the definition of 'logical order' may depend on the topic and scope of the requested essay. <S> I'd say it's not a matter of choosing one approach over the other <S> , it's a matter of combining the best of those approaches.
| All 3 points SHOULD flow together and if they do not, it will be really hard to follow. If you can pull it off, it's perfectly permitted. Respect the general structure and be creatively logic in the development section. I'll answer as a professor at a university: Stick to the script. If one is required to present pros and cons while validating a thesis (especially if 'right / wrong' is subjective), using classical rhetoric strategies is of great advantage.
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What would sections of a book that are larger than a chapter be called? I'm writing a technical book, and I want to split my book up into about 3 to 6 very broad sections, each of which would have several chapters in it. Is there a standard name for these broad pieces that are bigger than a chapter? Unit? Part? Section? <Q> Usually it's called a part. <S> A section is typically a cohesive chunk within a chapter. <S> Nobody would know what "unit" means. <S> But grab a handful of big-ish technical books to see what they call the chunks. <A> I don't see a big difference between "part" and "section". <S> However, I would suggest something more descriptive than "Part One" or "Section 1". <S> What do the chapters have in common? <S> Why are the grouped together? <S> It helps the reader if you could call them something like "Part One: Networking". <A> If they are merely different parts of a whole, and are different sizes, I would stick to part.
| Generally for books, part works, but for a technical book, if each bit can be treated as a single lesson in the topic, then Unit works well.
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Title Choice: "The Girl [Without/Who Didn't Have] A Soul" I titled a short story "The Girl without a Soul" . But recently I've been thinking on naming it "The Girl who didn't have a Soul." Do they mean exactly the same thing? Is there an advantage to using one over the other? As a short story title, what impressions will readers get when they see the different titles? <Q> Yes, they mean exactly the same. <S> There are plenty of stories that have "who didn't have" in the title; and it really doesn't connote an event in the past. <S> By contrast, Amazon has no fiction books with "who doesn't have" in the title. <S> It's very common to use the past tense in the title of a story, without any implication that something happened in the past, or that something is not happening in the present. <S> To answer the second question, "The Girl without a Soul" flows better in my opinion. <S> "The Girl with no Soul" is better still. <A> This may seem like a trivial distinction, but as a title choice it's important as the title conveys an overall sense of the tone of the story. <S> First of all, the use of the contraction didn't is less formal than without so <S> it might be best to consider the verbiage you've used throughout the story and match the word choice to the formality of the voice in the story. <S> Next, "without" is more concise as it's a single word, and can't is a contraction of two words plus requires the use of "have". <S> If your language is meandering in the story and not overall concise, to show your reader that you would maybe consider can't. <S> Now that the technical differences are spelled out, without conveys an absence of a soul, when I hear "without a soul <S> " I think of a void, of absence and of longing, and seems more wistful of the two, whereas "didn't have" seems less of a statement of absence and void and more a statement of loss. <S> None of that is specifically spelled out by the definitions, this is more of a connotative distinction and more of a conveyance of the unspoken feelings the words conjure. <S> If the story is more about loss, maybe "didn't have" is better, whereas if the story is about absence, a void and of longing, it seems that "without" would be a better choice. <S> Didn't have also seems like it has more of a 'concrete' or definite feeling, as opposed to the wistful ethereal feeling conveyed by without. <S> Finally, and maybe the most important consideration, "didn't have" is past tense while "without" is present. <S> That said, if your style is to withhold clues from the reader about the ultimate end of the story rather than try to let them guess at your intention, reverse that advice. <S> Hope this helps! <A> "The Girl Without a Soul" scans better, because it comprises three pairs of unstressed-stressed syllables. "Who Didn't Have" does seem more childlike, so might be appropriate if you imagine the title being spoken by the child's peers. <A> To your second question first, because it's easier, " The Girl Without a Soul " would definitely sound better as a title of a story. <S> These two phrases do not mean the same. <S> "The Girl who didn't have a Soul" sounds like a story about a Girl who once did not have a soul, but may have one now. <S> This phrase emphasises the fact that the Girl had no soul in the past . <S> "The Girl Without a Soul" sounds like a story concerning a girl without a soul, and implies that this is the case throughout the whole story. <S> It does not give the impression that the Girl will, at the end of the story, have a soul. <S> However, the difference between these two statements are so slight, to dwell in them would be pedantic. <S> Based on how your story goes, you could choose either statement. <S> However, "The Girl without a Soul" does sound better.
| If the girl gets a soul later in the story, it may be more apropos to use "didn't have", or another synonymous past tense phrase, if she doesn't get a soul, it might be a better idea to use "without". Again, pick the choice that is more in line with the words you've used in the story.
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Referencing figure in text - capitalize the word "Figure" or not? Why? I see it quite a lot. It looks a bit like this: It can be seen in Figure 3 that... My gut feeling is that there is no reason to scream in the middle of a perfectly calm sentence. I would like to write it like: It can be seen in figure 3 that... However it seem to be very common. Which one is the recommended way of writing, and more importantly what are the reason(s) for using a capital letter there? <Q> Figure 3 is recommended, and it's pretty much in line with every style book I've consulted (Chicago Manual of Style, AP Stylebook, O'Reilly, etc.). <S> From a logical point of view, I completely agree with you. <S> However, the standard convention of Figure 3 makes perfect sense, because Figure 3 is . <S> . . <S> well, Figure 3. <S> It's an element of the article, book, etc. <S> that deserves its own capitalization. <S> Think of it as another chapter (to which you would refer with uppercase spelling) or heading. <S> O'Reilly Default Stylesheet <S> (Archive.org link) <A> (And if you're not restricted to one style manual, you can do what you like, as long as you're consistent.) <S> For example, Chicago (3.9) recommends lowercase, while APA (4.17) recommends uppercase. <S> I don't think one capital letter = a scream. <S> People probably capitalize it because they're used to capitalizing names and it is similar to a name. <A> If the figures are labeled "Figure 3", you would refer to them so in the text. <S> Similarly for "Fig. 3". <S> When the label is only "3", refer to it as "figure 3", using lowercase. <A> I know this is an old article; however, I came across this and wanted to add something. <S> While it may seem illogical or that there isn't a right or wrong answer, you must remember the focus is to make the document grammatically correct. <S> Your question can best be answered by revisiting the basic definition of a proper noun. <S> While we would say "figure(s)" is a common noun, you are speaking of "Figure 3". <S> Since this is a single occurrence, it would be considered a proper noun. <S> Another example would be to think of how proper nouns are applied to seasons of the year. <S> If you are speaking of the season generally, you would say something like the following. <S> I enjoy going to the beach during the summer. <S> However, you may want to talk about a specific season that had an event worth noting. <S> In this case, there would be only one and it would be used as a proper noun. <S> During the Winter of 1988, we had a horrible snow storm that caused the entire city to lose power for an entire month. <S> I hope this provide clarity for those seeking the correct usage, as there is a right or wrong answer here.
| There's no right or wrong on this; it depends on which style manual you're following.
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What effect on literature has the introduction of eBooks and eReaders had? eBooks and eReaders are still relatively new, but they've had a major impact on literature. What impact has eBooks and eReaders had on the production of literature (specifically books)? <Q> There are quite a few ways to approach and answer this question: Ebooks and e-readers are still relatively new, but have shown already that there's a future for them. <S> Even stronger, they're already passing sales of regular books . <S> There are several reasons for this, some of them are: easier to pack several books with you for a trip, ebooks are quite often cheaper or sometimes even free <S> *, they can be read on several devices (phone, pc, e-reader, iPad, ...), ... <S> Production costs are much lower for an ebook. <S> Most work to get to the ebook is already done as part of the preparation of printing on real paper. <S> So nowadays there's no reason to go for a printed version and ignore the ebook version. <S> Some claim that ebooks are greener, because no trees have to be cut. <S> But what about the production and energy costs of e-readers, or your pc? <S> If you want to know more about which is greener, go read here . <S> Authors can release a book much easier. <S> It also gives people the chance to release a paper, a collection of (quality) blog posts, some poems, ... to the wide public. <S> Ebooks don't have to be 300+ pages to be of high quality and useful. <S> It's still to early to say what impact they'll have on book stores and libraries, but overall they had a quite positive impact on literature. <S> * I won't go to deep in the discussion on pricing of ebooks. <S> You can claim that some providers like Amazon are asking way to much for an ebook (sometimes even more than the printed version), but this would bring us to far off topic. <A> Frankly, I read a lot more of what I would term "Literature" than I ever used to, simply because large chunks of it are in the public domain. <S> Given the amount I read, "free" is a powerful motivator. <S> That being said, I absolutely refuse to pay for ebooks. <S> I work in the publishing industry, and the claims that the costs of the physical product being equal or nearly equal to the cost of the digital product are a sick joke <S> (The e-edition is basically what they send to the printer, so that work has to be done for both products. <S> The printing and distribution have a massive cost associated, and it keeps going higher due to increasing costs in paper, ink, and gasoline.) <S> Until they fix the pricing, I'm abstaining. <A> For one, it probably requires the author/editor/publisher to do layout and writing in a way that will suit different formats, besides just print. <S> Images don't always work well on a reader (such as the Kobo) due to size or colour. <S> Writing with electronic formats in mind enables preview versions of the material, since electronic output is easier to create and distribute than print. <S> Unfortunately, pricing does not always reflect this - sometimes ebooks cost more than their print counterparts! <S> It also makes publishing more accessible since it's possible to output just electronic books without a print version, reducing costs and processes. <A> One huge effect is that it has made many authors' backlists available again.
| On the whole, I think ebooks and ereaders make literature more accessible, due to the portability and the ease of finding new things to read.
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How much influence do authors have on the titles of their books? The background to my question: I have always assumed that authors choose their titles, because I consider them an important part of the book, but then I read interviews with some authors who had a fight with their publishers on this subject. Is a book's title generally the publisher's decision or the author's? <Q> After the author writes the book, he submits it to the publisher, who then suggests edits all over the book, which the publisher believes will improve the book. <S> Such suggested edits can be done to the title, or just parts of the entire work itself. <S> It's still the author's decision, but the publisher can decide not to publish the work, if the publisher believes that the work won't sell and be profitable. <S> Thus, it's a kind of compromise that the author and the publisher have to work out. <A> I think they actually have less say over the matter than that. <S> Richard Dawkins has written quite a bit about the lack of choice authors have over their titles. <S> Dawkin's publisher actually refused to let him title his most recent book "The Only Game in Town"; he had to settle for his second choice: "The Greatest Show on Earth". <S> He's also bemoaned the practice of publishers renaming books when they're republished overseas (either England to America or vice versa). <S> Gould's Full House is one example of this (I don't recall what the UK title was). <A> The more clout you have as a writer-- the more popular your books are-- the more control you have with future books. <S> They renamed my first book and wouldn't take no for an answer. <S> On the other hand, I was able to veto all but three of the content changes (which were good changes, in my opinion). <S> A title can kill a book, but it shouldn't be the reason you wrote the book.
| Thus, it's really the author's choice, but the publisher can be insistent.
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How to plan dialog and keep it on track? When I'm writing a plotline, it often works out that I know two characters will be meeting each other in a particular scene, and that they will converse. And I oftentimes know the central idea of what needs to be communicated, and I see to it that it is. But dialogue is more than that, and oftentimes I find myself wondering: "What else should they be saying?", or, more accurately, "What else would they be saying?" I find myself trying to flesh out a conversation without any particular goal in mind. I'm thinking, if these two people met, would they speak briefly and then part ways? If so, how soon would they part ways, and with what sort of farewells? Which one would be the one to say "All right, I've got to be somewhere."? Or would they hit it off and end up having a long conversation out of interest? What would they talk about? Or would one keep talking and the other wishes he would shut up? And if so, what would he be talking about? Really, I think what I'm doing is aimlessly hoping that something will grow out of their interaction, that I'll suddenly realize I've stumbled upon a new idea for the story overall. It's happened before, but it's hit and miss. How can I plan out conversations? <Q> A little riffing, a little planning. <S> I tend to sketch out a scene in notes and bullets beforehand, so <S> I know more or less where it's going and what I want to accomplish. <S> I'm "watching" the characters interact in my head as I'm jotting down notes, and sometimes entire exchanges come out of that. <S> Once I've roughed out the scene, then I can go back and tweak to make sure it does what I need it to do, and that the characters are true to how I've envisioned them. <S> Sometimes I have to back up and say, " <S> But Malcolm wouldn't pry like that. <S> This whole section has to go" (massive deletion of text) " <S> so how would he get Charles to open up?" <S> How the people actually get to where I'm aiming them is all ad libbing, but you should have a good idea of each character's voice so that it doesn't take you by surprise or wander off into the living room. <S> You should know them, as people, and be able to predict how they're going to react. <S> If you don't know your characters well enough, you have to go back and spend some time with them — maybe doing those silly personal quizzes which get emailed around, answering it in the voice of each character. <S> (I actually find those incredibly helpful.) <S> So your questions about when they would start and stop talking is up to you, or up to them, in a sense. <S> Those questions aren't going to be answered necessarily by just clattering away at the keyboard like an infinite monkey and hoping that A Midsummer Night's Dream comes out. <S> You have to figure out how your character is going to react to your other character, and write the scene accordingly. <A> I've discovered from experience that whenever I try to shoehorn my dialogues into how I think they should go or how I want the scene to work out, they always end up very stilted and unnatural. <S> The method that I've found works for me is only having an end-state in mind. <S> That is, Person A should now have this knowledge, Person B this knowledge, etc. <S> And then maybe something like "Person A should feel like they're trapped". <S> Then I simply let the conversation flow between the two characters, no matter how it comes out (but always keeping the end-state at the back of my mind). <S> Sometimes I'll achieve the exact outcome I wanted, other times it means I need to rethink either this scene (is this really the best way to convey this information?) or rework previous/future scenes (can this happen/be conveyed in another scene instead?) <S> - but I find that doing this makes for much more natural dialogue. <S> As always, YMMV on this - it's very much a character-driven approach and relies on you being very familiar with how they think and act. <S> It does also mean that I need to go back later and revise the dialogue, because natural speech =! <S> effective writing. <A> I have a somewhat unconventional style <S> so I don't know how much use this will be to you. <S> I have to do this to make certain that all of the information I want to convey is conveyed and no more than that. <S> Most of my fiction is odd in that it's told from the perspective of a potentially unreliable narrator, who may not want to share information with the reader directly for his or her own reasons, and instead may wish to convey the information with clues in dialogue, and that's the reason for the careful consideration. <S> I hope that helps you.
| Most of my dialogue is intended to convey meaning in some form or another, or to illustrate something about one of my characters, so I consider carefully what my protagonist will say and what the responses will be beforehand.
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Creating metaphors in poetry When writing poetry, is there a known method of some kind that exists that makes it easy to turn a concept I'd like to illustrate into a metaphor? If so, please elaborate as much as possible. EDIT: I am asking if there is a way to come up with metaphors quickly and easily, so that if I want to illustrate a concept or a thought or a feeling I can quickly come up with a solid metaphor, rather than ask and puzzle about it. <Q> Quick and dirty way? <S> Grab the nearest adjective describing given noun. <S> Grab another noun described by that adjective. <S> Find an adjective or another description that sets them apart. <S> There, you have the metaphor. <S> Glass - transparent - air - solid - solid air. <S> Hand - limp - jelly - fingered - fingered jelly Bar - noisy - classroom - drinks and cigarettes - classroom of drinks and cigarettes Bus - long - sausage - streets - Sausage of the streets. <S> As you certainly notice these aren't top notch. <S> This is a quick&dirty method as you requested. <A> To quickly generate metaphors I grab my thesaurus <S> and I find words that mean the same thing as the concept I'm trying to metaphorize. <S> I tend to pick out words that do not sound at all similar despite having the same meaning. <S> After I have a collection of words as a baseline, I write a sentence each to describe each of them. <S> I pick the most illustrative sentences and I expand them to paragraphs. <S> Once that's done there is always a metaphor waiting for me in my mind. <S> This is an exercise that I learned at a writing conference, and it almost always works for me. <S> The presenter suggested that it's because the act of writing concrete structures describing words that mean what you're trying to illustrate gets your subconscious to think about the metaphor while you're concentrating your conscious mind on the act of writing descriptions. <S> YMMV, but, as I said it works for me. <S> I asked the question hoping to get more exercises like this one, not to answer my own question, because the times that it doesn't work I often end up stuck. :) <A> No. <S> Absolutely not. <S> You should puzzle over everything you write until you know that the words convey exactly what you want. <S> There is no abstract "metaphor machine," so to speak. <S> When I need a metaphor, sometimes it's there, waiting for me. <S> And sometimes I have to sit for five minutes and think, iterating over different aspects of the world we live in until I find the one that best mirrors the subject and fits the context. <S> And sometimes I put in a blank and think about it for days. <A> Don't write if you're not practically exploding with passion. <S> Write to a person, a thing, an audience, a listener, a love, and just tell them (or it) <S> what you need to say in the most concise, comprehensive, and truthful way you muster.
| If you want quality metaphors, you must painstakingly craft them, or experience a flash of inspiration, no way around that.
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What qualities should a good metaphor have? What makes an individual metaphor a good illustration of a complex idea as opposed to a "bad" metaphor that doesn't do the job of painting a picture with alternate words? <Q> A bad metaphor is like your 81-year-old Portuguese grandfather. <S> Really, only close family members and people from that region can even understand him at all, and even then he's talking nonsense half the time, and he talks for far too long about things most people are unfamiliar with. <S> A good metaphor is a lot like a mime - it neatly conveys the essence of the idea in mind and requires no additional explanation. <S> A really good metaphor is much like Marcel Marceau - original, memorable, and even alliterative. <A> It resonates with the audience and may add to the core idea. <S> A poor metaphor has baggage of its own, doesn't track with the original concept, is too clunky, too esoteric, needs too much explanation, or becomes absurd. <A> Well, first off, it should be a metaphor, not a simile. <S> :) <S> Ahem... <S> A great metaphor recasts the familiar or mundane as something strikingly different yet truly parallel. <S> It gives a startlingly vivid picture or brings a surprising insight. <S> A bad metaphor fails to achieve the parallel, or the fresh insight, or both. <S> The element of surprise is an important part of a great metaphor. <S> If we saw it coming from a paragraph away, it is far less effective; a metaphor can be bad merely because it is a cliche. <S> Some personal favorites: <S> "The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees/ <S> The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed upon cloudy seas" (Noyes) "The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes" (T.S. Eliot) <S> "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player/ <S> That struts and frets his hour upon the stage" (Shakespeare) <S> "Out of the mocking bird's throat, the musical shuttle/Out of the Ninth-month midnight" (Whitman)
| A good metaphor will parallel or easily invoke the idea you're trying to convey, without extraneous or irrelevant details.
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How to handle screenplay revisions in Final Draft? I need to revise a screenplay in Final Draft, and I'm finding that the revision features in the program are poor. Are there any ways to introduce revision features in to Final Draft, similar to Track Changes in Microsoft Word? If not, what kind of workflow could give me the same benefits of keeping changes visible to the writer? Some background about what I'm looking for: In the past, I've done revisions to screenplays in Microsoft Word, where the changes are clearly indicated. Final Draft will show added text in a different color, but as far as I can tell, deleted text is not tracked. As you can see, Word shows text that's been crossed out, an advantage to editing someone else's work. (You don't have to do side-by-side comparisons when you have this information handy.) Word also lets you add notations in the text, like this might work better if you wrote it like this . Is there any solution to this? Moving the text to Microsoft Word and back is not a realistic option, due to the complexity of screenplay formatting. If it's not supported in the application itself, perhaps there's a plug-in? If that's not possible, what are the import options for moving files back and forth between Final Draft and Word? Or are there third-party document tracking systems that aren't too much in the way of overkill? Perhaps Scrivener can be a go-between to track revisions? Or am I stuck with simply comparing versions manually? Note: This question is a more writerly variation on this Super User question . <Q> First option: <S> I do not understand why you have to move the file back to Final Draft. <S> You can export it to Word, track the changes, find the corresponding parts in the Final Draft document and change them there. <S> You can also export to a plain text format and use a diff tool. <S> Yes, it's cumbersome to find the text passages in the original Final Draft document and change there, but it should be feasible. <S> Second option: Instead of deleting, strike the text through (with the corresponding formatting option) and mark it as revised afterward . <S> Maybe with this trick you can work around the issue. <A> TOOLS > SCRIPTCOMPARE. <S> If you compare two drafts it will point out the differences. <A> An ancient question, but I've an updated suggestion. <S> Final Draft is only useful for script formatting, submission, and production. <S> It is not designed for collaboration or multi-party editing. <S> I suggest writing a draft in Final Draft. <S> Then convert to fountain (a Markdown-like text format see fountain.io) and import into Word or Google Docs for collaboration and revision. <S> I prefer Google Docs myself, but keep the fountain syntax. <S> Finally when the next draft is "finalised", turn revision marks off and save the text back to fountain format. <S> Convert back to Final Draft and you have Draft 2 in Final Draft. <S> I have used this procedure many times. <S> Alternatively <S> Writer Duet has amazing collaboration tools. <S> Also Final Draft from version 9 recommends desktop screen sharing via join.me for live online collaboration ( yuck ). <S> Update <S> even FD11 built in collaboration still sucks.
| Final draft has a script compare function.
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Is it more advantageous to have an excerpt or a plot summary critiqued? I'm considering opening up my current work in progress to critique. In the past I haven't had very much luck with the local writer's group, but I'm willing to try again. Maybe not with them, but definitely with some writer's support forum, somewhere. The writer's group I used to associate with would normally take an excerpt from another member's novel, short story or what have you and then promptly proceed to beat the living hell out of it. I think that model might be flawed and what should be critiqued is not the individual excerpts but the overall cohesiveness of the plot. Almost anyone can make a bunch of pretty words, but that doesn't fix a broken story. Then again, the best story in the world wouldn't be worth reading if it's full of bad writing and grammatical errors. So, is it more important in a writer's group (or other similar writer's support forum) to focus on critiquing plots for problems and improvements or to continue to focus on critiquing excerpts in order to improve the quality of writing? <Q> Critiquing specific text is important, but you can always improve the writing. <S> If the book has structural problems, weak characters, or sections that don't mesh with each other, then these larger issues need to be addressed before you worry about the language. <S> It sounds like you don't have a clear idea where (or if) your manuscript is weak. <S> That being the case, can you specifically ask your group to critique the structure only? <S> Rightly or not, writers' groups have a rep for being overconcerned with language. <S> However, groups that concern themselves with plot and structure do exist. <S> I suggest you make certain the structure is sound either through such a group, or have a beta reader you trust (and who will be brutal) evaluate the manuscript/outline. <S> If you're really stuck, you can always hire an editor to go through the manuscript/outline and give you feedback. <S> Look for someone who specializes in developmental editing. <A> I am not a great fan of Writer Groups. <S> I don't think a story should be submitted for critique until it is completed. <S> Otherwise just a single critism will cause the writer to lose heart to a degree. <S> Of all the successful published writers I don't know any who show their developing works for critique. <S> If you have identified a problem and want a solution then that is a different matter. <S> State the problem, and seek the solutions. <A> I agree with Neil. <S> It doesn't matter how pretty it sounds if the plot is weak. <S> Present your plot first, in outline, bullets, summary, however it makes sense, and have them beat the crap out of that first. <S> Once you have a solid plot, then you can worry about getting down on paper. <A> It is very much about where you think you can gain most from. <S> You may have a brilliant plot, but find that you write it with the fluency of a plank of wood, or you may have the writing style of Iain Banks*, but such a loose and implausible plot that it makes no difference <S> **. <S> From what you have said, a critique of the plot might, at this point, be more productive for you, and if you can include some more finished written work, to give an idea of how it might look, they can be done together. <S> * <S> Well, I like his style, at least. <S> ** <S> OK, he gets away without a plot sometimes. <S> But then, he is pretty unique. <A> It's two sides of the same coin; it's two different kinds of reviews. <S> A plot with too many holes and weak points will make a crummy book, but shoddy writing will spoil even the keenest of plots. <S> Which is "more important" to review? <S> That would depend on the author. <S> Proficient writers may need help with plot; strong storytellers might need help with writing. <S> Odds are, however, that most writers would derive benefits from both kinds of review, particularly if the reviewers are skilled and constructive. <S> Trying to decide which is "more important" makes for an interesting academic exercise, but, ideally, both plot and writing would be thoroughly examined over the course of time. <S> It depends on where you are in the writing, and what needs to be reviewed at that stage. <S> The review process is very different for each.
| But get the plot sorted first, write some of the story on a good quality plot, and then see whether you need the same sort of critique of that, or whether something different would work for you.
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Do parentheses inhibit clarity? I find it easier to write many things with parentheses, but I don't know if this is considered good practice. I would expect some might say that parentheses are indicative of excessive digression and that the sentences would be clearer if restructured. Is there general consensus on the extent to rely on parentheses (e.g. "sparingly", or the same as with starting sentences with conjunction)? Do parentheses generally make writing more or less clear? <Q> Do parentheses inhibit clarity? <S> They do <S> and they don't, it's all down to individual use. <S> Their function is similar to em dashes (a woefully overused punctuation mark) and can also be used to mask off digressions (which can detract from the text). <S> Overuse and use to mask bad habits have given parentheses a bad rep. Long parenthetical statements that don't flow well are a misuse. <S> If the sentence or paragraph doesn't flow when reading it (because of the parenthetical statements) then you're not using them right. <S> Maybe parentheses are the wrong tool in a case like this. <S> However, just because parentheses are misused often doesn't mean there aren't good ways to employ them. <S> I wrote a longer blog post about this very subject , but here's the money quote in the article that illustrates the central point: <S> [General Washington] had not done well farming despite all sorts of theories about river mud being the best of manures (it is not), and the invention of a plough (shades of Jefferson!) <S> which proved to be so heavy that two horses could not budge it even in moist earth. <S> (Gore Vidal, Burr , 1973) See how well that flows? <S> Dashes would introduce awkward pauses into the writing, rephrasing it entirely would remove the narrator's great sense of self-importance. <S> This novel's narrator is opinionated and talky, but the author cleverly turns his asides into parenthetical ejaculations of color that don't interfere with the flow of the language. <S> Parentheses can be a useful tool in situations where writing the sentence without them would make the sentence longer, a maze of twisty corridors, or perhaps just drain it of life. <S> Those who learn to use parentheses well have access to a wonderful tool. <A> I like what Theodore Bernstein says in "The Careful Writer" (original copyright 1965): <S> There is some evidence that the use of parentheses has become more common in modern writing, particularly in critical and expository writing. <S> Parentheses seem almost to have become a mark of "sophisticated," knowing style. <S> They do have their uses in simplifying sentences that otherwise would be encumbered with ponderous subordinate and coordinate clauses and in permitting the use of pointed asides that might otherwise seem overemphatic. <S> But, like every other stylistic device, they can be overdone. <S> Also, you should be able to lift out what is inside a set of parentheses and still have a grammatical, understandable sentence left behind. <S> I personally think they are overused. <A> As with any technique, use it when it makes the text easier to understand, and don't overdo it (unless you're overdoing it deliberately as a stylistic choice, which should then be obvious). <A> <A> Sparingly is good. <S> Most commonly, a pair of parentheses is useful to set off a strong or weak interruption, rather like a pair of dashes or a pair of bracketing commas. <S> As a rule we prefer parentheses, rather than dashes or bracketing commas, when the interruption is best regarded as a kind of "aside" from the writer to the reader.
| When used well and skillfully, parentheses fulfill a function that no other punctuation or construction can quite imitate. Parentheses are intended for parenthetical expressions and recognizing correctly what is and what is not a parenthetical expression in a given context governs their proper use.
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Self publishing: Do I still need to follow the arbitrary word count limits? I am thinking of going down the self publishing path. Now looking at most agents and publishers websites, it seems the expected word count for most novels is around 70-90K. Now these word counts may have made sense in the traditional world, where books had to be printed, bound and shipped all over the world. If I am self publishing in digital format. Do I still need to follow these arbitrary word count limits? I ask, as I have a 60k novel, which is longer than a novella (50k words), but shorter than what agents expect. Originally, I was going to add another 10-15k words, mainly by adding more plot, and developing sub plots. But now, I'm wondering, is it worth the effort? Do readers care for these word count limits? Is it worth me padding in the extra words, to meet the limit of traditional publishers, when I'm going to self publish? <Q> Length is of minimal importance. <S> Some of the best written and most memorable stories have well below <S> 60- or even 50,000 words. <S> Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , Of Mice and Men , Slaughterhouse Five , Fight Club , and The Great Gatsby all have less than 60k words ( Hitchhiker's only has about 46k). <S> If your story is complete at 60k words, type two more, The End , and call it a day. <A> Do not add unnecessary filler to your book. <S> I agree with @Lauren, @Jed and @Standback here, but let me add one thing, because you want to self-publish: the price of your book. <S> Length may be arbitrary, but prices are arbitrary, too. <S> Most people expect a certain price for a certain page/word count. <S> Or at least to pay less for a 40k novel than for a 60k one. <S> So think carefully how much money you want for which word count. <S> To get some ideas I suggest Smith's suggestions about pricing as a starting point. <A> You're quite correct in your assumption that digital publishing removes a lot of the necessity of typical length categories. <S> Here's some things to bear in mind when coming to a decision. <S> There's no restriction except "what works well for the story." <S> Traditional publishing is bound by all sorts of restrictions and best-practices - printing costs, shelf space, product appearance, etc. <S> etc. <S> You're free of those. <S> All you have left is making sure that your story is as good as possible - including that its length is appropriate, that it works well. <S> However, length categories have also evolved for certain reasons. <S> Writing practices, story structures, and reader expectations have all developed in concert with those length categories. <S> What this means is that an odd length may ( may ) indicate that your novel is an "odd duck" of some sort. <S> That's a sign that you should devote special attention to this topic - basically, making sure that if it is an odd duck, then that's for good reason, and the unusual element works well. <S> So consider the possibility that your book is too short (as you fear) or too long (a long novella, not a short novel). <S> Feedback will help - be sure to ask specfically about structure and pacing. <S> As long as those are OK, though, you're doing fine. <S> Once you've determined your length, be sure to market appropriately. <S> Readers want a sense of what they're buying, and I don't know if you offer pagecount on ebooks. <S> So do try and give a reasonable impression of how long the book is when you're marketing and publicizing it <S> - readers might be jarred by a story much longer or much shorter than they're expecting. <A> Going on the assumption that you are talking about an e-book, I would say that the number of words doesn't matter as much, especially if you make sure that your potential readers know what they are getting in advance. <S> My experience has been that more and more readers are starting to feel slighted if they spend $5.99 on a story they assumed to be a novel, only to find out it was a short-story. <S> I have even seen some instances where books (not my own) are receiving very negative reviews because the reader was disappointed to find out that they got a lot less content-wise than they expected. <S> With a printed product, they can see how many pages there are and make a fair comparison. <S> With an e-book, however, they have a more difficult time determining the length of the work. <S> Sometimes they can gauge based on the file size, but more often than not the bulk of that file size is determined by the cover image, and not so much on the content. <S> Take the time to include some additional information in your description to let your potential readers know what they are getting. <S> If you are trying to sell them a novella, then let them know that, and make sure to price your work accordingly. <S> If you try to sell a shorter work for a higher price than the last full length book they bought, then you better have a really great story to keep the reader from feeling slighted! <A> My feeling is that you shouldn't add more words than the story needs to be told properly, regardless of how it's being published. <S> Why pad it with garbage? <A> "Do I still need to follow these arbitrary word count limits". <S> Firstly, no, you don't have to -as a self-pubber <S> , you're the publisher and you do what you want with your book. <S> Secondly, as a reader, the reader decides whether your book suits his tastes, his expectations price-wise, quality-wise, length wise, etc. <S> Thirdly, as a publisher of some 18 years standing, although I also started with similar feelings to yours, I can assure you that such limits/guidelines aren't arbitrary; they grow from experience and the realization that the reader's opinion is all that counts, if you want his money. <S> The saying "customer is king <S> " applies to books as well as other products. <S> Ebooks are much less restrictive than paper books but the reader is still the final arbiter, so it's well worth doing all one can to get the formula right.
| All that readers care about is that you present them with a well-crafted compelling story.
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Is the opening of this story intriguing, "dark" and smooth? Disclaimer: I'm not an Native English Speaker. This is my fifth attempt of writing a short story (the previous ones are set in the same "universe" as this one). I would like to know if the reader would feel intrigued by this opening. I also wonder if he would feel that it has a "dark" atmosphere. This is the first time I describe so many things in a story. So I would also like to know if the descriptions are 'flowing' smoothly. If not, how to improve them? Julian found himself walking along an empty street, only accompanied by the darkness and the fog. They were like omnipresent observers, carefully watching each of his steps. He didn't know where he was heading. In fact, he didn't even know if he wanted to reach a particular destination. After walking for a while, he spotted a light at the distance. It was a long and white, and looked as if it were suspended in the fog. As he was getting closer, the light started to form a shape. It was a big neon sign that said Little Paradise. Soon he realized that he was standing in front of a glass door. Another neon sign, one with the silhouette of a nude woman, was hanging on it. He stood there for a while, staring at the door. Then, as if he had just made up his mind on something, entered the place. Inside was dark and empty. The only source of light were a couple of neon signs hanging on the walls. Julian glanced around the place. There was a bar in the front, a few seats in the center, and some others on the sides. Back at the bottom, there was small stage with a stripping pole in the middle of it. Everything looked old and rusty, like old antiques deteriorated by time. Julian walked towards the bar and sat on one of the stools. He took a package of Marlboro Red from his pocket and lit a cigarette up. Without knowing what else to do, he focused his eyes on the stage, smoking his cigarette and waiting for someone to come. After staring at it for a while, he realized that there was someone lying on it. He hesitated a little bit, but then crushed his cigarette in an ashtray, and slowly made his way to the stage. Once he reached a reasonable distance, he narrowed his eyes and he examined the person. It was a girl. She was lying still, with her back to the absent audience. She was wearing a black bikini, and the upper part of her body was being covered by a black jacket. He stood there, staring at her as if he were in a trance for a minute or two. "Hello?" Julian called out after a moment. His voice didn't sound has his own. A silence passed. The only thing that he could hear was the sound of his own breathing. He never imagined that a drinking spot could be that silent. "Sorry, there are no more shows," the girl suddenly said, without moving from her lying position. <Q> In all honesty, it doesn't work for me. <S> To address your particular questions: Is it dark? <S> Not especially. <S> I get a sense of someone not being sure where they are, but not being in a sinister place. <S> More like having woken up after a drunken night, and trying to remember the last bar. <S> Does it flow? <S> Not IMO. <S> I am reminded of the old text-based Adventure games <S> "You are in a room. <S> There is an octopus lying on the floor." <S> Solutions? <S> More words, more description. <S> Taking it slower, adding more potential danger would help both of these. <S> A quick attempt to rework the first sentence, for example: Julian was in a deserted street. <S> How he had got there, or where 'there' was, eluded him. <S> As he walked, the fog enveloped him, wrapped him, held him. <S> When he escaped from the fog, the darkness took him instead. <S> Note - <S> these are just my opinions! <S> Others may disagree, but as a rule, slower progress tends to make for more suspense. <S> And I think, with some work, this could work out well. <A> It's not particularly dark. <S> There's so much unknown that we don't even know if we're supposed to worry. <S> A strip club which is so old <S> it feels like it's populated with antiques <S> isn't particularly dark or scary; it means nobody's there, so there are no threats. <S> It also doesn't imply that everyone disappeared or dropped dead abruptly (which would at least be a mystery). <S> If you want it to be smoother and more interesting, "slow down" is definitely good advice. <S> You're hurrying us along to the club. " <S> After walking for a while:" well, what does he see? <S> Where is he? <S> Big city, small city, state, country, continent? <S> Are there other people? <S> Other sounds? <S> Cars? <S> Age, make, model, condition? <S> What are the buildings like? <S> What kind (houses, apartments, stores, warehouses, crack dens, empty lots, gardens, museums)? <S> What does the air smell like? <S> Is he near the ocean, a lake, the mountains, an industrial park? <S> Is it summer or winter? <S> If you want to intrigue the reader, give us something to be intrigued about. <S> (And, as always, I must compliment you on working so damn hard in what is not your native language.) <A> Something about Julian's surroundings or something about your style of describing his situation has to suggest that darkness. <S> Stay in the scene for a bit longer. <S> When Julian is outside : Are there shadows forming around him, expanding and flowing into mysterious shapes? <S> What about the fog? <S> What is it doing? <S> Forming wispy vapors that ascend into the night sky, like long forgotten memories? <S> (That is not a very good metaphor, read better authors to get the hang of this, but I hope you get the idea). <S> The progression does seem a bit rushed, we see a neon light, a sign, then a glass door, then another neon light forming the silhouette of a nude woman... <S> this happens a bit too quickly. <S> When Julian in inside : I like the part that starts with ' <S> After staring at it for a while... ' much better. <S> You have given a sense of 'something being wrong' more successfully here. '... <S> with her back to the absent audience ' is a good touch. <S> This is the kind of descriptive style you need to put into the earlier section, something that will invoke associations of mystery, intrigue and darkness in the reader's mind. <S> This later section (in my opinion) flows better than the previous one as well, which shows to me that you can get there with a little bit of work. <S> As a general advice, although I am sure that you are already reading, read even more and more of your favorite authors/genres. <S> That is crucial in terms of improving your style. <A> I find it interesting and intriguing, I want to know more. <S> However, what stroke me the most is the absence of important details. <S> He enters the strip club, no mention about the presence or absence of a doorman. <S> He sits at the bar, no mention about the presence or absence of a barmaid. <S> Is the fog unusual? <S> We don't know. <S> To answer the question, is it dark? <S> Not really. <S> There is nothing scary about walking at night and entering an empty strip club <S> (I do it all the time, lol). <S> We need to know why we should find it dark, try to add more details about the atmosphere.
| To make it dark, you would have to focus more on the atmosphere. To improve the flow here, you need to lead us through these objects much slowly, trying to pique our intrigue and adding more description.
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How to leverage social proof? How can one use social proof as an argument without sounding like "just because everybody is doing it so should you"?. My problem is trying to demonstrate with social proof that trendy tools/techniques are not necessarily cargo cult I'm writing a whitepaper regarding best-practices and new tools in the industry of software engineering. There are certain controversial topics like DVCS (Distributed Version Control) and TDD (Test-Driven Development) that do work, but require changing mindsets and extra effort at the beginning to reap the rewards. Something along the lines of this: More and more developers are being converted into DVCSs because of its success inovercoming classical frustrations in CVCSs, such as avoiding merging hell and commitraces. Adoption involves evolving the centralized mindset as DVCSs change the paradigm of version control, after developers accept the new paradigm and embrace it —which generally involves trying to go back to the centralized mindset— they willstart reaping the benefits and become increasingly aware of how scalable this paradigm is in terms of collaboration. Even if the previous paragraph sounds credible, I don't think people resistant to change will see another thing from "oh, it's cargo-cult". I think social proof is relevant to this case (as adoption is important to the enterprise due to support professional support markets & well-tested environments), but cannot help to think that this could get on the bad side of rhetoric (too much pathos?). Since those kinds of things are being increasingly adopted and preached, how could one turn this situation as a good convincing argument?. I was reading Joel's entry on demonstrating software and social proof but it seems like a double-edged sword. Additional context : VCS or Version Control Systems are (in a nutshell) programs that let you store incremental differences (or changes/deltas) to text files so that then you can rebuild them at a particular point later; these systems are mostly use for writing software. There are currently two models: a) the centralized one ( CVCS ) where each user to be hooked up to a server to use these systems, making them slower and bottlenecking collaboration, as everyone needs to stand in line to store the changes to this sole "code bucket", and b) the distributed model ( DVCS ) where each programmer has their own "bucket", so there is no need for a server, everyone puts their work on their own "bucket". The important thing in DVCSs and collaboration happens after, until they have finished and refined work to share and be proud about instead of stepping on each other's toes with incomplete work (and still being able to rely on version control to aid their own work). In a DVCS each peer can check each other's buckets and they can add their bucket's contents to others' too. P.S.: Sorry for the wall of text <Q> If I'm understanding you correctly, I think what you want are <S> case studies to demonstrate your points. <S> So you put forth one of your arguments — "switching to the individual bucket version <S> reduces problems A, B, and C" — and then you put in a section with an actual real-life example: <S> Case Study: <S> Acme Widget Coders Amalgamated <S> AWCA had been using centralized bucketing for many years, but it was causing production bottlenecks whenever the buckets were all dumped into the same coding trough at the end of a widgeting session. <S> Switching over to individual buckets was a huge boost to efficiency. <S> Programmers had more flexibility, errors were caught much earlier in the process, and there were fewer holes in the buckets, dear Liza, dear Liza. <S> If you do this for each facet of your argument (or each problem which your trendy technique purports to solve), then your reader will see that you're not just lusting after the latest sparkly vampire of coding solutions, but rather presenting something which is useful and has been field-tested to produce significant results. <A> The key is to establish a strong foundation first. <S> Someone who is resistant to change will need to see why change is necessary, how it can be accomplished easily and cheaply, and then feel the pressure of "all the cool kids are doing it." <S> If you don't establish the reason why change must happen, then social proof will look like flash-in-the-pan. <S> I would suggest first demonstrating the advantages of the new over the old, and then the benefits of adopting the new practice which comes at the modest expense of a tiny little paradigm shift. <S> CVCS has been the standard since it became necessary to do something other than copy material to a dated folder in the "Backup" file. <S> However, methods of software production have changed since CVCS was introduced 20 years ago, resulting in performance bottlenecks and cranky people wasting time on the nets while waiting for their code to be ready. <S> DVCSs solves the classical frustrations of CVCSs, such as avoiding merging hell and commit races. <S> The adoption of DVCS creates a versioning environment that is more natural for workers, resulting in geometrically increased productivity and infinitely scalable cooperativity. <S> Training workers to use the new format takes less than a week, and once adopted, it quickly becomes intuitive. <S> They can version in their sleep. <S> Many sensible, knowledgeable, and successful people have already recognized the genius of this plan. <S> They shag frequently with beautiful, famous, and wealthy people. <S> We recommend you adopt this practice as well, since everyone will be doing it in the future. <S> What you want to do is establish why this is a good practice, how it can be adopted especially by people who are familiar with the old practice, and then give a little peer pressure. <S> That way, the reader will feel more like they will be on the cutting edge rather than just jumping on the bandwagon. <A> I think I've found another way to leverage social proof as such: the hype cycle . <S> Pasting from Wikipedia: "Technology Trigger" — <S> The first phase of a hype cycle is the "technology trigger" or breakthrough, product launch or other event that generates significant press and interest. <S> "Peak of Inflated Expectations" — <S> In the next phase, a frenzy of publicity typically generates over-enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations. <S> There may be some successful applications of a technology, but there are typically more failures. <S> "Trough of Disillusionment" — Technologies enter the "trough of disillusionment" because they fail to meet expectations and quickly become unfashionable. <S> Consequently, the press usually abandons the topic and the technology. <S> "Slope of Enlightenment" — <S> Although the press may have stopped covering the technology, some businesses continue through the "slope of enlightenment" and experiment to understand the benefits and practical application of the technology. <S> "Plateau of Productivity" — <S> A technology reaches the "plateau of productivity" as the benefits of it become widely demonstrated and accepted. <S> The technology becomes increasingly stable and evolves in second and third generations. <S> The final height of the plateau varies according to whether the technology is broadly applicable or benefits only a niche market. <S> The 5th stage called the plateau of productivity can demonstrate (to a certain degree; it can be deemed unscientific) that a technology has become mature and stable. <S> This could be partly demonstrated with Google Insights for search and the correct search terms: dvcs +distributed +git +mercurial -nike -"mercurial vapor" -FIFAscm +distributed +git + mercurial -nike -"mercurial vapor" -FIFA <S> (Should give them more tries, as these are biased) <S> In the paper I think I can give historical proof of each phase and as such give an historical overview of version control systems. <S> For the plateau of productivity I can use the case studies Lauren Ipsum suggested.
| Once you've established a sensible and strong argument for the adoption of the new practice, then you can leverage social proof as additional support.
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Website to know about books something similar to IMDB for movies? I just started reading books I have completed chethan bhagath's(Indian author) books and other books like Godfather,notebook. I want to know what are new/good books i can read. Is there any website to know about good books? Similar to IMDB website. Instead of movies i want to know about books. Edit: The website which list the books according to user rating <Q> There are 2 answers: 1 . <S> Amazon reviews: <S> Amazon has a very good system, where it shows you books similar to the one you bought. <S> There are also lists created by users, which give the books similar to the current one they enjoyed. <S> You don't have to be registered with Amazon to look at the book recommendations. <S> 2 . <S> Goodreads <S> - Though I personally haven't used it- does a similar thing. <S> Unlike amazon, the lists here are driven entirely by users. <S> You can join groups, become friends with other users and share book recommendations etc. <S> In both these websites, you can also click on a book reviewers ID, and see which others book they reviewed. <S> Chances are, you may also like those books. <S> There are other websites similar to Goodreads, but it is the most popular one, so I suggest you start there. <A> It's probably a bit late, but there is a brand new web that could be interesting for you. <S> If what you want is something similar to IMDB, I am using since some weeks a site called abookado: <S> http://abookado.com <S> Hope <S> it helps Cheers! <A> I sometimes read NY Times book reviews too.
| Goodreads is my choice for searching books, when you add your friends, it is very useful to share recommendations and your reading history, I'm sure that you would love it!
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In a "learn to do X" book, should a section review come before the quiz / exercises or after? I am writing a book on how to program in C#.NET. Each of the sections follows this format: Section Aims Content Section Review Quiz Exercises The section review is there to summarise all of the things that have been taught, including the key programming syntax. It dawned on me that it may be silly to write all that out in the section review, and then immediately ask the reader to answer questions on it. Should I move the section review to the end of the section, or leave it where it is? My only concern about moving it is that if the reader gets confused or stuck on the quiz/exercises, they may give up! <Q> Oh no, not another C# book ;) Joking aside and to your question: <S> Think about what was "dawning" on you and think about your audience. <S> If you want to write a book for idiots, save your time, idiots don't read books. <S> So do you think your readers are idiots? <S> You are reading this, so I guess your answer was "No!". <S> Then don't treat them like they were. <S> No matter how you arrange your sections, the reader will have figured out after the first one how you place the sub-sections. <S> I.e. they know where to find the review if they want to use it for the quiz or exercises. <S> So make it easy for them to find the info they need. <S> Keep in mind that they also need the info after reading your book during coding on a real project. <S> Maybe (instead of googling) they want to pick up your book and look it up. <S> From this scenario would you place it where you do it now? <S> (Just a question to consider for you, I do not have an answer on this one.) <S> Don't hide information if you want to teach people. <S> They do not have to memorize the info anyway. <S> They always can look things up, they are missing. <S> They are not operating in an emergency room where every delay can decide about life and death. <A> How big is a Section? <S> What's in it? <S> I ask because if you can break it into sub-sections, you might have a review at the end of each sub-section, and then the quiz at the end of the whole section. <S> If not, I would order it: Review of section Exercises with answers at the end of the section (to give thestudent a chance to practice) <S> Quiz (with answers at the back of the book) <A> The review will have different purposes - and should be written differently - for each of these places. <S> If it is after the chapter, then it should be a briefer summary - the reader has done the exercises, and probably knows the core of the chapter. <S> This should be key concepts or ideas that they need to have before moving on. <S> So which do you want to do? <S> Put the material appropriately. <A> Having read a number of programing books, I think having the review section before any quizzes or exercises is very helpful. <S> It gives me a chance to go back over what was covered in the section, and make sure I have a good grasp on the ideas of it. <S> It's also helpful if the review section calls out any important points that the reader should be taking from the section. <S> It helps focus things.
| If it is just after you have read the chapter, then it should be summing up all of the major issues in the chapter, a way of setting in your mind the critical parts, as a starter to the quiz, which should then help them to use this.
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When writing on paper, how do you move things about? I am amazed thinking how people used to write before the computer ever came about. Before that, everyone was forced to write on paper. I'd very much like to write on paper but my ideas come in a random order and I'd like to be able to re-organize sentences into paragraphs, dissect paragraphs and move things about after I've got all my ideas written out. When writing on paper, how can I cope with the randomness of the order in which ideas appear in my mind? <Q> A lot of people find it easier to write and keep their ideas flowing when they are writing by hand. <S> Unfortunately, as you suggest, that makes it difficult to rearrange the order in which your ideas get written down. <S> If you decide to introduce a character earlier in the story or if you decide you need to provide more information to an earlier portion of the story it becomes a problem. <S> What I tend to do is just keep writing, without consideration of where everything need to fall into place. <S> I will usually write comments in the margins to help me remember what I want to do with a new portion of text, and that often helps. <S> In addition to this, I make sure I number my written pages so that I have a point of reference, and I will also number different sections of a story. <S> For example, if I am writing a particular scene, I will draw a line in the margin to identify where that scene starts, and then I draw another line at the end of the scene. <S> Then I can go back later and number the scenes. <S> Generally, I always write with an outline so that I can at least have a basic structure to start with. <S> My outlines are usually numbered as well, so I may choose to refer to the outline numbering instead. <S> Either way, as long as you can find a process that makes you comfortable and helps you to keep track of things, that's all that matters. <S> When I do start typing everything up, I will usually go through and read the handwritten copy first. <S> At this time I will usually verify that my sections are numbered in the order in which I want them to appear by using red ink to number each section. <S> That way if I have a section at the end of my handwritten copy that I wanted to appear earlier in the story, I can place it there as I'm typing to simplify the editing process later. <A> Here's a simple tip: use a legal pad (they are a little longer than standard notebook paper), and, on the first draft, confine your writing to the middle third of the paper (or thereabouts). <S> This scheme gives you plenty of room to rewrite the paragraph on the same page, if you want to overhaul it. <S> It also lets you add a paragraph before (or after) <S> the one you originally wrote. <S> As for reordering, you can label each paragraph its own number, and jot notes such as, "Move para. <S> 13 here" and "Move this to after para. <S> 21. <S> " <S> It's still nowhere as easy as a word processor, but, if you're set on writing in longhand, this arrangement can give you plenty of room for ad-hoc revisions. <A> Another quite different tool is "mind mapping" which is a technique for capturing ideas in a graphic fashion; it could help with the above-recommended outlining process. <S> Good luck! <S> It is good to have the option of paper. <A> There is always the original "cut and paste". <S> Write your ideas out, and, if you need to move stuff around, literally cut it up, and tack it down again. <S> Once you have got the ordering <S> you think you want, write it all out <S> (you can scribble on the originals too, for minor amendments). <S> Hopefully, you will then have something much closer. <S> You can repeat the process.
| If I find myself adding content that needs to be placed elsewhere, I can refer to the page/section number to make it easier to organize when I start typing everything up. I have heard of people using 3x5 cards with good results (in case you are not familiar with them, "3x5" cards are made of card stock that measures 3 inches by 5 inches; it can be blank or have lines); it is pretty easy to put a single thought/sentence/paragraph on one card and reorder them in a stack or lay them out on a table and move them around in two dimensions.
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Is it a bad idea to linger too long on a first draft? I'm currently working on the first draft of a screenplay, and it's not very good right now. It's little things; some parts go too quickly or slowly, other dialogue exchanges need improvement, and the word choice could be better. This isn't surprising, since first drafts tend not to be great, but I'm worried that I may be lingering too long on parts my first draft, when it isn't even finished. I'm thinking that it may be a better idea to just get my first draft completed, then worry about the details during a second run through it. At least then I have a better picture of the overall plot. Would that be a good idea? <Q> Your considerations are quite correct - <S> a first draft can be absolutely terrible; most of its value is in fleshing out general details, structure and plot. <S> It gives you a skeleton framework which you can the edit <S> the heck out of. <S> Therefore, there's no reason to worry if some parts are not all they could be. <S> So first, finish the draft. <S> Or look at it this way: there's no point in tightening up a dialogue and polishing it to perfection if next week you decide that your one-legged ballet dancer should actually be a tap-dancing robot. <S> If you spend your time making the current scenes marvelous, that's effort that'll be wasted if you need to change just about anything - and you most assuredly will. <S> So, yes, having a complete first draft will give you a much firmer foundation to build (and edit) around. <S> (Of course, every author has their own creative process; not everybody uses a first draft in this particular fashion. <S> But my understanding is that this view of a first draft is exceedingly common and highly recommended - plus, it sounds like you're leaning in the same direction anyway :P ) <A> Personally I view writing as art, you don't have the masterpiece on the first brush stroke. <S> I do the following 1st draft - pretty much a brain dump, I write without regardless to grammar, subplots, and details so <S> in the end it looks like this Jack ran around the big vampire to snatch the grey keystoneThe vampire <S> falls dead from Jack's sister as she calmly remarks on Jack's lack of planning 2nd draft <S> is plot, location details and character details <S> As the full moon rose behind Jack, he stared at the cyprt intentely. <S> "This must be the place" he muttered shoving the map back into his pocket. " <S> Damm I wished I remenbered to get the garlic. <S> Oh well DartLing knows I am onto him and will move the keystone" Jack dodge to avoid the crashing blow of the heavy stone as DartLing was on him faster than he could blink "Give me the stone human and <S> I promise your death will be quick". <S> DartLing was about to speak but the words would forever remain un-spoken as a razor sharp yew stake pieced his black heart. <S> "Thanks Sis, althought I had him" Julie snorted as she rolled DartLing over with her foot aiming her huge crossbow at the smoking corspe just to make sure. " <S> Yea you had him like the time you tried to see the Macaw Cystral and forgot your wire cutters". <S> 3rd draft - Grammar, spelling and flow <S> 4rd draft - I give it to someone else to read and comment on it (not the whole thing just a few choice chapters) <A> It all depends on how you write. <S> I can see that spending a lot of time on a first draft so that it is a correct first draft is important. <S> It may be, if you are not really happy with it currently, it may be that there are some core issues that you need to resolve in this draft. <S> The danger is that you continue to build on a first draft, spend a lot of time on it, and only by the 3rd or 4th do you realise that there is a crucial flaw ( or someone else reading it points this out ). <S> So don't work on it being perfect, but do make sure that the core work is there and right. <S> Working a long time to get that right is very worth while. <S> then everything else is straightforward.
| You know what improvement they need (if they remain as-is); you don't know what'll be needed for the parts you haven't written yet. It's an excellent idea.
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Abbreviation for "figures" in scientific papers In scientific papers, the term "Figure" -- referring to an illustration in the text -- is often abbreviated as "Fig." But is "Figures" abbreviated as "Figs", "Fig.s" or "Figs."? I am proofreading a paper just now and the journal editors have used the abbreviation "Fig." for "Figure" and "Figs" (no period) for "Figures" as in "Figs 2 and 3". Can anyone explain the convention of abbreviation as it applies in this case? <Q> A quick search on Google shows that the practice of abbreviating Figures really took off in the last 40 years and that it most often appears as Figs. <S> (with the period) <A> In general, the rule is that when an abbreviation ends with the same letter as the word written out in full, a period (full stop) is not used. <S> For example, Prof. Smith, but Profs Dupont and Dupond. <S> However, in the case of Figures, both Fig., Figs., and Figs are acceptable and used. <S> Therefore, you should follow the example used in the journal, i.e., check the formatting guidelines or look at other articles published recently in that journal. <S> If in doubt, choose one style and use it consistently! <S> P.S. <S> Perhaps a more day-to-day example is that (in British English) we write Mr Smith and Mrs Jones as opposed to Mr. Smith and Mrs. Jones because both of these words end with the same letter as the abbreviated form; that is, Mister and Mistress. <S> However, in American English, a period is used after both Mr. and Mrs., so perhaps the most important lesson is that consistency and clarity are the most important factors. <A> I'm a translator. <S> Once upon a time, I searched "scientific paper style figure table abbreviation" and I got this: Abbreviation of the word "Figure": <S> When referring to a Figure in the text, the word "Figure" is abbreviated as "Fig.", while "Table" is not abbreviated. <S> Both words are spelled out completely in descriptive legends. <S> In short: main text -> abbreviation; caption - <S> > spell out. <S> Later, the format that I use and the one my coworker uses conflict. <S> I searched hard to find the old reference back and this time I notice that the reference is from "Bates College" (what is that anyway) and in the process of the "re-searching" (I mean "search again") <S> it turns out Bates College is the only place that says you should style a paper this way! <S> As a result, there is no uniform global rule. <S> And I have to follow the "local rule" (I don't like it). <A> even if you are quoating Fig. <S> 1 to 3 i.e. to say Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3.
| Figures and Figure should normally be abbreviated as Fig.
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How do I determine if a paper has been plagiarized? Is there a service which allows you to check if a paper/article was plagiarized? At this moment, I use Google to check if some papers are plagiarized or not, but I think that are other smarter methods <Q> To my knowledge, one of the most commonly used commercial options available is Turnitin ; there is also Turnitin's student version, WriteCheck . <S> Another commercial option is PlagScan . <S> These options can be somewhat expensive though; PlagScan, for example, charges by the word: $13 gets you 50,000 words of plagiarism checking. <S> There are several free services, but they should be used with caution and their limitations should be understood. <S> Some, for example, simply do what you've been doing: they take the sentences and search in Google. <S> This "direct plagiarism" is much easier for the software to look for. <S> Others, like the Viper plagiarism-scanner , do a pretty good job in my experience (from a long time ago), but still only match direct matches, and won't catch things where a word or two have been changed here or there. <S> I've since stopped using them because they have a somewhat sketchy data retention and policy : whatever you upload, they add your work to their "study site" (or essay mill or whatever you want to call it). <S> (To Viper's credit, they are transparent about how they use your data!) <S> IMPORTANT NOTE : <S> The bottom line with free is that unfortunately you need to be very careful with them--be sure you closely read their privacy policies and their data retention policies. <S> Commercial services may also retain your data, but generally offer an option to purge your account; nevertheless, it never hurts to read the terms of use and other relevant documents, particularly in cases of sensitive information. <S> If you are checking against a known local database of documents (which it doesn't sound like you're doing, but I thought I'd mention it), you can check out WCopyfind . <S> It might not be the most intuitive, but it is promising and free. <S> You might use this software, for example, if you have a database of papers students have submitted in the same course offered in different years, to check whether a student in the current batch of students is plagiarizing from an earlier student or from someone else in their class. <A> When reading a plagiarized research paper turned in by a student, the signs of plagiarism may not always be obvious. <S> However, there are some things that professors can pay special attention to when suspecting plagiarism. <S> Observe citations throughout the paper: This will help determine whether or not the required citation style was used. <S> For example, if the citations in the paper conform to Turabian style when the MLA style was required for the paper, you may be looking at a plagiarized paper. <S> Observe the writing style or styles used in the paper: Sometimes, you may notice that some of the writing used in a paper does not "sound like" something the student would write . <S> The unusual words or wording may include "jargon or advanced vocabulary". <S> Other papers may include a writing style that is below average. <S> Look for signs that the paper is outdated: Sometimes, professors can find signs that the paper being read may be outdated. <S> Observe the font used in the paper: A paper may contain more than one "font style or size. <S> " <S> Different fonts throughout a paper would indicate that a student may have copied and pasted various portions of Web pages together into a word processor. <A> PaperRater is very good plagiarize checker. <S> I am using this from past 2 years. <S> Because I am taking help from the on-line sites to complete my tasks. <S> So I am verifying the quality of content by this type of techniques. <S> The site is very easy and also free. <A> There are a lot of plagiarism checkers and they show the score system. <S> If you would get a 50% then this is totally plagiarized. <S> 5-15% is the best what you can get as I tried some of student's papers here .
| If all of the sources listed in references or works cited are several years old, then the paper may be an example of plagiarism . There are many software options available (see Wikipedia's page on plagiarism detection ), some free, and some paid.
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Should a long flashback be written in first or third person? In my novel there will be a chapter-length flashback as one character relates a story from his past. The rest of the novel is written in limited third-person, seeing into one person's mind at a time. Does it make sense to switch to first-person for the flashback, as if the entire chapter is a quotation from the storyteller, or should it be told in the same manner as the rest of the book but focused on this character as if it is happening in the present? The previous chapter ends with the character starting to tell the story, so it should be obvious either way that this chapter is his flashback. But I don't know which format would fit best while still keeping the first-hand account feel. <Q> That being said, maybe being jarring is what you want in this case. <S> It would make the flashbacks stand out. <S> If we're seeing a lot more of what is going on in their head first person might work better. <S> My advice... write the first part of flashback both ways, no more the a page or two. <S> Then you can look back and see which one flows the best with the narrative. <S> It's not a lot of extra work to go through to find out which way you prefer. <A> Does it matter if you use first or third person for that chapter? <S> Yes? <S> Why? <S> You are confusing the reader. <S> That's not a bad thing by itself, but you should have a reason to do it. <S> Just "maybe it's better" is not a reason. <S> Does the switch fit to your story? <S> Yes? <S> How? <S> It depends on the story, it's your story, so only you can decide. <S> Follow Fox' advice if you can't figure it out. <S> Here are two examples why it could be a good idea: <S> If you had several flashbacks, using first person for all of them would give the reader a distinction when a flashbacks begins and ends. <S> It would be a special style of your novel and worth considering. <S> But well, it's your only one. <S> Then it's also possible to interrupt the first-person-chapter with scenes in the present time where e.g. the audience asks questions and the story teller gets into more detail about that. <S> This does not only interrupt the flashback, it also interrupt the reader. <S> But you are doing this anyway if you switch to first person. <S> It is unlikely to keep the reader full immersed during the first-person-chapter one way or another. <S> The switched narrator's perspective will keep him "outside" the story at a distance ("That's not the real story, just this old guy telling tales.") <S> Again, not a problem by itself <S> , the question is, do you want to keep the reader at bay? <S> Yes? <S> Why? <A> I'm writing a limited third person novel with a few flashbacks (stories being told aloud). <S> The novel follows <S> character K. She asks character S about something in his past. <S> I reveal that story through flashback instead of conversation or storytelling, and keep it third person for a couple of reasons. <S> As you mentioned, first person feels like a quotation from the storyteller. <S> But this doesn't seem natural. <S> People don't tend to talk in storyteller mode - especially my character S. <S> I wanted to give a proper narration of the past event, instead of only the details S would give. <S> (However, depending on your character it could work.) <S> K also has some flashbacks. <S> There are several details she wouldn't tell the other characters, but I want the reader to know those details. <S> I narrate it centering around Y (K's previous/secret identity) and tell the reader: <S> this is her story, she just leaves out names, etc. <S> when she tells it aloud. <S> For these flashbacks, it made sense just to stick with third person. <S> So for the sake of continuity, I used that for S's flashback too. <S> In my opinion, having a different style for a particular element works better if it's a recurring element. <S> E.g. if there are multiple flashbacks, the shift in style immediately clues the reader in that it's another flashback. <S> Whereas if it happens only once, the style change could seem out of place. <S> My shift in style is in POV character (literally for the S flashback, more figuratively for the Y flashbacks since technically she's the same person as K.) <S> In The Host by Stephenie Meyer, the shift is in tense - past for main story, present for the memory flashbacks. <S> Your shift in style could be a shift between third and first person. <S> If it works, then it works. <S> I chose my particular shift because it just felt right. <S> Find what feels right to you.
| Being in first person for the flashback would also make it feel more personal, something you might want for that element in the story. Personally I wouldn't change from third to first person in the middle of the story, it's always a little bit jarring for the reader. If it is a story teller scene (person tells his tale to an audience, maybe just a few friends), then the first person could work if you want the distance of the story teller POV.
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Issues with Scene/Sequel model I'm using the Scene/Sequel model to go from an informal outline of my novel to a list of scenes. In summary, during a Scene the POV Character has a Goal, encounters some Conflict, and it ends in Disaster; during a Sequel, the POVC has a Reaction to this disaster, faces a Dilemma, and finally makes a Decision. I'm having trouble figuring out how this structure applies to a specific part of what I'm writing. As the Disaster of the previous scene, the POVC is declared a traitor by his superior, who will execute him immediately. The Reaction of the POVC is to resign to die; however, after some thought, his superior decides to let him live. What happens with this second scene? It has the Reaction of the POVC, but the Dilemma and Decision of another, non-POV character. Should I ignore this breakage of the rules and go forward happily, because this is a tool that should help me instead of limiting me? Should I figure a way to merge this segment as part of the previous and next scenes, to follow a proven structure? Or maybe I got the scale wrong, and all of these things I'm thinking of as "scenes" are actually small parts of a bigger scene with bigger goals, conflicts, etc? More generally, should everything be a scene? Can I skip parts of the scene, e.g. have a Reaction, skip the Dilemma and the Decision, and have a new Goal - or another way to put it, can the Dilemma and the Decision take just a few words? <Q> I am no expert, but I do not think it is a hard and fast rule. <S> This subsequent following of a Proactive scene (Scene) by a Reactive Scene (Sequel) is most of the time used to raise stakes. <S> In a thriller, the Reactive scenes are shorter because a thriller is generally fast paced. <S> So you do have the authority to customize the paradigm. <S> But certainly, do not do so to such an extent that it creates confusion and/or seem incompatible with the previous scene. <S> For your scene that you have described, let's plot it: <S> Proactive Goal: <S> Conflict: <S> Disaster <S> : Declared traitor. <S> Reactive Reaction: <S> Dilemma: <S> Decision: <S> resign and die. <S> And now here, if you insert a Proactive scene, According to me, there will be incompatibility. <S> Instead, what i think you should do is, <S> Followed by the decision of the reactive scene, give him the good news that he will not be executed and then insert a conflict followed by a dilemma and a decision and then continue with the paradigm. <S> So it becomes this: Proactive Goal: <S> Conflict: <S> Disaster <S> : Declared traitor. <S> Reactive Reaction: <S> Dilemma: <S> Decision: <S> resign and die. <S> surprise <S> : Will not be executed Conflict : <S> But... Dilemma : So the choice is difficult between... <- you may omit this. <S> Decision <S> : hence he will. <S> <-this sets the goal for the following Proactive/Reactive sequence. <S> Proactive ... <S> Reactive ... <S> hope that helps! :) <A> I also follow the Scene Sequel structure, and have encountered the same issues as you describe. <S> This is how I've dealt with it. <S> The first thing I did was rename them Heads and Tails, because I found the original terminology so awkward. <S> So a head is where there is a goal, conflict and disaster, and a tail is where there is the reaction, dilemma, decision. <S> Secondly, I decided that heads and tails do not necessarily need to exactly line up with scenes. <S> A Tail might be no more than a few sentences at the end of a scene. <S> Also, a single Head might go on for several scenes, as the protagonist keeps meeting more and more obstacles before the final disaster. <S> Thirdly - don't forget that sometimes you might have an 'incident' <S> this is a scene where the protagonist wants to do something, and they do it. <S> No disaster. <S> Regarding your example in particular, it doesn't sound like the person deciding to be resigned to dying quite fits in any case. <S> I've broken it down a bit more and it looks like this to me: <S> Disaster - will be executed Reaction - resignation <S> Dilemma - fight back or just let it happen Decision (goal) - just let it happen ( <S> by the way, this isn't a great goal because it's not pro-active, but let's ignore that for now) <S> Goal - allow self to be executed <S> Conflict - superior changes mind <S> Which means we're currently about to see the protagonist's disaster - which must be 'not being executed' in order to thwart their goal. <S> It's a bit odd, but that's how it follows through to me... <A> Scene/Sequel is less of a rule, and much more like guidelines .If <S> the guidelines don't fit your writing needs feel free to use some other technique that does. <A> A thought. <S> None of these rules are in stone. <S> Generally, they're great to follow and won't let you down but now and <S> then BOOM..."It has the Reaction of the POVC, but the Dilemma and Decision of another, non-POV character. <S> " If it can be done, for instance, you're writing in the subjective third person, you could go into another POV and give that character his/her own scene in which the sequel can be left hanging to be completed at another time. <S> I don't know how you'd weave it together, but nothing wrong with a little experimenting as long as the character develops and the conflict rises and falls.
| As far as I have noted, the Scene/Sequel structure is used with the sole intention of driving the novel forward.
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How do I stick to one story? I have been writing bits and pieces for quite a while now. I just can't ever follow through. I have written tons of poems (close to 50) but the only reason they have been possible is because I can finish them in one sitting. I've been thinking of trying to do a short story instead of a full length novel I've been working on. How can I stick with one story instead of constantly skipping around? <Q> Write an outline. <S> At the very least write a sketch. <S> So you are writing your story before you write your story. <S> Have an idea of where it starts, what happens, and how it ends. <S> This gives you something to hang your ideas on. <S> Then when you feel like walking away, or you get bored, you can go over your outline and see what's supposed to happen, and pick some other part to work on. <S> Or focus on getting from wherever you are to some arbitrary next point in the outline. <A> This could be a problem with discipline on your part. <S> Maybe that's not it; maybe you get writer's block ? <S> And maybe that happens a lot to you? <S> Either way, ask yourself with each project: "What do I want to achieve? <S> " Do you want to write a short story? <S> A novel? <S> a decalogy of books? <S> All of these are achievable goals. <S> Pick a project ("A story of length [foo] about [topic]") and set a deadline for yourself. <S> Whether you want to break that deadline down into dates for outlines, character sketches, first draft - that's up to you. <S> But tell yourself you'll be coming back to that, because you've set a hard date for completion of the first draft and the final edit and submission to a magazine/agent/publisher. <S> A short story is a great stepping-stone to a novel. <S> But a novel is not the be-all and end-all of writing. <S> (Except for established novelists, of course.) <S> Some of my favorite books are barely novels by the modern definition. <S> But if you want it to be a step on the way to a longer book, plan for it. <S> There are tricks for how to stick to a deadline <S> : Set a daily word count, set aside daily writing time, get yourself a place to write (home office, the bus, coffeeshop) - but these are frills. <S> What seems to work for more people is to write every day. <S> Don't stop. <S> Ever. <S> If you don't enjoy the process of writing, if you're not doing it all the time, you won't improve and you won't keep it up. <S> (Okay, fine, take the weekends off if you must .) <S> Get off the internet, stop reading books about writing, stop planning (particularly if you have world-builder's syndrome ). <S> Sit down and write. <S> When you finish the thing you're writing? <S> Write something else. <S> Stuck on the piece you're working on? <S> Write something else for a while. <S> But, since your problem is that you're skipping around, leave yourself an easy place to pick up. <S> Stop in the middle of a sentence, perhaps, or leave yourself a few notes about what you want to do and why you're stuck. <S> Write. <A> In many respects, you have hit on the core problem of many writers, which is sticking with a task that has become boring ( new work is always far more interesting ). <S> This is a discipline, that you need to develop to become a good writer, because the rework, rewrite, critique process is so important to producing really good material. <S> Incidentally, I am writing up my PhD thesis ATM, <S> It is tedious, boring work. <S> I have done most of the interesting stuff already, but I need to achieve this document before I can get any credit for that. <S> And re-writing it again and again is hard going, but necessity. <S> Because the end result is not my experimental work, but my written thesis. <S> In the same way with other work, the result is not your brilliant initial idea, it is the slow and careful crafting of that into a work that means other people can get your brilliant idea.
| Maybe you follow the rule of thumb, "when you get stuck on a story, write something else." Nobody can help you follow through on commitments except yourself, but perhaps the problem is that you don't have a commitment of any sort.
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My first act is lengthy. And I cannot shorten it. Any Suggestions? After the great amount of encouragement that you all gave me here , you'd be happy to know that I finally started writing my novel and I'm writing whenever I get time. Special thanks goes to Lauren for that quote of hers. I loved it! Okay. So I'm following the three act structure for my thriller. And as I read somewhere, according to this structure, the first act should end when the novel reaches around 25% of its length; Here, as most of us know, the protagonist is supposed to start his journey, the story goal is supposed to become clearly visible & concrete along with the story question. Now the problem that I am facing is this: Although my first act does everything what it is supposed to do, it ends at around 38%. Which, I feel, is devastating. Although I asked a couple of my friends who are avid readers, to proofread my work up til here and they said that the humour (I have used humour in the whole act just to cover up my placing of 'links-in-a-thriller') is very finely written and it kept them going without letting them feel any lags. So I tried clubbing a few scenes together; keeping what is required. But as soon as I did that, the 'links' that i had placed became visible. Now i do not know what to do! I mean, If i condense the scenes, the links show up. If i don't then the Act becomes wider. And the conversations, though lengthy, are equally important because it gives the backstory to the readers. Any suggestions? <Q> Quit bean-counting. <S> Finish the novel and <S> then go back and worry about whether the first act works. <S> Methods for structuring a story are guides, not laws. <S> The novel Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is 850 pages. <S> I remember vividly that the first six hundred were a complete slog, and then suddenly something happened and the last 200-odd pages went like a shot. <S> That worked for that book. <S> Who knows what will work for yours? <S> Put the entire story together, set it aside, and then go back and look at it with fresh eyes. <S> If your first act is the right length, stop worrying. <S> There will be other things to fix. <A> the wordlimit for a debut author is 50K [comment to Lauren's answer] Aaaaaaaah! <S> Listen, XORGate, you have a problem, but it is not your writing. <S> You think arbitrary limits are God's commandments. <S> They are not. <S> Many writers succeeded, because they broke rules intentionally. <S> Don't be a slave of rules other people made up. <S> People you do not know, are probably long dead, and of whom you do not know why they made these rules. <S> First, after 25% shouldn't end the first act, there should be the first turning point . <S> It really doesn't matter how long your act is. <S> But even this turning point can be somewhere else if it works for your novel. <S> They just say it should be there, because that works for the majority of novels. <S> So it looks like a good idea, but that does not guarantee that it is one. <S> Second, word limits are one of the most arbitrary limits ever invented by human beings. <S> Can you really imagine a publisher saying: "Well, excellent book and it would sell well, but sadly it's too long"? <S> Besides that, in the world of today self publishing is an option. <S> So you can write and publish whatever you want. <S> And now don't tell me, that you know a reader who asks for the word count before picking up a book. <S> The thickness of a book does not tell you anything about the word count. <S> If readers want smaller books in your country (what I doubt), then you can fake that with the correct layout and most won't even notice. <A> Expand the other two acts until that the first takes 25% ;) <S> On a more serious note, why do you feel this is "devastating"? <S> The way I read your friends' feedback, it's working just fine. <S> You'd have a problem if the act felt too long, or got boring, but it doesn't seem to be the case here. <S> You may want to take a look at the "lengthy conversations that give backstory", though. <S> Is all of that backstory necessary at that point ? <S> You could move parts of it to later in the book. <S> Would the characters say everything they're saying if the reader wasn't listening? <A> When it comes to writing the only hard numbers are in your contract. <S> Don't worry about things like what your word count should be or how long the act is taking. <S> Just sit down and write the novel, once you've written "THE END" you can worry about the rest of it. <S> To me it sounds like your books is longer <S> then you expected it to be. <S> Not a bad problem all things considered. <S> I bet that once you get the whole book written you'll find that your first act is 25% of the over all length. <S> Still, as I said before, don't worry about it now. <S> Anyways, you'll find that there won't be a very clear point when you move from act to act. <S> They are just labels for large parts of the story, not fences. <A> The rules in place are to help writers overcome hesitation to write, or indecision on how to structure the story. <S> Others will give you rules to follow, and as a result you try to club it into submission and force it to be something that it is not. <S> The story is the important part: write it to keep it in its natural form. <S> You said "I just cannot move on to the next chapter until I personally feel that I have written good. <S> " <S> This is a problem that writers have dealt with forever, but it is not a reason to stop writing! "If you want to write" by Brenda Ueland addresses this point exactly, and has been immensely inspirational to me. <S> It was written in 1938, so it was before all the hundreds of books on how to write. <S> Hopefully, you might find it helpful. <S> http://www.amazon.com/If-You-Want-Write-ebook/dp/B0034KYUV8/ref=tmm_kin_title_0 <S> Also, if you are worried about following publisher's guidelines so that it is easier to publish, you should self-publish on Amazon's KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). <S> Link for more information: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin
| the first act should end when the novel reaches around 25% of its length Aaaaaaaah! If you want to publish traditionally and they like your book, if they are hooked by the beginning, if they see that the story flows, they will publish it, no matter if it has 50K or 80K words. Or you could shorten the conversations and give the backstory in a less explicit way (give hints, rather than lengthy exposition).
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Some doubts on the use of Italicized words Okay here's the thing. After a tough verbal fight with my friend, I concluded that I will post this question here and get some concrete answers. According to what I feel, italicized words are used For internal monologues "And what about her cousin? Mary?" I shook my head. "No... No contact with her too." Except sometimes getting slapped by her for free. For stressing on certain words "As far as I know, I am right." "No. You were right." But is this valid? I saw her look towards me as I entered the office, "It was him."I turned around to see who she was pointing at. But there was no one. She was not looking looking towards me.She was looking at me. The argument that my friend gives is that I should not use the italicized words in sentences because it looks rude to read. But I say why can't I if I want the tone at that very word to be emphasized? He says I should use single inverted commas instead. But I use them for my dialogues within dialogues. Please help. I am really confused. <Q> I've read a lot of novels in my life and I cannot remember one, that uses bold for emphasizing. <S> But maybe that's just my memory problem. <S> I prefer italic , but honestly, that is a matter of taste and totally up to the writer. <S> I prefer italic words, because they stand out without shouting at the reader. <S> One bold word on a page is attracting the eye. <S> It's almost like the North Pole to a compass needle. <S> Italic instead stands out while you read it and not during all the time your eye look at the page. <S> (Aren't you attracted to the "bold" above from the very beginning and still are?) <S> Now, using quotation marks (single, double, whatever) could be problematic. <S> They are used for citing, for dialogues, for emphasizing and to mark irony or obscene meanings of some words (like "cock"). <S> Now, which one are you using and how do you tell it your readers? <S> All in all, don't have doubts, you are the writer, it's your story and if your friend has a problem with your markup, tell him/her to write his/her own story. <A> ...it looks rude ? <S> I have never heard of italics being called "rude. <S> " <S> Your friend is full of it. <S> Both your examples are perfect exactly as they are. <S> The first one is a brief interior monologue, set off by formatting. <S> The second uses italics for emphasis. <S> Single quotes (or single inverted commas) are, as you correctly stated, used for nested quoted material (dialogues within dialogues). <S> Quotes can be used to refer to something mockingly, or to indicate that something has an inferior, parody, or so-called status: <S> We went down the "easy" road, which was just as steep and strewn with boulders as the "hard" road. <S> Norrington sneered, "When does 'Captain' Sparrow arrive?" <S> You will note the second example does not have the same meaning as this: <S> Norrington sneered, "When does Captain Sparrow arrive?" <S> In the first one, Norrington's implication is that Sparrow has taken the title of Captain without earning it. <S> In the second, Sparrow is legitimately captain, but Norrington doesn't want to acknowledge it and probably called him "Mister" in the previous exchange and was corrected. <S> Do not make the common mistake of thinking that quotes just mean emphasis. <S> For example: Big Sale on "Sneakers" Today! is completely and entirely WRONG. <S> The only possible way that statement is correct if if "Sneakers" refers to something which is actually not a shoe but has the brand name of Sneakers (for example, if it were a bookstore selling a series of books with titles like Sneaker of the House, Sneaker in the Back, Sneaker with Sally in the Alley, and so on). <A> There is no harm in using italic <S> but if you want to specifically emphasize on any word making it bold would have a better impact.
| I feel using italics makes it a little informal.
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How do you determine if a plot device is too coincidental? I see lazy plot devices as anything that is too coincidental. Person One just so happened to be in the 'area' when Person Two was attacked (then they end up running into each other a bunch of times afterwards--really?). Those nicks-of-time rescues. Some random thing distracting a villain right before they are victorious and giving the hero enough time to gain the upper hand. I'd also like to think happenstance/luck/fortune has a place in sustaining tension, such as bad weather preventing the villain from reaching the heroes or certain people's paths so happening to cross at the right time. How do you draw the line between a plot device that is too contrived and a plot device that propels the story forward without breaking the suspension of disbelief? <Q> We have to distinguish two different layers of coincidences: <S> Coincidence in the beginning of the story vs. coincidence at the end of the story (Deus ex machina problem) <S> Conflict decreasing coincidence vs. conflict increasing coincidence <S> The reader forgives (and sometimes want) coincidences that happen at the beginning of the story and conflict increasing coincidences. <S> If the fortune helps the protagonist or is used at the middle or end to get further in the story, then it is perceived as cheating. <S> So the car accident between protagonist and antagonist at the beginning is ok. <S> If they meet again when applying for the same job, the setting is already introduced ("Oh, that guy!"). <S> The cavalry at the end rescuing the protagonist, because he is inapt doing it himself is a no-no. <S> ("Why have I read all these pages if he can't rescue himself? <S> What a loser!") <S> If the protagonist has a street fight against the evil doers and he is running out of ammo, then that's increasing the conflict. <S> If he runs out of ammo in front of a gun shop, it is decreasing the conflict (i.e. unfair help for the protagonist). <S> If the gun shop is locked it is increasing again (reader will like it again). <S> Caveat: None of the above is true if you write a parody. <A> I think the solution is to ask - and answer - "why"? <S> Why did this person happen to be in the right place? <S> How did they obtain that information that led them right to the villain? <S> Has there been a rainstorm brewing for a few days <S> - is it even the season for storms ( in the UK, the answer here is always yes ). <S> Events should never be random. <S> However they can be the result of good fortune, as a pay back to hard work. <S> The reason these particular people have become involved is also important - why was it Fred, not Joe who received the phone call? <S> What marks them out as the appropriate person? <S> My short story linked in my profile tries to address this, as my only example. <S> But the point is that I had to ask these questions, and the answers were sometimes a challenge. <S> I had to make sure that the reader could get these answers, and know why a certain person was involved in something, why things happened in their favour. <S> Looking at why people make decisions they do - what drives them to one side rather than another - is fascinating, IMO. <A> If you feel like your plot elements show too much of the author's deus ex machina, then go back and figure out a way to make them more organic. <S> Sometimes this may mean backing up several scenes, or possibly halfway back into the book, to put your pieces in motion. <S> If Sherlock needs to run into Molly late at night at the morgue, you have to establish early on in the storyline that Molly keeps long hours and has no life <S> so it's not unusual for her to be at the morgue at 2am, on Christmas Eve, etc. <S> This is less contrived than "Molly happened to forget her purse at the morgue and went back to get it because she needed her phone and just happened to run into Sherlock." <A> Several good answers and I don't want to repeat what they said, but let me add: <S> I think you can almost always get away with ONE coincidence that gets the story rolling. <S> Like suppose the story begins with two people who are fierce business rivals just happening to meet in a social setting and becoming romantically involved, only discovering their identity as business rivals later. <S> (The Shop Around the Corner <S> , You've Got Mail) <S> Is this an unlikely coincidence? <S> Yes. <S> But few readers will question it, because we accept that this is what gets the story started. <S> It's unlikely, but if it didn't happen, if the two never met, there would be no story at all. <S> When we are relating true stories, we don't talk about the 1000 times that someone went to the grocery store or the office or the park and nothing interesting happened and he went home; we talk about the one time that something interesting DID happen that changed his life. <S> Same in fiction. <S> Ditto Lauren's comments about turning coincidences into probabilities. <S> If you tell us that one day Bob is walking down the street and he just happens to see a gun lying on the sidewalk and he picks it up and sticks it in his pocket, and then he walks into a bank just as it is being robbed <S> and he heroically saves the day, the reader will likely find the coincidence implausible. <S> But if you tell us that Bob has been carrying a gun constantly every day for the last 20 years, it doesn't sound so implausible. <S> Or if you say that Sally has long dreamed of opening her own restaurant but never had the resources to do it, and one day she attends a class on French literature where she meets someone with a similar dream who is looking for a partner, it sounds like an implausible co-incidence. <S> But change it to a class on how to start a business, and it doesn't sound unlikely at all. <S> Etc.
| So coincidences at the beginning of the story and coincidences which are punishing the protagonist (increasing conflict) are good/acceptable, helping coincidences and stuff that happens later out of nowhere to keep the story running are no-gos.
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Using Latin words in fantasy I have seen at least a few cases of Latin being used in both fantasy and scifi, and I wonder how it is perceived and how much is tolerated. Being primarily a gamer, the first examples that come to mind are Kingdoms of Amalur and Warhammer 40,000 . Is it a bad idea to use Latin (or similar languages)? What would it be acceptable to use Latin for? names, phrases/expressions, objects? <Q> If I was reading a fantasy or sci fi story in which Latin was the predominant language, I would expect some explanation as to why. <S> Perhaps the Roman Empire had not imploded and instead had gone on to develop space travel and colonized the planets. <S> Or maybe your fantasy is about a kingdom where magic exists and it is in the path of Roman conquest. <S> In either case, as a reader I would expect the author to provide me with a sufficient explanation to allow me to suspend my disbelief. <S> It wouldn't have to be much, but it would have to make sense. <S> A further complication you would have is that Latin, while arguably a dead language, is still enough alive that some readers would have studied it in school or at least be familiar enough with it that you would have to ensure you used the right vocabulary, verb tenses, etc. <S> Not doing so would definitely affect your credibility as an author. <S> Using your own created language automatically makes you the linguistic expert <S> and you wouldn't have to contend with the above issues. <S> It is certainly more work, though. <S> Another option is to use an artificial language, such as Esperanto. <S> Harry Harrison took this route in a number of his novels, such as those in his <S> the Stainless Steel Rat and Deathworld trilogy. <S> You might consider reading a few of them to see how he handles using the language. <S> Harrison talked about why he used Esperanto back at the 45th World Science Fiction Convention. <S> Philip José Farmer also used Esperanto in his Riverworld series. <A> I think there is an issue if you expect people to understand Latin to read it - relatively few do these days, but some will. <S> This means that not only do you have to provide explanations/translations, but these have to be accurate! <S> I have read some stories where Latin phrases/mottos etc are used, with an expectation that the read will know them - sometimes this is fine if they are well known, but it does provide a barrier to reading. <S> Umberto Eco, IIRC, tends to do this, but then he draws from such a wide range of back-tales, all of which you really need to know, this is just part of my problem. <S> Using it as the lingua franca of a book raises a whole lot of other issues, not least about language development. <A> In most cases it's to make the book look more complex, while also being intelligible and cool. <S> In my own book, you will find loose, slightly-changed Latin sprinkled all over it - like a species of bird called tabbelarees , or "bells. <S> " <S> The original word translates to "carrier" as from the term, message carriers ( Tabbelarrius Nintius ), effectively letting the reader (if they know Latin) know what the bird does for the community. <S> And if the reader doesn't know that, then it sounds cool, it's original, and the bird gets described anyways. <S> In all, I'd say it's a good use of a deceased language. <A> Using it for the names of relics, weapons, vessels and titles are all great uses of it that can add another layer of depth and atmosphere to a story. <S> Since you've cited Warhammer 40k, there are, in my opinions, some Black Library authors who do it well, and other Black Library abominations that don't. <S> The likes of Graham McNeil, Chris Wraight etc use the pseudo latin of 40k quite well. <S> It doesn't distract the reader, it adds depth to the story and can be seen as a little easter egg for those who do understand it to cotton on to the meaning. <S> And then, at the other end of the spectrum, lies Gav Thorpe. <S> I just recently read The Purging of Kalidus - about the Dark Angels on Piscana V - written by Mr Thorpe. <S> Throughout the dialogue are scatterings of pseudo-latin. <S> Entire phrases that don't have any context, that jar the reader out of the story and add absolutely nothing to it. <S> It's taken it too far and comes across as the author being rather pretentious and allowing him to ignore any failings in the book as a petulant whine of " <S> but you just don't understand"
| I think it works well and can add to a story, if it's used sparingly. Using Latin for the names of things or people is not a barrier really - you can recognise the names whatever the actual language is, whether Latin, Vulcan or an Elven language.
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Can a literary agent be hired? I've sent my manuscript to tens of literary agents. Strangely enough, I received no positive response. My question: Can I hire a literary agent? If yes, how much it costs? Are there other ways (except of vanity presses) to publish and widely distribute my religious book ? I may probably get a grant for publishing this book (instead of my own expenses). But I don't even know how much to ask, because I don't know how much I need to pay for publishing. <Q> But for that it's cheaper to hire a literary lawyer. <S> First question: <S> Why do you want to hire an agent? <S> You have already published your book. <S> It's available for free on your website. <S> Do you want to make money with your book? <S> Then why have you published it for free? <S> Why should an agent (or a publisher) be interested wasting their time with a book which is available for free? <S> Religious books do not have a big market anyway. <S> So giving it away for free diminishes the possibilities to make money with it tremendously. <S> Now, because you have already self-published, I advise you to go further on this route. <S> You can publish it on Amazon and other sites, you can publish it as POD. <S> For details search this site and have a look at Dean W. Smith's publishing series . <A> Probably not a professional one. <S> All agents are hired - they take a percentage of whatever contracts they get you (or which they negotiate for you). <S> You're asking if you can pay extra for an agent to represent an author or an MS which they'd otherwise turn down. <S> Here's the thing: <S> an agent represents what s/ <S> he thinks s/he can sell. <S> If they don't want to take on a book, that means they don't think they can sell it (or, maybe they could sell it, but not for enough money to make the percentage worth the agent's effort). <S> Why would you want to hire somebody who straight-out doubts they'll be able to sell your book? <S> Taking a percentage works in the author's favor - it means the author doesn't pay if the agent doesn't make the sale. <S> For this reason, agents taking anything other than a percentage are usually extremely suspicious - and there are a lot of fake, malicious, or simply unprofessional agents who will take your money but do nothing to advance you towards publication. <S> Another point is that an agent's reputation is much of his/her livelihood. <S> A good agent can't take on a manuscript s/ <S> he considers to be poor quality, because it will make future pitches for other clients much more suspect. <S> Other options you might pursue could include e-publishing, which is quite accessible and produces a final product that can be quite widespread, or simply approaching publishers directly yourself, which is still quite doable. <S> Be sure to target publishers with lines of books that are appropriate for the manuscript you'd like to sell! <A> In response to your question, the answer generally is "no". <S> You can attempt to hire an agent to represent you, but the agent has the right to refuse if they don't feel you have anything they can actually sell. <S> Your first priority, therefore, would be to make sure you have something to sell. <S> I can appreciate the fact that you have gone to the trouble to self-publish your book through CreateSpace and Lulu but haven't seen any sales. <S> My question would be to ask what you are doing to promote your book and let people know it is out there? <S> If you are promoting your book, even if it means driving them to the free version on your web site, then in time you should start seeing some sales (assuming the book is of interest and is written well). <S> The main thing is to be patient, because unless you are doing a ton of promotion, it is highly unlikely anyone will even know about your book or be able to find it. <S> If you publish your book as an e-book through Kindle (Amazon), they will offer you the option to join the Kindle Select program. <S> This means you can have your book made available through the power of Amazon advertising, and they will let you choose five days on which to make your book free. <S> I know several people who have done this to generate interest, and then once the book was no longer free, they had enough momentum and word of mouth to start seeing some actual sales. <S> The downside of this program is that they ask you to remove all other avenues for purchasing your book while you are in their program. <S> That means you can't sell your POD versions <S> and you won't be able to offer it for free on your Web site. <S> Personally, I sell more books through B&N, so this option doesn't work for me. <S> However, a new writer with their first book might be able to use it to their advantage.
| You can hire a literary agent if you have an offer from a publisher and need someone to negotiate the contract. Another option you might consider is to use the Kindle Select program.
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How can I develop my ideas? A problem I run into frequently is that I am struck by an idea, more accurately termed "a premise," for a story, but then I can't decide what to do with it. I think of a million ways to present the idea and I can't really decide on how to proceed. Example: Say I have an idea for a sci-fi short story about a society that replaces the dead with artificially intelligent holograms, imprinted with the mind of the deceased, so as to create the feeling that nobody has truly departed. This is a society that cannot let go, that does everything possible to avoid accepting death. But now I think: this could be seen through the eyes of a child. Or an adult. Or of several people. Or by the crew of a ship visiting this society from somewhere else. This could be a personal, touching story, or a sterilized and distant story (sort of the way Asimov writes). This could be told in a thousand different ways, with a thousand different scenes and endings and voices. Let me condense this into a not-so-simple question: once I have my premise, how do I decide on how to tell my story? On what the best way to tell it is? What characters would best fit this tale? Etc. How do I narrow down my story's content? <Q> I agree with SC about conflict. <S> The other thing that will help you decide how to tell it (voice, characters, etc.) is theme, theme and theme . <S> Look at your world. <S> Decide what you want the main theme of your story to be, because that will help you decide which people or groups to use. <S> In your example, do you want to explore the ways in which humans cope with death? <S> Maybe you could use a mother who's about to die - she thinks differently from the rest of society and wants to be gone from the world for good (for whatever reason, maybe something in her past for example). <S> Her goal is to be left alone when she dies. <S> Her daughter, however, doesn't want to lose her mother and wants to imprint a hologram with her mind. <S> Bam. <S> Instant conflict from goals that are equally valid but cannot co-exist. <S> You would then want to tell it from a personal voice, as a distant voice wouldn't convey the characters' struggles very well. <S> Or maybe you want to explore the mechanics and structure of such a society. <S> What would happen to such a society? <S> How would the imprinted holograms be treated? <S> Do any of them deteriorate over time, and what happens then? <S> This would certainly be a more clinical telling, from some outside force. <S> Note that if you do go down the Asimov hard science path, you will need a very novel, interesting premise to grip the reader. <S> Take the movie Primer as an example. <S> I wouldn't say the emotional or plot elements were anywhere near fantastic, but damn if it didn't garner a huge following because of its new take on time travel. <S> IMHO, the viewpoints and conflict all come from your theme and what you want to leave your audience thinking about when they reach the end. <S> It's very well and good to have a concept but <S> if you don't know what you want to say, then why bother saying anything at all? <A> I have sort of a different take: don't narrow it down. <S> Write them all, as short stories. <S> Your premise is the premise of an entire society. <S> All those potential stories are valid. <S> So create them all. <S> Use each little vignette as a different window into how this society functions, how the people relate to one another, how the technology developed, how some people embrace it and some reject it, how it's seen from the outside. <S> Edgar Lee Masters wrote a book of poems called the Spoon River Anthology. <S> The 200-plus poems are each from the POV of a different character, and all together they create a portrait of the town of Spoon River. <S> I suppose yours might be the <S> There Is No Spoon Anthology, <S> but you get my point. <A> I think the answer is that all of these are valid viewpoints to take, and each of them might make a story. <S> But you have to ask one more question - why is your premise important? <S> Who is it important to? <S> You need to identify not just a premise, but a story. <S> The premise is just the oddity of the society that you have to describe, but for the people within it, it usually is just life as it happens. <S> So you need a story, someones story, that drives against this, or with it, or around it. <S> You may want to tell this through a child, but why is the child challenging or questioning it? <S> the same quesiton for an adult - why do they draw attention to this aspect of their society, rather than, say, their ability to fly through space? <S> Even if you want to take the position of a visiting group, what is it about this technology that challenges them? <S> Maybe they have moral problems with it, which could provide a good story. <S> You could even tell the story from the point of a deceased person, but you still have ask the question why is THIS story being told? <S> What is the force of this particular story that makes it different? <S> and then you will know how to tell it.
| I think once you have the conflict point or story point - not complete, but just as a point to work from - you will know why that story is the one to tell, If your goal is to explore all the different facets of this society, then show all the facets.
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Should cliffhangers be used in every chapter? This is not a great question but I use a lot of cliffhangers. And I have a habit of making cliffhangers in the end of every chapter that I write just to hook the reader. The question is, is it a good idea?Won't it look monotonous after a while into the novel? <Q> It depends. <S> Ending each chapter on a cliff hanger is a plot device used in some genres, like thrillers. <S> Dan Brown uses it extensively in his books, as do some other writers. <S> If well done, they can make the book more exciting, and gives it that 'can't put down' feel. <S> On the other hand, if done badly, it irritates the reader, as it seems the only purpose of each chapter is to put the hero in even more trouble. <S> Also, if your characters are boring, the reader might just say, go ahead and die already . <S> Certainly I've thrown away books where the hero was getting caught by gun toting henchmen every five minutes, just so each chapter could end in a cliffhanger. <S> And this was in the first 3-4 chapters. <S> So, I'd say no, they should not be used in every chapter. <S> My advice (as a reader, as I have no experience as a writer writing cliffhangers) is: <S> Don't have too many in the first part of the book. <S> You need some time to develop plot / character etc. <S> Cliffhangers do better near the middle / end of the book. <S> By this time the reader identifies with the characters, and understands what's at stake in the plot. <S> Make sure the cliffhanger is a part of the plot, and not just added to make the reader keep reading. <S> If not sure, put your book away for some time and then read it as a reader. <S> Do you feel the cliffhangers make the book enticing, or like a soap serial, their only purpose is to get you to the next week / chapter? <A> Like Eastenders. <S> However leaving the ends of chapters in limbo - unresolved, with the characters walking off to certain death, while you take up another thread of the story will have a similar effect, of keeping the readers going and wanting to know what is going to happen to them. <S> At the same time, resolving everything raised in a chapter during that chapter is boring, as there is no sense of long-term development of the characters and situations. <S> Sometimes, you just need to move the characters on in a chapter, and prepare for something later. <A> I would say no. <S> Not for a book. <S> Regardless of how you are defining cliffhanger, I don't think you need an aaiiigh!! <S> moment at the end of every single chapter. <S> A chapter should end for a reason, but that reason doesn't have to be a shock, reversal, discovery, or threat to life/limb/happiness. <S> If you use the same trick or tool repeatedly, in the same place or the same way all the time, it gets old. <S> Your reader becomes jaded. <S> You wouldn't use the same sentence structure over and over, right? <S> You mix it up. <S> So why use the same narrative tool? <S> Soap operas and lengthy serials need cliffhangers because the story never ends. <S> You need a reason for the audience to keep returning. <S> A book is pretty much by definition a finite narrative. <S> (Even reeeeeeally long ones like A Song of Ice and Fire and Lord of the Rings. ) <S> At some point the story will come to a conclusion, and you hope your reader will complete the journey with you, so you can afford to end an internal arc because the larger arc of the entire story is still going. <S> If you have a neverending story, then you have to use cliffhangers to drag the audience along, because there's no quest to finish. <S> There's no The End coming — you have to give the audience something to come back for.
| Proper tense cliffhangers should be kept for a few occasions, otherwise your readers will guess what is happening, because they know it needs to have a problem by the end of the chapter.
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Is it typical to add variation to the words used for a character's name to keep it spicy? A friend has asked me to read through a chapter of his story and give my opinion. Lets say he has two main characters Mr John de Havilland and Mrs Sally de Havilland . I've noticed that the author sometimes uses the full name, Mr John de Havilland ; Other times he uses the short form, John and other times uses a descriptive word instead of the name, i.e the plumber . Whilst reading the story, I often found it difficult to work out 'who said what' (especially when I was having to distinguish between Mr de Havilland / Mrs de Havilland). I am going to suggest that he pick one name for each of the characters and stick to it. To keep using various pronouns/roles to refer to the character, but decide on the one word to use for their name . So, if the name is to be used in the narrative, nearly always to choose "John" instead of varying between "John", "Mr de Havilland" and "Mr John de Havilland". I'm interested to hear if that is a sensible criticism. How much consistency/ variation should there be in specifiying character names? Is it typical to add variation to the words used for a character's name to keep it spicy or is consistency often considered the prioritised goal? <Q> Go, read. <S> For posterity, I'll summarize: <S> Names should be treated as "invisible words" - they're so common, the reader hardly notices them. <S> You can repeat them as often as you like, without worrying about "sounding repetitive". <S> Every POV (point of view) should stick to a single tag per character - <S> that's how that person thinks of them. <S> This tag might demonstrate the relationship between the characters - Mr. John de Havilland might be "Johnny" to his wife, "Mr. de Havilland" to his subordinates, "the prig in the yellow shirt" to a street kid, and "Knives" to a newly-released ex-con whose gang he belonged to when he was 11. <S> But the ex-con will never think of him as "Mr. de Havilland," nor as "the plumber. <S> " Don't break from the POV's chosen tag unless the story itself calls for it. <S> Don't use the tags themselves to tell us directly about the character - rotating between "De Havilland," "the plumber," "the 50-year old," "the ugly revolutionary," "the Soviet spy" just to tell us he is all those things. <S> It's clunky, it's confusing, and it's telling us rather than showing us. <A> It's not about "spicy," it's about not being boring. <S> Using "John" in every single dialogue tag can grate on the inner ear. <S> That said, don't overdo it. <S> I would say you should use character names (or he/she) 90% of the time, and the other 10% can be "the detective," "the doctor," "the captain," "the younger woman," "her older sister," etc. <S> You want to do it just often enough to prevent monotony. <S> If you're having trouble figuring out who "Mrs de Havilland" is in a conversation between a husband and wife, then the writer is doing a poor job of attribution, period. <S> EDIT TO ADD: As JSBangs notes below, using a character's full name and courtesy title (Mr John de Havilland) in a dialog tag sounds very strange to the modern ear. <S> Unless there's some compelling stylistic reason, pick one version of the person's name (Mr de Havilland, Dr. McCoy, John) and stick with that in pretty much all iterations. <A> If the two Havillands are in separate scenes and which one has been established, you could use their last names, for example:Havilland threw his hands up in surrender.or: <S> Havilland tapped her foot. <S> I also sometimes use descriptions of appearance or personality which have already been established, for example:The blue-eyed man.or, sometimes:The more arrogant of the two sneered. <S> I hope this was of some help! :) <A> I also dislike repeating "He" or "John" over and over again. <S> I have a little rule that I use when it gets on my nerves. <S> There are few exceptions to this rule. <S> For example, my Maid character uses "Young master". <S> When I narrate her POV <S> I use "the Young Master". <S> (Sorry for my bad English, not a native).
| Orson Scott Card answers your question precisely and eloquently in his excellent Character and Viewpoint , under the heading One Name Per Character . Alternating between different tags can be confusing and distracting. When I talk about a single character, then I use different variants, eg"the young", "the old man", "fatty", "the scholar" and so on (depending on their defining characteristics).In any other case, I address characters by their short-name or nickname.
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How to separate scenes in a chapter? I have multiple scenes in a chapter, sometimes from different POVs, or different locations/times. Now I would like to make it clear to the reader that they have left a scene and are entering a new one. Now, Scrivener (which I just started using, so I'm not an expert), places a '#' between scenes, but I have never seen this in a real book. I have seen things like: .--------------- or x--------------x to separate scenes. I'm not so interested in what the style manuals say, I just want to make it easy for the readers to understand they are in a new scene. What is the easiest way to accomplish this? Edit: To clarify, I'm planning to self publish, so I will be doing the manuscript formatting myself. <Q> Scrivener exists, in part, to put manuscripts into standard manuscript format . <S> The # mark it uses as the default section break is, frankly, a little puzzling to me. <S> (Apparently this is standard for SFWA format , see the comments.) <S> Manuscripts in any variant of standard manuscript format will separate sections by either an empty line or three asterisks. <S> However, when these fall at the end or the beginning of a page, they're easy to miss, so writers will often use lines of asterisks or similar symbols. <S> Scrivener's default pound sign is fine for this purpose. <S> Leave the symbols and lines to the graphic designers. <S> You're a writer, and you should worry about the words, not the design. <S> Using lines of dashes in the manuscript, particularly when they're of random length, comes across to me as, frankly, slightly amateurish. <S> But whatever you use to separate sections should be consistent throughout the manuscript. <S> Edit: <S> Re-reading this question, I'm guessing that, since you're concerned with readers, this may be a situation such as an e-book or web publication, where manuscript format is irrelevant. <S> With web publications and ebooks, you have no way of knowing how the text will hyphenate, so simply using white space in-between sections may not be the clearest way of breaking up sections. <A> You could take the five-star approach: <S> * <S> * <S> * <S> * <S> * <S> Or you could just use a significant amount of whitespace. <A> I guess it depends how you compile your text in Scrivener if you get the '#' or not. <S> Scenes within a chapter are normally separated by blank lines. <S> Like this: <S> This is a scene. <S> And here is its end. <S> This is a new one. <S> Keep writing. <S> If you send your manuscript to a publisher and it is edited/copyedited, transformed for printing, then these new lines can be easily missed. <S> That means, where you put in a scene break is none in the printed book, because someone accidentally deleted the blank line. <S> To avoid this, the #-signs are inserted. <S> Then it is obvious for the publisher guys where a scene ends. <S> As long as you like it. <S> It's your book. <A> I think the easiest way to signify that you've left a scene and are entering a new one is one of two things. <S> first, you could just hit the return button a few times. <S> most readers realize what this means because they've grown accustomed to it. <S> another way is to insert some sort of symbol (e.g. ~ or something) <S> a line or two under the scene you're leaving and before the scene you're entering. <A> I recommend you put in 3 or more asterisks on a single line, like so: <S> * * * … because that appears as 3 asterisks in plain text, but appears as a semantically-correct horizontal rule when that plain text is machine-converted to HTML. <S> For example, notice what Stack Exchange does to the same 3 asterisks you see above if I do not put them in a code block: <S> … they get machine-converted to a horizontal rule for free. <S> If your manuscript is going to be published on the Web or as an eBook, then accurate machine-conversion to HTML saves time and money and reduces errors. <S> A horizontal rule can also be quickly and easily styled via CSS by the designer of your website or book to appear as a Unicode glyph or a custom illustration. <S> So the 3 asterisks that you originally type show as asterisks in plain text, horizontal rule in plain HTML, and any kind of custom separator in styled HTML. <S> With no laborious, error-prone editing of the actual manuscript. <S> Your original intent will stay true all the way to the reader. <A> Once your document is compiled, you can go through and change the # to three returns, which is what's usually used. <S> (The only time I see multiple asterisks is if a scene end happens to fall at the bottom of a page, and the * is to let the reader know that the next page starts a new scene.) <S> I wouldn't sweat it too much; if you're fortunate enough to get a book contract, your publisher will be laying out the book according to their standards, and if you're self-publishing, you can do whatever you like (as long as it's consistent). <A> Never seen a professional book that didn't separate scenes by a triple newline. <A> Well in the book IT they switch from different point of view and different time periods a lot <S> but how Stephen King does it is he does this thing where he numbers sections in the chapter <S> , I’m explaining it bad <S> but it’s like this: “Beverly walked down the street and ate ice cream like a normal 11 year old would. <S> She wanted to forget what had just happened <S> but 2The memories wouldnt stop rushing in her adult mind, it felt like her adult mind was a drain and her childhood was a truckload of water on top “ something like that idk <S> I’m bad <S> but that’s what he does <S> you’ll probably get better examples from the actual book he switches like that the whole time <A> Whoa I do not know where you learned to write, but at our book and Ebook formatter service, we use flourishes to separate subchapters in a book. <S> Sometimes small ones some times larger ones. <S> This is the only proper method. <S> If you are using html this may be harder to do. <S> Chances are, you will have to convert them to .jpg <S> or .png files instead of <S> .eps. <S> This method takes care of paperback books and ebooks, and makes them manageable and good looking.
| If you self-publish your book, you can use whatever you want to separate lines. If that's the case, it doesn't matter what you use, but I do suggest picking a simple marker such as three asterisks or bullets and centering them in the space in-between sections.
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Is going 'off-topic' a sign of bad dialogue? I always wondered if going off-topic in a dialogue is a bad or a normal thing. For example, let's say I'm writing a novel where the main theme is love and loss.Is it bad if the characters start talking about their favorite breakfast, or a cousin they dislike? Or maybe about another theme like alienation? Every time I find myself in this situation I get stuck. I don't know if I should removed the part, make it fit somehow with the theme or just leave it there. <Q> In real life, conversations ramble, so it's unsurprising if your dialogues ramble as well. <S> This is not necessarily a bad thing. <S> This is part of that genre's attempt to present situations naturalistically. <S> In other genres readers expect a tighter degree of focus, and so will be less tolerant of long conversations that don't appear to relate to the story. <S> However, just because a dialogue doesn't directly relate to the theme or plot doesn't mean that it actually accomplishes nothing. <S> So consider: does your characters' conversation actually contribute nothing to the story, or is it adding something a little more subtle? <A> If it distracts from your plot and from your theme, then yes - sooner or later, that dialogue should be rewritten or cut entirely. <S> Real conversations get sidetracked; they go off on tangents. <S> If you do a lot of your writing by figuring out "what would they say next," you're likely to follow that natural tendency. <S> The problem is, if it's really nothing but a random offshoot of conversation, then it probably won't interest the reader. <S> It may confuse him, or he may find it boring. <S> Not every digression from the initial subject is a distraction. <S> Some digressions have thematic significance; some digressions serve important roles like exposition, developing relationships, etc.; some digressions switch from one aspect of the plot to another one. <S> But if you don't know why that bit of dialogue is there, if you don't feel that it adds to your story , than you do the same as with any bit of writing that isn't contributing: you change it, or you cut it out. <S> You will probably be able to tell the difference simply by assessing your own intentions while writing. <S> If you feel that you're grasping for something, anything, for the characters to say, or that you're writing the dialogue based on loose association rather than sticking to some central point, then the dialogue is probably unnecessary. <S> On the other hand, if you're trying to accomplish something (anything!) <S> specific by changing topics, then you're probably fine - you can judge whether the topic change accomplishes your goal or not. <A> Studying real life conversations is fascinating, because they do ramble and wander, especially if the people know each other well. <S> It is part of the richness that makes up real discussion, where tangents provide insight into the original discussion because they are tangents, and it indicates something about the mind working of the speaker. <S> I think there is a place for a novel where the theme is "love and loss", in which the characters do not talk about either of these topics directly, but the theme is developed by their skirting around them. <S> It would not be easy to write, but would work by drawing the themes in relief - the particular topics that they do not talk about. <S> And you would learn a lot because of the way that the conversation had to avoid them. <S> So yes, talk about other stuff, talk about life, because people do. <S> And use this to show their thinking about the bigger issues. <S> Where your core themes are big ones, then all issues will touch on them. <S> A favorite breakfast was the last one I had with George. <S> Or the one we took on our first holiday, in the open air.
| In realistic literary novels, it would be unsurprising, or even expected, for your dialogues to include long tangents and unrelated content. Dialogues can be used to set mood, to demonstrate character, or to illustrate the setting.
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Which tense to use when writing a diary? For writing diary content every day, which English tense is appropriate to use? Things have all happened already. I usually write late at night (end of the day) or the next day. Should I use simple past, present perfect simple, or another tense? <Q> Past tense is my instinct. <S> Yet it depends on what you are writing and the writing's purpose. <S> " <S> What was that? <S> Rustling in the bushes nearby. <S> Footsteps just beyond--sound like a person, a large person. <S> I must move on. <S> Now. <S> " That is more effective than: "Yesterday I discovered signs of a person having walked behind my trail during the night. <S> I am being followed and better switch up my route." <S> The Blair Witch Project versus an Aldo Leopold work. <A> An excerpt by Lewis Carroll: July 4, 1862 <S> I made an expedition up the river to Godstowe with the three Liddells, we had tea on the bank there, and did not reach Christ Church till half-past eight. <S> ( source ) <A> I find these answers interesting because to me, a diary is a place you confess your innermost thoughts, while a journal is something you write in every day to talk about what you did. <S> (note the jour- <S> root, meaning "day") <S> That having been said, if I'm reporting on what I did today, or yesterday, I'd use past tense, because it's something I did . <S> But if I'm using the writing as a way to work out my thoughts or emotions, I'd use present tense, because it's something I feel , which is still ongoing. <A> It's a unique mix of past and present with future occasionally thrown in - while normal novels are almost universally written "from viewpoint after the end of the book" which means they will be completely "past", each journal entry describes very recent events - many of them ongoing or stretching into the future relative to the entry. <S> John left. <S> We had a terrible argument and he said he's tired of dealing with my crap. <S> Now I'm sitting on my bed and crying. <S> I've been calling him for past hour, and now I'm trying again, and the phone still doesn't answer. <S> I will keep trying until he replies or until I'm too tired to continue. <A> Are you planning on sharing this with anyone else or is it just for you? <S> If it is just for you then write what comes naturally to you and what feels comfortable at the moment. <S> It is after all your innermost feelings and your tense may change from entry to entry depending on your mood. <S> Personally there is no way I would be able to write a diary entry if I had to force myself to stick to any type of rules. <A> It all depends on you. <S> You can use the present tense to give an effect of continuation, for example: Wed June 8th- "The alarm clock rings. <S> I wake up and groggily shake off the vestiges of sleep. <S> My eyes slowly focus on the surroundings. <S> ..... <S> " and so on. <S> You can continue in the same tense for the next day to get that continuation effect. <S> You can also switch to past tense in between to describe events such as "I decided to visit Anna today. <S> She has been expecting me for a while now." <A> You can use past or present tense but it depends on the author's purpose. <S> In a diary, if someone will read it, use present tense to make the reader feel like are in the same situation. <S> Otherwise, if it's personal, there's no rules needed to follow. <S> Good Luck:)
| Use the simple past, if you're describing events of the day. If it's an adventure story or something with more of a fast pace then clearly present tense might be best.
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Who is responsible for copyrighted materials (publisher or writer)? Imagine that Writer A's book includes copyrighted material created by Creator B, and Creator B sues for copyright infringement. Will Writer A be held liable, or will the book publisher? I think the publisher is officially responsible for this. If yes, is it possible for the publisher to contractually transfer all responsibility to the writer? It possible for a publisher completely avoid copyright complaints, or will a publisher always be held accountable for copyright violations? <Q> In the scenario of Creator B's work being included in Writer A's work without approval, Creator B will go after both the writer and the publisher. <S> Writer A is obviously liable for using Creator B's work, and the publisher is liable for assisting in the infringing by distributing the book. <S> The publisher also is going to have far deeper pockets than Writer A. <S> Unfortunately for publishers, it is difficult to root out plagiarism. <S> The very recent case of Jonah Lehrer shows that once they find out about it, they usually act swiftly not to defend the plagiarist, but to distance themselves from him. <S> It also means that everyone connected with the infringement is likely to get sued. <A> Legally, the author owns the copyright, so the ultimate responsibility falls on the author. <S> If the copyrighted material is a real money maker for the publisher, then they would have a vested interest in protecting that copyright and would in all likeliness provide legal assistance or even act on the author's behalf. <S> It would be in their own best interests to protect their investment, so they would definitely be motivated to do so. <S> Some publishers have employees who are responsible for monitoring such things to ensure that their published works are not used without compensation, but ultimately it depends on just how successful the book is in the first place. <A> No, it really is the author's responsibility and publishers make sure to protect themselves. <S> All this below is from https://ochsnerjournal.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/copyright-infringement-who-is-responsible-author-or-publisher/ To strengthen their legal position, many publishers include warranty and indemnity clauses in the copyright transfer agreement. <S> Usually, by agreeing to a warranty clause, the author guarantees that his manuscript contains only material that is original or in the public domain and free from any copyright. <S> Often the author also promises to indemnify the publisher if the manuscript becomes a legal liability; an indemnity clause makes the author financially liable if he breaks the warranty clause. <S> Here is an example of an indemnity clause from an academic publisher: If a publisher is sued for copyright infringement and loses, the publisher can then sue the author for breach of contract and potentially recover damages awarded in the original lawsuit. <S> The existence of warranty and indemnity clauses means that even though publishers are sued for copyright infringement more often than authors, authors are not free from liability. <S> The only way that authors and publishers can avoid copyright litigation is by avoiding copyright infringement in an active, collaborative effort. <A> I am not a lawyer but here's my "take. <S> " <S> The writer will get sued for doing the actual infringing. <S> The publisher will also get sued, for aiding and abetting, and because it has the deeper pockets. <S> The publisher may have a defense if it took steps to prevent infringement such as questioning the author about the antecedents of his work, and/or doing a computerized search of works with similar topics.
| The laws surrounding publishing are complex , but the most important thing to remember is that copyright is a negative right, meaning that the creator of the work has the ability to stop others from distributing his or her work.
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How do I approach writing an autobiography? I have never kept a diary, and some time back I thought it would be fun to work on some sort of autobiography to note down any memorable events etc. I am not famous, and even if completed the 'audience' for this is basically going to be a few relatives & friends, besides having it serve as a substitute diary to chronicle past events. Besides being an unknown, I am also not a writer, and do not know how to plan books or anything longer than a short technical article. How should I prepare and attempt to write an autobiography if I'm aiming for an interesting and factually correct read? Some considerations: Chronological order or some alternative arrangement (interactions with particular people? Aspects such as school life, entertainment etc.?) How do I start & pace myself to try and sustain interest in this project? Its unlikely to ever see print of a single copy; so should I take advantage of any digital features (better hyperlinking, multiple data views) by aiming for only digital version? <Q> Unless you are near (what you think is) <S> the end of your life, you don't have enough data yet to know what will ultimately be the best organization. <S> Chronological seems logical but might not be very engaging. <S> Is reading a day-by-day (or week-by-week) diary where not a lot happens at once interesting? <S> Not usually. <S> But the slices of life that you get through journaling can add up to interesting collections, re-arranged. <S> I think you will get the best results by doing this digitally. <S> Specifically, use a blog so you can cross-link and tag entries. <S> This does not mean you have to publish your blog to the world; blogging sites like Dreamwidth, Livejournal, and others allow you to set access control for individual entries or entire journals. <S> I started an online journal more than ten years ago <S> and it's still surprising <S> what entries I return to -- ones I didn't know at the time would be significant -- and which ones that I thought important turned out not to be. <S> Tagging allows you to index on the fly. <S> Over time you can organize existing entries into groups, via linking, based on whatever criteria make sense -- time, broad themes, ties to specific people, or whatever. <A> The goal is to have an outline of major events. <S> Then fill the gaps between those "milestones". <S> For me, a list of girlfriends worked pretty well (without it turning out to be a book about my sex life). <S> Anything could be suitable for this purpose (like a list of your jobs, without it turning out to be a book about your career :D).About your three points: <S> Yes, I'll suggest chronological order <S> (it's easier if you follow my previous advice) <S> Just start typing it without too much thinking <S> It only depends by your purpose.. <S> Hope this helps. <A> If it were me I would just start writing without any sort of outline or rules. <S> I would write whatever I felt at the moment and as little or as much as I was moved to write. <S> Once you have a lot written it will be obvious to you how it should be organized in the book. <S> As with any large project that is overwhelming at first I get nowhere until I just start doing it. <S> There are no rules to autobiographies or writing for that matter and in my experience the best works are those that were written with a no-holds barred attitude and are written by following the heart and not the head. <S> Write the book as if you are the only one who will ever read it and it will be everything you hoped for and more. <A> Well, chronological is always a useful way of telling this sort of story, but it might not be the most engaging. <S> As strange as it sounds, even a biography has to have a story. <S> Sometimes the best way to do this is start it at a singular event, then go back to see how you came to that point. <S> The idea is to show how your life molded you into the person that you are. <S> This also starts to dance into a memoir, but that isn't a huge issue. <S> Of course, since his is a biography the order you write the events isn't going to change the events themselves, so <S> I would just simply start writing things as they come to you. <S> Make sure to date when they happened so you can organize them later, also talking about one event may help jog you memory of another even, so writing it non-linear might help keep events fresh in your mind. <S> As for how to pace yourself and keep interest in the project, well that's a challenge every writer faces. <S> Going old traditional might be the best choice: writing some every day, having a fix time to write with little distractions and daily goals. <S> Even so that is a larger question to deal with. <S> Lastly, using digital features to try and keep things organized. <S> Believe it or not, blogging software might be the best choice in this case. <S> Using software like that you can tag and link pretty much every post you make, allowing you to navigate things easier. <S> You can also host in in the 'cloud' so you can access in anywhere ( <S> and you can keep them private, so no one can read them without your permission). <S> In the end though, don't let worry about how to use it stop you from starting the project. <S> Really the very first step is going to be to start writing it, before that everything else is really just academic. <A> I love to hear of people writing their autobiographies! <S> It's a wonderful opportunity to reflect on one's life and put your one, unique story out into the world. <S> I agree with some of the above advice--just start writing! <S> Start with the most memorable, compelling stories of your life and go from there. <S> There's some great advice about starting your autobiography here: https://www.yourstorysimply.com/how-to-start-an-autobiography/ And some advice about structuring it, down the road here: <S> https://www.yourstorysimply.com/autobiography-structure/ <S> Hope <S> this helps you and any other recent readers looking to start their own autobiographies!
| So don't try to create an outline; just start writing pieces. My advice is to find some element (with an emotional content) that changed across your life and make a list.
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Is it safe to write about a fictional murder in a real-life location? I am writing a novel, and part of the plot has one character killing another in a specific real-life location. I mean the setting is extremely specific - for example, a particular hotel, or one particular ferry. I'm worried that portraying violence in a specific location might be frowned upon by the real-life owners. I don't want to be sued because they don't like how I've used their property, or because they think I'm slandering them. Can I be sued for this kind of writing? And if so, what can I do now, in the writing stage, to avoid that possibility? <Q> Option A: "Welcome Monsieur Debarge to your cabin on the Caspian Rapide, the luxury train service that will take you on a journey from London through to Istanbul," the guard said as the famous Belgian detective came aboard. <S> Option B: "Murder!" <S> Lady Glintington cried, aghast. " <S> On the Orient Express? <S> I believed that this was one of the safest train services in the world!" <S> " <S> Normally so," Debarge said the inflections of his French-Canadian accent bringing a particular gusto to his authoritarian tone. <S> " <S> The perpetrator of this wicked crime must have been exceptionally determined and resigned to capture. <S> For only a fool with little care for their own freedom and safety would dare to execute such a heinous crime in such an environment." <S> It's only if you go into territory that suggests that heinous acts of murder most foul are the norm in the selected location and the owners of the location actively encourage carnage and anarchy that you'd probably be getting a raised eyebrow or two. <S> As long as it is made plain that the situation is out of the ordinary the location is usually deemed fair game for adding dramatic spice, particularly if the venue is open to the general public. <S> Matthew Reilly set his gladiatorial SF thriller Contest in the Library of Congress, Dan Brown set Angels and Demons in the Vatican City. <S> If in the latter Brown had depicted the Vatican as an organisation of loose morals and casual atrocity he might have attracted the wrong type of attention to his tedious pot boiler. <S> Because the Vatican largely performed its expected function with various rogue elements trying to cause chaos it passes as dramatic licence. <A> You cannot be sued for slander, that is another category of tort and doesn't involve the written word. <S> If you intend to use a real location, (a specific location as the question suggests, one that can be pinpointed down to an address), you CAN be sued for libel, but again, libel is also intended to protect people, their business and reputation; less so places . <S> If you keep specific, identifiable information out of the novel it is unlikely that a libel suit would follow, even if the owner and neighbors can tell which property is being discussed in the story; the problem and liability comes in when the PUBLIC can ID the property based on your story. <S> If the book is clearly labeled as "FICTION," then the answer, though <S> still yes, carries two caveats: A judge will most likely toss it if the complainant is suing based on printed prose regarding a place as opposed to a person or business. <S> Especially if there is no way for a jurist to logically connect a specific address with the story. <S> Even using the name of a small town, street or community is not specific enough for libel. <S> Would be best to create a fake address (if needed) and modify the description of the property. <S> If you are compelled to be SO specific about a location and description that it could potentially ID the address and the resident/owner-- <S> yes they can sue <S> -- a competent judge would look it over (you don't want that)...whether or not they can win is an open question for a jury. <S> If you do in fact plan to publish a real address, you are probably violating the privacy of whomever lives there -- <S> > <S> THAT is a civil tort you can easily be sued for libel <S> AND more you'd be more likely to lose. <S> Note <S> : In the US, the 1st amendment gives us WIDE latitude to say anything we want, but the Supreme Court ruled that we have a right to privacy. <S> "My rights end where yours begin," so If I violate YOUR privacy, I've over-extended my right to print whatever I want. <S> In this instance, not a crime, but certainly a good civil-action attorney could prove physical, emotional or financial damage . <A> Depending on the way you write it, could be considered damaging to the reputation of the hotel. <S> If they take offense, I believe they could take you to court <S> - I don't know exactly how much trouble you can get in for libel for this sort of stuff, but to be on the safe side <S> I would suggest not using a very specific location. :)
| To avoid possible problems, you could perhaps be less specific, or make up a fictional hotel or ferry to set the murder in. Option C: Just don't worry about it.
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What is the word for the action of selecting an item by a mouse? I am writing a tutorial on how to use a specific web application and I don't know which verbs to use. Shall I use "click" for buttons? But what if the user doesn't use a mouse? Contrary to "normal" applications, web applications can be visited by many different clients, e.g. PCs, Smartphones with Touchscreens, Voice Recognition Software... But the verb "select" fits better for radio buttons and check boxes in my opinion and would not be best for buttons. Also how should I emphasize different elements such as button names, radio button or text field labels, strings to type in from the user, select entries...is there a guideline anywhere? <Q> I think you can use "click" with relative impunity. <S> Even someone on a tablet or smartphone knows that "click" equates to "tap" with a touch interface. <S> If you really feel strongly about it, you can say "Click or tap" or "Click/tap," but ask around to make sure it doesn't sound clunky. <S> I agree that "select" is the right word for "choose one or more of these options," not for "interact with this button." <A> It can be handy to have multiple synonyms for something, and press works as well, or perhaps even better, for a touch interface than it does for a mouse interface. <A> "Click" is pretty standard in my experience. <S> As far as the typography, my personal preference is to use bold for anything you want the user to click on or select (button names, etc.) <S> and italics for names of screens or windows. <S> It calls the most attention to the items you want the reader to actually do something with. <S> Microsoft does have a style guide, The Microsoft Manual of Style, which provides a lot more detail. <S> The most important thing is to be consistent throughout the document, and make sure it's consistent with other similar documents produced by your company or organization. <S> I'd recommend either using a style guide or creating your own.
| If it is a button, then press is still appropriate, as is click or tap .
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Is it really necessary to add things like "I thought, I wondered, etc," in first-person narrative? Example: The whole thing sounded a bit strange. How had she gotten my number? I wondered. I didn't know anyone called Maria. The whole thing sounded a bit strange. How had she gotten my number anyway? I didn't know anyone called Maria. Another example: I wondered if the person who called was Maria. Or maybe my mother. I wondered if the person who called was Maria. Or maybe it's my mother, I thought. I'm not sure which one is the 'right' way of narrating the example above. Is it really necessary to add things like "I thought, I wondered, etc," in first-person narrative? It is OK to omit them? <Q> It is not necessary to tag these thoughts in first, second, or third person narration. <S> In third person narration, the unattributed thought or narrative embodiment of the speaker's voice is called free indirect discourse, and James Wood writes about it extensively in early sections of How Fiction Works. <S> The examples you've given could be rewritten as: <S> The whole thing sounded a bit strange. <S> How had she gotten my number anyway? <S> Had Maria called? <S> My mother--? <S> In this way, the speaker's dialogue and confusion are allowed to live in the narration itself--as if the reader is speaking with the person as opposed to the author. <S> The reader innately understands this style (it is very common in modern literature), and since the reader doesn't need your cues to signal them along, the cues sound pedantic, if not amateur. <A> You'll be making the text more concise and the reader will have less work to do. <S> The only time you want to use tags like "I wondered", "I thought", "I worried", and so on, is when they actually add information, or clarify the situation. <S> For example: My friend often wondered about turnips. <S> I wondered why. <S> Take care to vary your writing; one way of doing this is to stick the occasional "I thought" in the text. <S> However, as a general rule, words that serve no purpose should be omitted. <A> I have often encountered the writing advice, "Show, don't tell." <S> In line with Brett Cassette's answer, I would even consider revising the first sentence. <S> For example (probably lame, because I don't know what came before in the scene): <S> I sat frowning at the phone after erasing the message. <S> How had someone named Maria gotten my number? <S> Mom? <S> Rather than telling how the narrator felt about the call, provide an image that allows the reader to experience those feelings more directly.
| It's absolutely okay to leave these out.
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Is the following piece of text comprehensible and written in good style? I am a PhD candidate and I am having difficulty in communicating effectively in writing. Specifically, this post is a piece of text submitted for critique and, in addition, explains what I am trying to achieve. I thought that if I described my situation in a few lines, then the readers would get a glimpse of my ability to communicate and could contribute insightful comments on how to improve my writing work in terms of comprehension and style. My supervisor urged me to post to this site when he realized that the time he spent on comprehending my writing work, both academic and casual, was out of normal proportions. This situation was driving down our productivity rate and so he established a formal approach to deal with the problem. For your reference, besides posting pieces of writing and submitting critique, the method includes reading renowned books like The Elements of Style and The Chicago Manual of Style . If the aforementioned make sense to you, that is a good start. I hope this post is not out of context and that I did not abuse the privilege. <Q> Well, let's start... <S> Specifically, this post <S> You just lost us. <S> "This post" often means "an external piece to which I am linking" or "some text which is going to follow shortly," rather than "this question you're reading." <S> is a piece of text submitted for critique and, in addition, explains what I am trying to achieve. <S> Redundant, but okay in context. <S> This situation was driving down our productivity rate and so he established a formal approach to deal with the problem. <S> Which is? and relates to us and this post <S> how? <S> Here also I feel like something's missing. <S> It reads like you're building up to asking something specific, or presenting a chunk of text, and then you overshoot it completely and move on to the footnotes (the reference material). <S> So you've described a problem but you haven't actually showed us what it is. <S> Your writing seems to be reasonably clear in general. <S> You might have to post something else for us to look at, or give us an example of something your advisor balked at. <A> (Note: The current edit of this post fixes some of these issues.) <S> Clarity of objectives <S> It's unclear, exactly, what you want people to critique; the way the post is written implies that there will be text other than the question and the question's title, and that this text is what you want people to critique. <S> The body of your question is laying the groundwork for why you're seeking a critique and the sorts of problems you're looking at - <S> all this is good information - <S> but there's an implication that the question is just background. <S> I'm harping on this point because it illustrates point of writing that far too many people ignore <S> : Know your audience . <S> On this site, people generally post a critique question with a specific question (in this case, is your text comprehensible), and format the post <S> so there's either specific text they want a critique on, or a link to that text. <S> A few minutes' research could have saved us this confusion. <S> (But perhaps this is a lesson you needed to learn?) <S> White space <S> Your original post was all one paragraph; the edit that John performed helped split the text up into three paragraphs, which helps readability. <S> (Edit: Using a double return will give one paragraphs with white space in between them.) <S> Spending a little more time on organization (outlining what you meant to write, and in what order you will present the issues) will only help you do this upfront. <S> Organization is particularly important in academic writing. <S> Clarity <S> Even if it does ramble a little, your writing is clear. <S> However, there's a certain style in academic writing that you may want to learn to emulate; stylistic departures are not well tolerated in academic writing. <S> I suggest reading documents similar to the ones you'll be generating - journal articles, dissertations - to learn about this. <S> Your advisor may be able to suggest a few for you to read. <S> (Remember, the best kind of writing for you to produce is what your advisor thinks is good.) <S> References Strunk and White is a good guide to simple, clear style. <S> It's a short book, and well worth reading. <S> The Chicago Manual of Style is a large tome that very few people read cover to cover. <S> Perhaps your advisor means for you to use it as a reference; it's a good one. <A> I'll offer some blunt advice that I've given my own grad students over the years. <S> Be direct. <S> (I think the main parts of your question are that you're a Ph.D. student whose advisor thinks your writing needs improvement, and you're asking for comments about style and understandability.) <S> Prefer shorter, simpler sentences. <S> (The sentences beginning with "I thought that..." and "My supervisor..." could be shortened a lot.) <S> Avoid jargon, vague words and phrases, and superfluous words. <S> ("my writing work" should be "my writing"; "the readers would get a glimpse of my ability to communicate" is superfluous.) <S> Avoid intrusive parenthetical phrases. <S> ("and, in addition, explains" breaks the flow of the sentence.) <S> Avoid superfluous modifiers. <S> (You suggest that readers could offer "insightful comments", but that's a bit of unneeded flattery.) <S> Here's how I'd rewrite your question, retaining a semi-academic style: <S> I am a PhD candidate and I would like to improve my writing. <S> Mysupervisor believes that if my writing were easier to understand, wecould work together more productively. <S> I have two questions: Is mywriting understandable? <S> Could the style be improved? <S> A sample is givenbelow. <S> ... <S> I hope that my question is appropriate for this forum. <A> I have a small contribution to the excellent advice already offered.... <S> When possible, read your work aloud. <S> If you stumble over a phrase or sentence, so will your readers. <S> Reading aloud reinforces where the pauses should be, for clarity and emphasis, because you'll need to take a breath occasionally, unlike when you read silently. <S> Best of luck! <A> If it weren't for the fact that your links were Wikipedia links I would have thought your post was spam. <S> I see what you are trying to accomplish; However writing a piece of work that asks a question about a questions seems a bit off. <S> Maybe try something more declarative for a critique.
| Make it easy for readers to see the main points you're trying to convey.
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How do I start a business-presentation? How do you welcome a business audience to your presentation? I've thought of: Hello, my name is [prename] [surname] and I am going to talk about [...] but it sounds rather like a school presentation and not like a business presentation. Or isn't there a difference in the English language? Does it make a difference if there are only men or if it is a mixed audience? (I don't have any experience with business presentations and English is a foreign language for me. If you have any more hints for business presentations or links to websites that adress this topic: Please let me know in the comment. But please note that this is not the question.) (Note: I've already asked this question here ) <Q> That's not a bad opening. <S> I might change it to "Today we're going to talk about..." to make it more inclusive, but there's nothing wrong with being straightforward. <S> Another version might be "Today I'd like to talk to you about..." <A> Make the audience comfortable . <S> Good evening ladies and gentlemen. <S> I believe everyone here is comfortable. <S> We have water and beverages on the tables at the sides. <S> Please feel free to saunter in the middle of my presentation to go there to get a cookie too, if the need and desire so arises. <S> Introduce yourself without self-aggrandisement. <S> I am Ally McBeal. <S> I work with a team of experts in our company Caged Fish Wattle. <S> Our company's expertise is highly focused on personal reputation and assets maintenance. <S> With that expertise, we have amassed a wealth of skills, knowledge and experience in keeping your reputation, investments as well as real and virtual assets secure. <S> Introduce the modus operandi , without complicating details. <S> We have a legal team, a team of finance and economic expertise, a cloud of computing hardware and the most hack-hardened network security and software experts. <S> We even have a weather-forecast person who advises and issues reports to clients against any of your ventures having any potential of being hampered by geological and weather events. <S> She happens to be with us here ... <S> and here is Susan, the most pleasant colleague I've had the privilege to work with <S> (Susan takes a slight bow and sits down). <S> And, we are pleasantly surprised, that our chief technical officer is also here. <S> George, the most intensely focused person I know. <S> (George turns around smiles and waves slightly.) <S> Our cloud resources has far and wide reaching capabilities to monitor and avert intrusions on your assets and ventures with speed and precision and a wide margin of pre-emption due to ever changing dynamic patterns that our technical capacity has been able to design and construct into our cloud, with constant and persistent adaptive reinforcement due to our legal and economic expertise. <S> As well as weather forecasting expertise. <S> Your presentation . <A> Hello everyone should be alright. <A> What kind of information are you presenting? <S> If you are presenting a weekly update to a board a normal introduction like the above will do just fine. <S> However, if you are presenting something of import, or trying to persuade your audience on a certain subject I would say go with something more powerful. <S> Start with a powerful argument, then introduce yourself. <S> Mostly, be confident and knowledgeable in your topic. <S> An introduction can easily be brushed aside if you know what you are talking about.
| Note the use of 2nd person pronoun "your", "you" (rather than "their" or "they") as often as possible, when addressing potential and existing clients. Make the audience comfortable, seeing each one as potential client or existing client with potential for escalated relationship. Make it natural, people won't care about the subtle way you greet them. Attribute yourself as highly competent by saying that the people you work with are highly competent. Use illustrative words (not bombastic words) that would draw a picture for the clients with as brief a description as possible.
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What is "head popping" and why is it bad? Most of my writing experience has been with first person, nonfiction stories. Now I want to try some fiction. I'm working in third person, but I'm a little bit confused about how to pull something off. Okay, say I'm telling the story from character A's POV and he's talking to character B, suddenly character A says something where I think it might be interesting if the reader were to know exactly what it is that character B is thinking and or feeling at that very moment in time that Character A said whatever he said. Can I not just write a new sentence saying whatever it is I want the reader to know? Can I not just change the POV from sentence to sentence by simply indicating to the reader that Character A felt this. And then Character B felt this. And so on and so forth? Is this not the purpose of the omniscient narrator? I've been told I've got it wrong. I've heard the term "head popping." I guess my question is what is head popping. Is it a bad thing to do? If so, why is it bad? And by that I mean: How does it hurt the story? Can anyone think of a good example of a popular book that uses this type of effect? <Q> I would find it annoying, or annoyingly convenient, to be switching POVs repeatedly, particularly just for one sentence. <S> I think even when you have an omniscient narrator, you need to stick with one person per scene, or per beat. <S> When you read a story, you are kind of sitting on the shoulder of whoever is the focus of a scene, and if the POV jumps from A to B repeatedly, as the reader you don't know who you're supposed to be traveling with. <S> If you want the reader to know what Character B is thinking at that moment , either Character B has to display it <S> (expression, body language), say it out loud, or communicate it somehow (write it down, sign it, text it). <S> Otherwise you have to wait for the next scene or the next beat for the focus to switch to Character B. <S> The purpose of the omniscient narrator may be to give us access to the thoughts of all the characters... <S> but not necessarily all at once. <A> It's a good question. <S> It is something I have seen done - for instance, I have recently been re-reading some of David Weber's Honor Harrington series. <S> He uses this occasionally to show the reaction of a character to events. <S> Sometimes it's quite satisfying - but if not used very carefully, it can make the reader confused. <S> A lot of what your omniscient narrator tells the reader will not necessarily have come from the PoV of any character, so if you chop backwards and forwards between two characters' heads the reader can end up uncertain of which thoughts and feeling came from which character. <S> And that can be pure death to your story, because it will dilute the impact of it substantially. <A> Third-person limited narration is telling the story in third person, from one person's point of view. <S> Omniscient narration is telling the story in third person, from a distanced, neutral point of view. <S> Note that with third-person limited, you may still write from multiple character's points of view--but not in the same scene. <S> But you will want to distance yourself from the characters and writing in an unbiased, neutral tone. <S> Pros and cons of each: <S> A benefit of omniscient narration is access to everything that the a single character (or any character) wouldn't have knowledge of, including, as you said, access to multiple character's inner thoughts in one scene. <S> A benefit (and cost) of third-person limited is a focus on a particular character's perspective: you can (and should) imbibe every detail with their perspective, which allows you to reveal character in other dimensions. <S> A downside of omniscient is that it can be confusing if you are not careful tostate who is doing or saying what continually. <S> And finally, another implication of omniscient narration is that it feels more distanced from the characters. <S> Crime and Punishment is an example of a great work of fiction that is written in omniscient POV and employs frequent head popping. <S> It's a useful technique for the psychological nature of the work. <S> Dostoevsky will simply say things like (not a quote), John asked Sarah how she could afford such a thing. <S> Sarah thought the question awfully direct, but remained courteous in her responses. <S> In some passages, he describes the dialogue instead of actually writing the dialogue with dialogue tags, and in other passages he writes the actual dialogue. <S> I think what helps it to work is that he does not employ head popping during actual dialogue; only when describing dialogue . <S> Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility is another example I read recently. <S> I would study either of those books to get good examples of how to do omniscient POV well, weigh the pros and cons of each POV for your particular work, and decide appropriately.
| If you want to tell about the inner thoughts and motivations of multiple characters in the same scene, you can do that.
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How much power does the author have over an original work? Some background. I recently published a book and was asked to share the first 30 pages so the publisher could edit and send it to the distributor. I complied and asked to see it. When I saw the amount of change the editor had imposed on the work, I was appalled. I had been told she wanted to make some grammatical changes, but she'd added lines of text using a first person pronoun (and the book was a memoir, so all she added was attributable to me, my thoughts) and other stuff I don’t want to go into. For changes like that, I expected some back and forth, or to at least be involved. I started searching for the answer to this question for myself. I don't have an agent. I went to a place that offers professional legal advice to artists. The lawyer told me that I didn't have a legal problem, but I had a problem that most often dealt with by an agent. I asked for clues about how to move forward and the lawyer said writers have very little power once the contract is signed. I wonder if that's accurate or if I misunderstood what he was telling me. Obviously there is a way to exhert control over the publishing process and this is, I assume, the job of the agent. But how does a DIY like me manage? <Q> If you have signed a contract which allows the publisher to change your work without asking you, then it was your power which transferred this right to the publisher. <S> As the commentators already said: Read the contract. <S> That's the number one key. <S> Asking a lawyer is the first smart move, but it's not enough. <S> Let the lawyer explain you the contract till you (not only the lawyer) have understood every detail in there. <S> You do not need an agent. <S> You can do that yourself. <S> The help of a lawyer should be sufficient. <S> Because I'm not a lawyer <S> and I do not know which laws come into play in your country <S> , I cannot say if there are laws which nullify parts in your contract. <S> But the contract is what you and the publisher have agreed upon. <S> So read and understand it. <S> Before you sign a contract, you should not only be sure, that you do not give up control which you want to keep to yourself; also you should have the willpower to fight for your right. <S> Otherwise you do not need to sign anything, you can just toss your book to the publisher and say: "Do what you want. <S> " If you are not willing to sue them, don't sign anything. <S> Luckily in these modern times, you can maintain full control over your work. <S> Selfpublish your next book <S> and you do not have to worry about the publisher. <A> The writer has absolute power. <S> If a work is sold to a publisher, it is almost unheard of that an editor will NOT make changes. <S> You have the absolute right to withdraw your work if you can't come to an agreement (but do be careful you haven't relinquished this right in your contract). <S> So you do have absolute power, but here's how that power functions in the real world: If you are going to publish through any publisher who is not you, be prepared to work on changes with an editor. <S> Establish a congenial, collaborative relationship with the editor, and pick your battles. <S> You might allow some changes you don't especially like to placate the editor, so that when you want to dig in your heels and resist some other change, the editor will be more likely to acquiesce. <S> Keep in mind two things: 1. <S> The editor may have excellent changes in mind, which often improve the work. <S> One of my longer stories was published only because the editor of the anthology, a brilliant writer himself, liked the story enough to want it to be a success, and he offered a bunch of great suggestions that worked! <S> 2. <S> If you resist the changes too much, the editor/publisher may decide to terminate the contract and not publish the work. <S> You may have to decide whether it's more important to fight some change you hate than to have the work published with the hated change in it. <A> "The lawyer told me that I didn't have a legal problem, but I had a problem that most often dealt with by an agent. <S> I asked for clues about how to move forward and the lawyer said writers have very little power once the contract is signed. <S> " <S> I'm surprised any lawyer would tell a client with a contract question that they didn't have a legal problem. <S> That's like a restaurant manager telling a customer who'd been served the wrong wine, " <S> Hey, it's not me, you don't have a food problem." <S> If you've a contract, you've a contract problem. <S> What you might not have is a contract solution. <S> Most states will grant great deference to the contract, with the assumption being that you have negotiated the very outcome you received. <S> There might be some wiggle room depending on the wording, but that is going to be very specific to the individual agreement you reached. <S> No contract can force you to commit a statutory wrong, however. <S> If the editor's changes to your memoir wind up falsely casting someone in a bad light, or suggesting that you are culpable for some wrongdoing yourself, the contract itself might end up being nullified. <S> Even if it isn't, you or someone else might have a tort suit if the changes were egregious enough. <S> It all depends on the specifics of your situation. <S> Then there is the final question of how much your artistic integrity is worth to you. <S> Any contract can be breached, but are you willing to accept the resulting penalties? <S> Will doing <S> so sour your relationship with the publisher? <S> Will this publisher then tell the next publisher, making it difficult to get published elsewhere? <S> Are the changes really that bad, or is it more about them changing your words without your permission?
| It's a matter of negotiation between the writer and the editor which changes are acceptable to both parties. An author has all power about his work, because he is the creator.
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How to write time duration correctly Within a user manual, I need to convey the maximum time period allowed as "365 days 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds" - are commas expected between each component? Is the word "and" expected before the last component regardless of the time period name? <Q> I would use commas between each component, and use "and" only if the last component is seconds. <S> I learned way back in intermediate school that "and" is only used before fractions (so 10,247 is said "ten thousand, two hundred forty-seven" but 10 7/8 is said "ten and seven-eighths"). <S> I would call seconds the smallest "lay person" time interval — if you're getting into fractions of a second, you've moved beyond regular timekeeping and are now talking science, so it would be formatted differently. <S> So using your example: The maximum time period allowed is 365 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds, so any longer than that <S> is a problem. <S> BUT if your time were shorter, it would be written: <S> The maximum time period allowed is 365 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, so any longer than that is a problem. <A> I couldn't find explicit guidance in either the Chicago Manual of Style or the Microsoft Style Guide, but what I have observed (and would write naturally) is with commas: <S> The maximum time period allowed is 365 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds. <S> You might be tempted to write the time in ISO notation (23:59:59), but this is usually used to indicate a point in time , not a duration . <S> You could also cast it as a limit instead of a duration: <S> The time period must be less than 366 days. <S> I sometimes find that the solution to a messy precision problem is to attack it from the other end -- what's the first value <S> you can't use? <A> (hrs:min:sec)
| You can also use the convention that time periods can be written as digits, like this: 365 days plus 23:59:59
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Writing a very complex relationship I am writing a webcomic, and have come upon a snag, I need two characters to like each other very much, but one is the slave of the other. In the comic, there are characters who find and use powerful beings for personal gain, and then there are those powerful beings. The complex relationship in this question's title is between these two people, an "agent" and her "fighter" (a human male from Earth). The male is her first fighter, and the male never had the most interesting life, but at the end of the day one is the slave of the other. How do I make the attraction between the agent and the fighter seem real, when one is forced to fight to the death for the other? Even though the male does get lots of money for the fighting, and is not always in her control (just when a fight is happening). If you need more information, just let me know and I will respond to your post. <Q> The simplest answer is that there has to be something which bridges the divide between master and slave and allows them to see and respect one another as equals. <S> Does she show mercy to the slave whom her slave has defeated? <S> Does he disable rather than kill his opponents, or dispatch them quickly and without pain? <S> Did she acquire him and thereby save him from execution? <S> Does he love fighting and was slotted for something quiet and boring, and she rescued him from a worse fate? <S> Once you've established how they get past the initial barrier, the falling in love bit is like any other pairing. <S> I can suggest some homework. <S> These are similar relationships, and you can see how they develop to figure out how to draw parallels with your own characters: <S> Transformation by Carol Berg: <S> The two men don't fall in love, but they form a powerful friendship. <S> The Morgaine Saga by CJ Cherryh: <S> The warrior isn't exactly the sorceress's slave, but he is bound to her service. <S> If you want to stretch it a bit, the title character of the BBC's "Merlin" is Arthur's servant but they decidedly do not have a servant-master relationship. <A> Is the "Agent" a kind master, or is she a cruel bitch? <S> If she's a bitch, is it just a façade she puts on to make herself look tough? <S> Does she like fighters in general, or she thinks they're brainless twits? <S> What about the "Fighter"? <S> Is he resenting her for being forced to fight, or has he accepted his fate? <S> Is he rude and defiant towards her? <S> Or perhaps he's a flirt and makes inappropriate passes at her just to make her uncomfortable? <S> Is he a jerk or a nice guy? <S> When you have their personalities down, the relationship will sort itself out on it's own, they will react to each other and the situation according to their natures. <S> For example, if she's a bitch towards him, he might start hating her in the beginning, but later when he finds out it's just a mask <S> she wears <S> and she's actually very vulnerable underneath <S> , he might start to turn around, he might get intrigued to find out what's under the mask. <S> He might even be sorry for being rude to her in return. <S> Or if she really is a cruel bitch, maybe he falls in love with her (falling in love isn't really a rational thing, people fall in love with bad people in spite themselves) but fights it, because, well, she's a bitch. <S> If she thinks of him as a brainless twit, she might come around when she realizes there's more to him. <S> Maybe because of his flirtatious passes at the beginning, she doesn't believe he's sincere when he starts having feelings towards her? <S> Or have one hate and the other like, then find a reason to turn it the other way around. <S> Switching them from hot to cold and cold to hot could prolong the tension and keep them from getting together too soon :) <S> Usually when the tension between two characters is driving the story, as soon as they get together, it stops being interesting for the readers ;) <A> I'd say you did hit a snag indeed. <S> With the medium. <S> I could nicely answer this for a novel, but webcomics are inherently restricting, with need to limit verbal communication, bite-sized "strips", and so on. <S> Still, I'll try best to my ability. <S> Generally, give a clear, strong reason why the two should hate each other, going beyond slavery. <S> Then give them their own individual conflicts, where the other is the a bargain card and obstacle. <S> Make them face difficult - or seemingly not so difficult choices. <S> Chance for freedom, requests to betray each other, generous or terrifying incentives. <S> Then expose their internal struggle, regretting the decision whatever it is, struggling with its consequences. <S> Let them perform random acts of kindness and generosity towards each other, that seemingly go against their nature. <S> Build their internal conflicts, where the general goal struggles against personal feelings. <S> And in the end allow them admit their true feelings. <S> Give them a crowning moment of awesome. <S> Let them surprise all sides by cooperating tightly, overcoming all differences and generally kicking ass as a well-matched team whereas being in their "default relationship" would be extremely hindering.
| One way to make it is to have them hate each other because of some misconceptions about one another, and then slowly have them come around when they get to know each other and realize they each misjudged the other. First, to make things more spicy (otherwise the outcome would be mellow and boring), build a conflict between the two. They struggle for opposite goals, despite their feelings towards each other they may hate factions the other belongs to, or despise their methods etc. You need to know your characters first to be able to know how they'll react to the whole situation.
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Adding Detail/"Filling" the story I've got a lot of story fragments that contain the major plot, but that are also very short because everything moves so fast. What I find a lot in Novels is a bit of "filler", like someone just describing a car in more detail than required, or the landscape or even some mundane thoughts. Some books overdo it, but most manage to make it add to the atmosphere and setting. I just don't seem to be able to "hit" that sweet spot where I can add things like that because I perceive it as superflous. Are there any tips to improve the writing of the atmosphere/setting bits? <Q> Get someone else to read the story and point out the sections that would require more fleshing out. <S> As the author your perception of the text is tainted with the imagination of the scene. <S> Things that appear obvious to you may be entirely unclear for the reader. <S> The talent to forget what you know and read the story you wrote as if you'd have read it the first time is rare and elusive. <S> Most of us simply need a help from someone who genuinely didn't read it. <A> I have faced the same problem. <S> Going to professional editors <S> /critique groups didn't help, as they all want you to rewrite the story as they would. <S> Which is why you get scenes that spend a whole paragraph describing what the character wears. <S> Here's what worked for me. <S> Imagine you are standing in the scene in your novel. <S> Describe the scene as your main character (for that scene would), moving through the scene with the character. <S> So if someone is wearing a Tshirt with Jeans, no need to describe it, as do you pay any attention to anyone wearing a Tshirt on the road? <S> But if the person has pink hair and is standing with a machine gun, then you would describe her, as your character would notice her. <S> What you describe will depend on the scene. <S> A character running from zombies would not notice another person wearing a red T shirt with Nike shoes (as I recently read in a book). <S> On the other hand, if your character is at a party flirting, they may easily notice these details. <S> My advice is, don't write stuff that you don't like reading. <S> So when reading fiction, I skip whole paragraphs that describe the characters clothes/house/car, so I don't write those scenes. <S> It will take sometime to get the balance right, but keep at it until the scene looks perfect to you. <S> Your muse is a better judge of good writing, so trust your inner voice. <S> Edit: <S> Based on John's comment below: describe anything your character may find unusual, or may cause him to have a reaction. <S> In addition to Johns comment below, something like plain white buildings may cause the character to think, "I'm bored of seeing the same colour buildings everyday", which will tell you something about the setting of the book. <A> Focus on the effect you are trying to create in the reader. <S> Maybe the most important of those is the emotional impact you are trying to create. <S> Then: Choose the details that help to create that emotional impact. <S> What details would help us to understand the character better? <S> To understand what the character wants, and why it's so important to them? <S> To understand the character's strengths and limitations? <S> To understand the character's state of mind? <S> An important element of this is that it is not just the detail per se that is important, but the POV character's noticing the detail. <S> If two people walked into a room, they'd each notice different details. <S> Which details each character notices, and which each overlooks, tells us great deal about the character's personality, attention, and state of mind. <S> And this in turn helps us to understand the emotional impact of their actions, thoughts, and situation. <S> What would your POV character notice? <S> My favorite example is from Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus . <S> About two thirds of the way through the book, the narrator character Serenus Zeitblom walks into a room to discover Clarissa dead on the couch. <S> Then, for several paragraphs of fine detail, he describes the couch. <S> That he focuses on the couch is very creepy, and exemplifies just how cold Serenus is.
| Add description only when it is something the character would notice.
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How much should I reveal of how the world functions in fiction? I am currently working on a fiction novel. The way the world (magic, technology, government, species etc) works is extremely complicated. Basically, the idea is to reveal the mechanics bit by bit . The problem is how much should I reveal? If I reveal too much the tension would be gone and there wouldn't be the unknown factor. On the other hand if I reveal too little no one would understand what is happening. I am scared of not revealing enough, because I know how it works and it would seem to me that a given portion of information is enough although it isn't. I am sorry for any mistakes in the question, English is not my mother tongue, if any clarifications are needed, pleas say so. [: <Q> If you reveal too little, new revelations will be deus ex machina, cheap tricks to overcome story obstacles, elephants in the room the reader wasn't allowed to see. <S> Such exposition might be boring so keep it as sparse as to keep storytelling interesting, but otherwise do it as early as possible. <S> Make the mechanics of the world, all that is common knowledge of the world's denizen, an open book, and at the very least foreshadow early any major features too big to be given proper exposure before due time. <A> It seems to me that if you're relying on the readers ignorance of the mechanisms of the world to keep up suspense, then you may have a little problem. <S> If your story is meant to be suspenseful and intriguing, hopefully there's more going on than simple obfuscation brought about by the complexity of the world. <S> A good mystery can be read and enjoyed even if you already know who did it; likewise, a richly built setting can be enjoyed even if the reader already knows all of the secrets. <S> Describe what you must, and let the reader put the rest of it together by inference. <S> However, really the best thing for you in this instance is beta readers , as they'll be able to tell you whether they are confused, and will reveal to you which parts you've over-explained and which are trivial. <A> This is one of those things you can't always determine on your own. <S> Give your finished story to several people to read and ask them to tell you if they felt like they understood how the world worked or if they needed more information. <S> (and your English is fine. :) ) <A> This will always be a matter of preference, but I'd err on the side on little exposition. <S> As a reader, I get bored by an info dump and usually stop reading. <S> The only exception is humour, like the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. <S> Hannu Rajaniemi is an author who explains very little, yet his books are very successful. <S> Some of the things/terms he uses throughout his books are only explained somewhere near the end of the book. <S> This gets him a few angry readers, but most people like it. <S> For me, it is fun re-reading the book to understand all that I had missed the first time. <S> So only reveal as much is required.
| Let the rest come out through the story. Keep events, secrets, motives and feelings in the dark and dispense them sparingly. The pacing of the story should be the only factor that limits the pacing of exposition of the mechanics of the world. That said, I generally think that less is more.
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Is it ok to be autobiographical with a main character? This question really comes down to a personal issue I've had present in my fiction. I'm still very new as far as being a writer is concerned. So a few (if not all) of my main characters seem to be based in part (or completely) on myself and my personal experiences. (With some obvious changes, such as a different background or a different personality, but I'll give them the same job or make them have similar thoughts to my own, or put them in a very similar situation to my own that turns fantastical in some way.) My problem is that I have been criticized that being autobiographical in some (or any) way is almost as bad as writing a Mary Sue and I'm not sure if I agree with that assessment. So my question boils down to this: Is it bad form (generally accepted as "lazy writing") to consciously imbue your characters with bits and pieces of your own personality, experiences or thoughts? And if so, should I just be working harder with my Character Development ? <Q> If I can interpret "I'm still very new" as "writing my first novel", then skip this, go back to your story and keep writing. <S> Ignore everyone telling you anything about how to write. <S> Because all this good advice out there (like on this page) will be clearer after you've struggled through your first novel. <S> So, no, it is no problem if a main character is based on your personal experience. <S> Honestly, on what else do you want to base it? <S> He/she will have feelings and problems and you have to describe these feelings and problems <S> , so you start with the feelings and problems you know and adapt and develop them. <S> Adapting and developing means, if your hero had to shoot someone and you've never done something like that, then you can describe him nonetheless. <S> You felt sad and guilty sometime in your life, I'm sure. <S> Just adapt and push these feelings a little bit. <S> So, yes, it is a problem if your main characters do not differentiate. <S> If you believe in god and think god's laws should be followed strictly and every character in your book thinks so too, then it's just boring. <S> A fiction writer writes most of the time about things he has no clue about (rape, dragons, murder, drugs, alien invasions). <S> Maybe you take drugs, but you never met an alien. <S> Writers make up shit, so start doing that. <S> Then your characters will vary. <A> The answer is both, to some degree. <S> Yes, you should always be working harder on your character development. <S> Particularly if you're a beginning writer, you can always work harder on everything, but developed writers have to work at it too. <S> Making all your characters yourself with minor differences is a problem for a few reasons: You can't tell them apart. <S> When Jon sounds exactly like Malcolm whosounds exactly like Kathryn, there isn't much flavor to theinteractions. <S> There's not much conflict. <S> If everyone agrees that throwing an emptycup out the car window is littering, you don't have any conflict, andconflict is what drives story (or plot). <S> It's hard to have a hero and a villain if they act like the sameperson and they have the same reactions. <S> Hell, it's hard to have several heroes if they all have the same reactions to events. <S> Having said that, it's fine if some of your characters have some of your traits, and as John Smithers pointed out, you can't ever really escape your own head. <S> If you want to create someone who has a very different life and opinions than you do, you will have to research the situation, maybe do interviews, maybe travel, to learn what that life or opinions are like <S> so you can describe them from the inside. <A> None are Mary Sue. <S> Why not? <S> he took a ridiculous premise to it's logical conclusion: incompetent kid decides he is going to be a superhero, so he gets beat almost to death. <S> The true problem is not being fantasy-autobiographical but the tendency towards unmitigated wish fulfillment. <S> You need conflict, consequences and catastrophe. <S> If you write a happy ending your character has to work for it. <S> This is why writing romance is hard, because in romance you always have a happy ending. <A> In my own fiction, I'm "autobiographical" with ONE of the main characters. <S> That's the best way for me to keep track of everything that's going on. <S> Sometimes, my character is the protagonist, and he speaks for me. <S> Sometimes my character is the antagonist, with the protagonist being my "date." <S> (Trying to see yourself through the eyes of your dates is quite an exercise in and of itself.) <S> And in one case, I'm the heroine's grandfather, not exactly a "main" character, but close enough to "know" (and shape) my character.
| Every major character in his story is distinct. The author of "Kick Ass" said that every major character in the story was partially autobiographical, including the hero and villain, in that either at some point in his life he wanted to be that character or felt that he had a lot in common with that character. And if you think you should just be working harder at being a writer, then the answer is: Yes!
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How can I write anonymously (based on true experiences)? I want to use an experience I had which is pretty unbelievable but true. The majority of the story will be completely true. It's not over yet so I want to use an ending which is NOT true yet works well with the story. I have had someone close to the situation read what I have so far, several pages. That person thinks the story is unusual and significant but agrees that it needs to be anonymous until it's resolved. Which may not be in my lifetime.I can't be too specific but it involves a group that doesn't take kindly to people who write about them. And I know that my loved ones would hate being associated with them. Thanks for any advice. It wants to be written so it will be, but I'd also like to try to get it published somewhere due to the subject. I would use a pen name as the story could cause people I love problems simply because it's true, not because it's libelous. I know that legally I'd have to form a corporation with the pen name to process payments (if there ever are any, a long shot!) to maintain secrecy. What would this kind of approach be called and how would I submit it? The story is rolling out of me, but I can't chance sending it somewhere if I can't keep my name out of it. <Q> This is a very interesting question that touches on the nature of fiction and non-fiction and the many ways in which they intersect. <S> Two approaches come to mind, both encapsulated in books I've read. <S> Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (2003). <S> The author describes the true and somewhat dangerous circumstance of secretly meeting with female English students to discuss works of western literature at her home in Tehran after she had resigned from her teaching job at the university. <S> Nafisi wrote the book after leaving Iran, but many of her students were still in the country. <S> Their participation in her book club could have gotten them into trouble, so Nafisi protected their identities by changing and switching aspects of their lives in a way intended to be so utterly opaque that they could never be identified in Iran. <S> Hopefully she was successful. <S> This is an approach you could try. <S> Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls (2009). <S> The author writes a "true life novel" based on stories of the life of her grandmother. <S> It calls itself a novel but clearly there is a great deal of creative latitude as the story is told in the first person by the main character. <S> It strings together family anecdotes from the grandmother's life (that would be the "true life" part) and fills in the gaps (there's the "novel" part). <S> Although there is no attempt to disguise the truth in this novel (unlike with Nafisi's and your own work), there are probably still things you could learn from this approach in how to take true events and turn them into fiction -- in your case, a disguised and opaque fiction. <A> Using in a pen name will work just fine in this situation. <S> True, the publisher will know who you really are and you will be paid using your real name, but if they have any level of ethics they aren't going to go around saying who it really is. <S> There have been a few popular Roman à clef style novels with anonymous authors, Primary Colors comes to mind. <S> That being said, are you sure that being anonymous will help? <S> If you are trying to hide yourself because of legal issues you way have to fictionalize it further then just the ending. <A> Then you are not being libelous, as you are not making any claims to truth, but you are getting the story out there. <S> You could write another piece for publication once resolved, indicating the true situation. <S> But making it a fictional account can work. <S> You can then elaborate or amend the details so that it becomes slightly less clear that it relates to the true situation. <S> Doing this is very hard work, but worth while - you can make the story work as a story (real life so often doesn't), and so make it readable. <S> Ideally, this gets the truth out there, without actually putting yourself at risk. <S> The advantage of this is that you can say that you are storifying events that you know about, not trying to tell a real story, which is sort of true. <S> Incidentally, people like Robert graves did this brilliantly with his Claudius books, and they make great reading, but are historically based. <S> Your situation is different, but the same idea might work. <A> Few months back, I was going through a very bad phase of my life and I needed a way to vent out my vulnerable story but at the same time I was afraid of being judged or labeled. <S> Then I got some suggestions from some forums. <S> Suggestion #1 <S> You can try for Self-Hosted Blog and use a pseudonym. <S> But at least the web hosting service will have your information. <S> Suggestion #2 To consider using blogging website and subdomain instead of a self-hosted blog with pseudo name. <S> They suggested me to set up a blog somewhere like Tumblr, Squarespace, etc. <S> and use a subdomain for my blog. <S> This is based on the fact that when you create an account on website, they do not reveal your personal information. <S> But my concern was – “Could they accidentally reveal that information?” <S> and the answer was “Yes, they could, but not sure”. <S> At least if not, still the websites will have our identity. <S> Finally, I goggled for anonymous platforms to write <S> and I got some suggestions. <S> I tried few, and then I stumbled upon a platform called Vigyaa Anonymous . <S> My first thought was another platform claiming to be ‘anonymous’ like others who still track my IP, ask me to login etc, but was pleasantly surprised to see they are really anonymous, I was not asked to register, so no login was required, and they do not track my IP. <S> To my experience, it’s an interesting way to write anonymously.
| The other option - additional option, as you should definately write under a pseudonym - is to write something that is clearly fictional, but tells the true story. If you write this out and it's really close to reality, the people involved will be able to not only spot themselves (even after changing their names) but yourself.
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Can a copyright be made in the name of a fictional writer? Is it possible to copyright a work in the name of a fictional writer? For example, like Nicolas Bourbaki or some pen name of some author? Can I use my own fictional name to copyright the work? <Q> Yes, at least you can in the United States. <S> If you write under a pseudonym and do not want to have your identity revealed in the Copyright Office’s records, give your pseudonym and identify it as such on your application. <S> You can leave blank the space for the name of the author. <S> Reference: U.S. Copyright Office - Pseudonyms <A> Also: there are two ways you can indicate your pseudonym with the Copyright Office. <S> You can either use just your pseudonym or you can use your real name and indicate you are "writing as pen name. <S> " Using the pseudonym as the copyright claimant can pose potential legal problems should such issues arise, so the Copyright Office rightly suggest that if you go that route, you should check with legal counsel. <S> Keep in mind, too, that because of tax requirements for payment, if you receive payment from a publisher, they will have to have your real name and social security number, unless you can work out some "middle-man" arrangement with an agent. <S> Finally, using a pseudonym doesn't offer any legal protection if you were, for instance, sued for slander or plagiarism. <A> Of course that depends on the country and internal laws but, since there may have Brazilians and Portuguese writers here, <S> I'll answer based on those countries . <S> I just registered a book with IGAC , the institute that handle such requests in Portugal <S> and it required my true name - what makes sense since it has to track who I really am - and my pen name - Eduardo Fernandes - what I think is for public consult of the archives. <S> I don't see how it's possible to copyright a manuscript without knowing who - in legal terms - you are. <S> Of course, you can create your own legal fictional identity - for example a small one man company - and let the cia to have the rights on your work, not you. <S> That would make the YourPenName cia to be displayed as owner, not you. <S> Of course, again, your cia will need to have papers and you would be listed as responsible for it <S> , what would make your true self findable.
| If you want to use only the pen name, it's not possible what - in my opinion - makes all the sense since no copyright institute can register a manuscript without proper documentation and, if they have your documentation, even if they would accept your pen name only, they would also have access to your true name.
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Should the transition sentence be placed in the end of the current section, or at the beginning of next section? When in the same chapter, I finish a section and want to connect it with the next section I am not sure what is better. Let's see an example: Section: "Bus" A bus was very popular and cheap... Everybody loved it! However, new production techniques, robotics, whatever and an economic revolution allowed every one to own a car. Section: "Car" A car offers convenient transportation... Indeed, I don't like to finish the first section without a rational ending by just saying "and then buses were replaced by cars" and finish the section. However, I am afraid I am losing relevant information regarding the "Car" which should go in that section, and I don't want to repeat that information in the next section. If you are reading everything it should be okay, but if you just open the book, go to the section "Car" because you care only about it and read that part, you have missed important information regarding the birth of cars! In short, I am doubting whether a sentence should be a conclusion of a section, or an introduction of the next. So, what would you think is the best approach to technical writing? <Q> The information about buses being replaced by cars logically makes sense in both sections of the paper. <S> There's nothing wrong with having a sentence or two overlap between the sections. <S> If it gets to be more than that, you might want to consider adding even more details and have a separate section that discusses the transition. <A> In the example in this question, cars are being presented as connected to buses somehow, so it makes sense to have this kind of segue. <S> However, in a chapter with a bunch of stand-alone sections, it doesn't. <S> If the same chapter is talking about buses, cars, trains, planes, and the Enterprise's transporter, and you aren't laying out connections among all of these, a reader would not expect to see you talking about these outside of their own sections. <S> It depends on the format. <S> In a dissertation your readers are likely to be reading text from beginning to end (maybe skipping parts). <S> If, instead, your work is likely to be broken up into chunks -- individual web pages, blocks of context-sensititve help in an application, or the like -- then you cannot rely on any reader context beyond the current section. <S> The "cars" section needs to either stand on its own or have an explicit cross-reference to the "buses" section, and vice-versa. <S> It is important to consider how your reader will use your document. <S> (I realize that the question asks about a dissertation, but it is also tagged technical-writing, which has broader considerations.) <A> Nope. <S> Sections do not refer directly to the next section, unless there is a specific reason, such as a cross-reference. <S> What you need is an overview topic/section ABOVE these where you describe the contents of the sub-sections.
| It depends on the context.
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How can people doing technical, archane work be portrayed interestingly? I'd like to write the biography of an important, underrated scientist who performed a really important experiment. He persevered for many years, became ill (and recovered) along the way, and practically invented molecular biology. He and his work deserve to be much better known, as do the times through which he lived (born when Pasteur introduced the idea germs cause disease, lived long enough to see the double helix). The problem is that he had pretty much no life outside his scientific papers. He was intensely private, kept no diary, and has no legacy of personal letters. It's hard to make a personal connection when so few details are known about a person's life. I struggle with whether he's too boring to be publishable, or whether I lack the writing skill to portray him skillfully. So I'm looking for advice. For the record, I do have some personal info, but I'm essentially asking for tips on how to turn technical archane papers into a gripping story. ... And suggestions for biographies I might turn to as models? <Q> Writing biographies like these for a mass audience will require that the reader understand the subject's work. <S> This can be handled by long expository passages, or, as is more frequently done, concepts can be broken up into small, easily digestible pieces. <S> These can alternate with the story of the subject's life, information provided to the reader only as is needed. <S> Many writers seem to have a knack for getting science writing "right", and I suggest that your best strategy is to read those books. <S> Look at what these writers do well, and learn from it. <S> Here are just a few examples of the books I've read. <S> While most of these are not biographical in nature, the same issues apply: The Best American Science Writing series is probably the best place for you to start. <S> Simon Winchester is a wonderful popularizer of history and science. <S> His books cover geography and geology as well as politics and history. <S> I particularly recommend Krakatoa: <S> The Day the World Exploded for an amazing blend of sociology, geology, environmental issues, and politics. <S> Isaac Asimov was famous for making many, many topics accesible. <S> He wrote books on physics and chemistry that may be of interest, despite being somewhat outdated now. <S> The Neutrino: <S> Ghost Particle of the Atom is a particular favorite of mine. <S> Brian Greene's book The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory is a wonderful if slightly slow read. <S> The book is somewhat technical but understandable if the reader sticks to it. <S> Carl Sagan's seminal book Cosmos is the essence of readable science popularization. <S> Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time and The Universe in a Nutshell are great introductions to then-current theoretical physics. <S> Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! <S> (Adventures of a Curious Character) focuses more on Richard Feynman the man than the work, but is a great read and is well worth your time. <A> In order to make scientific work accessible to the non-scientist, you need to connect it to something within the experience of your audience. <S> The personal life of the researcher is a very popular vehicle for this <S> but not the only one available. <S> Look to the events of the world in which he worked to provide the thread that might otherwise come from his private, non-professional activities. <S> The lifespan from Pasteur to the Double Helix can also be represented as "Dickens to Huxley" or "Franz Liszt to Benny Goodman". <S> Can you see evidence in the mental models that underpin his work reflecting the zeitgeist? <S> How might advances in medicine have shaped the way in which he went about his work? <S> Every scientist is shaped by the communities in which he worked. <S> A lucky few can see how they reshaped the world around them. <S> In the absence of a richly detailed personal life story, the story of those interactions can open your work to the non-specialist. <A> If you have a substantial amount of material on the actual timelines of how he did his work/made his breakthroughs, you can use that. <S> Quiet a lot of books about people working in technical fields that are obscure to a large section of the readership use this sort of playing around with the timelines. <S> You can break it up into chunks, give teasers as to what sort of (theory, experiment, etc.) <S> they were working on in say 1973, then break away to some of the important life events/chanllenges faced by them around the same period in time. <S> Then, after putting that period of their work into their life's context, you can return to the next big step they managed to take in their work, or say the next major breakthrough they were able to make in 1975. <S> Of course, you may not have any 'obstacles' or 'personal tragedies' for this particular person's life, but you can still give his/her work context by placing it in that period's overall scientific landscape, or his country's political turmoil/transformation (just riffing here), his quest to find the right people to work with, how progress made by his peers affected his work, etc. <S> So, " timelines " could be the approach you are looking for.
| The idea is to give a sort of narrative, or some inkling of tension (e.g the tension often present in the cycles of work-->personalobstacles-->overcoming-->backtowork) to the readers, for them to grip onto so that they find it easy to involve themselves into the signficiance and context of that person's technical achievements.
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Is there a description of location required in intense moments of the story like in a love story I am writing a short love story. There is a moment when the man and woman he loved meets after 3 decades at his home and they strike up a conversation. They had some unsaid feelings buried deep within and it just overwhelms the man. He puts forward his feelings and pain more gradually but more aggressively. I want to make this situation very intense and as real as possible. What points should I keep in mind in order to do this? Is it necessary to provide a detailed description of the interiors of the house and points like 'she sat on the antique looking sofa' and all? The scene: He smiled at her with a bit of watery eyes. But hers was as beautiful and sparkling as always and with a melted heart he said "hey" "hi" she replied with her soft voice, climbing the stairs back to him. For the first time in 32 years he was looking again what he considered the most beautiful face. "how are you?" She said in a heavy tone, but with a subtle smile. "I am fine" wondering she has come back after all these yrs. "How are you?" he asked. "I am fine but don't you feel its bit cold out here!" "Oh yes, I am sorry please come in" Thus she entered his home. His was a detached house with a ground and first floor. It seemed as if either he is shifting in or shifting out, suggested by the few articles kept in the drawing room. Just a small wooden center table with a sofa and two dissimilar chairs around it. And old chandelier, a flower vase in one of the corners with some dust laden artificial flower set. There were good number of windows. She remembered he used to talk of houses well ventilated and naturally lit rooms. "You live alone here?" She said turning to him from the room's ceiling. "Yes" "Where is your wife and kids?" "For your information I never got married, if that's what you have come to know." He never liked the way she would say things as if they don't mean anything to her. "I didn't mean to irritate you." "Yeah, i know." "I thought you would be happy to see me" she said looking down. "Happy to see you? Let me be honest to you, seeing you in person after 3 decades has withered me. Its as if I will crumble any moment now. Though I always imagined this day and believed I can face this situation but I am not able to. I don't know what to be. To be happy or to be sad! The pain, the agony, the moments with you I have always cherished are gushing out of me. You tell me what should I be!" She sank her chin into her chest. He could few drops of tears falling off her face. He realized he was being too rough. "Hey, I am sorry dear. Didn't mean to hurt you. I have always been unable to hide my feelings from you. You know that, but I never mean to hurt you. Moreover you are the stronger one of us. Isn't it" She wiped her face with her handkerchief. "You want coffee or tea" he asked. "Neither. I just want a glass of water." He brought her water. She sipped it slowly and thanked him keeping the glass on the table. <Q> The key thing to keep in mind with writing fiction generally is: Does it add to the story? <S> There's nothing wrong with describing a place, but how does that set the scene for what's about to happen? <S> How does it set the mood? <S> So when you're describing the house, think about: <S> What kinds of things the woman would notice, given her agitated state of mind in coming to visit the man. <S> Would she notice that the place hadn't changed, that the furnishings hadn't changed (cue descriptions here)? <S> Would she notice the vase she gave him for his birthday, back when they were still going out, or the candlestick she threw at him when she left him? <S> If she's thinking about well-ventilated houses, how does that relate to their relationship in the past (given that this is meant to be the focus of your scene)? <S> Elements that you can use to represent their current situation/mental state. <S> If the man feels withered/crumbling, you could set the mood by describing dying flowers in a vase, peeling paint, broken furniture, etc. <S> You could show the gap that's grown between them by contrasting how things looked in the past with how they are now (presumably older, dustier, tarnished, etc.) <S> Obviously, you wouldn't use everything, as it would be description overload. <S> Granted, if you were going for a 'literary' piece, that's another matter. <S> : <S> PBut generally, you'll need to pick and choose what you think would work best for the emotions and mood you want to get across, as well as the pace you want to set. <A> Lexi gave a good run-down of what is needed, let me add a few tricks. <S> Reuse the location. <S> It was formerly introduced in detail when that was needed for another scene. <S> That way a one-line mention will suffice. <S> It isn't curtains and a window, it's a golden glow framing her shape and veils flowing by her face. <S> Use a generic setting that needs just three words of introduction and make the lovers so infatuated they cease to see it. <S> But do non introduce non-generic elements of the setting later, unless being jarring is your purpose. <S> Make the location an arena of non-verbal game, make the elements appear in a physical play. <S> Chasing playfully, hiding, a romantic walk. <S> Make the description impressive <S> , not descriptive: how it feels, not how it looks. <S> Make it an extension of personality of the one who lives there, not merely a location. <A> Yes, you very definitely should use descriptions, whether of the location, what they're wearing or any other thing that will bring us there; make the scene vivid for the reader. <S> That is, you should give the telling detail: that one, or those few items that tell us who these people are. <S> I might recommend that you read Nick Cave's short novel "The Death of Bunny Munro" as he is one writer who is very good at this sort of thing. <S> Also, I would try to lose words like beautiful because they're verdicts rather than descriptions, and so, for me, should be the prerogative of the reader. <S> I would lose them, even if they are verdicts made by a character. <S> Try replacing it with an emotional or physiological response. <S> And, let's face it: <S> at fifty-something people aren't necessarily beautiful anymore; all that was once firm and supple is beginning to sag, bloat, flop and wrinkle. <S> And the face that could launch a thousand ships might only just inspire a dinghy. <S> If she is still beautiful, and some are, describe her briefly so that we can tell. <S> But love is about other things, isn't it? <S> I think you need to work on their emotional conflict, or his conflict, and it has to be conflict, you got that right. <S> No one carries a torch for 32 years without some unresolved issues. <S> And even then it's kind of pathetic and sad, and you should work out whether he should be aware of that. <S> People have had full lives shorter than that. <S> Work, career, family, sex, passion, follies, tragedies... <S> You don't necessarily need to tell us, but you should work out for yourself what they did with their lives if they are to come off the page. <S> And try to write like you were acting, like you were these people: what would their idiom be? <S> Would she say; "it's a bit cold out here"? <S> Or would she use nippy or freezing? <S> what would her response be if he says he never married? <S> " <S> Well, what did you do then? <S> " Something like that.
| If you describe a place for the sake of describing things, that really drags down the pace and kills any tension you have at that point. Make the location a radiant extension of the scene.
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