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Real, serious and based on personal experience idea, but no previous practice. Where to begin? Since my childhood I have had a secret dream to write my own story or even a novel. I have always enjoyed reading books and writing compositions. However, I never had enough courage to start writing my own story except some fairy tales and poetry that I created as a present for my family. This was not caused by cowardice, rather by extreme exaggeration of the responsibility I would have taken on me after beginning to write. What kind of responsibility? Well, first of all, I would be responsible for declaring my life position that may be not mature or correct enough (well, what can a person know for sure when they are 16?). Second, I would be responsible for involving some real people from my surroundings, even if I would have changed names or personalities, they would certainly guess it. Third, I would be responsible for any mistakes in depicting the time I would describe... That is what has always stopped me from writing. However, through years I realized that a person is what they complete in their lives. Nothing else matters, you are what you do. So, maybe it is better to write a very basic story rather than not writing at all? People evolve and mature and become more skilled while time passes by... Why do I think I need to write a story? Well, probably because I have faced a very important problem and have lived with it for long and eventually have developed my own opinion on it which I want to share with people so that they maybe don't repeat the same mistakes... Besides, I have noticed that my opinion changed through time, so I could give an alternative viewpoint for a reader. And well, I wish to change from consumer to creator, in all the ways in my life. Why do I think that I am still not able to write a story? First of all, no previous experience. Secondly, I am always a bit confused that my ideas don't include any political or social topics. Thirdly, I doubt the amount of books I have read during my life is enough. In order to write a good story, one needs to have a huge background in reading and also in analyzing what they have read. It provides basic knowledge of concepts used in literature, enriches one's language, makes it easier to develop a correct composition... A professional needs to be familiar with the tools they use and with examples of other people's works in their field. And last, but not least: I don't know where to begin. So this is my question: what should I do first if I have a limited amount of free time (about 2 hours per week)? Start extensive reading course until I am satisfied (which will probably last forever, cause I am never satisfied with myself)? Study materials from the time I wish my story to be set in? Take notes and write down short parts of my story? Launch a blog? Start to develop skills by writing something else until I am not ashamed of my style? Fight with cowardice? Change approach to less serious? If so, how can I do it if I have always been very pedantic? P.S. Sorry for mistakes, I am not a native speaker. <Q> I'm not sure whether this will work for you, but this is what I did: <S> I started with flash fiction (900 words). <S> Then, gradually, began writing longer pieces (3000~4000 words). <S> At the same time, I started posting my work on this site for feedback. <S> Also, I asked grammar questions at https://english.stackexchange.com/ (since I'm not a native English speaker, either). <S> Finally, I started posting my work on http://www.scribophile.com/ for general critique/feedback. <S> And now I'm writing a 9000 words short story. <S> After that I will write my full-length novel. <S> As for my style, I started copying my favorite author Haruki Murakami. <S> And then slowly began developing my own. <S> I learned a lot by copying his plot structure and style. <S> I think you shouldn't be ashamed of your style. <S> As long as you like it, it'll be OK. <S> Also, getting a lot of feedback . <S> And of course, to read a lot. <S> Read your favorite authors, those who write stuff you wished you had written. <S> I took creative writing classes, but I feel I didn't learn much. <S> Again, this may be only me, but I feel listening about how to write isn't just the same as writing and getting feedback. <S> I believe true learning comes from making mistakes. <S> The more mistakes you make, the more you learn. <A> I really don't have any special advice other than to just write. <S> Don't worry about the quality of what you put onto paper, just commit it to paper. <S> People will say "it's probably better than you think it is" but the fact is that it will probably be pretty bad. <S> That's okay. <S> Everybody's first draft is bad. <S> Writing quality prose is all about rewriting. <S> If you're worried about grammar I recommend the "Little Book" by Strunk and White (the White, by the way, is E.B. White, the writer of Charlotte's Web ; this is not just some book written by an English prof that has no application to the real world). <S> That being said, I have to go back to what I originally said: if you want to learn how to write forcible, meaningful prose, you have to just write prose. <S> Writing is hard. <S> If it was easy, everyone would be writing and publishing their memoirs. <S> There are no magic insights I can really impart to you outside of two maxims: 1. <S> If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well. <S> 2. <S> If it's worth doing well, it's worth doing badly for a while. <A> Just write. <S> Seriously. <S> Just write. <S> Stop worrying about whether it sucks (it probably will). <S> Write it. <S> Get it out. <S> Because then you can go back and fix it. <S> You can't edit a blank page. <S> But you can take lousy text and make it better. <S> Study materials from the time I wish my story to be set in? <S> If it's historical in any way, yes. <S> Research is good. <S> Take notes and write down short parts of my story? <S> Absolutely. <S> Launch a blog? <S> To what end? <S> Might be more of an excuse not to work on your central piece. <S> Start to develop skills by writing something else until I am not ashamed of my style? <S> If your style is your unique voice, you should never be ashamed of it. <S> If you're concerned about technical skill, you can practice until it improves. <S> Is it normal that I keep inventing and even editing texts in my head, but when I come to a clear sheet of paper, I just sit stunned, afraid of putting text on the paper? <S> Yes. <S> Some of the suggestions in this thread about writer's block may help. <A> The most common type of question raised by would-be writers is some version of "why can't I write?" <S> The most common type of answer is "just write." <S> If you look through this site, you will find quite a lot of that sort of question, and that sort of answer. <S> And it really does boil down to pretty much that. <S> You are either going to spend a lot of time agonizing about why you can't write, or you are going to write. <S> Because there really is no answer to why you can't write. <S> And just writing is really not a solution to the problem. <S> You either write, or you don't. <S> Life is not infinite. <S> No one has unlimited time to write. <S> Whether it's two hours a week or two hours a day, if you're going to write, you will. <S> If you're not, you won't. <S> Writers write. <S> People who aren't writers don't. <S> Which are you? <A> A few months ago, I set out to improve my writing <S> and this is what I did: <S> I started journaling, reading short things like stories or interesting articles, and listening to audiobooks or video essays. <S> I put the lyrics in front of me when listening to music. <S> Anything with the English language that I could do in small periods of time, I did. <S> I didn't structure the journal. <S> A couple times I wrote 5 different mini entries on a day, and tore out a blank page before bragging that I can in another entry. <S> There was a to-do list in which I randomly included robbing the Met and building a rocket. <S> There was a stick-figure comic about ninjas or something, that had really big thought bubbles. <S> So long as it was fun, I did it. <S> And yes, there eventually were meaningful coherent journal entries as well. <S> Meanwhile I got into Murakami, Lahiri, read short novels like <S> The Great Gatsby or Fight Club . <S> The only metric I have is my writing grades. <S> They did go up pretty quickly, and now my journal entries have begun evolving into short stories and poems. <S> I think that once you have momentum it just picks up.
| I think the best way to learn (as others said) is to just to write.
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Is it better to have a deadline? A lot of writers I admire say: "I didn't know how long the story would be." Me too, I'm the kind of writer who don't know where (and when) the story is going to end. So I'm confused—is it better to have a deadline? By better I mean: more likely to finish something. And that something to be of good quality . <Q> I don't see how a deadline could improve the quality of what you're writing; if you don't leave yourself enough time and make yourself rush, it could have the opposite effect. <S> It can certainly motivate you to sit down and actually write , though, rather than thinking about what're going to write. <S> You've said you don't plot your stories in advance, so I'd imagine (especially if you're talking about a longer project) that it's not practical to set a deadline in your case. <S> So obviously, in your case: no, a deadline isn't going to help you. <S> However, there are ways of disciplining yourself - and thus making yourself more productive - even though you don't know how long you'll need to finish your story. <S> Just set yourself some kind of accomplishment that you will do each day. <S> Use whatever measurement makes sense for you: word count, or some more subjective measure (only don't cheat!). <S> I use page count, as I write my first drafts by hand. <S> However you set your limit, don't make it too easy, or too hard: just a little more than is comfortable, so you're pushing yourself a little. <S> It's amazing how easily you can cease to be 'blocked' <S> if you know you aren't getting up from the desk without writing your daily quota. <A> Perhaps not on the text you are currently writing, but it will improve your skill over time. <S> A teacher in a pottery class once divided the class in two. <S> He told the first half that they would get a grade based on the quality of one vase. <S> The other half would receive a grade based on the number of vases they produced. <S> Who do you think made the vases of highest quality in the end? <S> The half that produced many. <S> The same principle applies to writing. <S> If you write one book each year for ten years, the results at the end will probably better than if you focus on one book for ten years. <S> If a deadline forces you to produce more often (but perhaps of lesser quality in the beginning), it will lead to better quality over time. <A> I think it depends on the personality and approach of the writer. <S> I tend to revise, edit and demand impossible perfection from myself. <S> As a result, I am better with a deadline. <S> There is a finite ending to the project <S> and I know I have to accomplish everything within a designated period of time. <S> I find it better to have a deadline so I can move forward with other projects rather than obsessing about one. <A> In my experience, deadlines are useful. <S> I have a hard time with the last 10% and the deadline helps me get there. <S> Deadlines help to motivate me to write instead of doing other things, such as spending all day meandering online. <S> If I meet the goal, I'm succeeding (at least at something). <S> If I don't have a goal ("meet the deadline"), it's harder to tell when I'm failing. <S> As a novelist, I think that deadlines force me to write more and more often, keeping me in touch with the flow of the story -- therefore better quality. <S> (Of course, at the same time, I take breaks to step back from a piece and get a fresh perspective.) <S> All that being said, "having a deadline" and "knowing how long the story will be" are two different things. <S> If I have a deadline and yet my story keeps getting longer, then obviously I will need to spend more time writing! <S> It's a vote for working harder, sooner, rather than waiting until the last minute. <A> As a writer, I work better with a deadline. <S> Let's call it a very flexible deadline. <S> It sometimes help if I break up a project into little "deadlines" or checkpoints. <S> I guess it's different for everybody, what works for me may not work for you. <S> Personally it increases my productivity if I set achievable goals and reasonable limits on myself.
| If a deadline forces you to finish something, and make you finish something more often, it will lead to better quality of your writing.
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How to convey that the POV character *does not understand* what's said in dialogue? The general advice is often to focus on the content of what's said in dialogue and just write it in the reader's language, largely whether the characters would use that language or not in-universe. See for example the answers to this recent question or for that matter universal translators . However, what if you really want to show that the point-of-view character does not understand what the other characters say? As he or she sees it, they are speaking to each other, but the words are gibberish. In the particular case I have in mind it's a made up language, but it could just as easily be a real human language. Obviously one shouldn't overdo it (there's a reason why the general advice is for the author to translate, and I mostly agree with it), but for something like a few lines, is it acceptable to make up some such dialogue or should I just stick with something like "she looked at him and spoke in [their native tongue]; I had no idea what she said, but [the result was ...]"? Put another way, in what situations might it be a good idea to actually write down the actual words, rather than a translation into the reader's language? <Q> That is, if the viewpoint character hears gibberish, you translate the experience of hearing gibberish into the reader's language. <A> Depends on a few factors: 1) Is the narrative's point of view from the person who doesn't understand, the person who does, or omniscient? <S> CJ Cherryh writes books where the humans are the outsiders in non-human societies. <S> Until the human catches up with the non-human language, the human sounds like Cookie Monster. <S> " <S> Me want food! <S> Me went store, but no has coinage for to pay!" <S> So that's the POV of the person who does understand the language, because the non-speaker is obviously not speaking correctly. <S> If the POV is from the non-speaker, then it depends on whether the person can pick out words or whether it's gibberish. <S> See Dale's excellent answer for suggestions there. <S> If it's omniscient, you can switch or combine depending on who is the focus of a given scene. <S> 2) Is the language one which the reader understands (or could understand) or not? <S> If your narrative is omniscient or you're writing from the POV of a speaker, you can choose to reproduce the actual words. <S> If your language is a human one, then just put it in. <S> A reader who understands French (etc.) will follow the dialogue. <S> If your language is non-human, then you can use the non-human words, but you will need the translation, because the reader isn't going to follow either. <S> Regardless of your decision, if the words are important to the plot, then the reader eventually needs a translation. <S> If they are not important, the translation is up to you. <A> There is one very specific situation in which it is a good idea to write down the words spoken in the language that is not understood by the point-of-view character, and it occurs when you want the reader to experience vicariously, as closely simulated as possible, whatever the POV character is experiencing when he or she hears the language being spoken. <A> Another technique used by CJ Cherryh to indicate that her viewpoint character only understands the odd word is to indicate the incomprehensible parts by the hash character. <S> For example, "# # ship," the translator rendered the transmission from the newcomer. " <S> # # ship # # you." <S> Cherryh uses this format specifically to mean the output of an automatic translating machine which is only partly programmed for the foreign (i.e. human) language but it could be used in other contexts.
| I would refine the advice thus: Translate the viewpoint character's experience into the language of the reader.
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What's a word for a person who took a very rough story and made it into a book? I have written a book. Well, actually, my mother-in-law told the story of her experiences as a German forced laborer in the Soviet Union after World War II. This was given in German and recorded onto audio tape about thirty years ago by my sister-in-law. My S.I.L. later transcribed the story in German onto twenty or so tightly typewritten foolscap sheets, and a few years ago she gave us a copy of this. My wife and I eventually translated this into very rough English (we both speak German, my wife being a native speaker). It is quite a story and we have determined to self-publish it as a book. It's basically finished at this point. So this is what I need: a word (or two) for my having put it into a final form for the book. See, the original telling was done pretty much as it occurred to her to tell it, and it tends to get lost in parts, backtrack, go forward, and around the bend at times. The final version is still her story, but it has been reworked into what I hope is a readable and understandable whole, with a beginning, a middle and an end. I've also done a spot of research on historical matters pertaining to the story, and because some words she used were Russian, I used Google Translate and the Russian Language SE to get some more information. On the title page, I am giving the title of the book, followed by a subtitle, then the author attribution. Below the author attribution (she is now deceased, btw), I want to indicate that the work is a transcription and a translation of the original tale, and the word I need is for the really hard part, putting it into a coherent form for publication. Here's what I got, so far: by <my mother-in-law> As told to her daughter <my sister-in-law>. Translated by her daughter <my wife> and xxxxed by <me> What is that word (or words) in the xxx's? Arranged? Edited? What? Or, as someone on the ELU SE said, perhaps I shouldn't even be mentioned at all? Although the form it was in before I worked on it for a few months was completely unpublishable. <Q> Don't over-complicate things. <S> You are an Author. " <S> Authored by _ . <S> " <S> It would make more sense for you to write, "As told by (grandmother's name). <S> Translated by (daughter's name). <S> " Use an introduction to tell how this story came to be, which will explain each of your roles and your motivations. <A> I'd go with "Edited by. <S> " You are not the author (the originator). <S> You took existing work and edited it to make it readable. <S> I think "edited" makes your relationship to the work clear. <A> The border between Metilda and Lauren's answers is fuzzy and depends on how much of editing you did. <S> If you took the story nearly verbatim, translated it, polished rough edges, added some preface and made it a smooth reading, you're the editor. <S> If you retold that story, say, changing POV, making a set of memories into a smoothly flowing novel leaving no impression of being just told from distant memories but feeling more "then and there" with many artistic liberties with descriptions, places and characters, you're the author, "basing on..." <A> Perhaps Adapted by ..... <S> from an oral history of ..... translated from the German by ..... <S> Your contribution has been to convert from one genre (an oral recount) to another (a printed text). <S> In many ways this is comparable to turning a book into a screenplay where "adaptation" is the term used to indicate that the work is not "original". <A> On the face of it appears to be a biography of X written by you (The author). <S> I assume this on the basis that the published version will exceed the original 20 pages. <S> If in doubt an enquiry into how the big boys do it reveals: Anne Frank: <S> The Biography Paperback – 13 Dec 1999by Melissa Muller (Author), Rita Kimber (Translator), Robert B. Kimber (Translator) <S> You're the de facto 'editor' because no third party provided the service <S> therefore the function is a given and should not be attributed. <S> I have not seen the manuscript therefore I cannot be totally definitive in my answers. <S> I've no idea of the framework used. <S> Who's the narrator? <S> Who's telling the story? <S> My mind's in 'film mode' at the moment - "Titanic", "Big Fish", and "Forrest Gump" are stories about people telling stories. <S> Hope this helps. <A> One word that doesn't seem to have popped up here and may be appropriate is "Ghostwriter". <S> Not sure how you'd put that on a book cover, and I thought the point of ghostwriting is that you're a 'ghost' i.e. unknown. <S> But, it seems the closest word in my vocabulary to what you're looking for. <S> Hope that helps. <A> Put on paper by ... might be an option, too. <S> Or recorded by . <S> I also like Adapted by as it has been suggested. <S> Depends on how much you contributed yourself besides merely writing it down. <A> Since you have taken the stories in the order they were told, and tried to rearrange them into something alonge the lines of the order in which they occurred , and stitched them together into one chronicle, you could go with "Compiled By"? <A> Imagine if you set out to write a book based on a true story. <S> You then interviewed your main subject talking about her experiences. <S> That interview was your primary source material. <S> You would be the author of that book. <S> End of story. <S> In this case, you're getting confused because the order is different. <S> You had nothing to do with interviewing the subject or transcribing the interview. <S> You came into the project later. <S> You are still the author. <S> If the story were nothing but a transcript of the interview (with or without a translation) that would be different. <S> Just like (in the example of another answer) <S> Anne Frank is the author of her diary, which was typed and translated with minimal editing/formatting. <S> I would say: (Title) by (you) <S> Based on the memoir of (MIL) You might also do: by (you) and (wife) <S> In the acknowledgments, talk about where the story came from and who pulled it all together. <S> Or put those basics on the inside title page.
| Authored by (your name).
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Is it unusual to use product placement within a fictional novel, and what are the legalities around this? We intend to use the name of a well known brand within our novel and have written to them to gain permission to use their name. They have got back in touch today to say they would be honoured for us to do so. It does in no way detract from the storyline, in fact because of the popularity of the brand we feel it enhances it. I suppose there are two questions here; 1) Is it considered unusual to do such a thing within fiction?2) Are there any requirements as with television to state that a brand name is placed within the book. For clarity we are not being paid for doing so, simply gaining permission. <Q> You have covered the legality, because you have their permission. <S> The issue is therefore closed and complete. <S> You have, however, possibly missed an opportunity, because you might have been able to obtain some payment for using the name, although this is very unlikely. <S> In films, such payments are much desired and sought, but in fiction, it is very rare for a company to pay a writer for the opportunity to put the name of a product into a book. <S> Mount Rushmore is a famous, named entity, but you don't have to pay anyone to mention it in a book, any more than you have to pay Coca-Cola just to mention its name in a book. <S> It becomes a different thing, however, if Coca-Cola becomes a character or a major plot element in your book. <S> That's when you have to think about paying the Coca-Cola company to use the name. <S> (And see RhysW's comment below for an important additional note.) <A> Unusual? <S> It seems so to me. <S> Just answering in my own experience: I can't remember reading about a specific, actual product. <S> I've read about fictional products and companies (I primarily read science fiction). <S> The advice I recall being given is that if the actual product makes a material difference to the story, use it; if not, don't -- you can invent one (Arthur C Clarke in 2001 -- "HAL" rather than "IBM"). <S> (It sounds like you've already decided to go forward, but mentioning this in case it might be useful.) <A> Two questions are posed above: Do you need permission, and what are the legalities? <S> If you only use the name in a favorable way, no problem. <S> Unfavorable and you can get into heap big trouble. <S> I'm chiming in here because it is not uncommon to be paid by major corporations, or even smaller operations, for promoting their products. <S> From an advertisers point of view, the cost per thousand is so minimal, they jump at the chance for another place to see their name mentioned. <S> You do not have to be a best selling author to be considered, but it is doubtful you will make much if your book does not sell well. <S> Advertisers don't waste resources on nickel and dimes. <S> But many will cut a check for three or ten dollars, if your book sales warrant same. <S> Currently the most lucrative advertisers for authors are the liquor, beer, and tobacco industries. <S> Followed closely by footwear, and internet based businesses. <S> Many already have simple contracts available that show the amount they pay, either as coinage or a percentage of the books price, and the number of books, or pay level reached before they pay anything at all. <S> Some are as few as 250 books, some pay at 500 books, and a few do not pay until you cross 1000 books sold. <S> The latter is actually the better deal, because the percentage goes up along with book sales. <S> A half-penny per book may not sound like much, until you cross 1000 books <S> and it jumps to 3 cents per book for the next 10,000 books, or jumps to a nickel at 25,000 books. <S> The higher you move on the charts, in some cases, the higher percentage an advertiser pays. <S> Some are simply a fixed amount. <S> If you have previous successful book sales, provide your rankings and book sales information, as this can up the amount they offer. <S> VTYDutch <S> Rhudy
| So, if you are intending to use a name brand in your book, and in a favorable light, check to see if the company offers a contract for authors, and if so, send them at least the pages before and after their name is mentioned, and the page it is mentioned on. On the other hand, you usually don't need permission, because if the product is in the public eye, it is expected that it can be mentioned without compensation because it is as much a part of the cultural framework of our lives as, say, Mount Rushmore. No you do not need permission, however, you shouldn't be doing it for free.
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What are these extra phrases added to the beginning of sentences called? I find that my students are using a lot of these phrases at the beginning of their sentences: First... First of all... To begin with... All in all... The other reason is that... Above all... At last but not least... Taking all the reasons and examples into consideration... In a word... Do these phrases have a common name? Is there a special term for such phrases when they do not add any meaning to the sentence they are added to? <Q> The term is metadiscourse, or communication about the communication. <S> Sometimes they help guide the reader through a complex line of reasoning. <S> Sometimes they add emphasis or rhythm. <S> Sometimes they're just noise. <S> "Use them liberally" (from your other post) seems like coarse advice, perhaps useful until students can distinguish for themselves whether the text requires such orientation, or until they can write the text so that less orientation is necessary. <A> I would see these as transitions , bits which help move the reader smoothly from one thought (spread over one or several paragraphs) to the next. <S> I think presenting it that way will give your students a clear reason whether to use this literary tool: <S> Am I introducing a new thought? <S> Am I wrapping up the previous thought? <S> If not, then remove the phrase. <A> I'm not sure they really have an established, generally accepted name , but
| I would suggest it would be simplest to call them introductory phrases .
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What symbols are used after difficult words in a text to refer a reader to a glossary for a definition? What symbols used after difficult words in a text to refer a reader to a glossary for a definition? I'm really looking for the most commonly used / accepted symbols and I am wondering whether certain symbols are specific only to particular subjects such as math / literature etc. <Q> Usually, there are no demarcations made in the text that would tell your readers if a word is present in the glossary or not. <S> In certain cases, the footnote is not explained in the footer of the same page, rather it refers to a different section usually titled "Notes". <S> For such footer symbols, the following convention is used: If you want to explain footer at the end of the same page, start with asterisk (*) mark. <S> If there are more than one such words on the same page, go ahead in the following order: * <S> , ** , <S> *** , <S> **** , † , ‡ , §. <S> If you are using a "Notes" section, then you can use any symbol (preferably from the above defined list) to mark your words <S> In textbooks and articles, if words are to be included in a glossary (as is your question), there is no standard rule of using symbols. <S> It is expected of the reader to have a look for and at the glossary, for words that they may find difficult. <S> As a suggestion you could italicize the first occurrence of words that you have included in the glossary <S> As an alternate, you can put an * mark next to the words (though this might distract your reader). <S> Another possible solution is to include a mark in a bracket. <S> For example you could write ( G ) in the bracket (similar to Clayton's comment) <S> Hope <S> this helps. <S> Addition:You can find the details about footnotes that I have referred to above at this link: <S> http://dd.dgacm.org/editorialmanual/ed-guidelines/footnotes/footnotes_chap_09.htm <S> I have taken the info about the order of symbols to be used in the footnote from the above (which happens to be a chapter from "United Nations Editorial Manual"). <A> I used footnotes in my book (which is in English with Maltese words used occasionally throughout). <S> Word provides footnotes with ease. <S> You can also make a glossary automatically. <A> If you can live with it not being after the word, my dead-trees encyclopedia which was written long before web 2.0 was all the hype uses something like the form ► <S> someword (that's U+25BA from the Geometric Shapes Unicode block; <S> Black right-pointing pointer) to refer specifically to other subjects found in the encyclopedia. <S> I can't cite any real facts to support the following, but it seems to be a fairly common notation in such works.
| In cases when there is a remark about something that needs to be made, a footnote is used.
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Create and using a custom version of a part of an existing mythology In my story, I've decided to create some legends, myths, and prophecies for one of the species I used. I don't think there is any problem with this even if I haven't created this species. But one of these legends is a rewrite of the legend of Fenrir, from Nordic mythology. The link between my custom version and the original version is obvious in the story told by both versions, and it need to be obvious. It's even explained by the tellers. Could this point be problematic for readers? <Q> Do you think actual myths in the real world each sprang out of nothing? <S> Everyone copied everyone else. <S> Go read The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campell, or at least The Power of Myth since Campbell is pretty dense. <S> You will very quickly see that most myths nicked from previous mythologies, added new names, tweaked the setting, and maybe mixed in other myths from another country altogether. <S> (Gilgamesh had a flood before Noah did. <S> Osiris rose from the dead before Jesus did. <S> The entire Greek pantheon was renamed into the Roman pantheon. <S> et al.) <S> Put Fenrir in your own clothing. <S> There's plenty of historical precedent. <A> Several thoughts: <S> Many, many stories are described as "an updated version of Romeo and Juliet" or "the myth of Odysseus set on a starship" etc etc. <S> I'm a little curious when you say that the link between your version and the original is "obvious". <S> Do you mean "obvious to anyone who knows the original myth and who will thus immediately see the parallels"? <S> Or do you mean that it's spelled out in your story that this is an allusion to Fenrir? <S> (I think that's what you mean <S> by "it's even explained by tellers".) <S> Like, personally, despite being of Norwegian ancestry, my knowledge of Nordic mythology is pretty slim. <S> The name Fenrir means nothing to me. <S> But anyway, to my mind, here are the potential pitfalls: <S> If your story retells someone else's story and doesn't add anything particularly interesting, readers may view it as pointless. <S> Why not just read the original myth? <S> But if your story changes the original too much, readers may find it annoying. <S> Personally, I really hate it when someone retells a story but turns the hero of the original into a villain or a buffoon. <S> Many recent Hollywood remakes fall into this category. <S> The Mission Impossible movies come to mind: in the original, Mr. Phelps and company were dedicated patriots and freedom fighters, risking their lives to help oppressed people. <S> And they were totally matter-of-fact and humble about it, never boasting of their service to humanity or anything, just doing their jobs. <S> Then the movie made them a bunch of egotistical jerks who sold out their country and their friends because somebody hurt their feelings. <S> Okay, I know they're just fictional characters <S> so there's no point defending their honor or anything, but I just found it annoying. <S> If you don't like somebody else's hero, then don't use him. <S> But don't turn him into a villain. <S> On the plus side, many readers will enjoy the interplay of a classic story with a modern twist of some kind. <A> Writers have been telling variant versions of myths as long as they've been around. <S> I might find it problematic if the story was included as part of the belief system on an alien planet with no explanation (as that would strain credulity), but that doesn't appear to be what you're doing. <A> Why should it be a problem to your readers? <S> You have created a new species (or even if you do not have one). <S> There is an existing legend. <S> All that you are doing is tweaking it a little (or more) and giving it a shape which is tad bit different from what (perhaps) your readers may have read or heard before. <S> That should not be a problem with the reader. <S> Additionally, you mention that it needs to be obvious that your version is derived from the Nordic mythology. <S> That makes it easier. <S> Your readers should get the reference and ideally they should not mind it too much, unless of course your version is so drastically different than the original that its impossible to see both of them at the same time. <S> The short answer: go ahead and write it up. <S> Should not be a problem! <A> Here's a bit of professional advice for you. <S> If you are creating something for commercial purposes such as for a game, a film or something already established in the public consciousness; you must try and sty as true as your can to the original character. <S> This is the bedrock of lore in franchise. <S> In this case it's a classical mythological character and isn't owned by a media entity. <S> Specifics where the area is grey are in games such as WoW or Skyrim where classic mythology is 'borrowed' for use in that specific product. <S> You need to make clear distinctions in either name or biography. <S> Congratulations though - you're on the first rung of transmedia! <A> One solid advice how to make it fly and make sure readers who don't know the myth aren't confused, and readers who know the myth aren't annoyed <S> : Hang one <S> good, sturdy lampshade on it. <S> Have it explained, be it through a narrator/sidenote, or by a character within the story: <S> The original myth retold clearly and in sufficient detail (possibly separated into many parts along the chapters if a single information dump would be too much), some fundamental parallels with your story and some of the essential differences. <S> Leave more parallels as a taste for the readers to find, and have the most startling differences to surface in a glaringly obvious way, giving them a firm contrast against the original.
| One possibility is that your readers may think that you got the original tale wrong but that I think is a risk you can take for the rest of your story should clear that doubt from the readers' mind. Also, if it is a new species, I am sure your readers will give you some room and not create a problem about it. I'd have no problem with reading a book in which someone made use of the Fenrir story. In general, adapting a myth or a classic story is something that is done all the time.
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Usage of commas in poetry I wrote a piece of poetry for one of my short stories (the main character, Eri, writes poems). It's the following: Eri, did you feel the earthquake last night? Are you really sure your apartment's alright? In which planet where you wandering when it came? Is reality and the world as you know still the same? I have my doubts as to whether to put a comma after Eri . Seems to stop the whole flow. Or maybe that kind of punctuation is invisible in poetry? <Q> You need the comma because you are addressing the person. <S> "Did you feel the earthquake last night?" is a complete sentence. <S> Adding "Eri" is a kind of one-word clause. <A> My answer may be more of an opinion here <S> but I believe you must keep the comma after Eri. <S> The use of comma here adds a certain depth to your poem. <S> It makes your reader read it in a particular way. <S> If you were to do away with the comma, your readers will not pause after the name. <S> The effect of the pause (according to me) is that it conveys concern and weight at the same time (depth, like I mentioned). <S> If you remove the comma, the line becomes a little too "plain". <S> In my opinion, it does not stop the whole flow. <S> Rather it adds a slight "flavour" to the entire flow. <S> (Not sure if my answer helps a lot) <A> Another thought on this question: by quoting your own character's poetry, you're also making a comment on her poetry. <S> Is she a "good" poet? <S> Is her style sentimental, form-bound, what kinds of metaphors does she tend to choose (urban life, the natural world, outer space, etc.), does she tend to push the envelope or is she pretty conventional? <S> If you think she's a poet whose poetry doesn't "flow" <S> well, then you want to make sure her poetry does not flow, even if your own poetry would flow nicely. <S> In other words, you might want to break some of your own rules about poetry, in order to be true to her poetry and character. <S> You don't necessarily have to write "good" poetry for your character, if she herself is not a "good" poet. <A> It's not uncommon to do away with punctuation completely in poetry. <S> However, in this case you aren't doing that -- you are using question marks. <S> So yes, you need the comma. <A> Another way to remove the comma is to put Eri at the end of the line.
| You need the comma to separate the clauses.
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Software to organise world building? There were a couple of other questions about this, but they were asked many years ago, so I thought I'd start a new one. For a long time, I used Wiki on a Stick to organise my worlds and allow for easy access. That software is no longer supported and doesn't work with more recent browsers. From there, I created my own website through HTML and CSS to function in a similar way. It works well enough, but it's a very slow process to go through all the time. So, can anyone recommend me either paid or free software that is useful for storing information about different worlds, characters and so on, with an easy way to navigate between them and room for images. <Q> TiddlyWiki is my choice. <S> It's a free-as-in-beer single-page wiki system in the form of a single HTML file you open with your favorite browser and edit via clicking on links to create new sections called Tiddlers. <S> You can build out chapters, and internal links, and categorize different types of articles. <S> Works great, but depends on a Java plug-in so YMMV if you are not up-to-date on your JRE and Chrome <S> can be really really temperamental with it. <S> Even with those issues, it's a great tool. <S> Check it out. <S> [ Update 2019 -still <S> a great tool but has split a bit, as I mention in the comment. <S> Think Python 2/3 - if you're just getting started use the "new" flavor at tiddlywiki.com, but many are still using the classic version. <S> Either way, you'll want Tiddly Desktop for editing in thie era of CORS and walled browser gardens.] <A> I've always used mindmaps as a way to quickly brainstorm (and more importantly, organize/reshuffle) <S> my thoughts. <S> Freemind is the app I've used for many years, but its a bit clunky. <S> Recently I've started using MindMup , which is browser based and allows you to store your documents in Google Drive, or in Dropbox. <A> It works well for me. <S> There's no database, just wiki-formatted text files. <S> It uses the git version control system <S> so you have a history of every change you make (and you don't have to know how to use git <S> , it does it all for you). <S> Very nice and extremely simple to use <S> - you just start it up and do all your edits in a web browser. <S> The only downside it doesn't run on Windows, only Unix-based systems <S> (e.g. OS X, Linux). <A> I've found a few cool tools that might be helpful to you. <S> They are all pretty new, but I bet each one of them would be helpful to you. <S> Storyshop Plotist Plottr <S> The first 2 are online tools and the third one is a download. <S> The first two have free plans and the third one has a free trial. <S> All of them allow you to organize notes about your world, characters, and settings. <S> They help you outline the story and the first two also let you write the story too. <A> I use Google Sites for my worldbuilding. <S> If you need an example, view my page here . <S> It takes time and effort, but you can design it like a wiki. <S> However, don't upload too many large files (images should be fine but music and videos start to add up after a while) <S> or else it makes you buy more space. <A> Just wanted to put in a word for the Novel Factory ( http://www.novel-software.com . <S> Disclosure, I am the creator). <S> It's aimed at organising all aspects of a novel, including locations, characters, plots and research. <S> There's a strong emphasis on it being easy and intuitive to use, and allowing lots of images. <S> It's free to try. <A> Scrivener is the writer's go to tool. <S> I use it for my writing, and it stores everything about my worlds, from characters, to maps, to the things in the world, their descriptions, etc. <S> I don't see why it wouldn't work for you for this. <S> It is a digital 3-ring binder. <S> You can put links from one "page" to another. <S> You can include pictures, clippings, whatever you can think of. <S> It is personal though. <S> It isn't a multi-user platform like a wiki. <S> Originally it was designed for the Mac, but I've been using their PC version for some time, just fine. <A> Evernote <S> I personally have 2 (free) accounts on Evernote, that share almost all notes, meaning I can use them on all my devices. <S> There are online and downloaded versions of the notes application for all devices to my knowledge, and you can create notes or "notebooks" (notebooks contain multiple notes) for things such as "characters", "world", "plot points", "ideas", "to do", "the story" and so on - <S> It allows for a wide range of attachments such as links and images if you want it. <S> I've been using it for years now <S> and I'm quite fond of it. <S> I personally have multiple notebooks roughly named: Work (I'm a teacher) <S> Writing (my creating writing on my novel) <S> Texts/Lyrics (I compose music) <S> Random notes <S> All the notebooks above then contain multiple notes. <S> Would definitely recommend!
| I use the Gollum wiki. Google Sites is extremely user-friendly and best of all, it's free!
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Do publishers take the time to look at works from writers who have no qualifications or experience in the industry? We are currently in the process of writing a debut novel. Although we are still in the early stages of writing, we both feel we have the creativity and perseverance to see this through. What we don't have however, are any kind of qualifications or experience in this industry. We both left school with a 'C' grade in English (for those who don't know the UK grading guidelines, 'C' basically means crap, but not quite a fail). We have never attended any creative writing courses or seminars, nor do we possess the vast vocabulary that many seasoned writers seem to naturally possess. I suppose the question is a simple and straightforward; Forgetting about how good the book actually is, will our lack of experience and knowledge in the industry be a hindrance when it comes to publishing, and if so, how do 'newbies' get around this? <Q> The easy answer is... <S> it depends. <S> I'd say if you were a computer science expert but flunked out of English consistently (and this is by no means a reflection of most technical backgrounds; most of my friends who are programmers tend to also be very logical and strong writers), it wouldn't matter because the content of what you're writing is technical. <S> If you're a short story novelist and never did well in writing, well, it's still not an indicator of future success. <S> You could have written books that your teachers didn't enjoy. <S> Or you could have really improved writing years later. <S> But I think what you're actually asking isn't about writing ability but whether you can get published if you don't have connections and no prior publication experience <S> (i.e. you've never written a book before and never worked as a journalist, for example, where you publish regularly). <S> Yes, it's possible. <S> Do you know people in the publishing industry? <S> Are you writing a novel that will have a strong following? <S> There are plenty of books in niche areas that have become hits and their writers weren't famous, e.g. JK Rowling, Stephanie Meyer, etc. <S> But they have a specific audience. <S> My coworkers who just published their books are reputable journalists but never wrote a book so they partnered with other famous in their field to publish a book with 12 authors cooperating. <S> Perhaps this strategy can help you find the connections and publishing houses you need. <S> Again, always look into ebook self-publishing. <S> It is becoming more and more legitimate, and you can grow a following from there. <A> You're looking at the wrong sort of qualifications. <S> A publisher does not care what grades you got in school. <S> While I ended up self-publishing, I have talked to a couple of traditional publishers, and had one contract (that ultimately fell through, but whatever), and no one ever, ever asked to see a copy of my high school report card. <S> And for a simple reason: They want to see the text that you write. <S> It doesn't matter. <S> If you're writing non-fiction, they care about credentials in the field. <S> Like if you're writing a book about, I don't know, the oil industry say, then they're very interested in whether you have any experience working in that industry, or have worked for government agencies overseeing the industry, etc. <S> If your answer is, "No, but I've thought a lot about it <S> and I read a magazine article about it <S> , well, I looked at the pictures" then you're going to have a hard time selling. <S> I've never tried to write a novel <S> so I suspect that experience in any particular field doesn't matter as much. <S> If you are writing a novel set in feudal Japan and you are some sort of expert on feudal Japanese culture that would probably help, but I doubt it would be a big issue. <A> My suggestion would be to find an agent. <S> The agent will have the experience, knowledge, and connections which you don't, and may be able to steer you towards publishing houses which are more generous. <S> Also, the agent may give you feedback on your work to improve its chances of publication. <A> Lack of qualifications is not as much of a hindrance as lack of ability, I'd say. <S> If you get to the stage of a publisher starting to read your manuscript then your spelling and grammar had best be impeccable. <A> Despite being flooded with manuscripts, agents and publishers are constantly on the lookout for new talent . <S> German SF writer Andreas Eschbach writes on his website <S> that he once had the chance to look at the one and a half metre pile that constituted the last two weeks of submitted manuscripts beside the desk of an editor. <S> Unsure of the competitive quality of his own writing, he wanted to see what the first five pages of other authors looked like and found that "a distressing number" of them were simply awful: What I saw allayed my fears. <S> The first five pages? <S> In the majority of manuscripts the first five sentences where enough to lose all interest. <S> (my translation) <S> Which is why publishers – not only in Germany but all over the world – create short story contests or watch amateur publications, and actively approach talented young writers to develop stories with them! <S> If your manuscript is good, <S> you submit to a publisher or agent that is interested in your genre, and follow their submission guidelines – <S> look at their website! –, = <S> > you will get a positive reply.
| If your writing is clear and readable and interesting and coherent, they don't care whether you learned that in school or later, or whether you were a great writer in school but your teachers were idiots, or whatever.
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Are collection of short stories more likely to sell than single short stories? I'm about to finish a short story (9000 words). But since I already have another two (7000 words and 6000 words), I was wondering whether I should publish the work as a mini collection of short stories. I thought about this because I've never seen a famous author publish a standalone short story. I'm a new author and I'm planning to publish the ebook at Amazon via Kindle Direct Publishing. What would be my best choice? <Q> There's no need to choose. <S> Do both. <S> Put the individual stories up as singles, and put the collection up also. <S> Just make sure people know what's in the collection. <S> Steven King has published some standalone short stories. " <S> Ur." <S> "Riding the Bullet." <S> Probably some others I can't think of at the moment. <A> For Kindle versions, I'd agree with the other posters that doing both is the easy way out. <S> Maybe a little more trouble, but not all that much. <S> If you find that one or the other has only a tiny number of sales, then maybe next time you don't bother. <S> And hey, maybe you could let us know here. <S> For a printed book, I think you'd want to publish the collection. <S> People rarely buy a printed book that has just one short story because it would presumably be about 20 pages long and look awfully thin. <A> Imagine that you have three potential readers, Alice, Bob, and Carol, and three stories, X, Y, and Z. Alice would pay $3 for X, $2 for Y, and $1 for Z. Bob would pay $3 for Y, $2 for Z, and $1 for X. Carol would pay $3 for Z, $2 for X, and $1 for Y. <S> If you offer X+Y+Z as an anthology for $6, you will get three readers for each story and $18 in gross sales. <S> If you offer them separately for $2 each, you will get two readers for each story and $12 in gross sales. <S> This is why newspapers bundle up news, sports, and arts into one edition instead of selling them separately, and why cable-TV providers don’t let you subscribe to channels on an individual basis. <A> The stories will necessarily be cheaper, and can easily get lost in the "bargain bin." <S> But Dale Emery has a great point <S> -- there's no reason to choose. <S> Make sure you link them all to each other, so people can see how buying the collection is a great deal. <A> My company's just published a collection of stories in a popular genre by some pretty well-known authors, for a decently low price, distributed through mainstream channels <S> and it's sold under 500 copies in six months. <S> If you're after sales, write full-length fiction. <S> If you're fairly prolific, perhaps consider giving away a short story for $0 as a sweetener for some more meaty offerings.
| From everything I've read on the subject, the collection will sell better. Note that short stories are much more difficult to sell than full-length novels.
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How to depict Australian characters In my working novel, a character encounters an Aussie. Having nigh-zero knowledge of how to make dialogues in an Australian accent, I just opted to describe that he talks without any hints of an accent. However, after reading it a few times, I noticed that it would flow better overall if he talks with said accent. I just want some general tips to make the dialogue has more of a stereotypically Australian feel to it. If it helps, here's an excerpt of the book: . “Nice.” He fist-bumped Wrangler. “Just back from London?” Slurx continued. “Sort of.” Wrangler replied. “This slippery Eel ran all the way to Windsor before I was able to nail him.” (P.S: Wrangler is the Australian character.) <Q> Australia is no different to other countries in that accents can be predicated by the person's origins such as whether they grew up in a city or a rural area. <S> Unfortunately (for some) many TV and movie characters depict Aussies that are stereotypically rural types, with a pronounced drawl. <S> That said, rural Aussies have their own distinctive phrases depending on the region of Australia they come from. <S> Some adopt variations of the rhyming slang that is also used in the UK. <S> Others tend to end sentences as though they are questions by the "eh?" ending. <S> This is common in northern parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory. <S> A more typical response for Wrangler might be: "Mate, the bloody eel slipped back to Windsor before I nail'd <S> 'im." <S> By the way, fist bumping is viewed in Australia as more of an American act, although many Americanisms are adopted by Aussies, particularly younger generations. <S> Back slapping is more Australian. <S> Edit: <S> The heavier the use of slang, the more likely the person comes from a rural area and/or has limited education (a generalisation). <S> Here're some slang terms and their meanings used across the country: <S> Ambo : ambulance, ambulance driver. <S> Ankle biter : small child. <S> She'll be apples : It'll be all right. <S> Arvo <S> : afternoon. <S> Back of Bourke : a very long way away. <S> Bastard : term of endearment. <S> Bathers : swimming costume. <S> Battler : <S> someone working hard and only just making a living. <S> Beaut, beauty : great, fantastic. <S> Billy : teapot. <S> Container for boiling water. <S> Bloke : man, guy. <S> Blokey-bloke : macho man. <S> Bloody : very (bloody hard yakka), to add emphasis. <S> Bloody oath! <S> : that's certainly true. <S> Blow in the bag : perform a breathalyser test. <S> Bludger : lazy person, layabout, somebody who always relies on other people to do things or lend him things. <S> Blue : fight ("he was having a blue with his wife"). <S> Blue, make a : make a mistake. <S> Youse : <S> You (plural) <S> More slang can be found here: <S> http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html As requested, some common contractions include: th'sarvo meaning this afternoon: "I'll see ya th'sarvo" g'day meaning 'good day': "G'day, mate" hows't <S> meaning 'how is it': "Hows't goin'?" <S> (pronounced 'how-zit') <S> ava meaning 'have a' : "Ava good weekend." <A> When Hollywood puts an Aussie character in a movie their "accent" stands out like a sore thumb, I have no idea where they get their accent from <S> but it sounds closer to British than Aussie. <S> It's more that we don't accent sounds. <S> I would recommend going more for slang and mannerisms that accent, without overdoing them, we don't say mate every sentence. <S> I agree with the suggestion of watching some Aussie tv shows, I think 'Neighbours' and 'Home and Away' are the longest running and targets a younger audience, ' <S> The Project' is a more recent daily light comedy news/general info show probably with an older audience, ' <S> Big Brother Australia' may be one to watch with real Aussies rather than actors. <S> You can find episodes/clips of each on youtube. <S> From the short example I would think of Crocodile Dundee as a role model, laid back, brush off big things like they happen everyday. <A> If you give the work a "stereotypically Australian feel" then you are creating caricatures not characters. <S> When you are deciding how Wrangler (sic) will speak, you need to consider his level of education, his occupation and the people with whom he associates. <S> These factors will all be more relevant than where he happens to have been born. <S> You may be surprised to learn that not everyone here talks like Barry Bloody Mackenzie Strewth, is that the emus kicking down the flamin' dunny again. <S> A man'd better go and put a stop to that before me cheese-and-kisses does her block. <S> Can't stand around here yackin' all day.
| In general, most Aussies tend to shorten/contract words, use informal and colloquial terms, and drop parts of sentences as though implied.
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Is it possible to write a novel completely devoid of dialogue? I am in the process of writing a novel, and I'm just trying to get some ideas and thought on this. I am not sure yet if I want to completely remove all dialogue, but at this point I feel that dialogue would wreck the characters and the image I am trying to convey. But I am just curious to see others' thoughts on a novel with multiple characters but no dialogue at all. <Q> Short answer: <S> yes. <S> The question is complicated, though, by what counts as 'dialogue'. <S> If you read - for example - Birgit Vanderbeke's <S> The Mussel Feast <S> (Peirene Press, 2013, trans. <S> Jamie Bullock) you won't find any direct speech - i.e., dialogue in quotation marks. <S> But there's plenty of reported speech in there. <S> It's a more difficult technique than direct speech, but the reward is that the entire texture of the prose is conditioned by the narrative voice. <S> There's a greater cohesion, something a little more like storytelling and less like conventional prose fiction. <S> I bring this up just an example, to show that the question has more nuance than just dialogue vs. no dialogue. <S> It's a question primarily of form, and secondarily of content. <S> You haven't gone into much detail about the aesthetic considerations in play, so I can't offer any advice specific to your piece. <S> And as for writing a novel that most people would like (mentioned in another answer this this question). <S> Screw that. <S> Write a novel <S> you think is the best novel you can write, and would be enjoyed by a reader with precisely your taste. <S> If your taste coincides with the zeitgeist, so much the better. <S> But if you're not writing for yourself, you will be able to smell your novel's inauthenticity from the other end of the block. <S> (The other, complementary piece of advice is to read both broadly and deep, so your taste is as informed as it can be .... <S> but that's a given.) <A> The following English language novels have no dialogue: <S> Journey to the End of the Millennium by Abraham B. Yehoshua <S> The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend (turned into a tv series ) <S> The Making of Americans by Gertrude Stein <S> The following German novels have no dialogue: <S> Exerzierplatz <S> ( The Training Ground ) by Sigfried Lenz Das Treffen in Telgte <S> ( The Meeting at Telgte ) by Günter Grass <S> Die <S> Herrlichkeit des Lebens by Michael Kumpfmüller Der <S> Vorleser <S> ( The Reader ) by Bernhard Schlink (turned into a movie ) <S> Gut gegen Nordwind by Daniel Glattauer <S> (This novel consists of the email conversations of a woman with a man who erroneously received her first email, the cancellation of a magazine subscription, due to a typo in the email address. <S> The novel sells well, ranking 642 in books on amazon.de.) <S> La petite robe de Paul <S> (Paul's Little Dress) by Philippe Grimbert <S> Les Derniers Jours de Stefan Zweig by Laurent Seksik Lame de fond by Linda Lê La nuit zoologique by Claude Durand <S> I'm sure there are more. <A> Is it possible? <S> Yes. <S> Actually you could write it right now. <S> But, I think it's the same as asking yourself: Is it possible to make a movie with no sound? <S> Can it be enjoyable to date a girl/boy who doesn't talk? <S> Yes. <S> Maybe. <S> For some. <S> But I'm pretty sure most people won't like it. <S> So the question actually is: Do you want to write a novel that MOST people would like? <S> If the answer is no, well, then go on. <S> (PS: If you write the novel and many people like it, then I retract what I said.) <A> E.L. Doctorow's 1975 novel Ragtime had no dialogue in it, although it did have descriptions of conversations. <S> The book did not contain any dialogue in "quotes. <S> " It's a widely acclaimed novel, and has even been turned into a film (released in 1981, directed by Milos "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" Forman) and a Broadway musical. <S> So it is possible. <S> But Doctorow is a damn good storyteller, which helps. <A> I think it would be possible but a bit boring. <S> Furthermore your readers want information of how your characters would respond. <S> And no one would know, how they get along with each other. <S> The dialogues between the different characters are very important. <S> By the words they say, the readers will know how they relate to each other. <S> Besides, the dialogues make certain situations more interesting and give them a bit variety. <S> It makes everything natural. <S> In addition your characters would get more personality. <S> But I have to say that I like such ideas. <S> They are special and trying something new is always good. <S> Make your experience. <A> It's like... a silent movie. <S> It is good in short stories. <S> But in novel, maybe if it's a first person perspective. <S> But if not, make sure the story is compelling. <S> Good luck!
| The following French novels have no dialogue: À rebours ( Against Nature / Against the Grain ) by Joris-Karl Huysmans (a classic)
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What steps to follow in thinking through the writing of a conclusion? I am teaching some students how to write a 5-paragraph essay. Their writing is coming together, but when it comes to conclusions, they get lost. They have difficulty assembling the ideas for a conclusion. I can show them a list of ideal features, show them sample conclusions, and give them a list of types of conclusions, but I'd really like to give them a process or some steps that they can follow to help them to construct their ideas. Nearly all of the student's essays are persuasive, e.g.: "The school should build a new recreational center"; "More money should be spent on improving roads"; or "Hiking is a great activity." Are there any steps my students can follow which will help them to think through what they could possibly say in the conclusion? <Q> Different schools have different methods (for example, some insist that the last line of the introduction must be the thesis statement), but I learned that a "conclusion" is essentially reiterating the essay. <S> So they summarize each paragraph in one or two sentences, and that's the conclusion. <S> From the old saw about speeches with introductions and conclusions: "Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em, tell 'em, and then tell 'em what you told 'em." <A> In the concluding paragraph you should include the following: An allusion to the pattern used in the introductory paragraph. <S> (The restatement, however, must not be a duplicate thesis statement.) <S> A summary of the three main points from the body of the paper. <S> A final statement that gives the reader signals that the discussion has come to an end. <S> (This final statement may be a "call to action" in an persuasive paper.) <A> Conclusions wrap up what you have been saying in your paper. <S> They tie up any loose ends, briefly summarize the focal point of the paper, and ultimately end the paper with any relevant last words. <S> Conclusions <S> As per the linked resource from Purdue's Online Writing Lab: Restate your topic and why it is important, <S> Restate your thesis/claim, Address opposing viewpoints and explain why readers should align with your position, Call for action or overview future research possibilities.
| A restatement of the thesis statement, using some of the original language or language that "echoes" the original language.
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Should I edit the first draft until I'm totally satisfied or should I leave that to the third draft? After having waited for three months for the first draft of my novel to "cool off," I've finally decided to work on the second one. But now I'm presented with who options: 1) edit the this first draft until I'm totally satisfied 2) edit the first draft, skip those parts I'm having problems with, and try to figure them out on the third draft. Pros of Option 1: I won't have to read my novel like 6 or 7 times until I get sick of it (not that it happened to me before. Maybe it won't). I'll finish the editing a bit faster. Pros of Option 2: Because I distance myself from a scene immediately after writing it, the third time I'll have a fresher mind to decide whether it's a good one or not. Since there are some scenes I want to rewrite completely I'll be less likely to remove scenes that I wrote until satisfaction. Have you faced this dilemma before? Which option you practice, and why you think it's better than the other? <Q> Sounds like you are paving your road to hell. <S> Some ugly truths: <S> To err is human. <S> You are a human being. <S> So by definition you will make mistakes and you will never ever create something that you are totally satisfied it. <S> Let me stress that: <S> Never Ever! <S> You are seeking perfection, but you are human. <S> By definition an erroneous creature like you would need indefinite time to complete something perfect. <S> You can rewrite forever, but you will never find total satisfaction. <S> The thing which has already found you is procrastination (or Resistance as Pressfield put it). <S> Follow this route and you will never finish, never publish, never be satisfied. <S> Rewriting is a skill for its own. <S> You cannot "rescue" your manuscript (if any rescue is necessary at all) with rewriting if you haven't mastered that skill at least to some degree. <S> So don't overemphasize rewriting. <S> Do what Lauren suggested . <S> And keep writing! <S> (Not rewriting). <S> Writing is the essential skill for writers. <S> Concentrate on that. <S> You will never be totally satisfied. <S> It will never be perfect. <S> Nonetheless go and publish. <A> This is a Your Mileage <S> You need input from outside your own head. <A> Since it's been 3 months, you've had your cool-down period. <S> Now you need to go through it once like a grammar teacher, letter by letter, word by word, sentence by sentence. <S> Typing, spelling, and grammar mistakes are not acceptable in a published document. <S> Then go through it like a literature teacher, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph. <S> Does each sentence/paragraph SAY something or DO something? <S> If a sentence/paragraph has no purpose, get rid of it. <S> (Or, less often, add something to fix the problem.) <S> Then go through the book like a cheap movie producer. <S> Pretend every character has to be played by an actor, who must be paid. <S> Axe anyone not necessary. <S> (Novels can carry more characters than short stories, obviously.) <S> Lastly, go through it pretending to be one of your target readers. <S> Will they find it interesting? <S> confusing? <S> funny in the right places? <S> sad in the right places? <S> THIS IS VERY <S> HARD WORK! <S> Much less fun than writing. <S> DO IT!!! <A> Don't rewrite unless you have to. <S> Read it over and fill in missing details, edit the work you've already done, and hand it over to an editor or a friend and have them read over it. <S> They might give you more ideas to go with, and might see things that you haven't yet.
| May Vary question; there is no one right answer. My suggestion would be to go through the draft once more, fix what you think needs fixing, and then find a beta reader and/or an editor for the next round.
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Is it a bad practice to end sentences with phrases like: "...and went over to it" or "...and did X to it?" I often find myself writing stuff like this: Eri's eyes scanned the room, stopping at the bookshelf. She went over to it and, as if she were searching for a secret passage, she examined each of the books. It came all the way from the top of the mountain and ended right in the tiny pond behind me. I went over to the stream and immersed my fingers in it. The current pushed them vigorously, with all the force of a living being. Would it'd been better if I've written them like this? Eri's eyes scanned the room, paused abruptly, and went over to the bookshelf. I went over and immersed my fingers in the stream. I wonder if the first examples are product of some bad writing practice. Or I'm just thinking too much? <Q> I see no problem with the constructions you ask about, aside from what DragonSlayer mentions, that using a “proper word” instead of a pronoun may add interest. <S> What I see as problems in the two examples are reference to eyes and fingers as if they are independent entities. <S> The first example implies that Eri stands there blindly as her eyes wander around the room and stop at the bookshelf. <S> Then Eri goes over to the bookshelf, presumably retrieving her eyes when she gets there. <S> (Your rewrite has Eri's eyes going over to the bookshelf by themselves, without Eri going along.) <S> In the second example, phrases “immersed my fingers in it” and “The current pushed them vigorously” talk about your fingers almost as if they are separate from you, and the water washes them on down the stream. <S> If maintaining the same sense, I'd rewrite sort of as below. <S> (However, changing the sense of the passages might be a good thing to do; I think examining each book on a bookshelf isn't an ordinary way of looking for a secret passage, and it isn't clear to me that the particular water being discussed came clear from the top – <S> surely some water from lower elevations joined it on its way – and it strikes me as unrealistic to expect a flow of water to form a pool and stop there; eventually the pool will overflow, and the water continue on its way). <S> Eri surveyed the room, then turned to the bookshelf. <S> As if searching for a secret passage, she examined each book. <S> This water had flowed down from the top of the mountain, down into the tiny pond behind me. <S> I knelt by the stream and dipped in my hand. <S> The current pushed vigorously, with all the force of a living being. <A> I do think being more descriptive into exactly what IT is, and even the way in which the character is associating with it. <S> An example would be: As Eri's eyes scanned the room, they paused abruptly and shifted to the bookshelf More powerful or descriptive verbiage will help the reader feel like you are showing and not telling. <A> I took a creative writing class and my teacher said that using "it" instead of a proper word to describe what you are looking at or touching is "boring." <S> and in all honesty it is, i would recommend using the second set of examples. <S> As for bad practice i'm not sure <S> , I'm sure it works sometimes, but I would try to avoid it.
| I don't feel describing character actions in this nature is a problem unless you are doing so frequently to the point that you find yourself doing these so often that they popup far more than you would like as you review your own writing, then in that case you could attempt to add more describing/showing what you are leading the characters(and the reader) to.
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Worried that my opening is not gripping enough This is the beginning of a novel I'm writing (not the final draft): The hiking trail consisted of pairs of uneven stone steps. On both sides, tall coniferous trees extended tall into the sky, like an army of giants guarding the forest. From between their trunks an ominous mist watched quietly. In the air was the scent of winter, mixed with the smell of soil, dry leaves, moss. If you listened careful enough, you could hear the chirping of birds and insects—a tune so soft, so subtle, you sometimes thought you were humming to yourself. Watching this scenery, I could see why An-Mei had chosen Alishan for her spiritual retreat. Something about this place made you feel protected, at ease. As though Mother Nature had laid you softly in her arms, and you no longer had to feel suffering or grief. The effect was soothing, almost magical. But was it enough to heal An-Mei's pain? It seems like the hooking part comes after the first paragraph. When the narrator starts talking about An-Mei and her spiritual wounds . They haven't met for a long time so this is a very important meeting for them. How can I convey some of that in the first paragraph, and in a way that connects with the description smoothly? I've tried many options but none of them seem to work. Or should I just leave it as it is? I've always been a firm believer that the first sentences ought to grab the attention of the reader. EDIT How about this? As I made my way uphill, I understood why An-Mei had chosen this place to heal her wounds. I inhaled a deep breath and stopped for a moment to absorb the scenery. The hiking trail consisted of pairs of uneven stone steps... <Q> More flair and detail. <S> The mountain trail consisted of pairs of uneven granite steps. <S> On both sides, majestic spruces and wind-torn pines pointed at the sky, like an army of giants guarding the sanctuary. <S> From between their trunks ominous mists watched quietly. <S> The air bore the scent of winter, soil, dry leaves and moss. <S> Hiking - sport-like activity - clashes with this mood. <S> If you can solidify abstractions, do so. <S> Stone -> granite. <S> Coniferous trees -> Spruces and pines. <S> Give them some character. <S> Trees are the forest, so they aren't guarding the forest. <S> This would be a minor point but you are striking a tone of pathos and pathos works only if it's perfect, flawless. <S> Every tiny slip makes it a parody, so you can't afford a forest guarding a forest. <S> If you do anthropomorphize, keep doing so. <S> Use passive voice only when you need to express the passive position - helplessness, laziness. <S> Remember, if you aim at "gripping" you can't afford any cheapness. <S> Not a word. <S> If you had time to build up a situation, you might use simple language and still grip the reader's heart, but since this is the beginning, you didn't have the time, so you must use perfection instead. <A> I always fall back on a very useful piece of info I once received: <S> many publishers, upon reading a first paragraph that is pure description, will simply discard the piece and move on. <S> I often use prologues to give the reader a taste of the action, hooking them in before I get into the story proper, but as your story is one of self-discovery <S> I don't think approach would sit well. <S> The simplest solution I can see is to swap the first and second paragraphs: <S> I could see why An-Mei had chosen Alishan for her spiritual retreat. <S> Something about the place made you feel protected, at ease. <S> As though Mother Nature had laid you softly in her arms, and you no longer had to feel suffering or grief. <S> The effect was soothing, almost magical. <S> The hiking trail consisted of pairs of uneven stone steps. <S> On both sides, tall coniferous trees extended tall into the sky, like an army of giants guarding the forest. <S> From between their trunks an ominous mist watched quietly. <S> In the air was the scent of winter, mixed with the smell of soil, dry leaves, moss. <S> If you listened careful enough, you could hear the chirping of birds and insects—a tune so soft, so subtle, you sometimes thought you were humming to yourself. <S> But was it enough to heal An-Mei's pain? <A> Ditto on the good advice and rewrites already given. <S> You might hint at the setting as well. <S> Shifting the description of the hiking trail to the second sentence helps achieve all of that. <S> To keep readers engaged in that second sentence, you may want to consider a different verb than "consisted of. <S> " <S> That's just a fancy way of saying "exists as," so it acts like a passive voice being verb. <S> Instead, infer the steps are uneven by describing how the main character must step over them.
| Especially with a short story, you want to establish the main character and the story's central problem in that opening sentence.
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Using P.S. in a formal email I had a quick question in regards to using P.S. I just finished writing up a formal follow-up email for an interview. I touched over a lot of information and brought up some new topics. Anyway, I have noticed some issues between my email and their email in getting/receiving replies. Sometimes their reply never reaches me and so I want to add a "P.S." or maybe a "Note" simply stating For some reason my email has not been receiving all of secretary's name replies, i.e. I never received the interview date email until I called to check up on its status. If I do not reply to an email within 24 hours it is most likely due to the email never reaching me, so please feel free to call. How should I P.S./Note this, and does this sound too informal? I am stumped about this. And should I note this before or after my final thank you? <Q> A postscript is a passage at the end of a letter, following the signature. <S> It only makes sense in the context of a letter composed by hand or on a typewriter, to accommodate an afterthought when you have already finished your letter, and don't want to retype or rewrite the whole thing again. <S> It makes no sense in an email context - or even a paper letter composed on a word processor - because you can just insert the extra text above the signature, without having to retype the whole thing. <S> If you just want a way of introducing a side topic, you could just use a phrase like 'incidentally', 'on another note', 'by the way', etc. <A> I use P.S. in emails fairly often. <S> As others points out, P.S. stands for postscript ("after signature") and it means the content was added after the message was signed. <S> However, just because technology gives you the choice of re-wording a message to avoid a postscipt, that doesn't mean you must re-word the message to avoid a postscript. <S> You may chose to use a post-script (1) as a stylistic choice, to emphasize that the content was added as an afterthought, esp. <S> for humorous effect; (2) if you genuinely don't have time to re-write the letter, or working the afterthought into the original flow <S> would be too disruptive to the original message, perhaps because the afterthought is on a completely different topic. <S> Having it as a postscripts helps draw attention to it. <S> It's true that emails (or word processing in general) make it easy to avoid postscripts. <S> But just because postscripts are not required , doesn't mean that they are prohibited . <S> They can be used as a literary device as explained in section 1381 of The Gregg Reference Manual (6th edition): <S> (emphasis mine) <S> Many times emails are not signed. <S> In that case I would feel strange using a P.S.without a signature. <S> I may use an alternate way of introducing the text such as "By The Way" or BTW or "on a different topic...." <S> Or I would intentionally add my name to the bottom of the mail just so I can use a P.S. in a literal rather than metaphorical way. <A> A P.S. at the end of an email can be a handy way of avoiding condescension, especially when you want to clarify a small detail without explicitly stating what that detail is. <S> Eventually, there will be a human reading your email, so you should consider elements of that if it can help you.
| "A postscript can be effectively used to express an idea that has been deliberately withheld from the body of a letter; stating this idea at the very end gives it strong emphasis."
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How to indicate emphasis in plain text manuscripts Some short story markets (e.g. Daily Science Fiction) request manuscripts in plain text. How do you indicate emphasis in a plain text manuscript? <Q> There is no universal answer to this, as there are many ways of indicating emphasis in plain text. <S> In the case of Daily Science Fiction, they have a page of story formatting guidelines . <S> As far as I can tell, they don't want any formatting at all. <S> Emphasis mine: <S> Stories must be submitted as plain text* via our web form. <S> Please don't put your address, word count, title, name or other information in the form. <S> Please don't retype your entire story--copy and paste it into the form (once you've saved your document as plain text). <S> If a story is accepted for publication, we'll contact you to incorporate any formatting and layout needed. <S> *Plain text means no smart quotes, no curvy apostrophes, no magic ellipses, no clever Microsoft formatting that sometimes makes your story harder to read. <S> I would personally find this somewhat strange, but defying submission guidelines is a certain means to have your story rejected out of hand. <S> If I were submitting to this magazine, I'd look for a way to get clarification on this. <S> However, in general: Read the submission guidelines. <S> Every publication may have slightly different ones. <A> All-caps run the risk of being printed in all-caps. <A> In a modern wiki-age, we should use the MarkDown convention, in our plain text scripts if our scripts require textual emphasis or augmentation that plain text would otherwise be incapable of expressing. <S> Wikipedia: <S> MarkDown <S> The Markdown language was created in 2004 by John Gruber with substantial contributions from Aaron Swartz, with the goal of allowing people “to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid XHTML (or HTML)” <S> MarkDown is the very formatting you will use in posting on StackOverflow/StackExchange. <S> As you can see from the Wikipedia page, it is very comprehensible even when viewed as plain text. <S> That is the reason why it was invented. <S> You could then run it over a MarkDown viewer/editor, aka Wiki editor. <S> Software-wise, such editors are comparatively very easy to write, compared to other kinds of formatted word-processors. <S> Experienced wiki authors do not even need a wiki-editor and could write MarkDown in plain text and texted over a phone or to their blog. <S> Just like an aged and effectively deaf Beethoven who could still write phenomenal movements as he was able to "picture" the sounds of his arrangements. <S> Get used to it and you will find it a very convenient skill. <S> It's not even a "skill". <S> It does not require much skill to read or write it - the reason why it was invented. <S> In fact, I think Congress (of the United States) should have a bill to have all plain text documents requiring formatting be henceforth written in MarkDown.
| Either underscores or asterisks around the words, I would think. Your best bet is to read the submission guidelines of the publication that you're submitting to, as each may have different requirements.
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Where to put counter-examples within a 5-paragraph essay? I am tutoring some students in the very basics of writing a 5-paragraph essay to present an argument, in preparation for more advanced academic writing. I am instructing them to include: An introduction with thesis Three body paragraphs, each with statements that supporting the thesis and evidence A conclusion Sometimes, the students want to present counter-arguments to their thesis. For example, they organized the five paragraphs like this: ¶1 thesis: Dogs make great pets. ¶2 statement: Dogs can make people happy. Examples. ¶3 statement: Dogs can rescue people. Examples. ¶4 statement: However, dogs are not clean. Examples. ¶5 conclusion. Is it okay to include an entire paragraph based around a counter-example like this. What would be the appropriate place for such a counter-example to appear? <Q> If you simply ignore counter-arguments, and a reader is aware of them, his response is likely to be, "Well, he just completely ignored the fact that X." As Paul Clayton says, if you give the pro, then the con, then with no rebuttal or reply to the con you give your conclusion, it can make the argument look weak or disconnected. <S> It can come across as, "Here is my argument, here is why my argument is flawed, but I'm just going to ignore the flaws and stick to my original thesis. <S> " When I am writing a persuasive essay, I don't end with counter-examples. <S> I may end with counter-examples followed by rebuttals. <S> More often, I start with the position I disagree with, then show why it's wrong, then give my conclusion. <S> But there are many ways to structure an essay. <S> The shorter an essay the less time you're going to spend on rebuttals. <S> In a 5-paragraph essay I might well skip rebuttals as there's just no time to get into them. <A> I think there are a couple of equally valid ways that it could be done, depending on how they chose to structure their argument. <S> Thesis <S> Supporting Argument <S> Supporting Example <S> Counterexample Conclusion Is perfectly fine. <S> However I don't see that there is anything wrong with: Thesis Supporting Argument Counterexample Merciless destruction of counterexample Conclusion Or even: Thesis <S> Counterexample <S> Why the counterexample is fair. <S> Why the original thesis is better. <S> Conclusion <A> It depends on what the "point" of the essay is, and how it's set up in the intro/thesis. <S> If the goal of the essay is to argue "dogs make great pets," then there shouldn't be a counter-argument at all. <S> If the goal is to present both sides of a point, then the intro needs to say that, and I would suggest Para 2 is the Pro, Para 3 is the Con, and maybe Para 4 discusses which is stronger or has more weight. <S> At the moment your two-pro/one-con feels lopsided. <S> In any case, I would certainly put pro arguments before con arguments, so you're heading in the right direction. <A> I am learning this in Language Arts right now. <S> I am in sixth grade, and we are writing 5 paragraph argumentative essays. <S> I believe the counterargument should be in the 4th paragraph, and then you give more pros that will outnumber the cons, so the reader is convinced. <S> We usually use three prongs, to make our writing more organized. <S> So if you do it this way, you can introduce your third reason in your fourth paragraph, and THEN provide a counterargument. <A> However, in abstracts of scientific papers, I notice that alternative opinions or theses are often placed after the declaration of the thesis. <S> That has the intention to, as a respected scientist should, fore-warn readers that the thesis at hand is but one of multiple possibilities, or that the thesis is complementary or supplementary to other opinions - so that the thesis at hand should be taken in consideration with, or compared against, <S> all the other theses mentioned. <A> I think you need to remember that the five paragraph essay is not a normal literary form, it is an artificial training exercise (of dubious merit, if you ask me, but that is beside the point). <S> Training exercises are designed to isolate certain aspects of an activity in order to focus on them in practice. <S> (Like learning to drive standard by practicing in an empty parking lot rather than stalling your car on the public roads.) <S> As such, you set the rules to force students to practice the particular skill you are trying to train them for. <S> If you are trying to train them to address counter arguments than that should be a required part of the drill. <S> If you are trying to train them to marshal arguments in favor of a position, then it should not. <S> There is no right or wrong here except in regard to the specific skill you are trying to isolate and practice.
| In my humble opinion, it's a good idea in a persuasive essay to at least acknowledge counter-arguments. I believe (and notice) that the most effective location is just before the Conclusion , if the alternate opinions are elaborative and has a measure of being the devil's advocate .
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Am I breaking the "show don't tell" rule in the following passage? Then, as if sensing my presence, the girl turned around. She looked young. Probably sixteen or seventeen. She had long black hair, crimson red lips, and a skin so pale it made me wonder whether she had blood at all. But what struck me the most were her eyes. Even though there was nothing unusual in them, they made her face look lifeless, completely devoid of expression. It felt strange. Like staring at an empty canvas. In the last part I'm telling the reader the girl's eyes make her face look lifeless. I didn't actually describe them (e.g. they were black, white, etc.) But, I don't know, I think I'm also showing the reader how her face looks by stating what it's lacking? <Q> Rules are there to be broken, and here you break this rule masterfully. <S> Yes, that is "telly", but being surrounded by entirely "showy" parts, assuring the reader that you were diligent with the descriptions, you suddenly discard the looks and throw the impression instead; it's jarring - as it should be. <S> It draws the reader's focus, marks the information as especially important, contrasting it with the generic description surrounding it, making that part stand out by just making it sink through telling that to us directly, overshadowing the importance of normal appearance. <S> Leave as is. <S> Yes, you broke the rule, and you did right. <A> "Show don't tell" isn't really a rule in the sense that "don't murder the lead character halfway through the story" is a rule. <S> It's a guideline that is especially useful to new authors. <S> In fact, all storytelling is, well, telling, hence the name, and at any time you're going to be doing a variety of showing and telling to get your point across while keeping the pacing solid and moving the story forward. <S> As to this particular description... well, descriptions are generally speaking "telly" in nature. <S> I'm not sure there's a lot of ways to get around that, except to intersperse description in amongst a scene and that may or may no work for what you want to accomplish. <S> Two points I do want to add about this kind of thing: <S> If it's your first draft, just put something there and move on. <S> Always assume you will need to rewrite what you put down because, well, you will. <S> I mean, unless that blocks you, then pretend that your first draft will be a magical gift. <S> In any case, in my experience anyway it's better to make a stab at something and then move on then to spend a lot of time on the first draft getting a passage right. <S> For all you know the passage won't even be in the final cut. <S> Regarding description in general and first-person in particular, I think the trick here is not so much to worry about showing vs. telling but to always bear in mind that you're looking at things through your protagonist's eyes. <S> The neat thing about first-person and limited-third descriptions is that you often tell just as much information about your narrator as you do the described object. <S> In this case, it's a bit on the neutral side <S> but I can already glean a bit of anti-pale people prejudice (I mean, sometimes pale folks just don't have enough sunlight! <S> They aren't all zombies). <S> He's also the kind of person who says words like "crimson" instead of "red", which may or may not mean something later on. <A> The two problems that I see with this passage are: <S> “Even though there was nothing unusual in them” — You don’t need to explicitly tell the reader that something is not unusual. <S> (One of my least favorite tics in YA fiction is the main character describing herself as neither beautiful nor ugly.) <S> “It felt strange” — “Strange” is such a vague word that it really adds nothing to the description here. <S> Maybe you could call this a “show don’t tell” rule violation, but I think that rule is overrated to begin with. <A> I don't like "Even though there was nothing unusual in them,...". <S> My attempt at a rewrite: <S> But what struck me the most were her eyes. <S> I can remember nothing about them, whether blue or brown, large or small. <S> I only remember they made her face look lifeless, completely devoid of expression. <S> I was staring at an empty canvas. <A> Suggest minor edits: <S> As if sensing my presence, the girl turned around. <S> She looked young. <S> Probably sixteen or seventeen. <S> Her long black hair, crimson red lips, and skin so pale made me wonder whether she had any blood at all. <S> What struck me most were her eyes. <S> There was nothing unusual in them, but they made her face look lifeless, completely devoid of expression. <S> It felt strange. <S> Like staring at an empty canvas.
| The fact that the narrator can't describe them -- except by their effect on his perception of her face -- makes them quite unusual.
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How to retrieve the number of copies sold for a specific book? I'm doing a research and I'm would like to know actually how many copies of a specific book has been sold until now. I really don't know where can I find this number and what is the more accurate way to get an accurate value. A pratical example: How many copies of Bright Earth: The Invention of Colour (2001) by Philip Ball have been sold until now? <Q> Yes, you can, but it's expensive and not 100% reliable. <S> See <S> http://www.nielsenbookscan.co.uk/controller.php?page=48 <S> There used to be a $85 book research service through a company called The Book Standard, but they are no longer in business. <S> You can try and extrapolate what current Amazon sales are like. <S> See <S> http://www.fonerbooks.com/surfing.htm <S> Also, see the calculator that basically does the same thing for Amazon: http://kdpcalculator.com/index.php <A> Some strategies you can try are: Contact the publisher and/or author directly. <S> While it does not give total sales figures and represents only one retailer (though a large one), the record for each book on Amazon.com includes information on its ranking in sales compared to other books offered by Amazon. <S> In some cases of famous authors, researchers may have already determined this information. <S> For books from 2001 to the current date, approximate sales data may have been gathered by Nielsen Book Scan, a subscription service marketed mostly to publishers and bookstore chains; however, the University of Minnesota does not subscribe to this service. <S> For bestsellers, PUBLISHERS' WEEKLY (Wilson Periodicals Room) includes estimates of total sales in annual bestsellers lists, which are usually printed in March for the previous year; for example, the 2001 lists are in the March 18, 2002 issue. <S> BOWKER ANNUAL: <S> LIBRARY AND BOOK TRADE ALMANAC (Several locations including Wilson Reference Z731 .A47) also includes this data. <S> Rarely, you might find an individual news story about the book in PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY that gives such figures, especially if it is an unexpected success. <S> Check the copyright page (usually the reverse of the title page) of the most recent edition of the book you can find to see if it has gone into multiple printings, and if so, how many. <S> While this does not provide real figures (since the size of each printing is rarely specified) you can assume that a title that has gone back to press several times has sold well. <S> ( source ) <A> With the Reporting API, Developers can use the Reporting API to download sales reports and subscription reports. <S> See https://developer.amazon.com/it/docs/reports-promo/reporting-API.html#example <S> The following example shows how to request the sales report for January 2018 (some tech skill is required) <S> Request: <S> curl -v -k -X <S> GET "https://developer.amazon.com/api/appstore/download/report/sales/2018/04 <S> " -H "Authorization: <S> Bearer Atc|MQEBIDdrcC586BxhFBdS7FQVS454oUO-fo90H5gUYVMZB1UVsPFoOPLj_zrpkf9BuMrx <S> -PksU_qDJHL-PJ5suEQTigL1tv7A6AKlyoJJaoyzyzKhd0dwWw3LWUGrlxXxW459nJJH66F89GSBolrmlfuNONly8Cbts2Fy_KHI9YwvzwSVcgf_nvefss_H1O8tsvoYpORVuL8IXBrzT7bHxU0Xj5VjiaxDtU6N4oOQafefT8AcdN0IOYnh3Us8uEeeur3_OH473JwO3SjA4NRaS61Aq37UyhvM9pK3ccGOO5JoMkw1V9kDQQVhKiGWfCoTUBlaVkU <S> " Response: https://appstore-adx-reporting.s3.amazonaws.com/85923/sales/sales_2018_01.zip?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20180405T060912Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=299&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAJMFYXPVLQKTRRB7Q%2F20180405%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=adab43be54631565d330727383341d56989d129e4dea151411cf7a802b9e5e12
| Books that identify first editions for the rare/used book trade, such as FIRST PRINTINGS OF AMERICAN AUTHORS (Wilson Quarto PS88 .F57x 1977), may contain this information. Check biographies of the author and bibliographies of works about him or her.
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Who can help me to describe the text line from my story in slow motion? This here is a line of my story: As we were in the middle of our conversation, I saw a blinding light heading straight for us, followed by an abrupt honk. Mom screamed as if she saw a ghost, and her scream was interrupted as a powerful force hit the car. When it did, my head ran into the dashboard, leaving a bloody splotch. I felt several pieces of glass scrape my face, the immensely sharp pain carving into my skin. Everything was moving in slow motion. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the horrid sight of my mother's head being lashed into window. When I woke up, wires were hooked up to my feeble body, and my whole body was in pain. I try to make the accident more dramatic in slow motion like; you can see the lights then hear the metal hit. See the glass flying and more stuff like that but no matter how hard I try, every time I add something it does not really fit to the text. I really need help of an experienced writer or someone who is good at this. <Q> Add more sensory details. <S> One way to think of slow motion is that the camera (or your mind) is speeding up, so that it becomes aware of more of what is happening. <S> To represent that, show more of what the camera sees, what the mind is aware of. <S> For example, I was carjacked once. <S> A guy pointed a gun at my face and told me to get in my car. <S> At that instant, the thought in my head was, "I know this script. <S> This is the part where I get in the car. <S> " That is a very detached thought. <S> So: Sensory details. <S> Detached thoughts. <A> I've been in several car accidents. <S> The bad ones don't happen in slow motion. <S> The onset is so fast, all you can think of is "Jesus!" <S> Then you're being thrown around, during which time you don't actually think. <S> You feel; you experience; but you don't process it. <S> You're at the level of an abused animal. <S> Then suddenly it's over, and at some point you realize you're not dead. <S> Your humanity returns, and -- if you're not badly hurt -- you start crying about your wrecked car. <A> First I'm just gonna say "what do I know?" <S> By that I mean, do what feels right to you because there is no universally right or wrong way when it comes to writing. <S> With that said, you should take out "Everything was moving in slow motion" and replace this with more description. <S> Try slowing down your pacing, try describing everything the character hears, smells, feels, sees, tastes. <S> So, instead of telling me "Everything was moving in slow motion" show me how everything was moving in slow motion. <S> Hope it helps. <S> FB <A> The nearest equivalent in prose to “slow motion” in video is the stream-of-consciousness style; you could describe the jumbled thoughts and “this reminds me of that” ideas cascading through the narrator’s <S> head in between the honk and the impact. <S> N.B.: <S> It’s an established convention in the movies that when something very dramatic happens, like a car crash, the director portrays it in slow motion. <S> However , just because that style works in the movies doesn’t mean you should use it in fiction. <A> I would hardly call myself an "experienced writer", but here we go. <S> I feel like slow motion could be a good idea, but a lot of the time car crashes are very fast, and you can't really decipher what happens afterwards. <S> So in conclusion, slow motion can be a good idea, just not in that specific scene.
| In my experience, the "slow motion" of an accident is accompanied by a kind of detachment, so that afterwards, it seems as if time both sped up and slowed down.
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Is my serial-killer novel horror or crime? I'm writing a novel which centers around a serial killer and his victims. I'm having a lot of trouble deciding whether it belongs in the horror genre (it's a disturbing, horrific slasher, and a lot of the book works on horror and dread) or in crime (because a lot is about the good guys' hunt for the killer, and also there's no supernatural element). I've read other fiction which seems similarly borderline to me ( Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris, J.A. Konrath's first Jack Daniels book, and others), and on Amazon I indeed see these books listed in both categories. But I find it's important to have a single primary tag to focus on - for my elevator pitch, for query letters, for general promotion. How can I tell which genre is better for my particular book? And, once I decide on one or the other as my 'main' genre, is there anything I need to do to fit better into the genre I've chosen, and make the book less borderline? <Q> Which is the primary focus of your story: the villain, or the investigation?Is <S> the investigation a tool to learn more about the villain, or is the cunning villain a means to complicate the investigation? <S> Is the duel between the investigator and the criminal the focus, or is it just means to display the twisted mind of the criminal in all gory glory? <S> Answer that <S> , and you'll know how to classify your story. <A> I agree with SF and Lauren that who your POV character is affects this. <S> But I'll take a different approach in answering this: when you talk about your project socially (e.g. with friends/family), what do you tend to focus on? <S> What's exciting about this to you? <S> When you're not worried about making a good, professional, business impression on an editor or publisher and can "just talk", what comes out of your mouth? <A> Why do you want so much to fit your novel in a particular genre? <S> If you have practical reasons, well, then I understand. <S> But as far as I know, you can select multiple categories and keywords on Amazon. <S> I think you should be happy you're having problems classifying your novel. <S> It means it breaks some genre conventions, therefore, in my opinion, it's more likely for it to be an original piece. <S> Take Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl as example. <S> Reviewers are still having trouble deciding whether it belongs to genre fiction or literary fiction. <S> It is a thriller novel, but at the same time a romance novel. <S> But genre aside, it still got into the #1 New York Best Seller. <S> I think forcing your work to be of a particular genre is like forcing your children to be of a particular religion. <S> Again, if you have practical reasons for it, then I would like to hear them. <A> I'm of the same mind as SF. <S> Is the protagonist the killer or the good guys? <S> If it's a crime novel, tone down the blood spatter and have more in the precinct. <S> Lengthen the scenes where the detectives throw theories back and forth; set up more red herrings to be chased down; show us how the footwork works. <S> Give us cop lingo and police red tape. <S> If it's a horror novel, then we don't really care how the cops end up where they do, only that they arrive too late. <S> Then you'd want to spend more time setting up how the killer chooses a victim, why the victim is appealing, how he gets to each one, what he does with each one. <S> Maybe introduce the victim at the beginning of the day and thread in the killer stalking the person.
| The angle that you're most excited about is probably the right one to pursue.
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Best way to convey an immediate change of scenery Okay, bear with me. Think of it like this: My character is stuck in an situation whereby every time he sleeps, he wakes up at a different time (as in the past/future, not 8:00am), in a different environment. He may close his eyes and open them in a future where human civilisation is no more, then sleep once more and open his eyes when dinosaurs are roaming the earth. I don't immediately want to give away where he is or what time to the reader, because I want the reader to feel as lost as the character, but I do want my writing to reflect from the offset that he's now in a different place. How can I do that without giving away crucial points about the environment itself? Is this something I could to subtly through adjusting my pacing/writing style in addition to differently structured/worded descriptions? <Q> Get down inside the character's head and focus on sensory details. <S> Write what the character sees, hears, smells, feels, tastes. <S> Pay particular attention to any details that the character has an opinion about. <A> Ceiling. <S> It's amazing how much and how little one can tell about their environment from observing the little piece of ceiling above their head. <S> It's the first thing you see as you open your eyes (while sleeping on your back), and combining with Dale's answer, will give a clear and obvious sense of difference: while you can hear birds that weren't there, or your roommate started working on a soundtrack for a movie, it's damn hard to replace your apartment roof with a canopy of giant ferns and horsetails, or a dome with view on ocean from below. <S> Additionally, after waking up your eyes focus slowly, and your brain goes up to speed slowly too, so you may skimp on detail or expand them (mentioning glaze on eyes and haze in mind) as you see fit, to differentiate between just "different" and describing what place that actually is. <A> Present: <S> annoying alarm clock buzz. <S> Past: Cuckoo clock chiming. <S> Way Past: Blacksmith's anvil. <S> WayWay Past: Giant dragonfly buzzing. <S> Future: <S> Talking robot.
| Write what he thinks about those sensory details. The waking trigger could be different each time.
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Can you use a company's name as title for a short story? I'm writing a short story about a girl whose boyfriend is doing in internship in another city. She goes to visit him every week. But the guy always call at the last minute, saying he can't come and gives her some lame excuse. So every time, the girl ends up sitting alone in the city's train station, at Sushi Express , eating sushi and meeting some strange characters. I want to call the story Sushi Express which is a real sushi shop. Is it legally OK to use it as the title of my short story? If not, what trick can I use to sort this out? (I thought of other names but they sound terrible: Sushi Expressway, High-speed Sushi, Speedy Sushi, etc.) I'm not planning to publish the story yet. But I hope I won't have any problems in the future (based on the legal system of all over the world, since I'm more likely to publish it on Amazon.) <Q> Well, there is one simple and universal answer: Ask Sushi Express for written permission. <S> Otherwise, BESW's comment is right; that depends on your local legal system. <S> Answers will vary depending on where you and Sushi Express are. <A> In the united states what you are as is probably fair use (fair dealing in other jurisdictions) but few companies understand fair use, so you will probably be sued and even if you win which might be problematic, I have seen district court judges ignore fair use, might be very expensive, so be careful. <S> I would personally recommend a longer title such as Thursday at sushi express, and licencing or endorsement. <S> (ask sushi express if they would like you to promote their second best selling dish and collect a little money. <S> which would be an implicit licence.) <S> I have never heard anything specific about this restaurant's legal practices or their lawyers, so my advice is based on typical corporations. <A> (disclaimer: <S> I am not a lawyer) <S> “Sushi Express” is presumably a trademark, so if you use it as the title of the story, then you are trying to profit off their corporate reputation. <S> Even if the story portrays the store in a favorable light, some insufficiently busy lawyer in Sushi Express’s corporate headquarters might decide that if anyone is going to make money off short stories using their trademark, then by God, they should get a piece of the action. <A> It's helpful to remember that John Updike's story "A&P" didn't arouse any trademark issues -- and it was published in the New Yorker in 1961 and later in Pigeon Feathers.
| If the story puts their shop in a good light, they should be glad to provide it (free publicity/product placement) and you'll be in the clear legally.
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In a thriller, should my famous cities be familiar, or fresh? The bigger, and more famous, a city, the more it tends to show up in thrillers. The biggest ones - New York, London, Paris, Tokyo - have been set-pieces in any number of thrillers, and I can assume most of my readers have read other novels using them for setting. When I write a thriller featuring a major city like this, I'm not sure what atmosphere I should be aiming for: Do I want my description of the city to play to the reader's expectations, to give them what they're expecting? Or should I prefer a fresh angle, an unusual take, something substantially different from the typical portrayal? I feel like familiarity risks cliche and dullness; but a significant twist may leave readers feeling cheated, not getting what they love about the familiar settings to begin with. Narratively, I could go either way here; my choices in detail and atmosphere will obviously affect the segments within the major cities, but the novel as a whole will be fine either way. <Q> Make the atmosphere and the perspective serve the story, not vice versa. <S> It's a different story if your own home - the place you know in and out - transforms into a battle arena and either serves as your weapon, its nooks and crannies providing an advantage over the oppressor, or a traitor - a years-old companion turning on you and places <S> you knew to be your safe haven becoming deathtraps. <S> Or maybe you knew and hated the city forever, and today the city hates you back? <S> Or maybe the streets you'd known long open a new mystery, where an unknown force operates - <S> and you don't understand it. <S> In time you may form an alliance with the living city, against the invasive force. <S> It's a different story if you're thrown into a big, strange, alien place and forced to swim upstream - while under fire. <S> The city is a jungle which you need to overcome, find a way, where the antagonist feels at home and uses the advantages mercilessly. <S> Or it's a second, impartial antagonist, hostile both to you and to your opponent - giving you little advantages when you're about to declare your rage and hate, betraying and thwarting an opponent you'd never beat alone. <S> Summing up <S> What role you assign that character is entirely up to you. <S> A villain, an impartial observer, a condescending god, a trusted friend, a traitor, a prankster, a judge - it's all up to you, as the writer of the story. <S> Pick a different role and the story will change. <S> Characterize it as if you'd characterize a person. <S> Is it a person the protagonist (and readers) know well, or a mysterious stranger - that's up to you to decide. <A> I think you can have both in the story. <S> What you can do is to add little details to add some familiarity, and use the rest to produce something fresh (the unique way in which the character sees the world). <S> For instance, in the novels I read, authors describe the surroundings in such a way that seems very new and unique. <S> But they also add a few subtle details like mentioning 7-Elevens and Mcdonalds. <S> It makes me think: "Oh, this is just like in my city. <S> Feels familiar." <S> To give you another example, in a story I'm writing, I chose a famous mountain in my country (though not very famous worldwide). <S> I did my research <S> and I added some accurate geographical info (e.g. coniferous trees, forest railway, etc). <S> But also, at the same time , I describe the surroundings based on the character's feelings. <S> Like, when he first arrives the mountain he sees the trees as giants guarding the forest (since he feels at ease, protected). <S> Later on, when he's following a mysterious girl through the forest, he describe being in the woods as being at the bottom of a dark sea or being an intruder (reflecting his fear and uncertainty). <S> I believe the surroundings should be a reflection of the character moods and feelings <S> (Or as SF. said, "... <S> it should serve the story"). <A> If you're going to set something in a familiar city, I want all the details to prove you know it. <S> I want it to be like when we watch <S> Elementary or Person of Interest <S> and we're constantly pausing to see what street the show was filmed on because we recognize the bodega on the corner. <S> If you're just setting the book in A Major City, and the character and flavor and personality of the city are not any real part of the story, then pick something fresh. <S> Don't send your character to W80th Street and not bother to mention Zabar's.
| : Think of the city as yet another character in your story, a live, feeling character in one of primary roles. I think the reader won't feel cheated as long as you don't make a big geographical mistake.
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How do I write for webcomics? I want to start a webcomic. For this, I expect I'll be doing a lot of writing. I once had someone draw a webcomic based on my writing and it was a nonsensical mess. The art was good, but nobody knew what was going on at any given moment, even with narration boxes. My question is: How do I write for webcomics? I plan on making this series a 10 year run at least. <Q> A comic -- web or paper, cartoon strip or sophisticated graphic novel -- is a different medium from conventional written stories. <S> The biggest difference is that it's hard to do exposition; those long explanatory passages that you could slip into a novel don't fit into a few panels. <S> It's also hard to convey nuances like meaningful gazes. <S> So think about the tools you have available in a comic: dialogue coarse (not subtle) gestures and body language short narrative bits <S> What I'm calling "short narrative bits" are the inserts you sometimes see, the "meanwhile, back at the ranch... <S> " context switches. <S> While some comics have longer passages (taking up entire panels) to connect story bits (e.g. Prince Valiant), it's not common. <S> If you're just getting started, you probably want to stick with the common approaches; don't make your audience read through a wall of text. <S> Comics have way more dialogue than most other storytelling media. <S> Look at a random sampling of comics and you'll see a lot of voice bubbles (and occasional thought bubbles). <S> While some comics do convey story well through well-done, nuanced art (e.g. Sandman ), it's the exception. <S> Since you don't have a top-notch artist to work with, you should probably be thinking in terms of less-ambitious drawing , perhaps even stick figures . <S> Simpler art is even more of a consideration for web comics. <S> The publishers of comic books know they're printing at 600dpi (or whatever) on a certain page size. <S> Computer displays don't have anywhere near that resolution and people might be reading your comic on anything from a regular monitor to a tablet to a phone. <S> If your comic relies on subtleties in the art, some of your readers are going to miss it. <S> You said you expect to be doing "a lot of writing" for this project. <S> Further, if you're planning a long-running project, your style will almost certainly change over time, so as you improve your skills you can take on more challenges. <S> You don't need to start on day one with the most-ambitious goals. <A> Joe Sacco, an excellent comic artist (printed, not web), does sometimes do “illustrated narrative” comics, where there’s quite a bit of writing in narrative form, not dialogue, but the illustration still dominates ( <S> so it’s still a comic, not an illustrated novel). <S> You have to get to the fourth page of Gunnerkrigg Court before you see any dialogue. <S> Before then, it’s all first-person narration. <S> Khaos Komix has quite a lot of first-person narration, nicely mixed with dialogue. <S> Tab’s latest venture, Shades of A , has a similar structure, but it’s laid out visually differently, as printed text between panels (page 6 is a particularly nice example). <S> I’ve not seen that style used elsewhere. <S> Girl Genius opens with a storyteller character, who narrates the next page, but after that we never hear from him again. <S> (Actually, he does turn up as a character in the story, many months later, but there isn’t any more narration.) <S> So, there is more than one way to write a comic. <S> A comic with no dialogue would certainly be unusual, and I can’t think of an example, but it would be one way to go about it. <A> scene (notes to the illustrator) action (notes to the illustrator) <S> dialog <S> You know, this sounds like a script, so write a script, nothing more, nothing less.
| I suggest -- from the perspective of a reader, not writer, of comics -- that you not think in terms of "a lot" of writing, but rather think about how to boil down your story into comic-installment-sized chunks of mostly dialogue and simple action.
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Exercises for improving 3rd person perspective writing Recently I started writing a story. Two equally important protagonists, omniscient 3rd person narrator, a rather sweet romance. And it was not good. The interactions felt shallow. Despite the ability to get into mind of any of the characters, I was rarely getting in mind of either, and the descriptions of their actions felt dry and not compelling, not immersive at all. For a try, I shifted the perspective, 1st person of one of the protagonists. Immediately, I could jump in her mind, add much needed impressions, observations, the descriptions gained depth, the story got captivating and pretty good. Conclusion 1. Rewrite the whole as 1st person. That works. I can do that. Conclusion 2. I suck at writing 3rd person. I can't write that immersively. Can't strike balance between peeking right in mind of the protagonist and keeping distance. How do I fix that? Any exercises? Suggestions? <Q> In my opinion, writing with a omniscient 3rd person character is the most difficult exercice. <S> Since you're seem to be able to write as 1st person, I think this exercice can help you. <S> First, try to write a scene, discussion or anything else, between at least two character with the perspective of each character to have the point of view from each protagonist. <S> Focus on their feelings, their impressions, proper to themselves. <S> After, write the same scene with an external point of view. <S> You won't have to think about the feelings, the more important is to have a distant description of this scene. <S> Then, you can write with an omniscient 3rd person narrator. <S> Since you've previously have written each internal point of view, jumping into one mind and changing when it's needed will be easier. <S> And since you have the external description, you don't have to think of some new details. <S> You just have to take some part from each previous work and merge them until your final work satisfy yourself. <S> Sure, you still have to find the correct balance between the distance and the immersion on each protagonist, but by this method, when you're working on this balance, you won't have to think about the story itself, only on the way to tell it. <S> It will be easier to find your balance with all elements avaible. <S> And when you'll find it, writing the previous parts won't be necessary anymore. <A> You may not "suck" at all at third-person. <S> I'd suggest that the problem is that the story you're penning isn't well-suited to a third person narrative. <S> You've actually already discovered that as you've found that first person works much better for the tale. <S> A major strength of a third-person omniscient point of view is it can reveal anything and everything about any of the characters – their perceptions, thoughts and observations. <S> This is useful in science fiction if no human viewpoint can encapsulate the story, as is the case with aliens and artificial intelligences. <S> The viewpoint also is excellent for humorous, satirical stories because the characters’ absurdity – which the main character wouldn’t notice – can be shown. <S> In addition, third-person omniscient gives the author more freedom than first-person point of views when developing a story. <S> This is because he can change locations and use multiple viewpoints; first-person, of course, is limited to the main character’s perceptions, so only action that he is directly involved in can be shown. <S> Still, third-person omniscient has its drawbacks: <S> It imposes distance between reader and the main character – Events in a story often gain a certain formality as the narrator telling the story is ill-defined. <S> An aloofness in the narrator also can create distance. <S> After all, how could a god (the story’s narrator) ever exist man-to-man with the story’s main character? <S> Dramatic tension can be more easily defused – <S> When the story is told from the main character’s perspective, readers can more directly feel and relate to his stress and challenge. <S> Third-person narration is like being told about the walk through a haunted house rather than actually going through one. <S> Know-it-all voice can intrude on the narration – As with a backseat driver, some omniscient narrators are just darn irritating. <S> Knowing when to choose third-person rather than a first-person is a matter of understanding what kind of story you want to tell. <S> Each point of view has tradeoffs. <A> Most people suck at writing omniscient 3rd person, because it’s like writing poetry in free verse: without a structure that provides some boundaries on what you can say, there is a greater risk that your story will turn into the narrative equivalent of a slime mold, smeared out randomly across the page without a skeleton to guide it. <S> If, for example, a plot development depends on one character knowing a secret and the other one finding it out, <S> how can the omniscient narrator not reveal the secret to the reader at the earliest opportunity? <S> The best (possibly the only) effective use of omniscient POV in contemporary fiction that I’ve seen is in Elsa Morante’s History: A Novel . <S> In Catherine Jinks <S> ’s <S> The Reformed Vampire Support Group , the whole narrative is told in first person, but there is one chapter where the narrator opens with something like “I didn’t know it at the time, but while we were doing XYZ, this other thing was happening....” <S> (If the events the narrator described in that chapter were things that she could never have credibly found out about later, then that trick wouldn’t have worked.) <A> It's ok for your 3rd person narrator to have a voice, a personality and an attitude. <S> Instead, try imagining your narrator as a full character in your story, except invisible, incorporeal, and able to read minds.
| If the story you want to tell best matches the advantages that a particular point of view offers, then go with that one. I suspect the main problem here might be that you're conceiving of your narrator as dry and neutral and transparent.
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tools for writing scripts It has been a long time since I last tried to write a play, and I hated it, not the play (which became a short story), but writing one. The word processors made working with script layout a pain, and I detested marking which character was speaking. I still prefer prose and poetry, but I was wondering are there any tools that makes writing a script easier? Are any of them open source? <Q> Have you tried Scrivener? <S> I haven't used it for screenwriting, but it looks like <S> it's got a great tool for it. <S> It's not open source, but $45 is fairly cheap. <A> But it's not free. <S> Once you've finished your script and want industry people to read it, you'll need a recognized script formatting program like Final Draft or Movie Magic. <A> Celtx is free, mostly open-source (it has a nonstandard license and there are some closed components) and very good. <S> It does script formatting, plus a bunch of other organisational stuff (keeping track of characters, storyboards). <S> I haven't used it for a while, but I found it very intuitive and so on. <S> There is even some collaborative stuff built into it, though you have to pay to get access to that (or at least you did when I was using it -- these are the closed-source components).
| Final Draft is the most common one that I know of.
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Should I switch to present tense when the narrator is talking about one of his habits? Example: Without lifting my head from the pillow, I glanced at my watch. Two inthe morning. Sleep still seemed faraway. I'd been staring at the mazepattern on the ceiling for hours, occasionally switching to theintricate window frames, and the floral curtains of the window. Mymind always seeks for complex figures and shapes when I'm still, inthe dark. I'm not sure why. Maybe my head's constantly trying to makesense of things, even if my body is completely relaxed. It's something Ican't avoid. So after lying there for another hour, I gave up. I dressed, grabbed my keys, and went out for a walk. So I could have written it like: Mymind always sought for complex figures and shapes when I was still, inthe dark. I wasn't sure why. Maybe my head was constantly trying to makesense of things, even if my body was totally relaxed. It was something Icouldn't avoid. I don't mind if the narrator is still doing that. It doesn't affect much the story. I just want to know which way reads/flow better. Does it feel jarring when you read the last part of the first paragraph (present tense) and immediately jump to the second (past tense)? <Q> Both are fine - which to use depends on your goal. <S> It shifts focus. <S> Past tense focuses on the fact <S> it was nothing new at that time. <S> It began much earlier and lasted at least until then. <S> For me it's a tone of excuse and explanation, "I couldn't have done anything about that by then". <S> Also, it tells nothing about whether the protagonist fought it down until the time of telling, so it leaves a small window open for both changes and suspicion. <S> Present tense focuses on the nature of the person. <S> It's something permanent; the reader is left without doubt whether this will change or not. <S> It focuses on the person, and not on the situation, describes the protagonist in general, and not protagonist-versus-that-problem. <A> In my opinion, the present tense sounds better. <S> When I read it in present, I feel the narrator is describing himself. <S> However, when I read the second one, I have the feeling that all those sentences occur only in that certain moment. <S> Not as a "habit" or "this is me". <A> I find both versions quite jarring, not so much because of tense <S> but because of tone. <S> Vociferous adverbs like always, constantly, completely, totally settle too much weight on what probably should be a minor thought, an incidental self-revelation, rather than a significant clinical observation of oneself. <S> Perhaps leave out all those vociferous adverbs, soften the tone, shorten the passage, add some ambiguity; eg <S> My mind sought complex figures and shapes as I lay there still and in the dark. <S> I was often like this, my mind flying far from my inert body in a quest to make the day make sense. <S> I didn't know why; I never would. <A> Shifting between tenses jars the reader. <S> After all, if you start in past tense, you're telling the reader, "This happened to me in the past" but when shifting to present tense, you're telling the reader "This is happening to me now. <S> " It sounds schizophrenic. <S> I'll add that short story and novel writers rarely should use present tense <S> (A screenplay or theater production is different, however.). <S> In the hands of a master, such as Margaret Atwood in her novel <S> “The Handmaid’s Tale,” it can be used to great effect by creating a sense of immediacy and making the narrators’ voice unique. <S> But present tense largely is an unnatural way of telling a story. <S> In any case, you can improve the above past tense passage by getting rid of the adverbial leeches and using active voice verbs rather than switching to present tense. <S> The passive voice verbs and -ly words flatten the sentences.
| Writers should stick to one tense.
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When do I explain my created world scenario in a prologue vs. letting it unfold in the story? Let's say I'm creating a unique world for my book. New planet, maybe new species, complex society with complex rules, history, government, and so on. Some of these details are absolutely necessary to understand the plot of the story. There are two ways to give this information to the reader. Prologue of some kind: Anne McCaffrey had this in the beginning of her original dragon trilogy, explaining how humans came to Pern, what dragons were in this context, what Thread was (both in scientific reality and what it meant to the Pernese), and how things had changed and developed to leave the society as it was when the story opened. David & Leigh Eddings did something similar for the Belgariad and Malloreon series, although theirs were more faux historical documents, with each book's prologue having a different tone and style and giving a different piece of history. Jump in and learn along the way: Mercedes Lackey's Arrows of the Queen trilogy just starts, and we learn about the society and Companions as the same time as the 13-year-old narrator. My question is: Where is the tipping point between explaining the world as the narrator is introduced and the story gets underway, and setting the scene before the story starts so that you're not infodumping and having characters say ridiculously obvious things for the reader's benefit? At what point is a world so complex that you kind of have to explain some of it before getting underway? Is it always "lazy" to have this kind of prologue? (I'm not talking about a recap prologue, by the way — sometimes you need a refresher, and I'd honestly rather have that in the prologue than have characters waste time thinking about what happened in the previous book just to remind the reader.) <Q> If you can do it in the story, and the story will not lose on it, do it. <S> If this would hurt the story, do it in prologue. <S> There are a few reasonable tipping points: BORING. <S> If the elements of the world would not add to the story. <S> It would be lengthy and tedious. <S> Do a quick info dump and be done with it as painlessly as possible. <S> No room for good cabbagehead. <S> It's a team of experts, or a pair of elder gods. <S> There is simply no room for a rookie or apprentice to learn along the way, no good excuse to deliver the lectures. <S> Or opposite - the characters are all cabbageheads <S> and there's nobody competent to explain what is going on, but the reader needs to know the essence. <S> Stories too alien to introduce a reasonable cabbagehead will fall under this too. <S> No TIME for cabbagehead. <S> Perfect room for a prologue. <S> Opposite of the necessities above. <S> You have a great, bite-sized piece of history that is completely disconnected from the main tale, but introduces the concepts and simultaneously captivates the reader. <S> Optional. <S> You're writing a sequel/expansion which ties in with backstory of the original. <S> These who read the original would find recaps in the main story tedious. <S> These who didn't, would feel lost. <S> So, "in last episode..." Hanging some chekov guns. <S> You have no good opportunity to do that from the main story, but there are things you simply must foreshadow early on. <S> This list is not complete, by any means, nor ultimate - e.g. quite often you can do an interesting and captivating recap of past events in a sequel without need for an intro. <A> You need to keep three things in mind: <S> If Page One of your story does not entertain the reader, he or she is unlikely to go on to the really good stuff on Page Two, <S> let alone Page Seventeen. <S> If there is one immutable rule of good writing, this is it. <S> Exposition is usually less entertaining than action. <S> That’s not an immutable rule—people do, after all, purchase non-fiction books and read them for pleasure—but it’s a tendency to be aware of. <S> An extremely common flaw in novice fiction is putting stuff in the beginning of the story that is not actually necessary. <S> So if you really think that your readers cannot even begin to enjoy the action of your story without getting some background information first, and if you can present that background information in a prologue that is an entertaining read in its own right and not like homework the reader must slog through, then go with the prologue. <S> Otherwise, jump in. <A> If your characters don't know, and won't find out <S> but the reader needs to know, a prologue is necessary. <S> In all other cases, It depends.
| The story starts with action depending on the setting too much that the reader would be completely lost without some kind of intro.
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How can I get my romance through a two-year breakup? My story calls for the main characters to break up for at least two years, before getting back together. (In this particular case, the breakup is for ethical reasons - the relationship began when the two were therapist and patient) How do I keep them apart but still keep the story going? <Q> She is audited by the ethics arm of the board which gave her her professional license. <S> He's a former patient. <S> The board tells her to break it off or lose her license. <S> In the intervening two years, she realizes that he is worth losing her license for, or alternately finds another job. <A> If you're writing in the first person, you can just continue with the story of the MC and <S> what happens with his/her life during that time. <S> Is he still the therapist during the two years and they "only" break the relationship or do they stop the therapy too? <S> If they stop completely, you can just write their lives separated, each time one chapter or mixing the threads in the same one and divide chapters by "real-story" time. <A> They could each join the same social group, on accident (one character is already a member; the other then joins, not knowing). <S> This would force them into proximity, which would generate conflict and tension dependant upon their initial split. <S> You could ride this tension for a full two years, or introduce it later on -- a year in, or six months -- so that it could catalyze their eventual reunion, with a resolution or "snapping" of that tension. <S> If not: there's always pining, nostalgic longing, looking melancholically at pictures. <S> Etc. <S> Good luck!
| If you're writing in the third person, you can try to combine both stories during the time.
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Should I avoid "lecturing" my readers? I just noticed I have the tendency of "lecturing" my readers now and then. Examples: I almost let everything out. But, funny, I didn't do it. I didn't want him to feel bad. Which made me wonder if maybe I enjoyed punishing myself. Maybe we all have that secret wish. Maybe that's the reason humanity created gods, bad spirits, and demons: to have something to punish us when nothing real does. I didn't believe in any of those, though. In my case, I had to do it myself. I knew two months wasn't a big deal for most people. But to me, it was an endless torture. Especially since I was waiting for someone dear to come back. That's why I hate it when people say to me: “It isn't that long. You'll see. It'll be over before you know it!” They forget time is relative. Just like Einstein said. You can watch time fly while watching your favorite TV show, or feel it extend forever while clutching a piece of burning coal. I tried removing those, and the narrative reads perfectly fine. I'm curious though, about other's opinion. Should I remove them, keep them, or make them shorter? Is this an example of breaking the rule show don't tell? I was also thinking I could stick them into a dialogue. <Q> I also questioned the validity of the internal "lecturing" monologue, but much to my surprise, people often said this was their favourite part of the story. <S> When I added other monologues to my other stories, they once again became the highlight of the story for a few people. <S> John Green does this a lot too. <S> In an Abundance of Katherines , the vast majority of memorable moments come from the main character's "lecturing" inner monologues. <S> Consequently, based off of my expansive experience of my own two data points and my adoration for John Green, I give you the following guidelines, that are mostly truisms that I've tried to repackage here, for your benefit as well as my own. <S> Firstly, you cannot build momentum with "lecturing" monologues. <S> Monologues are for when you already have momentum and you want to drive home a point into the reader's mind. <S> Secondly, it is a good idea to keep them short, as you have. <S> The maximum being a couple of paragraphs is what I've noticed. <S> In terms of your text specifically, I found the point in your second paragraph to be a bit cliché and might actually be better as dialogue as you mention, unless the character is supposed to seem shy and isolated as you mention. <S> I see it playing out more along the lines of: <S> “It isn't that long. <S> You'll see. <S> It'll be over before you know it!” <S> "Hey, would mind sticking your finger into a power outlet for a couple of second. <S> It isn't that long. <S> It will be over before you know it!" <A> In short amounts, as you've done above, such "lecturing" is okay in first person. <S> You're really not lecturing the reader so much as showing the narrator's state of mind. <S> The trick is to ensure that these statements (also known as interior monologues) don't become long rants that are authorial intrusions and slow the forward movement of the plot. <A> Personally I would put more exposition, ie the stuff in regular font, between the thoughts. <A> In first person, this is fine. <S> The lecturing is coming from the MC. <S> In third person, I think it depends on who is the narrator. <S> But that is possible. <S> Consider the opening line from Austen's "Pride and Prejudice": <S> It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. <A> I think you question the utility of these passages because they stick out. <S> This time you saw them as lecturing. <S> Of course, "lecturing" differs from delivering a good lecture. <S> Lecturing is boring. <S> A teen feels an adult is lecturing when they make a point that is not relevant. <S> That may be what is happening here. <S> In paragraph 1, you bring up the origin of deities which you then state that you don't believe in. <S> The reader traveled into a blind cul-de-sac and was left there. <S> They now must try to trust that the next time you make a point with colorful description that it will contribute to the narration and lead them toward the satisfaction of their interests in your story. <S> In paragraph 2, you invoke Einstein instead of deities. <S> You then add two ways in which time can seem relative--examples that may be from Einstein or may be from the 1st person narrator. <S> It may be that you go on to connect these examples to what is happening in the narrative, but if you don't, they will continue to seem like the lecturing adult, failing to make a relevant point. <S> I believe the short answer to your question is this. <S> If you feel that your narrator is lecturing, and it is not the purpose of the narration to appear as lecturing, then you should avoid it. <S> As Einstein says, lecturing is relative.
| Lecturing from an omniscient narrator would be bad, IMHO, unless it were very clever lecturing. I think the passages in Italics are perfectly fine; since the narrative is first-person, you are showing that person's inner life and motivation.
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Using capital letters for shouting I respect that with the power of language, we don't necessarily need to capitalise anything, because a description of how a character is speaking is more powerful. Take my example: The hooded man took another hard right through a thin gap between twostalls, forcing Rett to speed up again. With the man out of sight, hesped up, half in desperation, half in fear of losing him permanently. “Watch it!” a man cried as Rett pushed him out of his way. He bumped into a woman as he shoved past, spilling the contents of her bag ontothe ground. "Sorry, ma’am!” Rett shouted back, without stopping to help. He wove his way through and between more shoppers, and quickly took the same right turn that the man did. He ground to a halt when he realised that the man was gone. His breathing quickened. “DAMN it!” I've already got Rett shouting back toward the woman after spilling her bag, but his final words are a curse. A different type of shouting; a real exclamation. What should I do? Is capitalising here okay, or should I return it to normal case and give explanation? <Q> It's emphatic in a different way than italics. <S> To me I hear the volume and force behind the word, not just the intensity. <S> Compare: <S> His breathing quickened. <S> " <S> Damn it!" <S> His breathing quickened. <S> "DAMN it!" <S> The first one could be under his breath — vehement, but not necessarily meant to be heard. <S> The second one is definitely a shout. <A> Text in all capitals is harder to read than text in mixed case: A 1955 study by Miles Tinker showed that “all-capital text retarded speed of reading from 9.5 to 19.0 per cent for the 5 and 10-minute time limits, and 13.9 per cent for the whole 20-minute period.” <S> Tinker concluded that, “Obviously, all-capital printing slows reading to a marked degree in comparison with Roman lower case.” <S> (found via this post on UX ) <S> In the case of a single word this probably doesn't matter, but for consistency you will want to use the same style everywhere in your work that calls for extra shouting. <S> Will that always be just a word or two? <S> Full sentences in all-caps are likely to impede your readers. <S> Another option is to use italics, which has long been the typography standard for emphasis . <S> Emphasis isn't the same as shouting, but it may convey your intent in context. <S> However, in fiction specifically, be aware that sometimes italic text is used to convey thoughts rather than speech . <S> So there is no perfect solution. <S> In making a decision consider all the places in your work where you will need to apply it. <A> His breathing quickened. <S> " <S> Damn it!" <S> he shouted. <S> or His breathing quickened <S> and he shouted, "Damn it!" <S> All caps reads as amateurish, at least to my eye. <A> There are different styles of emphasis: underlining, spacing, italics, bold face, all caps and small caps, change of font face, color etc. <S> Some of them can be found in printed magazines, others have been in use in the past, yet others are common on the internet or in typewritten manuscripts. <S> The question, which style of emphasis you might want to use is a question of usage : <S> What do publishers do, and what, therefore, do readers expect? <S> If you go to a book store and flip through a shelf of recent publications, you will notice: Most novels do not use emphasis at all! <S> Some novels use italics for something like thoughts. <S> And that's about it. <S> Sometimes SF novels use other kinds of emphasis to mark brain-to-brain thought communication, computer voices etc. <S> But no novel I remember reading uses any kind of emphasis to mark change in volume or intensity of speech.
| I'd be fine with all caps here.
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Do romances need to have a happy ending? Is a book labelled "romance" expected to a have a happy ending? I've heard advice that "romance" novels are meant to satisfy, well, a desire for romance, and so an ending without a "happily ever after" disqualifies a book from the genre. And indeed, it's hard for me to recall a "straight" romance that doesn't end well. On the other hand, romance is a rich genre with lots of character attention; I could see a well-written "unhappy" ending being tragic, but satisfying. And I've just read several YA books ( Every Day by David Levithan and The Fault In Our Stars by John Green) which are almost entirely about one romantic relationship, but have sad endings. (Is it possible these aren't romances? If not romances, what are they?) Genre boundaries are pretty important for marketing purposes, telling the reader what to expect. That's why it's important for me to understand whether "unhappy ending" falls within the "typical" boundaries of the romance genres, or not. <Q> Do you want to piss your readers off? <S> No? <S> Then call a tragedy a tragedy, a drama a drama and a romance a romance. <S> This question is all about customers' expectations. <S> You can call your story a romance and end it in disaster. <S> But be prepared to disappoint a lot of readers (also be prepared for their reviews). <S> Of course not all readers expect a romance to end happily. <S> But I think it's safe to say, that most readers do. <S> To start with an opposite view, let me cite the script lab : <S> Whether the end is happy or tragic, Romance film aims to evoke strong emotions in the audience. <S> "Happy or tragic", ok, we get it. <S> But it's about movie scripts, not novels. <S> Does that make a difference? <S> I'm not sure. <S> But in my opinion if it ends tragically, why don't you call it a tragedy? <S> The Romance Writers of America define the basic elements of a romance: <S> Two basic elements comprise every romance novel: a central love story and an emotionally-satisfying and optimistic ending. <S> Happy end! <S> Must-have <S> according to the Romance Writers (whoever they are). <S> Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan define the "basic formula" of a romance as "deceptively simple": <S> Boy meets girl. <S> Holy crap, shit happens! <S> Eventually, the boy gets the girl back. <S> They live Happily Ever After. <S> " <S> Happily Ever After" is written uppercase in the book, no typo from my side. <S> Maybe they want to make a point. <S> (Oh, and they are talking about heterosexual romances only here, where the main audience are women. <S> Maybe it's different for gay romance. <S> I do not know.) <S> So you can Happily name your tragedy a romance and live Ever After with the angry mob tearing apart your book on Amazon, or ... <S> As I said, it's all about readers' expectations. <A> I am German. <S> You will soon understand why I state this up front. <S> In German cultural theory a difference is made between so called 'serious' literature, music, painting and so on, and 'entertaining' literature, music etc. ' <S> Serious' works are 'art'; 'entertaining' literature is called 'trivial literature'. <S> 'Entertaining' or 'trivial' literature are all genre works: <S> crime, SF, romance, western, horror etc. <S> They follow genre rules, such as the happy end, or consciously play with and break them. <S> Depending on your concept of art, 'serious' literature, or literature as 'art', might attempt to capture the sublime, represent reality, deconstruct a discourse, or something like that. <S> There are no rules for the creation of art, although, again depending on your concept of art, they might reflect Aristotle's rules of the comedy (not funny!) or some other poetics. <S> In my eyes this is a useful distinction. <S> You examples would be 'art' or 'serious' literature. <S> They do not aim at entertainment, but at developing the personality of the reader. <A> In my opinion, literary genres are not defined in terms of “your story must have A and B, but not C, in order to belong to genre X”. <S> Rather, they are defined by “A, B, and C, are exemplars of genre X”. <S> So even if contemporary category romances all have happy endings, your story can run against that trend as long as it resembles the classics of the genre in other respects. <A> "Love Story" by Erich Segal. <S> (Book and movie) <S> "The Way We Were" (movie only) "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell (book and movie) <S> "Romeo and Juliet" by... <S> really, I could have just led with this! <S> Do I need to go on? <A> As an amateur writer I'm writing my first novel and this question came up when I was searching on writing tips on how to end my novel <S> and I posed that same question which is how I got here. <S> Breaking the boundaries of what is romance and what is other genres like Drama, Thriller or Crime can be blended to create your story if you remain true to your goals and the eventual story being told. <S> This can play out in series like many contemporary romance/drama authors, there's a wealth of them out there that end the book on a serious note, enticing you into buying the next in the series. <S> You capture the readers attention with the love story, throw in drama, maybe a crime or thriller situation and then end it alluding to the next book continuing the hero/heroines story. <S> I believe that you should write to your soul and not worry, if you want to publish your work and no firm wants it, self publish <S> , there's plenty of us readers and avid novelists out there who read all types of genres many of them self published. <S> Life like literature and writing in general, is not always about happy endings, break the boundaries and find what works and write, its not about what others think in the end, you have to be proud of your work. <A> However, such a book is not likely to be primarily bought by, marketed to, or enjoyed by the core fans of the genre that inspired the book. <S> If it is a success, it will probably be one as a "crossover hit", that picks up a portion of the genre audience, and a portion of the mainstream audience. <S> With that said, it's worth noting that "romantic tragedy" is itself its own, longstanding, well-established subgenre. <A> I am an amateur writer <S> and I thought before I published the romance: this book will be successful for sure. <S> It does not have a happy end. <S> I know, the most of the readers want happy end. <S> 10 days after launch I got my first review: 1 star. <S> The sentence began: "Are you kidding me?... <S> " I still love my romance but I will never ever write a romance without happy end.
| It's entirely possible to write a successful, acclaimed book that satisfies some genre expectations, yet violates (important) other expectations.
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How explicit can violence and sex be in a YA novel? Many of the most popular YA novels are pretty brutal, rape and murder are a common ingredient. Many show teenagers having sex. But how far can you go, before you cross the line into adult fiction, simply by being too detailed or too extreme? I'm writing a novel about a young woman who gets drawn into a terrorist network and commits some atrocious acts before she turns from this path. I attempted to describe what she does in a way that makes the reader experience some of the distress the protagonists feels witnessing her own deeds. I feel this is integral to the development of the character and the direction of the plot. It may not be, but this question does not aim at what is necessary, but what is allowable. Do I leave YA fiction with this? <Q> My sense (as a reader, not someone who's published a YA novel) is that you kind of want to liken it to a PG-13 movie. <S> However: 1) as John Smithers points out, that doesn't mean your protagonist can't still be a teenager. <S> It just means you may have to change the marketing or publishing niche. <S> 2) you can go into great detail about her emotions and thoughts without going into great deal about the acts . <S> The atrocities can happen off-camera, as it were, and that would make the text still suitable for the YA market. <A> I think it could be useful to look at some examples of things that are YA-friendly, and some that are not. <S> Lord of the Rings is in practically every public school's library. <S> It includes people having fingers being bitten off, people being stung by giant spiders, people shot full of arrows, people being burned to death, and countless people being stabbed or chopped to pieces. <S> The descriptions are generally short and not graphic, barring some of the battle scenes. <S> No torture is shown, it's only even mentioned a couple times and then just as a thing that might happen if the protagonists fail. <S> Compare this with a Song of Ice and Fire. <S> In that you get graphic descriptions of torture, and countless people, many of them innocent, killed in horrific ways. <S> Obviously you'll never find a Song of Ice and Fire in a school library. <S> As for sex, look at Harry Potter. <S> The most that happens and is described is some kissing. <S> Anything more is just alluded to or inferred. <S> Again, the Harry Potter series is in every middle school library. <S> Compare this with Stephen King's IT. <S> In IT, there's a graphic, borderline-erotica underage orgy. <S> IT is, unsurprisingly, not found in school libraries. <A> In Québec, we have Patrick Senecal who writes YA books (or the French Canadian cultural equivalent, «romans jeunesses»), and eh is known for his gory and disturbing stories. <S> I think it's an author's decision whether or not to be graphic, and a reader's choice whether or not to read books with very graphic and or disturbing description. <A> Let me give you an answer from a different perspective: not what Young Adults are reading, not what appears in modern YA fiction, but what I was reading as a teenager (12-16), and how it made me feel. <S> I was not reading YA fiction at all. <S> I felt it was too simplistic, written down to some audience, not offering me enough food for thought. <S> What I was reading were 18-19th century classics (Victor Hugo, Jane Austen), as well as 50s-70s fantasy and science fiction (Tolkien, Le Guin, Zelazny, Asimov, Clarke). <S> In regards to your question, all this literature has a thing in common: while sex and violence happen, they are not explicit. <S> Reading the Iliad at 15, I was rather disturbed by the vivid descriptions of guts spilling onto the sand, and dying warriors screaming in pain. <S> I didn't drop the Iliad because of this, it offered enough to compensate me, but I was disturbed. <S> My first encounter with explicit sex in literature was in Mists of Avalon , when I was 16. <S> It was, moreover, sex from a female POV, thus closer to me. <S> It was very much a shock. <S> Not that I didn't know where babies come from, but it had been, up until then, something private, not really talked about. <S> And as far as my personal experience went, I haven't so much as kissed a boy by then. <S> Before you think I was an exception in being sheltered, our history teacher in 9th grade showed us 1984 in class, and we all found the sex scene rather too much, detracting from our ability to discuss the more important ideas of the film. <S> So, to sum up, if your descriptions of violence are too explicit, too gory and shocking, you risk alienating your target audience, or at least distracting them from what you're trying to say. <S> However, the issue is more with how explicit it is, then with what is actually happening. <A> Book categories are largely a matter of marketing. <S> At one time, for example, fantasy was considered largely a children's category in the US, but not in the UK. <S> This led to books that were considered adult books in the UK, such as the Golden Compass trilogy, being marketed to teens and children in the US. <S> So the question of what is considered "YA" is really a question of what publishers think a YA audience will buy. <S> My general sense from having done a (relatively shallow) survey of current mainstream YA, is that it tends to be edgier than in the past, with curse words, and frank discussions of sexuality and violence being more the rule than the exception. <S> This suggests that's what the YA buying public wants today. <S> Of course, that might also mean there is an under-served market for less transgressive work. <S> My question for you would be what makes your book YA in your mind? <S> Is that the audience you picture for it? <S> Just having a young protagonist doesn't necessarily make your ideal audience of a similar age. <S> I wouldn't personally want my writing marketed to teens if it was overly explicit. <S> On the other hand, many books that are not really YA are pushed into that category, because it's one of the better performing book-buying categories.
| If it's too graphic for a 13-year-old to be watching in a movie theatre, it's probably too graphic to be published in the YA category. Sex in particular, is more often alluded to than shown at all.
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Where should I put a minor action within a piece of dialogue? Which is more appropriate: The air carried a bitter chill, but was clear and unpolluted. “Oh wow,” I said. “I know how Black Friday has a reputation for crowds, but this takes it to a new level!” “That’s why we don’t usually go shopping on Black Friday, honey,” my mother replied, squeezing my shoulder, "but I think we can make an exception this time." or The air, clear and unpolluted, carried a bitter chill. "Oh, wow," I said. "I know how Black Friday has a reputation for crowds, but this takes it to a new level!" "That's why we don't usually go shopping on Black Friday, honey," replied my mother as she squeezed my shoulder, "but I think we can make an exception this time." Thank you! <Q> The answer to a question of style will always be, it depends . <S> In the example given, I'd say that the minor action disrupts the dialog, but that's without knowing the context of this excerpt. <S> And this is meant to be an example. <S> There's no rule for how to place minor detail, but there are helpful ways to think about it. <S> Every reader imagines the story a little differently. <S> How much detail to provide is a writer's choice. <S> The choices made will, over time, make up their style. <S> Minor details are generally given to flesh out a world. <S> The color of someone's eyes, the make of a car, the address of someone's apartment—these are all examples of details that are given to make a world seem more real. <S> The person's face, the car, the apartment—these are details that will guide the reader's imagination towards the picture the author has in mind. <S> Similarly, minor actions can give context to a character's larger actions, bringing a character's behavior closer to what a writer wants. <S> If all goes well, this will result in well-drawn locations and characters. <S> You may say, this is all excellent, but how does it help? <S> When asking where to place a minor detail or action, you might do better than looking at any one example. <S> Have a look at your own writing. <S> In particular, try to find some favorite passages, ones you feel worked well. <S> Bits of action and description that you're proud of. <S> Where did you put colorful details? <S> Did you interrupt dialog? <S> Did you find clever ways to work it in? <S> Did you have expository sections? <S> Try to find commonalities between these passages and use that as a guide, but don't be bound by anything. <S> Know your strengths, but don't worry about taking risks. <A> I agree that the answer is "it depends. <S> " I personally would write: My mother squeezed my shoulder. " <S> That's why we don't usually go shopping on Black Friday, honey, but I think we can make an exception this time." <S> In my view, if Mum is squeezing my shoulder, it goes without saying that the sentence following within the quotation marks is her reply. <S> But then again, I'm making the supposition that you'll have a fair bit of speech in your story and will be looking for ways to stop saying "said" and "replied" repeatedly. <S> If there's some show after the tell, your first example is just fine - as is the second! <A> Appropriate? <S> Are you kidding us? <S> This is not a question about appropriateness. <S> Sounds like your English teacher shoved too much unnecessary stuff into your head. <S> This is a question of style. <S> It's about find your voice . <S> The only person capable to answer its "appropriateness" is you . <S> Which version do you like better? <S> What does your gut tell you? <S> Then that's exactly the right choice. <S> Learn to trust yourself. <S> (If you really can't decide: No one complains if he has to read fewer words. <S> So choose the version with the fewer amount of words if in doubt.) <A> Some authors claim it's bad style to tag a speaker with action instead of "said". <S> - I strongly disagree If you teach your readers that they can rely on you sticking to "one speaker per paragraph" and that you never mix emotes of one speaker with words of another, <S> just skip "said" if there's an action taking place. <S> " <S> That's why we don't usually go shopping on Black Friday, honey. <S> " My mother squeezed my shoulder. " <S> But I think we can make an exception this time." <S> Less verbiage, less clutter, everyone knows that she said this and unless she spoke it in an entirely atypical manner, really no need to remind the readers that what's in quotes is being said. <S> Note, there are specific punctuation rules in cases like these. <S> "Action" interruptions (like in my example) are separated with a full stop, treated as a separate sentence. <S> In this case starting a new sentence with <S> But is forgivable. <S> "Speaking" interruptions ( said, muttered, shouted, admonished ) are separated with a comma: ... <S> Black Friday, honey," my mother said, "but I think... <A> I like the first one. <S> On the other hand there is no real better here other than personal preference and consistency of style. <S> I still line the first one, it's more optimistic.
| There are no correct choices, only the ones that work.
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Using a pen-name: possible legal issues My question is about publishing under a pen-name.Does it have to be registered as a trademark?If it's not registered as a trademark, can someone sue a writer for using it? Because every name you pick is surely also someone else's name. (Every name I could think of returns thousands of results in Google...)I just basically try to understand how to use a pen name without getting into trouble...Is there maybe a place online where I can get a legal consultation on this topic?Thanks in advance!Jackie <Q> In Massachusetts, the state bar association has a referral service: if you go through them to find a lawyer, the person you talk to will charge only $25 for a half-hour consultation. <S> If your state has something similar and you want a definitive answer, I would encourage you to use it. <S> Basically, you don’t want anyone to be able to convince a judge that you are trying to profit from their reputation. <A> I have had something like this happen: <S> someone I worked with many years ago, but whom I did not know well, published two books (or more) using my first and last name as a pen name. <S> The problem? <S> First of all, it was an embarrassing book on a psychological disorder, and at least twice in my career <S> I was asked if I had it before I knew about the book. <S> Secondly, we are very different people with very different views, and while my work enjoyed some degree of success later in life, the earlier pen name has been used a few times to misrepresent who the 'Elizabeth Best' is that wrote her vs. my books. <S> One well known book sales company had it set up so that when you clicked her pen name, it went to my books, without a photo. <S> I don't think they did it on purpose, but it caused a great deal of trouble. <S> In many states, I believe it is illegal to purposefully without permission use someone's name, even if they are not well known as a pen name, precisely because of the possibility of a scam such as above. <S> It can be used to infringe on copyright. <A> My legal name is being used as a pen name by a writer who is writing erotic books on Amazon Kindle self-publishing. <S> I have a very unique name and it can be easily confused that I wrote the books, and has been by the public as I am a Notary Public Signing Agent <S> and I have gone and go to many people's homes. <S> I have tried to get information on Amazon Kindle's self-publshing policy,but I keep getting the same answer, "sometimes authors use a pen name when they self-publish on Amazon Kindle. <S> " My legal name is Poppy Romero. <S> It is unlikely anyone would carry the same name. <S> I have verified with Amazon Kindle that this author is not using my account, but only my name as his pen name. <S> To make matters worse there has been a rumor there is a local prostitute who uses the name Poppy Romero as her alias name. <S> Protecting my identity and character as proven to be a challenge. <S> Notaries public aren't rich people, they serve the public with good intention with low pay, so I don't have the resources to obtain legal counsel, but the U.S. Trademark customer service did give me info on free legal help through a program they have. <S> The customer service said you can't trademark a name, but I have found info to the contrary. <A> Have you considered a variation of the spelling? <S> I write short stories and recently fell in love with the name "Guilbeau. <S> " I checked around and learned there are quite a few, so I will use a pen name, "Guilbow Grady," which changes the name slightly to one that should't be a problem. <S> I will let you know if there is any "dustup" for any of the real Guilbeau...
| That being said, here is my opinion as a non-lawyer: if your pen name is not being used professionally by another writer , and you’re not using the name of someone who is famous for another reason, you should be safe.
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Method for handling non-canonical fantasy fiction I started writing a short story that involved demonic possession. The nature of the possession is symbolic. The story is an allegory. When I shared the initial draft among some friends, I had feedback that included some questions about which plane the demon came from, and some criticisms about the mechanics of the possession. The demons and mechanics of demon magic are based on the symbolism I want the story to use, not any particular mythology. I know that not everyone will love my writing, and some people won't get the allegory, but how can I help the reader understand at the beginning of the story that I am not writing fanfic? I don't include other fantasy elements and I'm not riffing on any particular construct. The allegory is about how we allow our desires to possess us, only in this case, the desires are 'personified'. <Q> For example, if a character with money problems suddenly wins the lottery, it seems like lazy writing; but if a character with money problems suddenly wins the lottery <S> and then their best friend says <S> "That is the craziest, most perfectly timed thing I've ever seen in my life," <S> it becomes funny and much more acceptable in the story. <S> In this case, the way you do it will depend on the style of your writing and your story. <S> Lampshades often are easier in comedy, which may not work for you. <S> But for example, you could easily have someone say something like <S> "That's not like any possession I've ever heard of... <S> " <S> and then have another character agree. <S> That would not only let the reader know that this is an unusual case, it might also open them up to examining more abstract and allegorical meanings behind the possession, which sounds like what you're going for. <S> Also remember: be sure that your INTERNAL mechanics remain consistent. <S> If a demon can only enter you when you're angry, you'll confuse your reader if a person gets possessed when they're sad. <S> You don't need to adhere to the rules of any pre-existing religion or published work, but your own rules need to be well-thought-out and consistent in order to be acceptable to your audience. <A> how can I help the reader understand at the beginning of the story that I am not writing fanfic? <S> I think this is the case for most people. <S> The problem is likely down to one of two things: either your friends are very primed to see things through a Dungeons and Dragons (or other similar game) lens (do they play tabletop RPGs? <S> Although I myself am a fantasy and mythology nerd, many people who play those games don't explore any deeper than the D&D manuals, and assume that those are the definitive versions of the monsters etc.); or (as @CLockWork suggests in a comment) <S> your work is so derivative of D&D (or whatever) <S> that is breaks past the initial assumption of originality and makes people think 'Drows? <S> Prismatic Dragons? <S> Oh, this must be a fanfiction'. <S> I think your best bet is to show it to some people outside of your immediate friendship group. <S> From judging their reactions you should be able to narrow down which of these things is the cause of your problem. <A> Alexander has a good point . <S> Another possible approach is to get back to basics. <S> The original meaning of the word demon was 'functionary spirit', that is a minor spirit that performed a single particular task <S> e.g. guarding someone's hearth in their home. <S> Some joker who knew this etymological tidbit at the dawning of the email protocol decided to call the relay programmes that shuttle email on to its destination 'mailer-daemons'. <S> You can still occasionally see this term in undeliverable bouncebacks something along the lines of: 'The mailer daemon at domain whatever returned code whatever'. <S> As time went on the followers of the devil, and evil spirits were referred to as demons because the pejorative was intended to connote their relative lack of power. <S> Eventually this notion was lost and demon became synonymous with 'evil spirit'. <S> Anyway, apart from being a neat bit of trivia, finding some way to communicate that you are going back to the roots of the idea in the story will tell the audience that you are intending to re-make the mythology to some degree. <S> It's a trick people do all the time with more common monsters such as vampires and werewolves.
| In a situation like this, I'd probably use what's often called a "lampshade," which is where you make an unusual or strange event more acceptable to your audience by pointing it out. Unless it's published on a fan-fiction website or otherwise marked as a fanfic, I would generally assume that a work put before me was 'original'.
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Is it good to publish a novel online for free? I am not after earning money but to spread knowledge about something for free. But if money is neglected, what else can be the disadvantage of publishing it online? <Q> There are a few potential disadvantages that I can see: It isn't necessarily a solution to the biggest issue for new/unknown authors: getting eyes on the page (or screen, in this case). <S> Putting something on the internet alone isn't enough to get people to read, you still need to have produced something of quality (or something so bad <S> it's funny!) <S> , have people find it, be willing to expend the effort to read, and then recommend/link to others. <S> It is possible, but for any given book, exceedingly unlikely (what was the last novel you stumbled across online, read in entirety, enjoyed and recommended to all your friends?). <S> You're competing with the rest of the internet for attention spans. <S> Some people still consider something given away for free as being valueless (whereas of course we know that "price" and "value" are different, right?) <S> You've exhausted your "first print" rights (electronic ones, anyway), something that publishers may still consider valuable. <S> That is, to get published in the traditional manner after releasing free online, you'd need to develop an enormous following to make it worth a publisher's while. <S> There is always the fear that "someone will steal my work". <S> I think the chance of this is happening in any meaningful way <S> is vanishingly small, but it is a concern a lot of people have. <S> People do copy and re-post things on the internet, so it definitely happens, but if your work was copied and then got popular from someone else, a) <S> at least it's popular (which is really your goal?), and b) <S> when the internet † sees something it considers "a wrong", it is quite good at investigating and outing the truth (a process which -- if it happened -- would likely generate an order of magnitude more publicity). <S> Costs associated with production, hosting and maintenance (as Bruce mentioned above). <S> As a postscript, putting something online for free doesn't mean you can't make money. <S> There are many others, I'm sure. <S> † <S> Yes, I referred to the internet as if it's a conscious entity in it's own right. <S> It is, isn't it? ;) <A> Money talks. <S> When I see that a novel has the imprint of a professional publishing house, I know that some editor actually convinced his or her boss that this book was worth paying the author money up front, in the expectation that other people would buy the book once it was published. <S> That’s certainly no guarantee of quality, but it does narrow down the field. <S> Book reviewers feel the same way, so if I rely on reviews to decide what I should read next, those reviews are going to point me at a professionally published work. <S> There are more books for sale plus books in my public library plus public-domain work from Gutenberg than I could possibly keep up with. <S> And then there are eleventy-gazillion works of contemporary fiction that other people are offering to the public for free. <S> I’m sure some of those free books are actually worth reading, and if someone whose taste I respect gives me a nudge and says “you should read this”, I’ll check it out. <S> But otherwise, why should I make the effort to sift through them? <A> I think one of the greatest disadvantages is, that the web is not considered to be a media for professional publishing. <S> There are some great books published on the web <S> (for example Butterbrick’s Practical Typography ) <S> but most content cannot compete with printed books.
| So no matter how much you know about your topic, if your website doesn’t look professional, many readers could think your content isn’t as good as something in a book. There are lots of business models you can look at: support via donations or "pay what you want"; popularity can open new opportunities for employment, expert comment, speaking, etc; selling physical goods to go along with the electronic (high quality print versions, for example).
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Plain translation or cultural adaptation? I've written my first novel in Spanish, my native language. The main character is Spanish and starts in Madrid, then goes to Zürich and ends up in the Alps. I've tried to get it published with no success so far. Independently of the self-publishing idea, my "Plan B" is to translate it to English and try to find an US-based publisher. I'm thinking a simple translation may not be enough if I want this to succeed in the American market; I'm thinking of making the character an American and starting the action in some city in the US, before moving the plot to Madrid. The main character's nationality doesn't affect the plot, and I can work a change in location between the inciting incident and the end of the first act without substantially altering the story. Does this sound sensible? Is it obviously the right thing to do? Are there compelling arguments not to do it? <Q> I'm also Spanish and when I read a translated book, let's say Harry Potter (his nationality doesn't affect to the plot) <S> , I don't care if he's British or wherever. <S> If you wrote the story in the way you think is the best, I don't think you should change it; even more when you say it (the nationality) doesn't affect. <A> As a reader I would tend to argue for direct translation: It gives a window into something I don't know. <S> As a writer I would argue for retelling: who wants to tell the exact same story again? <S> In either case I would make it clear which you did, so that speakers of both languages can decide If they want to read both. <A> Firstly I really congratulate you for your achievement, as I was a writer since 8 year old <S> but I did not write a novel yet. <S> My advice to you - if you allow me sir - is to try publish it as a short story. <S> That could be in your local newspaper or on your blog or even on your Facebook notes. <S> Then check if people likes it, tag the critics in your area or country as general, let them know that it is the shorter form of your recently written novel! <S> Keep the good work up, never give up. <S> Write, Write, Write, and make - if you haven't yet- a blog and write regularly, post your blogs links on Facebook, let your friends share them. <S> Enjoy the public love and someone of them will be your publisher, then do not sell yourself for cheap, get a good contract. <S> I know you will succeed, I can tell! <S> Indeed you will! <S> I wish I can read Spanish! <S> Omafrom Sudan <A> Americans may be ethnocentric, but not to the point where the reading public can't enjoy a book about someone from a different country! <S> However, let's consider the opposite view. <S> The movie High Fidelity successfully changed the British characters and setting to American ones. <S> But that was because the American director, screenwriter and cast wanted to integrate it with their own experiences. <S> In this case, I'm assuming you know Spain better than America, so your original version will probably be more authentic --unless <S> you have lived in America for an extended period of time. <S> On the other hand, it's also often argued that the audience needs a character they can identify with, usually construed as straight, white, male, American and middle-class. <S> When taken to its extreme, you get the phenomenon of "whitewashing", such as in the movie 21 where the true story of a group of Asian-American casino-breakers was dramatized with an almost all-white cast. <S> This approach has been increasingly criticized in modern times, however, and the success of movies such as Moonlight or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon shows that it may say more about prejudices than actual marketability. <S> In sum, I would make this change only if it actually improves the book in some way. <S> But even in this case, I would use caution. <S> Unless you know America from the inside out, your character is likely to come across as inauthentic in ways that wouldn't be noticed by the Spanish audience, but that will stick out like a sore thumb to the American reader (or publisher).
| If part of the book's arc is that you take a very ordinary, unexceptional character, and place them in exotic circumstances, then I could see a good argument to change your character to match the origins of the probable readers.
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Does the word 'bazaar' instead of 'market' seem more catchy? Under what specific condition should I use 'bazaar'and what famous writers have used it? I know some Indian writers have, but does someone know any notable English writer who has used that word? <Q> When I hear market, I see a teeny tiny bit of organization, stacks of fresh oranges, an early morning crowd and a women talking about inviting her husband's boss and his wife over for dinner. <S> When I hear the word bazaar, I see a dense street; stalls lining up on both sides of the street, aromas of different spices, a dense crowd and a fast chase scene. <S> It all depends on the tone of the scene. <S> As a writer, you should be more interested in choosing the right words to set the right mood. <S> Also, I agree with Nubia on the regional factor. <S> However, I personally don't consider it. <S> I'm fine with a few technical errors as long as it's setting the right visual <S> I want it to set. <S> EDIT: <S> I just stumbled upon this yesterday night while reading the novel. <S> The word bazaar is used by Robert Ludlum in The Bourne Supremacy when Jason Bourne is asked to meet The Taipan in the Walled City in Kowloon. <S> Again, notice how he used the word Bazaar instead of the term market. <A> Those Indian writers might be accustomed in using the word "bazaar" instead of "market" (although India is not actually part of Middle East). <S> Another definition of bazaar is (esp in the Orient) <S> a market area, esp a street of small stalls. <S> Bazaar is used mainly in Asia, so those English writers may not be used to that word. <A> When I hear market I think of someplace where I can find what I'm looking to buy, sometimes something I didn't know about. <S> When I hear bazaar I think of someplace where I might eventually find what I looking to buy, but will definitely find things I didn't know anyone would sell. <S> I have read both words in so many places, I don't pay any special attention. <S> It would be like asking which writers of westerns used the word fireplace. <S> (probably most of them).
| Looking in the dictionary , the word bazaar is a marketplace especially one in the Middle East .
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Rewriting an existing story (fable) to fit it within my fantasy universe My antagonist sends my protagonist a note that says "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". Obviously, this is the story of the the three wise monkeys, but I'd like this to relate to something different in my fantasy universe. I've written a sub-story, that will act as 'Lore' for my universe. I want this sub-story to utilise this saying instead; the story bears resemblance to the sentiment of the three wise monkeys but is otherwise unrelated. The story will be 'common knowledge' to the characters, like some popular fables and stories are to us (the ones that everyone knows). The protagonist will summarise the story briefly in conversation to explain how it links with the note. Later in the book, I'll challenge this retelling by looking at a 'how it really happened' style revelation. What are the repercussions of re-imagining a fable/story like this to fit it within my fantasy universe? I guess I'd like to know if the reader would be okay with this, or if they'll dislike it. <Q> The first thing I'd ask myself if writing this is whether the reader would find the story interesting. <S> In order for the note to work, it seems to me you'd have to have told them the story before your protagonist receives the note (otherwise it would lose its impact). <S> But before they receive the note, there's no obvious reason why they would be interested in the story. <S> It would be a diversion from the main story, and something they'd likely find uninteresting if you just dropped it in. <S> The key, then, seems to be that you would have to find a way of weaving it in to the main story in a way that's interesting and doesn't feel forced. <S> As an example from a novel series I'm working on, one of my main characters is repeatedly described as resembling a historical personality and has been selected for her role as a priestess because of this resemblance. <S> A few dropped hints throughout the early chapters give the reader reason to think this person is important, so when eventually somebody tells my protagonist a story about her life, I hope this is enough to make the reader interested to find out more about her. <A> Myths, fables, fairy tales, classics are incorporated, remixed and reused over and over in all kinds of media. <S> See a related question . <S> The repercussions will be that people will notice, and will expect some twist, something to make the old story new. <S> If you fail to deliver that, you will disappoint them. <S> Your story will be shoehorned by critics as a " retelling " but that's not really a bad thing. <S> It's just like if you put vampires in, it's automatically labeled "horror", doesn't mean vampires or horrors are bad - <S> it's just that if you want to maintain a different identity of the story, it will be difficult. <S> Expectations will be higher. <S> This applies only to the bottom-scrappers. <S> But other than that, you're fine. <S> As long as the tale is old enough not to be covered by copyrights, you're just doing what half the "industry" does. <A> read "another day another dungeon" and <S> its sequel "one quest hold the dragons" for a good example of how to incorporate character storytelling. <S> I particularly like the contradictory explanations of greep. <S> not all of the accounts of the origin/memories of greep are particularly consistent with the theme of the book (humor), but because of the placement, and discussion of the storys they work well. <S> In your story you need to have not only told the story of the three bears, but little blue boots, and ravenlocks and the three panthers to pull off what you are trying.
| People are more forgiving for crappy original stories than to crappy retellings - but if you write it well, you have nothing to worry.
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Humor in a fantasy setting I'm creating a story based on the D&D Forgotten Realms campaign. Considering the main adversary in this case is a balor demon named Bob, an ally of the adventurers is a gold dragon named Joe, etc. How can I add humor to this story without destroying the action? Can you also add some examples? Also, the characters should have all the abilities and weaknesses of a true D&D character such that I can create a stat block for each of them that can actually make sense. <Q> You've gotten a good start with the name. <S> Part of humor comes from confounding expectations. <S> So you have this big snarly demon... named Bob. <S> Maybe the damsel in distress is a guy in drag who was just trying to avoid the draft, and couldn't get out of his lie fast enough. <S> Maybe the hero reveals he's bi, and that he's entirely cool with a male damsel. <S> Maybe the bad guy is four kids operating a suit of armor by remote control. <S> Maybe the hero's mage is Sherlock Holmes. <S> Go through the D&D tropes and turn them sideways. <S> How much you pile on depends on whether you want it to be merely funny or a rip-roaring parody which still plays by the rules. <S> (Which I would totally read, by the way.) <A> This question made me think of the Goblins webcomic that has a very cartoony/silly approach to D&D-style fantasy, while still allowing for some interesting story-telling and character development. <S> Having said that, I feel that in order to find humor in the fantastical I would say finding how far you want to take that humor would be a big part of it. <S> The Hobbit is peppered with light humor of the world and the various quirks of the characters(Especially their races.) <S> while something like say Disc-World is humor-driven unto itself with plays on names, locations, and characters that mimic more "Serious" fantasy settings and stories. <S> In the end, it just depends how big a part you want humor to play in the story you are trying to tell. <A> One easy way to go about portioning humor is picking a comical character (or two) and peppering the story with their wit, ineptitude, craziness, grave pessimism, or whichever other approach that makes them humorous that you like. <S> In D&D settings that character would traditionally be some kind of bard, a person whose job was to be funny - making all the companions the butt of his humor and annoying them to no end, being a pragmatical coward in face of impossible odds, or opposite, charging bravely on the forefront with a song on his mouth. <S> ("I was trying to bluff!") <S> While the rest of the team takes the reality of the world in all seriousness, he keeps a healthy distance. <S> Which may get him in trouble or resolve problems in equal proportions. <S> Let's say the dragon introduces himself as Joerniperissimus Nightmare of The Dreaded Gorge and the joker is the one to address him as Joe first. <A> I think the paladin and the cleric should be madly in love with each other, and keep trying to convert the other to their religion so they can get married. <S> This gives you a great time to call someone a heretic during lovers quarrels. <S> This can be made funnier if the religions are closely related like Methodist and Lutheran, and the other guys are followers of widely divergent religions like if the barbarian was a druid and the elf was constantly visiting witch doctors and fortune tellers. <S> I also recommend the web comic "order of the stick" and the book "one quest hold the dragons". <A> I'm not suggesting migrating the question, and of course this is several years old. <S> But I've noticed in the RPGs. <S> StackExchange they often discuss balancing humor and action, and that may be another way for anyone finding this question from the future to address it. <S> Some Q&As there that may be relevant: <S> https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/8002/how-do-i-get-my-pcs-to-not-be-a-bunch-of-murderous-cretins - the Question lists some satires, and also how horrific the game would is if things are taken literally -- sometimes ultra-realism can be darkly humorous. <S> https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/134590/how-do-i-deal-with-players-who-make-friends-with-goblins?noredirect=1&lq=1 <S> -- I love this question because I'm doing my first D&D this weekend, and my character is a rogue dwarf with a sage background, and I'd totally rather make friends with everything, instead of being a murder-hobo. <S> My friend picked my weapons and battle-stuff because it's so beyond my own worldview. <S> For YOUR writing, this could imply having some characters who are genre-blind, and don't "know" that Combat Is The Goal, or other assumptions most take for granted. <S> https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/140796/how-can-i-play-a-dumb-and-un-charismatic-character/ - just that question alone is almost as brilliant as "How much mayhem can I wreak as a sentient fish?" <S> (I think from worldbuilding? <S> It was on the Hot Network Qs page). <S> Like Rincewind in the start of the Discworld series -- a wizard, <S> but he couldn't do magic. <S> Have a weak fighter/barbarian (brave, but can barely lift a bag of flour, so has to attack differently.) <S> A clumsy, not quite charismatic Rogue. <S> A Dyslexic wizard, so their spells come our "wrong"? <S> (Since it's a story, not a game , you're not bound by stats limitations!) <S> I hope you come back and comment with a link to your finished work!
| But another great option for humor -- whatever the dominant trait should be, this guy has the opposite.
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Is it legal to name a character in a story after a disguised trademark? I'm writing a sci-fi book series. As a true nerd, I want to use some characters to "do homage" to famous scientists, acronyms for experimental methods, and (here's the question) trademarked instruments. All would be disguised somewhat; i.e., they are insider jokes ("easter eggs"). Either I would change the spelling, or use an anagram. So my question is: I'm on solid legal ground, here, right? Example1 (not in my books, though): Pepsi Cola => Spice Lopa, the village sweetheart Example2 (also not in my books): Microsoft => Mike Rosoff, the scheming alderman I know none of you are lawyers, but I'm hoping someone might know anyway. <Q> Trade mark worries can be mitigated by: not using the exact mark, and not using it in the same industry. <S> Pepsi and Microsoft do not write novels. <S> Using anagrams of the mark is not the same mark. <S> For example, Pepsi-cola and Coca-cola are different trademarks. <S> For libel and slander concerns as long as your work can be considered a parody, satire, or allegory, they would have a very weak case. <S> Also, as lawyers tend to be literalists, they won't notice if you don't get too blatant. <A> Don't forget this precedent: the HAL 9000 computer in Clarke's 2001: <S> A Space Odyssey was formed by transposing the letters of IBM down one letter in the alphabet: H < <S> - I <S> A <- B L <- M <A> I can't give you any basis, but I am sure that it is allowed and that you are not violating any laws. <S> I may edit my answer if I happen to see my basis.
| The specific issues you are dancing around are "Trade mark dilution" and "Libel and slander". I have never encountered such a rule or law that prohibits the use of names derived from reality that you already altered.
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Is it okay to mention a person's nationality and accent only once or twice in a story? For example, if you have a guy who is an Indian (from India), and you say something like, Sukant answered in his Northern Bhojpuri accent, "Yes. It is indeed true. Many people come into my store but not everyone for buying something." Now later in the story, do I have to write things that "sound" Indian. You know, I don't have to make them somehow sound like the Indian guy in The Simpsons. I figure that as long as I subtly mention it a few times in the story, the reader will supply it naturally. Maybe I can use some idioms from his hometown, if it is important to the story, but other than that I don't know. Say like a guy was from the South (like Alabama). Does he really have to say "y'all all the time"? "Howdy"? "Fixin'"? <Q> I can think of at least two ways to demonstrate your character's nationality and accent without having to mention it constantly or write the dialogue crazily: 1) <S> There is a difference between accent and dialect. <S> Accent is more or less the generally recognized version of the language, taught in textbooks, but with regional flavor to pronunciation. <S> Maybe there's a lilt to the voice, or a drawl, or the Gs get dropped, or Rs added. <S> Dialect is when vocabulary and grammar change along with accent. <S> Examples: <S> Accent: "I'm gonna do something about that." <S> Dialect: " <S> I'm fixin' to do somethin' 'bout that." <S> Accent: "Maybe something could happen. <S> " <S> Dialect: " <S> Somethin' might could happen." <S> Accent: "Should I call you in the morning? <S> " Dialect: " <S> Shall I knock you up in the morning, then? <S> " Dialect: " <S> You want I should come <S> call f'you tomorrow morning? <S> " <S> The upshot is that you want enough differences from General American/English Speech to indicate that your speaker is of Indian descent speaking English as a second language, but not so much that it's impossible to read his dialogue written down. <S> 2) <S> When someone is learning English (or whatever) as second language, the speaker will often use the grammar of the native language, because s/he is still translating. <S> Example: <S> Native speaker: <S> "My hair is so straight." <S> Native Italian, English ESL: " <S> It's so straight, my hair." <A> I'm reading a Spanish book and there is an Argentinean guy in the story. <S> The writer says it once or twice at the beginning and after that he just simulates the oral accent. <S> He uses typical idioms or words like, for example, "carro" instead of "coche" when they say "car". <S> They also put the accent in different syllables in some words (this is easier for a Spanish writer, since we can use graphic accent to mark it; he uses italics if the word is wrong written because of this). <S> Sometimes, the use of stereotypes can be useful, for example the people from Argentina are known as good psychologists. <S> Now when I read it, I imagine him talking with Argentinean accent <S> and I don't need the author to remind me anymore. <A> Don't make it too heavy unless you're aiming at comical effect. <S> It's better to keep it as a part of the story (show) than tell it like you did. <S> Personally, I have no clue how Northern Bhojpuri sounds like. <S> I'd feel estranged by such a mention. <S> Instead, we can base this on someone else's knowledge, taking it at face value without dwelling on deeper meaning, and driving the point home stronger than just by such narrator's interruption. <S> " <S> Yes. <S> It is indeed true. <S> Many people come into my store but not everyone for buying something," Sukant said. <S> "You don't live here very long, do you? <S> Where are you from?" <S> "Yes, I am from India, Northern Bhojpuri. <S> Does it show in my speech so much?" <S> "Quite a bit." <S> That way informed reader will know what they see, uninformed but curious can look it up, and the rest will just accept it and let their imagination fill in. <S> It's great if you can make character's lines stand out as his own by the way they speak alone, but don't overdo it, don't turn them into parody of themselves. <S> It's better to make a character sound bland, than fake. <S> Unless you write a comedy. <S> In this case accent bordering on intelligible is a valid comical device.
| So - balance, and rather err on the side of "too little accent", than on the side of "too much accent".
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What is the difference between an ISBN and an ISBN Barcode? Is the ISBN the same as the ISBN Barcode or are these 2 different things? I want to publish my own books, so need some clarification. Which one will help me save on my publishing cost? <Q> (picture can be found here: dLSoft ) <S> 978-3-16-148410-0 is the ISBN (number). <S> The vertical strokes below that number are the barcode (which represents the number above). <A> ISBN or International Standard Book Number is a unique number assigned to a book. <S> It is issued by a central ISBN agency in your country. <S> In USA, you can obtain your ISBN numbers from the Bowker Agency. <S> So the basic difference between 2 is just of the form. <S> As ISBN is just a Number and ISBN Barcode is a Barcode. <S> It is encoded in an EAN-13 format barcode with a Price Supplemental barcode. <S> ISBN Code <S> Human Readable Text (optional) Pricing Supplemental Code <S> This 2-part barcode is required by traditional book sellers such as Barnes & Nobles, Books-a-Million, and others. <A> The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. <S> ISBN number is assigned to a book for each variation and edition except re printings. <S> ISBN barcode (13 digits) = <S> Unique country code(3 digits) + ISBN number(10 digits) <S> Last digit is Check digit that is a form of redundancy check used for error detection. <S> In general ISBN barcode gives different check digit from the corresponding 10 digits ISBN number as shown in attached picture. <A> Older ISBN numbers are ten digits long and divided into four fields, the country/language code, the publisher code, the book code, and the check digit. <S> they were printed in ocr-a (a font designed for machine reading). <S> Newer isbn numbers are actually ean numbers with ean checksums and use ean barcodes, with isbn numbers having 2 ean country codes (978 being used as the prefix for legacy isbn numbers, with the checksum recalculated).
| ISBN Barcode is a unique commercial book identifier barcode.
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Balancing character levity in a serious narrative I am looking for examples of authors who manage to have sarcastic/funny characters exist in a very serious, end of the world type of scenario. The issue I am trying to resolve is when I write character dialogue several are quite sarcastic, and rarely serious but find themselves in dire situations...how do I balance the levity and the plot line without detracting from the seriousness of the situation? <Q> Another method is to have a running joke that is more sad or touching at a climatic scene. <S> this is often seen where a character jokes about being a hero while acting cowardly until the climax, where he lays aside the cowardice and saves the day. <A> I'm thinking of Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride." <S> It's funny in a sad way how he fixates on wanting to say, "Allo. <S> My name is...[etc]." <S> Then in the castle fight <S> it's pretty funny. <S> And finally his "punch line" to his "joke" at the end. <S> That was powerful, because there was humor, hatred, rage, helplessness, and vengeance all mixed up. <S> You cheered for him, high-fived him for the cleverness, and yet mourned with him that satisfying his vengeance still left him empty <S> -- he could never have his father back. <S> My point <S> : Jokes don't always have to be "haha" funny to be effective. <S> In fact, during the worst times, the crisis moments, they really shouldn't be "haha" funny. <S> At that point, re-use an often-repeated joke -- only now it's not funny. <S> You could also study "Stargate SG1." <S> That's a TV show, not a book, but Jack's character is, IMHO, a great example of what you're talking about. <A> Why is it an issue? <S> Don't you know anyone with a black sense of humor? <S> People crack jokes, particularly sarcastic ones, in the darkest of hours. <S> I wouldn't find it problematic, particularly if you've established that the sarcastic character is a wiseass who uses humor to deflect or to ratchet down emotionally intense situations as a character trait. <S> I'd read true-life cop stories or military memoirs for something like this. <S> First responders develop "gallows humor" to help cope with the stress of the job. <S> Try the BBC documentary series Inside Afghanistan. <A> I think one of the best examples is Jaroslav Hašek 's masterpiece The Good Soldier Švejk . <S> The novel is set during World War I in Austria-Hungary, a multi-ethnic empire full of long-standing tensions. <S> Fifteen million people died in the War, one million of them Austro-Hungarian soldiers of whom around 140,000 were Czechs. <S> Jaroslav Hašek participated in this conflict and examined it in The Good Soldier Švejk. <S> [..] <S> The character of Josef Švejk is a development of this theme. <S> Through possibly-feigned idiocy or incompetence he repeatedly manages to frustrate military authority and expose its stupidity in a form of passive resistance: <S> the reader is left unclear, however, as to whether Švejk is genuinely incompetent, or acting quite deliberately with dumb insolence. <S> These absurd events reach a climax when Švejk, wearing a Russian uniform, is mistakenly taken prisoner by his own troops.
| One method I have seen was where a character was constantly making smart remarks (many of which were very funny), In scenes where the author wanted a more serious tone, the jokes told were not as funny, as if the character was trying to break the tension, and not doing a very good job.
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How to start a technical book? Well, I am a experienced software developer and looking at question made by friends that are learning, questions over the internet and StackExchange, I noticed that I eventually could help more people by writing a book. Not an advanced, a book for beginners that should be fun and nice to read an to learn how to program basic things using C/C++. But there's a huge problem. I am a Software Developer, not a writer. I just do not have a clue how to start building a book. So here I leave the question: how to get started? I'm asking about writing the text itself, not other factors (like marketing). <Q> Since you're a software developer, I encourage you to think about the book the way you think about a significant application. <S> You (probably) don't just start writing code; you do some requirements analysis, maybe some use-case analysis (please don't shatter my dreams :-) ) <S> , some high-level design... <S> and then, if you're like most of us, you start implementing, discover some things you can improve and other things you didn't think about, and iterate. <S> This isn't that different other than that you're producing text instead of code. <S> As this answer says, an early step should be brainstorming about content and starting to organize it into an outline. <S> This outline isn't cast in stone; think of it as being cast in Jell-O. <S> But you need a starting point. <S> You will probably end up with a list of specific topics (chapters? <S> sections?) <S> , along with an introduction. <S> Skip the introduction. <S> Intros are hard; save it for later. <S> Instead pick one of the concrete topics you've identified and start writing that in isolation. <S> Think of it like a blog post on steroids or a single lecture in a class: you know there'll be other context and that you'll have to add some connective tissue, but what do you need to get across on this topic? <S> Write that. <S> Don't polish yet; just get stuff down as coherently as you can. <S> Then do another one. <S> Then one more. <S> After you've done a few, you'll start to see where you have cross-dependencies, what questions you didn't consider, and what patterns are starting to arise in your writing (like how and how much you talk about code samples). <S> Great -- now you can pause the writing, assess where you are, refactor, maybe throw some stuff out, and proceed with a better idea of where you're going. <S> Books take time and tend to turn up surprises; don't assume your first outline will survive contact with reality. <S> But you've got to start somewhere , so pick something and go. <S> I've been in the software world, as both a tech writer and a programmer, for, um, rather a few years. <S> This answer is based on my experience and observations of the field. <S> Oh, and I still write my introductions last. <A> The first step I would always recommend for any writing, but in particular for technical writing is to brainstorm and outline. <S> Once you have that list begin putting them in a logical order. <S> When you start putting them in order you will likely identify transition topics and support topics that didn't come to mind while you were brain storming. <S> I work in a software development shop and as a piece of advice don't assume your readers know certain facts or points. <S> If your intent is to create a beginner's guide make sure you cover the basics. <S> I have troubles with some developers who assume people know some of the basics of programming just because it is so second nature to them <S> (by no means are developers the only people who over look the basics of their expertise). <S> Good luck. <A> When you make the outline, think about the scope of the book as well: what would you expect in such a book? <S> What would you rather not see? <S> For example, if this a book on advanced C++ techiques and threads, you probably don't want to explain what a class is. <S> Think about your target audience.
| Start by simply compiling a list of topics that you want to cover.
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Can I use parenthesis in a conversation I wrote a dialogue as follows: Then he said to her: "I told you I won't do that! (And I think you shouldn't either)". Somebody then asked me: How is a speech in a parenthesis? I'd like to know if you can understand that it is something said in a lower tone, as if it didn't belong to the main line of thought or not. Is it usual in writing? I've seen some posts such as the following and they look pretty dubious to me: http://www.writingforums.org/threads/can-you-use-parentheses-in-dialogue.61993/ The questions, then, are: Is it correct? Is it usual? Is it understandable? Are there alternatives? <Q> Then he said to her: "I told you I won't do that!” <S> In an undertone, he added, “And I think you shouldn’t either.” <S> Unfortunately, I think that’s the best you can do. <S> I’ve hardly ever seen parentheses used as punctuation within dialogue, so if I saw it now, I would have no idea how to interpret them. <A> Is it correct? <S> Strictly speaking, it's not wrong , but it's really hard to hear someone saying a parenthesis. <S> Is it usual? <S> No. <S> In fact, I can't remember ever seeing it. <S> Is it understandable? <S> I guess, although I would do a massive double take and think that the author was being too bookish. <S> Are there alternatives? <S> Yes. <S> I'd use M-dashes, commas, or stage business as noted in Seth Gordon's answer. <A> I agree with Seth Gordon. <S> Parentheses in dialogue are so rarely seen, they could be interpreted in many ways. <S> I would recommend being explicit in dialogue. <A> Although rare complex punctuation can be used in dialog (although in your example I would use an em dash), but as most dialog is simple; because outside of a classroom, most of us aren't paying close enough attention to speech to get great subtleties; the normal approach is to simplify your dialog to make it easier to understand and more realistic. <S> Two exceptions to this are language geeks (some of the things I've said need serious parsing) and technical transcripts where punctuation is implied by the speaker particularly when the topic under discussion is primarily written such as formal grammars. <A> I definitely came across it multiple times in the Harry Potter series. <S> Third of all, it can be understandable, but I guess it depends on the readers age or education level, or if they ever came across it. <S> Personally, when the parenthesis is used, I always thought the person was muttering the thing inside the text, for example, “Your parents died from a serial murderer (which I think you probably already knew), but strictly speaking, you cannot tell this to anyone” (just a random dialog thing I made). <S> Finally, you can use commas instead of it, for example: <S> “Your parents died from a serial murderer, which I think you probably already knew, but strictly speaking, you cannot tell this to anyone. <S> Honestly, IMHO, I don’t recommend you using them, merely because many people do not know what it is, and will become very very confused, as I did. <S> this is probably not going to be read by you as it is late, but I hope others find it and benefit from it <S> Hope <S> I helped you, reader! <S> EDIT: I also found it in the older Charles Dickenson books (which I didn’t read, just because I was surfing the net and saw that) <A> 1. <S> Is it correct? <S> Yes, it is correct. <S> Example 1: Using parentheses to indicate words of less importance such as during a digression or mumbling. <S> "... I do assure you that I am not one of those young ladies (if such young ladies there are) <S> who are so daring as to risk their happiness on the chance of being asked a second time. <S> " <S> Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice <S> Example 2: <S> Using parentheses to indicate action of the speaker or present some other information not spoken by the speaker. <S> "... Yes, I understand the sort of mind. <S> Vigorous, decided, with sentiments to a certain point, not coarse. <S> A better written letter, Harriet, (returning it,) than I had expected." <S> Jane Austen, Emma <S> This seems a better usage of parentheses in dialogue than in Example 1. <S> 2. <S> Is it usual? <S> While parentheses are very usual and prevalent in general text to present extra information, I've rarely seen it being used inside quotes (but then again, I'm not a very well read person). <S> Commas are more preferred in dialogue. <S> Using parentheses inside dialogue such as in Example 2 can be a very useful tool to the author.
| Second of all, no, it isn’t really usual nowadays, though back then it was more usual. First of all, yes, it is correct and used in the older books.
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Best way to write an article professionally Is there any widely accepted step by step method for writing a creative article in a professional manner. I want to improve my English writing skills in relation to creative article writing. I read some related sites like:- Write Articles Well-Researched, High Quality Articles <Q> I agree with hildred's answer that a review of the basics is in order here: <S> Sentence structure, grammar, and so on. <S> There are no standards for general-interest articles, but academic papers <S> do have such standards. <S> Without knowing what, exactly, you want to write, it's hard to give you advice on structure. <S> But I can give a few suggestions that might help you get started. <S> Read a lot <S> Since you want to write articles, read a lot of articles of the type you want to produce. <S> You'll get a thought for how people choose to structure them. <S> Just write <S> Everyone has thousands of terrible sentences in them. <S> It's in your interest to get them out of you as quickly as possible. <S> (I'm paraphrasing Chuck Jones here.) <S> It's okay to write pages and pages of terrible essays. <S> It's good practice. <S> Structure <S> Try ordering your work. <S> Adding paragraph breaks helps. <S> The three paragraph essay is an old format used in schools. <S> It's oversimplified, but a good way to learn to write until you learn on your own. <S> It goes like this: <S> Introductory paragraph - tell people what the thesis is. <S> (i.e., tell 'em what you're gonna say.) <S> Your main essay - what you want to say. <S> (This can be more than one paragraph.) <S> Concluding paragraph <S> For this answer, an outline would look like this: General thoughts on standards <S> Read a lot of stuff <S> Vomit out <S> text, gain experience Common basic structure devices Conclusion <S> Also Reading the question on this site may also help. <S> A basic book on writing like <S> The Elements of Style might be a good idea. <S> (There are questions about those on this site, and I'd look for something brief.) <A> You probably should join a writers group where you can get reviews and feedback for your writing, and support from other writers. <S> In your question I noticed at least one grammar error in every sentence, so I would recommend reviewing the basics: sentence structure, verbals, and punctuation. <A> Writing creatively in a language that is not your native language is extremely difficult. <S> I don't know how authors like Joseph Conrad managed it. <S> Then reverse the translation, and see if it's close to what you originally said. <S> Also, you will have to change (or eliminate) <S> most idioms you've used, because they are probably different in the two languages. <S> * <S> By doing this process a lot, you may eventually learn to write like a native, without this process. <S> *(For example, Google Translate faithfully renders "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse" to the literal equivalent in French <S> "Je suis tellement faim que je pourrais manger un cheval," and no Frenchman would understand that. <S> The correct translation is "J'ai faim du loup," which literally means "I have hunger of the wolf.")
| Put related points next to each other, try to eliminate redundancies. You can also try outlining . My advice is to write first in your native language, then put it through a translation program, then fix the translation.
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How do I write a proper cover letter? I'm an engineer with a fair knowledge of the English language. I can converse with people in English and write as well, but now I'm interested in learning to write cover letters and blogs. I see plenty of books on writing letters in different ways; however, I am still left with the following questions: In what format can I write a cover letter? Can I include technical terms in a cover letter? Are cover letters sent through email differently than written letters? <Q> A cover Letter has a fixed structure: <S> The first paragraph describes which position you are applying for and where you found the position. <S> The second paragraph explains why you think you are suitable for this position. <S> The third paragraph is set for follow-up actions you are expecting or you may take (such as hearing from you or "I will call you to discuss more details", etc). <S> Also, keep the cover letter to one page. <S> I reckon you use as few technical terms as possible because the covering letter is usually read by HR staff, they merely need to know your general working experience. <S> There are significant differences between an email cover letter and one sent by post, in the header and footer sections. <S> You may find more info on this page . <A> I think post by sotondolphin (based on info in the included link) is pretty good, but I have the following disagreements / additions: <S> Make it mistake-free. <S> [Many hirers' attitude is, "Ifthey can't avoid mistakes in a cover letter , then it'sguaranteed their work will be even sloppier after I hire them."] <S> I disagree about the technical terms. <S> Often, HR staff don't read cover letters or resumes/CVs; they just look for buzzwords. <S> The right buzzwords get you passed along to the next level. <S> A corollary to that is: Your cover letter is for the people for/with whom you'll actually be working. <S> Speak to them, not the HR staff. <S> If you want the job, then YOU get back to THEM , not the other way around. <S> [p.s. <S> The same goes for getting a date, or (since this is a writer's site) getting something published. :-) ] <A> 1. <S> In what format can I write a cover letter? <S> Read the job posting carefully and see if they have any requirements, number one priority is to follow all instructions exactly. <S> After that you can use any format <S> you'd like if you believe it will be professional and beneficial. <S> There is no set format and I've gotten interviews from single paragraph cover letters, and from lengthy ones consisting of 5 or 6 paragraphs. <S> It is about the structure, content, and reason. <S> Just as any writing - say what needs to be said and remove the rest. <S> 2. <S> Can I include technical terms in a cover letter? <S> Absolutely. <S> I would be be careful not to repeat your résumé though. <S> If you state in your résumé, "skill in technical term " <S> then there is no reason to repeat yourself in the cover letter. <S> 3. <S> Are cover letters sent through email different from written letters? <S> In general, not really. <S> Just make sure that any minor changes needed are made. <S> For example in an email you might say somewhere "My résumé is attached in both .pdf <S> and .doc <S> for your convenience. <S> " Which wouldn't make sense if mailing it in. <S> MOST IMPORTANT: <S> Follow any instructions given. <S> If the company specifies to state something, state it. <S> If they ask for a format, use it. <S> If they want a particular filetype, do it.
| In brief, you don't need header information in an email (addressee info, date, sender name and address, etc) and length isn't as big of a deal in an email, although you still should keep an email cover letter short. In general you want to start by stating the position you're applying for.
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How do I find mistakes in grammar and style in my own writings? I am no expert in the English language. Things I need to improve are clarity, style and correct use of grammar. Any tips would be helpful. I am writing a large document and plan to proof read it myself. What are the best tips you have. I am also looking for information on writing style (a reference book would be a good help) on writing text. <Q> There are a few things you can do. <S> This will give you a sense of whether your sentence structure works, whether any words are out of place or whether you have redundancy that needs to be fixed. <S> Most of the time you'll catch egregious stuff by just reading things out loud and making sure it sounds right. <S> If you're writing slowly, do this after each paragraph. <S> Make sure you also do it for the whole document when you are finished. <S> Set your work aside for at least a day, then read it to yourself. <S> If you don't have someone in real life to do this, try to find someone online who is willing to give you feedback on it. <S> Be open to constructive feedback and make changes. <S> This will help your grammar, but you also seem to be looking for some advice on composition, so here's what I can give you: Mind your audience. <S> Know what you are writing for, know the conventions of your target audience and make sure you follow them. <S> If you're writing a paper for a conference or class, be sure to understand the standards you need to meet. <S> Start with something smaller, or break your work up into small chunks. <S> If you have time, write several smaller pieces before you take on a big work. <S> If you're writing a novel, try a short story first. <S> If you're writing a research paper, try a summary first. <S> Work off of an outline. <S> One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to ramble. <S> As a beginner try to outline each paragraph you're going to write before you write it. <S> In this way your paper will to some degree write itself. <S> If you do these things, you'll be just fine. <A> Listen to a text-to-speech program <S> read your work to you. <S> The nice thing about those programs is their stupidity -- whatever you wrote, that's exactly what they read. <S> If you have a word twice in a row, most humans will skip the repeat and never notice. <S> If you leave out a word, most humans will supply it and never notice. <S> Do a repeated find on commonly mixed-up words, like "there/they're <S> /their," "your/you're," and "its <S> /it's." <S> (You can get a personal list of these bugaboo words by searching for "commonly misused words" or "commonly misspelled words," and eliminating the ones that you know you don't mix up.) <S> Run spell check! <S> It is inexcusable to have blatantly misspelled words in a MSS that you're submitting to someone -- even if it's your editor -- since it's so easy to run spell check. <S> Don't waste other people's time. <S> Even if you're paying them. <S> (Especially if you're paying them??) <S> Ditto for grammar check. <S> Even though grammar check is not as reliable as spell check, you should still run it. <S> Make sure that any/all grammar flags are either false positives (i.e., not actually bad grammar) or are purposely breaking a grammar rule for effect (and BTW don't do that too often). <S> Again, don't waste people's time. <S> Read each paragraph, one by one, and ask yourself: "Is the first sentence a proper leading sentence for this paragraph?" <S> If not, fix it, or fix the paragraph. <S> In most writing, especially non-fiction, you should be able to get the gist of a MSS from only the leading sentences of paragraphs. <S> MS Word has something called outline view. <S> This can be very useful for getting your thoughts organized and ordered (and keeping them that way), especially for long, complex MSSs. <S> If you have outline view available (or something similar), I suggest you figure out how it works and use it. <A> One trick that works for me is to read the pages in reverse order. <S> This stops the text from flowing, and disrupts your tendency to read what you thought you wrote rather than what you actually wrote. <S> Also, try anything that stops it looking familiar: change the font to a different font from the one you used when you wrote it. <S> If you're proofreading on screen (or using a colour printer) change the colours. <S> Anything you can think of that will make it seem less familiar as you're reading through it.
| Read your work out loud. Verify each time that you are using the correct word. Be critical; fix anything new you find. Get someone else to read your work, preferably a native speaker.
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Using LaTeX with publishers? Background: Im working on a rather long instructional book, and have just started trying to use LaTeX. The book doesn't have any scientific notation in it, and most of the diagrams I made in other software and rendered to still images. This will be the first thing I submit to publishers. It seems like LaTeX is most useful for writers who end up being in control of the distribution of their own work, I could be wrong though. Question: Should a writer spend much time using LaTeX if ultimately handing the pack to a publisher? Will they even want a .tex file? Or will they want just a Word file or similar, to which they will apply their own styling to? I will probably keep learning and using LaTeX because it seems to create very nice and neat work. But I'm more curious in regards to LaTeX and publishers. <Q> I would guess that most editors want readable copies of text, so either a printed version or a common file format such as PDF or Word. <S> You can create both from ( <S> La)TeX. Wether or not a publisher will appreciate a .tex file after the manuscript as been accepted for publication by the editor will depend on the publishing process. <S> Format: <S> Scientific journals and books usually require Word documents (usually .doc, not .docx, as the latter often causes problems), some accept RTF, Wordperfect and Open Office. <S> Layout: <S> Publishers often require plain text , that is text with no markup. <S> Sometimes they allow italics. <S> Here are the manuscript guidelines of one of the largest publishers of scientific texts, Sage, who only accepts Word files: http://www.sagepub.com/repository/binaries/Manuscripts.pdf . <S> The requirements of many scientific publishers are similar. <S> Springer on the other hand accepts TeX besides Word and others: http://www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda_downloaddocument/instr_print_10459.061023.pdf <S> If TeX is a benefit for your writing process or even for the preparation of a Word file is a question I cannot answer. <S> Important edit <S> Please view the comment by Martin Schröder below who adds that LaTeX is a requirement in some natural sciences. <A> LaTeX is fine as it will deliver a printable .pdf for initial approval to a publisher and many templates from scientific publishers, freely available from a basic web search can be loaded, including Springer and many others LaTeX templates Springer <A> You can use LaTeX to create PDFs for publishers who accept submissions in that file format. <S> Otherwise, don't use LaTeX --edit-- (unless they instructed you to use a specific LaTeX class for your document, a specialized situation) <S> --edit-- <S> More than any other file format, LaTeX is used to generate pdf files, which many, if not most, accept. <S> Publishers won't accept LaTeX code because the code is heavily dependent on the TeX Distribution and additional macro "packages" called for from an uncompiled LaTeX document. <S> For example, if you had an indie publishing company, a writer could submit a LaTeX file to you, that called for a font package that you don't have installed, and the result would be that the LaTeX document wouldn't compile. <S> Since LaTeX is an entire System of Software, more so than a single code recipe, like html, publishers can't expect the LaTeX code they receive will compile. <S> And, publishers don't want to have to ask you how to compile it, they just want a working fully formatted document, which LaTeX does with pdf as well as any software out there. <S> For self-publishers, knowing LaTeX is fantastic, because Lulu and Createspace both accept pdf, and you only have to generate true to size pdf page sizes, which is easy.
| I believe there are a few scientific journals that accept LaTeX code as submittals, but they usually require you to use their specific LaTeX Class (document type) rather than the "standard" LaTeX classes (book, report, article, letter etc.) For scientific manuscript submission I don't see any benefit in using (La)TeX, because every publisher either accepts or requires Word.
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Why do writers use "said" instead of "asked" when someone asks a question? I often see writers use "said" instead of "asked" when their character asks a question. e.g. From The Hobbit : “Where else should I be?” said the wizard Is it a mistake that hasn't been caught by the editor, or is it acceptable to ask a question with "said"? <Q> It's stylistic. <S> You can use either. " <S> Said" isn't wrong. <S> Some writers feel very strongly about <S> "bookisms," which is using words instead of "said" which tend to be more elaborate and give some action to speaking. <S> ( hissed, crooned, muttered, sighed, barked, laughed, snarled, grumbled ) <S> Personally I'm fine with them if they are used appropriately and judiciously, but your mileage may vary. <S> "Asked" isn't really a bookism, but it is a touch redundant (you pretty much only ask a question). <S> (Plus look, we're talking Tolkien, and linguistics professors can do whatever the hell they like with languages.) <A> Because it's less intrusive. <S> Anything you speak is something you say; "asking" is merely a more specific description of how the thing is being said. <S> Some writing wisdom holds that using "said" is lazy/boring, but always using specific descriptors like "asked" when the questioning tone is obvious from context can be equally disruptive to the flow of reading. <S> " <S> Said" doesn't call attention to itself like "asked" does, and lets the reader continue the conversation with minimal interruption. <S> Overuse of more descriptive verbs may lead to Tom Swifties . <A> In this case he wasn't expecting an answer. <S> Gandalf, that is. <A> Side note: <S> Said and asked are the ONLY dialogue tags you should ever use. <S> Grunted, hissed, wept, replied, cried, etc, are not acceptable and will get you a manuscript full of red marks from your editor if you ever try to publish. <S> These colorful tags are actually considered lazy writing, as the emotion you are trying to convey in the dialogue should be present in the line itself or in the description. <S> When I published my first novel, I spent way too much time correcting these colorful dialogue tags and changing them to said and asked. <S> Live and learn. <S> Unfortunately, students in schools are told the exact opposite. <S> I've even seen teachers send home a list of tags to use instead of said.
| Said is always appropriate as a dialogue tag, whether it's a question or a statement, and asked is fine as well when a character is asking a question.
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What software can I use to write a book with lots of photos? I am writing my first book. It is a book with the history of my village.I have read that most people use MS Word, so did I. The problem is that my book contains lots of pictures. This has increased the size of my Word file to more than 300MB. This makes it (amongst other things) slow to load. Is there any mostly used software where I could just include the path to the file, and just have the image file in the same folder? Can I do this with MS Word? My book contains lots of photos and tables . Which software do you propose that I should use? (I have experience with LaTeX and I could use it if advised so. Is it a good idea, concerning my design?) <Q> The number one rule is always to ask your publisher <S> what file types they can handle. <S> If you self-publish, ask your printer. <S> Many publishers expect one file per chapter . <S> This will also reduce the individual file size and make it easier to handle for you on your system. <S> If you self-publish, you might want to get a decent desktop publishing software such as FrameMaker, InDesign or QuarkXPress that allows you to fine tune your layout. <S> These softwares allow you to link to external files such as image files. <S> The separate files will only be assembled in the printer. <S> Don't forget to ask about file format, resolution, color profiles, and dot gain, for your image files, too. <S> Get the printing machine's color profile (ideally one that fits the paper you'll print on) and do some color management. <S> Printing images is a science of its own. <A> You can link to images in Word. <S> When you insert an image, you get a dialog where you can select the image. <S> The 'Insert' button in this dialog is actually a drop-down menu. <S> One of the menu choices is 'Link to file'. <S> There are two basic workflows when publishing a book: the writer supplies the text and images to the publisher, and the publisher creates the layout in e.g. Adobe InDesign. <S> the writer does everything, and supplies a print-ready PDF to the publisher. <S> If you use workflow 1, you'll have to use the program recommended by the publisher. <S> If you use workflow 2, use a program suitable for publishing large documents. <S> Adobe FrameMaker is very good in this regard. <S> You can use LaTeX, but as far as I know, changing the layout of a LaTeX document is more difficult than in FrameMaker: <S> FrameMaker is <S> WYSIWYG, LaTex uses programming code to define the layout. <S> Use what you're comfortable with. <S> If you're stuck with Word, there are a couple of rules to follow to avoid most of the headaches: <S> Keep the formatting simple. <S> Do your page layout once, at the end of the project. <S> Only use paragraph and character styles for your text formatting. <S> No ad-hoc formatting. <S> When you need to share your document with someone else, create a copy of the file and use a macro to convert the linked images to embedded images. <S> The file will become very large, but it's the only way to ensure that the images are visible when you open the Word file on another computer. <S> Before major changes, make a backup of the Word file. <S> This way you'll be able to revert to a clean backup if the major change has unwanted consequences. <A> Consider CherryTree , it handles images elegantly (either embed or link). <S> Then export to HTML, PDF. <A> You can attach multiple images to characters and locations, and view them alongside each scene.
| The Novel Factory software is specially designed to let you add pictures to your novel manuscript and notes files. For importing images, use Link to File.
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How can I broaden my understanding of my characters? A problem I have when writing is that all of my characters behavior and speech ends up mirroring that of my own. As a result nearly all of my characters end up being practically indistinguishable from each other, they aren't unique in how they talk. I want to give my characters individual mannerisms and different voices but I feel like I have a limited pool to pick from and they all end up sounding and acting very similarly. I have tried 'Interviewing the characters' to find out more about them from their perspective, but I have the same issue of me ending up answering the questions nearly all the same. How can I broaden my own understanding of my characters to better differentiate them from each other? <Q> Your problem is that your characters aren't rounded. <S> They don't have distinguishable voices because they aren't distinguishable people. <S> Do this as an exercise <S> : Pick your favorite TV show, movie, book. <S> Pick two or three characters from each. <S> Interview them. <S> For example: What's your favorite book? <S> John: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. <S> Read it to tatters in Afghanistan. <S> Sherlock: "Favourite" would imply affection. <S> I do not feel affection for inanimate objects. <S> If you are asking which book I find most useful, that varies from case to case. <S> A group of Chinese smugglers once used London A to Z as a cipher key — <S> John: Yes, let's not revisit that case, shall we? <S> I ended up tied to a chair with a crossbow pointed at me because they thought I was you. <S> Wilson: I'm really enjoying Game of Thrones. <S> House: So am I. <S> By which I mean the show, with all the boobs, not the big doorstopper novels. <S> Wilson: Boobs and politics. <S> House: <S> Politics and boobs. <S> Best of both worlds. <S> It's a bit fanficcy, but it will teach you how to look at a character and answer in someone else's voice. <S> Then you need to figure out the why . <S> Why does Sherlock not have a favorite book he returns to? <S> What does John get out of rereading something he knows by heart? <S> Does House find the act of reading boring or too time-consuming? <S> Does Wilson enjoy the soap opera or the intricate politics? <S> Once you've taught yourself to analyze an existing distinct character, you can use those tools to make your characters more rounded. <S> When you have a character who feels like a real person, it's much easier to have that person speak in his or her own voice, which is not yours. <S> Remember that your motivation and your characters' motivation are not the same. <A> I recommend journaling as the characters. <S> If you are a ways into a story (or even if you have outlined a story) you likely have a few events that they will experience in mind. <S> This will help identify what drives characters, how they feel about specific items/people/actions/scenarios and will help you differentiate your characters in your own head. <S> edit : A side note. <S> Putting the characters in situations OTHER than what are going to appear in your story can be very useful as well. <S> You can never tell the day to day story of a character's life, a story usually hits the big events...write a journal or two on a day where nothing of note takes place... <S> I woke up, I went to the grocery store because I wanted to make tuna sandwiches for lunch. <S> They didnt have tuna. <S> I went to a different store because I was really jonesing for tuna... /edit <S> Mind you, writing characters other than yourself still requires a certain amount of mental discipline. <S> Any exercise that we suggest still requires that you step out of how you would respond and think about how another would respond. <S> It may be useful to use people you know as a basis for your characters... <S> a sort of jumping off point to get started. <S> When it comes to speech, or voice, it can be tough to separate characters. <S> One method can be to write in an accent or dialect... <S> this is challenging though, being consistent with non-grammatically correct or spelling/pronunciation errors is a pain. <S> If you can get to a point where people can identify the speaker based on WHAT is said as opposed to HOW they say it or even by plain telling people who is talking you can consider the process a success. <S> a lot. <S> At least for me. <S> Good luck. <A> Try making them ridiculously exaggerated in your first (zeroth?) draft. <S> Then gradually dial them back as you revise. <S> Call it "simulated annealing for writers."
| The best and most reliable way is to make sure the characters' responses are different because the characters are different. Go through your "interview questions" or find the email surveys which go around and practice interviewing someone else's characters. Write journal reviews of how the characters felt about the situation, what they experienced, things like that. This takes a lot of practice and rewriting...
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How to highlight a main character among several points of view? After some time outlining quite a complex story, I came to the conclusion I need more than one point of view to tell it all. However, I need to have one of those points of view's character as the protagonist, to make him stand out among the others, to make the reader feel this is his story . I am aware of the traits a main character has to have in order to make for a good protagonist: Induce empathy, have bravery to try, have flaws, make him fail because of them, have a purpose, make him evolve... But I think all of those should apply as well for any well designed POV character, if one is to hold reader's interest at its best. What are the traits that would make a main character the important one ? Some things I think can influence this feeling are the order of appearence, the ambitiousness or importance of his task to the world, the amount of backstory, and how much the reader is induced to care for each one, but I am sure there is more than that. I will use Game of Thrones as a reference here, trying to avoid spoilers though: In Game of Thrones book, where each chapter is written from a different POV and none seems more important than the rest, the story led me to feel as if Ned Stark was the main character, even when he appeared with much less frequency than others did. And, considering the ending, I think this was done on purpose. How can that difference between him and the others be spotlighted? I know having the narrator switch between 1st and 3rd person would help, but I'm looking for more subtle ways, as I'm trying to keep everything in a 3rd person view. <Q> Everything is about him. <S> The other characters talk about him, plot about him, worry about him, try to contact him. <S> Everything is about what he's doing or where he's going and with whom. <S> Scenes where he isn't there detail the effect his actions or words had on the other characters. <S> If it's his story, then tell his story. <S> The TV show Person of Interest is primarily about Mr. Finch and Mr. Reese. <S> The other characters have lives and families, but we don't see those lives and families every episode. <S> We primarily see them working with the two main characters, doing work for them, protecting them, talking to them, carrying out orders, etc. <A> Of course the main story-line is hers, but when I switch to another character's POV there will at least be a mentioning of her, or the actions that happen on the POV character's side of story affect her story, directly or indirectly. <S> I also read from a writing guide that it's possible to have many POV characters, a huge cast, multiple subplots and still manage to show whose story is the book mainly about by giving the protagonist the most pages or chapters. <S> So for example, if there are twenty chapters, then you can have like ten chapters dedicated to the protagonist, while you split the rest among the other major (or minor) characters. <S> A good example of how this is done is Shōgun by James Clavell. <S> I hope this helps you in someway. <A> Usually they are telling their story to the main character. <S> Example: <S> Canterbury Tales, Frankenstein, Arabian Nights. <S> However, a complex story can have more than one protagonist, and might not have one MAIN protagonist. <S> (Or if there is ONE, it might require some insight to realize that.) <S> Examples: <S> The Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings, War and Peace, the Foundation series, the Bible. <S> [everyone feel free to edit and add others]
| I also have multiple POVs in the story I'm currently working on, each mini-chapter switching between main characters and supporting ones, and the way I try to convey who the protagonist is is by making her related to all the conflicts that take place, whether her role in each conflict is central or minor. A classic method of uniting multiple POVs is to have characters tell what happened to them (in first person) for a whole chapter.
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Does this opening relate to the message? This is now my third attempt of writing the opening of my book. I took What's advice and tried to send a message to the readers. the message was: What makes us strong is our courage. In the story, the protagonist was weak and finds himself being beaten by strong people. Later in the story he grows stronger, but is still faced with stronger people who abused their power. He still continues to fight them, even though he isn't as strong. He has determination and courage; this is what drives him forward. I finally think that I've found my beginning, but I might not be wording it correctly. Please tell me if it does relate to the message. Please be critical. The dog was weak and fragile. There was nothing it could do to protect itself from them. That didn’t stop them from kicking it around. They were laughing at its pain and continued to beat it to death. The pup had bruises all over itself. The poor thing could barely open its eyes. Yet, they didn’t stop. I couldn’t stand there. It made me sick to my stomach to see this. It was infuriating to just stand and watch. Before I knew it, I was throwing punches and taking hits to the gut. They outnumbered and overpowered me. I had taken the dog’s place. It hurt immensely, but it was nothing compared to the pain of not doing anything. The strong picked on the weak. It was a simple as that. Nothing more, nothing less. But, what makes someone strong? Muscles? How hard you could hit? No. It wasn’t either of those. There had to be something that made someone stronger than others. So, the question remains. What makes someone strong? ***** The cuts on my face burned as my sister cleaned them. She used an old, red rag dipped in cool water to wipe my face. Her expression was calm and understanding. It always was; this was our regular routine almost every day. I would always come home with cuts and bruises, but she wouldn’t say a word until she was almost done tending to my injuries. “What happened this time?” She asked, soaking the rag in water. “Nothing. I just fell down some steps.” I lied. “You say that every time you come home bruised up like this.” She asked once more. “Now, what really happened?” I sighed. “There were these jerks and they were beating this dog and I-“ “-and you couldn’t let it slide.” She finished for me. “Yeah.” I admitted. “Are you mad?” “No.” She answered. Of course she wasn’t. She never got mad. Her only emotions were kindness and caring. All she would do was just fix me up and tell me to be more careful. “Just be more careful.” She said after finishing up. I lied again. “I will.” “Good.” She stood up. “Come on. It’s time to go.” <Q> As a suggestion, why not open with the altercation itself? <S> You can use the fight to illustrate your protagonist. <S> Is he short and slight? <S> Tall and gangly? <S> (Also think about how this might change as the story progresses.) <S> Show his reaction to the dog's mistreatment as a way to provide insight into his internal motivations. <S> Why is he fighting? <S> Most especially, why is he fighting when he probably knows he won't win?Give a brief glance of who he is fighting. <S> Is this a 'same-bullies-different-day' fight, or an unknown group? <S> Painting a compelling snapshot of your protagonist (not just appearance, but his frame of mind, motivations etc.) <S> right from the beginning emotionally invests the reader in who he is as a person and drives interest in who he might become by the end of the story. <A> I like it a lot. <S> I feel the part about falling down the steps is a bit unbelievable, because if he comes home with cuts and bruises every day, his sister must already know that he gets into fights. <S> So I wouldn't have him try to evade the truth but let him tell it straight-away. <S> Or, if you really want it, you could comment on it: <S> "Nothing. <S> I just fell down some steps. <S> " It's what I always said, since the first time, <S> though by now we both knew I never fell. <S> Or something like that. <S> That way it does not appear contradictory (him attempting the same lie every day). <S> And delete the "There was nothing I could hide from her". <S> If this happens every day, there is nothing to hide anymore. <S> Other than that <S> I like it very much. <S> Cool. <S> I'd let it stand like that (with the little edits, if you want) and then work on the rest of the story and only come back to the beginning after you finished everything else. <S> Because after you wrote your book, you will know if this beginning works for you or if you need to adapt it to what you found out while you wrote it. <S> Since the beginning is the most important part, polish it last. <S> A comment on the other answers (by NE1HOME and Dale Emery): <S> You'll have to think about this yourself (and, <S> as I said, I'd suggest you wait with it until you wrote everything else), but I don't think you need to start with a fight or any kind of action. <S> It depends on the type of book you want to write. <S> Is it a book about action? <S> Then start with action? <S> Is it more reflective, focussing on the inner strength of the protagonist, his personal growth, the relationship to this sister? <S> Then I would start with those. <S> Start with what the book is about. <S> Not every book is a thriller. <S> But if it is, you need to thrill in the beginning. <A> I like it, it gripped me to read more and that's what makes me read and write in the first place. <S> I would have rather started with the protagonist being in the fight to emphasize his current standing in his scenario and then merged into this segment you have here, but that of course is only a suggestion and how I would have done it. <S> Keep at it, it's looking good :) <A> It's well done. <S> But to me it reads like the aftermath of the opening.
| Don't try to perfect the beginning, before the book is finished! Beginning with the fight would, imho, be a strong entrance that is true to your theme.
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Which font should I use when I'm writing? I know most people want to see courier, well, at least that is what I think (correct me if I'm wrong.) I would probably never be able to finish a novel or any kind of book for that matter (not skilled enough to try) and my current platform is largely web based. In the world of the online writer, which font would you recommend? The courier font looks a bit, how can I put it, bland? Before I ramble on into infinity my question boils down to this, which font and sizes should I use when writing with the intent to publish online? Any input would be highly appreciated and thank you in advance. <Q> When you publish online, you have two basic options: (1) Do not specify a font. <S> Your text will appear in the user's default web font. <S> This is actually a good option. <S> Many websites do just that. <S> Those fonts are easy to read and unobtrusive in the best way. <S> (2) Use one of the web fonts that all computers today have installed. <S> The most common fonts on websites are Arial and Verdana. <S> All of these fonts, both in option one and two, are specifically designed to be easy to read on a computer screen. <S> Print fonts often are a bit blurry and merge in the details, making them less attractive on a screen. <S> There are more fonts for option two, and a third option (defining different fonts for different operating systems) and a fourth (including fonts in your document or including it from an online resource), and if you want you can learn about fonts on the web, which is a vast field and can be pretty complicated, but the above options are perfectly fine and standard and will serve you well without much effort on your part. <A> As I read the question, I think you mean what font you should use while writing (as opposed to after finishing writing)? <S> Crimson Text is gorgeous. <S> I'll make you finish your manuscript even if the story is absolute crap: <A> It can always be changed later before being sent to a publisher. <S> It is best to actually work on it when you like what you are looking at. <S> My current favorite is Calibri (body). <A> The best fonts to use are the ones that are common and easy to read are Calibri (body). <S> No bold, italics, or any other font effects used. <S> Writers choose particular font because it looks good and shows proper standard of writing.
| When I write the book, I pick a font that I find visually pleasing, personally.
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What non-WYSIWYG, non-proprietary alternatives to (La)TeX exist for the humanities, journalism, and other non-technical disciplines? I see all over the web that LaTeX specializes in correct presentation of mathematical formulas, used widely in science, engineering, math, and other highly technical fields. I would like to have something similar to use for my non-technical writing. I'd like proper support for headings, footnotes, citations, and so on. I'm aware of markdown, but I'm thinking several notches up from that in sophistication. I'm not interested in WYSIWYG solutions, and I'm not interested in proprietary ones, either. Anyone know of anything that matches this description? Or would LaTeX still be the way to go? <Q> It's Markdown but with lots of extra features added and easy conversion to LaTeX, PDF or HTML. <S> From the site: MultiMarkdown adds these features to the basic Markdown syntax: footnotes tables citations and bibliography (works best in LaTeX using BibTeX) <S> math support automatic cross-referencing ability smart typography, with support for multiple languages <S> image attributes table and image captions <S> definition lists <S> glossary entries (LaTeX only) document metadata (e.g. title, author, etc.) -- http://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/features/ <A> I would still recommend latex. <S> Its maintainable, I have edited ten year old documents. <A> If you are asking about writing tools, you might want to try Lyx. <S> Lyx is a front-end to LaTex and for that reason is a writing tool rather than a typesetting tool. <S> Scrivener is another writing tool, but it is proprietary. <S> Scrivener supports Multimarkdown. <S> While you may have read all over the web that LaTex is all about scientific and manual formulae, in the words of its creator Donald Knuth, the program was designed to "create beautiful books". <S> It is first and foremost a typesetting program. <S> Create your document using another tool and when you are ready to typeset it, use LaTex. <S> You can write in Open Office or Libre Office and export to LaTex. <S> If you are talking about typesetting programs which are alternatives to LaTex, there are LaTex derivatives such as ConText, LuaLaTex and XeLatex. <S> Lout is another possibility. <S> There are proprietary solutions such as Quark and InDesign.
| If you're looking for a step up from Markdown but not as complex as LaTeX, take a look at MultiMarkdown .
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How do you describe a methodology of writing? How do you describe your methodology of writing? I am submitting the outline of my novella for a competition and this is one of the requirements: The outline must include a summary of the Novella as well as the methodology and approach. <Q> John's advice is correct: seek their advice. <S> However, I think it's pretty straightforward. <S> The word "methodology" simply means the system of methods used for a particular activity, field of study etc. <S> So what they're asking for is an outline of your writing methods that you used during the process of creating your novella. <S> I imagine it would include, and not be limited to, the following: <S> Subject research (e.g. did you write and skip over the bits you didn't know about, and come back later to fill in the blanks after researching in the library, or did you research the subject matter in depth, did it come from a newspaper, or was it even a personal event that happened to you?) <S> Character construction (how did you identify and construct your protagonist, <S> your villain, your supporting characters; where did you look to for inspiration. <S> What techniques did you use to expand them <S> e.g. interview them, base them on real life individuals you know ...) <S> Scene planning and construction <S> (Is this based on a place you've been, from photographs, etc.) <S> Plot construction (e.g. did you outline your story scene by scene using post-it notes on a board) Your "system" of writing (did you wake up early each day and write fresh without thinking, did you use mind maps for ideas, do you meticulously plan each scene with a summary of what would happen, who was in it, and then sit and just write and so on) <S> How did you edit your novella, converting it from a first draft to a finished product <S> (e.g. did you edit as you go along, did you stick it in a drawer for a couple weeks before going back and editing). <S> The old saying of "do whatever works for you" means that every writer will have their own methods that they find works for them (sometimes even only for that particular book), and that's probably what they're looking for. <A> The methods section of a research paper provides the information by which a study’s validity is judged. <S> An effectively written methodology section should: Introduce the overall methodological approach for investigating your research problem <S> Indicate how the approach fits the overall research design. <S> Describe the specific methods of data collection you are going to use Explain how you intend to analyze your results. <S> Provide background and rationale for methodologies that are unfamiliar for your readers. <S> Address potential limitations. <A> Six steps to describe a methodology of writing Research – Research your topic on internet, academic databases and the library. <S> Submerge yourself in the words of enormous thinkers. <S> Analysis – Starting with Good knowledge stand, visibly define the claims. <S> Do the SWOT analysis which will help you judge better. <S> Thesis - Pick and choose your best idea, attach it down in a clear contention and summed up in a brief sentence. <S> Paragraphs - Each individual paragraph should be focused on a single idea that supports your thesis. <S> Begin paragraphs with topic sentences, support assertions with evidence. <S> Conclusion - Gracefully exit your writing by making end on some memorable thought, perhaps a quotation, or an interesting twist of logic. <S> Language - Polished your language by correcting the grammar, making sentences flow, incorporating rhythm and other intuitive edits. <A> You may find it useful to borrow from other disciplines, here. <S> In the visual arts, the description of the artist's methodology is called an " artist statement " and there are loads of examples and guides to those on the Internet.
| Provide a rationale for subject selection and sampling procedure. Proofread until it reads just how you want it to sound.
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What are the tool choices for producing technical documentation in PDF and web site ready HTML? My company currently maintains our technical documentation (User's Guide) in Google Docs. With each release I produce a PDF that we host on our website. Here are the features of Google Docs that work well: Collaboration: Multiple simultaneous editors, comment/reply/resolve system Ease of use: Cloud based, built-in backups and revision history Features: WYSIWYG editing, Table of Contents And the not so nice: Inability to produce an index Limited styling capabilities Limited HTML export capability I'm tasked with finding a new "tool" that supports the following needs: It must produce HTML with the classic left-pane-navigation / right-pane-content model Functionally, it must support index creation (for both PDF and HTML), and more powerful styling I'm open to ideas with respect to platform, though I'd love something cloud based. <Q> So I may be inferring to much from your question but... <S> It may be worth your time to look at a collaboration suite...with a shop that small <S> it wont cost much and the tools offer cloud storage and versioning, web publication, you can edit the documents from the tool... <S> approvals, sharing, discussions, all sorts of stuff. <S> Now these are...peripheral to <S> whatever tool actually creates the document. <S> So you could host a word doc or a pdf in the cloud on one of these tools (Word can manage all the items you listed) <S> I have not seen a tool that both creates and publishes documents (at least not effectively...) <S> they may be integrated and from the same provider but its usually two tools. <S> So I guess my suggestion boils down to, use the document creation tool you want and then use a collaboration tool to manage publishing, reviews, concurrent work etc... <S> Take a look at some of the following. <S> Atlassian Confluence <S> This tool is <S> 10/user/month offers document sharing and collaboration. <S> Huddle Huddle is a little more expensive, 20/User/Month, but is very feature rich... <S> it can do all sorts of cool stuff including pre-built apps for mobile access. <S> Perforce Commons <S> This one is a little less robust but is free for up to 20 users. <S> Hopefully this helps <S> , if I am way off target let me know, I can always remove this answer. <A> Here's what we do for that. <S> It's not cloud-based, but it is source-control-backed, like (I hope) <S> your code already is. <S> Tools and technologies involved: <S> source control DocBook DTD your favorite editor for XML files ( <S> WYSIWYG possible) <S> XSLTProc (with ant, but you could do make or something else instead) <S> XEP (PDF generator) <S> (deprecated, but I'll mention it anyway): <S> HTMLHelp Compiler <S> We write our documentation source against the DocBook DTD. <S> This is a well-established documentation standard, and while the whole spec is big, you probably only need about 20 XML elements (tags). <S> All the usual stuff is there -- divisions (book, chapter, section, etc), formatting (emphasis, code, etc), semantics (classname, methodname, command, guielement, etc), indexing, TOC, and so on. <S> Alongside the DocBook XML source are stylesheets that translate your XML input into whatever output you like. <S> DocBook comes with some of these. <S> We feed the XML source and the stylesheets to XSLTProc to produce an intermediate output, formatting objects (FO). <S> We then have a step to transform that into PDF (using XEP), HTML (using XSLTProc), and (we don't do this part any more) a CHM file of HTML doc <S> (using HTMLHelp Compiler). <S> We pack all those generation steps up into an ant build file (ant is what we use for our software builds already), but there's no reason you couldn't do it through make or whatever your build tool of choice is. <S> The XML source is checked into source control and collaboration is accomplished in the usual way. <S> XML supports file inclusion, so you can modularize your books however you like. <S> Because the docs are in our source-control system, it's easy to branch and tag them, and the automated nightly builds include documentation. <S> Because the source is XML, not some binary format, diff and merge work as you would expect, and you can use whatever editor you like. <S> Some of our people use Abortext Epic (pretty high-end), some use Oxygen, some use NotePad+XML, and at least one old-fashioned person (ahem) uses emacs. <A> I would say you're looking for a cloud-based help authoring tool (HAT), whether a SaaS or hosted on servers on your company premises. <S> It also offers on-premise cloud hosting (CloudDrafts). <S> Its main strength is the sheer number of outputs it offers, which might be overkill in your case but worth looking at nevertheless. <S> You might also consider some SaaS solutions like ClickHelp . <S> Some vendors like MadCap Software offer their HATs in combination with an additional solution you must purchase to make it cloud based. <S> I have a further list of SaaS HATs on <S> DocToolHub <S> if you're interested... just select the filters for "help authoring tools," "SaaS," and "PDF." <A> If you want to support documentation for multiple products, content reuse (in a more efficient manner than copy&paste) becomes desirable. <S> If that's the case, a tool like Author-it fits your requirements: multiple output formats including PDF and HTML, proper book formatting (TOC, index, etc), highly customizable styles. <S> Its collaboration features are structured a bit differently from the Google Docs model: one author can work on a piece of text at a time, but that piece of text can be small (one section). <S> The writer sets up a review workflow where others can comment, but not directly change the source. <S> This prevents edit wars and screwing up painstakingly-written content by amateurs. <S> What sets it apart from the usual office collaboration tools is the ability to reuse content from single sentences to entire chapters. <S> This saves a lot of time if you create documentation for multiple products. <A> We have been using Help & Manual for seven years. <S> Has approximately 8 output formats, uses XML as back end, integrates fine with svn and is easily translated using OmegaT. Allows concurrent user licenses (we have two).
| We've used WebWorks ePublisher , which outputs to several kinds of HTML formats (e.g., WebWorks' own HTML output, HTML Help, etc.).
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How can we make compiling release notes less chaotic? Each of our software releases is accompanied by a set of release notes, which include short descriptions of the following: new features, important or breaking changes to old features, and important bug fixes. New features are pretty easy; people know what's happening there. Our challenge is with the other two, which boil down to changes. The way this document gets compiled now is something like this: Bugs, when created or anytime thereafter, may or may not be annotated with "affects doc". Toward the end of the cycle, the assigned writer queries for all those bugs and starts asking around about other things that should be mentioned. In many cases, the contents of the bug (description or fix) are not sufficiently illuminating to said assigned writer, who then starts asking for clarification from the people involved. The writer takes his best stab at it and sends a draft out for review. Iterations happen. Now you can almost never take something directly from the bug because, hey, bugs are written by developers speaking to other developers and aren't meant to be user-facing. A sufficiently technical writer can translate the one into the other, but not all shops have those (and if they do, they're probably writing other documents -- release notes tend to fall to more-junior writers). Many developers could write reasonable blurbs for release notes (these aren't high art), but they need to think of that as a separate task. So, with all that as background, my question is: how can we improve our workflow to produce decent release notes more easily, with less back-and-forth and less of a scavenger hunt? <Q> The idea of letting the developers write the notes will shatter on the cliff of reality. <S> Most developers don't want to write them, so even if you force them somehow, you will only get a mess and not a note. <S> Just for the record: I am a developer. <S> What you can do is just improve your existing workflow a little bit. <S> A little bit often does wonders and you will never get a perfect workflow anyway. <S> Which means, there will always be some back and forth, you already know that. <S> So best workflows are automated, because they skip that damn human factor. <S> (Never send a human to do a machine's job.) <S> "annotate with 'affects docs'" - skip that. <S> That's relying on humans and therefore error-prone. <S> I bet you have a priority level on bugs. <S> Define that bugs of the most upper two levels get annotated automatically with "affect docs". <S> Do you really care about the other ones? <S> Developers don't. <S> "Toward the end of the cycle ..." - Ouch! <S> You know what happens if you shift a task at the end of a cycle, so why do you do it? <S> You get the list of relevant bugs now automatically. <S> Have a meeting (a real one, not a lame one) every week, every two weeks, whatever, with the project lead. <S> Go through the list, ask your questions, get answers. <S> "... not sufficiently illuminating" - If things are still unclear (within that one week or two week rhythm) ask the developers. <S> You can never avoid speaking to that lousy pack from time to time. <S> It's a shame. <S> "Iterations happen" - Development is iteration. <S> By its very definition. <S> You'll never get rid of that. <S> Embrace it. <S> It's a cure, not a disease. <A> First off, technical non-writers make better technical writers, than non-technical writers do. <S> They usually can write in a way mostly understandable to layman and factually correct (as opposed to non-technical writers who'll often write something perfectly clear, but completely wrong), they just need to be asked to do so <S> - they won't, if they don't know they should! <S> Best, if everyone in the team wrote short release notes on everything they did in person, every bug they filed, asked to explain it in relatively non-technical manner (typical to release notes - they know what release notes are). <S> It's 10 minutes of work per month, and you have a good preliminary draft almost complete. <S> Only then have the non-technical writer edit the draft, making it pretty, correcting errors or smoothing out still too technical language. <S> If something is hard to understand, consult, perform the usual back-and-forth, but the number of these cases should drop to 2-3 per iteration from dozens. <S> Simply, instead of asking the non-technical writers to reach across the chasm to the professionals, have them meet halfway - essentially, everyone becomes the writer, but you're getting one good editor. <A> Compiling release notes is NOT <S> the job of a single author. <S> It's ideally part and parcel of your source control and project management system. <S> New Features would mean new tests, which happily could have supporting documentation. <S> New Test -> <S> New feature added to release notes. <S> Changes to existing features mean some old tests stopped working. <S> Change a test - <S> > note that "action X and Y no longer does Z." Bugs, after being recorded internally and having a test written to demonstate the error, can be identified and marked as closed once a "known-bad" test no longer breaks. <S> Consider, btw, how two games do their release notes. <S> Eve <S> Online does release notes in mammoth lists, introduced by blog posts for major new features and a discussion forum where changes are suggested. <S> Notably, bug fixes are NOT detailed, as there's no public bug repository. <S> Minecraft , on the other hand, has a public bug list and includes links to their actual bug database for resolved fixes. <A> I'm at a different company now than I was when I asked this question, but the new one had the release-notes problem too. <S> Here is how we solved it (at doc's instigation): <S> When a bug is filed, if it's customer-reported or customer-facing, the "needs release note" box is checked. <S> (There is a triage team that reviews these and might change this, but this is the starting point.) <S> When a developer fixes <S> a bug, if that field is checked he writes a short release note right there in the bug (there's a field for it). <S> Reasoning: he just fixed it; this is the best time to capture what the problem was. <S> QA reviews/updates the release note as part of bug verification. <S> (Developers sometimes write "internal" descriptions, such as that the problem was with such-and-such mutex being held too long instead of saying that something froze; the testers know what symptoms and changes <S> they're looking for and can verify, so they can fix some of this.) <S> Near the release, people in doc make a pass over all of them to make sure they're coherent English. <S> (There's a report to find all of them; it's the same report that feeds into the final document.) <S> Obviously if somebody decides late in the process that that bug needs a release note after all, this breaks down. <S> But for the ones we know will (or probably will) need a release note, we try to capture information as early as possible and improve it as we go along. <S> The incremental cost to the developer at the time of fixing the bug is very low, while the cost for anybody trying to figure it out <S> weeks later is much higher.
| Your developers would have a set of automated tests for all reported bugs and documented features, and any necessary changes would require a change in said test, which could automatically note a change for the release notes. Try to automate as much as possible. Instead of non-technical people assembling the notes, have technical people tasked with assembling them in a relatively reader-friendly manner.
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Standalone book, followed by series I'm toying with the idea of writing a single standalone book and then later follow it with a series, in the same world with some of the same characters. Are there any examples of this? I couldn't think of any. Also, is this a good idea? Any major detractors to doing this? <Q> It can be justified it is indeed a very good idea, if you want to publish it through a classic publishing house. <S> This is because publishers prefer to try how well a book sells before committing to a full series, and finding, halfway through, it would be better (from a business point of view) to discontinue it. <S> I am currently doing this very technique, because I started with a standalone idea, and there are many things left to explain about the world and characters, but I am not a published author yet. <S> A thing I learned and would be worth pointing is that it's better if you have at least an intuition of the direction and/or ending of the series, the most important pieces, so you can hide in your first book some Chekhov's guns for later use, allowing yourself the freedom to play with them and their relevance. <S> For example, in Harry Potter series, (SPOILER ALERT) <S> concretely in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (the 2nd in the series), the plot centers on an object (Tom Riddle's diary) which turns out to be of pivotal importance in the series, but until the 6th book you won't suspect its story hasn't finished already. <S> Here's an article on ways to write a stand-alone book pilot to a series . <A> Many series consist of books that conclude their respective plots and don't continue it in the next volume. <S> Examples: <S> Safe-Keepers series by Sharon Shinn Twelve Houses series by Sharon Shinn, has an ongoing subplot, but this only comes to the foreground of the storytelling in the fourth volume which sort of wraps up everything that had been going on and appeared as separate events until then (pretty realistic story structure, actually, because in real life we often don't recognize the connections between different events, too) <S> You can see this in publication dates (long hiatus between first and following books) as well as in the closed structure of the first and the open structure of the following volumes. <S> I've had this experience often, but can't at the moment think of any example besides Rama. <A> The Rama series by Arthur Clarke would fit that bill. <S> the first book was very hard scifi, basically a history book, and books 2 to 4 were a trilogy about a specific family and their travails. <A> To expand on the idea that What presented that a wildly successful book sometimes draws sequels, after Jim Baen's death It was mentioned that David Weber's Honor books did not meet this pattern and that that was unusual.
| I don't know of any series that starts with a pilot and continues with a series, except the Rama novels by Clarke (who wrote the first volume alone and as a standalone) and Gentry Lee (who persuaded Clarke to turn this into a series and cowrite it) that Lauren Ipsum mentioned, but I have the feeling that some first volumes were originally conceived as standalone books and only continued as a series because of their success. The Saga of Recluce by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. , the series tells the history of a fictional land in non-chronological order; some characters appear in several books, and then the earlier events are taken up and continue, but mostly there are several independent storylines that are connected only by the fact that some historical events lay the ground for some that follow many of the series of SF authors that play in the same universe work like this, e.g. the Hainish cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin or the novels in the Alliance-Union universe of C. J. Cherryh
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Can I write same scene from 2 viewpoints? I'm writing a romance novel and want to include some scenes that are described first from the female protagonist point of view and then from the male. Will readers think it's a waste of time (as the same events are described twice) or is it a legitimate thing to do? <Q> (See TVTrope's Rashomon Style entry for various examples.) <S> Unless the differences from the two character's perspectives are of pivotal importance to the story, don't do it. <A> OK, this example is not a novel, nor even great art, but bear with me. <S> I'm thinking of the opening of "Grease." <S> First you have the true summer romance of Danny and Sandy. <S> Then later you have the interwoven telling of the summer romance, by Danny to his guy friends, and by Sandy to her new girl friends. <S> Danny's account exaggerates the physical, while Sandy's account exaggerates the spiritual/emotional. <S> Given that this movie was a success, <S> and this was a great opening to the movie (setting up much of the plot), I conclude that what you are proposing CAN be done successfully. <S> However, I think it's going to be REALLY hard to do it successfully in a novel. <S> My suggestion is to use third person narrative, but then have your two romantic protagonists tell their version of the events (in first person narrative, of course) to someone else. <S> That "someone else" could be the same person(s) or different person(s). <S> In this manner, you add plot elements in the twice-telling of one event. <A> Why not? <S> The most famous example is probably from film: <S> Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon . <S> Another example that immediately comes to mind in the romance context is a short story I once read (but don't remember the author or title) where a couple, who are happy in love, remember how they met each other and got together, but in the retelling they realize that they have completely different and contradictory memories, which gives the impression that the person they are talking to (in the present) could not possibly be their partner at all. <S> In this case, the memory is told in alternating direct speech, with the beginning of the memory being identical, but then more and more differences appear, until they are no longer compatible. <S> Other popular examples are crime stories that are often told from the perspective of the criminal and the sleuth. <S> A love story is not that different from a crime story. <S> In love, too, we have two "opposing" protagonists who experience different aspects of the same events. <S> And their misunderstandings, differing aims and ideals, and so on, are what makes love exciting (and a bit frightening) in real life. <S> So a story that tells falling in love as the "crime" plot it is, elaborating how two different people finally arrive at the same goal despite their contradictory expectations, can increase the value of the story, if it is handled well. <A> I've seen this twice. <S> Once in Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 and Natsuo Kirino's Out. <S> The reaction of the readers was: "Hey, you already told me that!" <S> My reaction was: "Damn, you already told me that." <A> I have seen this done well. <S> He did it well. <S> He also said it was vary difficult. <A> I think this is a legit way to write romance, and Judith McNaught uses it in her stories, particularly A Kingdom of Dreams . <S> She artfully mixes POV's of Jenny (the heroine) and Royce (the hero) in a single scene where they're both present, but without repetition. <S> One character begins the scene, the other ends it, for example. <S> I think it's very useful to describe sexual encounters if you have any. <S> However, this is a difficult technique, so you may want to read this article by K.M. Weiland, especially to avoid head-hopping: <S> when the narrative breaks “out of POV” and jumps without warning from the perspective of one character into the perspective of another. <S> What Every Writer Ought to Know About the Omniscient POV <A> Gone Girl does this to a certain extent <S> but it does make an effort to forward the plot with the separate view points. <A> Honestly, If you are going to describe the same events from 2 POVs <S> I won't really like it unless you use one POV to start the event and things start to escalade and advance form the other POV. <S> Like instead of talking about the same event you can sort of advance the events. <S> A perfect example would be a recent book I read by Veronica Roth (Allegiant). <S> Although it seemed kind of weird when I heard she was going to write it that way, it actually turned out great and every POV was different and contributed to the twist in the story.
| A varying viewpoint can be a useful component of the story, but only if there is some plot advancement. John Scalsi Did it in Zoé's Tail where he retold events from an earlier novel from another perspective (the earlier book was told from the father's point of view this one from the daughter's). Long as you're doing something with it, I don't see why not.
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What does a character in a short story/novella/novel really do while "soliloquizing"? What does a character in a short story/novella/novel really do while soliloquizing? Are they talking to themselves or thinking silently? An example of this occurs in Jane Eyre , where the titular character "soliloquizes" somewhat lengthy soliloquys. How should the reader interpret this behavior? <Q> There are different kinds of ways a soliloquy might be presented in writing. <S> In a play or a movie, the character is usually shown to be either talking out loud to themselves (some people do this in real life) or they are breaking the fourth wall and talking directly to the audience. <S> In writing, it's common for the narrator to break the fourth wall and address the reader, or to present at length the thoughts of the author, narrator, or one of the characters. <S> This is typically just considered part of the narration and not necessarily part of the story. <S> Therefore nothing happens while it is going on. <S> However, in-story characters presented as talking out loud, as Jane is in Jane Eyre: <S> As the wet twilight deepened, I stopped in a solitary bridle-path, which I had been pursuing an hour or more. <S> "My strength is quite failing me," I said in a soliloquy. <S> "I feel I cannot go much farther. <S> Shall I be an outcast again this night? <S> While the rain descends so, must I lay my head on the cold, drenched ground?...." from Google Books <S> In the above passage, the literal interpretation is that Jane is actually talking out loud. <S> It doesn't seem unbelievable for her to do that, but you could choose to interpret it as a bit of dramatization of the telling of her story. <S> If you do opt for the literal interpretation (as I do), then as to what else she might be doing at that moment, I'd say, is up to your imagination. <A> According to the OED, the noun soliloquy has the following meanings: 1. <S> a. <S> An instance of talking to or conversing with oneself, or of uttering one's thoughts aloud without addressing any person. <S> b. <S> A literary production representing or imitating a discourse of this nature.2. <S> Without article: the act of talking to oneself; soliloquizing. <S> The verb soliloquize <S> has these meanings: 1. intr. <S> To engage in soliloquy; to talk to oneself.2. <S> trans. <S> a. <S> To utter in soliloquy. <S> 1854 <S> Fraser's Mag. <S> 50 72 <S> Balder soliloquises his ambition. <S> b. <S> To address or apostrophize in soliloquy. <S> 1823 <S> New Monthly Mag. <S> 7 332 <S> When you are soliloquizing the moon. <S> I gave two more uncommon of the many usage examples. <S> So if someone "soliloquizes", they either talk or write to themselves, address an inanimate object (Hamlet's skull), or write in the literary genre of the soliloquy . <S> The context should make clear, what exactly the character does. <S> In a sense, writing a diary could be understood as soliloquizing: Soliloquy of a Farmer's Wife. <S> The Diary of Annie Elliott Perrin . <S> In a drama, a monologue, a soliloquy and an aside are differentiated thus: monologue is long, breaking the back and forth of normal conversation, but it is addressed at other characters (who may be off stage, e.g. on the telephone) during a soliloquy, which may be long or only a few words, the speaker is alone on the stage <S> an aside is addressed at the audience A short soliloquy would be one of two characters exiting the stage, the remaining character uttering: "Well, there he goes ...," and the next charactering coming onto the stage. <S> The most famous soliloquy is probably the "to be or not to be"-speech in Shakespeare's Hamlet . <A> I picture it that way because that's what I do when I'm alone and in deep thought. <S> OTOH, if the author actually uses the word soliloquy (or a form of it) to describe what the character is doing, then I would picture the character almost orating, out loud, to himself. <S> How melodramatic my mind-picture would be would depend upon the character's previously described behavior.
| Unless the author tells me otherwise, I always picture the character going about his business half talking to himself out loud and half talking to himself in his head.
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How to write engaging and relevant backstory Currently I am trying to craft a fantasy story, but I am having trouble creating a realistic backstory that can explain character actions well. How can I fix that? <Q> Backstory does not need to be either engaging or relevant. <S> If it were both, it would be "story." <S> Unless you have particular need to detail someone's backstory, don't . <S> There are numerous examples of heroes, villains, and bystanders in literature who don't have a lick of precedent for why they are acting as they are. <A> Your problem is your characters have no readily identifiable motivation . <S> That makes them less than human and impossible for an audience to relate to. <S> Note that motivation is not necessarily the same as "backstory". <S> People are different, and react differently to the same circumstances. <A> JK Rowling is great in backstories. <S> You check out hers to get an idea. <S> Once Upon A Time created a Rumpelstiltskin backstory; check it out too. <S> Me, I'm particularly gossipy and nosy. <S> During that course of my everyday life when I hear one-line rumors, I arrive to conclusions that the person might be like this, like that. <S> On news, when a headline was read, you'd jump to conclusions on the possible reasons why it happened. <S> I think that pretty well starts a good backstory. <S> You think of a simple reason why the person turned to that type of him. <S> Then, since it's fantasy, you'd do well in incorporating twists. <S> You need a clear sense of who your characters are. <S> Their likes, passion, mannerisms, principles. <S> With that, you could bind their backstory to the present story.
| You need to understand your characters better, otherwise manufacturing a history will highlight your lack of understanding rather than justifying motivation.
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Character development in a story? I am working on a book for fun and have thought a lot about character development. Is character development as important as the actual dialog of the story? For example, I was reading a book this weekend that was written by one of the biggest legal thriller writers at the moment. The main character is in prison and then at the end moves to some place in South America and finds himself wealthy. I thought that the story was good and the characters seem well described. But is the character development of the person needed before the story really gets going? Should the first chapters develop the character in the mind of the reader or can it build and add new items through the course of the story? I have heard people say that some authors spend too much time describing a character or a scene and not enough on dialog. To me I like a good story but I had an English teacher tell me that you have to have the character developed in the beginning of the story rather than develop them throughout the course of the book. <Q> You should establish the character early on, but I don't think you can develop anyone all in the beginning. <S> What point is there for the story, then, if the character is done developing? <S> The reader should have some sense of who the person is before the real meat of the tale gets underway. <S> Revealing parts of the character as you go is part of the point of a story. <S> I think either you misunderstood your teacher or the teacher was flat-out wrong. <A> I agree with Lauren <S> I think you're confusing character <S> establishment with character development. <S> Character development is something you do before or while you're writing the story. <S> I'm the type who develops the characters while writing the story (throughout the story not only at the beginning). <S> For me, they can only become alive if I see them interacting with the story because, in a sense, they are the story. <S> Then after they are somehow developed I go back and develop them a bit more. <S> Although I think developing too much a character is never a bad thing, I don't understand why you want to see it as something separated from the story or dialogue. <S> The story is the character, and the character is the story. <A> I, as a reader, cannot really know what a character is like until I see that character tested. <S> Any clod can say “I love you”, but what if the beloved replies “If you really loved me, you’d kill my ex-husband”? <A> When I started out i got a lot of dialog on paper. <S> But I was missing something, personalities. <S> I recently downloaded an app that helped me with that. <S> It asked detailed questions about my characters. <S> From fears and education to eye color. <S> Now it is easier for me to write out feelings. <A> I like reading stories where the characters are given an initial run-down as they are introduced into the story. <S> The run-down could roast the character in sarcasm, describing what others say and had said about the character, or praise him/her, would include their hitherto history and known accomplishment, rumours and hearsay. <S> I classify the contents of a run-down into The author's personal description about the character/personality of the character. <S> ( Character of the character? <S> Silly, but how else could I say it? ) <S> The author's revelation about the thought history, desires and disappointments of the character that only the author would have known. <S> The character's known history known by general public known by a select few known by a partner History of chatter, opinions, roasts, allegations found in item 3 concerning the character, but written without direct opinion from the author about the character. <S> General public chatter Excerpts of chatter within family, colleagues, nemeses, small unknown parties <S> Past interactions with spouse, children, close friends, nemesis. <S> The run-down is lightened up and made entertaining with roasts and sarcasm. <S> A run-down is written as an intriguing short story within the story. <S> I am not saying the run-down is compartmentalized into the four categories. <S> Rather, the run-down relies on those four categories written as a short story. <S> But as the story proceeds, the actual character of those persons would take twists and turns, that would prove the initial run-down as wrong, inadequate or vindicated, besides the changes in the personality and experiences of the character. <S> I remember reading Dune. <S> I remember the doctor who betrayed Duke Leto Atreides. <S> However, I also recall observing Frank Herbert's writing of the series having become darker and relying more on author's personal perception in the initial run-down of a character, after the death of his wife. <S> I think when an author becomes lazy making the initial run-down an op-ed piece rather than an intriguing short-story - that ruins the whole story.
| knowing your characters is very important.
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Referencing the process of writing the novel as a part of the novel's plot I am writing a review of a novel, which I guess is postmodern in a nonstrict way. And I need help with terms. How do you call a technique when the main character is the author of the novel and along the plot he writes the novel itself, discusses excerpts of it with other characters, doubts what to write and what not to write etc.? When the novel is part of its own plot. The narrative is first-person, however the novel is not in a form of diary, rather memoirs (not exactly, but close). And also, what brightest examples of such technique from authoritative writers can you name as an exemplar? <Q> The technical terms in literature and art theory used in relation to this are " mise-en-abyme ", " metafiction ", and "s elf-referentiality ". <S> All may denote slightly different aspects of the phenomenon, depending on the definitions used by the respective theorists. <A> I keyed into Google "A movie about itself", and I got this link to Wikipedia: <S> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta-reference . <S> Metareference, a metafiction technique, is a situation in a work of fiction whereby characters display an awareness that they are in such a work, such as a film, television show or book. <S> Sometimes it may even just be a form of editing or film-making technique that comments on the programme/film/book itself. <S> It is also sometimes known as "Breaking the Fourth Wall", in reference to the theatrical tradition of playing as if there were no audience, as if a wall existed between them and the actors. <S> Metareference in fiction is jarring to the reader, but can be comical, such as in Jasper Fforde's novel Lost in a Good Book. <S> The character Thursday <S> Next remarks to her husband that she feels uncomfortable having sex in front of so many people; he is confused since they are alone in their bedroom, so she explains, "all the people reading us". <S> Which led to this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metafiction <A> Some of the later novels of Jerzy Kosinski are good examples of metafiction, as is Příběh inženýra lidských duší (The Engineer of Human Souls), 1977, by Josef Skvorecky.
| "Metafiction" is the literary term describing fictional writing that self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in posing questions about the relationship between fiction and reality, usually using irony and self-reflection.
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Is an Introduction and a Prologue good or bad, especially in middle grade fiction? Is it bad to use an Introduction and/or a Prologue in Middle Grade Fiction? I have a lot of information that is useful, but the information in dialogue will sound fake and way too much info-dump like. I liked the way Jurassic Park does it. Has an introduction with the fake backstory and history over the years, and then the prologue for the present story. Is this a bad thing for this age group, as long as I don't drone on too long? It's historical, and I've got to have something to bring the reader up to speed. OTOH, I worry because the story doesn't start off with something exploding or having a vampire, so the reader doesn't care. I have seen most of this, When is a prologue useful? I mainly want to know about children/middle grade/young adult. <Q> Middle-grade targeted or not, I think backstory should be exposed gradually. <S> I can remember kids (and not-so-kids) <S> complain about a long piece of text without dialogue. <S> At some age of one's reading career, one realizes that's where many interesting things happen (or else that one doesn't like reading), and then complains about too long descriptions and information dumps. <S> I won't enter in discussing if that's the way of getting old or getting used to boring stuff. <S> What is sure is that kids don't want boring stuff. <S> Therefore, the question you should ask yourself, as What said in his comment above, is if your prologue is boring. <S> I have a prologue that starts with dialogue and continues with blood spilling, swords swinging and stuff blowing up, so I don't believe a prologue means info dump. <S> I think the best is to hook the readers with questions, not answers. <S> Is all your backstory absolutely essential to understand anything of what is going on? <S> Maybe you can leave some stuff to be explained later. <S> You can also try to identify the one thing that matters the most as backstory, and then explain it with a scene (some action happening that explains the backstory) that will conform the prologue. <S> Answering the question directly, it can be good (look at Rowling's HP and The Philosopher's Stone), and it can be bad as in any other book. <S> I think the middle grade fiction demands higher quality standards at least, not lesser, than other targets; because middle graders get bored more easily, they are new in reading, they have to be captivated to keep them, and they have a lot more things to do. <A> As I read your question, I couldn't help but think back to the time I first read Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone. <S> I was in grade 2 <S> and I don't remember if there was a prologue or not, however, the introduction to Harry's world felt like a prologue (or it wouldn't have been a problem if it was in this particular book). <S> It's like a sample for what the story is going to be like. <S> However, if you want to pull the reader right into your story or are afraid that the prologue might give the reader not the right expectations of what is to happen later on, I would avoid it. <S> Thinking back to the Harry Potter book, I remember loving the background info that was presented to the reader through a scene, rather than telling the history. <S> If your prologue is very short, then you should be able to get away with a Jurassic Park-like intro. <S> It should be a sampler scene/monologue that entices your readers to proceed to the first chapter. <S> This is a question I've been pondering over for quite some time, which is why every time I open a novel that has a prologue, I analyze my reactions or expectations to it and how it affects the novel as a whole. <A> An intro OR a prologue might be fine. <S> An intro AND a prologue would not be fine. <S> If you must have one, pick only one. <S> Jurassic Park was a book written for adults, and even so it amazes me that it managed to have both.
| If your story has an unusual setting, premise or unusual characters/any other unique aspect in the novel, then it would be nice to include a prologue.
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I'm a new author and I have three projects with complete drafts. Which one should I focus on first? I'm a new author and, for some strange circumstances, I ended up finishing three stories (first drafts): Ghost Earthquake Eri misses an earthquake that hits her city. She doesn't remember what she as doing at the time, and nothing seems to have moved a single inch in her apartment. As she tries to uncover the mystery, she comes face to face with her deepest fears, and realizes the world around her is very different to the one she once knew. Themes: earthquakes, alienation, change The Girl without a Soul The main character goes to a mountain to visit his half-sister. He hasn't seen her in years. She went there to undergo a spiritual healing. Later he discovers her wound has something to do with their elder brother, and that she needs him (the protagonist) in order to recover from this affliction. But that isn't all. While he's in the mountain he meets a girl who (apparently) doesn't possess a soul. She is often seen in the forest near ancient trees. After he meets her she tells him that he didn't only come to the mountain looking for his half-sister, but also looking for her. That he must help her to accomplish something. Something of utter importance. Themes: love, isolation, the soul Black Cuckoo A story about a man who tells his wife about a sexual fantasy he has. But that he's OK if she doesn't want to go along with it. However, the wife suddenly stops talking to him, and after that a series of surreal things start to happen to him: he's visited at night by a black bird, and meets a young girl in the forest nearby their house. Themes: love, relationships, fantasies I'm in love with all of them. But I've been wondering which one is more likely to appeal to a wider audience, given that I'm a new unpublished author. I'm thinking of publishing on Amazon via KDP . Should I choose the one with the most appealing title (I think The Girl without a Soul is the best choice). Or the one with the most promising premise (Ghost Earthquake)? Or decide for the one with more appealing themes (Black Cuckoo since it involves sexual fantasies, horror, and magical-realism)? I'm confused, which one should I choose? <Q> As @Standback said in his comment, you might want to consider a publishing scedule , instead of a writing schedule. <S> When readers finish your book, and they liked it, they will want to read more from you. <S> If there is nothing, they will move on to another author and forget you, before your next book comes out. <S> You will have to do all your marketing from zero again. <S> From that perspective, it does not matter which book you write first. <S> Just write the one that you want to write now, then write the others, and in two years start with publishing and marketing them all, and in parallel write your fourth book. <S> As for which story is most promising, I find the Black Cockoo least interesting to me, and least appealing (as far as I can judge) to the general public. <S> The protagonist is married which is unattractive to some readers. <S> Sex as a central plot element is difficult. <S> Could turn into obscenities, or turn me off, if it is the wrong kind of kink. <S> Sex as an add-on is nice, but not as the driving force. <S> So, I don't know about this one. <S> The only interesting part is the girl in the forest. <S> Some of the books that sold best in recent times and were made into movies were young adult novels with female protagonists. <S> It's easy to understand what I'll get myself into, if I read that book. <S> The plot sounds direct and uncomplicated. <S> I'd read that first, if I had all three. <S> The Girl without a Soul sounds more interesting than the Earthquake, but also somewhat complicated. <S> What kind of book will that actually be? <S> Interesting, but takes some more mental effort to think myself into. <S> So while its still high, its second on my want-to-read list. <S> Or maybe not. <S> Its already intriguing me, and I want to know more. <S> The Earthquake and Soul books would make a great pair that would sell well together or in succession. <S> The Black Cockoo is something else and does not quite fit. <S> Different target audience. <S> Whichever you start on first, do that one last. <S> Or communicate the plot differently through the blurb and cover, maybe I'm getting it all wrong. <A> I currently have 4 pending projects. <S> For one book, which I wrote during the Nanowrimo, I have a first draft, almost complete, and I'm already working on the 2nd draft and hope to publish it soon. <S> I only have outlines and notes for my other projects. <S> So, the way I deal with my dilemma is that I work a little on all of them, however, I've chosen one particular project - the Nanowrimo one to publish first because of the fact that I have all the information I need for the second draft. <S> I have a very good idea of how my other projects will look like in the end, but I chose the one that is closest to being published. <S> So, like one of the members commented, if you publish one book and the readers like it, they will look forward to the next one. <S> If you want, you can even publish novellas/short stories, as many young adult authors are doing right now, so that your readers don't forget about you too soon and have something to look forward to. <A> I'm an author too with 4 published books. <S> I would like to say that: 1- Get alone with yourself <S> 2- Don't think about anything related to writing 3- Listen musics different than your playlist - in your mind included 4- Watch movies from other languages <S> 5- Call some friends you haven't seen for a long time <S> 6- <S> Do something unrelated to yourself but helping for someone <S> 7- Spend few days without computer <S> That's your 1 week prescription for seeing a life which is you are already surrounded with. <S> After all there is no doubt about what to do next. <S> Good luck
| So work on the one you think will attract a wide audience (so far I think that the Earthquake one is very promising) and try to get it published, but work on the other ones as well. Ghost Earthquake has the most straightforward and attractive plot.
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Why doesn't everyone publish public domain books? Are there any restrictions in publishing of material with expired copyrights? For example, Oliver Twist is a famous story by Charles Dickens , and people still buy the book. I would think that the cost of publishing (especially online instead of hardcopy) is low compared to the potential profits that can be earned. If so, what is stopping anyone and everyone from publishing the book to rake in profits? <Q> On the contrary. <S> The copyright/royalties costs are relatively minor comparing to per-unit cost, marketing cost, distribution costs (per shop/point of sales), retailer's cut, taxes - generally <S> the author rarely sees more than 20% of the retail price, often less than 10%, at least in traditional distribution. <S> And the books, being old, are available from the library for free, are often found in personal libraries and second-hand sale (and sites like Project Gutenberg), meaning the demand is quite low. <S> Trying to break even on these costs with such a competition may be difficult. <S> Why would I buy a hardback Olivier Twist for $20, when I can have the e-book version for free, legally and without need to walk to the store? <S> With new, copyrighted books, in exchange for the royalties the publisher gets exclusivity: nobody can sell the same book cheaper, nobody can legally put it on the web for free, the libraries still have to purchase it (and then, during the "reaping the profits" period of a year, there will be maybe 10 or so buyers "lost" per a library <S> copy - and if the book was good <S> these may still buy a personal copy!) <S> - essentially, copyright protects the interest of the publisher more than the interest of the author! <A> "...the cost of publishing (especially online instead of hardcopy) is low compared to the potential profits that can be earned." <S> But anyone can do it. <S> That is why you can buy the collected works of Dickens, nicely formatted for whatever ereader you use, and with an interactive table of contents, for 99 cents. <S> Or get the individual works free from Project Gutenberg (although they will hit you up for a donation). <S> For hard copy, the costs are not low. <S> Try the following experiment <S> : Figure out how long Oliver Twist would be, formatted as a book, and then price the cost of printing it using Staples.com or OfficeMax.com or someplace like that. <S> You will find a cost of 5 to 10 dollars, depending on your options. <S> And that's not even a real book binding! <S> So, either way, it's not easy to "rake in profits" from out-of-copyright books. <S> [Eerie coincidence: I started reading Oliver Twist this morning. <S> (On a Kindle.)] <A> The very purpose of copyright, at least for publishers (then calledstationers - early 18th century), was precisely to get a monopoly onthe publishing of a work, so as to improve their return on investment. <S> You do not have that monopoly with the public domain. <S> That being said, it is not completely true that public domain is uninteresting for them, depending on thecompetitiveness of the market structures. <S> Foreign books were notprotected by copyright in the USA for most of the nineteenth century. <S> Mark Twainfought valiantly to defend the copyrights of British authors ... sothat they would not be unfair competition to his own works. <S> It is also true that big publishers still publish a lot of public domainbooks, but only for very popular works which they are sure to sell. <S> Small publishing houses may publish more specialized public domainworks for specific audience. <S> It is a very honorable activity, but theydo not get very rich. <S> But in the digital world, there is no longer that much investment toproduce copies of a book (copyright is about makingcopies). <S> Publishers were acting pretty much as banker who investedmoney up front to produce a number of copies (so that each copy wouldnot be too expensive), and recouped the investment as copies werebeing sold, if they were. <S> This is no longer needed in the digital world,and publishers have lost their main usefulness. <S> They had other rolesthat can still be provided as service, not as an industry controlingthe whole business of textual publishing. <S> I suspect publishers will cease to exist as we know them in a not verydistant future. <S> Not needed economically.
| For publishing online, the costs are low.
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Should I have an introducing paragraph in every chapter of my description? I'm about to write a technical description for an industrial process. The description will follow logical blocks, or blocks from the PFD of the process. This a sales document aimed at (mostly) engineers. My idea is to have a short paragraph at the start of every chapter, that will explain the purpose of the block to be described and notable inputs and outputs. My thinking is that the document will probably not only be read in one sitting, but that someone will come back to it to look up specific things. So I want to help the readers to orient themselves. The only downside I see is that's a little extra text. Should I do this, is there a better way to make my description accessible? <Q> Yes, you should have introductory text for every chapter in a technical work. <S> However, you don't necessarily need to have a dedicated paragraph. <S> And if each chapter describes a step in a process that has distinct inputs and outputs, you may want to include a plainly labeled "Inputs and Outputs" section (or sections) in each chapter. <A> I think an abstract or quick summary isn't a bad idea at all, especially if your audience is not necessarily familiar with the process or the parts, or if there's a lot of jargon involved. <S> I may not remember the difference between the Widgetizer and Widget Processing, but if you explain "The Widgetizer is the machine which inserts the ding-dong into the hoo-ha" and "Widget Processing is the process of moving fully interlocked widgets off the assembly line into the shipping boxes," I'll know which chapter I need. <A> How thick/voluminous will this document be? <S> I think the answer depends on the overall length as well as the length of each chapter. <S> But if the whole documentation had textbook length (800+ pages), an introduction, summary and even a table of contents for each section could be of great help to your readers. <S> Go to a library or bookstore and look at textbooks for students of the natural sciences to see how they break down their books into sections, then chapters, add an overview or table of contents and an introduction to all parts, add summaries, conclusions and a bibliography or study questions to the end of each chapter, and how they lay out the book, taking out sections of text into separate highlighted blocks on each page, etc. <S> There are even books that have a short abstract for each subsection of a chapter, sometimes only a few paragraphs long! <S> Of course those textbooks are designed in this way to facilitate learning, but since you write a manual that you want to be used as reference, then maybe a textbook is not so completely different. <S> Publishers like Pearson create well designed textbooks. <S> Take them as an example and take what you find useful.
| Ideally, you would use the chapter's title to clearly indicate what the chapter is about. A summary is not necessary if the chapter is only a few paragraphs.
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How to display URLs in a textbook? I am writing a textbook which contains some lists of recommended Web sites. Unlike the question How should be the format for literature references that are websites (URLs)? , these will not be references. For example: Here are some magazines about geography:- Canadian Geographic (http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/)- Geographical (www.geographical.co.uk)- Australian Geographical (http://australiangeographic.com.au/) How should the URL be written? Is it more formal and professional to include or exclude "http://" and the "/" at the end? <Q> Leading http:// , no trailing / , monospace font. <S> With modern domain names, without http:// <S> it may get confusing. <S> Would you say the.british.museum is an URL at first glance? <S> If this is to appear in an electronic format (even for offline reading) adding spaces between the braces and the URL is a nice user-friendly gesture making copy&paste easier. <A> STD 66 (which is RFC 3986 currently) is the standard for URIs. <S> It contains a section "Delimiting a URI in Context" , in which it says (emphasis mine): URIs are often transmitted through formats that do not provide a clear context for their interpretation. <S> For example, there are many occasions when a URI is included in plain text; examples include text sent in email, USENET news, and on printed paper . <S> In such cases, it is important to be able to delimit the URI from the rest of the text, and in particular from punctuation marks that might be mistaken for part of the URI. <S> It lists the following methods: within double-quotes : " http://example.com/ " within angle brackets : < http://example.com/ <S> > <S> by using whitespace : <S> http://example.com/ <S> Is it more formal and professional to include or exclude "http://" and <S> the "/" at the end? <S> You should definitely include the URI scheme. <S> While currently most people and also tools like browsers assume http , this can change in the future. <S> And even today, some Web pages might not work with http (e.g., https only), some documents might be available via ftp , etc. <S> If the URIs don’t contain a path (e.g., http://example.com/ ), the trailing slash can be omitted. <S> It doesn’t make a difference. <S> However, a trailing slash in an URI path (e.g., the last slash in http://example.com/foo/ ) should definitely be included. <S> If you omit it, the URI might point to a different (or non-existent) document (if not now, then maybe in the future). <A> If you're including URL's inline, format them with the protocol (http://) and either a trailing slash or filename, plus any required parameters. <S> Include any canonical items that appear when you click a link back to the site's home page, such as a leading "www". <A> When making something similar to a "list of recommended websites": <S> Name of the source >whitespace< description > <S> whitespace< link where the link can be specified as follows: http://www.acfonline.org.au/default.asp <S> http://www.ourcoolschool.org/select/state/ <S> Of course, it is not a mandate to specify the description or even the name of the source. <S> Some people may simply tend to create a list of the websites. <S> In either case, there are two types of conventions seen when writing the URLs: <S> If the page name does not explicitly end in an extension (for example, .com, .au, .org , .edu <S> etc. <S> then include / at the end of the URL. <S> For example, http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/ <S> If the page name explicitly ends in an extension (for example, .html, .asp, .aspx, .php, etc.) <S> then the trailing / is skipped and the extension is mentioned. <S> For example, https://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/write/fieldguide/index.asp <S> Further, http or https is mentioned. <S> So is the www following the //. <S> The choice of the font in which it is written depends on the publisher. <S> Usually, when the manuscript is being discussed, the publisher will provide a template. <S> The template will specify exactly which font (and style) <S> URLs need to be written in. <S> If none is specified, you may choose to separate the URL from the main text by using a monospaced font (as recommended by SF) or else keep it consistent with the rest of the text. <S> Certain others might recommend using main body font and italics (for example, O'Reilly recommends this). <S> List of sources for the answer: <S> Looking at several textbooks which have a "Recommended" list (apart from References/Bibliography) <S> A paper ( here ) <S> I found which has a "Recommended Website" list The Hot Rock list of recommended resources which uses a table type format for specifying list of websites <S> If you want more details/sources, please comment. <S> Hope this answer helps! <A> You set a bounty and wrote in the comment you want a "credible and/or official source". <S> And I'm not sure what's the purpose of that. <S> It's a matter of style. <S> You got some decent suggestions. <S> If you choose one than that's your style, and that should be "credible" by definition. <S> Otherwise why do you write the textbook in the first place if you are not credible? <S> There are several "official" styles out there <S> and they contradict each other in many topics. <S> So if there isn't a given style (e.g. chosen by your publisher), you can just pick your own. <S> You even can create your own. <S> But if you think that you need some sort of feeling safe, the APA Style suggests http:// <S> an the beginning and no slash at the end ( http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/cite-website.aspx ). <A> There has been a trend in print to supply minimised URLs such as ow.ly or tinyurl.com as this makes typing the link easier on the reader. <S> However as style goes it is vital to find a way to be consistent yet remain within the technical understanding of the reader. <S> Many news outlets create online portions that act as a gateway so that the links are all branded for example "... you can find links to at www.oursite.etc/LinksToTopic ..." <S> What matters most here is clarity and consistency. <S> Most professional manuals of style appear professional because they impose consistency and this creates familiarity. <S> As URLs in print are still relatively new and most publishing groups (even the BBC) are still struggling to understand how to link to a source the standard is still something that has yet to be established. <S> This allows the likes of you and I to decide what works best. <S> I'd make the most of that freedom if I were you.
| If you're writing a table of "useful websites" with the URL in a distinct column, you can instead omit much of the url and include only the optional subdomain, domain name, and TLD.
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How to reference a figure from text in a technical document I'm preparing technical documentation for some software. For the installation, there are lots of screen grabs and they all have Figure x captions. What's the correct styling and means of referencing figures from text? For example, if one step says: Click OK to continue (see Figure 9 ). Is this correct? Thanks. <Q> In the absence of a style guide saying otherwise, your approach is fine. <S> (So is abbreviating to "Fig.", though I prefer to spend the extra three letters and use the full word. <S> It's also consistent with "Table", which I haven't seen abbreviated as "Tab.".) <S> If the figure isn't immediately adjacent to the text, use a cross-reference. <S> I believe all modern documentation formats support this. <S> One final thought: if your style permits this, for step-by-step instructions consider dispensing with the figure references. <S> Do the 15 screen shots involved in configuring such-and-such preferences for your product really need to be individually numbered and listed in the table of contents (or table of figures)? <S> Consider instead the following style: Select "File - <S> > Preferences" to open the preferences panel: [screen shot of preferences panel] <S> Select the "Advanced" tab: [screen shot of advanced tab] <S> Click the "Configure SSL" button to (blah blah blah): <S> In this style, the screen shots become part of the narrative. <S> This only works if each screen shot is only relevant once, in its immediate context; if you'll need to refer to them from elsewhere in the document, numbering will make that easier. <A> I would suggest abbreviating the word "Figure" to "Fig.". <S> As could construe from scientific articles I've read(and <S> I've read ~100 of them), it's more common. <S> In all, you're perfectly correct: just a number would be fine: <S> See Fig. 8 for details. <S> As depicted in the Fig. <S> 14... <S> By the way, what text editor/publishing system are you using? <S> For example, TeX-like document styles handle those issues themselves and even much hated MS Word has a couple of suitable presets. <S> So the author has to choose the style once and for all and stick to it. <S> Consistency is conciseness and clarity, and beauty. <A> "See Figure 9" is fine when you're referring to a figure on the same page. <S> If you're referring to a figure that's further away, you also need a page number ("See figure 9 on page 72"). <A> Left to my own devices, I don't use figure numbering (or table numbering either). <S> However, I have worked on some assignments where its use was mandated by the corporate style guide. <S> I always insert images right where I discuss them and make sure I use formatting that will keep the figure with the related text. <S> In that case, there's no need to refer to the figure elsewhere. <S> If I need to refer to the figure again, I'm not shy about re-inserting the figure at the point of the new reference in the text. <S> If I do need to refer to a figure, I use a linked cross-reference to the topic heading (e.g., see the image shown in How to trim your tree ). <S> In an environment where heading numbering is required, I'll use a linked cross-reference to the figure number. <S> Note: <S> I'm moderately allergic to abbreviations. <S> I prefer to spell out things rather than abbreviate them. <S> For words that are lengthy, I add a shortened version to my AutoCorrect list in Word and the shortened version is thus automatically replaced with the proper word. <S> I also suspect that abbreviations can cause issues in translation.
| Whatever you do, be consistent -- refer to all of your figures as "Figure N" and use that same text in the figure captions.
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How do I calculate wordcount for a manuscript? When I submit a manuscript, I'm supposed to include a wordcount. I understand that this is not simply the number of words in the document (as calculated by Word or Google Docs wordcount tools), but something else. I've found different and contradictory explanations of how to calculate this. What's the right way? <Q> In the context of a formatted manuscript, the "word count" isn't the precise number of words, nor is it directly inferred from the number of pages. <S> What you're actually doing here is finding the number of lines your manuscript will take, because a line with just a few words on it still takes up as much page space as a line that's full to the end. <S> But even this description is imprecise, because you need to adjust this calculation around the specifics of how you formatted your particular document. <S> (Intuitively: if I produce two manuscripts which are identical, but one has wider margins then the other, then that one will have "more lines" in the ms. -- <S> but they'll obviously be identical in final layout.) <S> There are different ways to make this estimate. <S> Here's what I've used. <S> Format your manuscript for submission. <S> Among other things, this means: <S> You'll be using a monospaced font (where each character is the same width, e.g. Courier New ), Each full page will have the same number of lines on it. <S> (You'll turn off "Widows and Orphans" - <S> that's the option that prevents dangling lines on their lonesome by shifting lines from one page to another. <S> You want that option off for your MS.) <S> So now every page has the same number of lines, and every line has a cap of how many characters long it can be. <S> Choose a "full" line, one that begins on one end of the page and reaches all the way to the end. <S> Count how many characters are in the line (in Word, you can just check the column for the last character). <S> You can artificially "create" a full line by typing aaaaaaaa... until you fill up one full line, just to count. <S> Make sure not to start with a tab indentation! <S> Divide your number of characters-per-line by 6. <S> This is your Words-Per-Line. <S> So if a full line is 60 characters long, your words-per-line is 10. <S> Count <S> the number of lines in one page. <S> This is your Lines-Per-Page. <S> Your Wordcount = Words-Per-Line <S> x <S> Lines-Per-Page <S> x Numer-Of-Pages <S> You'll find more information on manuscript formatting and wordcount estimation here: <S> Chuck Rothman, SFWA <S> - What Is A Word? <S> William Shunn - Proper Manuscript Format Punctuation Made Simple - Word Count <A> I calculated the word count (words per line for 10 lines divided by 10 times the number of lines per page times the number of pages, rounding the product) for Dan Brown's Origin (231,000 words), Robert Ludlum's The Prometheus Deception (210,000), Daniel Silva's The Black Widow (180,000), Brad Thor's Code of Conduct (166,000), Michael Connelly's The Crossing (129,000), and Vince Flynn's Enemy of the State (147,000). <S> Then I used the other method to count words on a manuscript (250 words times the number of pages, but I substituted 500 since the above books are single spaced). <S> I got 230,000, 255,000, 264,000, 180,000, 194,000, 194,000 respectively. <S> Obviously formatting of the books is different than the manuscript counting method (250 times number of pages, modified here to 500 times number of pages for single spaced books). <S> I cannot explain the huge difference between what agents/editors claim are "usual" novel word counts and what I see in the market as I have presented here. <S> Every book I selected off my shelf exceeds the so-called maximum of 110,000 words for commercial literature or 90,000 words per thriller novel. <S> Even Dan Brown's first novel Digital Fortress is 159,000 words and 186,000 respectively using each method. <S> That's 49,000 words or more too much for a first novel according to nearly everything I read on here. <S> Then there is the actual word count by MS Word which I'm advised it not used by agents and editors. <A> Check with the place you're submitting with. <S> If you have a point of contact, ask them. <S> Obviously, if you can't find anything official then you'll have to fall back on a more general method like the others mentored here, but check first.
| Other variations exist, and they're all fine - wordcount is an estimate, not a precise calculation. Before using general advice you should first check if the place you're submitted has a preferred method of calculation.
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Marking a chart that is not based on real data I want to include a chart in my thesis to visualize an idea but the chart is not based on real data, it just helps me to explain a concept. How can I label it so it's not confused for actual data. It is similar to this famous RUP hump chart which is also just educated guess of the author. <Q> I've seen this done with a "watermark" that says (usually) "sample data" (kind of like this , from here , though that's a table rather than a chart). <S> Think of the "draft" watermark you sometimes see on documents; same idea. <S> Saying something in the text (or figure caption) can be helpful, but this approach has the advantage of embedding the information directly in the graphic -- particularly useful if you're publishing online where somebody might save and reuse your image file, or if you're using the same chart in multiple sections of your document or multiple documents. <A> I've done this in a number of documents, where I state clearly that it is "illustrative" or "used to demonstrate a concept and the rough proportions of one item to another. <S> I've found I have the least amount of confusion by stating in the paragraph just before the chart appears, and then stating in the graph somehow. <A> Just like every figure and table have. <S> For example, Figure 5: Blah Blah Blah. <S> You can, after describing the entire graph, write in brackets something on the lines of "chart based on hypothetical data; for illustrative purposes only".
| The graph will have a description with it.
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Does excessive use of prepositions make writing unclear? This site's writing reports claim that excessive use of prepositions makes writing unclear. For example: "The principle of keeping nouns and verbs as close to each other as possible for the benefit of readers has many benefits" However, it's not quite clear to me why this is a bad thing. Why is excessive use of prepositions a bad thing? <Q> Since we don't have the sample text that was analyzed, it's hard to answer this question in any specific sense. <S> But I'd guess that this overuse of prepositions is actually the overuse of prepositional phrases. <S> You can't eliminate prepositions, since English depends on them so heavily, but you can minimize them. <S> Background <S> Let's back up here: What's a preposition? <S> What's a prepositional phrase? <S> What's the difference? <S> You can go as deeply into the grammatical rabbit hole as you like , but in brief, prepositions are words like of , to , and with . <S> There's a more comprehensive list here , along with a fairly accessible definition: <S> A preposition is a word that begins a prepositional phrase and shows the relationship between its object and another word in the sentence. <S> That's... unhelpful by itself, but the examples from the Wikipedia article on prepositional phrases are helpful here. <S> Prepositional phrases in italics, prepositions bolded: a. <S> She walked around his desk . <S> b. Ryan could see her in the room . <S> c. David walked on top of the building . <S> Prepositional phrases can pile up and get complicated. <S> (That third Wiki example phrase has a preposition inside it, after the main preposition.) <S> Now, let's have a look at the University of Wisconsin's Writer's Handbook : <S> Sometimes prepositional phrases aren't really necessary, especially when you use them (instead of an apostrophe + s) to denote possession of an object. <S> Examples: <S> This example, from the same University of Wisconsin page, probably illustrates the point best. <S> Try to pick out the prepositional phrases: <S> Unnecessary phrase: <S> It is a matter of the gravest possible importance to <S> the health of anyone with a history of a problem with disease of the heart that he or she should avoid the sort of foods with <S> a high percentage of saturated fats. <S> Holy freaking recursiveness! <S> It's tough to isolate specific phrases here. <S> The structure is very muddy. <S> In other words, sentences with simpler structure (and more easily identified prepositional phrases) are easier to read. <S> The University of Wisconsin also gives us a better version of the above sentence: <S> Correction: Anyone with a history of heart disease should avoid saturated fats. <A> Some people have difficulty with complex and subtle concepts. <S> These ideas are hard to express with simple sentences. <S> Using simple sentences to express these ideas makes you sound wordy and pedantic. <S> Using this method to slow down the flow of ideas may make them easier to understand for some people. <S> Some people will not understand no matter how you present the idea. <S> or Mistaking the symptom of involved sentence structure for the cause of complex ideas in the critiquing of writing particularly in automated comprehension assessment tools is common. <S> sorry for being meta. <A> " <S> The principle of keeping nouns and verbs as close to each other as possible for the benefit of readers has many benefits" <S> That has 6 prepositions. <S> Replace with: <S> Don't separate subjects and verbs unnecessarily. <S> Your readers will benefit, in many ways. <S> That has 1 preposition.
| Looking for prepositions and cutting them out won't help, but looking for prepositional phrases will let you simplify the structure of your writing.
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Using "he/she" instead of "it" for animals I'm writing a short story. The main character is visited by a strange black bird during the night (first draft): I glanced around but there was no sign of the bird. I didn't spot it in any nearby trees, street poles, or roofs. It had dissolved into the darkness. Just like that. Had it been a bird, or something else? But if that was the case, what was it ? An hallucination? No, it hadn't been product of my imagination. It had been a real bird—with real eyes, real feathers, and a real beak. I went over to check the window. There wasn't a single scratch on it. On the contrary, it looked smooth and spotless as always. Should there be at least a tiny mark? Maybe the bird didn't shove the window as hard as I thought. I wonder if I should use he instead it to refer to the bird. Would this improve the clarity of the text? Is this a common practice? Had it been a bird, or something else? But if that was the case, what was he ? An hallucination? No, he hadn't been product of my imagination. He'd been a real bird—with real eyes, real feathers, and a real beak. I went over to check the window. There wasn't a single scratch on it. On the contrary, it looked smooth and spotless as always. Should there be at least a tiny mark? Maybe the bird didn't shove the window as hard as I thought. <Q> I would only use the gendered pronoun if you know the gender of the animal in question. <S> Lions have manes; lionesses don't. <S> A calico or tortiseshell housecat is 99% guaranteed to be female, while an all-orange tabby housecat is 99% guaranteed to be male. <S> Male robins have the bright red breast while female robins are brown. <S> And so on. <S> In your piece, the character has no idea if the bird is male or female, or even real, so "it" is appropriate. <A> Actually, I think "it" is correct here because IT could have been a hallucination. <S> Given that this is first person, it (for me at least) defines a 'distance' between the narrator and the object (bird). <S> If the narrator had an intuitive or "can't explain it yet" strong understanding and sense of the bird, then indicating gender (like using he) would hint this to me as the reader. " <S> Hey, how does the narrator know that the bird was male? <S> The narrator must know something I don't yet." <S> that's my 2 cents <A> You're writing in the first person, so I'd argue that correctness is less important than the way your character sees the world. <S> If that is the case, you might want to put in a brief moment when the narrator decides to give the bird a gender ("It looked like a he"). <S> Otherwise, as Driss Zouak has pointed out, the reader might wonder if they've missed something. <A> I agree with Driss <S> and I'd add the following: <S> I am making the assumption that the bird is an important symbol that represents something about the underlying theme of your story. <S> That symbol or theme should be what determines the gender of the bird in your story, rather than what is typical of native English speakers talking about birds. <S> For instance, I'd use 'it' if the qualities of the bird were important (like freedom through flight, shrewdness, visiting in the night, eating carrion). <S> On the other hand, if the bird represented an avenging angel, I'd use 'she' (like in The Crow ). <S> But if it were symbolic of being haunted by a shadowy and complicated relationship with a former lover, I would use 'he'. <S> The selection of the pronoun doesn't need to make the connection obvious . <S> You don't need to spell it out, but it gives consistency to your underlying theme, and hints at its existence.
| Most people, I suspect, would use "it" in this case, but if your character is the sort to identify with or anthropomorphize animals, they might prefer to think of the bird as "he" or "she".
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Difference between an 'Abstract' and an 'Introduction' in a feature article? I have to write a feature article for school. However, I'm confused how an abstract [a summary of my points] is different to an intro [Where you outline the points you're going to be elaborating in the body paragraphs] Original Example: Title: Single Mothers, ‘the damaged goods’ of society? Abstract: They’re the unrepresented minorities in our society. Victims of social prejudice, these women are marginalised in media as a whole different class of people. They’re irresponsible sluts; ‘the damaged goods’. They’re woefully incapable of raising a baby with morals. They’re dependent; Work-shy-unambitious class of beings who only live off well-fare. Sadly, they’re the Single Mothers of our society. Introduction: Confused! Shouldn't my 'abstract' text be my introduction paragraph?! UPDATE: Remember that I am NOT writing a research paper, rather, a persuasive article, when writing your answers please. <Q> It's used for search results (manual or computerized) — basically, the reader is saying, "Is this the piece I need as a source for X task?" <S> The introduction can vary in information and tone. <S> It can be the classic <S> "Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em," it can be a way to guide the reader into the topic with the thesis statement as the last sentence, it can be a teaser, etc. <S> Abstract: Single mothers are often disparaged by society. <S> This piece discusses some causes of single motherhood, how single mothers are viewed by various demographic groups, and potential means of raising their influence and societal status. <S> Introduction: <S> Single mothers. <S> Who are they? <S> A cluster of teenagers pushing strollers along the boardwalk. <S> Young women barely in their 20s with a toddler on the stoop and another on the way. <S> Professional women in their thirties whose marriages fall apart, and now have to juggle custody alongside Scout meeetings and soccer practice. <S> A fortysomething hearing her biological clock clanging, paging desperately through bios of sperm donors. <S> Different circumstances, different reasons, different lives, but all have one thing in common: each one is a woman with one or more children, and no partner. <S> And all of them are slammed by society. <A> The abstract should have the main ideas you'll be supporting in your text. <S> You probably don' t want to put ideas in your abstract that conflict with what you're going to be defending but mostly those ideas that you want other people to agree with. <S> Also, don't put everything there, only the main ideas. <S> Writing the abstract is a good exercise on summarizing your text. <S> The introduction, on the other hand, should contain not only what you want to "prove" but also other ways and ideas on the subject. <S> Here you'll put the contrasting ideas you want to dismiss or show it's not true. <S> As for your example, assuming you want to picture single mothers as marginalised victims, you could write something like: <S> Single mothers are often victims of social prejudice, being described as "damaged goods". <S> However, while carrying this extra burden in raising their children, they many times are desperately aware on how important it is to give their best to avoid a similar future for the new generation. <S> As such, supportive programs and actions by churches and others have an important role in protecting this minority and avoiding their perpetuation. <S> Plase keep in mind that this topic is not on my area of knowledge, and hence the example above could probably be more persuasive. <S> The important point here is to write the abstract with mostly what you will be trying to defend. <S> The other constrasting ideas ("hey’re irresponsible sluts", "they’re woefully incapable of raising a baby with morals", etc) <S> can (and should) be mentioned in the introduction to give the context of the problem. <A> In short: Abstract: A brief summary of the article Introduction: Provides a background and context to the contents of the article <S> Your abstract is not really an abstract, it's a part of an introduction. <S> An abstract would include background, your argument(s) and conclusion(s) in summary. <S> For science, the abstract would compress the introduction, method, conclusion and evaluation into a few lines.
| An abstract is a quick summary or overview of the entire piece.
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Struggling to writing in English I always struggle to write my ideas in English. Structuring my work/idea when it comes to writing leaves me blank. Even when I'm very clear about what I want to write, I will still struggle with putting it on a paper. I'm more comfortable when it comes to speak in English and people have mentioned that I have a good command over the language. I consider at intermediate level. Is there any online/offline course, book or anything else available? Any technique to follow? Your help on this will be much appreciated. I want to learn asap as this is affecting my professional life. Thanks BB <Q> Writer's block is probably part of it, but another part is just knowing how to make ideas and words flow grammatically. <S> I noticed you had a few minor mistakes in grammar, such as that you should have said, "when it comes to speaking in English," and "I consider myself to be at an intermediate level." <S> (Although I would've said "I think I'm at an..." because it's more casual.) <S> I think what will help you the most is reading as much as you can. <S> The books don't have to be really hard, just whatever you enjoy, whether that's informational books or works of fiction. <S> I hope this helps. <S> (: <A> Is it easier for you to write in another language? <S> If it is,consider separating your writing into two steps: <S> Write first in your favored language to get the ideas written. <S> Then,once you've said what you want to say,translate it into English. <A> You should know that most people have trouble putting their ideas on paper – on the first try. <S> It usually takes more than one attempt to get your writing polished. <S> I imagine this is even more true in a second language, though I'm not fluent enough in any second language to try my hand at writing. <S> It might be liberating for you to remember that your first draft is a long way away from your final draft. <S> You might be able to get more ideas down in one sitting if you don't worry too much about making it perfect the first time around. <A> If you have ideas and are good at speaking <S> but just hate writing <S> you can always try speech to text software, or record yourself with your phone and then get a transcript or just play it back and manually type it in.
| The key to good writing is rewriting.
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How should I capitalise headlines for professional Web writing? (Sentence case vs title case) I'm often uncertain about how I should capitalise headlines for professional writing on the Web. The two options I'm talking about are: Just capitalise the first word and any other words that would needcapitalising in a normal sentence (sentence case). Capitalise Every Word in the Sentence Apart from Articles, Prepositions and Other Bits and Pieces. (Title Case / Headline Case). My concerns are: Sentence case seems easier on the eye to me, and is less aggressive. Sentence case may seem too casual though, even for the Web, andappear unprofessional. Title case can seem 'spammy' and may be associated with low-qualitycontent. I'm aware that the Web offers a lot of variety in formality and what is appropriate, so my question focuses specifically on 'Web only' writing that doesn't easily fit into traditional categories such as magazine, newspaper or encyclopaedia content. TL;DR Should I use title case or sentence case for professional writing on the Web? <Q> I work with an organization that has an official manual of style regarding the web. <S> They strictly enforce sentence case, even in buttons on a web application "Save thing" instead of the more normal "Save Thing." <S> It comes down to style and standards. <S> It's more important, in my opinion, to be consistent. <S> For myself, I tend to slow down and read all of the capitalized words in the second example. <S> I speed read a lot of things, and so the Sentence Case doesn't optimize the sentence for my speed consumption. <S> Non-capitalized words <S> I can pretty much ignore. <S> It's not scientific, but it's one opinion. <S> I think for a headline <S> , you want people to stop and notice, in which case I want Title Case. <S> You mention it's more aggressive, but if it's a headline, you want to be aggressive. <S> You usually want to yell " <S> Hey! <S> Over here! <S> " <S> After the user has committed to reading it, then it's best to switch (as you suggest). <S> The user is now committed, so slow everything down. <A> I would look around and see how other web sites in my field do it. <S> If I wrote a political blog, I'd look at the most popular politicial blogs. <S> Difference (from other web sites) is good when it comes to visuals (photography, fashion, design websites etc.), but similarity is better when you provide verbal content (text blogs, news sites etc.). <S> Other great examples are popular design or typography blogs . <S> They are usually made by people who have training in creating pleasing and at the same time usable web design. <S> I always liked A List Apart , and usually look at some recent web design awards to get inspiration, but always filter this through the related sites mentioned above. <A> As you already supposed, you might want to put formal blog posts in title case and casual posts in sentence case. <S> Yet, because a blog is sort of a book-in-serial, I would make a decision for all posts and stand by it. <S> As mentioned above, it's also good practice to write your own manual of style. <S> It will help you maintain consistency in all writing. <S> For instance U.S. or US? <S> Internet or internet? <S> There really is no right or wrong (although the AP might disagree) as long as you are consistent.
| The case of your headings doesn't matter as long as you are consistent in the way you head them. It's all about how easily your site visitors can navigate your site and read your content, so it is good to adhere to what readers are used to.
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How to write to accommodate subsequent automatic translation The texts I am writing will be translated by people who are not experts in the topic and in some cases by a machine with next to none human editing afterwards. What strategies should I employ to ensure that the final reader will be able to make sense of it? <Q> The European Union has a detailed guide to Writing for Translation (pdf). <S> Some of the key points they cover: <S> Use vertical lists <S> Use the active voice Beware of noun strings <S> For technical writing, there is more to consider. <S> Many open source projects are translated by non-experts, so have recommendations on how to write, such as: Gnome Developer - Writing Documentation for an International Audience . <S> Some further tips from a machine translation company : <S> Keep the structure of your sentence clear, simple, and direct <S> If possible, avoid colloquialisms, idiomatic expressions and slang <S> Spell correctly Avoid ambiguity and vague references <S> Use standard, formal language <S> Use the definite article even when you don't want to <A> Let me add some tips regarding computer translation, although I believe Rob Hoare's answer is great: <S> Write the original in a 'popular' language for the simple reason that those are most tested and most optimized. <S> If for example you will be using Google Translate then it's mostly like the the node distance to any language is smallest from English (or maybe sometimes Spanish). <S> They used to give some indication of this in the past, but now have forsaken this in favour of a simpler user experience. <S> Use short sentences and use commas purely for clauses and lists, do not use commas where dashes could be used as well. <S> Place the English term behind expert <S> terms in square brackets like suggestopedia <S> [DNTenglish: DNTsuggestopedia] <S> when first used, then remove those from the original and hand translated versions, and do a replace in the computer translated versions for DNT with '' (nothing) leaving suggestopedie <S> [english: suggestopedia] (The DNT is there to make the word invalid so it won't get translated). <S> True, it takes a bit of hand work, but as those terms sometimes get mistranslated this allows the reader to figure that out for himself. <S> (Sadly sometimes the word order get's mixed up leaving the note in the wrong place, it might be a good thing to add a remark warning readers of this together with the general warning regarding computer translations) <S> If using Google translate, be aware of the fact that it is a system that has 'learned' languages by being fed thousands and thousands of hand translated documents. <S> Those documents were mostly formal and literary works, thus those are the kind of language styles it is most fluent at translating. <S> Just to put the "Use standard, formal language" a bit into context. <S> This doesn't fall within the scope of Writers SE , but build a feedback mechanism for readers to improve upon the machine based translations. <S> And make sure to always add some reference to the original version of the text. <S> Oh <S> well, just a few thoughts :) <A> If anything, you should have two: one who is an expert in the field, to make sure content wasn't lost in translation, and one to read for native-language coherence. <S> Translating text is not like changing fonts. <S> You must have a human read it at some point. <S> A machine may perfectly render "Sei una testa di cipuda" into "You are an onion-head," but it loses the actual sense of <S> "You're an idiot." <S> Or "calzaiuolo," which literally means a cobbler or shoemaker, but has the slang sense of "has bigoted social attitudes stuck in the past."
| Use explanatory headings and summaries, and limit each paragraph to one idea Make sentence structure unambiguous Avoid long sentences with a complicated structure Avoid empty verbs and ‘nominalisation disease’ Always use the same term for the same concept You can't guarantee the reader will make sense of your translated text without a layer of human intervention.
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What is a good tool for organizing story notes? I'm working on a fantasy series and have been keeping a Word document full of backstory, character/location information, and other world-building elements. At 160+ pages, it's reached the point where it is difficult to search for a topic if I want to go back and edit it. Even with a plethora of subheadings, it's become a bit unwieldy to scroll through dozens of pages to find the subject I'm looking for. This is why I'm looking for a better tool than Word. Something more like a personal wiki that breaks things up into separate pages would be nice. Features I'm looking for: Has to be able to link internally Easy to edit pages/entries (don't want to be looking at html and css code) Easy to change font styles/sizes/colours (I'm looking at you TiddlyWiki) Free Compatible with Mac OS X Also, it would ideally work offline. This isn't strictly necessary, but since I'm the only person who's going to be looking at this thing, it doesn't need to be online. In this respect, Wikidpad seemed like a good option... until I tried to install it for Mac and realized I had no clue how to do so :S PS I'm aware that you can link internally in MS Word, but the process (at least in Word 2008 for Mac) is a pain in the ass and it still doesn't solve the problem of having one gigantic document. <Q> Allow me to introduce you to Scrivener. <S> Scrivener is a word processor which allows you to create unlimited documents within a single project, and see all your documents in a nice document tree in a side pane. <S> You can create folders and subfolders, drag items around from here to there, link documents within the project, tag documents for easy searching, and even display your documents as note cards on a cork board. <S> $45 and made for Mac OSX. <S> You can test it full-featured for 30 days. <S> You can search for other discussions of Scrivener on this SE , including a lot of cheerleading from me. :) <A> Sadly I've been relying on Yahoo notepad which is free but terrible and I've been looking to upgrade. <S> I think in my case the solution is Microsoft OneNote Online. <S> It is completely free and it is hosted online <S> so I can access it from any of my devices which is great when I'm 'on the go'. <S> It has the ability to create sections and pages which can organize your chapters, events, and character bios. <S> You can even copy sections from Word documents, images, or even Excel cells and paste them anywhere on the page (suppose you happen to be an artist and have sketches, for example). <S> Has to be able to link internally = <S> yes Easy <S> to edit pages = <S> yes Easy to change font styles = <S> yes Free = <S> yes Compatible with Mac OS X = suspect <S> yes since online but not <S> 100% sure <S> To access OneNote Online, you will need to create a Microsoft account which is free and can be done from Bing.com . <S> Once you have the Microsoft account you also get a free 7GB of online file storage via OneDrive which is an added benefit. <A> I wrote a quick review here <S> While it is likely not as polished as Scrivener, I really needed universal access, and it synching with drop box was a key feature for me. <S> Here are the highlights of the points from my experience with Storyist: <S> Works on Mac, iPad and iPhone and synchronizes w/DropBox. <S> This is awesome because it allows me to add notes when I'm on the train (iPhone), work when at a coffee and have a couple of minutes (iPad), or take on full writing sessions. <S> Because it's a synch (for iPad and iPhone), rather than live save, this means you can work disconnected <S> but if you don't synch your changes back, you can end up with multiple copies and will need to manually reconcile them. <S> Provides a left toolbar where you can have characters, plot points, scenes, etc. <S> I like that I can create my own and define what type of items can go within them. <S> For example, I've add technology or "Trilogy plot points" <S> You can have "scenes" and attach character development points to them, or plot points, typing together the different elements. <S> It provides those "cork board" views like competing software <S> Took about half an hour to get used to. <S> Given that I'd been writing with MS Word or Apple Pages for the most part, with Things to store my 'to do' story points, it was pretty painless to get used to it. <S> Things it doesn't do well <S> enough:1. <S> Support the export process for editing. <S> When I exported to MS word, it didn't use Word styles properly, which was an issue for me. <S> I had to go and redo them manually. <S> Overall am I happy with it? <S> Yes. <A> Here is an app that tries to make plotting out your story and keeping all your notes together very easy: Plottr <S> It's got a timeline that is a very graphical way to show each story line (main plot and subplots) and each scene. <S> There is a place to take notes on characters, and a separate place for settings. <S> For each of those you can add custom attributes which is really handy. <S> The characters and places can be tagged to scenes in the timeline. <S> It also has a place for general notes which you can tag with your characters or places. <S> You can add descriptions in rich text (markdown) and write as much as you need. <S> I use it for my stories and it's been invaluable <A> I have been using CherryTree for quite some time now. <S> And I am very happy with it. <S> It doesn't provide packages for OS X <S> but it's open source and written in Python for Qt. <S> With some middleware I'm sure you can run the program on OS X. <A> I've just been using Google Keep to keep notes from my beta readers. <S> Google Keep has the advantage of being available from my phone and on the web. <S> As I get feedback from beta readers, either in person or in email, I put the data into a single document. <S> You can also tag documents so as to create groups of notes per project.
| Scrivener exports as Word and text, so you're not stuck in a proprietary format, and it has a full-screen environment if you need to cut out distractions. I needed a tool that worked on my iPad, iPhone as well as on my Mac, and not having experience with Scrivener, I used Storyist.
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How do I search for tick marks not smart quotes in Word? I'm doing a proofing check of a book prior to submitting to publication and want to make sure it's as neat as possible before doing so. Recently, I've had to merge two versions of the document - from Pages on iPad to Word on a PC and I need to check that none of the tick marks that appear in the Pages version appear in the Word document, as I need to change them to smart quotes . Is there a way of searching specifically for a character? I can't find the option in the Search box! Help! <Q> You can search based on ASCII char codes. <S> ASCII for single quote will be 39 <S> So you search for single quote as ^039 <A> So, if you want to find U+2018 (the left single quotation mark), you need to first convert the Hexadecimal number 2018 to its decimal equivalent of 8216, and then enter <S> ^u8216 <S> in the "Find" box. <S> You can follow the directions at <S> http://www.gmayor.com/replace_using_wildcards.htm <S> for converting a hexidecimal number to decimal, or <S> if you have Excel you could just use the HEX2DEC function. <S> If you have a character already, you can copy it into Excel and use the UNICODE function instead. <S> Be aware that the "find unicode" functionality doesn't work with Word's "use wildcards" option turned on. <S> The correct common <S> the UTF codes for quotation marks and apostrophes are treated more or less as follows: U+2018 (left single quotation mark) and U+2019 (right single quotation mark) are treated as a simple apostrophe ('). <S> U+201C (left double quotation mark) and U+201D (right double quotation mark) are treated as a simple quotation mark ("). <S> Both the apostrophe (') and the quotation mark (") are translated automatically based on your current AutoFormat settings. <S> So, if all you want is to apply the standard autoformat settings, just do a "find and replace" for ' to ' and " to " . <S> If you want to step through them one at a time, you can usually perform a "search again" in Word by pressing Ctrl + PageDown or Ctrl + PageUp, though you may need to make a minor adjustment. <A> Word doesn't recognize the difference between tick marks and smart apostrophes in the Find/Replace dialog. <S> Just type the apostrophe character in both fields. <S> As long as the preferences in your document are set to "smarten quotes," it will replace them all with smart apostrophes.
| In general, if you just want to make sure your quotes are all the right "smart" quotes, you can rely upon Word to automatically convert to and from smart quotes in its find and replace box. You can search for a particular UTF glylph by entering its decimal representation after a carret and a u in the "find" box, when "use wildcards" is not checked.
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How to travel in a government restricted setting? So my fantasy story starts out with two characters travelling by foot through endless woods. They can't take the roads because of an oppressive like government, but the woods are apparently safe. But I realized that doesn't make much sense. Why not have the government patrol the woods to make sure fugitives and other baddies aren't hiding there? But then my characters would run into more trouble than is needed for the plot. Only the first 1/5 of the story has them travelling in secret, and then an event later happens that completely removes the need for secrecy. I'm just looking for ideas on how to write the travel scenes and not adding little conflicts to pad things up. How would they get around the patrols in the woods? <Q> What are the roads like (maintained / protected by govt. <S> troops? <S> Paved?) <S> What are the woods like - wild animals that most people try to avoid? <S> Muddy / slow travel? <S> Lots of reasons that woods would not be patrolled except for when hunting major fugitives. <S> Also, even if woods are generally patrolled, how well? <S> Maybe easy to avoid patrols? <S> Average patroller is probably not happy to be traipsing thru the woods, would make noise, not be well trained, etc. <S> How badly are your characters wanted in the first 1/5 of book? <S> That drives the answer to a lot of the above. <S> A sentence or two of handwaving are all that are needed unless they have a huge bounty on their heads or something. <A> No I think you're over thinking it. <S> Why would the regime need to secure every last patch of land when they could just secure their own buildings and actual assets? <S> Maybe they have scouts which could add an element of suspense, but in a vast forest there's no guarantee they'd always be effective in spotting intruders. <A> Mostly for the same reason real life law enforcement agencies patrol mainly the roads. <S> More difficult to navigate: <S> Roads are purposely made for travel to be easier. <S> Patrols can cover a wide range easily. <S> Woods on the other hand, would restrict movements, and make patrols more difficult. <S> More dangerous: <S> If all the bandits or rebels hide in the forests, this is not the best place to be as a government agent. <S> Nobody important to protect anyway: Good citizens walk the roads. <S> Bandits hide in the woods. <S> Patrols want to protect the citizens, so they protect the roads. <S> Note however that there could be a specialized unit tasked with patrolling the woods. <S> But they would most likely be smaller and easier to avoid. <A> How does controlling an area work in the real world? <S> For example no one much cares how many people travel through the woods to the left or right of a country's border, but they stop anyone who tries to cross. <S> Transfer this principle to the inland. <S> It's completely unnecessary to watch every square metre of an area, all you do is watch its circumference and who goes in or out. <S> And since roads are in fact aisles between sections of woodland, it is enough to closely watch the roads. <S> Everyone who leaves the road and enters the forest, will eventually have to come out on some road somewhere. <S> As the government in your country, I would keep my troops out of the woods and have them watch every inch of every road, by camera, troops, satellite, drones, photosensors with spring guns etc., and maybe even fence it it. <S> So your characters will be perfectly safe and alone in the woods, but they will have a very hard time getting in and out.
| Governments that want to control a wild area usually cut an aisle through the forest and patrol and watch that.
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Quotes or no, for Hiccup I have a character unleash a monster hiccup in a scene. I'd like advice regarding whether or not it should be in quotes. Here's the scene, in summary "Hiccup!" Jane tried not to look embarrassed. [Characters carry on] "Hiccup!" This time, she was embarrassed. [Conversation turns to focus on the hiccups] <Q> However, I personally would either write it as Hic! <S> to indicate it's more of a sound than speech, or just relate it narratively: Jane hiccuped loudly, startling even herself. <S> She tried not to look embarrassed. <A> You would not use quotations, because it implies that she shouts hiccup rather than hiccups. <S> If you replace hiccup with bang the difference becomes more apparent. <S> she hiccuped = <S> A women has just hiccuped, and this refers more to the action than the sound itself. <S> Hiccup! <S> = <S> A sound occurs, and it specifically sounded like the word used. <S> "Hiccup!" <S> = <S> Someone shouts hiccup. <S> Presumably Stoick, from How To Train Your Dragon. <A> Surprise requires context, so don't worry too much about it not being at the beginning of a sentence. <S> Jane listened intently, nodding, then immediately hiccuped. <S> Bob smiled slightly but kept going. <S> On a side, note, if she was simply "embarrassed", that's probably obvious, and could be omitted. <S> Jane hiccuped again and covered her mouth, blushing.
| Now, if she did something to show that she were embarrassed, you might want to write that. If you really feel the need to have whatever noise she makes expressed as dialogue, I would write it as "Hic!"
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When opening a book I hear a lot of things about how one should give the name of their character early in the writing setting etc. My question is is it ok not to name your character, not to be specific about your setting till a little later say toward the end of the first chapter. For example if it were a movie, the screen would be black you would see nothing, slow thoughts would gradually progress into a picture. Various images would appear on the screen and the watcher would not know what they ment till later or what was even going on. <Q> I'm assuming you're referring only to the main protagonist or narrator. <S> I think it depends on whether or not you are writing in first person. <S> If you are, it's going to be a lot easier to do without having to say 'the boy in the ragged shirt' or 'the youth' every two sentences or so. <S> If used correctly, it could add an element of mystery to the entire novel. <S> However, you must make sure that the reader will not get too flustered trying to keep track of what's happening (the death knell of any book). <S> If you could do that in third person, I think it might help if you kept the cast of characters small, or, made them very different from the main character (a boy in a world of men). <S> It would actually be a nice literary touch on your part, and it might even help build suspense. <S> (see the short story 'The First Miracle' by Jeffery Archer. <S> I know, it's not a novel, but it's still a nice read). <S> Another story that keeps the identity of one of the pivotal characters a mystery, and indeed, only alludes to his true identity throughout the entire novel, would be 'Master and Margarita' by Mikhail Bulgakov. <S> It's funny and witty, and definitely worth your time. <S> Write the story, set it aside for a week or so till you've forgotten about it, and then re-read it, pretending it's someone else's work. <S> See then, if you get that magical desire of wanting to turn the page to find out what happened next. <A> There are hugely different types of books. <S> There is fiction written with no regard of possible readers, merely to experiment with language and style and literary conventions, to express the inner truth of the author, to analyse society, to create art, etc. <S> And there is fiction written to sell as many books as possible and to make a lot of money with this job. <S> Only the latter kind of book needs to care about how you "should" this or that. <S> If you want to sell your book to genre readers, follow genre conventions. <S> In a thriller this could mean to withhold information like the identity of the murderer whom we observe at his deed in the first chapter until the end of the book. <S> If you want to sell to the widest possible audience, keep it simple and straightforward. <S> In a romance novel this could mean to identify the protagonist in the first sentence or two. <S> What readers expect or feel exited about or comfortable with will also depend on what the plot of your novel is. <S> You can tell the same story in many different ways. <S> Think of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury . <S> He could have begun the book with: "Benjamin Compson was castrated after he assaulted a girl. <S> " You know he didn't, and that he didn't is part of what makes this book the eminent work of art it is. <S> On the other hand not many people buy and read that book, if you ask around your non-writer friends. <S> Obviously most people prefer a lighter fare for their bedtime reading. <S> So you already know the answer. <S> You can do what you like. <S> There is no right or wrong in writing, as long as what you do follows from your plot. <A> Unless there's a fantastic reason for not being specific (i.e. doing so for some specific effect), keeping the reader up-to-date is usually the best idea. <S> Readers like clarity, they don't like to be confused, and they get angry if they feel they've been misled (mystery novels are an exception -- readers expect to be misled).
| Obfuscation can work, but I wouldn't wait until the end of the chapter to identify the character we're reading about and where he/she is. Always be honest with the reader, that's my motto. There is no hard and fast rule, really; it all comes down to your skill in the end.
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Indicating a word choice you're unsure of I've often had situations where I'm unsure of the correct word to be used, either when writing or proofreading. How can this sense be indicated in writing? Someone mentioned adding a question mark just before it to indicate that the writer is unsure of that particular word. For example: These were not simply sewage treatment workers, but an elite ?cadre of sewage treatment workers Here the word in question is cadre, and we're trying to indicate that the writer is aware that's not the perfect word to use in the situation. Is this a generally accepted way of indicating such a thing? I haven't seen it often enough to make me think so, but it feels better than placing the question mark after the word, which might make it read like a question instead. <Q> There isn't a standard syntax for this. <S> I've had the same experience in my own writing, and have even seen a need for formal ambiguity in written text, such as a sci-fi "translation" from an alien language. <S> The practice I use is parenthesis around the questionable content, which allows for a phrase to be inserted instead of just a single word. <A> When I'm writing, I simply mark the word for later review. <S> How I mark it depends on my writing tool <S> : highlight by changing the background or foreground color, insert a note or comment, wrap in [square brackets], some other way. <A> Similar to Dale, I'd use square brackets and color the word magenta. <S> The magenta is a crossover from my design job, where anything in magenta is placeholder text. <S> Magenta in a writing context would immediately signal to me <S> "This item needs to be changed or replaced in some fashion." <A> For my editing markup I prefer a style that does not overlap and interfere with what might be part of the text I am editing. <S> Since square brackets indicate comments or amendments in quotes in some editing styles, e.g. Rogers found in his study that "some [apples] are tasty". or destroyed text when transcribing manuscripts, I do not use them for anything else. <S> A question mark in front of the word seems clear in its meaning to me in your context, but as a linguist I have been using the phonetic alphabet, and in this the question mark represents a glottal stop. <S> For this and other reasons <S> I avoid using characters as inline editing markup . <S> I do not change font color, because much of what is published on websites or in print magazines actually has colored text, so this could be misunderstood or overlooked by a second editor (or even myself), but I haven't yet had anything published with a single word or phrase with a colored background. <S> A colored background seems the most unambiguous markup to me. <S> Some software, like Word, allows the use of comments: <S> What I like about this is that you can comment on the reason of your markup, make suggestions etc., <S> but I rarely use these. <S> If I ever need to mark a word or passage in plain text, I use the number sign: an elite ###cadre### of sewage treatment workers <S> I always use three, because a single one might be part of the text, but I have yet to come upon a text with three before and after a word. <S> Also I haven't yet written or edited a text that contained the number sign (but question marks are quite frequent), so they are easy to search (and replace) with grep, e.g. ###.+? <S> # <S> ## finds everything between three number signs <A> 1) <S> If the ? is for yourself, then use two in row, which would never show up in regular text. <S> That way you can search for them before submitting. <S> 2) <S> If the ? is for the reader, then I'd say never ever do that. <S> It's the writer's job to find the right word or phrase! <S> You don't put a placeholder there with "punctuation" to indicate that it's not right. <S> Yuck!! <S> Now, having said that, there CAN be situations where the right word to describe something is not what the people in the story would use to describe themselves. <S> (For example, terrorists describing themselves as "freedom fighters," or sewer workers describing themselves as an "elite cadre.") <S> In those situations, you can either let your readers discover the irony themselves, or you can point it out. <S> Example: <S> These were not simply sewage treatment workers. <S> No, they were an elite cadre -- or so they told themselves, as they slogged through human waste a foot deep.
| When I want to mark a word or passage in a software, I change the background color .
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I'm afraid of [accidental] plagiarism I've recently written a screenplay about an alien invasion. A friend immediately commented that he found similarities (some general ideas, plot devices) with Half-Life 2: Ep 2 , which I haven't even played - and from what he tells me, the similarities are striking. On the other hand, I think 99% of alien invasion movies follow the same pattern - aliens invade, good guys regroup, good guys strike them with some success, aliens strike back with devastating effects, the heroes somehow save the day. There aren't that many unique plot ideas. I'm afraid of doing anything with this screenplay, e.g. sending it to competitions, because of the "original work" clause, and the potential of getting sued. I'm 100% sure it's my original work as I've written 100% of it and the characters are original, but there's always the potential of someone saying "wait, that's actually a screen adaptation of Half-Life 2, not your original work" . To complicate things further, I understand plagiarism must include "an intention to deceive". However, there's this company that makes Snakes on a Train , Transmorphers and Alien vs Hunter which clearly intend to deceive and profit from the more famous movie's publicity, and even in that case the response seems mild . So... what are the limits of plagiarism? Realistically, how concerned should I, a completely unknown and amateur writer, be afraid of submitting a screenplay that could be considered "derivative" to a screenwriting competition? (I'm not asking for legal advice. I know we're not lawyers here. I'm asking for practical advice out of experience). I wouldn't want my screenplay to die unread in my drawer. Thanks! <Q> There is nothing new under the sun, my friend. <S> If you read TV Tropes you might be forgiven for thinking that all plots are like all other plots. <S> However it is not the plots (there are considered to be only seven or so actual plots anyway) but the characterisations, details, names etc that make your world unique to you. <S> If you are worried that you have by chance become exactly like something else I would finish writing as if this was the first time anyone had had this idea. <S> Don't worry because you will spend your entire time second guessing yourself. <S> Then in the later revision and editing sessions you could check out the plots you are fearful of having replicated and look for ways to maximise what is different. <S> If all else fails you could hang a lampshade on the problem and have a witty character bitch about this being the plot to Half Life. <S> If you time this for a point in the plot when some comic relief is needed then you can play this for laughs as well as cultural references especially if another character has never played the game and thinks they are in a some other SciFi movie. <S> The chances are that by the time you have finished your work that you will ave found plenty of ways in which your story is different. <S> It is always easier to fix a finished draft than try and improve something that you've not written yet. <S> The chances are that if the editor sees value in your work then they will give you feedback on how you can maximise that value and avoid being derivative. <S> Also if a station picks up your script for production the legal team would double check this as part of their job. <A> I constantly read books and watch movies that are totally unlike anything that I have ever read or seen before. <S> There is an unlimited wealth of stories that have never been told. <S> If your story is like "all other" alien invasion stories, then that is because you have seen or read those other stories, learned their underlying schema, and now have applied it unconsciously. <S> I would guess that your story would bore me to tears and that – please! – <S> no movie needs to be made of it, because I, too, have see it several times before. <S> But then we all know that the Hollywood movie industry prefers to make the same five movies over and over again and would probably be deeply grateful for another take on the same boring old idea. <S> So I wouldn't worry about questions of plagiarism but instead take your friend's comment as an indication that you are on the right track to write a blockbuster movie. <A> Basically ideas are not "copyrightable," on the expression of ideas is. <S> Even if an idea is repeated, you're not guilty of plagiarism if your presentation is different. <S> At a tender age, I started constructing a "Sound of Music" knockoff set in France, featuring a prominent family, and a governess for the "six" children in the shadow of World War II. <S> (Prominent families, governesses, and children are recurring themes in literature .) <S> I was afraid of plagiarizing, but needn't have been, because the "dialog" I produced was neither French nor Sound of Music-like but just "American." <S> In the end, I had the governess marry "Uncle Charles" (not the father), not exactly an original twist, after spending World War II with the Maquis guerrillas (this might actually represent a contribution to literature). <S> Just make sure that you are writing with your own "voice," (which, like fingerprints, are distinctive). <S> You probably won't even get sued for inadvertent "copying" if it is limited, accidental, and not a pattern. <S> Real plagiarists fall into a certain "mold." <S> Just make sure that you don't.
| So to answer your question, you won't get sued for following a cut and dried "pattern" that "everyone" has seen before.
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How should I write "shush" in a narrative? I said shshshsh! I know I could say shush, but there are times when I really have to say shshshshsh. What would be the best way of writing this. Maybe Shhhhhh? <Q> It's a transliteration of a sound, so write what you hear. <S> (however many Hs amuse you) <S> If it's a short one, you write Shhh! <S> with three Hs. <S> One or two look like a typo <S> ( Sh! and Shh! ). <S> Four and it becomes the long version. <S> Sometimes I actually say the word "Shush!" <S> so I'd write that word, but that's not the shhh! <S> sound you're after. <S> If your speaker is actually repeating the short sound over and over (so there's absolutely no sustain on the hiss, as if you were trying to say "she" and stuttering), then your first example is correct. <S> He began to whimper. <S> "Shshshshsh, baby, don't cry," she soothed him. <A> Shush is a verb. <S> The Oxford English Dictionary definies it as: <S> To call or reduce (someone) to silence by uttering the sounds denoted by sh-sh . <S> Sh is also a verb. <S> The OED defines it as: <S> To reduce to silence or tranquillity with the sound of ‘sh!’, or attempt to do so. <S> Now what is interesting are the examples the OED gives. <S> The first is from P. G. Wodehouse and uses the vers sh as we would expect: She uttered a ‘Sh!’ <S> of such significance that Grayce instinctively lowered her voice. ‘ <S> Mrs. Molloy!’ <S> ‘Sh!’ <S> Grayce might have retorted that she had sh-ed and that if she sh-ed any further she could become inaudible. <S> The second example is from Boyd Cable and contradicts Lauren's stuttering example: <S> Ainsley ‘sh-sh-sh-ed’ him to silence. <S> I understand this to mean that Ainsley is not stuttering but shushing "him" through a prolonged sh . <S> Consequently the OED lists this variant under " Forms: Also sh-sh-sh ." <S> In Google the variants return the following number of hits: shh - 5.210.000shhh - 2.680.000shhhh <S> - 1.130.000shhhhh - 672.000 <S> (and Google asks if I mean "shhh") <S> Searches with variants of "sh-sh" (in quotation marks) turn up stuttering like "Sh Sh Sh Shark Attack!" <S> or abbreviations like the career portal "SH SH", but no shushing, so usage appears to contradict the OED and confirm Lauren's answer. <S> Searches were performed from Germany on Google.de and will return different results for other user profiles. <S> As a result from my research, I would use "shhh" (with three "h" and no hyphen). <S> And +1 to Lauren, because I agree with her :-) <A> Adding to above answers: You could add description of the shhh, to specify its length, intensity, feeling, etc. <S> and to help set the mood. <S> Examples: <S> Scary: She laid a shaking finger to her dry lips. <S> "Shhh," she said, as quietly as possible, like a ghost rustling the curtains. <S> Funny: " <S> Shhhhhhh!" <S> he hissed loudly, like the brakes on an old locomotive. <S> Sexy: "Shh," she purred, putting his finger to her moist lips.
| If it's one long sound you write Shhhhhhhh!
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How do you call the non-writing parts of creating a text? When I sit down and put words on paper or type into my computer, that aspect of creating a text (like a novel or software manual) is called "writing": I store the content of my text in letters. But when I plan what I want to write, develop my "story", construct the plot, or research the facts, I'm not yet actually writing my novel or news article. What is the superordinate term for that non-writing aspect of a writer's work? The best term I found is "narrative", but that denotes what you create, not the process of creating it. I need a term not for the object that you work on, but for the work you do. <Q> I use lots of words for different parts of the work: planning plotting researching brainstorming practicing warming up sketching outlining procrastinating ;-) <S> I don't know of a single word that covers all of that. <A> I'd call that development . <S> It covers everything in Dale's excellent list and dmm's couch time. <A> I beg to differ with you. <S> The actual setting-down of the words is just one part of writing. <S> And even once that is done, you still have to edit the words, which is more writing. <S> Really, we should have a proper word for the whole process. <S> Maybe, "writering." <S> That way, when I'm laying on the couch composing a scene in my imagination, my wife could say to my kids, "Leave Daddy alone. <S> He's writering." <S> Sounds so much better than "napping."
| For lack of a better all-inclusive word, I call all of that "writing."
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Changing a story's title to hint at story's meaning I wrote a short story here http://zecountess.deviantart.com/art/Mirrors-440990952 whose ending explains everything that is narrated before.The feedback I got from my readers is varied, and none of them are anywhere close to what I had in mind. To paraphrase Umberto Eco, there is the book that the writer writes and the book that the reader reads. As of now, I call it Mirrors.Would it be fair to change it to 'Psychomanteum' to nudge readers a little? <Q> I think you should heed Eco and let your story go. <S> Stories are like children: they don't live their lives for you. <S> If you force them to make you happy, you destroy their spirit. <S> If this were my story, I would chose "I could hear someone sobbing softly" as its title. <S> The title should attract the reader. <S> It is like the cover of a magazine, a movie poster, or a newspaper headline. <S> It should not explain , but grab attention . <S> The explaining must be done within the tale. <S> If the readers of your genre find "mirrors" or a "psychomanteum" gripping, then those are good titles. <S> I personally find "mirrors" boring, because they are such a worn-out subject, and "psychowhatsthat" off-putting, because I must make an effort (of looking that word up) before I can even begin to read, and it makes me expect something either learned and difficult and unentertaining or something badly written and filled with clever name-dropping to impress. <S> Look at popular books or stories and see what kind of titles they have. <S> Usually they are condensed versions of first sentences and, like them, chosen to hook the readers. <A> I think that we should take the readers' expectations into account when writing a short story. <S> Giving your story an exotic title makes me expect something overly sophisticated <S> (I know, I tend to fold quickly. <S> Just puff out your literary chest a little, and I'll walk out of the bar rather than draw my six-shooter). <S> I think your story's title should be changed if you're confident that it'll draw your readers' attention. <S> Just make sure that you get the audience you are aiming for. <S> If your audience are the kind of people who find googling something a chore (believe me, some people choose to back away from a story with an unfamiliar word rather than look up a good dictionary), you might want to reconsider changing your title. <A> I've witnessed many writers and musicians being coy about what a song, story, or poem means because they don't want to dismiss any special meaning that the reader or listener might have attributed to the piece. <S> If your novel becomes a classic, then scholars and Cliffs notes will make your point for you. <S> I say, why not be clear instead of coy? <S> If you're talented, you can lead most of your audience wherever you want them to go. <S> If it's important to you that the reader gets it, then take the time to help them get there. <S> Readers don't seem to mind the obvious, as long as it's entertaining. <S> Yet, it's questionable whether "Psychomanteum" is more clear than "Mirrors". <A> Go with your heart's desire. <S> Every story that a writer writes, the reader reads differently. <S> It is because each one of us has different perception and interpretation of stories. <S> I doubt that two person could even interpret a piece in exact same way, down to the feelings and nuisances of emotions we feel whenever we read a piece, much more to match it with what the author has in mind. <S> Then let them think, interpret, and relate to it the way they want to. <S> The title may have bearings but it is not the be all and end all of your piece. <S> Remember, the story will always speak for itself. <A> There's a fine balance between writing for the writer and writing for the reader. <S> On one hand, you shouldn't condescend to readers, and not everybody is part of your audience, and so not everybody needs to "get" the story; on the other, you do generally want your intent to come through. <S> So that's a non-answer. <S> But in this specific case, I don't think the title needs to nudge anyone anywhere. <S> I think you're just fine. <S> I actually like "Mirrors" much better than "Psychomanteum"; the second just means nothing to me. <S> Obscure words aren't bad, and again, you shouldn't condescend to people like me, but I'd bet that a large percentage of your readership would find that it is not meaningful to them at first glance.
| If you can change your title to something that helps the reader reach the conclusions that you want them to reach, without being too much of a spoiler, then do it. The balance is different for every story. I suggest that you just write, not for your readers but for yourself.
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Is there any structure to write a book? I want to write a book but I don't know where to start. I'd like to know if is it there any structure for a book to be written, or if somebody could tell me how to start. <Q> There are LOTS of ways to structure a book. <S> Depending on what you're writing, there may or may not be any expected frameworks. <S> Long-Form Fiction , such as speculative fiction novels, movie scripts, and semi-fanciful "alternate histories" usually progress lineally along one or more character's perspectives along a three-act progression, though more acts are non uncommon and strict adherence is not necessary. <S> Some genre fiction have more expected structures. <S> Non-fiction Reference Material , such as a wikipedia page or the manual for a piece of software, tends to begin with an overall review of the topic, follow with specific details or instructions arranged in some discernible order (complexity, alphabetically, or historical progression), and end with any needed reference materials. <S> Non-fiction polemics and short-form fiction <S> both are highly variable in their form and structure. <S> Aside from the mechanical need to quickly attract a reader's interest, their choice of structure is entirely part of an author's craft and can be as important as word choice or phrasing. <S> As for how to actually write any of the above: start with an idea, add in various notes, and then sit down and write a first draft from beginning to end. <S> Skip ahead if appropriate. <S> Once your draft is done, read it once and then begin your editing process. <S> Be aware you may need to throw it all away and start again with a new first draft, on possibly an entirely separate project. <A> Here's a terse summary of Peter Seibel's How to Write a Book blog entry: Step 1 Write the index. <S> Step 2 Write a hierarchical outline. <S> Step 3 Write a flattened outline. <S> And Step 4 Write the book. <S> Seibel has written two technical books and you may take his approach as especially practical for a technical book. <A> Fast-paced, action-packed books tend to leap straight into the thick of things and introduce their characters at the same time (Matthew Reilly kind of books. <S> I know, he's not exactly an avant garde writer, but he is one end of the spectrum when it comes to explosions and many, many exclamation marks). <S> Modern romance novels that are highly successful tend to have the romantic interest pop up in the first chapter in a cute meet (forgive me if I have offended any sensibilities) with the protagonist or narrator. <S> If you're actually talking about what to put on the first page of the book, you could start with describing a particularly vivid mental image that sets the backdrop for the first scene in your story. <S> Your imagination should take over from there. <S> The overall structure of books that I've read tends to go like this: Introduction (start slow, introduce characters, set tone for the story), <S> buildup(things happen, information gradually becomes available), climax(the highest point of tension in the book or the main event all the other events have been building up to), and resolution (or the ending). <S> Don't let that formula confine you too much. <S> Some of them have an ambiguous resolution (I know they call it a resolution, but <S> the end of Twilight leaves you wondering if Edward turned Bella - more of a teaser, really), and some of them have the climax and resolution on the same page <S> (the Notebook: <S> The protagonist's love interest finally remembers him, which is the miraculous event you've been unconsciously waiting for all this while, and then the novel ends- Climax and resolution on the same page). <S> A shortcut would be to look up a few bestsellers that you think are similar enough to the book you want to write in terms of genre, mood, pacing and length, and then narrow it down to one or two of your favorite ones (or all of them, if you are like me). <S> Use them (or it) as a guide, but don't overdo it, or all you'll get is another piece of fanfic. <S> It would really help if you had strong original characters with quirks and idiosyncrasies that your references do not have. <S> Enjoy your journey!
| It depends on the kind of book you're writing.
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What are the pros and cons of starting a novel with internal dialogue? I'm thinking about starting a novel by having the first sentence be internal dialogue. What are the potential problems this could raise? What are the benefits? By internal dialogue I mean something like: It's so high up here . Thought Sam while...(sentence continues) <Q> There's no reason why it couldn't work, as long as you quickly make clear that it's internal dialogue. <S> The main benefit is to give the reader immediate access to the character's inner life, which may help us identify with him/her/it/them. <S> The only real con I could see is if it's written in such a way that the reader is confused whether the text is narration or internal monologue, or if you can't tell who's speaking/thinking for a while. <A> Your title, first sentence, paragraph, page, and chapter are your hooks to catch the reader. <S> Make sure they are baited well. <S> So, if you start with internal monologue, it had better be interesting, not just bland, <S> random thoughts about how it's high up on the wherever. <S> I realize that was just an example, but compare: <S> Bad: " <S> It's so high up here," thought Sam as he climbed a tree. <S> OK: "It's so high up here," thought Sam from the claws of the gianteagle. <S> Better: "I can see the whole Shire," marveled Sam, then screamed as he began to fall. <A> I've read several stories where this sort of technique is employed. <S> The most memorable had something to do with the character pondering their own death, and the rest of the story consisted of the events leading up to it. <S> It started with something like I hadn't expected to die so young. <S> I admit this might have worked purely because of the shock value of the first sentence, but I don't think that it was just the shock value. <S> It was neat to be inside a character's head starting at the very beginning. <S> The reader gets to know the character very quickly that way. <S> The main difference between this example and what you proposed is that your example is in third person and this example is in first person. <S> I think you might have to play with the structure more to have it be a strong hook in third person, and you'd have a lot of quick introduction to make, but it could definitely work.
| If it's a first-person narrative, the entire story is "internal dialogue," in a sense.
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Should I make the gender of the narrator more obvious? This is the opening of a short story I'm writing: 1996 was the year I became obsessed with animal suicide. I guess you can say it became my reason to live—the sun in my sky, the very air I breathed. I talked about it the all the time: at home, at college, at parties, even at family reunions. So I wasn't surprised when people decided to keep a distance from me. I didn't blame them, though. No one wants to picture a drowning cat while enjoying a meal. This new found passion also interfered with my dating life. It turns out animal suicide isn't the best topic for a romantic dinner. "Animal suicide?" The guy I was dating stared at me across the table as though I had brought him some bad news. "That's what your research is about?" "Well, it's more like a side project," I explained. "It's so interesting! Now I'm reading about thirty cows that threw themselves mysteriously off of a cliff. No one knows the reason, not even the person who wrote the article. Strange, isn't? What kind of existential crisis could lead cows to do that?" The guy never called again. Too bad. I was beginning to like him. I though the gender of the narrator would become apparent after the dinner part. But someone told me he couldn't figure out. Should I make the gender of the narrator more obvious? If so, how? <Q> The reason you think it's obvious is that you assume that only a woman would be having a romantic dinner with a man. <S> Your baseline assumption is that everyone is straight. <S> There is absolutely nothing in the text which precludes the narrator from being a gay or bi man having a romantic dinner with another gay or bi man. <S> If you want to assert her gender, you could throw in a bit of third-person description, like: <S> So I wasn't surprised when people decided to keep a distance from "the lemming lady." <S> Or the narrator's date could use her name: <S> "That's what your research is about, Sonya?" <A> I don't think you should make the gender more obvious unless it needs to be more obvious. <S> By choosing a 1st person narration the character <S> uncovers him/herself and the logic should flow from how you have conceived this character to express themselves. <S> Is gender really a duality anyway? <A> I think the gender and sexual ambiguity only makes this story that much more compelling. <S> I've written similarly vague characters in the past and consider it not only more difficult to hide a character's gender throughout the narrative but also a pretty big compliment. <S> You can even use this technique to conduct your own mini-experiment of people's perceptions of differences between male and female voice--and potentially use that to strengthen your writing otherwise.
| Men and women express their gender in such a variety of ways that you could end up just creating an uninteresting and generic character if you start throwing in some token references.
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How to master literary American English as a second language? I want to learn to write fiction books (historical and science fiction) in American English. My native tongue is Russian and I speak fluently German, since I grew up in Austria. My English is good enough for technical or business communication, but I can't express myself in English as colorful as in Russian. In order to write fiction in English, I need (among other things) to master the language so good that I can "paint" pictures with it (i. e. make use of slang, idioms, have a feeling on how a particular sentence will affect the reader etc.). I would highly appreciate, if you answered the following question. What methods (apart from those given below) can I use to learn literary English (provided that I am willing to put lots of effort in this undertaking) so that I can express myself in written English as vividly as in written Russian? Known methods: Read as much good English literature as possible. Read and practice "Elements of style". Re-read "On writing well". Watch lots of American movies. Read American newspapers. Memorize words from American slang dictionaries. <Q> The only method that I can think of that you've missed off your list is practice . <S> Write as much as you can and put it in front of native English speakers (especially Americans, since that's the dialect you're going for, but other native English speakers probably won't hurt either). <S> It's all very well memorising slang words, but you really have to see/ <S> hear them in context to use them properly. <A> EvilSoup is right. <S> If you've got English grammar and spelling down--the meat and potatoes of any language--then the next step is to practice it. ' <S> Literary' American English is so wonderfully diverse! <S> There's really no single style and it's constantly evolving. <S> My suggestion? <S> Don't try to "study" and "memorize" anything--talk to Americans, ask them about their lives, watch how they use language. <S> Immerse yourself in the culture <S> and you'll understand not just how they use words but why they use them the way they do. <S> That will also help you take care of the other aspect of good fiction--real, fleshed-out characters. <A> Why not write your first book in the first person POV, with the narrator a Russian? <S> You won't have to fake the Russian "accent." <S> One good thing about Americans: we don't mind when our language is butchered. <S> :-) <S> Look at how successful Chekov was as a character on Star Trek. <S> So, you'd be writing in English (which would be good practice, no matter what) <S> but maybe you'd also be getting something marketable out of it. <S> Here's your first book's opening: <S> "Please excuse my English. <S> I am Russian. <S> But we are in no hurry here." <S> That was how I always began my interrogations -- with a joke. <S> Then I would throw the switch. <S> It is important to set the mood, right at the start.
| Interacting with native speakers can also help in general, so it might help to take part in American-dominated web forums (which will have the double benefit of giving you an audience for criticising your work).
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