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Do new writers stand a chance at a career without ambitions to write series? Simply put, I've been noticing a general truth in bookstores: Nearly every new book on the shelf is part of a series - this is doubly true in the Fantasy and Sci-Fi genres, but no less true in others. As a writer with no ambitions to write series and preferring to focus on one-shot works, does one still stand a chance in the world of modern publishing? <Q> I think you are looking in the wrong part of the bookstore. <S> Certainly that is not true in general fiction (by far the largest part of the fiction marketplace). <S> John Grisham is a good example, or Michael Crichton. <S> It also depends on how you define series. <S> There are a number of novelists who write independent works featuring the same characters, but with no other real continuity between one story and the next. <S> I just took a look at the latest NYT bestseller list and <S> more than half the entries are clearly not series, while several of the others appear to be series only in the weakest sense of featuring the same characters as previous books, not as continuing an ongoing story. <A> Like Hollywood, the publishing industry prefers known winners to unknown qualities. <S> If you are successful with a series, odds are good you could get a standalone. <S> But that is something to discuss with an editor. <A> In the SF and fantasy genres, there has been a clear market trend over about the last 30 years toward both longer books and series. <S> You can see this pretty clearly if you walk into a bricks-and-mortar used book store. <S> Short standalone books are common only up until about the 1970s. <S> One reason for the change in length may be because of the gradual slide of the magazines into irrelevance. <S> E.g., when Robert Heinlein was at the top of his form ca. <S> 1965-1970, he would publish his best work first as a serialized novel in a magazine, and then as a book. <S> That only works for books up to a certain length. <S> Robert Sawyer is an unusual example of a successful SF novelist working today who publishes mostly relatively short standalone books. <S> Several of his novels, including some standalones and some of the first installments of his trilogies, were originally serialized in Analog. <S> Sawyer's example shows that it is still possible to sell standalone SF novels. <S> His first novel was a standalone. <S> It's hard to say whether the trend toward series is an evil moneygrubbing thing by the publishers. <S> It may be partly that, but I suspect there are also a lot of genre readers who actually enjoy reading series. <S> (I'm not one of them.) <S> The trend toward greater lengths would seem easier to explain as arising from the preferences of most readers. <S> I don't see the commercial advantage to a publisher in selling a thicker book rather than a thinner book. <A> Series basically comes down to one main goal... money! <S> It is also easier to write because they don't have to spend time creating a new world and new (well completely new) character sets and can just pick up where they left off. <S> Even if the stories are unrelated, a large part of the work is world setting and character creation. <S> Everything these days is about mass production and how fast you can release content. <S> A series pretty much nails both. <S> For fantasy, that's just the way things go though. <S> People want to read an epic adventure and not part ways with their favorite characters. <S> That being said though, you can argue that The Hobbit does exactly as you are looking for. <S> It tells of an epic story in a singular stand alone book that is unrelated to a series. <S> Lord of the Rings series you can argue is a continuation from The Hobbit , however you can read both separate from each other without issue. <S> I would imagine that publishers generally want to know what your future plans are with stories. <S> Everything these days wants to be turned into a franchise. <S> Movies, Books, Shows, Clothing, Toys, Video Games, you name it they will try to ride the tails of your successful book. <S> The more content you release for that story, the more they can in turn sell and market. <S> That is also though how you would make your money as you only get something like a dollar per book sold after all is said and done. <S> The more content and royalties you can hand out, the more you make off of your story too. <S> In the end, whether you have a series or a singular story, what matters is the content. <S> You aren't going to sell a series if book one flops no more so than you won't sell a singular book if it flops. <S> There is nothing wrong with writing non serialized stories! <S> Just be prepared that you may get some fan mail demanding for you to continue the book with a new story so that they can see what other shenanigans your MC gets into. <S> Quality over quantity will always prevail.
| There is only so many books to a series, movies to a series, shows to a series, that someone can write before it becomes stale and riding the wave of success as it's only driving force. There are plenty of best selling authors who do not write series.
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'Filling' up a school setting without making a bunch of new characters? In a school setting, what is a way to allude that a school is full of students, without making new characters or overusing pre-existing ones? A school is the main setting of a book. The main and secondary characters majorly consist of students. In classes and school gatherings, I assume it would be overwhelming to always refer to a new character, or monotonous when referring to a pre-existing character, when commenting on the buzz of the environment or the reactions of students in the same room/area. In this sense, is it better to be general? For example, a school assembly is occurring. The main character walks in, examining the scene. The aim of the text at this point is to comment on the various behaviours of the students in that environment, in order to discuss the variety and buzz of the students in the school. At this point, new characters will have to be introduced. It would be repetitive to talk about other main/secondary characters who are in the assembly hall as mentioning them would show no variety at all. Of course, when the main character decides to go sit with their friends (who are other main/secondary characters), it would be appropriate to mention them again. It could look something like this: Suzy, who was drawn in by the bustle of her chattering peers, timidly walked through the entrance passage of the assembly hall and into the large room. Behind her wisp of hair, she inspected her surroundings. Among the crowd of students was Rob, a red-head with a troubled uniform, who rest his feet atop the empty chair in front of him. Though the room was full of astir teenagers his voice was distinct and high, squawking louder than the rest about cars and rocket fuel. To the right of the room sat piercingly-blonde Georgia among her flock of clone-like friends. She, though very opinionated, was abnormally quiet for such a lively space. An alternative to this would be just to sketch, in general terms, the busyness of the room. This could be done by referring to students without providing them a name, or talking about the group of students in a broad manner. Take the previous scene, for example: Suzy, who was drawn in by the bustle of her chattering peers, timidly walked through the entrance passage of the assembly hall and into the large room. Behind her wisp of hair, she inspected her surroundings. Among the crowd of students a red-head with a troubled uniform rest his feet atop the empty chair in front of him. Though the room was full of astir teenagers his voice was distinct and high, squawking louder than the rest about cars and rocket fuel. To the right of the room sat a piercing blonde among her flock of clone-like friends. She looked abnormally quiet for such a lively space. And further: Suzy, who was drawn in by the bustle of her chattering peers, timidly walked through the entrance passage of the assembly hall and into the large room. Behind her wisp of hair, she inspected her surroundings. Among the crowd, students talked in a lively manner, some about their weekends and others about rocket fuel. A distinct amount sat silently, back sunken into their red seats, awaiting the teachers to commence the assembly. Suzy couldn't help but believe these students thought such an event was a waste of time. The last example does change the scene quite a bit, but it allows for the reader to see the whole room, rather than a few students in the room. However, this method does remove the authenticity of the school, especially since such a setting has many situations where many students will be in the same room at once (eg. classes, assemblies, sports days, etc). I'm worried about creating new characters in such scenes as there is a high chance they will probably not be mentioned again, which can confuse the reader as to why they were included in the first place. TL;DR – What would be the best way to continue to refer to students, who aren't main/secondary characters, in order to authenticate the 'size' of the school? Would it be best, in some cases to create new characters? Or would it be better to be general about these students and focus more on the main characters in that environment? Thanks! <Q> If they don't know the people in a scene, then they will tend to notice some prominent feature or action they are performing. <S> If you don't name the individual students that she notices, that tells the reader she is in an unfamiliar environment. <S> Think about walking into a restaurant looking for a party of friends you have agreed to meet. <S> You look around the tables of people you don't recognize. <S> You notice very superficial things about each. <S> Business suit. <S> Three blond kids. <S> Tatoos. <S> Purple spiky hair. <S> Seen and forgotten in an instant. <S> They you see your party and immediately you see their faces <S> , their names come to mind, you don't really note what they are wearing or anything else superficial (unless there is something really out of character), because you are seeing them, your friends, your colleagues, your classmates. <S> (Even your enemies, if they are well known to you.) <S> So, if your character walks into a room and sees suits and spiky hair and tattoos, they are in a room full of strangers (no matter what you might say to the contrary). <S> If they walk into a room and see people whose names they know, they are in a familiar space. <S> It really is not about whether your readers will remember these characters, is it about placing your character accurately in the world they are entering. <A> This is why the clique system is such a wonderful tool for authors. <S> For any group that tends to hang out you only need to ever name one or two of the most prominent members, and then describe actions of those groups by reference to those members. <S> Compare: "Harold, Mike, Jules, Ron, Gregor and Paul were being rowdy as usual" "Harold and his cronies were being rowdy as usual" Because, for better or for worse, schools tend fall apart into groups. <S> Use that. <A> If they won't be mentioned again, it's not worth giving them a name - so your first example would be somewhat wasteful. <S> The reader doesn't need to know that the redhead with an aggressive attitude is called Rob (and maybe it's realistic that your character, Suzy, doesn't even know him by name - exspecially if she is in a large school). <S> Same goes for the blonde. <S> Like the extras in a movie, they need to be there - but sketching just a bunch of details for them is enough. <S> Of course as you realized it's probably better to name them if you plan to make them appear again at a later time. <S> The group of clone-like blondes could be, for instance, interesting to mention again - but that's maybe just because I like the image you used.
| If a character knows the people in a crowded scene, they think of them by name, which indicates to the reader that they are in familiar surroundings.
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Do I have any control over the grammar of my novel? English grammar is generally pretty black and white, but there are a few areas under debate. For instance, should a series of three have one or two commas? For example: The coach was black, dusty, and large. OR The coach was black, dusty and large. What happens if I write a novel using the first example, but the publisher/editor 'corrects' it to the second example? Do I have any say in the matter? Note: I realize this is a hotly debated topic for some people, so please refrain from debating which example is correct. That is not the question. <Q> English grammar is anything but black and white. <S> Everything is debatable, even the definition of "word". <S> Punctuation is not grammar. <S> This is a punctuation question, not a grammar question. <S> Your publisher probably has a preferred style guide that they want their authors to use. <S> Everything is negotiable. <S> Negotiations are all about who has the most clout. <S> If you say, "Use the Oxford comma or I take this to Penguin," then if they say "Don't let the door hit you on the way out," you know who has the most clout in that relationship. <S> Cormac McCarthy uses unorthodox punctuation. <S> Cormac McCarthy has clout. <S> Depending on the potential of your book, you may or may not have clout. <S> Or they may just not care whether you use the Oxford comma or not. <S> Oxford comma FTW. <A> It also depends on if you're a stylist. <S> The really great artists saw the rules, knew the rules, then broke the rules. <S> Many writers ignore grammar, for the sake of the narrator, of dialect, of stream-of-consciousness. <S> What matters more than which comma goes where is your heart, your story, your language, the power of your words. <S> Now, I'm not sure what kind of book you're writing---you may very well would do good to pay attention to said rules---but just know the rules are not always heeded, and, sometimes, celebrated when broken. <A> I have hung around with a number of writers of note <S> and I was married to a NYT best-selling author. <S> I can tell you that not a single on of them was concerned about the grammatical changes, unless, as August noted above, it is for a certain affectation. <S> The grammar police (no doubt a fresh college grad) will be there to proof the manuscript and ensure continuity and clarity, which is a good thing. <S> and if you argue with your editor over it, it just paints a picture of you as a neophyte at best or a difficult person at worst. <S> If sales are lack-luster, this could be the thing that prevents your second book from being published. <S> Rest assured, there will be changes to your manuscript. <S> It pays to listen to the editor. <S> They have many years of experience in the business and are there to help improve your writing. <S> I would argue that many famous writer's work suffers because they are too successful to listen to their editors. <S> Stephen King comes to mind as an example - Arguably his best works were written when he was younger and the editors held more sway. <A> After spending ten years as a micro publisher, allow me to state the following: 1) <S> Non-fiction should be written using "book English," meaning it should be as clean, clear, grammatically, syntactically, and lexically correct as possible because the purpose of the book is principally to convey information. <S> Clarity is king. <S> 2) <S> When it comes to fiction, should you have a publisher that insists their way is correct and won't talk to you about it, find another publisher. <S> Fiction is more about emotion than it is conveyance of information. <S> An excellent example (though non-English) is the Finnish book Tuntematon Sotilas (The Unknown Soldier). <S> Written Finnish is a notoriously grammar-heavy language, but the spoken language has dialects just like English. <S> The author (Väinö Linna) chose to "write" the dialects. <S> Finnish is phonetic, so it wasn't hard to write the dialects --- but it's painful to read! <S> That, of course, was part of the point. <S> The author wanted his dialog to be culturally accurate, which meant breaking nearly every rule in one of the most grammatically structured languages on Earth. <S> Tell your publisher that you're willing to work with their editors to make a superior book --- and then do so (please!). <S> Take advantage of their expertise and remember they have a lot of experience building marketable books. <S> But contractually reserve the final decision to yourself. <S> If they won't do this for a work of fiction, find another publisher. <S> Remember <S> , they're a business, you're an artist, both needs must be met or the book will have a tough mountain to climb for success. <A> I would think that one should use proper grammar, unless speaking about or speaking of or for ethnic groups, and attributing certain dialects or manner-of-speaking to diverse characters.
| The grammatical changes are based on the accepted usage, as defined by the publishing house The editor will make the most substantive changes.
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How do I credit a quote if I am uncertain of the source? If I am writing a book and want to use a quote, but I either don't remember who said it or I am uncertain, how should I credit the quote? <Q> "I think therefore I am." <S> * <S> The second thing to do is to cite the type of source, even if you don't know the exact one. " <S> As she said in a song from an old movie, 'I'm as corny as Kansas in August.'" <S> Then you go on a site like Movies and Film SE (or Quora) and ask, "What old movie does the following line of an old song come from?" <S> And hopefully, you'll get the answer: <S> ("I'm in Love With a Wonderful Guy," South Pacific, Rodgers and Hammerstein.) <S> *Descartes. <A> Since you are writing a book and not a blog, better search more and try to find out who said it. <S> If you are still unable to get the result, go for "unknown" or <S> "a wise man/woman once said...". <A> If your book is fiction then you have the option of attributing the quote to an unreliable character then having another character recognize the mistake either publicly or in internal/thought dialogue. <S> For example, have your antagonist credit Shakespeare for "I think therefore I am" then have your protagonist thinking, "What an idiot! <S> That's not Shakespeare!". <S> Your protagonist is not then required to provide correct attribution. <S> A change in the scene might distract them, leaving the attribution uncorrected.
| The first order of business is to acknowledge the quote as someone else's work and not your own by putting quotation marks around it.
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creating convincing characters who are under the influence but avoids stereotypes I'm working on a story set in university. I remember from my time at university that it was fairly common for some students to indulge in the wacky baccy, and as that's a standard part of the university experience for a lot of folks I thought it would make sense to write characters who indulge in getting stoned themselves. Unfortunately I don't have any direct personal experience of using the stuff (Neither I or my friends ever really tried it to any great extent) so I can't really draw from experience. Of course there are plenty of examples of characters getting stoned in all kinds of popular culture (movies, TV shows, books, etc) but they almost always seem to be played for laughs (unless it's an over-the-top anti-drug film like Reefer Madness). I'm sure a lot of the time stoned people are pretty funny, but I do wonder how much of the typical portrayals you see in mass media are accurate and how much is just playing up stereotypes and jokes about it (I suspect the latter is far more common than the former). Typical portrayals tend to feature at least one of the following: Talking in a nonsensical way Spouting non-sequiters Fainting (usually immedeately after saying something funny) Laughing and giggling "The munchies" "Deep" conversations that aren't really about anything much. Paranoia and "freak-outs" etc Are the sort of depictions you see in mass media of using marijuana bear much resemblance to reality? If I were to include a character that uses marijuana then does anybody have any tips or guidelines for creating scenes involving casual drug use that don't resort to just copying the sort of goofy behaviour that is commonly used in portrayals of such characters? UPDATE: I thought I'd add a couple of examples of the sort of stereotypical behaviour I'm talking about Dude, my hands are huge All these squares make a circle There are wasps in my brain! R2D2 and C3PO stoned <Q> A lot of how you act when under the influence is also predicated by personality. <S> I know some people who get high and just sit there calm and collected. <S> I also know a person who got into a fight with a fish.... <S> that was a design pattern in the carpet.... <S> I had a neighbor who smoked before they did anything as if it was almost their cup of coffee. <S> You couldn't even tell they were high unless you saw the red in their eyes. <S> I know of a friend who smoked too much and ended up fainting. <S> The munchies are definitely real, the laughing, paranoia is iffy. <S> I have mostly only seen that with harder drugs <S> but I do know of people who started freaking out over nothing. <S> In the end, it's everything you think it is and not at the same time. <S> It's a lot like alcohol, everyone reacts differently to the same thing. <S> Vodka makes 1 person angry while it also makes someone else giggly. <S> So there isn't 1 size fits all. <S> You just have general stereotypes. <A> I've never seen anyone really hallucinate or become paranoid on cannabis - not that it can't happen, but it's unusual and also connected to larger than normal doses. <S> Talking nonsense, having pseudo-deep conversations and finding everything funny are real symptoms, but they require you to be relatively high. <S> How much that takes depends on the individual and a lot on built up tolerance. <S> After just one joint passing around or similar amounts of consumption what you'll see is mostly relaxation and very slight dizziness. <S> It's not actually as different from alcohol in terms of mental effect, you just don't get the physical stuff like how hard alcohol is on the stomach in large doses <S> , how strongly dissociating it is and how it destroys your sense of balance. <S> ggiaquin is very much correct though when they say that the effect will depend on the individual more than most other factors. <A> Cannabis effects so many people so differently. <S> As with many questions, a good strategy to find an answer it is to ask more questions. <S> Particularly: One way to approach the substance is through the character using it and the setting they are in. <S> So we will ask questions about the character and setting: Why are they smoking? <S> (Escapism? <S> Enlightenment? <S> Exploration?) <S> Does their reason for smoking change with increase or decreased usage? <S> Are they physically addicted to other substances? <S> Do they become psychologically addicted to cannabis? <S> Are they smoking hydroponically-grown cannabis with a high-THC content, or are they smoking brown "mids? <S> " Would the character know the difference (between high-grade and low-grade stuff)? <S> Do the other characters know the difference?Are they even smoking? <S> Modern options includes a host of "edibles," "vaping," and "dabs" which is a high-THC-content cannabis oil extracted from cannabis through use of butane filtration. <S> Most of the modern options are considered healthier and less likely to result in lung cancer. <S> Is the character scared? <S> Are they health concerned? <S> Are they a hypochondriac?Do <S> they mess up their first hit? <S> Do they cough all over the place and look like a fool? <S> Do they keep their cool?Will <S> the police become involved? <S> Do you have a didactic point you wish to make to the audience about drug use? <S> So many questions. <S> If you want an "out of place" character smoking/whatever with characters who are far more experienced, it might help to do more field research. <S> This can be as simple as watching youtube videos of "the first time someone tries" something. <S> Consider this kid smoking dabs, which have a much higher concentration of THC per hit than regular cannabis. <S> The kid says he is "stuck in time. <S> "(Warning: <S> Crude language. <S> Might also be uncomfortable to watch. <S> There is a PTSD-like quality to how the kid reacts to the substance.) <S> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuFs7gJ7xWE <S> By the way, as for the pop-culture examples you provided, I can say that the R2D2 one resonates with me as the most accurate. <S> In terms of behavior, specifically. <S> The stuttering, self-interrupting dialogue (a staple in Coen bros. movies, if you're interested) and the "needing" to be comforted even though there isn't really a problem, leading up to the head back against the wall once C3P0 starts relaxing again... <S> all of that is surprisingly more subtle than the other elements of the scene.
| From my experience of watching friends and neighbors use weed, some of them fit the stereotype to a T, and others... not so much. It really just depends on the role you want it to play (comedy relief or just a recreational thing done at a party) and the person/people who are consuming it.
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Can I use a public university as the setting for my fiction? The odds of actually publishing are low, but just in case, i wanted to know if using a public university campus as a setting for my tragic romance would open me up to libel suits or anything else. A few things do happen in the book that are very unfortunate, but i dont know if that would get me in trouble with the town or the university. <Q> In order for a lawsuit to prevail, a statement has to be 1) untrue, 2) reasonably taken to be true, and 3) be highly offensive to a reasonable person. <S> Let's take the third. <S> Everyone knows that tragic events happen at universities all the time. <S> These occur all the time, including suicides, natural deaths, and date rape. <S> The fact that something "unfortunate" supposedly happened on university premises would not "offend" a reasonable person, unless you allege that the university did or failed to do something (negligence) that caused your unfortunate events. <S> Your second defense is to put up the standard disclaimers that serve as a "signal" of fiction so that things aren't reasonably taken to be true; that e.g. "this is a work of fiction. <S> Any resemblances between fictitious and real people are purely coincidental." <S> To make the signal stronger, you misspell the university's name slightly, say, "Yael" instead of "Yale." <S> That signals that you are operating in a parallel universe. <S> Note, the above is my (non-lawyer's) interpretation of U.S. law. <S> Libel law in places like the U.K. are more pro plaintiff. <A> The biggest reason as far as I am concerned not to is people how have attended that school. <S> Any error, no matter how small, will be magnified and you will get letters/emails telling you, you got it wrong. <S> Lots of folks are very protective of places, things and professions. <S> A mistake is treated by some as if it were a felony. <S> With a fictional place, no one will care. <A> The question is how likely would that happen. <S> Based on your information it's extremely unlikely, unless you provide a distorted view of some real life events. <A> I'm no legal expert, but I do know these big public universities tend to have a lot of money, and a crack expert team of lawyers just itching to fire off lawsuits. <S> There's little downside to doing what most writers do --giving the university <S> a different name, and lightly fictionalizing it just enough to give yourself reasonable cover. <S> You can still think of it as Big State U in your mind.
| Put another way, "defamation" does not occur if the "sting" of your fictitious events is no greater than that of events that actually happen at the university. Anybody can sue you as the author. You can base it on a real place, change the name, and do whatever you like without offending anyone.
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How would one ask questions about the job of a rookie police officer? I'm writing a WIP novel with a rookie police officer. I'm concerned that the situation is incorrect / impractical / unbelievable: He is, respectfully, a minor character and his story is used to serve as a "mini mystery" to add realism, clues, exposition for the later chapters, which helps build the foundation of a larger tale. He is starting the night shift on his own, as a rookie. (if not realistic, maybe because of scheduling mishap?) It is his first night on the job. First time out of training. He is a "state" trooper. A rural police officer. Not a city cop. Events take place during 1 night, on the outskirts of the city. He meets up with the "sheriff / higher ranking officer" later on, as the plot thickens. Starting place: Parked in his car, on the side of the highway. Doing highway patrol. Where can I locate resources that would let me check all this? How do I do background research that will help me? <Q> One of the best ways to find out how a "professional" in a job feels is to talk to someone who actually is doing that job. <S> So volunteer for the local police department, and then let word "get out" about your project. <S> Probably someone will be thrilled to tell you about their first time on the night shift, or similar experiences that they might have had. <S> And then how they dealt with "others" afterward, perhaps higher-ups. <S> That's how you lend "authenticity" to your prose. <A> You should probably tell them in advance what the interview will be used for. <S> There's a chance that a cop (or any other profession with responsibility for other people) would rather talk about his/her first experiences for a fictional piece than for an article about the profession. <S> Most people "know" that fiction is not necessarily accurate, and therefore; any feelings of doubt, neglect, lack of training that person may have had will appear more acceptable than if if it was, for instance, an article about "What it's like for new police officers in Nevada"... <A> You may have to fill out a form and sign a waiver, and they'll typically check to make sure you aren't a violent felon or have outstanding warrants. <S> But then you can sit next to an officer in the patrol car, and see what they actually do on a shift. <S> Some cops won't be very chatty, and some will talk your ear off. <S> If you don't have a positive experience the first time, try a different shift, or a different department if possible. <S> Culture can vary widely. <S> After this period is over, then you would usually be by yourself. <S> It's common for new officers to work at night, because people with seniority (and families) generally prefer day shifts. <S> But I'd strongly suggest contacting your local department for a ride along, and then you can be there for the fast driving and traffic stops and whatever else, while being able to ask your questions. <S> Day shifts are typically less exciting, with more "paper" calls, like taking a report for a car that was broken into overnight. <S> So more time to ask questions maybe. <S> Night shifts are usually more exciting, with in progress calls. <S> Some cops will let you come along while they go inside calls, some will ask you to wait in the car. <S> It varies widely. <S> But it's a good way to get these questions answered by a pro, regardless.
| Ask for an interview of the kind of person you want to portray. Most police departments (at least in the U.S.) will allow just about anyone to go on a "ride along". To address your specific questions, typically once an officer graduates the police academy, he or she will be in field training for a few months, where they and partnered with a more senior officer trained to teach new cops.
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Creating a fictional place within an actual city? I am writing a thriller novel set in St. Louis a lot of the important scenes occur at a university. I am familiar with the city because I live close to it but I don't think I know enough about the university of St. Louis (Or any of the other Universities in St. Louis) in particular to use it as the actual setting and I already know also some of the parking rules and housing arrangements don't fit with the plot as it would impede some of the events from happening. I am a stickler for details and god forbid my details being off ruin it for some one who actually knows the university on more than a superficial level. I am contemplating either keeping SLU's location and pasting a university of my creation in the void or carving out a place for a fictional university with in the city. Which method do you think would be the most satisfying fictional arrangement for a reader who actually lives in St. Louis? I'm just looking for some helpful thoughts. <Q> My opinion is that it's better not to invent new things unless you need them for your story. <S> Look at Dan Brown, for example. <S> He takes the most prominent landmarks and adds a layer of fiction to them. <S> And he takes a lot of liberty to "redesign" existing buildings and whole cities that it would create a better story. <S> And, in my opinion, this works. <S> Some people, who are familiar with settings, may scoff: "Of course there is no secret passage there!". <S> But most readers would be more like: " <S> Oh my gosh, there is a secret passage there!" <S> If Dan Brown invented fictional Louvre, or fictional Vatican for his books, that would have been a completely different stories. <S> I daresay those books might not be selling at all. <S> But by carefully mixing facts and fiction, he achieved a major success. <A> All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players. <S> So sayeth the Bard, and he should know. <S> No story is set in a real place. <S> It is set on a stage created by the author, a stage designed carefully for the convenience of the author's plot. <S> It may share names and physical features with some real place, but no real place is ever entirely convenient for telling the story that the author wants to tell. <S> It the real university in the real town on which you have based the details of your stage had parking regulations that are inconvenient for your plot, then give your stage university the parking regulations you need. <S> Is it possible that that detail will ruin you story for some particularly anal employee of the University of St. Louis parking patrol? <S> Maybe, though if it is a good story they will probably soldier on anyway. <S> But the vast majority of your reader (if you write a book that is good enough to get a vast number of readers) will tacitly understand that your stage is not the real city or the real university, and, in any case, will not have the USL parking regulations in the front of their minds when they are reading your book. <S> If it really bugs you, though, you can do what some historical novelists do when they combine two naval battles into one or put their hero's division in the thick of two different battles when the real division was present at neither <S> : you write a confessional end note for your book that outlines exactly where you have transgressed. <S> This will blunt the teeth of the anal SLU parking patrol person and salve your own conscience. <A> If you replace the real university with your own creation, a reader who knows the city is likely to treat it as a fictional "facade" of the real uni. <S> They may fill in the gaps in your descriptions with what they know about the place, not just as regards the geography of the place, but its organization, status, ideals etc. <S> They may also think you are making a "disclaimer" against being associated with the institution, for example as protection against accusations of libel. <S> If this is an effect you are happy with, and sticking true to the topography of the city is important to you, such a method would work. <S> If, however, you would like to create the university from scratch and avoid any associations with the existing school, it would be better to locate it somewhere else in the city. <S> Just remember, that such associations are likely to go well beyond the geographical/architectural. <A> A similar dynamic is at work here; you can insert fictitious "settings" into real life places. <S> St. Louis is a "place," and a real life one at that. <S> Nevertheless, it will have numerous amenities, restaurants, athletic facilities, universities, and the like. <S> Some of these kinds of amenities will be "settings" for your novel. <S> Your characters will be fictitious. <S> You need to create the best settings for your characters. <S> You could use "real" ones, but if you don't know them well enough, they will not be the best. <S> So create fictitious ones that you know well because your characters deserve the best. <S> Just make sure that these settings are typical of St. Louis; unless you are dealing with a transplanted New York deli, don't have it serve bagels, New York style. <A> I get that way myself sometimes. <S> I think we all do. <S> I once used a building throughout the whole book, only to discover that my character lived on the tenth floor and most of the tale took place on the ninth and tenth floors of a build that was only eight stories high. <S> I considered tossing the entire book and starting on something new. <S> But then I decided if anybody noticed, they could email me and I would explain how the top two floors fell off in a tornado a few years ago. <S> I could even feign surprise that he hadn't heard about it on the news. <A> I'd replace the existing university myself <S> it gives you a solid location <S> but you can set your own rules. <A> I'd say who cares beyond the University students and staff. <S> Most fictions fudge it somehow. <S> I would say it matters if and only if the building in question is instantly recognizable to a general audience. <S> I was once writing a scene that had a chase sequence through the White House grounds <S> and I had a floor of the building in the window next to my word processor, but that's my exception <S> and I only did it because its so Iconic if I got it wrong, someone would point it out. <S> I'm a stickler for details too, but I've found even with fictional places <S> , the location in my head will look nothing like the one in the film.
| For a thriller genre, as I understand, it is important to be anchored in reality, and the more real places and names you use, the better. In say, a historical novel, you insert fictitious characters into real life events.
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Where to put statistical signifance test results I’m writing on my master thesis/dissertation and performed Chi-square tests to my check for statistical significance. I'll present the results of these tests in a table. Now I’m wondering if I should include this table in my dissertation's main part or in an appendix. The table is rather long (half a page), so the appendix-approach would save space. However, I’m not sure if that’s something you should do as these test results are, of course, important to back up my findings. What’s the best practice for that? <Q> This is not an opinion based on academic practice, but on general writing principles: If you think that the typical reader is going to want to read the table when they get to it, include it inline since it creates an inconvenience to the reader to have to go look for it in the appendix. <S> In other words, design your text to minimize the number of hops, skips, and jumps the typical reader will have to make to read your text. <S> Things that only a few readers will want, or that a typical reader might want only occasionally, should be out of line. <S> Everything else should be inline. <A> Half a page is not that much, unless you have a very strict limit in term of page number. <S> Since the results are important to back up your findings, it's probably a good idea to show them in the main part, where they are most relevant. <S> Of course you don't have to discuss the table in-depth <S> if you don't think it fits within your dissertation. <S> Eventually, you could leave those kind of remarks to the appendix. <A> This really depends on the conventions in your academic field, and you haven't told us what that field is. <S> Have you read papers that have similar bunches of statistical tests? <S> If so, I'd follow their practice. <S> One thing to note, though, is that the practices for theses/dissertations might be different than those for papers in academic journals because a thesis/dissertation is probably less likely to have a page limit. <S> (And if you are working under a page limit, I'd expect that the appendices are included in that limit.) <S> If you intend to discuss the contents of the table in depth, it should definitely be in the body of the paper. <S> If it's just there to back up that you did the work, but you're not going to refer to it, then moving it to an appendix might be a good idea.
| If you think the typical reader is not going to want to read the table when they get to it in the text, put it in an appendix since it is inconvenient for the reader to skip over something they are not going to read. Having it in your main part would let you reference the table directly, that could be a pro.
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Should I bother allowing images (headshots) for pen names? Please bear with me, the question really is for writers. I'm authoring software that manages ebooks. I'm to the point of representing the "profile" of authors who choose to use pen names. How should I handle images? Should I allow a headshot at all? If the intent of the pen name is to actually obfuscate the legal identification of the writer, then any image of one's self in this day and age completely defeats the purpose (c.f. reverse image searches via TinEye .) Facial recognition software is getting good enough that, if someone really wanted to know, even using an earlier image of yourself would eventually identify you. I could go into things like the legal issues of using a stock image (bad...) or simply allowing an avatar image (what would be the point?), but they don't actually address the issue. Now, to complicate matters, pen names are anything from a simple diminution of your legal name, ("Matt Smith" is technically a pen name for "Matthew Clay Smith") to a fully obscure branding. Since a legal name is required by the site for payment/tax purposes, all ebooks must be assigned a pen name as a matter of programmatic policy. Thus, "Matt Smith" may want to use his selfie. Further, authors using multiple pen names is not uncommon. So, I'm actually talking about the case of an obfuscating pen name(s). From a writer's perspective, do you want the ability to load an image, even if you won't load a personal headshot? <Q> I would not assume that the reason for using a pen name is the desire for anonymity. <S> Sometimes it is about marketing. <S> If your name is Rock Hardplace and you write sweet romances, you probably want to use a pen name. <S> Sometimes it is about disambiguation. <S> If your name is Jonathan Kieth Rowling, you probably want to use a pen name. <S> Sometimes it is about dividing your professional career from your fiction writing. <S> If you are published in an obscure technical field, you may not want your technical books and your fiction jumbled together in people's Amazon search results, so you use a pen name for your fiction. <S> None of these imply a desire for anonymity. <S> On the other hand, an author who is using their real name may not want their picture shown on their book, for all sorts of reasons. <S> In short, don't assume one data point from another imperfectly correlated data point. <S> Collect the two data points separately. <A> Some writers put their image on the back of books, some don't. <S> Some people may not want their picture up at all because they don't want their appearance to decide if they should read the book or not. <S> Someone may not want to read the book for race or sex reasons, maybe the author has defects or scars from an accident. <S> You just don't know and all of these petty things are sadly reasons someone very well may put a book down. <S> Also, the whole idea of having a pen name is so that you create a second identity. <S> So in the end, don't make it required to have a picture. <S> Simply have it as an option. <A> Speaking from personal experience, as one who as published under multiple pseudonyms, I would have relished the ability to have a non-identifying image in place of a headshot. <S> So many creative ways to have fun with this that could actually enhance the reader's experience by commenting on the work. <S> We are in the post-modern era, after all. <S> (Not to mention, a little dash of mystery could be good for sales;)
| Whether to hide their real identity for writing or personal reasons, having them put up a picture kind of defeats that purpose if they can associate the 2 different authors by the same picture. I think in the end as long as you provide it as a choice and not make the image required, you shouldn't have an issue.
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Is it eccentric to address the reader in non-fiction writing? I have observed that I often address the reader in my essays to lay down a point. To give you an example, I'll write: You can utilize every productivity hack that's out there, and still be back to square one when your initial excitement wears off. which can also be written as: When the initial excitement for the productivity hack wears off, it often results in being back to the square one. The above example avoids addressing anyone. Another form could use generic addressing like, "people", "person", etc. It might be a matter of taste but I get a feeling that talking to reader is something that I don't come across often in the articles I read everyday. Is it something that is frowned upon and should be avoided? <Q> No, it is not eccentric at all. <S> As I am sure you can tell from reading your two examples, the first is livelier and much easier to read -- and that is 95% of the argument in any question of style. <S> But the use of the second person in any work that is discussing things that the reader might do has become very common in recent years. <S> The initial impetus for this is that the second person is gender neutral, so when people started to raise objections to the use of "he" to refer to any human person, it gave the writer an out without getting into debates about the probity of the singular use of "they". <S> But the use of the second person in these cases also tends to make for simpler, livelier, more personal writing, all qualities that have become increasingly prized over the years. <S> Finally, it is worth noting that the use of second person is not necessarily a direct address to the reader. <S> There is such a thing as the general "you" as a way of addressing the human condition generally. <S> "When you go to the south pole, it is generally a good idea to wear a hat," does not imply that that reader themselves is going to the south pole, it is simply a way of expressing a general truth about the advisability of warm clothing in cold climates. <S> (We used to use "one" for these cases "When one goes to the south pole ..." but that usage is entirely moribund today.) <S> So, yes, you should feel free to use the second person whenever it produces simple, livelier prose that is easier to read and understand. <A> You have to ask two questions before you start to write: who is the audience, and what effect do you want to produce in them? <S> In nonfiction, your audience wants to learn something, so the goal is to inform. <S> Before the Internet, you could get away with dry, passive prose, as long as you covered the material. <S> Today, though, another goal for nonfiction is to draw in your readers. <S> Call it entertainment if you must, it's what can set you apart. <S> With second person, you are addressing the reader directly. <S> You are involving him/her in your subject matter. <S> The reader becomes an active part of the process of sharing information rather than a passive recipient--or at least gets the illusion of it. <S> On the other hand, your audience may be administrators or scientists. <S> They could perceive that you're talking down to them, so second person is not recommended. <A> I believe you are mixing two different problems here. <S> One thing is to use an impersonal form: "if you want to fight, expect to bleed", or "sometimes you win, sometimes you lose". <S> Here you're not talking to a specific listener, but you use a generic impersonal form. <S> The other thing is whether you should break the fourth wall - to use a drama expression - and address directly the reader. <S> There are many cases when this happens. <S> It all depends on whose voice you decide to adopt when writing, whose point of view is it, and who is the ideal reader in the fiction. <S> For instance, The Bethroted (by A. Manzoni) and Pinocchio (by C. Collodi) directly engage the reader. <S> They both assume that the story is told by someone to someone else, and play on this mechanism. <S> Also Moby Dick is told by the protagonist in a very informal tale to a casual listener. <S> "Call me Ishmael", he begins, to catch the audience's attention, and implying "... <S> and I will tell you a story". <A> I used to do movie reviews for my college news paper as well as opinion articles related to pop-culture (usually in a top ten style list, and with a bit of explination for my choices). <S> My writing style for both tended to be a bit more loose with that than my more serious writing because I was attempting humor and the breaking the fourth wall style <S> is fun when I'm giving my opinions and a fun way for me to address likely counter arguements ( <S> "Now I know what you're going to say..."). <S> I also knew the bulk of the paper's readership was very nerdy, so if I'm defending say... <S> The theme to "Star Trek: Enterprise" was one of my favorite TV shows, it's a great way to acknowledge that I know this isn't going to be taken seriously by the readers ("Don't throw away the paper yet <S> , I have a good reason!"). <S> Again, this depends on the reader and the nature of the article. <S> Review articles, Advice pieces, and general silly works are much more permitted by this. <S> I would never write like that on a term paper or one that was published by in actual news <S> (We were in Central Florida, so Disney company news was treated as major local news in the area. <S> I had established an early rep as being the "Disney Guy" <S> so there were announcements I did have to put on my serious hat for.). <S> From feedback, the best gags in my articles were the ones where I broke the fourth wall because, again, knowing my audience, I had a tendancy to time it write <S> so <S> yeah, <S> I did know what you were thinking.
| It all depends on the point of view you choose, and the fictional audience the story is told to. It is a common english language practice, as I see it.
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Is it good to add 'I believe' at the beginning of the sentence? I believe that people should eat apples. or, People should eat apples. Which one is best, or when to use which? Is it good to say 'I believe' or 'We believe' in public speaking or public statement? Another example: We believe that every user deserves good socks. versus Every user deserves good socks. <Q> It is not necessary to qualify every statement you make. <S> You are the one making the statement. <S> It goes without saying that you believe the statement you are making. <S> However, there are specific times when it is appropriate to add <S> "I believe". <S> You are contrasting your belief with someone else's belief, and you wish to acknowledge that the other's belief is also reasonable. <S> " <S> I believe it will rain tomorrow but Tom thinks it will stay dry." <S> You are making a statement in which you have less confidence than the statements that have come before. <S> "It is roast beef for dinner, and I believe there is pie for dessert. <S> " <S> You are making an affirmation of faith: "I believe in God, the father almighty...", "I believe in love." <S> You are making a romantic or figurative affirmation: "I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows." <S> In short, the appropriate use of "I believe" is to signal that the statement you are making is in some way different in type or certainty from the ordinary statements you make. <S> (Curiously, it is used both for statement <S> you are more certain of and for statements <S> you are less certain of, than ordinary statements.) <A> If your working on a piece for publishing that will attack a figure or orgainzation, "I believe" could be useful to denote that the accusation is not based in anything provable. <S> For example "Spider-Man is a threat and a menace" is a statement of fact. <S> However, J. Johan Jamerson is opening himself to a massive libel suit (but not a Slander suit, as he's quick to correct Peter) because he's coloring his stories of events with his own intepretation of them. <S> "I believe Spider-Man is a threat and a menace" is perfectly lawsuit free because J. Johna Jamerson is perfectly entitled to both hold his opinion and speak his professed opinion, no matter how untrue it is proven to be. <S> I would say this example is close to @Mark Baker's first example, but dissimilar because as we all know, Jamerson accepts no opposition to his belief as reasonable. <S> Quirks of the U.S. defimations laws to be sure, which are fairly loose and favor the publisher a great deal. <A> "I believe" can mean you follow a religion/faith/, or it can mean I think; in argumentative claims you sound less confident in your claim. <S> It can also lead people to question your credentials to make such a claim. <S> "We believe everyone should have food. <S> "-a non-profit food bank <S> "I believe god will save us"-person of faith <S> "I believe cats are better than dogs." <S> -argumentative essay claim <S> Now take out the <S> I believe and see what happens in your mind. <A> You absolutely should add "I Believe" if, without that phrase, you would be making a claim of fact that you cannot be certain is true. <S> Do you have scientific proof that people should eat apples for their health? <S> Without some medical studies, you make a misleading statement to say "people should eat apples for their health" , you are implicitly lying to people by implying that this is a known fact. <S> However, saying "I believe people should eat apples for their health" is a truthful statement if you truly believe that. <S> So is "I believe eating apples is a gateway to heroin use, promiscuity, harsh music and the sexualization of astronomy" . <S> I can argue that eating apples almost never sexualizes astronomy, but I can't argue that you don't believe what you say you believe.
| Depending on the context, writing "I believe" can make your claim weaker.
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Is consonance good or bad in fiction? Example from my own writing: I cupped my nose—when I should have covered my ears. To blo ck the wi ck ed mo ck ing of my classmates. I was told by another writer that I should avoid this kind of writing. Is he right? Or consonance is actually desired in fiction? <Q> One of the worst things that happens in advice given to writers is that individual criticisms get inflated, either by the speaker or the hearer, into iron-clad universal rules. <S> Thus, a perfectly reasonable "show this, rather than telling it" becomes a universal "show don't tell"; "remove this adverb" becomes "remove all adverbs". <S> But that should not be inflated into a universal prohibition on consonance. <A> There is not a 'rule' about it being right or wrong, any more than there is one about alliteration. <S> Judge what effect it has in a particular situation and then decide whether you want that effect or not. <A> I agree with Mark. <S> I also don't care for your example. <S> I don't have the full context, but it seems to me "wicked" is too strong a modifier for "mocking", which I tend to think of as harmless ribbing. <S> But I grew up in an unforgiving neighborhood, so perhaps I am more callous than most. <S> If consonance in general appeals to you, I'd suggest it could be a character trait for one of your actors; sometimes funny, sometimes awkward: <S> That's who she is, it could give her a distinct "voice". <S> You can point it out by sometimes having other characters make fun of her for her more strained efforts at consonance. <A> I'm fond of consonance I find in prose when it reads fluidly. <S> I don't understand why things that are considered useful tools in poetry should be avoided in prose. <S> And no one has mentioned it so far, but I like the consonance in your first sentence--cupped & covered <S> --the similarity of the sounds goes nicely with the parallel structure of the thought.
| The use of consonance may be wrong in this particular case (the sentence does not really pay off the rhythmic pattern established at the beginning). There are no bad techniques, just techniques used appropriately or inappropriately and techniques used well or badly.
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Wrote myself into a paradox and now demotivated - how to resolve? I'm a casual writer at best and tend to write in fits and starts when motivation hits. I tend to lack resolve and this leads to writer's block. I've been off-and-on writing a series of little vignettes in a universe my friends and I created. The current series is a (for me) fairly tight narrative where timing is very important. It's fey-based fantasy but revolving around a college, so events fall into a typical college schedule. I have written several scenes that deeply clash timing-wise and I can't think of a way to reorder them without causing more problems. It boils down to the following: Character meets other character at the start of winter break Characters agree to do stuff that require classes to be started A pre-Christmas party is had and plans are made for Christmas itself The characters do their during-classes events Christmas happens Obviously this is a conflict and I can't find a way to solve it, but that's not the main concern of this question. Because I've written myself into this paradox, I find myself unable to move forward in the narrative with it looming over me. However, I also can't see a way to resolve it without negatively altering the flow. I am, in short, completely blocked from writing at the moment. How can I keep writing rather than linger over this paradox? I am reasonably certain that with enough distance and objectivity I could find a way around it, but it's weighing on me too heavily and I can't find motivation to keep writing. <Q> To Fix The Motivation Issue... Watch your self-talk. <S> The original version of your question (before Aric Fowler's edits) spent several sentences describing yourself as an amateur, sporadic writer with motivation and discipline problems. <S> Such a self image can't help your writing productivity. <S> Write in a non-linear sequence. <S> Stories can always be rearranged during their edit phase. <S> You don't have to write them in the order that they will eventually be read. <S> Find your muse! <S> Writing is horribly hard but wonderfully fun. <S> When you truly love what you are writing, no discipline is needed. <S> When you are just following the standards of your chosen genre (magic school in this case), then writing can become a chore and the fun can evaporate. <S> Ignore <S> the expectations of your chosen setting or audience. <S> Revel in the joy of creating without concern for the finished product. <S> You can always work out the glitches during the edit and rewrite phases. <S> Keep Writing! <S> The following did not help the original question poster, but might be of value to other authors writing in a fey universe. <S> To Fix <S> The Paradox... <S> If your characters live in a fey-fantasy world, why are they celebrating Christmas? <S> Wouldn't the major winter celebration be the Solstice? <S> Taking that further, if they are living in a world where the fey are real and visible, would they necessarily take the Solstice off from school? <S> Might they not instead use the timing of the Solstice as an opportunity to study the fey during such a holy night. <S> They could then take a break from school work (unrelated to any holiday or celebration) during the dead of winter, when it is too cold to get any work done anyway. <S> The distances between the celebration and the break are completely under your control as they are unrelated to customs in our world. <S> Paradox solved. <A> Some writers' first drafts (ok, mine) look kind of like that: a bunch of loosely connected scenes that lack continuity and consistency. <S> Just keep going. <S> Write the next scene as if there's no paradox. <S> Revision is where you fix things like weird jumps in time, changes in your characters' names, meandering voice and pov, bad ordering of scenes, etc. <S> Just keep writing. <S> Embrace the flaws. <S> For now. <A> It is hard to say without reading (and we don't do that here) <S> but the times I have fallen into this paradox, and the many times I have seen others fall into it, I believe the real problem is that the story lacks a main spring. <S> The main spring, the thing that drive a story, can, I think, be reasonably broken down to desire, frustration, and crisis. <S> A character has a desire. <S> Various forces (internal or external) frustrate that desire. <S> The character struggles against those forces. <S> The struggle leads them to a moment of crisis (usually a crisis of values -- a hard choice), and from their to triumph, defeat, change, or self awareness. <S> There are certainly yarns that don't obviously fit this model, that seem to get by on descriptive force and motion alone, but this seems to be the mainspring of most stories. <S> Without the mainspring to keep the author's imagination in check, the story can easily wander off course and end up tying itself in knots. <S> This is, of course, highly discouraging. <S> And while the advice to soldier on is no doubt well intentioned, and mere soldiering on may sometimes pay off in the spontaneous discovery of your story's mainspring, it may sometimes be better to pause and consult a map and make sure you have a clear idea of where you are going before you resume your journey. <A> It's important to be flexible. <S> If the plot point doesn't work replace it with something else that fills the purpose or find a way to work it into the story later. <S> To avoid future instances of painting yourself into a corner, do some plotting before you sit down to write. <S> It doesn't mater if it is a vague outline, as long as it helps you keep the story timeline clear in you mind. <S> This will help you avoid paradoxes and dead ends.
| When you get stuck on a scene as you have with this paradox, jump to some other point in the story and get back to writing. Follow the story line which is revealed by your joy in writing it.
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How to write a scene from multiple peoples perspectives? I want to write a scene from multiple peoples perspectives without making it incredibly long, or repetitive. Is there a correct way to go about this? <Q> Writing (exposition) is subjective. <S> There is no correct way to achieve your effect. <S> I have used multiple perspectives several times. <S> Effectively you are playing with time so you will require one or more anchors. <S> The simplest anchor is an active anchor. <S> An active anchor is an ongoing event: a speech, a thunderstorm, etc . . . <S> Example. <S> My character is running in the Olympic 400m relay final. <S> Her grandfather is in his hospital bed, watching the event on TV. <S> Her boyfriend is in a taxi, listening to the event on the radio. <S> Her brother is watching the event on his phone. <S> That's four POVs. <S> I can switch between them at will. <S> The static anchor is more complicated because you have to play with time. <S> Example. <S> I have three anchors: <S> (1) a church bell rings. <S> (2) <S> A gunshot rings out. <S> (3) <S> Another gunshot is heard. <S> A family are having dinner. <S> The church bell rings (signifying 12.00) <S> The father leaves the table because 'the game' has started on TV. <S> The aunt is shot. <S> Change POV. <S> A sniper is watching a family eat. <S> He has his target in the cross-hairs. <S> The church bell rings. <S> He squeezes the trigger. <S> Change POV. <S> A woman is boarding the 12.00 train. <S> The church bell rings. <S> She hears the faint sound of a gun-shot. <S> She smiles. <S> "Job done." <A> I usually cheat, by having the second or third character look back from a period in the future. <S> For instance if I am describing a car wreck, I might write:Bob was driving his car through the intersection when suddenly a truck appeared out of nowhere and crashed into his door. <S> Then I would later describe the passenger waking up in the hospital and have him try to remember how he got there. <S> Then realizing the last thing he remembered was, noticing that bob wasn't stopping for a red light. <A> Then usually it is blended nicely back together to the original perspective to continue on from that time point. <S> Honestly I wish you the best as this will be really tricky to do and pull off as it can easily become confusing and intertwined poorly. <S> It's also a lot harder to do this in writing than it is in cinema. <S> There are a lot of smart people here to help :)
| One of the best ways I have seen this done is have the scene play out normally, and then when you come to an end point where you can pause and switch views, go back from a different angle and repeat until you have all the view points covered.
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Can I go to a poetry publisher with samples and be taken seriously if I have not had individual poems published? I want to publish a poery collection. Feedback via Facebook, from people who know me and some that don't say the work is good. Can I go straight to a publisher with samples of the work and hope to be published if they like it? I have not submitted work for publication before. I'd like to send 20 or so poems in the first instance, as samples. Thanks for reading... mandy <Q> Poetry publishing is especially difficult because there is so little money in it. <S> Even famous poets have modest sales, and almost no-one buys a poetry collection by an unknown poet. <S> Some famous poets, such as Dickenson and Hopkins, have been entirely unpublished in their own lifetimes. <S> Many poets today start out by self-publishing "chapbooks" (you can do this yourself at your local copy shop) and selling them at local readings. <S> If your primary goal is to get your poems into the hands of appreciative readers, that might be your best option. <A> It is very, very hard to get a publisher to take a "book" of poetry without prior publication credits. <S> Note that I said "book" which implies a full length collection, which for poetry is generally over 60 pages. <S> Chapbooks are smaller, generally 16 to 44 pages (my estimate), and some publishers of chapbooks do not look at prior publications when considering what they will accept. <S> They do look at the quality of the work. <S> The best way to find out if your work is publishable is to submit it for publication. <S> You will have the best bet by submitting several poems at a time to various journals that publish poetry. <S> You will want to polish your work -- edit and craft it, not just write it. <S> You may get really lucky and one of those journals will have an editor that gives you feedback. <S> You may want to try a writer's group or check out Scribophile as a means for getting feedback. <S> Part of why you want to do this is, in the long run, it saves time. <S> You will be better at picking the places to send your poems that will have similar interests (for example, not sending free verse to some place that only wants sonnets). <S> It also means you won't send a sample to a publisher, possibly get rejected, and then polish your work and not be able to send it to that publisher you really want because they already rejected the work. <S> So my plan for getting published: write, edit, read other people's poetry, edit, submit to journals, build some experience, send to chapbook (or book) publishers. <S> It isn't instantaneous, but it works (my first chapbook is being published in a couple of months). <S> On the other hand, you can always self-publish, but it doesn't sound like <S> that is your goal. <A> I would say that you should publish you first poems where you can. <S> That said, let us talk about your question: A. Problem: <S> Depends on the publisher, it could be nearly impossible to get your work published. <S> B. Solution: Try to find editors that specialize on first-time authors and try work with them. <S> C. Strategy: While trying to pursue your goal, to publish your poems together as a book, send out these and other samples as single pieces to competitions. <S> It will increase your chance to get published. <S> It might get a long time to publish your work as a book without single pieces published, but it can happen, you need to try, but you can as well improve your strategy and decrease the time it would take in the first place.
| Once you get some poems published, you will have more confidence in your writing.
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Story content and audience I have an idea for a novel however I don't know if it is possible as the story line is very controversial and being young I write in a very immature style. This would make the novel very conflicting. I want to know if people think I should try it anyway and edit it later or just make a note of key ideas and write it all at a later date. <Q> Well if your style is immature, only two things will fix that, reading with attention, and writing. <S> Do not neglect the reading with attention part. <S> Francine Prose has a good book called Reading Like a Writer . <S> It will help you learn to read with attention, to understand how the writers you read are actually achieving the effects that make a great story and a compelling read. <S> Pseudo-controversial books sell very well. <S> A pseudo-controversial book is one that picks a fight with group A for the purpose of <S> delighting group B. It is pseudo-controversial because it deliberately pushes group A's buttons, but the real audience for the work is group B who already agrees with it. <S> Because what you are actually doing is picking a fight, you have to present yourself as someone worth fighting with, which is difficult for someone very young. <S> It is generally easier for your opponents to dismiss you are immature than to take the bait and give you the fight you are looking for. <A> Write your book now, and don't worry about selling it until after it's finished. <S> By the time you finish it, you will be older anyway. <S> And even if you never publish it, it will still be good practice. <S> There's always a good reason not to write any given book at any given time, so sometimes you just have to jump in and write anyway. <S> But even if you've moved on from the idea, you'll have learned some valuable things from the process of writing it. <A> There is no substitute for practice. <S> Start working on something that inspires you. <S> If you change your mind, you can always switch to something else, but you'll have the benefit of some experience. <A> Write it anyway. <S> Most authors have to write a few books before they publish one. <S> Don't think your idea is going to be your one and only idea ever. <S> Some of my published work I have rewritten entire large set-piece scenes over THIRTY times before I liked them. <S> So you might as well get the first draft out of the way; or at least write your big scenes, if you can write out of order (I do, all the time). <S> Actually writing it out is a way to "debug" your story and see if you have problems to solve. <S> I often think of this as writing something awful that needs to be fixed! <S> Or I sit down at the keyboard and tell myself, "Okay, let's fail at writing this confrontation. <S> " <S> Then afterwards, "Yep, that blows. <S> What is the worst thing wrong with it?" <S> That may sound weird but it works for me; and it might work for you. <S> Take the pressure off; you aren't writing a masterpiece, you just need something that gives you a direction for research and refinement.
| You might be well advised to work on your style for a few years and make sure you really want the fight you propose to pick, and that you are really ready to fight it. If it still seems like a good book idea to you in a few years, you can always rewrite it then. As for controversial, truly controversial books don't sell.
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How to introduce a nameless, mysterious character in limited third person? So the novel I'm writing is in (multiple) close third person perspective, or limited, as the whole action is seen through the eyes and thoughts of a given character. The issue I'm having is that it all starts with a prologue, in which the character must remain totally unknown to the reader (until later on in the book). The reason why it must remain totally unknown is because he plays a vital role in the plot, and his identity should only be revealed as a major surprise, kind of a plot twist in the story. So in the prologue we have this mysterious character, where any information such as name (doh!) or title or role could give away his identity. The scene starts with the character looking at distance from a balcony, soon after the sunset. In the first paragraph, the reader sees the distance through the character's eyes and interpretation, so it starts with a description. Then, the character gets introduced (by the narrative voice) and the reader only now learns that the description was through this character's feelings. Here is my current transition: "(...) and there was nothing but silence. He raised his head, trying to discover their way. The silence was much too unsettling to him." (please mind that the novel is in a different language, so translation is rather approximate, just to get the idea). The character then changes impressions with a man sitting behind him. Through the course of the action, the reader learns that the unnamed, untitled character is a middle-aged male, a leader of some kind (rather an important figure among his folks), who keeps running from something. That is about all the reader should know. The limited perspective of this character will only appear in the prologue, as the character will be dead for the rest of the book (prologue happens a couple of years before the actual plot begins to take place and its actions is what triggers the plot). I have tried writing in first person, doesn't work. Can't remove the prologue either. Can't write in omniscient third view, it gets way too impersonal. By all means, it must remain in limited third view and the actions must be presented this way. I have no idea however of how to avoid the over usage of "he", "him" and whether it's good and alright to introduce him as shown above in the transition. How can I introduce him other than "He raised his head, trying to..."? It seems a bit rough, abrupt this way. I guess I just don't like the "He" as being the first reference to the guy, neither as being the only reference for the rest of the prologue. <Q> As @TomDacre suggested, you can just use indistinct descriptive nouns in place of "He", such as "The figure", "The man" or "The traveler". <S> Then, you can take the focus off of the character by moving deeper inside to look at his motives and beliefs. <S> (...) <S> and there was nothing but silence. <S> The traveler raised his head, trying to discover the way. <S> The silence was much too unsettling to him. <S> Too many dangers use silence as cover. <S> Crickets or the stirring of leaves would be one thing, but not absolute silence. <S> It's never good when life gets this quiet. <A> You could refer to him with descriptive terms in addition to pronouns. <S> "The dark-haired man ran through the streets...", "'Relax', said the man in the coat, 'I'm not here to hurt you'", etc. <A> I don't think you have a point of view problem, I think you have a storytelling problem. <S> You are trying to introduce a character without introducing them, identify them without identifying them. <S> You are doing this because you are planning a surprise for the reader. <S> Fine, you can certainly surprise the reader, though I think many writers grossly overestimate the reader's appetite for surprise. <S> But you are trying to do it artificially by withholding from the reader information that they would have if they were naturally experiencing the events of the story for themselves. <S> This is artificial surprise, and it does not work. <S> You are effectively making one of your characters walk around with a paper bag over their head just so you can whip it off at a critical juncture and yell "surprise!" <S> Readers will stand for that in fiction just about as long as they would stand for it in real life. <A> If he <S> / <S> she doesn't know who your mystery character is or his/her significance, the reader can't, and it doesn't get awkward to hide what the narrator character doesn't know. <S> An example of this is Aronax in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea -- the main plot involves Nemo vs. the world, but Aronax knows only what he observes about Nemo and the Nautilus. <S> He's involved, but peripheral to the main action. <A> Could you use a pseudonym for the unnamed character, something he can go by that obscures his other details? <S> Something like Strider/Aragorn from LoTR.
| One approach to this is to adopt a 1st person "minor character narrator" -- a character who is peripheral to the plot, but is an observer. If you are going to surprise the reader, it ought to be a natural surprise, that is, something that would surprise them if they were actually living the events of the story themselves.
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Weaving VERY IMPORTANT OPINIONS into a story without murdering it In Bad Webcomics Wiki , a place for reviews of bad webcomics, there's a common phrase: the "VERY IMPORTANT OPINIONS". The novelists who endeavor to enforce what they are pleased to call "moral truths," cease to be artists. They create two kinds of characters -- types and caricatures. The first has never lived, and the second never will. The real artist produces neither. In his pages, you will find individuals, natural people, who have the contradictions and inconsistencies inseparable from humanity. The great artists "hold the mirror up to nature," and this mirror reflects with absolute accuracy. Well, I hate Captain Planet and Ted Turner from the bottom of my heart, but the idea of killing off Mao Tse-tung with Zyklon B (a pesticide) is too charming. So, I want to convey very important opinions, but without becoming the written equivalent of Better Days or Captain PSA's “If It’s Doomsday, This Must Be Belfast” episode. Tips and important thing to keep in mind? HELP: I only know one web series, that managed to be good whilst having VERY IMPORTANT OPINIONS, and it's the If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device , which basically consists of a Corpse Emperor complaining about stuff to a gold-encrusted banana . <Q> Lots of great authors had very important opinions. <S> Dickens. <S> Steinbeck. <S> Solzhenitsyn. <S> Dostoyevsky. <S> What they all understood is that a story is not a vehicle to express an opinion, but a vehicle for leading people to form the same opinion themselves by leading them through the experiences that would lead someone to form that opinion. <S> That does not mean, of course, that there cannot be any preaching in a story. <S> People preach in real life. <S> When Tom Joad gives his impassioned speech at the end of Grapes of Wrath , it does not feel like the author preaching, though of course it is, it feels like the character preaching because that is exactly the speech that that character would give in that situation (whether the author agreed with him or not). <A> You should start by considering that your VERY IMPORTANT OPINIONS might be wrong. <S> I mean, clearly some people don't share them, or else you wouldn't feel the need to write about them. <S> Why don't those people share them? <S> How do their values and motivations differ from yours? <S> What ideals do they have that conflict with your opinons? <S> What would the downsides of a society where everyone shared your opinions be? <S> If after this you come to the conclusion that people only disagree because they're stupid/hateful/ignorant/[insert negative word here] and there would be no downsides to such a society, stop. <S> These are not motivations--they're strawmen. <S> Your story or whatever will end up exactly as preachy those webcomics you hate. <S> Otherwise, what you have is a conflict between people. <S> And conflict is the foundation of storytelling. <S> So explore it. <S> There's a lot of different directions to take this. <S> Perhaps you already have one in mind, or perhaps you'll think of one while working this out. <S> Some sort of -topia is always popular for high concept stuff, though a bit overused. <S> But regardless, as you flesh out your story, if you want to avoid preachiness, the key is humility. <S> Don't try to tell the audience you're right. <S> Let them come to that decision (or not) on their own. <S> (And don't kill off Mao Tse-tung with Zyklon-B. <S> It never helps.) <A> One good way to write about Very Important Opinions is to begin in an idyllic world complying with the Very Important Opinions; but <S> one that has been idyllic for so long that they have relaxed their vigilance, and an opportunist (psychopath, sociopath, sadist, etc) --- your villain --- realizes there is an opening to attack and destroy the idyllic world for his own self-benefit. <S> Begin without much explanation, but with showing the advantages this idyllic world has for various characters that aim to accomplish things. <S> As the villain begins to assert himself (or herself) <S> the heroes are thwarted, and the discussions they have about why they cannot do what they wanted, and why their former freedom was justified and how stupid it is for somebody to change it, are the opportunity to explain the elements of the Very Important Opinions without just engaging in long story-killing soliloquy or boring exposition. <S> The audience hates lectures; they are interested in the emotional fate of the heroes. <S> Doing it this way, the heroes have something at stake, a freedom being denied them by your villain, one that is important to them <S> and, if the audience can identify and bond with the heroes, will feel important to the audience, too. <S> This is an inversion of telling the story from the hero's POV, but it should not be hard to make the audience side with the people he is abusing, and make the Villain somebody the audience loves to hate. <A> There's nothing wrong with weaving your personal opinions into your writing. <S> The trick is to be subtle about it. <S> The reason Assigned Male Comics is... not exactly well-received, to say the least... is because it has absolutely no concept of subtlety. <S> It's so heavy-handed with its message of trans acceptance that, in my experience, it often provokes the opposite (i.e. transphobia, usually levelled at its creator). <S> Obviously that is not okay, but the point is that instead of coming away thinking "Wow, transphobia is bad", people read Assigned Male and come away thinking " <S> Wow, this person really hates cis people". <S> From your mention of killing Mao Zedong, I'm guessing the message you want to convey is something along the lines of "Communism is bad". <S> In that case - and I hate to bring up such a clichéd piece of advice - write a story that shows that rather than just telling your audience that you think communism is bad. <S> If you write a story where the protagonist is oppressed by a communist/socialist regime, readers will come away with the intended message. <S> If you just write a power fantasy about murdering communist leaders, people will come away with the message " <S> Wow, this guy really hates communists". <S> Maybe you do, <S> but that's not the message you want to convey.
| You can have several such heroes for various aspects of the Very Important Opinions: Just tell the story primarily from the POV of the Villain fighting his war to destroy the idyllic world on many fronts, either for purely selfish reasons or because they truly believe they are doing the Right Thing.
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When using mythology in your writing, can you change certain small aspects of some myths to fit into your story? I'm writing a book that takes place in modern day but also involves the Greek gods and goddesses and Greek mythology. Is it frowned upon to change a small part of a certain myth to make it fit into your story? For example, I want to incorporate a certain minor god from Greek mythology in my book but, in the myth, he was killed as a child. Can I write that he somehow came back to life and lived to adulthood in secret, so he can help my main character in my book? <Q> Not even the writers of the classical period could agree on a common canon truth. <S> There are plenty of stories which contradict each other. <S> For example, Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus according to Homer but the daughter of Uranus according to Hesiod. <S> If you would like to add to this ancient shared fictional universe, enjoy the same creative freedoms writers had for millennia. <S> If you can't find some detail in the sources available to you, just make something up. <S> If what you found doesn't fit into your story, just change it. <S> May Apollo forgive you (unless art and poetry are the domains of some other god in your story). <A> It's your story. <S> Myths are stories. <S> Change them however you want to. <S> For instance, there have been several stories written using the Norse mythology. <S> Each of them treated everything differently. <S> There was "Day of the Giants" by Lester del Ray. <S> It's an excellent read, with two modern (at the time of writing) twins taken into Asgard. <S> One was a mercenary, chosen by Thor, and one was a rather bookish sort, chosen by Loki. <S> Sleipnir was a book set in a more modern setting (only 20 years ago or so) and the hero has a hated of Odin because he seems to be taking people he isn't entitled to, such as his best friend. <S> So our hero goes into a deep cave where he hopes to find Sleipnir to get to Odin. <S> There are many others. <S> Each of them makes changes to the mythology in their own ways. <S> Roger Zelazny wrote a short story, "The Last Defender of Camalot" which changes the Arthurian mythos. <S> I recall another short story in that mythos set in a somewhat cyberpunk future. <S> There was a comic series (Camelot 2000?) <S> which had the main characters of the mythos reincarnate to save a future Brittan from alien invaders. <S> Except for Arthur, who had been preserved, the rest were modern people who had suddenly remembered their past lives. <S> The comics "Mage," "Mage 2," and "Mage 3" use this mythos as it's base. <A> Absolutely. <S> Not only do the canonical texts disagree as Philipp stated, but the ancient Greeks themselves typically based theatrical performances on their myths, sometimes with parodic intent. <S> So doing variant versions of the stories have existed as long as the stories themselves have. <S> I would urge you (and it appears you are doing this) to educate yourself on the myth you are reworking. <S> I passed on a collaboration once because a co-writer's plot involved claiming two entities <S> were the same individual; I had no moral objection to doing this <S> but I felt his manner of doing so misunderstood what the entities represented, and the story would have been the lesser for it. <S> These stories have lasted so long because they are complex and resonate deeply with us and usually deeper research provides hidden ramifications which will make your story all the better, and your alterations will benefit as a result. <A> You can turn Zeus into a flower pot if you want to. <S> It's your book. <S> The myths are public domain and the vast majority of the population has no idea of the details of any of the myths.
| I'm currently writing a story that makes strong changes to the Arthurian mythos and the Celtic mythos.
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Website for writing project management Basically, I'm looking for something like Scrivener or other similar software, but online. Do such sites exist? I'm looking for something that allows you to manage your writing project, all aspects of it - characters, story, chapters, timeline, etc. And yes, it would be perfect if everything is in the same site. <Q> Perhaps someday novlr.org will be like an online scrivener. <S> I'm a big fan of it, and they are very actively pushing out new features ..so have a look. <S> Ps I'm not affiliated to them whatsoever. <A> Google Docs <S> This is like MS Office, only online. <S> You have a wordprocessor, a spreadsheet app (for characters and plotting), and so on. <S> Many writers write in Office, so Google Docs will work just as well, if that is the kind of writer you are. <S> Set up your own webspace with whatever tools you want <S> You could have <S> a private, password protected wiki on your webspace. <A> Celtx can be used online and it's particularly good for scripts.
| There are free, open source as well as paid tools available for almost any task you can imagine, from mindmapping to outlining to organising complex information and typesetting.
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Tool for making guitar chord diagrams I have seen these diagrams in books. They display the strings of the guitar and the locations of the notes I want to present, as well as the name of the chord/scale/etc. You can see what I mean in the picture below: Is there a specific tool or maybe software that does this? I really don't want to do this by hand or some makeshift method because that would take way too long. I also want to know how to include these into my book. It will be an e-book for sure, just so you know, and I want to include these diagrams as well as explanations (text material) for the final package. I want it to look organized in the format of an e-book. <Q> This may be a bit late but check out https://www.essyguitartab.com/chords . <S> This is a free tool where you can choose from named chords or build your own and add them to a chart that you can then print or export to PDF. <S> I'm not exactly sure of your needs <S> but hopefully the PDFs will give you enough resolution to use the diagrams any way you need to. <A> One which appears to allow both is LilyPond. <S> I haven't tried it myself, but its website shows a picture with the chord diagrams, and it is free. <S> I have watched my son use professional (yet free) software that allowed you to specify page breaks in scores for different instruments, etc. <S> but it was essentially a mark-up language. <S> (He is away <S> so I can't ask him what it was.) <A> I hacked together a simple website to create chord charts online (.png <S> and .svg <S> images): https://chordpic.com . <S> The use case of this website is if you don't want a million features but just want to create some simple charts very quickly. <S> I created this site to replace the website chordpix.com which recently went dead. <S> It asks you to name the chord (optional, this is shown on the top of the chart), give the starting fret (fret 1 by default), and the number of frets (5 by default). <S> Then you simply click on the strings to add a finger there. <S> To add a barre chord (basically a finger over multiple strings) you can simply click and hold the mouse button and "drag" to any other string to create a bar reaching over the strings. <S> This is all explained in detail with animated gifs on the help page at https://chordpic.com/help ChordPic <S> is not as sophisticated as other tools. <S> It will not figure out the chord or provide you with alternative chords or anything like that. <S> The main goal of this tool is really to simply create a chord chart very easily <S> and however you want it. <S> It will also not prevent you from eg. <S> putting multiple fingers on the same string. <S> Think of it as the Notepad of chord chart editors. <S> Yes, there's also Microsoft Word that offers you spell checking and numerous formatting options. <S> But sometimes you just want to write some text quickly without any fancy features.
| Most music software allows you to create TABs,but not chord diagrams. There are music typesetting programs out there that let you create these types of diagrams.
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Are all writers, readers? I am new to the writing scene but i have had the passion for it. One thing that has baffled my mind was how writers would not comment on other people's work but more concerned with their work. It has led me to ask this question. <Q> Yes, all writers are readers. <S> It isn't clear what you are asking, however. <S> We comment on other people's work all the time, particularly published work. <S> If what you mean is why don't we review other people's work, particularly amateur strangers, it is because experience tells us (or at least it tells me) there is so much wrong with it <S> , it is a generally a waste of our own limited writing time to tell them about it. <S> I know I will seldom be entertained, and most likely they don't need a note from me, they need a course in writing. <S> Also most are thin-skinned and are devastated or angry if I don't love every word of it. <S> There are three people in my circle of friends that I would gladly review anything they DID write, because I know it would be entertaining <S> and I also know they have thick writing hides and won't be offended if I tell them about a story problem. <S> We read, we watch movies, we watch TV (a little reality but mostly I prefer the scripted and acted variety of shows). <S> We make references to the same and use them as examples (for good or bad). <S> On this site I am interested in HOW amateurs write, but not so interested in WHAT amateurs write. <S> People get paid to pan for gold in that, and they deserve every penny. <A> No. <S> We always think of authors and other artists as people who were excited by some media experience (e.g. reading books, viewing movies, or playing computer games) and began a career in their medium because of their love for it. <S> But enthusiasm for a medium is not the only motivation to write or make movies or paint. <S> There are a great number of books written (sometimes with the help of ghost writers) from a need to tell of a personal experience or some insight that someone gained. <S> Many of these authors aren't readers in the sense that reading made them want to write. <S> It was their life that made them tell of it. <S> Of course many of these kinds of authors have read books in their lives and from that reading have some knowledge of how to go about writing one, but others led lives mostly devoid of reading. <S> Books by these authors aren't necessarily autobiographical, either. <S> Some of these people write non-fiction books in which they attempt to convey the knowledge that they have acquired. <S> Others wrap their teaching into a narrative fiction. <S> Examples for books by these kinds of authors are accounts of uncommon lives, spiritual teaching, political ideology, or how-to books (by which I don't want to imply that all of these kinds of books are by that kind of author). <S> Usually these authors publish only one book in their lives. <S> Two extreme examples: Musician Kayne West wrote Thank You and You <S> 're Welcome . <S> West says of himself: <S> "I am a proud non-reader of books. <S> I like to get information from doing stuff like actually talking to people and living real life." <S> Queensland author Ken Hall cannot read. <S> Yet he has published nine books. <A> Writing and reading are two sides of a conversation. <S> A writer must, of necessity, respond to the issues of the times, either by completely ignoring them or commenting on them. <S> It is possible to value a book only for how the contents are written, but I find it more interesting to understand the context of each book. <S> Writer A wrote something. <S> Writer B read what Writer A wrote and responded in kind. <S> Writer C read the works of both writers and contributed to the conversation. <S> And so on. <S> In the past, this meant writing books, but modern media offers many different ways to engage in the conversation. <S> Also, language is so malleable that it is impossible to say that there are only so many valid ways to write and anything not on that list must be invalid. <S> Besides, it can be a great deal of fun. <A> Yes. <S> Not necessarily because every writer started off by reading something and saying 'I can do better than that'. <S> But because to become a great writer you need to study the greats in your craft, just as a scientist needs to learn the principles of their science and so will both do experiments for themselves and learn about other experiments that their peers have done in the past and conclusions that have been drawn. <S> In most cases great writers will be extremely well read, and will have absorbed and actively studied the techniques employed by other writers to achieve certain aims, such as creating a gripping plot, good pacing, eliciting emotions etc. <S> It is also useful to study the work of less accomplished writers (such as in a writing critique circle) to see how errors manifest and how they impact the writing. <S> In some cases writers may not be that widely read, but they will still be 'readers' of some kind or another. <S> At the very minimum - a writer must read over their own work! <A> Yes, of course. <S> As all music producers are listeners. <S> All writers began writing under impression of something they've read before. <S> Usually, the early works of every writer look similar to something, that has been written before. <S> It's ok while they are developing their own style.
| The best way to learn to write, other than writing and writing some more, is to read how other writers handle the craft.
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Using Names for Weaponry used in Actual Games I've recently looked at the chat that talks about the question of referencing actual military weapons in your writing. Since I'm writing a science-fiction novel, that's not too big of a problem for me; however, this causes me to raise a question: how does this apply to weapons from video games? For instance, Pixonic's game War Robots has some weapon names that I would like to use in the novel, as some of the things in the book have weapons with the same function. Is it safe to include the names of these weapons (like Zenit or Molot) to correspond to the guns, or do I have to come up with another, original name and reference it to have a similar function to the actual in-game weapon? As of now, I'm assuming I can use the name because I'm clearly stating in my novel that the designers in the story gave it the name because they were lazy and decided to use the name featured in the actual game that uses it. In that case, I will tell where the original name came from. <Q> Now, that doesn't mean you cant be clever about it. <S> Zenit does look like a real word "Zenith" which isn't just a TV brand but also means "Pinnical or Height of achievement". <S> Molot looks like Morlock (sp) which is a god in some pantheon I can't remember. <S> Or you can get clever with the naming of the weapons system. <S> Zenit could easily be leeted to "Zen-1+" or "Z-En-1+" and explained by backronym as using the word Zen, which is not copyrighted or Z-engine for the machine that drives the gun. <S> Molot could be an "Mo-10+" or "M-010+" and similarly explain the elements of the code (the later could be binary code). <S> The repeated plus sign could explain that they come from the same company and this is used as a superior model. <S> If you take this route, don't acknowledge it in the story. <S> It's triva for astute fans of the game and those who want to learn more about your creative process. <A> IANAL <S> Yes you can <S> but you shouldn't. <S> In-Story Reason <S> No weapon designer will name a weapon after someone else. <S> Weapons are normally named after the designer/founder/company and then a model designation. <S> So Kalashnikov, Colt, Smith & Wesson, and Heckler & Koch. <S> Even the MAC-10 is actually Military Armament Corporation Model 10). <S> Weapon systems are occasionally named for some famous military figure e.g. M1 Abrams. <S> But it was designed by Chrysler Defense (now General Dynamics Land Systems). <S> The designation I think is from the Army Aircraft are named e.g. Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II or F-35 Lightning II which is actually the Lockheed Martin X-35. <S> So a Mecha or robot based on this reality would never just be a Zenit or Molot unless those words mean something in the language of the combatants like Warthog or Eagle i.e. a nickname. <S> Out-of-Story Reason <S> Unless you are pitching to write a novelisation of Robot Wars (or other in-universe tie-in) you are limiting your readers. <S> Non-fans of the game won't know what Zenit or Molot are, but it limits your world for not enough upside. <S> A bullet-proof, flying, fast, humanoid hero does not have to be called Superman unless I am writing about Superman. <S> So are you writing about Zenit & Molot? <S> Or do you just like some feature(s) of the robots? <S> If you are writing about them, pitch a novelisation to the rights owners. <A> I am not a lawyer, but No, you shouldn't use them. <S> A unique invented name is copyrighted, and no in-story justification matters. <S> The owners of the copyright have all the rights to make a profit using that name; if you sell your story they may be entitled to all the profits and damages and court costs on top of that. <S> You can't open a burger joint and call it McDonald's and say you just got lazy and this seemed like a very popular name for a burger joint. <S> That is what you are doing in your story, as an author, being lazy and stealing somebody else's work of imagination and trying to make money with it. <S> Whatever your characters say won't matter in the least, just like it doesn't matter if your characters break the law and kill and murder people. <S> They aren't real. <S> They can steal. <S> You cannot.
| As a general rule on copyright infringement: If you have to ask, the answer is "No".
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What are ways to describe feelings of fear? What are some ways to write feelings of fear, such as: losing a loved one, almost dying, getting lost, getting yelled at by your overprotective mother and almost losing someone close to you. I have this idea in my mind of writing a character almost dying in a fire, but he only got burned. The doctor character has to amputate his arm and there's one character who loses it when he thinks the burned character isn't going to make it. How do I effectively describe that feeling? <Q> Fear reactions tend to be summarized in "flight or fight", which is a nice rhyme, but there is more to it. <S> Vocally there is screaming, yelling, calls for help, anger and threats: Even threats to the person they fear for: " <S> Don't you dare die! <S> Don't you dare! <S> I swear to God...") <S> This is part of an overall behavior to try and eliminate the threat. <S> Calls for help, or anger at a messenger: "What kind of fucking doctor are you?! <S> Get me a real doctor god dammit!" <S> Shouting, "Are there real doctors here?!" <S> Denial: " <S> No no no no this isn't happening you can't do this... <S> ""This can't be happening, this can't be true, what are we going to do?" <S> Begging: " <S> Oh please, oh please don't die, don't die!" <S> Insistence for help and escape: <S> Shouting at a friend "What are we going to do? <S> WHAT? <S> " <S> Physical agitation; literally running or walking away, violently shaking their head <S> no, literally shaking, an inability to think rationally. <S> Bargaining: " <S> Please, I'll do anything, anything, just don't let this happen!" <S> (Added by edit:) <S> I forgot Terror-projections and ramifications: <S> "If Bill... If Bill dies ... What happens to Kate? <S> What do we do?" <S> Look at this link to the Seven Stages of Grief , and the first 3 of those will be Shock and Denial Pain and Guilt Anger and Bargaining <S> This is quite close to the various Fear reactions. <S> Now obviously don't include a laundry list of all of them, pick a few instances! <S> You don't have to experience all this for yourself <S> , you can often see many good portrayals of fearful people in television or film. <S> You don't want to plagiarize them, obviously but watch what you consider convincing portrayals and note what the fearful characters do and try to characterize the types of things the writers have them say. <S> You can put those kinds of reactions into your own words, for your character, at the level of fear they are experiencing. <A> Unfortunately, you shouldn't really be diving into these kinds of emotions unless you have experienced it yourself to some degree. <S> They just don't come out well and feel empty or lacking if you can't describe it well. <S> Put yourself in their shoes, imagine the situation and you going through it. <S> How would you feel? <S> Don't just say upset... but think about emotion as a whole body experience... <S> watch some really deep drama about love and loss. <S> I know you are a huge fan of anime. <S> There are TONS of deep dark anime that love to yank at your emotions when the MC's gf ends up dying in the end. <S> Situations like this are mostly raw emotion. <S> That's a bit hard to get right. <S> Think about someone you deeply care about. <S> A pet, your parents, any lovers. <S> Friends. <S> Imagine that, this person is in that situation. <S> How would you react? <S> In a way, I envy you having to ask about the emotions of life and death as it appears you have not experienced this at a deep level yet. <S> Watch how they are portrayed in those moments. <S> There is no one way to describe how someone's emotions would be in these situations. <S> It depends on the character, their traits, how they handle situations of life and death (a lot of this should already be done in the character bios). <S> To get a good feel though, do some investigation into media that has "the feels". <S> It's probably the only way for you to experience it first hand to be able to describe it without actually having it be done first hand. <A> You could approach it from three different angles to get a good sense of the emotion: Gut Instinctive <S> Rational <S> Gut <S> This is the immediate physical sensation . <S> You should use straightforward language to describe this, but also metaphors. <S> How are these experienced by your protagonist? <S> How does it feel at skin level, but also internally? <S> Obviously they will be completely different depending on whether you're describing the person in the fire or the friend afterwards worrying about their friend. <S> Instinctive <S> This is the immediate physical response . <S> Does the person jump back, run forward, crumple to the ground, start hitting themselves on the head... <S> This isn't something they think about, it's something their body does automatically as an emotional response to the trauma. <S> Rational <S> Finally, when their brain has had a chance to catch up, what is their response? <S> More of their personality will come out in the way they react. <S> What words will they utter? <S> What action will they take? <S> Try to run and hide? <S> Try to do anything to help, however futile? <S> Start looking for someone or something to blame?
| Feel the story and the emotions. This is a case of "show don't tell", or for those that frown upon that phrase, I mean write about the effects of the fear. In fear, rationality tends to shut down and people act instinctively, including by pushing, hitting and striking out (physically or verbally), or running, or begging, etc. My only advice I can really provide to help is find quality movies/anime/books that have super sad endings involving of character death. Study their faces, their words, their actions. You could think about all the different senses - taste, touch, sight, smell, sound.
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Can i write a poetic book rhyming on every statement? How can i write a poetic book rhyming on every sentence, without making it boring. If its not possible then how can i work around the idea? <Q> A good example of a 'poetic book' is the epos .An <S> epos is a long narrative poem originating from ancient Greece. <S> Epic: a long narrative poem in elevated style presenting characters of high position in adventures forming an organic whole through their relation to a central heroic figure and through their development of episodes important to the history of a nation or race. <S> A Handbook to Literature (1999), Harmon and Holman <S> A famous writer of epic poems is Homerus , with <S> the Ilias and the Odyssee as his well known works. <S> However, an epic poem doesn't necessarily rhyme. <S> It mostly has some kind of rhythm, because that made it easier for people to remember it and reproduce it by word of mouth. <S> If you want to write a complete book that rhymes, I don't think 'boring' is the thing you should worry about. <S> It would rather get tedious and very tiresome to read. <S> So you should really work out what kind of rhyme you want to use. <S> I would advise against using rhyme schemes like couplet, triplet, clerihew, limerick, and other schemes that use a lot of rhyme endings close to each other. <S> (a list of rhyme schemes can be found here ) <S> You can also refrain from using end rhyme <S> (I assumed this is the kind of rhyme you meant) and use a lot more consonance , and specifically alliteration and assonance . <S> They give your story a feeling of rhyme without it getting tedious too fast. <S> From their corresponding Wikipedia pages: Consonance Consonance is a stylistic literary device identified by the repetition of identical or similar consonants in neighbouring words whose vowel sounds are different <S> (e.g. co m ing ho m e <S> , ho t foo t ). <S> Alliteration Alliteration is a figure of speech a which is stylistic literary device identified by the repeated sound of the first letter or second in a series of multiple words, or the repetition of the same letter sounds in stressed syllables of a phrase (e.g. b <S> ig b lue b irds). <S> Assonance Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences (e.g. M e n s <S> e <S> ll the w e dding b e lls). <A> I would recommend reading this: Love, dishonour, marry, die. <S> Cherish, perish, a novel by (pause here for effect) <S> David Rackoff <S> To see it done with epic mastery in a modern way. <S> However, constraining yourself to writing in rhyme is quite a serious bind, and unless you are a very experienced poet or novelist already, it may be better to attempt something a little more straightforward first, while you learn your craft. <S> Writing a book is hard enough as it is without adding artificial constraints. <S> I think it would be better to concentrate on what you want to write about - telling a good story, talking about something that matters to you - rather than having the format as your starting point. <A> If it were me, I'd write a great story, then set it in verse. <S> The "boring" part isn't going to be the rhymes; if it's boring it's probably because the story is boring.
| There are plenty of examples of books that are written entirely in rhyme, and the fact of it being written in rhyme will not make it boring - UNLESS you hack the story and words around so badly in order to make it rhyme that you ruin it.
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Is it better the use the present or the past tense for a novel written in the first person I just started a book, but i cant decide if its better to use the present or the past tense (written in the first person) <Q> It depends on what you are trying to do. <S> Present tense creates tension because the reader doesn't know what is going to happen -- is the narrator going to live after the bomb explosion, for example? <S> However, past tense can be advantageous if you want the reader to think that the narrator has learned from experience. <S> Is the storyteller giving you the benefit of his/her wisdom after a long series of events? <S> Is this a retrospective, or is it happening now? <S> A personal opinion only: I find it very difficult to write first-person present tense for anything longer than a very short story because anything I write seems rather false and 'pushed'. <S> Of course, this is my limitation, but you might want to consider how many well-respected authors write this way before you take it on yourself. <A> You are almost certainly going to use both, since it is almost impossible to say very much without making reference to actions past, present, and future. <S> But I think what you are really asking is, should you write in the narrative present or the narrative past. <S> "On the left I am passing the butcher shop. <S> Now I am crossing the street." <S> The narrative past means that you are narrating events after they happened, the way you would normally narrate events, for instance if someone asked you how was your day? <S> Both the narrative present and the narrative past involve the use of multiple tenses: <S> Now I am passing the butcher shop where Dave met his wife. <S> They are going to knock it down next month to build a Starbucks like they did last year on Main Street. <S> The narrative past is the default mode of storytelling in the western tradition (and probably in all the other traditions as well). <S> The use of the narrative present is a device for obtaining certain effects. <S> For instance, it can give the narrative breathless quality or suggests a sense of inevitability to events. <S> Use it is your are trying to achieve such an effect and have some clear idea of how to do so. <A> There is no correct answer to this - the two tenses have different effects. <S> Whereas the past tense is more standard and tells the story in a more straightforward way. <S> Personally I think you can build just as much tension in the past tense as in the present. <S> I would recommend writing the past tense if you're not that experienced, because it is the default standard for most fiction, and I believe it's best to focus on the story, rather than getting preoccupied by the format, when you're first writing a novel. <S> When you've written your first novel in a reasonably straightforward way, you will have learned an awful lot and you will be much better informed about whether you want to use one of the more unusual structures in your next novel, such as present tense. <S> At that point you will be able to answer it for yourself, because you will know the impact it will have on your story. <S> One final note - because writing in past tense is so integrated into our psyche, you may find it harder to write in the present tense and will find that you often slip back into past tense without realising. <S> Catching all these instances could be very tedious, but not catching them will make your writing look unprofessional. <S> Just another reason to stick to past tense unless you have a damn good reason not to! <A> There is much ado about this question on the internet, with vehement opinions, but the simple truth is that readers don't much notice either way. <S> Try each for a day, and you will know.
| The narrative present means that you are narrating events as they occur, as if you were walking down the street giving a running commentary on you life. It is generally believed that the present tense is more immediate and gives a stronger sense of tension. If you wonder about which tense you should use, the common sense answer is that you should use whichever tense you feel most comfortable with when you write.
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Is permission required for quoting the Bible or nursery rhymes? I have characters in my novels that quote the Bible and a couple lines of old nursery rhymes. Do I need to obtain permission in order to use these quotes in my books? What about quoting a popular line from a Shakespeare book?(Self-publishing from the USA) <Q> There are three issues here: <S> Copyright is for a finite amount of time, basically life of the author plus 70 years, or if the copyright is owned by an organization rather than a person, or if the author is anonymous, for 95 years from date of publication. <S> A translation has a separate copyright from the original work, with the clock starting from when the translation was published, not the original work. <S> So if you want to quote the original Hebrew text of Genesis, the copyright on that ran out about 1300 years ago. <S> That's no problem. <S> If you want to quote the King James Version, that was published in 1611, so the copyright on that ran out 400 years ago. <S> Again, no problem. <S> More recent translations still have copyright protection. <S> For example the New International Version was published in 1978, so the copyright on that is good until 2073. <S> New King James (Jimmy 2) was published in 1982. <S> Etc. <S> Many Bible publishers have policies about what they consider "fair use" that they will not challenge. <S> If you stay within these limits, you should be 100% safe. <S> For example, in the front of my Hohlman Bible it says that you can copy "up to and inclusive of 250 verses ... <S> provided that the verses quoted do not account for more than 20 percent of the work in which they are quoted, and provided that a complete book of the Bible is not quoted". <S> There are similar statements in the front of the New International and the New King James, probably many other translations. <S> Shakespeare died in 1616, so likewise, copyright on anything he wrote is long expired. <S> For your nursery rhymes, check the publican date. <S> If it's before 1923, the copyright has expired. <S> Books written before 1970-something had shorter copyrights, so if you're looking at something on the borderline, you need to get into the details of the rules. <S> Anything after 1970 is still under copyright unless the author has explicitly released it to public domain, or a few other special cases. <S> Under "fair use", you can quote a line or two from a poem or a song even if it is still protected by copyright. <S> But don't quote the whole thing, or a substantial portion of it. <A> The "Bible" is a translation of a collection of ancient documents. <S> If the translation is older than seventy years, as for example in the King James Version , copyright for it has expired and you may republish it without asking for permission ( except in the UK ). <S> If on the other hand the translation is recent, as for example the New International Version , copyright is held by the author and/or publisher of the translation, and you have to ask for permission to republish that book. <S> The same goes for Shakespeare. <S> A recent edition of his works (with certain decisions made as to what the exact text of his plays is) will be under copyright, while older editions are copyright free. <S> Nursery rhymes and other elements of oral tradition often do not have a known author, but if you want to use something like a fairy tale, you might want to do some research to make sure you are not using a copyrighted version of it. <S> You may always cite any other work in a scholarly publication without asking for permission, independent of the copyright status of that work. <S> In fiction, if you have a character who hums a line from a Justin Bieber song, or a parent who reads a passage from Harry Potter to their children, you do not have to ask for permission, as long as the citation is brief and meaningful within your narrative. <S> If it is unnecessary for your story, it might be more appropriate - both legally and from a storytelling perspective – to only mention that the character reads or sings, without citing the actual text. <S> If the citation is not brief, the citation must be essential, as for example when your characters discuss a passage from a book or perform a play. <S> In all cases that go beyond a sentence or two I would consult a lawyer and probably ask the copyright holder for permission. <A> I Am Not A Lawyer. <S> Depends on where you're publishing. <S> Laws vary with region. <S> The Bible you typically do not need permission to quote. <S> It is a historical-cultural document in the public domain ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain ). <S> It is not copyrighted. <S> The same is usually true of nursery rhymes. <S> The subject of when copyright expires and why as well as when something enters the "public domain" and why is a contentious subject which varies with the region, etc. <A> It depends which translation of the Bible you quote from. <S> If you quote from the King James Version (KJV), you're unlikely to encounter any problems, as the translation was completed in 1611. <S> It is also the most well <S> know version of the Bible in English. <S> The situation is different for modern translations, as different publishers will have different policies. <S> For example, the Bible Society gives details of the situation for two modern translations - the Good News Bible (GNB) and the Contemporary English Version (CEV) - on their web site . <S> Similarly, Harper Collins provide details on how to get permission to quote a range of translations, including the New King James Version (NKJV), New Century Version (NCV), International Children’s Bible (ICB), Expanded Bible, and The Voice, as well as the New International Version (NIV), New International Reader’s Version (NIrV), and Amplified Bible translations.
| Under the "fair use doctrine", you can quote short excerpts from copyrighted works without getting permission.
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Scrivener changes my font size I use Scrivener, and sometimes when I highlight a line or even just click the cursor, the font shrinks to tiny. When I check the font size on the computer, it hasn't changed (still size 12), but clearly the font on the screen is small. How do I make this STOP! Sometimes its so small I can't read it. <Q> This is simply a bug, not intended behaviour, which is why nobody here can give you a definite answer about how to make it stop. <S> If you see such a behaviour try to file a bug report on their bug reporting site . <S> Be sure to include the important information, such as the version of the software you are using, the operating system, the settings you changed from the standard and step-by-step instructions on how to reproduce the behaviour. <S> This is something where you need the help of the company. <A> I also had the same problem and it drove me crazy. <S> Sometimes half the page is small font and the other half large, but when I check the font size, everything is the same for both the enlarged and small or regular font size part of the page. <S> Solution: <S> Click on the body of the page you are having issues with, <S> Go to the dash click on view, then zoom. <S> Zoom in or out should fix it. <A> Copy the text that has text that wont change size and paste it into a word document and change the size there. <S> Then paste it back into your scrivener document, not the most eloquent way to do this <S> but it works. <A>
| I have found that if you highlight the shrunken text (then immediately un-highlight it) it reverts back to the desired font size.
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What do you think would make you a better writer - Writing with pen and paper or typing on your PC / Laptop? In today's digitized world, does it pay to go analog? I mean who would waste time in writing using Pen and Paper when you can easily type the stuff using a variety of fonts in Word processing software? But do you honestly think it would make you a better writer? If given a choice, which one would you opt for? Maybe 99% will opt for Software. But is there anyone out here who still believes that writing with Pen and paper, the good old fashioned way makes more sense? <Q> Whether you write with a pen or paper, or using a PC, it doesn't just make you a better writer. <S> A PC would make it easier/faster to write out your thoughts, but in the end your writing skills are what is between the ears, not the method for which you write them down. <S> Some people might prefer pen and paper to feel like they are in the old days. <S> Maybe, it might even help them get into the mood if they are writing a book set 100-200 years ago. <S> Some people prefer to write down their thoughts on note paper first. <S> You can carry a notebook around with you and jot ideas as you think of them, but you can't exactly stop in the middle of the street and take out a laptop. <S> In the end, everyone has their own unique way to prepare notes, but they all end up finalized on a PC. <S> However, neither make you a better writer. <S> Just a matter of what you prefer to stay organized/get in the mood. <A> Since I type at about ten times the rate I write by hand; and my hand gets sore writing by hand for more than a page or so; I opt for typing. <S> Writing by hand is a sensory ritual for some writers. <S> It makes them feel good and puts them in the mental zone of writing. <S> In the end I think this is entirely a matter of opinion. <S> Eventually you are not likely to get published without a typewritten manuscript and a digital file. <S> In the process of writing, searches and backups of alternative versions are crucial to me. <S> I am not afraid to write and discard things, so I often go through a dozen drafts of some scenes or chapters, and cut and rewrite liberally: I can do that because I have a backup of every single day I have worked on a project (sometimes more), and can easily search them and cut and paste from them if I want something, or want to revert to a previous version. <S> The flexibility of using software and having digital copies of everything <S> I ever wrote on a project <S> is so useful to me, I would be disabled by trying to write with a pen and paper. <S> In the end I feel nobody knows or would care what process I used, they are only interested in the final version, which will be typed black-ink words on a white background in a generic font like Times Roman or Schoolbook or Sans Serif. <A> Even though I can touch type quickly, I have gone back to writing drafts by hand. <S> It is not speed of writing that determines the speed I produce something: it is speed of thought. <S> If I am thinking quickly I can write something like shorthand to get my ideas down. <S> (I have also tried printing out a text and then deleting the original so that I must edit what I have written.) <S> It also places me in the position of the people I teach writing to <S> and so I can understand the physical process they go through e.g. getting a sore hand, smudging edits, etc. <S> Finally, I still have to produce a large amount of handwritten texts and writing drafts using a pen keeps me in 'shape'. <A> Other than for writing short notes (Shopping list?) <S> the pen and paper is probably obsolete as far as writing is concerned. <S> I know of no publisher who accepts handwritten manuscripts. <S> Editing a handwritten manuscript would end up very messy and involve numerous tedious re-writes. <S> I know lots of people who can't read their own handwriting let alone the handwriting of others. <S> Want to carry something with you to make notes as they come to you? <S> Use a cell phone and dictate the note or get one with a stylus. <S> I use a Galaxy Note 4 and it quickly converts my scrawl to typed text.
| I write by hand because it makes me do at least one more thorough editing.
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How do I write a description of something that's not concrete? My protagonist has an unique power, he can feel the souls of other beings with his mind. One day this guy meets a girl with the most wonderful soul on earth, she is happy at all times and loves everyone and everything: A positive person indeed. Another day, this guy meets a serial killer at the bus. My protagonist can't sleep for days now. How do I write the feeling of something that we can't touch or see? <Q> My answer would be by mentally making it tangible. <S> Associate it in the same way a blind person associates red with the color hot and blue with cold. <S> If you believe in an afterlife, then a soul, in essence is as tangible as the body that gave it up. <S> Speaking from my own experience of coming into contact with a dark entity, it does not feel nice. <S> My family and I went on holiday to Cornwall and visited a place called Lands End. <S> Our intention was to wait in a pub, for 45 min, until they started serving the evening meal. <S> I had this horrible foreboding feeling that something bad had happened there. <S> At first it was like a tingling feeling crawling up my spine. <S> Then I became extremely anxious and fatigued. <S> I even tried to lay my head on the table <S> but I couldn't sit still. <S> As time passed, my chest felt as though something were pressing down on it. <S> I couldn't get enough air. <S> Then the nausea came. <S> Finally, though we only had 5 min. <S> to wait for our meal, I told my husband I had to leave. <S> As we drove back to our B&B, where we were staying, the more distance we put between us and this place, the better I felt. <S> Later, I decided to do some research and discovered that a woman, presumed to be a witch had been put into a well and left to die. <S> Guess what? <S> The pub was built over the top of the existing well. <S> If fact, it was only a few yards from where we were sitting. <S> If a soul is bad or evil it would be described as dark and cold causing a feeling of uneasiness. <S> Whereas a good soul would be the opposite; warm, bright, peaceful. <A> +1 <S> To Sheila. <S> A slightly different answer <S> : Make him feel what they feel. <S> When he meets the girl, he is as happy as he has ever been. <S> He feels love and compassion for every stranger he sees as if they were his best friends gone for years. <S> When he sees a clip of a horror movie and a girl being tortured and killed, it doesn't feel frightening at all, to him it feels like being in love. <S> I think you have a pretty good premise; there is a lot of room for it to drive your story. <A> Combine a surreal combination of senses with individual clippings of context. <S> A human physically cannot imagine another sense, and is forced to think of another such sense as some combination of existing senses, combined with information they wouldn't usually be able to obtain directly. <S> For example, "Mike opened his third eye, and fighting his insecurity, looked directly at the mop of brown hair obscured by a thick tome. <S> Instantly, he was in the void again. <S> He spun around to look directly at the point of light that he knew would be there. <S> Something was different. <S> He couldn't yet explain it, but he knew then that something was different. <S> He let himself be pulled towards it, pulled into it. <S> It tugged him tentatively and tenderly, and he gasped at the majestic pale sunset of pink and gold, every drop of light was filled with shyness and curiosity. <S> He peered deeper behind the veil, and almost cried out for fear of being ripped out of his body and consumed. <S> His thoughts were drowned by sweet cinnamon, as his vision was filled with turquoise and flecks of red."
| When he meets the serial killer, he is cold, enjoys the pain of others (or is turned on by it), feels a simmering anger and resentment that makes him want to harm others. The duration of the impression depends on how extreme the soul is; other people on the subway tend to cancel out impressions, but Strong Souls (good or bad) persist for hours or days.
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I wrote a book, but changed my mind on the ending Does anyone with experience have suggestions on how best to go back, edit, and rearrange scenes and details? You know, without me dying in the process? The whole book needs to be restructured. <Q> Yes, this is going to be a death march. <S> But the thing that is going to kill you is not this rewrite, but the next one and the one after that as your story gradually become more and more disorganized through the process of revision if you fall into the trap of trying to get there by rearranging scenes. <S> This would be a really good time to get a copy of Robert McKee's Story and pay particular attention to what he has to say on the peril of trying to hold on to all of the "good" scenes in your existing story. <S> A story is not a collection of scenes. <S> It has a very definite shape which you have to find, and any scene that does not fit on the arc of the story shape has no place in your story <S> no matter how brilliant it may be individually. <S> What Lauren says about outlining may well be the best technique for designing and capturing the story arc. <S> Be aware, though, that a simply listing of events does not necessarily capture the arc of the story, which is essentially a moral progress to which individual events are tangential. <S> For evidence of this, look at the plot summaries you find of so many books and movies on Wikipedia. <S> Many of them sound like a completely shapeless series of events because they don't capture the moral mainspring of the story. <S> If it is going to guide you usefully, an outline has to capture the moral arc of the story. <S> Also beware the trap of treating outlining as a way to fit scenes in. <S> Look at it that way and you will fall into the trap that McKee describes. <S> To survive your trip through the valley of death, therefore, find the moral arc of your story. <S> Keep anything that belongs to that moral arc. <S> Trash anything, however brilliant, that does not. <S> You may still have to pass through the valley of death a few times, but you will at least have a chance of getting out alive. <A> Sorry, you may have to die a bit. <S> Make a copy of your plot outline. <S> (You have an outline, right? <S> No? <S> Then you'll have to create one after the fact. <S> Read through your existing book and pick out the outline from what you wrote. <S> That's your "original.") <S> Take your original outline and put it next to the copy. <S> On your copy, start re-outlining with your new ending in mind — as if the original didn't exist. <S> Use your original as a reference to say "A goes here, B goes over there, C is out, this is a new C which I'm going to call Ralph." <S> When your new outline is as good as you can make it, hand it off to someone to see if it holds water. <S> When it does, make a copy of your manuscript the same way you did with your outline. <S> Open the copy and start reading it along with the new outline. <S> When you hit parts of the new outline which have changed from the original, hit the enter key a few times to create space, and then start writing the new material. <S> Add and remove pieces as needed. <S> There is no shortcut, I'm afraid. <S> Honor the better ending and dive in. <A> The whole book needs to be restructured. <S> At least the way I write (more of a discovery writer), a new book would have to be written with the ending in mind. <S> I would keep the old book for reference (I presume I have infinite disk space and never throw anything away anyway); mostly for some hard-crafted descriptions, word choices and even dialogue. <S> But I would start from the beginning. <S> No matter how one writes, scenes grow from previous circumstances and should feel mostly inevitable. <S> They shouldn't contain much of anything that doesn't contribute to the story. <S> If I really could just go back and rewrite 25% of a story and get a completely different ending, that means 75% of what I wrote had no impact on the story , and to me that is unacceptable writing. <S> Start over. <S> The old book is a bin of parts you might be able to use or adapt. <S> By starting over you don't have to re-use old characters and scenes, you can invent new ones purpose-fit. <S> Brainstorm about the main characters, then the supporting roles.
| If you are compelled to change the ending, you must have realized something, at least subconsciously: Figure out what your story was really about, in more concrete terms, and start over.
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Are tables of contents mandatory in novels? I've had several people ask me why my fiction story does not have a table of contents. I never really thought about it, seeing as plenty of fiction stories do not have one either. Is a table of contents mandatory or 'traditional' in fictional writing? Or is this like other writing rules where it can be broken based on different author style? I am self-publishing, so I do not have an agent or publisher telling me what they want for the book. My last editor did not seem surprised that my story did not have a table of contents either, so I am looking for an official stance on this, or a reputable source detailing what is expected in this type of writing. Are there pro's and con's to each way? <Q> Starting around the 1920's dust jackets started to get decorative and became a place where you could market the book. <S> ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_jacket#Oldest_dust_jackets ) <S> That function has now migrated to the back page of the paperback. <S> There is no place to put marketing material on the cover of a hardback book (though there are a few hardback formats that are smooth and printable these days). <S> Before the 1920's hardbound books had highly decorated covers and the dust jackets were plainer and were mostly discarded by bookstore before being put on the shelf. <S> Given this, it seems reasonable to speculate that the reason for a table of content in a novel was as a way to market the book by telling the reader what to expect inside. <S> In support of this we should note that many 19th century TOCs included a synopsis of each chapter as well as the title. <S> Once books had decorative dust jackets or printable back covers, there was another place to tell the reader what the book was about. <S> Conventions of the form are slow to die, but TOCs in novels seem to have been fading away over the last century as they serve no real purpose for the modern reader. <S> Clearly it is permissible and, indeed, conventional, to omit them today. <A> I've seen many novels with a table of contents, and many without. <S> Whether it matters depends more on how you want to structure things, than on any actual rule. <S> I've also seen novels with no actual chapters, just tens of thousands of words all in a row (broken into paragraphs, of course) -- and novels with chapters as short as half a page. <S> What works is dependent on what works for your story . <A> No. <S> they are not. <S> I personally find them quaint and assume the author is old when I see them. <S> I believe the idea of sections in fantasy has also percolated through the genre. <S> Sometimes a fantasy novel will have three sections, which could be called 'beginning middle and end' but are usually given more descriptive names. <S> Each section has its own set of chapters. <S> I find these unnecessary, but structurally I understand why they are sometimes there. <S> They help the reader understand that the book is going to take a new course now, and character voices, pacing, or other items may change. <A> I've never read a fiction book and expected a table of contents. <S> Also some of my favorite books have no table of contents nor chapter titles. <S> So from a reader's viewpoint I see no flaw in not having a table of contents. <A> Also, I love that if I am working on my manuscript and I think of something that I want to go back to, I can go to my TOC and click on a page number and find the area I'm concerned with very quickly. <S> So, even if you consider using a TOC just for your manuscript to use it as a helpful tool for your own purposes, it could be deleted afterwards before going to print. <A> Whatever works best. <S> If your chapters have names, it might be good (but isn't necessary). <S> With chapters that are numbered, the Contents page might look a bit weird. <A> In a non-fiction book, it makes a lot of sense to have a TOC. <S> Someone might want to skip to the part that is of interest to him right now. <S> If, say, I was searching for information about the Battle of Gettysburg, I might open a book called "History of the Civil War" and look for a chapter whose title said something about Gettysburg. <S> To take a ridiculous extreme, a murder mystery with a TOC labeling the last chapter, "George confesses to the murder" would likely ruin the story for anyone who looked at the TOC before reading the book. <S> That's not likely to be a problem in a non-fiction book. <S> Non-fiction books don't generally have surprise endings. <S> Like I don't get to the end of an astronomy book and say, "Oh, wow, what a neat twist! <S> Pluto turned out to not be a planet after all!" <S> Because of this, many novels don't give their chapters names but just numbers. <S> So a TOC would just be "Chapter 1 ... page 1, Chapter 2 ... page 27", etc, which would likely be pretty useless.
| In a novel, a TOC with descriptive chapter titles might give away what's going to happen, spoiling the story. Although I do not feel it is required to use a Table of Contents, I will suggest that it has been helpful for me in structuring. I've seen many novels that don't have a Table of Contents.
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How Often To Proof Read Book I'm Self-Publishing I'm writing (to self-publish) a technical book aimed for computer-literate people with no technical background (but who want to get into the field). In the beginning, I found myself re-writing certain sections. Now the look and feel is looking more consistent, but as I go along writing the book I find more things that need improvement. So far I wrote brief introduction, followed by three small chapters. Right now I am about to finish the first big (100 pages) chapter. Should I stop and proof-read what I have before I proceed orShould I plough through entire book and then proof-read Thanks! <Q> First, let's be clear on terms. <S> Proofreading is going through a manuscript looking for mechanical errors: missing punctuation, misspelled words, grammatical errors, etc. <S> If you are rewriting sections, that is editing, not proofreading. <S> Proofreading is generally the last step in the preparation of a manuscript. <S> Of course, you should fix any mechanical errors you see while you are editing. <S> As to whether you should edit your work before you have a complete draft, styles and opinions differ on that, and you should be able to find several questions here that already deal with different aspects of that question. <A> Your main task is to write, because without the writing, there will be no book. <S> So for me, I generally write as long as I am feeling inspired, and rewrite, proof and edit mainly when I am at a standstill in my writing. <S> This way I don't lose forward momentum when I have it. <S> To put it another way, it makes for more efficiency, because I only "switch gears" when already stopped (so to speak). <S> I've found that when I'm blocked, or not moving forward as fast, it's often because my overall sense of the book has subtly shifted, and switching to rewriting at those points can help me get back on track. <S> Of course, if you put off rewriting too long, you might end up writing a great deal of material that you don't end up using. <S> But that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it can still inform the material that actually makes it to the page. <S> For you, at this particular point, if you do feel an actual need (or desire) to rewrite, I would do it, but if not, I would push on ahead. <S> Unless you are an excellent proof-reader, you'll probably want to hire someone to do it for you, as it is very difficult to proof your own copy (although modern tools help). <A> Probably not the answer you were hoping to read, but <S> I'd proof read what I had and <S> proof read the whole book. <S> Looking at the first big chapter on its own will let you concentrate on detail, looking at the whole book will check whether there's a consistent "feel". <S> As for what you should do now , I'd proof read the chapter.
| There is not a lot of point in proofreading early because you may be wasting effort on proofing material that is going to be edited out, and any editing that you do later could introduce new mechanical errors that you would then have to proofread for. In terms of actual proof-reading, you'll want to make sure your book is impeccable before publishing.
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How can I give a novel a particular atmosphere? I've been writing fan fiction for 7+ years now. Recently, I went back and compared the ratings my fan fiction has received from my readers, compared to what they contained. I discovered that those fan fictions with a distinct feel had generally better ratings, and were in fact some of the highest rated things I've written. These include: A zombie story with a very dark atmosphere of despair and defeat. A war story with an atmosphere of useless struggle against the conflict. This research seems to indicate to me that I should focus more on finding and maintaining a specific feel for my stories. There is, however, I problem: how to do so? I'm a very design-oriented person. I need structures and plans if I'm to make anything. This is no different. I need a step by step process, by which I can give a story a particular feel. Can you provide me with such a process? Some feels will be easier than others. I originally thought giving a story a feel would be fairly simple, until I tried it. I've determined that my current fan fiction requires an atmosphere of desperation. Not despair, but desperation. I know how to create an atmosphere of despair. But how do I make the difference to desperation ? The feeling that people have been pushed to the edge and are willing to do literally anything. The answer escapes me. <Q> Suppose you are hosting visitors to your city and you want to control the impression they get. <S> If you want to give them the impression that your city is dangerous, you take them down different streets at a different time of day. <S> If you want them to feel your city is green, you take them to the park. <S> If you want them to feel it is a concrete jungle, take then to the freeway interchanges and the industrial district. <S> If you want to give the impression that your city is cosmopolitan, take them to an ethnic restaurant. <S> If you want to give the opposite impression, take them to Denny's. <S> Now, you can control the impression they get to a certain extent by how you talk up the city, by the language you choose, but your words will do much less than the actual experience of neighbourhoods to create the impression that stays with them. <S> It is the same in a novel. <S> Most of the feel of the novel will come from the places you take the reader, the scenes they witness, the weather, the food, etc. <S> In other words, all the things that would shape the feel of an experience if they were there in real life. <S> Don't think about this in terms of words, therefore, but in terms of storytelling. <A> This might seem like an issue of setting or structure, but it's actually about your characters and their perspective. <S> If your characters are desperate, and you are close enough to their point of view, this will give your story a feel of desperation. <S> Keep in mind, however, what is a desperate situation for one character might not be for another. <S> If the story doesn't have a "feel" to it, you might be too far distanced from the characters' point of view. <S> You don't have to go first-person, <S> just try to get inside their heads and hearts a bit more. <S> You can then invest this mood into your details and descriptions. <S> For instance, a looming tree raised its branches threateningly against the darkened sky has a very different feel than a welcoming tree opened its branches gratefully to the night, even though they might conceivably both be descriptions of the same tree at the same time. <S> Different mood, different emotions, different feel. <A> The other answers provided here are awesome, and I also advise word choice to be paramount. <S> I would like to add, though, that since you're writing about desperation, and that is the feeling you're currently wishing to create, try breaking down desperation into a series of action. <S> Find the root cause of the characters' desperation, or the state that their environment is in and portray things happening that would create this desperate feel. <S> This could be larger plot events. <S> Or, on a smaller scale, tiny things that happen in each of the characters' lives. <S> Desperation comes around when people feel trapped, or incapable, and it seems there is only one option left (or none) and they have been lead to doing the extremes to fix things. <S> This is a very anxious feeling, a very uncomfortable place to be in. <S> While you're taking your reader on a walk through the park like Mark Baker suggested, have tiny things happen that create this anxiety. <S> The girl is getting dressed this morning, but she can't quite find the right outfit. <S> Nothing she puts on seems to flatter her, or make her feel good. <S> She keeps glancing to the window and the blinds are tilted up a little. <S> She feels watched, observed, by any random stranger who may pass by her room window. <S> As she walks to the bathroom to brush her teeth, she notices a leak coming from the ceiling, stuff oozing down the side of the wall. <S> These little things out of place, stripping your character of control, will create the idea that the world is slipping and if she can't keep a grasp on anything, then she's going to get desperate really fast to get a grip again.
| To make the reader feel something, take them to a place or through and experience that will create that feeling, just as you would if you were taking them on an adventure in real life. If you want to give them the impression that your city is safe, you take them down certain streets at a certain time of day.
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Help! My brain is writing several chapters at once! So, I've been thinking about my story, and suddenly I got inspiration for the continuation of the chapter (I'm not even sure what chapter it should be). So, basically, I ended with progressing 3 chapters at once in my head; Chapter 1 (which I'm currently writing), Chapter (expected) 3 and 5. How should I handle this? I don't think this is just a distraction. The progression on the other chapters (I think) is valuable, and I'm sort of getting vision on how the story will end. Should I write the first chapter first, and taking notes when the chapter 3 and 5 ideas come out? Or should I write whatever chapter is progressing faster in my mind? Here's what it looks like: (Chapter 1) Hmm... this gem can be an important object in Chapter 3 and 5. In Chapter 3, the character should take this gem and do the ritual, which turns out to be a failure in Chapter 5. To remedy this, the character should redo the ritual. Wait, there's only one gem. I should figure out how the character get two gems instead of one. And so on, bouncing between chapters. <Q> Personally, I prefer to have an outline of the plot before I start writing, but not everyone works this way. <S> Plenty of people just write the story and see where it goes. <S> However, I would argue that almost everyone has to spend a significant amount of time editing their first draft in order to make it into a polished finished product that is of a good enough quality to be presented to readers. <S> If you are inspired to write a particular chapter now, then write that one. <S> After all, writing is usually a labour of love, so you should be enjoying it. <S> Otherwise if you force yourself to write in a particular order, then you might forget exciting things that are pumping around your brain now, and chances are you'll still have plenty to fix later in any case. <A> One thing I do is write what ever scene I have inspired in my head and put it as a side note labeled something like "Anger scene", "the meeting", things like that <S> so I know what those notes are generally about. <S> Then as I write, and I get to a point where one of those scenes in my notes may apply, I go back and read it. <S> See if I can still make it work with how the story progressed. <S> If I do, I add it in, if not, it's good source material for a future scene that might spark ideas. <S> I also do this when I am going through emotions. <S> What's one of the best ways for a reader to feel what your MC is feeling? <S> To have true emotions placed with the character. <S> One of the best ways I found to do this is when I am angry, I write what I would do, say, I would murder that person on paper. <S> Write it all out. <S> Now, when you need an angry scene, there it is with true raw emotions that you can then add into your piece. <S> I totally understand how you feel. <S> Often, I too am sitting there writing a chapter but then get ideas for a chapter way later in the book. <S> I just write those ideas in a note <S> so I don't lose em and revisit as needed. <A> It sounds like you write much like I do, discovering the story as you go. <S> My approach is to put notes, as <S> I think of them, at the bottom of whatever I am writing, and carry them forward. <S> By "notes" I may mean half a page for a note, as much explanation as needed for what occurred to me (and where: in Chapter 3, or in a particular scene title, or page number, or keyword <S> so I can find what I was writing when I thought it, and review that). <S> some of my notes are for revisions to earlier writing: Originally my characters were heading east. <S> I only had a roughly northern location for them in mind, so no particular destination; but in writing I realize a good destination would be Albany. <S> So my note is to revise and get more specific about their locale. <S> Plus they know they are heading for Albany and why, I don't need to add that info to anything they say or do, ( <S> if it wasn't important information when I wrote it, it isn't important to add now) but I need to make sure I don't have them say or do anything contradictory to it. <S> Then I can continue with my currently imagined scene and have it on my task list to go revise later. <S> Keep writing in order. <S> Delete what no longer applies, modify notes or previous writing as needed. <S> Then start writing a new scene. <S> If you keep chapters in their own files, cut the notes from a finished chapter and paste them at the top of the next chapter. <S> By the time you finish, there should be no notes! <A> I don't know if this is good writing practice, but I find writing whatever comes to mind as the only way for me to get start writing a novel. <S> Rather than chapters I start with scenes or events <S> I plan to include in the novel. <S> Then I start forming the chapters after a dozen or so scenes are written. <S> Good Luck.
| So, I would say write the first draft however you feel inspired to, and worry about patching up the plot holes and details later. At each story break (new chapter, beginning a new movement) review your notes; all of them.
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What are techniques to explore a world you've built? Beside omniscient narrative that explains the world, what are other techniques to introduce the details of a world to the readers? (That is still part of the story) I've been thinking two things, but there's got to be more techniques out there. Bring an outsider that is not native to the world, and have the native explain things. The outsider may or may not the protagonist. Have the protagonist suffer amnesia or complete memory wipe, then reintroduce the world to him/her. How to introduce a world that's alien to the reader is nuanced by the space opera genre, and the answers provided are all talking about the narrative technique. I'm not sure if I use the right term for the question, but I hope you understand what I mean (and please correct me if I'm wrong or unclear) <Q> I have been trying to think of this myself as I have a few scenes that will be "foreign" to other groups within the book as well as the reader. <S> What I have come up with to do to help explain some cultural aspects of my world <S> is have one of those other groups within the book ask about it. <S> Then it will be explained through dialog the meaning and context. <S> Of course some things will come out through narration, but I try to avoid doing this heavily as no one wants to read 3 pages of prose either. <S> Another thing you can do is, instead of having an outsider... <S> have a younger child ask an adult.. <S> "mommy, why do the adults do that funny dance? <S> " this allows you to educate an in-story character and the reader as well. <S> "We just performed the jakeno chant. <S> Hopefully now we will see some rain come. <S> Our crops really need it" he reported to the tribe chief. <S> This let's the reader know through context, what that was about without having to sit there and give a history lesson or explain anything in detail about what the jakeno chant says or means. <S> You know it's some form of rain prayer. <A> I am of the opinion that nobody wants to read about the world I built! <S> Or really I mostly sketched it. <S> I don't think people want a museum tour, I think they want a story. <S> If what you built does not relate to that story in some way, it doesn't belong. <S> But much of it can, where characters have come from, been, are going, etc. <S> What they have seen, what is amazing, their shared experiences. <S> It is the reason we make characters have to travel far and wide to accomplish their mission. <S> Imagine <S> if Tolkien had the whole story take place in one village, Imagine if Harry Potter just went next door for his magic lessons instead of traveling to Hogwarts. <S> Traveling and what Charlie sees on his way to the Ice Village is how he sees your world; and if Charlie travels with Debbi, then she can tell him of the Sand Giants that turned her uncle into a dried husk, now stored in the attic and brought out to be decorated with a handful of tinsel every Christmas. <S> IRL many people try to fill the silence with conversation and getting to know people, even if there is no real purpose to it. <S> It is entertainment. <S> I've had dozens of such conversations on planes, and heard life and career stories aplenty. <S> Half the passengers will travel from California to New York in complete silence; the other half will try to pass the time. <S> Little stories of walk-on characters within your bigger story is a way to describe the other parts of the world, too. <A> Introduce them slowly. <S> It is usually easier if the main character is from the world because the observations don't come with questions like "What is this oddly bristled brush in my hand?" that someone later has to explain is a toothbrush. <S> Instead, the main character is holding a toothbrush but then uses a voice command to the sink to dispense water. <S> I certainly don't have a sink like that; so I would assume this book is set in the future. <S> If, on the other hand, one of your story's plot points is placing your character in a new, unfamiliar environment, then my suggestion would be to begin with him/her/them in their native environment first. <S> This gives the reader time to acclimate and also a chance to care about poor Jake who was transported fight in an intergalactic war right before he finally got to go on a date with his crush. <S> These are just standard conventions that have made it easier on me.
| You can also leave clues through context... It helps if your characters encounter new people and they travel in stretches together.
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Flash-forward as Prologue and then Flashbacks too complicated? Chronologically, the story begins with the protagonist as a child and description of her world, which is important to the plot. Since I thought "girl abandoned by parents meets a man who explains how the world works" wouldn't really catch the readers attention, I decided to start the book with a 4k long flash-forward to a fight with elements relevant to the main plot (titled Prologue: A battle to come , to signal future events). After these two Chapters I get to the main story (from her teens), with a few flashbacks here and there written in first person (the part about the description of the world is also in first person). Does this make any sense or is it too complicated? I really don't want to have a somewhat boring beginning, which is why I avoided beginning with her childhood... Thank you and sorry if there are mistakes, I'm not a native speaker. <Q> This is very common. <S> Many stories start with an event that the writer thinks will grab the readers attention, (some particularly dramatic event,) and then go back to tell us the whole story; or, the writer begins with the outcome, and then goes back to tell us how events led up to that. <S> There's certainly nothing wrong with doing this, but I would give two caveats: <S> Make sure it is clear to the reader what is a flashback and what is in the present. <S> Any time writers talk about flashbacks I'm reminded of a book I read years ago that began with the heroes winning a great battle. <S> Then the writer flashed back to the events leading up to this battle. <S> But nothing in the book indicated that this was a flashback, so I thought we were now talking about what happened after the battle. <S> And there were so many things that didn't make sense. <S> Why are they struggling with this problem in chapter 5 when I thought it had already been solved in chapter 1? <S> Etc. <S> It wasn't until I got to a section where some events happened that were clearly tied to a character in chapter 1 saying, "I remember a day when we ..." that I finally realized, Ohhhh, this is all a flashback!" <S> Be sure there's a good reason for the flashback. <S> I've seen many stories that start with a character saying, "Let me think, how did it all begin?", and then they go to the flashback. <S> And it's like, why? <S> What did that scene add to the story? <S> Sometimes the scene includes some indication of the final outcome, which may or may not be a good storytelling device. <S> Often it tells us nothing <S> and I'm baffled why the writer included the scene. <A> This is a very common technique among aspiring writers. <S> It feels like playing tricks with the narrative line solves all kinds of writing and story problems for you. <S> But this is largely an illusion. <S> You rarely find these kinds of tricks in successful published works. <S> Sometimes, certainly, but not often, because while they seem like an easy solution to a problem, they are actually very difficult to pull off effectively. <S> Here's the issue. <S> You have some material that you think you need in your story to make the plot work, but you recognize that it is boring. <S> What's the correct approach to dealing with this issue? <S> Either make it interesting or cut it out. <S> Moving it to a different place in the narrative line is like trying to get you dog to take its pills by wrapping them in meatballs. <S> It's still a pill and a clever dog is going to eat the meat and spit out the pill. <S> Instead of "girl meets man who explains how the world works", do "girl has an adventure in which she discovers how the world works". <S> Yes, this means that you have to make up another story and make it work as a story while still getting across the information you need to convey. <S> But that is what the pros do. <S> All meat. <S> No pill. <S> And the advantage of this is that when everything is done through story, you don't need to mess with the narrative sequence. <S> You can tell the story in chronological order, which is what your reader will prefer 99% of the time. <A> If you are hoping to get published, then a good rule of thumb is to hold off on the prologues. <S> I'm not saying that it can't be done, but they are not "in fashion" as they once were. <S> Instead, writers weave the past into the story more like how we experience memories in everyday life. <S> We see a coffee mug or smell perfume, and it takes us back, for better or worse to another time in our life. <S> For example: Ramona and Jonathan are the protagonists in a romance thriller, but Ramona does not want to have anything to do with Jonathan at the beginning of the story. <S> We show the reader this through her irrational irritation with his good looks and charm, later learning it is because he works in the oil and gas industry just like her abusive father did. <S> We do this in lieu of a prologue. <S> Hope this helps. <A> Starting "in the middle of things" is an absolutely classic technique, and i see it done quite frequently in published fiction. <S> Simply make it chapter 1, and start chapter 2 or 3 with your flashback. <S> It is usually better to find some what ot make it clear what is a flashback. <S> It can be as simple as: <S> When Jill first walked into the mansion five years previously, she was not expecting to meet Jack. <S> It was a sunny day, and her mind was entirely on her new position. <S> Some link between the previous action and the flashback, perhaps in place, or subject, characters present, is often helpful, although not required. <S> A somewhat extreme <S> but in my view very successful use of this technique was the late Roger Zelezney's Doorways in the Sand . <S> In that novel, each chapter started with a scene of crisis of soem sort. <S> The next scene then flashed back to just after the end of the previous chapter, followed by several scenes which showed how the crisis developed, then several more showing how it was resolved or the action moved on. <S> Chapter one has, say scenes D, A, B, C, E, and F (in that order0; chapter 2 had <S> J, G, H, I, K, L, Chapter 3 had P, M, N, O, Q, R, and S. <S> And so on. <S> It worked well, but then Zelezney is a very skilled stylist as a writer.
| There is actually a very simple rule that you can follow to make this kind of exposition interesting: make it a story. I would prefer not to label such a thing as a Prologue, unless it is really outside the main story.
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Can a POV be from a baby? So, this refers back to my question here . In that question I asked if the prologue to my story (the prologue occurs 17 years before most of the novel) should be cut. I have reduced the word count to 1300, and still feel it belongs, but also still hear people say "I don't like prologues." It dawned on me that (surprise surprise) one of the main characters in the story, whose POV occurs in every alternate chapter, is present in the prologue as a baby. Is her mere presence in the prologue enough to justify calling the prologue (a short) Ch1? Or should I try to tell the events in the prologue from the POV of an infant? Strange question, I'm sure, but thank you in advance. <Q> I think it depends on how old your baby is. <S> I have written quite extensively from the point of view of a toddler (interpreting what the parents do from his point of view, supposedly), but a baby does have a rather limited world view and ability to communicate <S> and so I am not sure how you could make it work. <S> That is not to say you can't. <S> As an alternative, include the 'prologue' as chapter two or three. <A> <A> It sounds like you know you've written a prologue (events occurring 17 years before the main story), and are concerned about identifying it as one. <S> I've not heard anyone say they don't like prologues - is it the word "prologue" or the concept they don't like? <S> If it's the concept, renaming it "Chapter 1" won't help. <S> On the POV question, I would wonder why (and how) the character - who with POV becomes the narrator - is able to recall events that happened when they were an infant. <S> It's a nice idea, and you might be able to find a good way of doing it, but there's a risk it could end up looking a bit of a gimmick. <S> Coming straight out and calling the prologue a prologue might give you a bit more leeway on the questions around the POV. <A> One of the most surprising, intriguing narrators I have seen was a baby (Saga - Graphic Novels). <S> I think it was fantastic and far more gripping than a prologue.
| Maybe instead of a prologue you could make it a "home video" which is supposed to document a moment of this baby's life, which they are going to watch at a later point in your story.
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How can I test if an idea I have for a plot twist is satisfying for (most) people? So I have this idea for a plot twist and I really like it. I think I drop enough hints here and there to indirectly say to the audience: "Hey, I know what you might be thinking of, but maybe consider this possibility. Just saying, it might happen, you know..." However, I'm not sure if other people would enjoy this particular plot twist I thought of, so I'm not sure if I should really commit to fleshing out this aspect of the story or drop it entirely. So what I want to do is sort of write a synopsis of what happens in the story, as well as all the hints I'll be dropping, and give it around to see if people would enjoy it. Since it's very barebones at this point, as it's just a summary and not the actual story itself, they'll have to imagine most of it. It would be like reading the plot summary of a wikipedia page of a book/film. Would this be a good idea to "test" your plot twist? Are there better methods? (I can provide an example, if needed) <Q> I do not think you would get accurate feedback, because in a synopsis like that the readers are not invested enough in the characters and story, and the twist is likely to leave them flat. <S> The key to a twist is if, on first read, a reader doesn't see it coming, but when it does they realize it all makes sense: and on second read <S> the clues are there and the twist was there. <S> Consider "The Sixth Sense" [The "I see dead people" movie], and the twist at the end. <S> Watching the movie a second time, the twist holds up, no lies were told, no actions made the twist impossible. <S> You have consistency and the movie makes even more sense on the second viewing. <S> That is what makes a satisfying twist. <S> What makes an unsatisfying twist is if the story makes less sense, including direct contradictions to the twist (lying to the reader in exposition when readers have been given no clue that the narrator can lie). <A> If you have a large enough group of test readers to perform idea evaluation prior to writing, then I envy you. <S> Keep in mind that once a test reader has been used for a particular project, they will never again have the "new reader" experience on this project. <S> First eyes are Best eyes when it comes to critical review and feedback. <S> If you like your plot twist, then stop fretting about it. <S> Add it to your story design and move on. <S> Start Writing!!!! <A> I don't think that any writer can please everyone. <S> There will always be someone who won't like a book even if it got the best reviews in history. <S> I remember reading/ <S> hearing a sentence about writing "if you try to please everyone you'll disappoint everyone" or something like that... <S> If you like it and think that if you were reading it on someone else's work you'd like it... then put it on paper.
| The story has to be consistent with the twist; you (the author) did not ever lie to the reader (although characters may have), and you did not totally conceal the twist (although some events may be reinterpreted on second read and make more sense). If you love it, write it. I usually save my test readers till the end, so that their single reading effort can evaluate not only my ideas but also my choice of voice, character development and plot.
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Describing a sport in a fantasy setting In one scene in my YA fantasy my characters are at a party on a beach. One piece of the setting is a group of teenagers playing a game, which my main characters later join. The game itself is not the focus of the scene, and if this were in a modern story I would label it as volleyball or frisbee and leave it as that. Since this is fantasy in a world that is not ours, I do not have that option. My question is should I briefly describe a game that is common to readers, or should I take the time to develop a new one? My concern is either boring the reader or taking away from the flow of the story. <Q> If the game isn't the focus of your scene, I would just name it, say it was a game and get on with the story. <S> The reader doesn't need to know the rules, how you play, strategy, etc. <S> unless they are important to the story. <S> If you want your character to cheat, just describe what he/she does and say 'knowing that stuffing the flangle into his boot was cheating' or something similar. <S> In Harry Potter, the game is important and so is described in detail at various points. <A> The other option is to go the Calvinball route (the sport played by Calvin and Hobbs in the comic series of the same name. <S> The one consistent rule was "Never use the same rule set twice)... describe the actions, but the rules are never constantly apparent to the reader. <S> You can allude to great players and maneuvers and they are so inconsistent as to give the reader no understanding other than "it's a sport". <S> Consider the type of people who read fantasy stories: <S> Most really aren't sports fanatics and to many, discussing the real rules of a real world sport make as much sense as the current ruleset of Calvinball. <A> The general answer to questions of this type, is that you should know all the details of the sport, but only the ones that serve the story should make it onto the page (advice adapted from Sturgeon, via Delany). <S> If you don't know all the details, your world will feel thinly imagined, and the reader will read the scene and think "wow, elf volleyball, lame" <S> But if you stuff all the details into the story, it will ruin the story's flow and feel self-indulgent. <S> If you know all the details, you can drop the relevant ones in as needed, and it will give the sense of a larger, more fully realized world off camera. <S> This also raises the possiblity that something you might not have thought of as important when it was just elf volleyball becomes signficant when it's actually the ancient sport of Ken' Da-rah . <A> Catch. <S> Jumprope. <S> Skipping stones. <S> --- I would name the game with a generic descriptor in capital letters (capitol letters?) <S> such that the reader knows that is the title of the game and the basic idea. <S> Sword fight. ? <S> If this is appropriate! <S> Basket Ball - Could be called Hoop Ball, or Ball-in-Ring, etc. <S> " <S> The reader will 'get it.'
| Many games have names that say exactly what the game is. You could call Volley Ball "Net Ball.
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What are the risks and benefits of using humour in business/commercial writing? I know the basics here, and in technical circles it usually comes down to locking the Engineering Manager and the Sales and Marketing Manager in a small room and seeing who makes it out, but I would be interested to hear anyone's thoughts. Does forbidding it always come over as stuffy, and will encouraging it come over as unprofessional? Is it a "know your audience" kind of question? Is there a "happy medium"? Any definitive limits? Thanks in advance for any ideas. <Q> There are two reasons for a reader to read something, because they are interested in the subject matter and because they like how it is written. <S> The opportunity is that if there are competing works on the same subject, humor can differentiate your book and attract readers the might otherwise read a different work. <S> The risk is that you will lose some readers who don't like the humor, but that is okay if you gain more readers than you lose. <S> In the technical space, for instance, there are the O'Reilly books that have a reputation for clarity and technical excellence, and the Dummies books that use a lot of jokes. <S> Both sell well to different parts of the market. <S> Humor is a market segmentation device for the Dummies books. <S> Market segmentation is a good strategy if you can dominate the segment you create. <S> So, if you business writing is competing in a crowded market, the use of humor could be an effective market segmentation device, provided that you do it well enough (humor is hard!). <S> But a lot of business writing is not meant to compete. <S> It is meant to be the sole source of information or instruction to a particular audience on a particular product, service, or agreement. <S> In these cases, the last thing you want to do is to segment the audience. <S> There is literally no place else for the audience to go. <S> So the use of humor, or any other divisive writing technique is not a good idea in these circumstances. <A> I have, for example, sitting my shelf, a computer programing manual that tries to use some humour. <S> Personally, I think the book would probably be better without it, but it doesn't do any harm and it looks like the author enjoyed himself. <S> However, other texts I have read use humour very effectively. <S> You aren't going to create a load of belly laughs with the audited accounts for the year, but I have listened to commentaries on figures that use humour. <S> It's a bit like graphics on PowerPoint presentations: if they add to the message, make it clearer or more memorable, use them. <S> If they distract the audience, don't. <S> Humour is the same. <A> Humor has very little place in business writing, just like erotica or violence. <S> The reason for this is people are not generally in the frame of mind, when consuming business writing, for anything but what they are trying to learn or understand. <S> Sitting in a club or theater or at home watching TV, they are expecting humor, or erotic love scenes, or fighting. <S> When they are expecting entertainment <S> they will enjoy it and accept it. <S> When they are expecting facts, analysis, conclusions and/or guidance for their business or legal situation, they don't particularly like anything else, it creates cognitive dissonance. <S> That said, the key thing to know about humor is that there is generally an in-group and an out-group defined by a joke. <S> Jokes point out something ridiculous; derived from the word "ridicule. <S> " <S> So many jokes are pointing out something stupid somebody else is doing. <S> The set of people being ridiculed is the out-group, <S> the set of people laughing at the ridicule is the in-group. <S> Jokes tend to be naturally divisive , except in one circumstance: When the person being ridiculed is yourself or your group. <S> That is self-deprecatory humor; <S> e.g. how you are so bad at reading maps <S> it took you ten minutes to figure out this restaurant was next door to your hotel. <S> Otherwise, it can be extremely difficult to be certain that your out-group does not include any members of your audience. <S> So you have to exclude from your joke material anything that you cannot know about your audience, including their personal characteristics, or characteristics of friends they care about. <S> So nothing about sex or homosexuality, religion, disabilities, national origin, prison, politics, and on and on. <S> Further, business writing (like in a book or lesson plan) may be an evergreen essay; <S> so nothing about current events, or cultural references that won't be relevant or understood in ten years. <S> It isn't impossible to find humor in business, but the good spots are rare, and you should avoid ridiculing anybody but yourself, or perhaps your own fictional characters you used for illustration, but even those are not safe: Some of your audience members may be identifying with the Paul the Plumber character you invented, and not appreciate you ridiculing choices they too might have made.
| The risk of using humor in business or technical writing is that it can turn people off even if they are interested in the subject matter. It depends on what you are doing, who your audience is and whether you can do it well. It is not a good idea to start ridiculing members of your audience!
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How to write character to contradict it's values I am having a kind of writers block with a short story... not a writers block in a sense, that the problem is, that I just want to challenge myself. Which methods writers usually use in order to make characters act out of character; and how to build this up quickly (one act in a short story with a three act structure, less than 500 words). In my specific use case, I want my character, a police officer with pacifistic tendencies, to attack his work mate while having a chat during maintenance of their equipment (very everyday situation). Which methods will make the use of violence believable in abstract sense, where the work mate must remain very much innocent for his fate; the act of violence is totally undeserved and caused by double meanings only apparent for the main character and the reader. I have discovered, that using reverse SCARF method would work: Taking away characters Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and perception of Fairness; these usually happen in stories before the character snaps. However, I want to go deeper. What other methods are there for me to discover? <Q> The short answer would be that characters don't act out of character - they act from aspects of their character the reader doesn't know yet. <S> For someone the reader had previously regarded as a pacifist, a sudden act of violence would need a very good reason - or something the character believed (and the reader could believe) was a very good reason. <S> The last of those is a good one to play with. <S> If you want the reader to continue to believe that the character is essentially peaceful, a misunderstanding that was later revealed to be wrong would be a nice way to go. <A> For most people there is a difference between what values they believe in and what values they are able to consistently follow in their life. <S> There are people who believe in a healthy lifestyle, yet can not stop themselves from eating unhealthy junk food from time to time. <S> There are people who believe in the sanctity of marriage, yet succumb to temptation and cheat on their spouse. <S> There are people who believe in fairness and egalitarianism, yet act selfish from time to time. <S> I believe in good work ethics, yet here I am, sitting at work, writing this post which has absolutely nothing to do with my job. <S> Many people strife for a certain ideal version of themselves, but they rarely succeed in achieving it. <S> Everyone encounters situations where they succumb to their emotions and act contrary to their ideals. <S> That's not acting "out of character", <S> that's acting on a character <S> aspect someone tries to suppress, but fails. <S> Emotions are the key here. <S> Something must trigger an intense emotional response in your character, which causes him to act contrary to his pacifist ideals and have a violent outburst. <S> If you want to keep the victim innocent, it must be something which seems quite mundane to the victim, but very important to the perpetrator. <A> Or a possible alternative might be mental illness. <S> I might normally be a pacifist who rescues worms from the street, but if someone seriously threatens the safety of my three year old daughter, perhaps I would be able to pull the trigger on a gun. <S> So you need to build up the passive qualities of your police officer by showing him acting passively in some way right from the beginning. <S> Then you need to demonstrate to the reader a good reason that they can empathise with for him to suddenly behave violently. <S> Was there another, greater, danger that he was ultimately protecting his colleague from? <S> Or did he actually know something about this colleague that made his actions justifiable for the greater good? <S> Or, moving onto mental illness - could he be having hallucinations or breaks with reality that make him believe his colleague is something else <S> - something dangerous?
| You could also play with specific events in the character's past that the reader may or may not know at the time of the contradictory event. The key to this is motivation and circumstances.
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side story breaking off from my main one about side character? Just a general question, but would anyone actually read a side story to my main novel about a side character? He plays a big role in the story actually, but he doesn't get much recognition in the book because it would stray from the plot if I wrote him in with detail. <Q> As all good and bad in this world, it depends on the context of you story and your side character in question. <S> Is it funny? <S> , Is it interesting? <S> Does it give something extra, that is importan for you to tell in the story? <S> Do other people whant to see it? <S> If most of that questions are yes, then maybe (just maybe), it will be a good idea to make more strories about the side character, as many have said, some side characters steal the show because how interesting they seem, and we whant to know more of them. <S> Or maybe they past is some how important to our current situation, (just ask the prequels of Star Wars that are made to explain who Dark Vader is). <S> At the end, if you are not interesting in the story of said character, and you are only writing more and more random thought over a character that you don´t actually care, the result of not doing something you care or love is ofter pure garbage. <S> If YOU think you should doit, go ahead, if you can make that character improve and mean something more to your story that just being a face in the background, sure then, go ahead. <S> At the end, the choice is yours, but you must make it. <A> I would think so, but it depends on if he ends up dead in the main novel. <S> If he survives, a "bonus chapter" after the main novel (I wouldn't call it an epilogue) could be "Alfred's Awesome African Adventure" or whatever. <S> Especially if he is off the stage well before the end of the book, and you think readers like him. <S> A good meal warrants a good dessert! <A> Side stories in novels are actually real things, and I believe from my own writing experience that they are called vignettes. <S> The only example of that I can find is in the novel Whirligig by Paul Fleishman, where the perspective switches to side characters that are somewhat affected by the main character, Brent. <S> I hope this helps. <S> Happy experimenting!
| I'm pretty sure that writing about a side character in the same novel is doable, as long as it helps develop some sort of point or gives a better outlook on what happened.
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Is there a YouTube for writers? Basically a way to share manuscripts on social media The title explains it. I'm looking for a place to post my writing and easily share it onto Facebook or Twitter. I know there are A LOT of websites, but it seems like there are too many. I'm looking to share chapters from a book I plan on writing, or even parts of a chapter. What are some of the best ones to use? <Q> What distinguishes YouTube is not the number of contributors, though that is huge, and essential to its success, but the number of viewers, which is extraordinarily large. <S> What makes a content platform is always its appeal to consumers. <S> For any content platform, the primary appeal to producers is that it has a lot of consumers. <S> YouTube is a great platform for consuming short videos. <S> There is a huge appetite for short videos, but mostly for technical communication (how to do stuff) and music. <S> The platform for long videos is not YouTube (though they seem to by trying), it is Netflix. <S> Viewing YouTube is all about short experiences and frequent shifts. <S> It works well in a browser or on a phone. <S> Viewing NetFlix is all about sitting back on the couch with a box of popcorn to watch a movie on a big screen. <S> It is a different experience requiring a different platform. <S> In the book world, the nearest equivalent platform to Netflix is Kindle. <S> They are both about the long-form sit back and enjoy experience. <S> There is no market for short fiction. <S> There hasn't been one for decades, not since the demise of the classic family magazine market. <S> Short stories are now apprentice pieces sold for no money to enthusiast magazines and webzines that no one reads. <S> Thus there is no role for a short-form fiction exchange the way there is a role for a short form largely non-fiction video service like YouTube. <S> And the YouTube model is not the right one for long form content of any kind. <S> Finally, there is no need for a similar platform for most forms of short-form non-fiction writing (technical communication, marketing) because Google provides all the navigation you need to find that stuff. <S> There is, however, a platform for a particular kind of short form non-fiction: questions and answers. <S> You are using it now. <S> Stack Exchange is probably the closest analog we have to YouTube for textual content. <A> If you just want to share your work for people to read (as opposed to give you feedback on), then your best bet is a blog. <S> Wordpress is the most popular, but is not necessarily as intuitive as they make out. <S> However, the ease of connecting with other people probably makes it your best best. <S> If you don't like it you could try Blogger . <A> I have been searching for a long time to find such a site that was actually good, but I've failed. <S> It seems most of them are either for professionals (people who already have books published) or are for amateur teens who claim their rewrites of Twilight and Divergent are "original <S> " There was this one place, <S> Figment, that was alright. <S> I heard it's shutting down this year <S> and they're rebooting it. <S> It was okay enough. <S> You could post your work and get reviews and chat about writing in the forums. <S> However, it was difficult to get attention for your work unless you a) were super popular b) managed to become your own graphic designer and create the best freaking cover ever! <S> I would suggest looking into that <S> and then what comes out after its shut down and remade. <S> Although it had its flaws, it was pretty casual and there were no strict rules for who could/couldn't post. <A> I don't use the platform myself, but for what I can see, it allows you to upload chapters of your book up to the full book, give a cover and some metadata, and share it with the community. <S> Everybody can read your text and comment snippets of it, creating engagement with the community members - this I believe is the nicest feature. <S> You can browse books by genre, and see statistics for each one (reads, likes, lists in which it's included, etc.) <S> Every language has its own community, so you can easily share your book to the specific audience of your language. <S> It's not english-only. <S> Sometimes you read articles in the newspapers about writers who signed deals with publishers after receiving many views on Wattpad, so this gives some promotional push to the website. <S> Reading your question, I believe that is as close as you can get to something like YouTube. <A> There's forums, where you can post excerpts of your work for critique, there's Figment, which is merging with a service called Underlined, there's DeviantArt, which is mostly for artists, and not exclusively (and harder to upload work) for writers, and there's Wattpad. <S> All of those options have their advantages and disadvantages. <S> Wattpad is very fan fiction focused. <S> Figment is very reliant on having to give feedback to others before getting any good feedback. <S> Deviant Art is harder for writers to upload work to than it is for the illustrators and digital artists it was created for, <S> And the forums are spotty with feedback and not always accommodating to newer members. <S> As for my offer to create a service that would allow users to get feedback for their writing and such, it's very much just an idea at the moment; as there's already a lot of services that offer the same sort of thing. <S> However, having used a good lot of those services, none them really worked well, except for one that doesn't exist anymore. <S> So, to answer your question, there's services which writers can use to share their work and get feedback, but not a lot of good ones, and even the good ones <S> aren't that good.
| Not sure if the reference to youtube means you're after something video based, but if not, then I think Scribophile is one of the best online places to share work for feedback: https://www.scribophile.com/ For sharing it onto Facebook or Twitter, if you mean for publicity purposes, Hootsuite is a good platform where you can schedule updates for multiple feeds from a single place. It sounds like you're looking for Wattpad ( https://www.wattpad.com/home )
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What is the best way to test two version of chapter 1? Here I ask/discuss some feedback I have gotten about my chapter 1. After attending a different/second writers' critique group, I was sufficiently motivated to try to write chapter 1 with multiple characters (instead of one guy on a mountain) and with the use of dialog, and I introduced 'court intrigue." I groaned the whole time, but I did it. (I resisted adding any explosions.) I am now curious the best way to get feedback on these two alternate chapter 1's. I am told Chapter 1 is the most important. Should I find an online site? this is very uncontrolled. Should I ask my family? They want to say what I want to hear. Should I just give it time and trust my heart and save the other? What resources would you recommend to compare two versions of a chapter? I am new to fiction. Edit: I have the first draft of the novel done. I am halfway through the first revision. I have asked writing groups to read the beginning, since this is what must pop, for readers. <Q> But why would one want to publish a book that was not finished yet?Believe <S> me, there definitely will be more versions than 2. <S> And readers will not read the same first chapters like 10 times. <S> Just write it your way, "haters gonna hate". <S> If you really need feedback- just find an experienced editor. <A> My recommendation would be to continue going to the writers' group. <S> You will learn so much about the story while writing the rest, that the first chapter may drastically change anyway. <S> Online sites are not 'very uncontrolled' - it really depends which one you go to. <S> Some of them have excellent critiquers who will give you very detailed and useful feedback. <S> Scribophile is my favourite. <S> I tend to avoid asking family for feedback. <S> They're not writers, and as you say, they are unlikely to give you honest constructive feedback. <S> To a certain extent you need to trust your heart - and you should certainly save the original. <S> If you really love it better then the rewrite, then you should go with that, not write something a certain way because someone else tells you to. <S> However, I return to my original point, which is that all of this is irrelevant until you've finished writing the entire novel. <S> Once you've written 100,000 words or so you will be better placed to judge which is better for yourself. <S> You can also learn more about good writing from various books, websites and of course writing groups. <S> Here are some of my favourite resources: <S> Websites: http://www.crackingyarns.com.au/ (about scriptwriting, not novels, but essentially about how to write a moving story) <S> https://www.novel-software.com/novelwritingroadmap <S> (a step by step guide to writing a novel for those new to fiction - disclosure, this is my site) <S> Books: Getting into character by Brandilyn Collins <S> Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain Plot and Structure by <S> James Scott Bell <S> Good luck on your writing journey! <A> As others have said, try not to dwell on the opening, write your story and deal with the niggles once you have a substantial story. <S> Personally if I'm stuck on the first chapter I will go and write the next two or three or so chapters and, if that first chapter still fits, I'll leave it and move on. <S> The main thing is to not get too hung up on a first draft. <S> Changes are gonna come along regardless of how long you spend thinking over the finite details of plot. <S> I've planned a novel before, and the story normally changes from the original plan, I normally plan out very little of my novels these days, because that way when the characters surprise me by doing something I didn't expect them to, it's as new for me as though I were reading it for pleasure. <S> In conclusion, if you really want feedback on which opening works better for your story, take the advice given by NovelFactory and have a look at Scribophile etc...
| However, rather than dwelling too much on the first chapter, you should get on with writing the rest of the novel.
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New story in 'same universe'. When is it a sequel? How to title? This is a two-part question, and I hope that's okay. 1. Would it classify as a sequel I've created a 'universe' in which one main story takes place so far. This will presumably be my first book. It would classify as a sci-fi universe and it is mostly ours (on earth) with a slight twist. The twist could in fact simply be unknown to most people on the planet. While writing the first book - still underways as I write this - I've gotten an idea for another story in the same universe. These two books would share the slight twist which makes the universe unique, but the stories share no characters, locations or plots, so far (The second book is only sketched out a bit), and I doubt they will. It would, in theory, be possible for some characters to reappear in the second, but there doesn't seem to be a need for it. The second book would explore other sides of the universe and have the characters go through different quests, dilemmas and so on. So, would the second book classify as a sequel from the description I've given so far, or would it be something else? 2. Would a shared title be appropriate So far I'm counting on having a shared title and a sub-title like this The Universe - Title of /the focus of book 1 - The Universe - Title of /the focus of book 2 - I'm unsure about whether this would be helpful or confusing to readers or fans of the works. If it makes it seem like a sequel even if it isn't, I would probably change that. I guess an example comes to mind that is comparable; The Hobbit vs LOTR. <Q> Taking your question on its face, I'd say: <S> No, it's not a sequel, but a shared title would be appropriate. <S> What classifies as a sequel? <S> a published, broadcast, or recorded work that continues the story or develops the theme of an earlier one. <S> That's straight from the dictionary. <S> In your question, you state: the stories share no characters, locations or plots, so far <S> It certainly doesn't smell like a sequel, even though it's set in the same universe. <S> Take the Star Wars universe, for example (except, obviously, The Phantom Menace). <S> There's a ton of shoot-offs from the movies: books, films, guides, games, etc. <S> If you watch, read, or play them, you'd classify very few as sequels, because the main plot and developing characters of each story are different. <S> So I think it comes down to development . <S> Are you further developing a plot, theme, or characters from the previous book? <S> It doesn't sound like you are. <A> You are overthinking this, and getting out ahead of yourself. <S> If your first book is a hit, your publisher will like insist on marketing the second as a sequel if it has any relationship to the first at all. <S> If not, you'll be able to position it as you wish. <S> However, there's some advantage to signalling the audience that this is a shared world --audiences like the familiar, and it gives them the sense that their investment in your universe is worth something. <S> Just a few examples of books with widely different settings, characters and moods, and sometimes even historical eras, that were successfully linked largely just via a shared universe include Andre Norton's Witch World books, Diana Wynne Jones' Dalemark Quartet, Robin McKinley's Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown, and <S> Susan Coopers' Dark is Rising sequence. <A> Currently doing this as well, and I have certain cues that are incidental to the stories but are shared. <S> For example, the two current works I have use the same (fictional) President of the United States, who is referred to at different points in the narrative. <S> There are also a few plot devices that work the same way and are shared between verses that drive the plot (scifi as well) and there may be passing references to major events in other books. <S> When considering the shared universe, I'd show you two uses that worked. <S> First, at it's height in the 90s, Star Trek had two separate Television shows and a movie franchise in various production. <S> If you nerd out enough, you can find a link between the three different series (An episode of DS9 makes reference to the recent Borg activity in one movie and the change in uniform style. <S> A later episode would also refer to the enemy action of the villains in the next movie and their alliance with the current villains of the series. <S> Voyager would also feature a reference to the uniform change and the villains of the TV series and set their Borg episode to coincide with the use of the Borg in one of the movies). <S> In another example, the Marvel Cinimatic Universe, in it's initial beginnings, would often include related footage from other movies to establish it's timeline. <S> If you watch closely enough, you can determine that the events of "The Incredible Hulk", "Iron Man 2", "Thor", and the opening and ending sequences of "Captain America: The First Avenger" all take place within a week of each other in universe. <S> Again, if you are not looking for these events, it's missed and just a little flavor for the viewers willing to look for it. <S> These were done at a time where the interconnection of the movies was something new to the film industry and a critical and financial failure of any of them <S> would cause the whole thing to crumble... <S> the movies couldn't support having the actors meet in big scenes for long, but could show them in other areas doing their own thing. <S> Basically, start small and give enough of the connection that readers of both books can say "ooh, they exist together" but don't force the issue right away.
| So I think it's safe to say it's in-universe ( thus, safe to market it as part of the same universe via the title prefix ), but not a sequel.
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How can I improve my grammar? I feel like I have learned everything I know about Grammar by osmosis. I don't remember learning any of the technicalities of Grammar when I was at school and it has always been a weak area. I think one of my biggest problems is mixing tense, but I feel reluctant to attempt to do any creative writing whilst my grammar is so poor. I find it to be demoralising and would love to find a good learning plan to finally sort it out. What are some good ways of learning Grammar as an adult when combined with creative writing? I feel like I could pick up a book and improve but without any feedback or guidance from somebody who knows better I feel like it would not be enough. Ideally I would like somebody who could create a learning plan, and to guide and review any writing I produce. That way I could improve by reading and writing whilst getting good feedback along the way. Are there any reasonably priced ways of getting guidance from a teacher or tutor with creative writing in general and more specifically with regards to improving grammar? <Q> My main piece of advice would be: Read. <S> What should you read? <S> Anything that interests you, as long as it's reputable. <S> Novels, news stories, short stories, textbooks, well-received Stack Exchange questions/answers, etc--anything that's been under the scrutiny of a good editor. <S> Experience the English language in its written form whenever you can. <S> You'll find that your writing will soon change, as will the way you talk and think. <S> EDIT <S> : I know my old English professor would berate me if I didn't at least mention Strunk and White's <S> The Elements of Style . <S> It's come under criticism in recent years, but it's still a solid choice for educating yourself on writing in the English language. <S> Just don't view it as the letter of the law. <S> In the words of a much wiser man than I: The Elements of Style are more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules. <S> * <S> - Joshamee Gibbs <S> * Abridged <A> To improve your grammar you could look at the numerous English learning sites. <S> Many of them have interactive exercises so that you can immediately test your understanding. <S> Personally, I recommend a German-based site for my students, but your particular needs may be different. <S> To check your writing <S> you can you the free version of Grammarly or ProWriting tools, or download or use online the completely free L anguage Tool . <S> Of course, these tools aren't perfect, but the explanations can be very useful. <S> There are a huge number of phone apps available to help you improve your grammar. <S> Here is a rundown on some of them. <A> However, it is not enough. <S> Reading is a passive form of learning. <S> Write and edit Write a lot. <S> Then edit a lot. <S> Focus on grammar when you edit. <S> Work with a proofreader and an editor <S> I found that working with people who can show me my mistakes and, especially, their patterns is extremely helpful. <S> Following their advice, it is possible to focus on problematic areas while still being productive and enjoying writing. <S> Teach grammar <S> Teaching is an excellent way to learn something. <S> It may sound counterintuitive but in order to teach, you have to understand the material really well. <S> If you want a more formalised approach, I would suggest using ESL grammar textbooks. <S> They usually include detailed explanations of grammar points from basic to the finest and exercises to practise them. <S> They also may provide information on differences between various dialects of English which you can later incorporate into your writing.
| Active practice is essential for acquiring any skills, including grammar. As The Spartan wrote, reading is important .
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How to do reference jokes right? There is a problem with reference jokes in general, and I just couldn't figure out a solution to them. Here's a demonstration: "Watch your step, there could be even more of these." "More?" ████ was still puzzled. "We haven't encountered any actual defense ever since we entered. No patrols, nor gun turrets, just lava pits. "Are you even surprised, anon?" ████ casually scoffed. "I thought that you'd notice this pattern and style, that this whole place was likely built by Kevin." "What Kevin?"████ asked. "This place is the result of asking a torturer to make a fortress for you." said ████. "Go figure." But what if the reader was lucky enough to miss Home Alone ? Then the reference wouldn't convey. So, what can I do to minimalize the loss of humorousness of a joke, in case if the reader is not familiar with the source material? <Q> When telling a subtle joke, always provide your reader with enough details to research your allusion if they want to... "Watch your step, there could be even more of these." <S> "More?" <S> ████ was still puzzled. <S> "We haven't encountered any actual defense ever since we entered. <S> No patrols, nor gun turrets, just lava pits. <S> "Are you even surprised, anon?" <S> ████ casually scoffed. <S> "I thought that you'd notice this pattern and style, that this whole place was likely built by Kevin." <S> "What's a Kevin?" <S> ████ thought. <S> Considered asking, then remembered. <S> The ancient 20th century training file about home protection and guerrilla tactics. <S> The one about that child prodigy with the sadistic streak. <S> Re-assessing their surroundings with a new, more cautious eye, ████ marveled. <S> "This is what happens when a torturer tries to make fortress. <S> Go figure." <S> Also, make sure that you reward your reader for their research, their existing knowledge (or even just their understanding of the joke in-context). <S> Now that a "Kevin" is a synonym for sadistic guerrilla defenses, reuse the term later in the story, in a situation where it foreshadows an otherwise obscure upcoming event. <S> Returning to the others with mischief in his eyes, ████ smiled as he let them in on his recent activities, "Here comes Kevin!" <S> Then the explosions rocked the enemy camp from all sides. <A> This is a basic problem with any allusion, the audience needs to understand the reference to get the full impact. <S> If you have a narrowly targeted audience, and you aren't worried about your piece aging, you can go full on with contemporary allusions. <S> Or, you can go the opposite route, and not include any allusions at all. <S> This also helps keep your story from feeling like a jokey parody, which is especially a danger if there's no legitimate reason the characters should know the allusions. <S> Even Ready Player One , which built its entire plot around a plausible reason people in the future might study 80's pop culture, flirted with that danger in a way that makes it unlikely to age well. <S> The trade-off is between appealing to the audience that shares your references, and missing the one that doesn't. <S> Ultimately, all you can do is try to make the rest of the work strong enough that a few missed allusions won't kill it. <S> We still read Plato's dialogues, even though we miss all of his witty pop-culture references . <A> My opinion--no harm, no foul. <S> Right? <S> You go ahead and drop those allusions in there! <S> If the allusion carries the action anyway? <S> Why not?! <S> Listen, man... <S> I've got a manuscript that has 437 reference jokes/allusions. <S> Serious! <S> And, to be one hunny honest-- <S> the people I've had read the story haven't gotten many of them. <S> Maybe a .01 return on the investment. <S> I don't care. <S> The people like the story! <S> They're oblivious to my print version of the Family Guy approach, with a side reference lurking around every setting/scene and I am not bothered by it in the least. <S> Here's <S> my bottom line get down: <S> I regard my reference jokes as 'easter eggs'. <S> They are NOT necessary, but what delightful little surprises for the rare mind that aligns with my sense of humor. <S> Example of an unkillbilly reference joke: <S> In one story, I have a crew of US Army special forces trainees practicing HALO jumps in the Arizona desert take the names of the Space Marines in the movie "Aliens". <S> With a bit of a switch in spelling, we have: Hacks for Hicks, Hutson for Hudson, Vasquoz for Vasquez... <S> Hahaha. <S> I know, NOT a knee slapper. <S> But, for the people who do get it? <S> Priceless. <S> And when the net you cast is 437 references strong... <S> you're gonna catch a few. <S> If you must, think about it as a marketing strategy. <S> Something for the Fan Club to obsess over. <S> "Oh, I found another unkillbilly side reference!"
| If you want to walk a middle path, you should probably be sparing with your allusions, add a little in-story context where appropriate, and stick with more universal general-knowledge allusions where you can.
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Writing garbage to see if the characters do something interesting? I need a change ~ 80% of the way through my story. At the moment, I'm just throwing my characters into different combinations and seeing if they come up with anything interesting. Two of my characters don't want to talk at all. I threw them together, and they started yelling. On the one hand I think they should yell at each other so the reader understands their history better. On the other hand, they didn't want to be standing next to each other. But I forced it. ( Edit/update: The argument those characters had is not in the final draft, but one scene was heavily influenced by this exercise, and I had good insight into the secondary character because of it.) Question: Is writing garbage (and then righting the garbage) a valid approach to creating? <Q> Is written garbage better than leaving the page blank? <S> Infinitely! <S> Does every page you write need to be part of your novel? <S> No! <S> If you are seeing weaknesses in the structure of your story, and you know what you need to create to strengthen it, then that is what you should write. <S> Garbage writing is experimentation. <S> If it works, great! <S> If not... nobody ever needs to know that that horrible scene ever existed. <S> That is why we call it garbage... <S> to prepare it for its most likely final resting place. <A> Something I've learned as a programmer that translates directly to writing is that quite a lot of what you write will not make it to the final product, and you have to be OK with that. <S> A lot of writing is for your own personal learning or exploration. <S> If that weren't true, we'd all just publish our first drafts and have done with it. <S> So don't call it "garbage. <S> " <S> If it isn't your final draft, then it's just another piece of non-final writing, and quite possibly as essential to the end product as is anything else. <A> Yes using characters to create a story on-the-fly as you described is a valid way to write and create. <S> The longer answer: <S> In Improv Theatre (or just improv for short) a similar technique is used all the time. <S> In Improv Theatre there are many ways to create a story (or scene) and two popular ways of creating a story are: to focus on the "what" (i.e. something happened, an event like dinosaurs escaping) to focus on the "character" When you focus on the "character" to create the story/scene: develop a robust character in your mind watch the scene for an appropriate time to enter when you enter the scene, all your decisions/actions are driven by your character <S> The story/scene is then created. <S> And in a way the story/scene is created by the character on the fly. <S> Similar to how you proposed "writing garbage". <S> Additionally I will add that the improv group The Second City does many scenes before the show. <S> Picks the best ones. <S> Refines those scenes. <S> Then presents the best ones in their show. <S> The steps Second City takes to get good product would be similar to your writing style where you spend lots of time writing... <S> and then you pick the best writing and refine that writing to get good writing. <A> I do it. <S> In my current writing project, which I started some months ago, I had this image in my head that at the end of ACT I, character A was going to seek out character B for some help. <S> The twist is, character A is a professional killer, and B knows of him and is terrified of him, so A has to convince B <S> he is not there to kill him, and actually needs his help, and so forth. <S> I don't write outlines, so my characters were ill defined, but the first scene I wrote was this meeting. <S> Which helped me define the characters. <S> I liked some of that, but even when I had fixed everything I could, it wasn't great, because I had to load too much into exposition or dialogue explanation in order to make it all work. <S> That scene helped me figure out what had to come first in the first Act. <S> So I wrote that, all the way up to the meeting scene. <S> Then 90% of that was useless, I rewrote the meeting scene, with the foundation of five scenes before it, and now it flows smooth. <S> It isn't too loaded, and as it turns out, B is not that terrified of A after all, because A got some advice from another character earlier in ACT I, specifically because it would have been too stupid of him to approach B cold. <S> So the first thing I wrote, and had to get on paper, was mostly garbage, but helped me better understand who A and B are and why B would help A, and what must have happened before this. <S> It is still the turning point scene in Act I, just not as I originally imagined it. <S> A still has a problem, B can solve it with some risk to himself, and B (in this particular case) realizes he really wants A to succeed. <A> What you are talking is reminiscent of surrealist automatism . <S> In that case it is not considered "garbage" but letting go of the conscious process of creation, to replace it by "whatever comes up". <S> If that's what you're seeking to achieve you are likely in good company. <S> On the other end of the spectrum, there is the 100% logical and rational approach of printers and graphic designers who use pseudo-text as placeholders. <S> This is called lorem ipsum . <S> In that case, you can have the computer generate the pseudo-text for you, with the stated no of characters for your chapter. <S> Then you could go ahead a replace it with your real composition.
| If you see the weakness but don't know how to fix it, writing is still the answer, but you need to write without making any promises (to yourself or your characters) that what comes out is going to be a part of the final story.
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Writing a first-person novel where the MC gets temporarily taken out of commission? I've decided that this novel would work best as a first person POV, and I generally wouldn't like to give that up. However, toward the end of the book, there's a series of scenes where the main character is helpless and unable to trust his own sensory experience, and it's up to his friends to save the day. Given that he won't be able to see or (at the moment) understand how his friend is helping him, I'd like to switch POVs, but I'm not sure that the complexity or theme of my novel is upright or self-conscious enough to support that kind of jarring experience for the reader. I could just leave it all in first-person as an introspective, and have the friend explain afterward how he saved him, but since the MC is possessed at the time, I'd like to be able to show the reader what the experience is like for his friends as well. <Q> Yes, but the possessor changes the MC's sensory experience <S> so drastically from what's actually there that it would be impossible for the reader to tell what's happening in the 'real' world. <S> You may consider narrating his warped sensory experience nonetheless. <S> Aside from being an interesting writing exercise, it serves your point. <S> If your readers are used to having his POV, they will follow you no matter what. <S> Maybe your MC start seeing the word in a completely different, unexplicable way, but it's a great chance to give the reader a feel of how the possession is like. <S> As you noted, it may be impossible to give a detailed account of what is happening in the real world. <S> This is true. <S> My suggestion is: start writing the things from the MC point of view, and then consider pairing up those descriptions with a 3rd person narrator which explains what's happening, as Sara suggested. <S> If done well, this should provide emotional value and a precise account of the facts. <S> Imho <S> this is the best compromise, since you don't want to switch to the POV of another character entirely. <S> You could also use a bit of the third option - have the friend explain afterward - to fill in the gaps after the facts, or add shock value (eg. <S> "Where's Jon?" <S> "You severed his head, barehanded"). <A> I'd further suggest keeping the third person narrator as either limited to the main character (as a sort of out of body experience) or as an omniscient narrator (but as impartial and objective as possible). <S> I know you said you feel the story is not literarily deep enough or emotionally charged to merit such a change, but I do believe this is the best option regardless because you avoid the jarring experience of having a new POV in 1st person. <S> Moreover, it will always be a bit jarring to get out of first person, but since the possession is jarring in itself to the narrator, it might just work. <S> I also think it will work best if the 3rd person narration is encased in a separate chapter of its own and if the tone is dispassionate, or at least clearly different from the normal tone. <S> This should underline how lost the main character is, overcome by the possession, and thus requiring an alternative narrator that, in a way, also possesses (or takes over) the rightful narrator. <A> I think the main issue here is how much do you want to front load the success or failure of the outcome. <S> If you are in standard third person then most readers can assume that you character survives the story and is here to tell it to us. <S> This can obviously be subverted but it's not in most cases. <S> If you let the friends explain what happen, then you begin by telling the reader that things worked out. <S> Considering this is the main climax of the story you may not want to tell it <S> is "everything worked out, <S> here is how..." <S> Your advantage though is <S> if you are in the past tense is that you can just narrate with future knowledge. <S> This is a slightly different style and I do not know if you are already doing it <S> "I punched Frank in the face, it was the biggest mistake of my life" <S> So if you are OK with future knowledge you can simply begin the section with, "I was unconscious for the following events, and was only told them later" and then just go through everything as it happen just describing it in third person. <S> Maybe once in a while toss in the characters wrong perception of the situation as well. <S> "Jamie had to keep me calm as I rambled about the big red ball. <S> Ironically the ball is the only thing that I remember"
| Since the character becomes possessed and it becomes impossible to follow his POV with a 1st person narrator, I'd suggest switching not to a different character, while maintaining the 1st person, but to a 3rd person narrator.
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How much per page? Is this a ripoff? I have a friend who has almost completed a book. She belongs to a local writer's group, and has told me a person in this group that bills themselves as an editor says they can edit her work for $300 per page. If I'm wrong, I apologize to the editors out there (I aspire to be one myself one day), but even half of that seems awfully high. It seems they've priced themselves so that they'll clean up even if they get negotiated down. Also, this person has said things that lead me to believe their skillset is closer to being a proofreader rather than an editor. Am I crazy for thinking writer's groups can be rife with opportunists trawling for pidgeons like my friend to take advantage of? <Q> A 100,000 word manuscript in standard format would be 400 pages long. <S> At $300/page, the cost for this editor would be $120,000. <S> Yuh. <S> That's high. <A> Here is the data from the USA Bureau of Labor Statistics for the wages of a Proofreader , the median wage is $19.06 per hour. <S> Their job description is: Read transcript or proof type setup to detect and mark for correction any grammatical, typographical, or compositional errors. <S> For an Editor, the average wage is $31.77 per hour. <S> Job description: <S> Plan, coordinate, or edit content of material for publication. <S> May review proposals and drafts for possible publication. <S> Includes technical editors. <S> Finally, here is a link that supports the industry rule of thumb in editing, that professionals can edit Six pages per hour. <S> I would bet proofreading is twice that rate. <S> Put these figures together, and the COST of their proofreading is about $1.60 per page, and the COST of full professional editor work is about $5.30 per page. <S> How much profit they should earn beyond pay is a matter of opinion, but I generally think for a business owner you should about double the price of the salary. <S> $3.20 per page for good professional proofreading, and $10.60 for good professional editing. <S> I would not stray far from that. <S> Also, I would ask them if you can pay for perhaps the first 20 pages, unconditionally, in order to see the value of what you are buying. <S> Before you drop $1280 or $4240 on it. <A> At the seminar I recently attended I was told that any legitimate editor would edit the first 10 pages for free, so that you can decide if you want to use their services. <S> This was reiterated, don't go with an editor that won't give you a free sample. <S> Those are scam artists, according to this group discussion. <S> But, you can send the first 10 - 20 pages to a bunch of editors, get free sample work from some, and then decide who to go with at their cost. <S> 300 per page is not correct. <A> You're not crazy - it happens, but this sounds particularly odd. <S> Some likely possibilities : 1) <S> As Dale suggested, the price was misheard - it was either $3.00 per page, or $300 for the lot (which could be a bargain at "mates' rates" since they're part of the same group, or because the person is just starting as an editor). <S> 2) <S> The "editor" is naive about editors rates, which suggests they're not experienced (and probably not competent) as an editor. <S> 3) <S> The "editor" is a charlatan, but is also incompetent at that (any decent crook will pitch their "work" at something approaching the going rate). <S> As with any financial arrangement, comparing at least three independent quotes and seeking at least two professional references would be the way to go. <S> And get everything in writing - especially dates when manuscripts were sent. <S> Your friend (if she chose this "editor") would be handing over her intellectual property to someone who seems at best unfamiliar with the business.
| I'm guessing that your friend heard the editor's fee incorrectly, and it's closer to $3.00 per page.
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Is it necessary to use words like "said", "asked," etc in dialog? I am writing a novel. I'm not sure if the below sentence structure is correct. I have not used any word like said/replied/asked. He was looking at the painting. “You do not have to believe me. I will bring the guns. You will bring money. Simple.” He left the room once the conversation was over. In most novels, I see excessive use of "said" and asked, is my structure correct or do I have to use those words? An example from any novel would be a bonus. <Q> No. <S> They are often left off, if the context makes it clear who is talking. <S> If I only have Mike and Nancy in a scene: <S> "I had ice cream at lunch," Mike said. <S> "I thought we agreed we would have it together?" <S> "I just forgot." <S> "Okay," Nancy said, "Thanks for thinking about me." <S> Typically don't go too far without attributions, no more than two or three lines of dialogue. <S> Even with just two characters speaking, a reader can get confused as to who is speaking, and you do not want them to have to stop and count, <S> like "this is Alan, then Betty, then Alan, then Betty, ... <S> oh this is <S> Alan saying 'No' <S> and Betty says 'Yes you will' ... <S> " <S> Another way to make attributions is by camera focus. <S> If a character does something, and speech follows, the reader assumes that character spoke. <S> Betty rolled her eyes. <S> "You have to be kidding me." <S> John stopped at the top of the stairs and stopped to lean on the wall and catch a breath. <S> "When I was a kid I'd run up these stairs three at a time." <S> That said, readers are so accustomed to "Alan said", "Betty said", "Charlie said" that these register to anchor speech to character nearly subconsciously, the text does not bother them. <S> So you should always put it anywhere <S> the speaker isn't clear, it isn't going to interrupt your reader's attention or imagery. <S> If there are more than two speakers in the scene, that is on every utterance. <S> If you have just one person speaking, like telling a story, you can break that into paragraphs without any "she continued" or "she went on" or anything at all. <S> Just leave the closing quote off of a leading paragraph, and add a new opening quote on the next, and that means it is the same speaker. <S> Do the same thing to start another paragraph with the same speaker. <S> Add the closing quote to the final paragraph. <A> This is entirely a matter of preference. <S> The choice of how and when to convey information to the reader is important, and will help to clarify your Authorial Voice . <S> Personally, I agree that it's too easy to overuse. <S> It can be a crutch for some writers, and makes the work feel repetitive. <S> It also forces weaker writers to Google synonyms for "said," as I just did, just so they can inject it into their work to add variety. <A> It is necessary to use them, yes. <S> It will be tedious if you use them too much. <S> So, use them. <S> Use them where you think you should, leave them off where you don't want them. <S> Go away from your writing, come back days later, and see if you can follow who is speaking. <S> I would avoid too many alternatives to 'said' (exhorted, complained, yelled, etc) because they become tedious. <S> I know a writer who tries to use a different one every time <S> and we all tell him to stop it. <S> None of us like it. <S> But, some are very useful. <S> I like 'interjected' (a lot) but wouldn't use it more than once or twice in an entire novel. <A> I like what you did there. <S> Looking at the painting made it clear in the relevant paragraph that "he" was speaking. <S> I'm a big fan of this approach myself. <S> A whole bunch of "he said", "she said" looks excessive quite soon, and trawling for different ways of saying "said" can look contrived and possibly comical - Conan Doyle and Rice Burroughs were buggers for this (eg. ' "Holmes!" <S> Watson ejaculated, '). <S> Apologies for the image.
| You should, I think, use them - sometimes.
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Is it OK to introduce a character to leave it simmering to a later date? One of my secondary characters is going to play an important part, more important than at present, in the story. Is it OK to introduce him, make the reader love him, and then leave him behind til a much later appearance? Just sort of drop him off the plot and leave him simmering? The character plays an important role at the beginning of the story and even if he has responsibilities and a plan of his own, is willing to sacrifice those plans to save the heroes. He ends up not having to sacrifice much, and is still able, while helping the heroes, to go do his thing. <Q> I've read a lot of novels were a very likeable character is introduced just to vanish and reappear at another time. <S> It's pretty normal; after all, you have to tell a story, and in most stories, not everyone is present anytime. <S> In the Fellowship of the ring, for istance, Gandalf is away for quite some time. <S> He has other business. <S> Funnily enough, Tolkien did this in the hobbit too. <S> Same things happens - maybe even more - in the Harry Potter's series. <S> Dumbledore, for instance, is introduced in the very first chapters but seldomly appears until he takes a major role at the end of the series. <S> The critical part of your question, imho, is "making the reader love someone". <S> You don't really control that. <S> You may make a character likeable for a way or another, but different readers will have different favorites depending on personal taste. <S> Also, the first appearance should be reasonably long, or else your audience won't probably remember the character existed in the first place (i'm exagerating, of course). <A> If the readers already love him, it will be important to have a plausible reason for why he's not around at the moment (Law shows set in New York seem to have the meme that someone is "in London" - a trick they apply with varying levels of plausibility). <S> Other characters might mention his absence, and when he comes back, readers will also want to know what he's been doing. <S> It's OK. <S> (With the usual Writers caveat of <S> If It's Done Well). <A> It's fine to introduce characters, but not use them right away. <S> However, you'll have to be really careful with it. <S> The more detailed your description of the character, the more the readers will expect for him/her to have a bigger role in your story. <S> Giving detailed descriptions to characters who don't do anything can peeve your readers in the long-run. <S> They may have been expecting that character to do something significant, and then may be really confused and disappointed when the character doesn't amount to anything by the time they've read the whole book. <S> If this is your intention, I suppose it's a good thing, but it will most likely just cause confusion. <S> If readers have forgotten about the character, they will be expecting a description for when he pops up next, and be really puzzled when they can't find any. <S> They'll wonder, "Who the hell is this person now? <S> Where did they come from? <S> Was I supposed to remember them from before?" <A> It can be done. <S> If I were doing this, I'd use a character with some skill set that doesn't apply for most of the book; my break-in specialist, the dragon tamer, the assassin, a pilot, etc. <S> So it makes sense when they appear first, and second, and why they are gone and what they are doing when off screen. <S> For example the pilot flies my characters to their destination, then shows up at the end piloting the helicopter that saves them. <S> It would help if it is possible for the other characters to mention this person a few times in the book, to remind readers of their presence in the world. <S> You say they will play an important part later: Be wary, you don't want your plot to be apparently resolved by a deus ex machina bookended-in character <S> , it should be resolved by the main character's ingenuity, courage, insight and sacrifice. <S> If your fun character is really the swashbuckling hero of the story, I would find that unsatisfying; a hero that appears in the first 50 pages, disappears, and shows up again in the last 50 pages for the final battles. <A> Perfectly doable. <S> Consider the upcoming Marvel Movie "Black Panther." <S> The hero and at least two of the other lead characters were introduced in 2016, two years (and five years) before his movie's debut. <S> And before that, the film's villain was introduced 3 years (and seven movies) before his movie's debut. <S> If you want to really split hairs, the first element of anything related to the Black Panther (The Vibranium metal) was first introduced 7 years (13 movies) before that, with Captain America's shield. <S> For full disclosure, Black Panther was one of the "Original Eight" planned films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so they film makers new it was going to come around eventually. <S> I would always say if you know the guy is going to be important later, introduce him early, especially if his return is a surprise. <S> I find elements like this are vitally important, because they add to a "reread" factor where the new nature of the item or character being introduced can be seen in two different lights (one without the knowledge and one with). <S> For some fans, it helps introducing other fans because you can take a special joy watching them see the reveal. <S> For fun with this, go to youtube and look for footage of parents who film their kids watching "Star Wars: <S> The Empire Strikes Back" for the first time. <S> It's really interesting watching the kids react to the total shock of seeing Darth Vader reveal his secret for the first time.
| Also, be sure to have a good amount of length to your character's first appearance, or people might forget about him after a while.
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Timeline back and forth Presently, my story is following two plots that will become one. Two groups who have different objectives but will gather towards the ultimate one in a point in the future. Is it too confusing to follow one group for a couple of days or so, then jump to follow the other group and go back in time til they come to the point I left before leaving the first one? Should I point out that the point in time I come to the second group is earlier to avoid confusion? <Q> If it makes logical sense (from the story), you can have two different timelines, but you'll certainly want to make it clear that the change is happening - a new chapter for each section, possibly with a heading "Wednesday, 5pm, Moscow" or something else that clearly defines events as being before those in the previous chapter. <S> Films do this quite a lot, with the time of each scene written on the screen at the beginning. <S> The important thing is the logic of the story. <S> If you're getting each group to a similar point in their respective quests, that will make sense - but if not (or if there isn't an equivalent reason) there could be potential for reader confusion. <S> The other way of doing it is to stick to a single timeline and switch between groups, irrespective of where each group is in their quest. <S> That said, the way you're thinking of doing it sounds more interesting. <A> The Lord of The Rings used this setup in its second and third tomes (" The Two Towers " and " Return of the King "). <S> Both tomes were divided in two "books" (LoTR nomeclature is confusing) and every "book" follows a different group of characters. <S> The first one follows Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli (and Merry and Pippin, in RotK) while the second follows Frodo, Sam and Gollum. <S> The events in the "books" happen concurrently but are told sequentially, meaning that Tolkien describes the actions of group 1 during a time span and then rewinds back to the beginning of said time span and this time <S> focuses on group 2. <S> So, about your question: Can you do it? <S> Of course, one of the most acclaimed and influential authors ever did it in his most famous book. <S> Should you do it? <S> I <S> personally think not. <S> Even thought the structure is viable, I remember being awfully confused when reading LotR for the first time (I was 11, I think). <S> LotR particularly also has the problem that the sequences with group 2 are, truth be told, boring. <S> They don't do anything but walking most of the time. <S> Instead of tolerating some chapters of walking sprinkled around group 1's interesting sequences, now you have to endure half a book of walking. <S> This problem was so accentuated that the Peter Jackson movies removed all signs of this and simply showed the events in the order they happened, without caring about their geographical distance or which characters were seeing them. <S> However, I'd like to point out that this method has its flaws too. " <S> I <S> personally, once again thought that this led to the problem that it was very hard to develop any attachment to the characters. <S> It is difficult to care about someone when you only read 15 pages about them every 150 pages and there are so many other characters competing for attention. <S> As a final verdict, I'd say you write whatever way you want, as long as don't make mistakes such as having long boring sequences, drowning on your own plotlines and writing unlikable characters. <S> Everything can be done as long as you know what you're doing. <A> Not at all. <S> This is a technique often used in novels, particularly ones with larger casts. <S> All you are doing is introducing a new/different/alternative POV character, and readers are well accustomed to picking up on it and keeping the timeline sorted out. <S> You don't need to tag it with "Wednesday 24th, 0800 hrs" (unless that fits the book you're writing). <S> Instead, what you can do, is present an event that the ready already knows as happened. <S> This provides an anchor point for your timeline. <S> Maybe it's a news article, or a specific event (a concert, a natural disaster, car accident, industrial action, explosion etc.) <S> or any other event. <S> But it needs to be memorable so that the reader can clearly remember it, and then orientate themselves to the current timeline, and just when this particular POV takes place. <S> Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time, Malazaan Book of the Fallen (and offshoots), Storm Light Chronicles, Lord of the Rings (as suggested by FFN) etc.
| A Song of Ice and Fire " has a huge number of POV characters and, at least for the first books, tells the events in the order they happen, jumping around perspectives. As long as you make the starting point and end point of these shifts memorable (or relatable), then there shouldn't be a problem. As far as existing examples go, nearly any novel/series that uses multiple POV's does this.
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Using in' rather than ing in third person omniscient The characters I'm working with not only speak in rural slang [i.e. frequently drop the 'g' on words ending in 'ing'] but, as a third person omniscient, I also have them thinking in it. [Thinkin' in it.] Is there an established rule on this? On either? Unrelatedly, it drives MS Word's spellcheck mad. <Q> You're fine. <S> If you're presenting the character's words, then you can do it in their own syntax, grammar, or pronunciation. <S> Careful not to let that seep into the 3rd-person narrator's voice. <S> (I turn off spellcheck. <S> I'll catch misspellings during proofreadin'.) <A> Be aware, however, that sometimes a character with an accent will think in "perfect" speech (Alex Kilgour in the Sten novels, for instance, by Alan Cole and Chris Bunch, deeply Scots in his speech but wrote in ordinary English), but the words come out of their mouth in a nearly unintelligible form <S> ; other times, they think in a dialect form because it's the way they grew up speaking. <A> I agree with previous answers: it is totally acceptable to have characters, and their external POV voice, talking in slang. <S> But I would also add that I don't see a problem using slang even for an omniscient 3rd person POV, at all. <S> A 3rd person omniscient is a rhetorical artifact anyway, so it would be impossible to pretend pure objectivity in it. <S> Being a voice in itself, it is always an ideal character telling the story to the reader, so it's not wrong if it has a personality. <S> The risk, however, is that this technique can subtract neutrality, or be too redundant or invasive. <S> It must be used with taste and cleverness. <S> (I think I stepped a bit astray from the original question - I hope this helps anyway).
| Even in the third person, if the narration is from the POV of a single character (as it should be, to avoid confusion), it's acceptable to phrase the narration the way the character thinks. If the language slang adds flavor to the narration, rhythm and worldview, I would use it.
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Resources with Examples of Short Stories to Teach Dialogue I'm teaching creative writing workshops, in which we read short stories with examples of literary elements to better understand how to use them in creating stories. For the most part, it has been straightforward when finding resources for short stories that show great uses of theme, characterization, symbols, etc. I've noticed, however, that I've run into an issue when searching for resources that show examples of short stories with great uses of dialogue. Thus, I was wondering if anyone knew of any such resources? <Q> I spoke with a few professional authors & playwrights, who also happen to teach creative writing workshops, and these were the short stories they recommended: Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway Popular Mechanics by Raymond Carver <S> Trial by Combat by Shirley Jackson A Telephonic Conversation by Mark Twain For Esmé—with Love and Squalor by J. D. Salinger <A> you can also teach dialogues through them, However they are a little bit old-fashioned. <S> but surely they would be helpful. <S> you can use Plays too. <S> which are full of dialogues. <S> However you should choose simple plays as a start. <S> many of plays are philosophical and confusing. <S> like Rhinoceros (Eugene Ionesco). <S> I would also recommend Haruki Murakami's short stories. <S> (some of them are very surreal; like " The strange library ", be careful about them, they don't help you teach dialogue) <A> 'Meat' by Terry Bisson. <S> I discovered this today and it's great - <S> it's entirely dialogue, but I didn't notice that the first read through, I was so engaged with it. <S> http://www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html <S> I am also taking extracts of vlog posts by editors about what not to do with dialogue, and extracts from an interview with Aaron Sorkin <S> (I know screenwriting is different, but he has some usable points and his dialogue is riveting).
| one of the main resources which is considered in any writing workshop, is Anton Chekhov's short stories.
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Sounds: how to describe them? How do I describe the sound of a low growl in a low technological culture context? All that comes to mind as possible descriptions are the sounds of rolling logs, or the wheels of a wagon. Note: this culture also does not know what the sounds of thunder or rain are, or even running water. But back to the growl sound. Would it be comprehensible to the reader if I describe this as something similar to the sound of logs rolling on a floor? And yes... I am looking for your opinions too, since they do matter in this instance, so... put yourselves in the shoes of my readers, please? <Q> In general, a human will tend to hear a sound as similar to something familiar. <S> If you've never heard a watch alarm before, you'll probably think it's some kind of insect call because of the high frequency harmonics. <S> The basic principle here, however, is that the mind makes the unfamiliar into something more familiar. <S> See a light in the sky, and if it stands still it's a star (or planet, if you know about those). <S> See something vaguely below the surface of moving water, you'll think it's a huge boulder or shoal if you don't know about whales. <S> Overall, the phenomenon is a branch of pareidolia , which in general refers to seeing patterns where there are none -- animal shapes in clouds, faces in electric outlets, and so forth. <S> All humans have it to a greater or lesser extent, and it's generally stronger in primitives than in those familiar with a much broader range of phenomena. <A> Logs rolling on a floor is good, but <S> if it's an animal (including a person) growling, I would be inclined towards something more wild and menacing. <S> [Not suggesting what to write], but how about rocks rolling down a hillside or something like that? <S> Something primitive that works for the world in which the story is set and will be familiar to everyone there. <A> Surely the residents of your garage have done something to hurt themselves in the past: breaking a finger in a fall, for example. <A> If the characters in this universe aren't familiar with thunder or waterfalls, I guess I would question how they'd be familiar with the sound of logs rolling on a floor. <S> Likewise rocks rolling down a hillside. <S> It sounds like an urban setting, albeit post-apocalyptic. <S> I guess they could have heard those things in their world, but I'd wonder why no thunder or rushing water. <S> Might they be familiar with the sound of a collapsing building? <S> Or the rumble of a concrete pillar before it crumbles under its own weight? <S> A tunnel caving in, an old subway tunnel for example, and the lingering roar echoing afterward? <S> Are there still motor-driven vehicles? <S> Could they be familiar with the grumble of an old engine at idle? <S> Or wildlife roaming their urban expanse, like a snuffling boar, or a bear? <S> Or, more intimate to the characters, an amplified version of someone's empty belly roaring for food? <S> I can't even imagine what it would be like to live someplace where I'd never heard an earthquake, the rolling sound of distant thunder, or a raging waterway, but if the characters don't have those in their experiences, maybe it's helpful to make a list of things they would be familiar with, and the sounds that list of things might make. <S> Perhaps one of those will be close enough to what you're looking for. <S> Sounds like an interesting setting. <S> Good luck with it! :) <A> Consider, rather than describing the thing, just telling us what it is. <S> Descriptions tend to get lengthy, and even concise ones slow down the scene. <S> "I heard a noise" might be enough to get us into the action. <A> You've had some really good answers so far, but I think you might be approaching this from the wrong angle. <S> A deep, threatening growl has an impact beyond mere auditory recognition, and it's one that is deeply, deeply ingrained in humanity. <S> You feel it in your chest, adrenaline surges, hair on the nape of you neck will rise and, instinctively, you know that there is danger close by. <S> It's primordial. <S> It's menacing, and <S> no amount of technological advancement (or subsequent loss) changes that reaction - <S> you're fighting against hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. <S> It's a warning sound for this reason. <S> As an aside, a low menacing growl sounds nothing like timber of wagon wheels, which is more of a crash or rumble than a growl. <S> And humans growl all the time, especially young ones. <S> If you've ever raised children, some of the first sounds they consciously make are growls. <S> To say that they would not be familiar with a growl because they are low-tech or whatever is probably stretching the suspension of disbelief a touch too far.
| If you've never heard, say, steel wheels on a steel rail, you're likely to think of the sound as similar to rocks scraping together (especially if you're unfamiliar with thunder or large scale water movement). To me, a growl sounds like a very loud and sustained clearing of the throat, or a combination of that and a shout caused by injury, as people (particularly men) may do when they hurt themselves. Instead of trying to describe the sound that's unfamiliar to the character in a way that makes it recognizable to the reader, why don't you show the effect that a sound has instead.
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If I write a scene almost exactly like in someone's photograph, would it be plagiarism? I have a story which has a scene inspired by a photograph. When I saw that picture, I liked the fact that the person in it matches perfectly a character from my story, and I liked the idea of putting the character in the exact situation shown in the picture. Everything in it is reproduced, except the background/location, although in my work it is an equivalent place matching the story's setting, but everything else (the person's position, expression, clothes, appearance, the spot where the person is and how, etc.) are exactly the same. So my question is: would that be considered any kind of plagiarism or copyright/royalty/license infringement? This question originally was about a visual recreation of the picture, but it was off-topic. <Q> No and thank goodness it isn't. <S> If it were possible for some artist to contend that authors had plagiarized her painting of a sunrise over the mountains the courts would be (even more) full of litigation and few books would be written in fear of this kind of problem. <S> It would be impossible to prove if your description came from memory or from the painting or photo or whatever. <S> Also, how would the original artist lose anything to your representation in a completely different media anyways. <S> Another example of this not occurring is where authors have taken direct inspiration from a painting for a book such as The Girl With One Pearl Earring by Vermeer <S> It was also made into a movie: Girl With One Pearl Earring - movie <S> Thank goodness artistic freedom still exists through interpretation and imagination. <A> My retired attorney father is famous for a saying: Anybody can sue anybody for anything at any time. <S> "They may not win," he would continue, "but they can do it... and drive you into poverty in the process." <S> You are in no way protected if you describe a scene in so much detail that it can be clearly identified as the photograph. <S> "Fair use" never covers the use of an expression or creation in its entirety, but only in part — usually a very small part. <S> There must be billions and billions of sunset photographs and <S> I'm not sure I'm exaggerating when I suggest that they're all 80% the same thing. <S> Likewise, again from an "I'm willing to risk the lawsuit" perspective, the less notable, noteworthy, popular, or well-known the photograph, the less likely anyone will be coming after you. <S> Personally, I'm a huge fan of asking permission. <S> Even if its only value to them is bragging rights. <S> On the other hand, if you're looking at something so popular or iconic that the average shmoe might recognize it, it'll probably be simpler to find another photograph. <S> Once people get a taste of income from their efforts, they tend to want that taste forever. <S> That should be an axiom, not a guideline. <A> You probably would be breaking the law unless you got permission. <S> If you are specifically trying to reproduce parts of a copyrighted work and have admitted so on a public forum, I do not see how the result could be seen as anything but a derivative work. <S> And you are not supposed to do that without permission. <S> If you are in the US, you might be able to claim fair use, but claiming fair use without consulting a lawyer is not a good idea. <S> I fully agree with JBH on asking permissions.
| From an "I'm willing to risk the lawsuit" perspective, the more common the photograph or less detail you use, the less likely anyone could identify your effort as duplicating in words what they did with light. If there is the slightest doubt in your mind about whether or not something is legal or falls within "fair use," you should consult an attorney. In fact, if you provide attribution, most starving artists are happy as larks to let you do it.
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How do I make it so my story happens in an ambiguous time frame? Nothing extreme, of course. No mentions of futuristic time-traveling gadgets or teleportation or the like. Or, conversely, nothing that smacks of medieval times or anything that immediately causes a reader to connect the dots. I want my story to be as if it could technically take place at any time. I do not plan on incorporating slang or the way tech is in constant use at this time. Nor do I want my story to seem overly simplistic or as if it's happening in a quiet village in some bygone time. How do I achieve this so my story's time frame seems ambiguous? <Q> I'd say there are two basic things you need to do. <S> First , make the story based on personal attributes, personal growth, relational issues, - Anything that is timeless. <S> You can write about the insecurities of a teenager, wanting to find their way in the world. <S> Or about a person facing their own mortality (perhaps they have learned they are terminally ill) and the personal journey they make in doing so. <S> Or, about a psychosis. <S> Romance. <S> Greed, exploitation. <S> ^ <S> Whatever you choose as your story's theme, those are the things you try to focus on in your writing. <S> Add to these as you can, to augment the strengths you find there. <S> You've identified slang and tech. <S> You might also want to pay attention to the roles of people in society. <S> Be aware if you are writing in a way that implies male dominance (suggests an older time) or gender equality (suggests a more recent time). <S> Prune out anything that tips towards a time. <S> Make sure they are not doing so. <S> ^ <S> These are the things to remove from your story. <S> But, also, if you are strong on the human elements, on the realism of the journey that characters go through, on a compelling narrative about .... strength through adversity or some such, then in a sense you will have some leeway with the second part. <S> Classic books like Catcher in the Rye or Moby <S> Dick (etc) are 'timeless' even though they can be placed to a particular date. <S> You want to avoid distracting with slang, tech, etc, but don't get hung up too much on that part of it. <S> -Two cents. <A> Something that is foreign enough not to seem in the past or the future, simply the present. <S> Harry Potter for example, shows Hogwarts and the world of magic to be timeless. <S> Sure the buildings and the mannerism is that London 100-200 years ago, but you don't feel like you are back in time, nor do you feel like you are in the future due to magic and gadgets. <S> If you are looking to have the story take place using actual cities and regions from earth, this will be fairly hard to pull off. <S> Even the clothing, the means of transportation, and the view of the world will require some details that will automatically date it in the present, past, or future. <S> Leave it up for the reader's mind. <S> A reader 100 years from now will add in that culture. <S> But to have a world that does not tie into any timeline of the known world that people will say that is the past or future, I would say it is better to make your own world so that it is dissociated from any time lines that a brain would try to link with a "realistic" world. <A> Be reflective, not descriptive. <S> For example, a guy wants to talk to a girl. <S> Descriptive writing would specifically mention how he gets to talk to a girl - using stationary phone, cell phone, Skype-like technology or maybe even telepathically. <S> This type of writing would likely mention scratches on the apparatus and ringing tone. <S> Reflective writing, on the other hand, will focus on thoughts and feelings. <S> This guy would be thinking about a girl, their relationships, her voice and how he misses her, while sparing no thoughts about the technology. <S> At the end, it's just he called, and she answered. <S> I understand this may require you to change or at least adjust your style. <S> I personally may find it difficult to skip the scratches on apparatus. <A> I don’t think it’s possible. <S> I have a short storybwhere <S> I want to keep it open as to when it happens, but only within a 10–20 year window. <S> That is, does it end in present day, or begin in present day, with two acts separated by 10 years. <S> So consider helping a pizza-delivery driver who has mechanical or weather-related problems. <S> Today, would someone knock on a door to ask for help, or just use her own phone? <S> In the past, is pizza delivery even a thing? <S> Would women be doing it? <S> Does it make sense if it predates automobiles, or would you have condern for the horse <S> be up-front in the interaction? <S> So many things about the situation date it to some extent, even without mentioning specific tech. <S> The latter can broaden it: e.g watching a movie at home implys some tech level even if you avoid specific mention of the media used. <S> Deciding on a specific range will be easier than trying to make it completely open. <S> Even if it's all ruminations, would a ancient Roman care about such issues?
| A reader today will add the culture of today to it. Creating your own world allows you to do just this. Second , prune out anything that dates your story. Clothing, behaviors, cultural tip-offs like the role of religion - these things can date your piece. If you are going for the affect of having a reader 200 years from now apply their current view into the world then you could try not describing communication, clothing, transportation, setting in too much detail.
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How to describe guns to someone who has never seen them before In my story, a mysterious visitor presents the characters with a new weapon: guns. These people have never seen anything like it, as gunpowder has been discovered but not really used to its full potential. So they know what gunpowder is, as well as metal. However, they do not know about things like bullets or triggers or barrels. So how would these characters describe these gun if they have no knowledge of them if I also want to give clues to the reader knows what they are before the character does? Note that I am writing in thrid person and in the present tense. <Q> You write that gunpowder and metalworking have been discovered. <S> So the people of that world know that gunpowder explodes (and that explosions create a force that propells stuff) and they know objects made from metal such as tubes (and if they don't, they know tubes made from other materials such as clay or wood). <S> Given this knowledge, I do not understand the difficulty in describing a gun and why you would accept an answer that compares a gun to a sword hilt. <S> If the information given in your question is complete enough for us to answer your question, then the following description of a gun should be appropriate: <S> A handle attached to a metal tube, through which a metal ball is propelled by exploding black powder. <S> Note that instead of "gunpowder" – a term derived from a word for an object that does not exist in your world – I use the synonym " black powder ". <A> You should try to draw comparisons between the gun and the things your characters already know. <S> Try decomposing the gun to its most essential parts and describing those. <S> My solution to this specif case (a revolver type pistol) would be something on the lines of "a small metal object, looking like the hilt of a sword, with a lever which produced a loud bang when pressed". <S> If you want, describe how this object shoots "magical small metal arrows" and uses "black smelly earth" to function. <A> If your POV character is observant, quick-witted and capable of making inferences you get a different description than if they are arrogant with a sense of cultural superiority. <S> The physical description is couched in terms of what is familiar to the POV. <S> The strange men hastily formed an outward-facing circle. <S> Each quickly drew a short, hollow cylinder from open pouches at their hips. <S> They raised one in each hand towards the warriors, shifting the target of their flute-like devices to the warrior closest to each of them. <S> The action of forming a defensive circle and raising something is a clue to your readers. <S> You can also describe the way they sight down the barrel, or they way they move the barrel between targets like a bow and arrow . <S> The chief understood the strangers believed their devices should keep the warriors at bay. <S> These were obviously weapons of a sort. <S> But were they actually dangerous or merely a superstitious device to send evil spirits towards the warriors? <S> Once the gun is fired you can describe the sound, small and sight of the gunshot plus the effect of the weapon on the target. <S> You can also describe the changed demeanour of the gun-slinger. <S> But that's getting beyond your question. <S> Human males generally posture and scream before resorting to violence, if this is a first contact type story.
| The description depends on the point-of-view character, the actions of the gun-wielder, and the current weapon systems available.
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How long does a first draft have to be if the essay i'm writing is 300 words long? I keep trying to figure out how long the first draft has to be if the essay is 300 words long. Please respond if you know! <Q> There's no formula, saying that your first draft has to cut x% of words. <S> Plan your essay out in advance <S> ; identify your points - write your argument to with the word count in mind, then use your draft to tidy it up. <A> If this is the only draft, I would aim higher than the limit. <S> If there will be second or third (etc.) <S> drafts, the first draft is whatever gets your ideas in writing. <S> [I tend to think of a first draft as a summary, which expands into a longer second draft, which is cut for the third, which might be the final version (but often isn't). <S> I wouldn't do fewer than two draft versions, but that's just what works for me.] <A> There is no one perfect answer to this. <S> If your process isn't being evaluated, the only important thing is the final draft. <S> Whatever steps you need to take to get there will vary from person to person. <S> However, if you are writing this for a class and your rough draft is going to be reviewed, then the word count may very well matter. <S> The problem is, the only person who knows for sure if the word count matters and what the parameters are is the reviewer (most likely a teacher or professor). <S> If you cannot ask them, I recommend writing 300 words, just to be safe. <A> What kind of a writer are you? <S> I tend to write more than I need, then I hone the work in the editing process. <S> So for a 300 word essay, I would probably first write a draft of 600 words. <S> I wouldn't double every draft I write <S> , it's just that this is super short. <S> If you're someone who writes a solid outline first then slowly fleshes it out, then your first draft might be 200 words, because you'll add to it in the editing process. <S> The correct answer though is: <S> The length your teacher thinks it should be.
| There's no hard and fast rule, and it depends how many drafts you're thinking of doing before the final version. As long as it needs to be to get your points across.
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Any software that allows me to create documents and maps with links to other documents or photos? I have to create a small world for my WIP game so I can submit it as my thesis. While I am aware I can use simple text editors (my usual choice) I want to be able to create a tree/web of my ideas, connecting them without having to look through many documents. A more specific example is My hero's description > there's a country mentioned there, click it > the country's description > there's an animal mentioned there, click it > see a drawing of said animal. <Q> I am going to refer you to a question on WorldBuilding. <S> SE: <S> What software is available for keeping and organising notes about your world? <S> , specifically the accepted answer : <S> It sounds like what you really want is an private wiki. <S> You apparently weren't able to find one though, apparently they are pretty common. <S> The biggest one is MediaWiki <S> (the power behind Wikipedia). <S> MediaWiki can be private, and it's not too hard. <S> See this tutorial for information on how to do that. <S> But basically you would create one account and limit it to that. <S> Another option would be DokuWiki on a Stick. <S> This would be a simple home wiki that you could transport around on a USB drive, or possible share over the internet. <S> To see set up look here . <S> And it can still be private. <S> DokuWiki is also open source and free! <S> Using a wiki, similar to Wikipedia, would allow you to do what you are looking for: jumping from one point to another via Hyperlinks. <S> Just like when you find something interesting on Wikipedia you will be able to quickly click on a link of your heroe's name, the city that he visits in your description of chapter x, pictures of items, ... Other than that you would have the formatting capabilities of Wikipedia and you would be able to easily share your document with other people you are working with, which makes it easier to collaborate on a bigger project. <S> Even if you are not planning to work with a lot of other people, you might at one point give someone the opportunity to look through your notes. <S> Maybe it's just a friend that's interested in what you are doing, or it's someone who wants to work with you on a future project. <S> You might also be able to submit this together with your thesis. <S> Please note that I have not used the software that is decribed above myself. <S> I merely cited the WorldBuilding answer from DonyorM . <S> If this helped you please check out the linked question/answer on WB. <A> Microsoft Word has the ability to add hyperlinks to any bookmark or heading within the current document . <S> The process basically works the same as adding web-based hyperlinks. <S> Select the text or image which will become the link and then right-click to bring up the popup menu. <S> Select the Hyperlink menu option. <S> In the resulting "Insert Hyperlink" dialog, select "Place In This Document" and when a list of existing Headings and Bookmarks appear, choose where you want the link to go. <S> You can also add a Screen Tip (the text which appears during mouseover) using the "Screen Tip" button on this same dialog box. <S> Press the "OK " button when you are done and the hyperlink will be created. <S> To Create Destinations for your in-document hyperlinks... <S> Headings - any text within the document which has either the "Headings 1" or "Headings 2" style applied to it will appear in the "Place In This Document" list of the "Insert Hyperlink" Dialog box. <S> when the "BookMarks" dialog box appears, enter a short name for your bookmark and press the Add button. <S> This will make the selected text into a bookmark which will appear in the "Place In This Document" list of the "Insert Hyperlink" Dialog box. <S> As for adding hyperlinks to maps, I know that you can select an entire image from within your document to become the hyperlink. <S> It appears that you can also create what is called an "Image Map" in which multiple transparent shapes float above your image within the document, and each of those shapes can be a hyperlink with a separate destination and screen tip. <S> I have no experience using image maps within Word. <A> CherryTree has internal links, tree of documents with drag-and-drop, table of contents generation, embedded images, links to images. <S> It's a desktop program <S> and you you can keep your ideas in one zipped password-protected file on a USB-stick. <S> I would say you can use it as a personal desktop Wiki or CMS. <S> It has search, bookmarks, rich text editing and many small features <S> you didn't know you want to use (like backups eg.)
| As a bonus MediaWiki is open source and free. BookMarks - select any block of text and then click the "BookMarks" button from the "Insert" tab-bar and
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character introduction - should the character's name be repeated multiple times? I am not quite sure whether this question would be a valid one for this site but I am having some doubts and I would love to get some help here. My case is, I have an assignment where I have to write an introduction to the lead character, the protagonist of a story. This introduction would then be used further to create a story revolving around this person. Now I have written an introduction, but in that, I am doubtful about the number of times I have used the character's name. Below is an excerpt of what I've written. Kunal is a 30 year old MBA graduate who lives in the IT hub of India , Bengaluru. A muscular built, fair looking, and above average height man who has a strong vision in his eyes. Kunal hails from a small city, born and brought up in a joint family. Since his childhood, he has been taught the value of family and relations. Kunal shares a special bond with his mother. She has been the life support of Kunal . Ever since his childhood, she has been the support pillar of Kunal . Living in a joint family, it wasn’t always easy to have a quiet, peaceful life; but his mother never let that effect his childhood. Doing his engineering, Kunal knew that this wasn’t the right field for him. Working in the college events, he came to understand his liking for marketing and went for MBA. Pursuing MBA, Kunal found his love for travelling. In his studies of master, did he realise that this was the thing that he would love to do, his field of interest. In his second year, he started a blog sharing his passion for travelling and his travel stories. Doing post-graduation from a city like Shillong, he had tonnes of travel stories to share with the world. Quickly his blog started getting attention and soon he gained fame. Today Kunal lives a rigid life. Wakes up early at 5 in the morning, goes to the gym regularly, follows a healthy diet and puts all his effort in pursuing his dream. Kunal has a vision in his eyes, has a dream to achieve. A dream to travel the entire world and share his experiences to everyone. Kunal believes that travelling should be a luxury that should be for all. With that vision in mind, Kunal is determined to work on it day and night. PS: I am new to writing so please don't judge my skill straight away. :D Also, I would love to get some suggestions on what I've written.Thanks! <Q> Well, yes, it's a good idea to repeat the character's name to drive it into reader's mind. <S> Let's check a classic example: Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. <S> My sin, my soul. <S> Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. <S> Lo. <S> Lee. <S> Ta. <S> She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. <S> She was Lola in slacks. <S> She was Dolly at school. <S> She was Dolores on the dotted line. <S> But in my arms she was always Lolita. <S> (c) <S> Vladimir Nabokov <S> I don't want to comment much on your writing, and it seems like you are on the right path, only it feels more like an article than a work of fiction. <A> My group is facing similar problems when writing character sheets for role playing games. <S> In a short paragraph, we have to describe the essential traits of a character that will be portrayed by a player. <S> Some solutions we found are: <S> Use pronouns: <S> Kunal was a smart guy. <S> He was raised in a community of tinkers. <S> Use descriptive aliases, such as race, origin, traits, etc. <S> : <S> Kunal loved to travel. <S> The Indian boy dreamed to see the world. <S> Use both first name and last name: Kunal <S> was a smart kid. <S> All teachers loved the young Ranghanathan . <S> Make up nick-names: Kunal "Apu <S> " Ranghanathan was a smart kid. <S> Everybody loved Kunal . <S> One day, Apu left. <S> (Now, I just used your Kunal to make my points: <S> in your specific case they might not fit 100%, and you need to tweak the idea a bit) <S> When writing my first novel for the <S> NaNoWriMo, I encountered a similar problem with my characters. <S> I added a toponym (the reign of origin) and a nickname for each of them, so I had 3 ways to name them instead of just one. <A> I tend to have the same problem. <S> My reader said I "over (character's name'ed) the page." <S> So far I've found it helpful to go back and change some of those (character's name) to (he or she) or (him or her) and see if it loses anything. <S> If it doesn't, then I switch. <S> If by saying "he" or "she" and I find it confusing, then I put the character's name back in. <S> I tried the "look for nicknames or alternative names for the character" but I found when rereading the passage it could get confusing. <S> For instance I'd sometimes refer to one of my POV character's by name and sometimes "the child". <S> It got confusing when describing "the child" at the playground with other child characters. <S> I ended up going back and removing a lot of the nickname/ alt names. <S> Not to say it won't work, it just didn't work for me. <S> Since I am still learning and haven't quite figured out how much is too much, I'm not sure how helpful my reply will be. <S> I am eagerly reading the other answers as a guide for my work too.
| Only an author should be careful that it would not be repetitive and boring.
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How to make a statement formulated like an exclamation, but even-toned? In writing, particularly writing dialogue or speech-like prose, it is custom to use the punctuation to indicate the tone of the speech. As such, one often uses an exclamation point on a standard statement which would make it a statement made with an exclamatory tone, i.e. an exclamatory statement. Now, what about an exclamation punctuated with a full stop? Instead of shouting "Boy, was I wrong!", hands in the air you say "Boy, was I wrong.", even-toned or with an ellipsis "Boy, was I wrong...", lowering your tone and shaking your head. I have an inkling that all those are grammatically correct, but let's say I am writing an article, trying to engage my reader as if I would be talking directly to him. Are there cases where it would be frowned upon using something like that? Should I prefer using an exclamation point in every case, or try to reformulate the statement? Clarification: There seems to have some confusion on my intent. I don't want to sound exclamative, but the way I structure my sentence, with an interrogative word at the beginning and the sentence not being a question would point to the sentence being an exclamation, which by definition comes with an exclamation point. That's what prompted me to ask in the first place. <Q> On the old typewriters, there was no ! <S> key. <S> To create an exclamation mark you had to type a single quote, backspace, and type a period. <S> That was a good system. <S> Exclamation marks should be hard to type. <S> There is a good argument to be made for breaking them off your keyboard altogether. <S> There is a longstanding debate about whether or not writing is recorded speech. <S> Speech came before writing, so it is reasonable to ask if writing is just writing down speech, and should therefore try to capture not only the spoken words, but the tone in which they are spoken. <S> To shortcut this debate, record some literal speech and make a literal transcript. <S> If this does not convince you that writing is not recorded speech, nothing will. <S> So, writing is not recorded speech and you should not try to use punctuation to indicate tone of voice in writing. <S> If you want to convey tone in writing, you do it by the tone of the writing itself, not by imitating the tones of speech. <S> Speech and writing are different media, just as movies and novels are different media. <S> The operate differently and achieve their effects in different ways. <S> Nor are their effects equivalent. <S> There are things you can achieve in a novel that you cannot achieve in a movie, and vice versa; and there are things you can achieve in writing that you cannot achieve in speech, and vice versa. <S> This is as much true, indeed, probably nowhere more true, than when you are creating putatively spoken dialogue in a work of fiction. <S> The first rule of dialogue is that dialogue is not speech. <S> It is a specific literary form with its own rules and conventions. <S> It is not how people actually talk. <S> Writing down how people actually talk would be both tedious and confusing. <S> Good written dialogue achieves it effectiveness and its convincing character from what they characters say, not how they say it. <A> Trust your instincts. <S> At times you must use an exclamation point to share or show strong emotion. <S> However, if you repeatedly use exclamatory phrases the work becomes tedious and pedestrian. <S> Moderation and instinct should be your watchwords. <A> are there cases where it would be frowned upon using something like that? <S> Not that I'm aware of. <S> If you are talking directly to your reader, there is a big chance you are already using a colloquial tone. <S> "Boy, was I wrong!" <S> isn't much more informal than "Boy, was I wrong." <S> ; there is barely a difference. <S> Should I prefer using an exclamation point in every case, or try to reformulate the statement? <S> It's up to you to decide the style. <S> I wouldn't use them in a formal or scientific article, but otherwise they are fine. <S> If you feel that exclamations are a good fit to get your point across, you probably should use them. <S> Personally <S> I'd rather avoid them, but it's a matter of taste. <S> There may be cases where you may want your reader to read the sentence with an higher tone, but on a more general basis I'd use italics to emphasize the test. <S> So, " Boy, was I wrong. <S> " <S> works for me more than "Boy, was I wrong!" and doesn't risk seeming too childish while staying colloquial. <S> But then again, this is just me. <A> You are never required to use an exclamation point. <S> Exclamation points are always optional. <S> (You are never required to use an exclamation point! <S> Exclamation points are always optional!) <S> You are correct, however, that there are some sentences that exclamation points will make less ambiguous. <S> If you don't feel right using an exclamation point in those situations, you may want to rethink use of that phrase, since you are using it as an exclamation, even if you don't punctuate it that way. <S> Personally I think a certain amount of conveying tone through punctuation is acceptable even in formal writing. <S> However, it should be extremely sparing. <S> In general, you never want your punctuation to call attention to itself, it should be almost invisible in the service of meaning. <A> Stop trying to save characters typed. <S> Bill closed his eyes for a moment, his lips tightly compressed. <S> "Boy, was I wrong." <S> Bill looked to Cindy, his eyes wide and lips parted in elation, transforming into a wide grin as he realized the full implications of what had just happened. <S> "Boy, was I wrong." <S> Don't try to make punctuation do so much work for you. <S> If you can describe or indicate what the character speaking is feeling, the reader will do the work of imparting the correct matching tone and volume to their spoken words.
| You can characterize the tone of the sentence with another entire sentence even longer than the uttered words. I think the answer is one of moderation and letting the reader know what you wouldfeel.
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How to show two characters are communicating mentally I'm writing a story where my two main characters have been merged together so that they share a single body. They spend a lot of time discussing things and arguing on what actions to take. This has resulted in some very odd sections of dialogue to write where they are communicating but they are talking to someone else at the same time. I am finding it hard to keep dialogue fresh - even when it's just them communicating - as they can't use body language with one another. I don't want to fill my novel with "thought at" since they can choose to keep some thoughts private from the other because everyone has secrets. <Q> Fresh dialogue: <S> well if they are talking between them, then they answer someone's question and it's what they've been discussing in their heads <S> , it's obvious you have to repeat the same thing to the person who asked. <S> Maybe, make the answer shorter and use different wording, but you still need to give the facts. <S> They can't use gestures, however they can use glances. <S> Cold eyes, laughter hidden in the depth of their gazes. <S> Mouth too can be used: tight lips for disapproval, a smirk, small things that can be hidden from others. <S> Even hands: they can clench their hands in anger. <S> Internal dialogue is like external one, you can omit he thought to the other by using description. <S> Bob glanced down. <S> Gerry do you see the ant . <S> Gerry followed Bob's gaze. <S> Good gracious, it's enormous. <S> Is it a new species? <S> See, no need to say 'thought at' all the time. <S> And as you pointed out, these guys aren't going to talk all the time. <S> P.S. <S> Oh goodness, that line escaped me! <S> But still, the body can feel emotions. <S> If the thoughts aren't to his liking, he could tense, or his heart speed up in anger, happiness. <S> His blood could boil. <S> Ex: Bob stared at the man in front of him. <S> Hey Greg, this is the man you mentioned? <S> Greg scoffed. <S> Of course not. <S> This one looks like a mouse. <S> The one I spoke about looks like Hulk. <S> Bob grunted. <S> The man in front of him tilted his head but didn't utter a word to Bob's relief. <S> So why didn't you say so before? <S> Silence stretched and Bob knew Greg wasn't happy with the question. <S> I think since they are merged, they can feel each other's feelings. <S> Right? <A> Adding to A.T Catmus answer, mental communications could have a sort of "flavour". <S> After all, probably a part of one own emotions gets carried with the message itself. <S> Since humans are social animals, we are designed to recognize and react in front of emotions, <S> so: <S> I'm telling you, I didn't do it. <S> Bob's thoughts reverberated with force into Greg's head, making his teeth grind by reflex. <S> Don't go shouting in my head. <S> He coldly answered with slight annoyance. <S> But then a rush of guilt struck him; given Bob's situation, he had a lot of reasons to be angry. <S> Reprimanding him for being rude wasn't going to help. <S> I know you're stressed, but I had to make sure. <S> he added, trying to convey consideration. <S> Still, things are gonna go south for me. <S> Bob's bleak answer showed that his attempt only had partial success. <A> There's a fairly common writing exercise where you write a scene of pure dialog with no tags or description. <S> You won't be nearly that limited, but you will be relying more heavily on dialog than your average scene, so it's still a good source of practice. <S> And because the exercise is common, you'll be able to find other people's examples and hear their tips and tricks for keeping voices distinct and communicating without displaying body language. <S> Also, "extra voice riding along in someone's body" isn't such a rare trope that you can't find examples of it. <S> Here are a few: Widdershins and Olgun from Widdershins Adventures by Ari Marmell. <S> This series actually takes it a step father - Olgun communicates exclusively through emotions, not actual words. <S> The sword Nightblood from Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. <S> Talking swords in general are a good place to look for this. <S> Definitely worth a look. <S> (A few scenes are R rated, though)
| As humans we are able to determine emotions of a speaker only judging by a spoken sentence; thoughts could be treated in the same way. The dialogue between them, through their minds should be italicized. Use the brows to show approval, disapproval, surprise. Praxis Crossing by Morpheus features a man and a superheroine who are combined into the same body in a manner that sounds very similar to what you're planning.
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Is it redundant to repeat a subject when it's been implied in a college essay? Consider the following: During my year at UH Manoa, I felt prepared for my computer science courses given my previous experience with programming, but I wasn’t sure how I could apply myself in such a broad discipline. To find an answer, I joined the Association for Computing Machinery at Manoa to engage with people from different fields in computer science. In regards to the last sentence, is it better to omit "in computer science."? <Q> No, it's better to keep it <S> Your goal is to present the information as clearly as possible to your reader and that may require to "repeat" the information in this case. <S> Imagine that your reader doesn't really know what "Association for Computing Machinery at Manoa" is or means and that he basically is skipping every name, such as the name of this association. <S> Your reader reads this as "I joined [something] to engage with people from different fields in computer science. <S> " <S> Otherwise your reader might ask himself "What different fields? <S> Are we talking about different fields in a science-related sense or are we talking about physical fields? <S> " My teachers were always picky like this. <S> Yours may not be as picky, but it's better to be safe than sorry. <A> One often finds that overzealous editing for brevity can do a hatchet job on clarity. <S> Technically the meaning may have been preserved, but it becomes something of a grammatical exercise to puzzle it out. <S> Better, sometimes, to leave the redundancy in rather than forcing the reader to go back and hunt down antecedents. <A> Leave it in. <S> I am a former professor. <S> In academics "different fields" is ambiguous, and has been used to indicate entire other fields of study: Like perhaps electrical engineering and circuit design, closely related to "computing machinery", but not "computer science" which is typically a theoretical approach uninvolved in the electronics, studying compilers, algorithms, theoretical architectural ideas (like Tomasulo's Algorithm, caches and virtual memory and minimizing paging or [address] translation lookaside buffer delays). <S> It can get close to the hardware without designing circuits, considering logic gate arrangements and cycle counts (as we must to learn how basic arithmetic is accomplished and sometimes how the instruction decoding pipeline is built, which is constantly being tweaked for on nearly every processor revision or new design). <S> It is better to qualify "different fields" as specifically computer science fields. <S> It is quite common for researchers to be advised to consider how problems were solved in "different fields", like engineering, biology, chemistry or evolution: <S> In fact, the entire field of AI using "Genetic Algorithms" is inspired by Darwinian Evolution. <S> Keep your qualifier.
| You can see that it's important to keep the last piece of information. Redundancy in prose is often useful because people forget things and because the real world relationships implied by the grammatical relationships is not always clear.
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What makes bad science fiction? The obvious way to understand quality is to examine what is successful. On the other hand, it is often more helpful to examine what has failed. Are there any tropes generally considered to make bad science fiction? Some things that pretty much everyone hates?Except for, of course, Mary Sue . <Q> <A> Bad science fiction can have the following characteristics: <S> It does not hew closely enough to actual science. <S> This is my personal biggest gripe. <S> It has some ridiculous premise or other (e.g. space aliens come through a worm hole, inseminate all the women of earth, and the offspring are time traveling superheroes). <S> But, as a caveat, some good writers pride themselves on taking ridiculous premises and actually making good stories out of them. <S> Still, hard to imagine a story like that employing good science (#1). <S> Any quality that makes for bad writing (poor character development, etc) will make for bad science fiction writing <A> In order to make this question answerable and on topic, let's assume that discussion of anything that can apply to any other genre is out of scope of the question. <S> Science-fiction breaks down into two categories: hard and soft. <S> Hard Science-fiction is about real science stretched a bit into the unknown. <S> It follows all known rules and then adds something new to experiment with. <S> Arthur C Clarke is a great example of hard science-fiction. <S> He goes as far as inventing new real concepts in his books. <S> Soft science-fiction is fantasy with a think paint of space, or time travel. <S> All technology could be swapped out for magic and it would not make a difference. <S> The Dune series is a great example. <S> So bad science-fiction is one that does not know where it lives. <S> One moment it's hard, the next for plot reasons or ignorance of the writer <S> it becomes soft. <S> Pure soft science-fiction has another pitfall. <S> It often fails to appeal to science-fiction readers if it only becomes a meaningless backdrop for another genre like romance.
| Inconsistency with its own speculative science is another great failing of bad science fiction.
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How to keep track of character development in a character profile? I have a character profile for every major character in my story. However, I'm having trouble organizing this profile: I don't know how to handle changes to my character as he goes through the story or how to write it down in the character profile in a way where I don't do double work. Example: I have a character who starts out as a coward and as the story progresses he becomes more brave. Very simple. However, I don't know how to describe his change in the character profile without basically writing down the story again focusing only on him. I want to keep character-growth and the story itself sort of separate from each other, not just to prevent double work from my side but also to make it easier to change the character profile in case I make changes in the story. Basically, I don't want to repeat myself with every character profile. What would be a good way to do this? <Q> This is how I would direct my focus using your "profile vs story" method for detailing your characters: Character profile: Telling how the character grows in brief, simple terms <S> Story: <S> Showing how the character changes through the course of the book <S> You know the age-old mantra that can be terribly over-applied: <S> Show, don't tell. <S> In the case of "profile vs story", I think the dichotomy can be helpful. <S> The "Show, don't tell" statement can readily be applied to the story itself, but try doing the opposite for your Character Profile: <S> Tell, don't show. <S> Telling takes fewer words and is much less work than showing (and is generally less interesting). <S> A single "telling" phrase (such as "became braver and braver") can summarize the character's growth over the arc of many chapters, for example. " <S> Ferdinand became braver and braver" doesn't make for a great story, but it's a great summary of Ferdie's growth. <S> I see simple and brief as key here--otherwise, you'll end up, as you predict, writing two stories that are, summarily, identical. <A> I find that helpful for figuring out when something happened as well as linking ties to other characters. <S> I find understanding the character's backstory is helpful for figuring out the character and how they behave in the present setting. <S> I can also track down lies they've made up and believe in. <S> I find there may be several lies a character believes. <S> Some of the lies they may have overcome recently, have overcame a while ago, and some they need to overcome. <S> Maybe doing something like this will help you. <S> Write the rough age of first scene you see dealing with a character (in backstory), what traits they have and an event that had impact. <S> What happened and how did that affect the character? <S> Did they become better or worse? <S> Any lies generated? <S> Lies overcame? <S> Then go to the next scene, their age, event and what affect that had. <S> Keep going until you reach the present time or you're satisfied with what you have. <S> I don't always write down everything (though I should maybe), I find it really useful. <S> If things change or you learn more stuff, feel free to edit the timeline. <S> Add scenes. <S> Add motives. <S> Add lies. <S> (or take away some that may not fit the character.) <S> This advice may also differ if you're just working on a single novel or if you're working on a series. <S> This may apply better if it is a series you are planning. <A> Keep it simple. <S> A character profile does not need to be an in depth psychological analysis of your character. <S> It is a tool to help you organise your thoughts and your character ideas. <S> Keel it brief, use dot points to plot out your expected character growth and important events. <S> Try not to get bogged down with writing the profiles and plotting, user it as the skeleton around which your story is built. <S> At the end of the day the reader isn't going to see it, and is sore purpose is as a tool to help you write your story. <S> The reader does not care if at age 3 he stepped on a butterfly or that he only gets out of the left side of the bed or that his third cousin twice removed once gave him a wedgie; unless it is directly related to the story and is important enough to impact it. <S> That said, it's also a good tool to use to practice summaries. <S> Effective, concise communication is extremely important, especially when it comes to getting it published.
| I may not be the best at it but for my characters I may write out a separate document where I jot down a rough timeline: age of character, main events that shaped his/her personality.
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How to describe a seemingly-random doodle/symbol, whose details are significant? In my Crime/Mystery/Drama screenplay, there’s a seemingly random doodle at the bottom of a mysterious note. The random doodle looks like a three eyed stick man with a hat.It is drawn with only lines and curves. Later - it is revealed that this is not a random doodle. It’s Chinese (written vertically) and an important clue. Is there a way describe this in my script -other than the way I have above? <Q> That description is for the director and/or whoever else reads the scripts; it isn't available either to the characters or the final audience. <S> When writing scripts you have to keep in mind <S> you have two audiences, the filmmakers and the final audience. <S> Their needs and wants are different, as is what they will have in front of them. <S> You generally want to provide the info necessary to film the script as you go along. <S> You should assume that whoever is reading the script is playing it out as a movie in their minds. <S> They don't need (or want) to know exactly what a given element looks like, but they do need to know its function in the plot. <A> A script is not supposed to contain images, so you can't include one. <S> Use the description you have, without revealing it is Chinese, and later reveal the source. <S> Anybody considering your screenplay is going to read 100% of it ten times before they commit any resources [other than their reading time] to it, so NOT revealing it immediately will not be an issue. <S> If and when the script is produced, the director will know the nature of the writing and get an artist (and perhaps native chinese writer) to produce the drawing correctly in the early scene. <S> The problem I see with this plot line is that anybody that reads Chinese (like four of my personal friends) will know immediately what the writing is on screen, and that may ruin the movie for them. <S> Or for people like me (I don't speak, read or write Chinese), I might find it ludicrously implausible that none of the main characters are world-savvy enough to recognize your 'puzzling symbol' as Chinese (or at least oriental) <S> writing for half an hour of screen time! <S> You might be better off making it a more obscure pictorial writing. <S> (I know there are others, I don't recall their names, but you could do some research.) <S> Added: You could look into Dongba Symbols for the Naxi language, an independent development of script from Chinese characters. <S> It is written left to right (like ours) but if written top to bottom a reader would still understand it, just as we understand vertical English text. <S> This is unknown enough to not be recognized by most Chinese, I would think. <A> What's important isn't how it looks specifically, but how your character sees it. <S> The moment of revelation when they discover what it actually is. <S> I would use the "stick man" description when they first see it. <S> This will mislead the audience in a fun way. <S> Then point out how the details change -- <S> "The sticks and dots now form what looks like a column of symbols" -- then reveal that it is actually a Chinese. <S> It sounds like a crime thriller, so the more you can play with the audience's expectations, the more you misdirect, the better.
| Since this is a script, not a novel or a story, go ahead and describe it from a functional standpoint when it first appears: In the bottom right corner is the Chinese character for "danger", but scrawled in such a way that it looks more like a child's stick figure. Similarly, you don't need to outline your forthcoming plot twists, but you do need to give a usable description of what's actually onscreen.
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What's the proper format for a book proposal that will be sent to multiple publishers? I'm working on a book idea ( historical fiction with creative nonfiction pieces) and I want to create a proposal for it. I haven't done much research on publishers or that process yet, but I assume I'll be submitting my proposal to many different publishers for consideration. I want to create a book proposal that will satisfy most guidelines for submission. I'm wondering things like: a good default font to type a proposal in. how much spacing should be between sentences. the overall format of a proposal; what information should be included? So far I think I should include a quick intro of who I am and a few chapters of my work, but I'm a little lost about what else I should include. <Q> There is only one answer for this: Make your submission match the individual Publishers submissions guidelines. <S> They have them for a reason, and clearly state how submissions are to be formatted/compiled. <S> And this means that yes, you will probably have to re-work it for each submissions. <S> If you don't want to do that, then don't expect it to be read or looked at. <A> I did the Masterclass course on how to write a novel, thought by James Petterson, and his idea of an outline was different (and much better) than anything I saw online. <S> He basically summarizes every single chapter of his books in a long paragraph for each. <S> In the end, after reading the whole thing, the Publisher will have understood the entire plot. <S> This is also a great idea for yourself as a writer too, because you will begin the "writing" part with all the pieces in place. <S> All you have to do is flourish them with your scenes. <A> They provide them for a reason, and following directions is the easiest gatekeeper to pass on the route to publication. <S> In my experience, the following are the most common generic asks for a modern book proposal, which is entirely oriented around solving the question <S> "how will we sell your book": <S> Hook: <S> Why would a reader buy this? <S> Audience : Who would buy this? <S> Author's platform (formerly author bio): What are you bringing to the table that will help sell your book? <S> (expertise, name-recognition, social media presence, networks, etc). <S> Comps (comparison books) : What similar books are currently doing well in sales? <S> Outline/Summary : Some publishers/agents want a brief outline, others want a detailed, chapter-by-chapter summary, it's often best to include both. <S> Excerpt : Some of the common guidelines are "the first 30 pages" or "the first 3 chapters". <S> It should be absolutely 100% free of errors and typos. <S> Generally, your proposal should be a double-spaced, unremarkable 12pt serif font like Times or Times New Roman. <S> I typically include a page header with my last name, the book title and the page number. <S> There are a number of good online and print resources with more detailed instructions, I would highly recommend finding and following one -- Writers' Market generally includes one in each edition, for example. <S> Also be aware that many publishers/agents prefer to receive a query letter first, and a full proposal only on request. <S> (The query letter usually contains only the hook, platform and comps. <S> It's a good idea to include some indication that you've specifically targeted the recipient, not just sent out a generic e-blast.)
| If you are submitting to a publisher that has their own guidelines, you should follow those , even if you are submitting many other places.
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Character pivots, where to put them Normally this sort of thing is easier than actually writing the piece for me but this time I can't get anywhere with the overall structure of the story: I want a character to win a great victory, at great cost, a cost that comes to define his continued existence, is there a way to place such a moment within the body, rather than at the beginning of a piece such that the piece doesn't feel anticlimactic to that character moment? I've seen examples where such moments are used to end a section of a serial, such as the end of The Gunslinger but I'm kind of set on the idea of using it as a central moment in a relatively small piece. Any insights would be most welcome. <Q> One 'classic' structure of a journey is to write ~ 10-20% of the story establishing the character(s) and their original settings. <S> A switch (marking a decision, a change, a new course for the MC) happens at that point, and the bulk of the ensuing story is 'adventure.' <S> The MC learns the skills and so on that will be needed at the end of the story. <S> There is a final crisis, somewhere around 75 - 90% of the way through the novel. <S> The character faces the final crisis, uses her skills, and he either succeeds or fails in this challenge. <S> The last 5 - 15% of story is resolution. <S> You are asking if a climactic moment can occur halfway through, and I imagine you have ideas for what comes before, and after, that climax. <S> I have two ideas in response. <S> If there is an overriding arc that fits a classic structure (the one described above, or another), then you may be able to blend your idea onto it. <S> Perhaps the pivot for your character happens as he is acquiring the skills she needs to face the inevitable crisis. <S> (The death of Obi Wan was a pivot for Luke, but the ultimate crisis was blowing up the death star.) <S> Or, throw everything out the window and just write it the way you want. <S> The human brain can adapt to a lot of different ways of storytelling. <S> The Lord of the Rings saga seems to have character pivots (and battles) all over the place. <S> I found it tedious, but the story is successful, and perhaps some analysis of that story structure (which surely exists online somewhere) can give you clues. <A> In the first Harry Potter novel, ACT I consists of Harry turning eleven, Hagrid coming to his house at that moment to inform him he is going to Hogwarts, and Act I ends when Harry boards the magical train (chapter six; on page 116 of 584 in my copy, 19.86% of the way through) and enters another magical world. <S> This event was set up by Harry turning eleven, on page 56, the end of chapter 3 (9.6% of the way through, and almost precisely halfway through the first act). <S> This is the life changing event for Harry, something happens to him that will change everything, even though he doesn't realize this on page 56. <S> In your story, you have (as DPT said) about 20% of the length to set up the story and central conflict. <S> The first 10% is to get the reader accustomed to how the character acts and thinks before the instigating event. <S> Then 5% to progress to "the great victory at great cost", then 5% to deal with the consequences of "the great cost", the perceptions of fame and/or villainy, the emotional reactions of the MC. <A> You can integrate your character pivot at any point in the story that you want. <S> That moment when victory is achieved and the cost is revealed is a beat -- a point where the plot changes. <S> That means you can include it in any scene in your story, at any point in your story. <S> If it is believable, then it changes how people react to your story, and can be an element to make your m/c more interesting by being more sympathetic. <S> Everyone can relate to winning something only to realize you lost. <S> Win an argument with someone you love, and break their heart. <S> Defeat an existential evil only to have your significant other cheat on you because you were not paying enough attention to them. <S> If it happened before your story started, then your story could be one of redemption -- as the m/c comes to terms with the results of his actions and works to make amends. <S> the m/c has to pick themselves up off the ground and accept what happened and keeps moving forward -- <S> the its not how hard a hit you can take <S> , its how hard a hit can you take and still get back up.
| In the classic hero's journey, this could be at the end first act -- If you put it in the end, your story might be a tragedy -- the m/c confronts and tries to come to terms with what happened. Your character's moment should begin at 10%, and probably peak around 15%, and then wind down the consequences by 20%, when the reader realizes that act will be "defining his continued existence". Nearly all successful stories fall into the three act structure; the first act is the setup and definition of a problem or pivotal change in the characters life.
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Can I name a male character Artemis? So I'm writing a story and there is a character that is a male that I want to name Artemis. The reason, simply put, is that he has a sister with a name I really like that is TECHNICALLY a boy's name (the nickname however is sweet sounding and was the reason I chose the full name). I wanted to go for a 'OMG, your brother has a girl's name and you have a boy's name' but I'm worried about using it because it isn't a common boy's name at all. In fact the only male called Artemis I've ever heard of is Artemis Fowl (Who is nothing like my character other than the fact that they'd have the same first name). Is it alright for me to use it? <Q> Yes, you can use Artemis; it is from Greek mythology and impossible to copyright as a name. <S> The Greek for the male versions of this name are Artemas and Artemus, both are listed in The Character Naming Sourcebook (and mean "gift of Artemis"). <S> You violate nothing by using a name already in the public domain. <S> I would avoid using the full name of a fictional character; Don't call a character "Clark Kent" or "Bruce Wayne" or "Harry Potter". <S> The copyright owners of those characters might be able to claim damages if the name of your character helps you succeed commercially. <S> But that is a combination: One cannot copyright "Clark", "Bruce", or "Harry", and cannot copyright the surnames "Kent", "Wayne", or "Potter", none of them are original combinations of letters used as names. <A> It’s your story. <S> I would say many readers, but not most, will be aware of the mythological twins Artemis and Apollo, and among those readers you will produce your intended shock factor. <A> You can name a male character "Sally" and a female character "Bruno" if you want to. <S> It's not like there's a law against it. <S> But the question to ask yourself is not, <S> "Am I allowed to do this?" <S> but "Is it a good idea to do this?" <S> But if it's just a matter of, "oh, this name popped into my head <S> and I kind of like it", I'd say probably don't. <S> Giving a male character a girl's name will be distracting to the reader. <S> Readers may be confused if this character is a guy or a girl, or if this is the name of the guy-character or of some other girl-character. <S> If no one in the story ever notices or comments on the odd name, it may seem unrealistic. <S> Like if I knew a man named Sally in real life, I would be very surprised if he did NOT get jokes about his name and people being confused by it. <A> As example I can give the example name "Kim". <S> It can be both: A boys name, a girls name, a short form from "Kimberly". <S> It is completely up to you if the name matches or not. <A> There is no law against it, but I would discourage it. <S> Personally, I would find that particular quirk distracting and immersion breaking. <S> Unless the fact that this character has a feminine name is very important to the story, I don't think it's worth it. <S> This is actually one of the reasons I wasn't able to get into Artemis Fowl. <A> My first thought was of the Johnny Cash song "A boy named Sue", and it sounds like you're already thinking of an interesting back story. <S> There's also a nice opportunity to refer to him by a shortened version in earlier chapters and go for a dramatic revelation of the full name. <S> But the short answer here is that you're the writer and as long as you do it well <S> , you can do anything you like. <S> Anything at all. <S> [Twitches cape over shoulder and walks away into the night with an indulgent but slightly disturbing chuckle.] <A> I don't know of Artemis in ancient greek being used as a male name, but, for what it's worth, in modern greek Άρτεμις is the female name (same name as the godess) but there exists a male version too, which is Αρτέμης. <S> Note the accents: in the female version, the stress is on the initial A, whereas in the male version it's the second vowel, the e, that is stressed*. <S> The different spelling of the last vowel is just historical spelling with no impact on pronunciation. <S> (transliterating: Α->A, ρ->r, τ->t, ε->e, μ->m, ι->i, η->i, ς->s) <S> My impression is that, while the female version of the name is the more popular of the two, the male version isn't too rare, either. <S> *Modern greek does not have short and long vowels--they are all short. <S> But each word has one syllable that is stressed, i.e. louder than the others (of course, the cadence of sentences complicates how words sound in natural speech, but that's the basic theory anyway.) <A> Go for it! <S> It is not that uncommon for males to be called Artemis. <S> Besides, I have always found it strange that humans made a different set of names for both halves of humanity. <S> (By the way: may I read your story? <S> It looks pretty awesome :D) <A> I am just reading a book A Winter Journey by the critically acclaimed Amelie Nothomb (~110 pages, definitely worthwile read! <S> Great language, interesting plot), which does something very similar. <S> Even with the greek references. <S> The main character is called Zoïle (which is based on the greek philosopher Zoilus, with which the main character is not happy, since Zoilus was considered a very cynic small mind and his parents actually wanted a girl, which they could call Zoe to rhyme with their first daughter Chloe) and the target of his affection is called Astrolabe, which I think was based on the writer Astralabius. <S> So <S> yeah, you can do that, get away with it and even make it an essential part of your story, since this is something the main characters bond over in the aforementioned "A winter journey".
| From my opinion Artemis is not a name that sounds like boy or girl and can match both If there is some reason why this name is significant and the story won't work if the character has some other name, then of course do it. It's not so uncommon for boys to have girl names and otherwise. You are free do whatever you’d like with names.
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How can I write God with a more feminine aspect and introduce it into my culture's mythology? I want to write a religion similar to Christianity but with God represented as feminine. It is meant to highlight the differences between the sexes and emphasise traits associated with women over men. This goes beyond changing pronouns, as there are many parts to a religion, including rituals, sacraments, etc. These are often based on logic, even though the original reason may have been lost. How can I make a religion like this fit smoothly and naturally into the background of the setting without it sounding forced? How should I approach writing my story to bring out this background smoothly? This is the premise. The universe exists in a cosmic egg known as the womb of creation. Our plane was create when God spilled her essence into reality, birthing the world and all its inhabitants (people, plants, animals, etc). Women were made in God's image, as the bearers of life and creators of the next generation. The pain of labor is meant to reflect the pain of God when she created our world, which gives them a unique understanding and close connection with God. <Q> Well, you are going to have to start asking yourself questions and provide answers. <S> Why do men exist? <S> In your premise there is absolutely zero role for a male, and if God created women in her own image, why do women need men to conceive a child? <S> In Christianity, God takes a rib from Adam to give him a mate and helper. <S> Why did your God deny women the ability to just have another daughter? <S> Or did she take that away from them for some reason? <S> Why did your God create man? <S> How did that happen? <S> Did the first woman just give birth to both genders, and they grew up to mate with their siblings? <S> A religion similar to Christianity needs female heroes throughout. <S> Cain kills his brother Abel, Does Christine kill her sister Abby? <S> Noah hears God and builds an Ark, does Nora hear God and build an Ark? <S> But once again: Why does God make ALL animals in both male and female form, why do we need TWO of everything? <S> You will need a female savior: Christine, I guess. <S> Is she going to recruit her apostles to be fishers of women? <S> Is the Queen going to have her nailed to the cross? <S> Will the Biblical society be changed so that women are in charge and men the property of women, bought and sold as slaves, performing sexual acts on demand? <S> How do you deal with Harems of many wives? <S> In biblical times patriarchs could have hundreds of children they then controlled, but no queen can have more than about a dozen children in her lifetime. <S> These are questions you have to ask, and flesh out your Christinean religion with some details, that will lead into your current society, almost undoubtedly matriarchal. <S> And then, how does it clash with existing patriarchal societies, like China? <A> I find myself giving versions of the same advice over and over, but it's applicable to so many situations. <S> I call it the Sturgeon/Delany rule. <S> Work out every last detail and implication of your new religion, for yourself . <S> But then, only include in the actual story whatever details are immediately relevant to the characters at any given moment. <S> That will make your world and its religion feel three-dimensional and real, yet avoid info-dumps that fail to serve the plot and characters. <S> There is a lot of world-building that adds significant value to stories, particularly speculative fiction, but you never want to put it all on the page <S> --that's just self-indulgent. <A> A short addition to these answers, because I thought your original ideas in another question were already very nicely developed. <S> But today I was considering the mythology and religion on my world, and began to wonder if you are asking, here, ... because you would like even more ideas, more grist. <S> So, here is my answer to the question " <S> How can I write God with a more feminine aspect?" <S> Research religious traditions - of all sorts. <S> What do they all have? <S> What is the purpose of each item? <S> What are examples of each? <S> Research these, perhaps go to Wikipedia and look up the main monotheistic religions, some new age religions, some pantheistic religions, or other variants. <S> Some farcical religions, like the flying spaghetti monster. <S> Start making lists of what they all share <S> (Examples: Supreme beings, rituals, structure, scriptures, etc) and what are unique features of each <S> (Examples: Some have hell, some don't; some claim that divinity is attainable in our human form, others claim that idea is heresy; some prioritize faith, others prioritize acts; etc). <S> You now have two lists. <S> The first is of the commonalities you have found from your research. <S> The second is of the distinctive features of religions. <S> Now, check these lists against your created religion. <S> Have you hit every important aspect, ... and have you feminized it? <S> From the first list: Make sure you have examples of all the commonalities, or a reason why you don't, in your religion. <S> Feminize each one. <S> The second list is to give you ideas, of ways to make your religion intriguing, distinctive, and memorable. <S> You can use ideas straight from this list, but perhaps better to brainstorm creatively from it instead. <S> ^^^ <S> That's my answer. <S> I have a few more thoughts below. <S> FWIW, as food for thought: I thought the device used in Mistborn , when Kelsior recognized that some religions start best with a martyr, especially one that rises from the dead, was very effective. <S> (And upon reflection, I highly recommend you read Mistborn . <S> Another character whose name escapes me at the moment was providing Kelsior brief synopses of any number of religious traditions throughout the book. <S> Sanderson was very creative in coming up with a variety of plausible and crazy religious traditions among these examples.)
| Study religions, and find every commonality between them.
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When writing non-linear, do I have to note time changes? I’m writing a non linear drama and my question is: do I have to notate what will be seen literally in the film, like age differences and such because the film won’t require much if any scene cues like “seven years later” it will all be interpreted by the viewer but do I have to notate it in the scene or action lines in my screenplay? <Q> Think about your own audience. <S> If you are writing a screenplay, as opposed to a novel, your intended readers are the director and cast. <S> As long as you have made it clear* in some fashion to the people putting on the production that the scenes fall at certain points on a timeline, your job is done. <S> The director can take artistic license to show, not tell, the film's audience that we have moved to a different point in time by incorporating appropriate props, costumes, haircuts, wrinkles, weather, scenery, news broadcasts, etc. <S> (or they can choose to add "Seven years later..." on the screen). <S> Good actors will also try to portray their character as they might behave at different stages of life or being pulled along by cultural tides of slang, body language, etc. <S> None of that is dictated by the screenplay unless some particular detail is necessary for the dialogue/plot/actions, in which case you can include cues or notes for it (following the screenplay writing conventions you have selected). <S> *I believe the usual way to make the time shift clear is by including a date or similar time cue in the scene heading. <S> This article has some tips on writing scene headings and fitting in time cues: you can include a year as part of the location name, as it is an integral part of the scene you are establishing. <S> E.g., EXT. <S> TIMES SQUARE (1920) <S> - NIGHT. <S> I think you could be as specific as necessary, but don't add more than you need to. <A> You may do it, you may not. <S> Pulp Fiction didn't do it, neither Memento. <S> When writing a small nonlinear section in my novel, I didn't do it. <S> However , in all of those instances there are several things that might have inspired the author not to use scene cues. <S> In Pulp Fiction, there aren't many time jumps and, most of time, they are very self evident. <S> In Memento, (and in my novel) the movie is intended to be confusing. <S> I would say the need for scene cues should be based on how many time-jumps there are (scene cues get tiring quickly), if you want the story to be confusing and if the time jumps are linear or not (Scenes A, B and C happen in the chronological order ABC, but are presented in the order BAC). <A> Yes you should. <S> If it is truly non-linear, you should use years: 1997, 2020, 1983, etc. <S> Do not count on your viewers/readers to be able to add and subtract from the current year being shown, in their head. <S> By the end of the scene, they may not even remember the current year being shown. <A> You just need to indicate to the director that the time has changed, not specify how this is shown.
| How a time change is indicated in the finished film is up to the director.
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Having an acronym for a villainous organization I have this organization in my working book called NOVA. And it means National Occupation Variation Association. they basically take people from their homes and families and force them to work on re-building the world. pretty much killing the ones that don't want to work. Is it appropriate to use NOVA, since it's a popular organization name in many novels and Movies. <Q> I think what your asking is because you have mentioned many novels and movies <S> If you’re worried if the name NOVA will be a cliche for being a common name .As <S> long as you state their goal and what they do and whether they’re antagonists or well-intentioned people, you will be fine <A> I didn't immediately think "Ah. <S> That's from [insert name] <S> ", so I'd think it was either common enough to be regarded as generic, or niche enough that no one has really claimed it as their own. <S> (I would have reacted differently if you were asking about SPECTRE or HYDRA). <S> It might be that other posters here have heard of a Big Name where it's been used, but at the moment I think you're fine using it. <S> One thought, though : you mention "rebuilding the world", but the "N" stands for "National". <S> Does the organisation not span the world, or is each part of the group looking at specific countries? <S> It's entirely possible <S> I'm seeing a problem that isn't there, but if the organsation is international, I'm unlikely to be the last person to wonder about this. <A> There is nobody that "owns" the acronym if it is used by many independent entities. <S> +1 to ItWasLikeThat <S> : National does not equal World, or Worlds. <S> You might want to look through a dictionary for some other word starting with N, like "Necessary".
| The fact that it is used by several entities makes it public domain, if that is what you are worried about.
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Is there a way to make all characters to be chameleon's archetype? I've made another question which is an attempt to make all the characters be chameleons. What chameleons are?, in case you dont know, chameleons are characters that the main character / reader is not 100% sure of their intentions, thoughts and motivations. You don't know if he is the good guy or the bad one. Of course, a character may not be a chameleon all the time, but there could be moments we doubt of his/her intentions. (If you want more about what a chameleon character is, I suggest you search for it on Vogler's writings about the Hero's Journey.) So what I'm trying to do? In short: A third-person oniscient narrator which is also an entity that cannot read what is inside the characters mind. There are multiple MC's, not only one. The characters may share his thoughts with him but they may also lie (which I think it is not a very good idea) But I dont have enough reading baggage with this kind of narrator in order to make the characters be chameleons. In fact, I've never heard of a story with similar idea before. I'm not an experienced writer as well and I'm afraid this is too much for me. But the idea looks to good to be thrown away. Is there another way I can make all the characters be chameleons? Yes, the question looks too broad and it maybe does not even have an answer. I want to know if this kind of thing is possible, and if it is possible, how could it be done? <Q> Yes. <S> This style is called "Third Person Objective" and is indicative of a story where the narrator only describes the actions of the characters in the scene, but is otherwise barred from knowing the inner thoughts of the character. <S> While you probably haven't read any of these things, you may likely know of some famous works that employ them. <S> This style is often refereed to as "Third Person Dramatic" or "Third Person Roving Camera" as the narrator is simply describing the actions of the characters as would be seen if it was a play before an audience or a show on a television or movie screen. <S> This isn't to say all plays and TV shows are, as there are dramatic devices to cue in the audience as to what the character is thinking (Using a voice over of a character's thoughts on TV or a debatable Shakespearean style <S> mono-log where the character tells the audience his emotions directly and is not prone to talking out loud). <S> As you will need a protagonist, you will need to make sure that any habits or ticks this character uses are cued by a character in a story ("You always twist your hair when you're thinking") as opposed to the narrator <S> (Sam always twisted his hair when he was thinking) who learns this with the audience. <S> The trick is to never use any thought or reasoning which cannot be attributed to a line of dialog and never describe a physical detail of an object that the read will not be able to see or hear (dialog must describe the taste, touch, or smell of an object or any memories that are associated with it). <A> Every time someone here asks "can this be done", the answer is yes . <S> The real question is should this be done? <S> Making the characters chameleons does not seem overly hard. <S> As you said it, yourself, the chameleon's defining trait is that we don't really know what's going on on his mind. <S> Most stories with third person limited have this trait. <S> It could be argued that in EVERY third person limited story all characters are chameleons. <S> The only troubling aspect of your question is that, since the narrator is himself an entity, he also has thoughts and (unless you pull some weird amnesia/double personality trick) obviously has access to them. <S> This puts the narrator as the only non-chameleon character in the story and, under this point of view, it is impossible to write a story with only chameleons. <A> I think the risk you run is that the characters will not be memorable, and the reader will have trouble telling them apart, or caring. <S> (Even in Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh , where there are several, only one is ever "on stage" at a time.) <S> Consider Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express . <S> All the characters are lying about something, or misrepresenting themselves in some way. <S> But they are essentially pieces in a chess match, or a jigsaw puzzle. <S> They have interesting backstories, but ultimately they are just stock characters placed there to advance the murder-mystery plot. <S> It works for this story, and this type of story, where the characters are disposable and interchangeable. <S> But it's not as good for a more modern, more psychological story, where we need to actually care about the characters and have them come alive for us. <S> Also, even Christie's work has at least one stable, non-chameleon character --the detective, the firm foundation around which the rest of the plot can revolve.
| Chameleon characters are usually most effective when there is only one of them.
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Balance between character's point of views I wrote the book through the eyes of one of the characters, then added a few chapters from the other character's perspective. But now, I either need to add more chapters to the second character or figure out how to incorporate his thoughts into her chapters. I'm stuck, the 1st option being not overly realistic, but have no idea how to incorporate more of his thoughts into her chapters. Do you have any ideas, resources or tips on how I can do this? Are there any rules for writing characters having equal page time???? <Q> I am fine with two POVs and that's my current project. <S> It alternates between chapters, and I too am trying to balance them. <S> I feel your pain - because one of my characters is more interesting than the other. <S> My advice (to myself and) to you is to spend more time with your other character. <S> And I pair this advice with : heavily edit out anything that doesn't need to be there. <S> From the whole piece. <S> Make it sharp. <S> So, get to know the secondary character better <S> , just start working with that character in your mind or whatever, maybe hold an interview with that character on paper, ask them endless questions, get into their head, until you know their motivations and personality as well as you know the MCs. <S> And then keep editing to make it tighter. <S> I think the end product will be more satisfying to you. <S> ~~~~ <S> Also, I have read one book where a few chapters near the end were thrown in from a 3rd POV. <S> Yes, it was jarring. <S> So you can do a few chapters like that, but it will probably be jarring. <S> We sign up for a certain experience at the beginning of a book - You are giving us a contract, as Mark Baker sometimes says. <S> Once I've signed the contract, I don't want the terms to change. <A> How does he/she know this?". <S> If you're writing in the first person and switching between viewpoints, I can't see a way of doing this without keeping any unspoken thoughts separate to each character (unless telepathy is a theme). <S> There's no specific rule about balance. <S> Usually a book has one protagonist, but there's no reason there couldn't be two - including two who never meet (this is actually easier). <S> If you spend significantly more time with one over the other, it's probably simplest to think of the book as having as a single protagonist and not introduce other characters' thoughts outside their own sections. <S> More than two? <S> There's a risk of confusing the reader. <S> Irvine Welsh pulled it off in "Trainspotting", but that was a mixture of first person and third person omniscient (a character in itself), and switched viewpoints frequently. <S> And even there, Mark Renton emerged as a "main" protagonist. <A> If you have to go back through your story and write his thoughts into her chapters then you will completely alter the plot. <S> This could be tricky. <S> Perhaps consider rewriting earlier chapters from his perspective. <S> This way you're not altering anything and if you do it well with a tone compatible with the novel it could turn out as an interesting twist.
| It could be done with a third person "omniscient" narrator, but if the narration follows one character then the other it would take skill to introduce the thoughts of one into a section relating to the other without the reader thinking "Hang on.
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What tense do I use when talking about a character that has died? When analysing a book and speaking of a character that dies, do you still you present tense as you are still analysing a book? If I were to make up a quick example: "Despite Anna's death, the plot continues. [...] Riley says Anna wanted to die, but how does he know? Anna (was/is) a beautiful girl with a smile on her face everyday, she never (says/said) anything to him about death but of the wonders of life and nature. Her smile (was/is) Riley's favourite thing about her, yet he now reveals he knew the smile was fake." It makes sense to use past tense but I have been told over and over to never use past tense when analysing a story. Thoughts? <Q> Although the past tense makes sense due to your sentence construction, a different construction would allow the present tense, by setting a time frame: <S> When Riley and Anna meet, Anna is a beautiful girl with a smile on her face every day, her smile is his favourite thing about her. <S> In their conversations she never says anything to him about death, but of the wonders of life and nature. <S> After her death, Riley asserts he knew her smile was fake and Anna wanted to die, but does not reveal how he knows this. <S> (The last example is still a present tense character, talking about his own past). <S> I think this is the writer's choice; whichever you feel is the most clear and readable. <S> A core directive of writing is to be clear to the reader. <A> I think I could justify it by saying [possibly a bit pedantically] that the plot continuing, and Riley speaking and reflecting on Anna, are all happening in the present - Riley's words and thoughts are reported speech about the past, but are taking place at the present time. <S> When looking at earlier chapters where Anna is an active subject and not the object of reflection, I would use the present tense to describe who she is and what she is doing. <A> You are correct. <S> You should not let a good general rule override common sense and correct writing in a specific case. <S> The best way to conceptualize it is this. <S> Picture your analysis as traveling through the plot of the story as you analyze it. <S> Anything that is happening in the book at the point of your analysis should be rendered in the present tense. <S> But things that are in the past relative to the moment of your analysis should be rendered in the past tense. <S> In a way, this is one of the benefits of using the present tense as the main mode of your analysis --it allows you to distinguish between the current moment in your analysis and things that happened in the past of the characters (as relative to that moment). <A> You use the past tense to report past things and the present tense to report present tense. <S> Death turns a number of present facts about a person into past facts. <S> " <S> John is Chair of the Board" becomes "John was Chair of the Board," but only because John is no longer Chair of the Board. <S> It same would be true if John had resigned rather than died. <S> There are some interesting edge cases around this, though. <S> When a person dies, we usually start to describe our relationship to them in the past tense: John was my Grandfather. <S> But if we phrase it the other way round, we keep the present: <S> I am John's grandson. <S> In other words, it appears that a person has to be alive to bear a relationship in their own right, but living persons can continue to bear relationships to the dead. <S> So there are some questions around which attributes the dead can continue to bear. <S> Generally they lose their height and the color of their eyes, but they can retain certain accomplishments. <S> John had blue eyes. <S> but John is the founder of the Smallville Softball League. <S> though John was the founder of the Smallville Softball League. <S> seems equally honored in usage. <S> Still, unless it clearly sounds strange, use past of past things and present for present and continuing things.
| Like you, I would be inclined towards the past tense in those examples.
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Why do I feel this about using the computer to write? Whenever I open up a word processor on the computer to write, my fingers freeze and I get nervous. I try to type the opening. I make myself write any sentence that comes into my mind, and then I read it and nothing feels right about it. The peculiar thing is that it never seems to happen when I write with a pen/pencil and paper. The words and my thoughts flow naturally and I feel more comfortable and confident in myself than when I use Microsoft Word or Google Chrome. What I want to know is why do I feel this way, and how can I feel more secure the next time I write on the computer. No matter how I feel, I have to revise what I wrote sooner or later. <Q> From personal experience, I'd say that it's because you're used to using the computer to consume interactive content (e.g. the Web itself). <S> Your mind is literally put in a different mode when you sit down with a pad of paper, likely with very different lighting than the harsh blue glow of the computer. <S> There's also the issue of input speed. <S> If you're anything like me, you can type a lot faster than when you write longhand. <S> The slow, deliberate nature of writing something down longhand allows the brain to slowly pick through possibilities during the creative process, instead of feeling a sort of deadline pressure for every sentence. <S> Over time I've learned to simply pause and look away from the computer screen as soon as I get a slight hint that the information stream is starting to falter -- in a few seconds it tends to pick up again. <S> Think of it as buffer underflow if that helps at all; sort of a side effect of using the "wrong" medium to write something from scratch. <A> That would give an explanation for the difference in comfort and confidence compared to a pen and paper. <S> You could try some intermediate steps. <S> Does the feeling also happen with other word processing software? <S> How about on a computer that isn't connected to the internet? <S> If you store your writing on an external drive, and always disconnect from the web before opening the file, does that feel better? <S> How about a typewriter? <S> It's possible there's a negative association from somewhere else, but if anything I've said sounds right there could be a logical explanation for what you're feeling, and a way to work around or through it. <A> Every tool you use affects your experience in some way. <S> There's an intimacy to pen and paper that the computer can't match. <S> On the other hand, you can't even begin to approach the speed of typing on a computer with pen and paper (although learning a shorthand might help). <S> Even in this day and age, there are plenty of people who write the first draft long hand, and switch to a computer for editing and revision. <S> Even people like me, who find typing to be second nature, often write small sections longhand. <S> It might seem impossible to write a full-length manuscript longhand, but after all, that's how writers did it for centuries. <S> And even thought it might sound silly, try switching to a less formal font. <S> When it's staring back at you in black and white 12pt <S> serif, it's easy to think it needs to be more perfect than it actually does. <A> Is this something about yourself that you need to resolve or do you just need a technique that fixes it <S> so you can work? <S> The other answers tell you how to "fix" it. <S> If it feels more personal, then I would make it even more personal. <S> Sit down to write on the computer. <S> Write about how that makes you feel. <S> What or who does it make you remember? <S> What exactly seems wrong? <S> If it works for you, you can even personify the computer (not with all the other things it's good for, but just "who" it is in this situation). <S> Then, you can talk, argue, yell, or plead with it - whatever feels right at the moment. <S> You can even have it answer you, goad you, or comfort you - whatever spontaneously happens. <S> Don't let yourself analyse it until later. <S> Stay in the moment. <S> If you get into it enough, you may experience emotional release from giving these feelings voice and if the flow is good, your subconscious may even reveal things to you about why you have this issue. <S> Sometimes just knowing that is enough to dissipate it. <S> Other times, it may lead you to actions which lead toward a resolution. <S> Or, maybe, you will come to feel that it's OK and that you just have to work in a different manner for now. <S> It doesn't really matter as long as the "answers" come from within you and feel right to you. <S> Don't expect all of this to happen immediately. <S> Issues such as this are often layered. <S> You might have to (as one possibility) first express anger or frustration to get to sadness to get to some clarity. <S> You might even end up with some material you can use later in other things you write.
| It's a guess (and as Amadeus says, we can't tell for sure), but if you habitually use a computer for social media or anything else interactive, it might be that you're regarding the computer as a form of publication - as something someone else will be able to see. If you're bound and determined to use the computer, even for your first draft, try your best to turn off your internal editor, and just write for an extended period of time without rereading or revising.
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How to express sarcasm in non-dialogue text? You know how sometimes we say something sarcastically, and do the double-finger twitch that's supposed to symbolize quotation marks? How do you write that in non-dialogue text (narration)? Not describing that a character is talking like that and doing those things with his fingers, but as part of the non-dialog text. E.g. He gave him a "playful" look. (Would this be correct?) P.S. Please don't tell me to describe what the character's eyes looked like (showing not telling). I know that already. This is just an example. I'm asking what I (the writer/narrator) could do to express sarcasm in the text. <Q> This is one of those instances where figuring out how to show is simply too tedious and detracts too much. <S> It is far easier and far better to simply tell. <S> The first thing to realize is that there is no 'right' way to do this (unless it's in a style manual you are following). <S> And quite honestly, I can't think of any better way to do it. <S> He gave him a 'playful' look. <S> The only thing I might do is use the single quotes rather than the double. <S> Double quotes makes it look too much like dialogue for me. <S> This technique does everything you need it to, and that's ultimately all that matters. <S> It conveys the point to the reader quickly, clearly, and in the fastest manner possible. <S> Honestly, trying to think up a different way to do this would probably yield an unclear or slow method which would be worse. <S> Go with the quotes. <S> It should be noted that this is my opinion, and not backed by any formal style guide that I know of. <A> Call them air quotes. <S> Enclose in single quotes, you can emphasize it with further characterization. " <S> She said she was 'devastated'," Julie said, with air quotes. <S> " <S> Right, right? <S> Because I thought, then why were you laughing?" <S> Don't use "air quotes", use actual quotes, and call the gesture air quotes. <A> Don't use quotation marks. <S> They just look as if you don't know what word to use. <S> It makes you (the author, not the narrator) look lost for words. <S> That's not your intent. <S> One option is to change the sarcastic part to something that makes it clear that the intention is sarcastic: He gave him an oh-so-playful look. <S> A neutral narrator wouldn't say it like that, so the sarcastic tone comes through clearly. <S> Another option is actually to use air quotes in the same way people use them when you cannot see them: say them out loud. <S> He gave him a quote-unquote playful look. <S> Both options are perfectly fine, it's really more a question of the character of your narrator which one they would use. <S> In my mind, the second option sounds a bit more "gossipy", while the first one sounds more sardonical and mocking. <S> I realize that the question is quite old, but I do think the accepted answer has unintended connotations and is therefore a bit problematic.
| You're idea of simply putting quote marks there is a good one.
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How to make innocent jokes Morbid and 9/11 jokes can easily get tiring, especially if you use them too much. So, you will need a light-hearted filler humor, something that relaxes. The goals: innocent: offends nobody, and everyone laughs soft: it's enough if people feel better after hearing it, and it hardly gets tiring. What should I keep in mind when making one? <Q> Many writers have a weakness for wordplay and puns , which are typically inoffensive (although they don't have to be ). <S> Whether or not these are tiring is very individual to the reader. <S> A higher caliber of humor is based on your characters. <S> A character who is insecure , or uptight , or awkward , or overconfident , or pretentious , or just plain dumb can be an endless source of humor, in the right situations. <S> It's worth noting, however, that even the seemingly soft-and-fuzzy humor of (for instance) <S> Peanuts often has a dark undercurrent , or hidden edge. <A> If you're thinking of something that offends nobody, and which people feel better after hearing, you're most of the way there. <S> Everyone laughing is quite an ambition, and I'm not sure it's possible. <S> Displaying genuine affection for the object of any jokes (even if the affection isn't part of the joke itself) will let you get away with a lot more than otherwise and the humour won't have to be innocent or soft. <S> Think of Waldorf and Statler in "The Muppet Show" - downright abusive some of the time, but they're there every week. <S> Also, the humour shouldn't only flow one way. <S> In "Cheers" when Norm and Cliff would joke with Woody (again, genuine affection there), it was always funniest when he ended up looking smarter than them. <A> The Incogruous Theory of humor is that humor is precieved in the realization that the expected nature of a situation and the actual nature of a situation are not the same. <S> Consider the brilliant marking of Thor: Ragnorock. <S> When the Audience see's Thor's gladiatorial opponent as the Hulk in armor and carrying a weapon, the expected reaction would be either bravery or terror (the latter being an expected humor play). <S> The actual reaction, one of absolute joy is much more humorous because the audience would not typically think of that reaction (and it perfectly mimics the fan response that they themselves were going through). <S> Thor's reaction is totally inappropriate for the sitution. <S> Similarly, his simple explination of his relationship to the Hulk would be expected. <S> They've been in several movies at this point, Thor needs to quickly explained to the stunned audiece. <S> The audience expets him to refer to Hulk as an ally who he fought with to save the world on numerous occasions. <S> The fact that Thor sums it up as " <S> He's a friend from work" creates the unexpected image of Thor, walking into a cube farm, and seeing the Hulk in a suit and tie, using the copy machine, and striking up a conversation about the football game from last night, a stark contrast to beating up aliens and robots.
| The trick is that if your humour has a target, that target will be the first to laugh - laughing with someone is always funnier than laughing at them.
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How do I format dialogue for an AI chatbot in a screenplay? In my script, there is an AI chatbot character - ANNIE - that real characters communicate with via text. ANNIE has animated reactions and has an artificial speaking voice. Would I write ANNIE’S dialogue like any other character? Or would it be more action/description based? BTW - this isn’t set in the future like the movie HER. So, ANNIE isn’t a super intelligent chatbot. I want to know how to format/present her dialogue in the script, not how to write it <Q> The biggest limitation of most modern chatbots is only replying to the last message stated. <S> They can give great responses, that seem funny or clever, but only to the last sentence said. <S> So when you write your AI don't look at the conversation as a whole. <S> Look at the last sentence ignoring the conversation and reply to just that. <S> Also don't forget that your replies should know this limitation, and do their best to give generic answers and hide the fact that the AI does not know what you are talking about. <S> If all else fails, why not try having your dialog with a real chatbot? <A> If it's present day, we're still a long way from anything that would pass a Turing Test, so ANNIE is likely to be defined as much by mistakes and overly generic answers as by anything that would normally be recognised as a character - something more like Siri/Alexa/Cortana than Scarlett Johansson. <S> If ANNIE is commercially backed, you could also work in spurious and irrelevant advertising. <S> Even if we're assuming someone could come up with something a lot closer to a character, I would think the responses are as likely to be memorable when they don't do what's expected as they are when they do. <A> I would write it as dialogue, but avoid (as the narrator and writer) attributing any emotions, humor, or subtlety to the character's text messages. <S> Annie does not say things cautiously, angrily, or allude to things, or skirt the subject. <S> She does not truly understand what is going on, she is a shallow simulation. <S> she cannot be embarrassed, or understand that some topics are embarrassing. <S> She cannot keep a secret unless explicitly told to: She does not understand, like a human, what is a private communication and what is acceptable to reveal to others. <A> ANNIE being a bot, I suggest you to opt for more mechanical vocabulary and to limit the words you use to the bare minimum. <S> Since the story is set in 2017-18, and you established ANNIE is not terribly intelligent <S> , I think it is safe to assume she does not really think . <S> Her reasoning processes can be brought down to simple comparisons, linking between words in search of meanings and simple looping/iterating. <S> Another very important characteristic is that current chatbots use only what the user types in as input. <S> While some of the best chatbots may look up information on the web or other sources, they are unable to see the user's facial expressions or hear their voice. <S> Here is a small extract illustrating some of those ideas for you: waiting for the user -- <S> Err... <S> hello? <S> reticence. <S> User sounds hesitant. <S> Initiating comforting protocol -- Hello, user! <S> What is your name? <S> -- Mark -- Are you feeling well, Mark? <S> User is not responding <S> Are you OK, Mark? <S> -- <S> I kinda of feel down checking dictionary for "to feel down". <S> To feel bad, depressed -- Why do you feel bad, Mark? <A> I would inspire myself to existing chatbots <S> These are just two examples that came to mind, I hope they help: <S> Emacs psychotherapist a rather old one, asking questions on the previous statement with the purpose of making the user think about their issue A.L.I.C.E. <S> a more recent one, not particularly intelligent in any way, yet more natural than the one above <S> It seems to me that the common feature is that they lack emotional response. <S> They can be very articulated, evolve a conversation taking into account a long history of sentences, but, in my opinion, they lack empathy. <S> "I am sorry to hear that" answers anything sad. <S> "I am happy to hear that" answers anything happy. <S> A human being could just cringe, or change topic, or modulate their emotional response throughout the conversation. <S> It is entirely possible that a human character would try to place some distance after hearing five consecutive disgraces that occurred to the other person. <S> A chatbot may remain in their static emotion, repeating the same type of response, or cycling through a predefined "optimal" set of answers. <S> It does not have to feel clumsy, just eerily detached.
| One very useful trick for writing characters who are somewhat dumb or think differently is to change your vocabulary.
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How to "Show" and not "Tell" for nervousness? I was told to ask this question here. There’s a saying in writing to “show; don’t tell” . For example, instead of naming the emotion, “She was angry”, you would show the emotions happening by saying, “Steam started coming out of her ears,” or “Her fists slowly clenched up.” I am looking for a “showing” phrase for being nervous. The only one I could think of was: “Her heart was pounding heavily.” <Q> Showing instead of telling means showing the consequences of a character state (anger, anxiety, love, worry, hate, etc.) <S> instead of labeling the state. <S> "Steam coming out of her ears" is a cliché, originally intended as the consequences of a metaphor for the heat of anger, itself not necessarily literal, but a reference to flushed skin causing a redder appearance. <S> What do people that are nervous do? <S> They may shake, stumble over words, be clumsy, and spill something. <S> They are often anxious about the outcome of what they are doing, like blowing a job interview. <S> They may make inappropriate comments or jokes, trying to be funny and alleviate the tension that only they really feel. <S> The tension and worry they DO feel may be distracting and cause them to make mental mistakes: Call their interviewer by the wrong name, for example, or blank on a rehearsed reply to an interview question. <S> Or, if they are making a presentation, get flummoxed by an unfamiliar projector or piece of computer equipment, or a clicker for the slide projector that doesn't seem to work as they expected, or speaking too closely into a microphone and startling themselves with the result. <S> They may blush at their mistakes. <S> They may sweat. <S> There are many possible consequences to being nervous, pick a few, and use them. <S> Or use the general idea (distraction and worry) and come up with an original ramification for it: a consequence, an implication. <S> Describe something visible or tangible. <A> "Show don't tell" doesn't mean that for every feeling there is a periphrasis that expresses it better. <S> So there is not a specific phrase to use for each case. <S> It's never about single expressions, but rather about actions. <S> "Her heart was pounding" is ok, but it's not enough <S> : you want to express a condition throughout the whole scene, so one single phrase is not the solution (in most case, I mean). <S> For example, you need to "show" someone nervous, not try to find a fancy way to express nervousness. <S> "She was tapping her feet rapidly" or "she couldn't stop bite her fingernails with her teeth". <A> Since people have already posted answers about the general "show don't tell" method I'll try to put the focus more on a specific answer for your problem. <S> I'd say start with thinking about your character. <S> So she or he is nervous. <S> How would they act? <S> Would they start fidgeting? <S> Maybe try giving a glimpse into their thoughts: the questions that are running through their mind. <S> I personally (but this is just me and my weirdness) <S> would research what ticks people show when they get nervous and pick one or two that suit your character. <S> I hope this helps.
| Your character needs to do actions that are dictated by that feeling.
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How should I start to write a flash fiction story? I recently saw a contest for writing flash fiction - the contest rules were that it had to be under 100 words long. I thought "Hey, that's cool! I'll give it a shot." So I sat down, and tried to start writing something. Emphasis on tried - nothing would come that would work as a super short story. Everything that I started to write seemed like the beginning of an epic fantasy novel (because to be honest, I read a lot of that). What are some tips for starting to write short stories? <Q> Flash fiction gives you very little leeway. <S> really, it's enough for one scene . <S> I've seen people pull off more in that wordcount, but it's hard <S> and you're a beginner. <S> Imagine one scene that is interesting enough to write about. <S> Write it. <S> How long is it? <S> Is it interesting? <S> If not, is there any excess you can trim to make room? <S> If you know what the twist is, you can work backwards from that to figure out where you need to start to get to the twist in < 100 words. <A> As is often the case, great writing in the past shows us the way. <S> Consider this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_sale:_baby_shoes,_never_worn <S> Never mind whether "X wrote it for reason <S> Y" claims are true: why does the story work, and how did anyone come up with it? <S> The trick, as you can probably surmise by reading the 6-word story, is to write a fictional document whose existence implies the storyline you've dreamed up. <S> Obviously there are probably other ways it can be done, but that's how this story did it. <A> I recently saw a contest for writing flash fiction - the contest rules were that it had to be under 100 words long. <S> I thought "Hey, that's cool! <S> I'll give it a shot." <S> So I sat down, and tried to start writing something. <S> Emphasis on tried - nothing would come that would work as a super short story. <S> Everything that I started to write seemed like the beginning of an epic fantasy novel (because to be honest, I read a lot of that). <S> I make that 83 words, but I might have counted the em dashes. <S> Not the most exciting story in the world, but it had my attention. <S> You could do with more of a punchline and/or twist at the end, but you've got another 17 words left for that, or maybe even 19. <S> How about: <S> I entered the competition anyway and unexpectedly won, but then a dragon flew down and bit my head off. <A> I write a lot of 100-word stories. <S> I don't know what will work best for you, but here's what I do. <S> I start with a single dramatic moment: a moment of change or a revelation. <S> Then I write what the reader needs to know to understand the moment. <S> They need to know that there are two people. <S> They don't need their names, but they need their relationships and attitudes. <S> They usually need to know where the characters are. <S> I write all that. <S> It's usually more than 100 words. <S> So now I ruthlessly cut unnecessary words. <S> Replace adjectives and adverbs with meaningful verbs. <S> Restructure sentences to use fewer words. <S> Then I tweak it about a million times, looking for places where I've lost meaning and clarity and emotional impact. <S> That's me. <S> After you write a few, you'll develop your own processes. <S> (And, as always, read a lot of them.) <A> Try coming at the number limit from the other side. <S> Rather than trying to think of a story you can condense to 100 words, which can feel as though you are having to cut out and sacrifice too much, try starting from a prompt such as a common phrase and play with it to see what you can grow to 100 words. <S> Someone has already pointed out that your question is getting on for 100 words, which should already you a feel for how much you can get across within that limit. <S> I thought that before I submitted this as an answer I should try it out for myself... <S> So, most stories are about relationships in some way, which might be why the phrase ‘ <S> It isn’t you’ popped into my head, then I thought about what if it was literal, what if somebody wasn’t themself? <S> What if they’d been transformed somehow, what if they’d somehow become a monster and didn’t know… <S> How could they not know, how could someone else know before they did? <S> So I played with that a little to come up with something. <S> It's far from a perfect short story, but demonstrates how, in 100 words, you can start from a small notion and build up to something which hints at what went before, what happened 'off camera' and what might happen next. <S> I went for cheesy word play, pulp horror and bad writing tropes, but you could go classier. <S> Here's the short tale of when Chuck got handsy. <S> He stood, two arms full of logs, ‘‘Leaving’? <S> You weren’t ‘leaving’ down by the fire ten minutes since when my hand…’ he gestured crudely. <S> ‘ <S> What changed?’ <S> Hannah backed towards the door, bag and coat spilling, all trembling fingers and thumbs, shaking her head desperately, ‘it isn’t you, …’ Gripping the firewood tightly, Chuck ran a hand through his hair as he reached out in supplication and confusion. <S> ‘Babe, what? <S> You meet someone while I was gettin’ logs?’ <S> Menace shaded his voice as the hand at his back reached for the poker. <S> ‘No, it isn’t you … <S> Chuck only has two hands.
| 100 words won't allow for extended plot, character development, scene-setting... Trim, revise, iterate. Some flash fiction lends itself to a twist at the end.
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How can you utilize taboo themes in a setting without alienating a modern audience? All of reality exists inside the cosmic womb of the goddess. People, planets, animals, etc, were all created when she bled into the universe, birthing life to all things. The faith honors this event in a week long celebration which takes place once a year during the growing season. The religion in question is matriarchial, and is led by a priestess-queen along with the priestess under her. As such, females are celebrated in the theology, and a woman's period is considered sacred instead of being a shameful subject. At the end of this week, the male priests of the church cut themselves into a bowl during a ritualistic ceremony known as the Sanguinala, as they do not bleed every month. This process is meant to honor the sacrifice of the goddess, and allow them to symbolically take part in the life giving process. Since this setting includes certain biological processes that is often considered taboo to discuss openly, how would this play with modern society? Would it be considered too disturbing or disgusting? How do you avoid offending the audience and how much should you focus on it? <Q> Lean into it. <S> It isn't taboo for them ; and that's the society you're portraying. <S> As long as you're presenting their point of view, they see menstruation as deeply significant . <S> You need to construct that significance; lead the reader into being able to understand it. <S> This is no different than presenting any other worldbuilding element that differs wildly from our own -- except that you'll be anticipating a slightly different reaction from the reader. <S> In this particular case, I'll point out that there are plenty of people who do not consider menstruation a taboo topic by any means. <S> Definitely ask some women, and some outspoken women's hygiene advocates, for an opinion on your manuscript once you've gotten through a draft or so. <A> My first thought is: If you're concerned that this religion you're inventing will be too uncomfortable to describe for many of your readers, why not just come up with something different <S> so it's not a problem? <S> If for some reason this idea is essential to your story, you could probably avoid making people uncomfortable by describing it briefly and clinically. <S> If I read a story that says, "Sally got so sick she threw up" <S> , I'm unlikely to find it distasteful or disturbing. <S> But if the writer goes into detail about her stomach wrenching and how she felt the bile coming up her throat and what it looked like and smelled like, that would be very unpleasant to read. <S> Odds are I'd quit reading such a book, because I read a novel for pleasure, not to be revolted. <S> Likewise, if you said, "Their religion was based around women's menstrual cycles", I suppose a few might find just the mention of the idea upsetting, but most would not. <S> But if you go into great detail about the process and what it looks like and feels like and smells like and so on, I think many readers would say, "This book isn't fun to read; it's just unpleasant." <S> (I sometimes read non-fiction books that are extremely unpleasant because I think it's information that's useful to know. <S> Reality is sometimes unpleasant. <S> But I expect a novel to be fun.) <S> I suppose there are some number of readers who think it's cool to read about unpleasant bodily functions. <S> I don't have any surveys on the matter, but I strongly suspect they're a small minority. <S> But if you're looking for a niche market, etc. <A> There are no taboo subjects. <S> The way you present the story. will determine of anyone wants to read it. <S> Rape, abprtion, child molestation (Piers Anthony's Firefly was banned in dozens of countries; he didn't care), ghetto speech - it's all been done. <S> Many have gone on to become bestsellers.
| Don't treat it as shocking -- a reader too scandalized by your subject matter probably shouldn't be reading this book to begin with. Instead, use all the tools of worldbuilding and exposition to portray this world as it is to its people .
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Is it okay to sum up unimportant dialogue in the description? Let me explain Like many, I’m a huge fan of the HBO series True Detective. I was reading the script for the second episode and I noticed this: INT. STATE CID - NIGHTHart and Cohle enter the squad room, acknowledged by the RECEPTIONIST. They walk through the division toward the BIG BOARD. In my script, I have the lead character walk past a receptionist desk of the police station as well. My question is: Is it “okay” to sum up a semi-unimportant dialogue in the action? Like acknowledging a receptionist?I realize I could just skip this part entirely, but I feel like it does add a layer of realism in routine. Or I could write it all out. What should I do? Thanks. Marc <Q> Yes, it's normal to leave out unimportant dialogue and descriptions. <S> Would the dialogue move the story forward? <S> Does it give the reader insight into the characters? <S> If not, it's probably best to leave it out. <A> The normal course of action in scripts is to omit "nicety" dialogue and leave that up to the director. <S> We typically eliminate greetings and "how are yous" and any pointless politeness or greeting, unless it is specifically character building (a glad hander knowing everybody he passes in the hall) but even then responses are not included. <S> Any actual dialogue becomes expensive, you need overhead microphones, sound editing, foleys, etc. <S> Just skip it! <S> The director will just make the receptionist busy. <S> Or make your characters in mid-sentence give a familiar half wave to the receptionist she acknowledges with a glance up as they pass. <S> Or have a receptionist or guard there for plausibility but just ignore them and walk past; hold up a badge or ID for them to see as if you do it ten times a day. <S> You don't have to talk to them or interrupt the flow of other dialogue. <S> In your example, "acknowledged by the receptionist" can be changed to "acknowledge by a glance of recognition from the receptionist." <A> Usually, you can just do it and skip them, like: " <S> How may I help you?" - said the receptionist - and the next scene is at the destination. <S> But sometimes you can't skip the dialogue completely. <S> For example, your character got some inaccurate information from the receptionist, and it has some relevance later in the plot. <S> In this case, you have to either reproduce the full dialogue, or somehow get around it. <S> "This is not the right room," - "But the receptionist said it should be here!" <S> Sometimes, it gets worse, and you just can't have the full dialogue in your book, but still have to provide some kind of recap. <S> For example, your character is having a boring hour-long meeting with a lawyer, and there is no feasible way to write up the whole dialogue. <S> But this meeting is important, and information provided there can't be ignored. <S> So, your characters walks into the meeting, and then, after a short timeskip, he's thinking about this meeting and what was discussed there. <S> Or, in case of a screenplay, discussing it with someone.
| Not all dialogues are important, so it is Ok to skip them. If a character speaks, you must have it as dialogue.
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How far underneath the surface is the message of a story? It seems like in some stories, you can feel the theme pervading through every element. In other stories, you don't know what you're reading about until the very last line. I'd guess I lean on the side of a bit more obvious than not, but how do I make sure that I'm not beating the reader over the head with my ideas? <Q> Personally, I think the theme does not have to be obvious at all, or ever stated. <S> It just needs to be consistent. <S> For example, if there is some life philosphy in your story, "love will triumph", then make sure love does indeed triumph, in some way or another, and a lack of it or hate or greed does not triumph in the end. <S> Don't tell us the theme, <S> show us the consequences or ramifications of your idea for the theme. <S> Many stories achieve commercial success without making their theme explicit, or if they do state it explicitly, it was offhand enough I didn't connect it as such. <S> The theme is satisfying not because we know what it is, but because it causes character's stories to resonate with each other, if it bends all their arcs in similar and consistent patterns. <A> I've seen advice to make sure the theme is influencing every step because your story will be stronger as a result. <S> The beta reads I have received so far almost all <S> revolve around ' <S> I don't understand why this is happening ...' <S> even for things I felt were unnecessary to the story or blindingly obvious. <S> My sense is that readers do not want to be confused, so err towards more. <S> Also, and more importantly, you will think your description is crystal clear and people will say they have no idea what your setting looks like. <S> The images (etc) are more complete in your mind than they are on the page. <S> Maybe lean towards a little more exposition for that reason too. <S> Follow your instincts - lean towards more. <S> You may need to revise and can increase or decrease at that point - but my limited experience to date is that the revisions will include things nowhere currently on your radar. <A> It's the reader's job to figure out theme if they want to. <S> Just tell your story. <S> If you're writing to follow a theme, the reader will, as you say, feel beaten over the head. <S> I've taken that advice. <S> I just put characters together and have them do interesting stuff that leads to an ending that I'm content with. <S> And when I look over my old stories I find overarching themes, but I didn't intentionally write them in. <S> Themes made it into the story because I wrote the story and I am who I am. <A> It's a matter of balance. <S> If the theme is too subtle, the reader may miss it. <S> But if it's too heavy-handed, the reader will find it annoying. <S> I have read many stories where at some point I find myself saying, " <S> Yeah, I get it, you don't like political party <S> X. Do you have an actual story to tell or is this just a political rant? <S> " Even when I agree with the writer's social or political or religious or whatever views, if it's too blatant it just gets tedious. <S> Old example but first thing that comes to mind: The Twilight Zone movie. <S> There was a scene where a racist character is complaining because a Jewish person got a promotion that he thought he should have gotten. <S> And there's this dialog where he's complaining to his friends about how "these Jews have all the money", and his friend says, "I know Goldman. <S> He's not a rich man." <S> He says he should have gotten the promotion because he's been with the company 10 years, and his friend points out that Goldman has been with the company for 15 years. <S> Etc. <S> Every argument he makes why he should have gotten the job rather than the Jewish fellow, one of his friends has a rebuttal. <S> I hate racism and antisemitism as much as anyone, but in real life, surely the guy would have one or two reasons why he should have gotten the job rather than the other guy that were not quickly and easily demolished. <S> I can believe the other guy won on 7 out of 10 points, but 10 out of 10 seems a bit much. <S> And even if true, would his friends have really all sat there explaining to him why he was being a jerk? <S> Surely his friends would be more likely to be saying, " <S> wow, that's too bad" and being at least somewhat sympathetic. <S> Maybe a "now Bob, don't get carried away". <S> If you reduce the people or ideas that you disagree with to caricatures, your story is probably less persuasive than if it was more realistic.
| The writer should just tell a good story. The advice I was given was that theme is not the author's concern.
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Any details/advice on how to write on a tiny notebook/notepad in your hand while standing up? Ideas keep popping into my head while I walk, so I have a tiny memo book to jot down my thoughts. However, there's no room for my writing hand to use all the available space, I write really messily with my writing hand in the air and the pencil tip as the only point of contact, and my supporting hand keeps moving around and getting pushed back. Any tips and advice? EDIT: Sorry, I should have mentioned this way earlier; I don't own a smartphone and am looking for an analog solution! I also prefer writing by hand; for some reason, it helps me think more creatively. <Q> I usually have the same problem. <S> What I'd do is get a notebook with a hard cover, or just find a wall or something. <A> I’ve spent much of my working life having to make notes on big, flappy plans or small, hand-held notebooks, so this comes with a degree of personal experience. <S> Consider a slightly-larger-than-tiny memo book? <S> makes writing easiest, maybe with the bottom of the page angled with its left corner towards you and the right at 45°. <S> Experiment, but don’t assume that flat and square like a desk is best. <S> I find that tucking that bottom left corner of the book against my body helps to brace it. <S> Or get a very soft pencil. <S> Don’t try and write <S> while you walk, step aside out of the footway <S> so you don’t get jostled. <S> Try to learn shorthand or devise your own version. <S> That would limit the amount of writing. <S> If you can master that, having little space to rest your hand will matter less. <S> This blog has some good explanations and exercises. <S> Eg <S> To get a feel for the proper muscles (and start training them correctly), hold your arm out in front of you, elbow bent, and write in the air. <S> Write big. <S> Use your arm and shoulder to shape letters; hold your forearm, wrist and fingers stationary and in writing position. <S> You’ll feel your shoulder, arm, chest and some back muscles doing most of the work. <S> That’s <S> good. <S> That’s what they’re supposed to do. <S> Try to duplicate it each time you practice. <S> Write in the air until it becomes as natural as breathing. <S> It’ll be awkward and feel silly at first. <S> Above all, remember that your notes only need to be legible to you, you don’t need to win handwriting competitions with them. <S> But make it a habit to transcribe the notes as soon as possible, while you still remember what your scribbles meant! <A> (I just noticed Thomas Myron's comment on CherryPlaysRoblox's answer . <S> It makes most of my answer a duplicate) <S> I have an app on my smartphone which performs the same function as a micro-recorder. <S> When I get an idea worth note-taking, I start the app and speak my notes into it as if I were on a phone call. <S> In the absence of a smart phone, an actual micro voice recorder would serve the same purpose. <A> The voice-recorder suggestion is probably the ideal, but if you're generally in an environment where you can't use that, you might try a note-taking app on your smartphone, if you have one. <S> Evernote's free version is good, and it's the first one that comes to mind, but there are plenty of alternatives, and if you don't want the bother of finding something, most phones have a "memos" app or similar built in. <S> Lots of people find typing on a smartphone clumsy, especially for anything longer than a text message, but I've found that my writing speed improved dramatically with time. <S> Most note-taking apps have the added benefit of keeping a backup of your notes, in case you lose them, and many also allow you to access them from your computer as well, which can be helpful if you use your computer to write. <S> Many also allow voice recording as well; sort of a best of both worlds.
| Practice handwriting in a relaxed way; much of the movement should come from your shoulder and upper arm rather than wrist and fingers. You might also want to look at any custom software keyboards available for your phone, since those help as well. Learn to tuck the book-holding arm against your body to stop that hand ‘moving around and getting pushed back’, but also think about angling that notebook in whichever way Try a fibre-tip pen rather than a pencil so that you don’t have to press as hard on the point.
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What are proper ways to end a business letter? How should you end a business letter? If you are writing a letter to your grandparents, I would use With Love from 'name' However, if you are writing a professional letter to someone important that isn't your family, how would you end the letter? The only one I can think of is Sincerely or Thank you for your time. <Q> I liked this question - writing letters is a professional use of writing skills, but it's becoming rare to the point of looking like a lost art. <S> The norm (UK, at least) always used to be that if the letter began "Dear Sir / Madam" it would end with "Yours faithfully", while a salutation of "Dear Mr. Smith" would give the valediction "Yours sincerely". <S> Things are a lot more liberal these days, and I'll find myself writing letters that look more like e-mails, with no salutation or first name only and "Regards" at the end. <S> Writing Stock Answer - consider the audience. <S> Do you know the recipient at all, and in what way? <S> Do they seem formal, or a person who would appreciate formality (or could expect it by position, such as a prospective employer or mentor)? <S> I can't (and shouldn't) Tell You What To Write, but it looks like you're thinking along the right lines, and for a formal communication you won't go far wrong with the ideas you've had - you could even do both. <S> "Thank you for your time" followed by "Sincerely" is a nice way to end a formal letter. <A> Just <S> "Thanks," alone can sound off key if there is nothing obvious for which thanks to the reader is warranted, or too light-hearted when providing serious information. <S> " <S> Sincerely," is (to me) taking on an emotional component of a personal relationship to emphasize feelings. <S> In professional communications no such intensifier is necessary or desired. <S> It can look false and amateurish, because in many professional communications insincerity is assumed. <S> The most common endings I see are neutral ("Regards,") to apply to any situation, from informing somebody they are terminated to informing somebody they are hired. <S> And so on. <S> In general, the rule in professional communications is to remain very neutral or understated, and avoid (in the letter, salutation, or closing) exaggeration that sounds very emotional. <S> Nobody is angry, they are "disappointed". <S> Nobody is joyful, they are "pleased." <S> Professional communications are generally even-keeled and tilt only a modest amount toward positive or negative tone. <S> Even terrifying or horrific news is this way: <S> "We regret to inform you..." <S> We stick to the facts, "look forward to" some event, "Hope to hear from you soon," etc. <S> Find ways to keep effusive emotions out of it. <S> If emotion seems to be warranted, search the online thesaurus for a synonym that understates your feelings (or if you can't put a finger on what you feel, try an antonym to the opposite of what you feel, or an antonym to something you definitely do not feel). <A> I always use, "Best" or "Best wishes". <S> If someone's helped me a lot, I like to end with, "Thanks for everything". <A> When writing a business letter, you should end with something more formal. <S> Here are some that are commonly used. <S> (Hint: Most people use "Thank you" instead of "Thanks" because some say it sounds more appropriate for business letter writing. <S> Thank you for your time <S> Thank you <S> Sincerely <S> Most sincerely Yours <S> Truly Kind Regards <S> Thank you for your consideration (reminds me of Katniss Everdeen) <S> What not to use (These are appropriate for letters to a close friend <S> Cheers <S> Cordially <S> Hopefully <S> Later Thanks! <S> See you later Warmly <S> Bye! <S> See ya! <S> Hope this helps!
| Another common exit that works is "Thank you for XXXX," as in, Thank you for your interest, Thank you for your time, Thank you for considering us, It depends upon the content of the letter.
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Ways to improve an article I was told to write an article for a homework assignment. The topic was "How to get good sleep?". I was given the points I had to include, and the word limit was 120-150 words. When I submitted the assignment, my teacher told me the article was not good. What should I keep in mind while writing an article? <Q> There are a few ways to do so, but without any more or clearer feedback, it is hard to say. <S> Perhaps you can provide more insight. <S> Make sure your grammar and syntax are correct Work with facts (and provide impartial sources) <S> Make sure your article is not only a collection of your thoughts and opinions <S> Paragraphs Essay format: intro, development, <S> conclusion <S> Since this is school, make sure you do not go against your teacher's views and beliefs <S> (that's a big one, nothing I said or wrote at school ever meant anything to me, it was just to please the teachers). <S> Those are simple ideas. <A> Another way to improve your article is peer editing. <S> Ask your friend or family to take a look at your article and see if you can improve on anything. <A> General Tips to help Improve Article Writing Skills. <S> 1. <S> Start up. <S> Don’t worry about the length of your article besides this you should keep in mind that you’re writing this article for developing your skills of writing which can help you many people in future to develop the same for themselves. <S> “The fewer words you use, the better.” <S> 2.Write <S> Early in the morning. <S> Morning time allows them to write fresh stuffs. <S> 3.Be a Good Reader <S> This is the most mandatory thing for the one who wants to build their career in Writing or Blogging. <S> 4.Be Simple. <S> For generating good traffic on your contents, your way of writing should be simple enough. <S> For that express your views in a simple and appropriate way. <S> This will help visitors or readers in a good manner. <S> 5.Complete <S> your articles in various stages. <S> There are stages to follow while you’re writing on a single topic. <S> Be sure these all stages needs some specific time. <S> For that, you need to make your schedule for following stages. <S> And then it will become a healthy content for sure. <S> 6.Write in a Distraction Free Location. <S> 7.Go smoothly. <S> 8.Research <S> well before Writing. <S> and Lastly , As they say, “Practice makes a man perfect,” If you want to be a good writer you must make a habit of regularly writing . <A> When writing a short informative article (125 words) you have to get to the point fairly early. <S> You don't need a multiple-line introduction. <S> Use one sentence to set the topic. <S> In your case that would be improving sleep quality. <S> Before starting to write do your research properly. <S> First you would start of would with a brainstorm. <S> How do I sleep? <S> I go to bed too late. <S> I use a smartphone before going to bed (very hot topic at the moment). <S> How do other people sleep? <S> My mom snores. <S> She is often tired. <S> Just use some keywords, about 12 brainstorm words should be enough for producing an article of 120 words. <S> sleep hygiene, smartphone, snoring, matras hardness, pillow, blood flow, noise, light, temperature, therapies, stress, relaxation techniques.. <S> Then find research articles. <S> Two would be enough, but to impress your teacher use about 5 articles. <S> Use scientific terminology. <S> When introducing a new concept, it is best to italicize <S> the word (e.g. "To improve sleep quality psychologists suggest to maintain a healthy sleep hygiene .") <S> Furthermore, using an acronym is a popular technique to remind people of the steps toward a health outcome. <S> But you may not have enough words for that. <S> S timulus balancing: light, noise, temperature <S> L eave your smartphone in an other room E at light before going to bed. <S> E valuate tasks done in a diary
| Before you start, do very thorough research on the particular topic on which you are going to write. Give a one-sentence conclusion. P rioritize important tasks in the morning To create better and attractive content try not to edit while you are creating your article – just go with the flow of your thoughts.
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How old do you have to be to Self-Publish? I am currently working on a novel, and this is my first novel I would want to get published. I’ve practiced writing since the age of five (I am currenlly 14), I’m most likely going to get the novel done by the age of 15. My question is: How old do you have to be to self publish? If I can’t at this age I’ll try other ways of getting it out there! <Q> I am a self publishing Author and I can say: Try other ways. <S> Look for serioius publishers for your novel and send it to them. <S> In the age of 14/15 you are not in a position for self-publishing. <S> I refereer to the Amazon KDP Programm and their terms . <S> This is in fact a contract between you and the publisher. <S> So you either have to be in the legal age for signing contracts or let someone handle it who is responsible for you. <S> And the most important thing is: You have to handle every cost that comes in. <S> ISBN Numbers for printed books, marketing, every copy you want for yourself. <S> Self-publishing is not an easy piece of cake. <S> So having the legal age of your country is extremely helpful for self-publishing. <A> Zach. <S> While some roadblocks will come up based on your age, there are enough avenues open that you can self-publish at any age. <S> Are you wanting print, ebook, audiobook, animated narration video on youtube, all? <S> Think about what matters to you and be ready to lose a few battles and make a few sacrifices to get it out there. <S> The hardest part may be yet to come, but your progress so far shows that you have what it takes. <S> I would suggest taking your time and understanding that publishing will take a very different set of skills than writing. <S> Be prepared to learn a bit about marketing, legal, and finance to avoid some of the biggest roadblocks. <S> It also helps to find others to rely on and ask for help with this. <S> People are willing to help a kid with passion and drive. <S> Good luck and congratulations! <A> But, self-publishing means: being a publisher. <S> It means marketing, distribution, editing, layout, printing (or managing contracts with others to print), and paying for all of the things a publisher does. <S> The only thing a younger age really does to the situation is that your legal guardian will have to be involved with any contracts you sign. <S> Self-Publishing is hard. <S> It's an entire business model and therefore an entire job. <S> Some people can do this, some people can't. <S> It will depend on how robust your executive functioning skills are as to whether you have a chance of managing it. <S> That's difficult at any age, and perhaps harder when you take on the burdens of feeding and housing yourself and others. <S> You're at an age where you can at least afford to make a mistake, and it probably wouldn't hurt you to understand the publishing industry if you want to write. <S> I recommend you actually study the publishing world from both sides at some point and make the determination for yourself as to how you want to spend your time/money. <S> From a high level you'll be choosing between spending more of your time writing (traditional publishing) and a lot of your time running a business with multiple arms (self-publishing). <S> Self-publishing doesn't remove the gate-keepers, it just changes who they are and how many people with experience are working to get your books through the gate into the domain of public awareness.
| You can be any age to self publish. If you're nearly done with a full novel at your age, you have enough determination to make it happen.
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Less offensive words for 'sh*t' and 'f**k'? I don't want to use for 'sh*t' and 'f**k' in my work. What else can I use that gives similar meaning? <Q> Many stories have relied upon "in-world" curses, while others have simply used words from another language or those so obscure that they have less bite. <S> In-world: In Battlestar Galactica, the term 'frack' is used. <S> It's close enough that it implies f**k without saying it. <S> Other language/ <S> Obscure: <S> Firefly is the king here, using both many extremely offensive Chinese curses and a few obscure terms. <S> Their use of the word 'ruttin' is synonymous for f**king while the term is in the middle-ground between common enough to be known and rare enough to be sterile. <S> Specific options of each would depend on the mood and setting of the story. <A> The most common upvoted items are "screw" and "crap", respectively. <A> It depends why you don't want to use them. <S> If it's because of the intended audience, what works best for them? <S> This will give you options like the "in universe" words others have mentioned or (as was common in children's comics) a string of normally unassociated characters (asterisks, exclamation marks etc.). <S> If it's because the narrator wants to express disapproval of something a character has said - a narrator with a strong character themselves - you could describe the words and let the reader figure them out. <S> Umberto Eco did this nicely in <S> The Name Of The Rose where the narrator (Adso of Melk) described William of Baskerville as using "a word in his own language" which "had an obscene hissing sound". <A> Sometimes not using such language is best. <S> Harrison Ford is famous for using expressions without saying a word. <S> I have found that readers aren't dumb and usually have a quick grasp for situations requiring such language. <S> So, I would say not to use such language unless your character demands it. <S> IF your character demands it, use the more forceful expletives. <A> I know some of these have been said <S> but: What about “son of a bitch” “damn” “hell” “dag” “drat” “dang” “frick” “crikey” LoL “mf” “wtf” “mother trucker” “son of a biscuit” <S> “jfc” “wtf/wtff” “fu” “eff me” smd” <S> I think you get the point
| Take your pick from the online power thesaurus: F**k S**t
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How would a mature teenager behave? I'm writing about a mature girl (15ish). But I'm not sure how she should act other than being polite. The way I think a mature person would act would be someone who doesn't swear, but some mature people that I know still do that. How should I write about a mature girl? Some ideas I already had: Doesn't swear Is responsible <Q> As Amadeus has stated, impulse control is the greatest attribute of maturity. <S> Additional benefits include... <S> Being comfortable in your own skin, never acting defensive and falsely humble. <S> Being Patient Having Emotional Stability (accepting personal failure without complete collapse) Being Confident or at least having the courage to fake it till you make it Seeing the bigger picture Having Discipline Knowing your strengths and the limits of those strengths <S> Maturity is a step along the path to Personal Mastery which is a state where all of the forces and fears of younger life lose all of their power, leaving freedom and opportunity in their wake. <A> To me, the biggest components of maturity are a significant level of understanding, based on one's own experiences or what has been observed; control over impulsivity and rash or risky actions. <S> So a mature person is not surprised if a politician is found to be cheating on his wife; affairs among the powerful seem pretty commonplace. <S> Even an observant young girl, with her eyes open, could probably discern this pattern and not be shocked to learn it. <S> Also, a mature person might still have the impulse to curse out a superior, but control it and be more stoic or careful with what they say or how they respond. <S> Maturity is the opposite of Childish. <S> Childish behavior is impulsive and of the moment, it fails to consider consequences and it fails to consider risks, and (related to those) <S> it fails to consider whether a short term gain or pleasure might actually be a terrible thing in the long term. <A> I'd recommend reading up on emotional intelligence. <S> Being high in EI is what I associate with maturity, especially being high in assertiveness. <S> Goleman lays out the basic traits that make up EI. <S> From Wikipedia: Self-awareness – the ability to know one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values and goals and recognize their impact onothers while using gut feelings to guide decisions. <S> Self-regulation – involves controlling or redirecting one's disruptive emotions and impulses and adapting to changingcircumstances. <S> Social skill – managing relationships to move people in the desired direction Empathy – <S> considering other people's feelings especially when making decisions <S> Motivation – being driven to achieve for the sake of achievement <A> The old adage is, "write what you know." <S> To add to that (and make it more of an encouragement than a rejection), we can also say, "know what you write." <S> Your own personal observation of people and how they interact and live <S> really is your best tool upon which to draw for vivid, life-like characters. <S> You can't substitute for that with cut-out descriptions taken from the internet, and you certainly can't substitute for it by reading a psychology textbook. <S> (I won't go into a rant here about the defects of psychology, but let's point out the obvious: <S> most psychologists' interactions with people do not represent people from all walks of life. <S> You're dealing with a very limited subset.) <S> If you want to write REAL characters, REAL stories (or realistic), and grab onto your readers with your writing, you may want to go outside of your comfort zone in talking to people. <S> Go and talk to some "mature women." <S> Whatever that means. <S> See for yourself how they behave and what they do and how they speak and what they think. <S> It's a lot more work, but you'll wind up with your own inimitable style and viewpoint, and what's more valuable, you'll wind up with a real knowledge of people and relationships. <A> Lots of great ideas about maturity in the other answers. <S> Lots of times mature people act the same way as immature people: the differences often only come out under stress. <S> It also helps to contrast your mature character with an immature character. <S> Consider the following (exaggerated) exchange between IG (Immature Girl) and MG (Mature Girl) <S> IG: <S> You bitch! <S> You stole my boyfriend! <S> You're a smug, phony, self-righteous slut! <S> MG: <S> Wait, IG, can we talk about this? <S> I can totally see how it would look that way to you. <S> If I thought a friend betrayed me, I'd be really hurt and mad. <S> I wouldn't do that to you. <S> Can you listen to my side? <S> So here we see IG losing her temper and throwing out insults. <S> MG stays calm, looks at things from IG's viewpoint, and shows empathy and diplomacy. <S> A mature person might also say something like: " <S> oh... <S> I never looked at it like that. <S> I guess you're right <S> and I was wrong. <S> I'm sorry. <S> " This demonstrates the emotional maturity necessary to evaluate one's own actions, admit that they were wrong, and accept responsibility for them. <S> Hope this helps. <A> Think of a mature adult, then subtract experience. <S> I've known plenty of teenagers in my life that were way more mature than a lot of adults I've known. <S> The one thing they don't have is life, as in quantity of.
| To address the part of your question where you ask how to write about someone who is mature, ask yourself what maturity means to you then push your character into situations where those characteristics come into play. A mature girl might feel the impulse to do something risky or forbidden, but control herself and refrain from it, or refuse to do it. Talk to people from all walks of life—people living in the streets, people living in posh condos, wandering vagrants, people from foreign countries, people in foreign countries, anybody.
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Writing flashbacks in novels You would have seen many movies where the flow of the story goes in such a way - The present life of the protagonist - talks with someone / sees something - reminds him something of a past experience - shows the past incident - back to the present time Now this is a good way of showing the story and balancing between past and present. But my question is, for writing a novel, is this a good approach ? Because I think this might make the readers a bit confused. (For the movie part, the viewer can see the change in time, which might help them) Also, if there's an example of any novels written in such a manner then kindly give some examples. <Q> The best selling book on Amazon is <S> the new stormlight archive book by Sanderson. <S> It's the third of three, and a thousand pages that is entirely structured around a single character in present time and whatever bad thing happened prior. <S> 1 in 3 chapters is a flashback. <S> The name of the wind, by rothfuss is largely only flashback. <S> The prestige (possibly greatest movies with flashbacks) was a book, first. <S> Wizard and glass of the dark tower is a flashback, book <S> and it's also very good. <S> Yes, you can do this, but you're correct to worry about what a movie can do and what a story can do. <S> While they share this implement, they wield it differently. <S> In either case your biggest concerns are going to be momentum and engagement. <S> If either story is more interesting than the other, it will unbalance the novel and destroy it. <A> If the flashback scene is short, you can use italics to show the protagonist thinking about the past. <S> Some writers also use the 3 asterisks <S> *** <S> at the beginning of a flashback and at its end. <S> Or you can simply say: His mind went back to the time they were young... <S> With this you're showing the MC's thinking back to his childhood. <S> Many times flashbacks end into an info dump so be careful with that. <S> Also, even movies, at times, don't show the change from present to a past flashback. <A> I tried skipping flashbacks in a rough draft but after some prompting from a friend I wrote them in. <S> I'm still not fully sure which to keep or which to cull, but this is my little guideline: <S> If it adds to the story, helps the plot along, understand the characters' motives in the plot and is interesting to read, keep it, if it isn't then cut it. <S> Also it helps to write the flashback in the early drafts and go over it later. <S> If you find yourself skipping over the flashback to continue reading the present plotline, then it likely isn't needed.
| But if the flashback is interesting and continues the flow or understanding of the main plot then keep it.
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What is the name of the service or job title for typing handwritten manuscripts? I was thinking about paying someone to type up the handwritten pages of my novel, so that I can go straight to the editing process. (I prefer first drafts to be with pencil.). This way I can juggle more projects. For some reason I assumed this specific job was a transcriptionist, but that is technically for speech. Or am I wrong? Does anyone know what service to whom I can send my handwritten pages and they will type it for a fee? (I understand this may have been asked; I looked but did not find my exact query. My apologies in advance for such an underwhelming question.) <Q> I'm used to calling the person who converts handwritten documents into (digital or ink on paper) <S> typed manuscript a typist . <S> They used to be a lot more common; large offices would have a "typing pool" from which, in rotation, typists would be summoned to type a job (such as producing a fair copy of a revised document, making a first draft from a handwritten original, and even just making a copy, before photocopy technology). <S> Most of those jobs are obsolete now, replaced by technology (word processing, xerography, etc.), but converting handwritten to (digital) typed is still the job of a typist. <A> Historically, this job description was for copying from hand to hand, but it mostly has been replaced by digital formats. <S> Currently, hand-to-hand transcriptions are performed by rabbinical students in producing a new Torah. <S> (The clever ones memorize the Pentateuch in doing so.) <S> Scribe : <S> a person who copies out documents, especially one employed to do this before printing was invented. <S> [Merriam-Webster's] <S> Personally, I feel you would be well-suited for doing this work yourself. <S> Third drafts are typical, even before electronic media. <S> Similarly, you might be looking for a transcriptionist . <S> Transcriprionist : [ <S> One who performs] the action or process of transcribing something; e.g. The funding covers transcription of nearly illegible photocopies. <S> [Merriam-Webster's] <S> This was very common in the '90s with medical records being transcribed from their original handwritten forms into a computerized medical records system. <S> A Google search revealed I have 3 transcription services within 6 miles of my home. <A> I'm personally fond of the term <S> amanuensis , and while I hardly ever get to use it <S> , this sounds like the perfect legitimate need: <S> A person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another <A> If you require a human to type your work, then I'd say a scribe, though that may be archaic. <S> Nowadays, a computer paired with a particular software may be faster and cheaper. <S> These are called Optical Character Recognition , or OCR for short. <S> Simply upload scanned images of your work, and the program will do the rest. <S> There are plenty of free software that work well (enough for a student).You may want to consider the priced ones, which cost anywhere from $50-200, but will work better. <S> I recommend googling some options and looking for a free trial to test that your handwriting is neat enough :) <A> As someone who prefers to write the first draft by hand <S> I know how you're feeling. <S> You could try looking on Fiverr for someone who can type up your manuscript. <S> Something I've tried in the past was the Livescribe 3 Pen . <S> Somehow I lost the pen I had, but it worked half decently <S> , the downside was <S> it's not-so-great app,but <S> it's abeen a few years so it might have improved. <S> It might be worth looking into smartpens that will speed up this step of your process. <S> Something I have noticed with having to type up a draft written by hand, is that I catch more mistakes (plot holes, typos and misused words) as I'm going and can fix them. <S> So by the time I've typed up a draft it's a bit cleaner <S> and I can focus on other areas like character/ setting development in the next revision. <S> This is just part of my process, but it might be something to consider when you're researching options. <S> Hope <S> this helps :)
| It seems to me you are looking for a scribe or scrivener.
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What are good words to refer to the condition of objects? In RPG games objects such as weapons or armor have a certain durability represented by a number. For example a sword has 100/100 Durability. After it becomes 0/100 it means the object is broken. I want some object condition names like Perfect, Chipped, Good, Broken. I can't think of anything else. I want to have a name for every 10% of durability.I plan to use them for weapons, armor and accessories. Can anyone help me? <Q> What kinds of objects are you naming? <S> Not every word makes sense for every kind of thing, for example you wouldn't call a coat "polished" or "rusty" (or "chipped"), but you might a sword. <S> The problem you'll likely run into with 10 different designations is that it won't be obvious which ones are better than others, especially around the middle. <A> Usually adjectives are grouped into pairs of opposites such as "good and bad" or "light or dark". <S> We don't really have a word for "10% good" or "70% light", in fact all words that might fall in between the extremes usually have specific meanings: "murky", "grey", or "ashen" <S> all fall somewhere between "light" and "dark", but they aren't one of them more or less bright than the others but rather express different ideas about "neither light nor dark". <S> If you use existing adjectives to express a meaning they do not commonly have, you will confuse your readers. <S> In your example, I'm not sure whether "good" or "chipped" are supposed to be harder; to me something chipped might still be good, so both might even refer to the same level of hardness. <S> A better idea for a scale of hardness, instead of finding one adjective for each level of the scale, would be to use pronouns in combination with adjectives in the same way that psychologists do when they construct Likert scales . <S> Here is an example from a psychological test, illustrating what I mean: <S> In the same way you could create a scale of hardness: <S> soft very soft somewhat soft <S> somewhat hard very hard hard <S> If you use additional pronouns such as "most" or adjectives such as "extremly" to further differentiate that scale, you can create 11 different levels of hardness. <S> You could also use the Mohs scale of mineral hardness as an example and use numbers. <A> Since you will be using these conditions to describe a variety of weapons, armor, and accessories, the adjectives need to be applicable to all three categories. <S> That keeps it simple for you, and keeps it simple and consistent for whoever is consuming the story you're creating. <S> With that in mind, here is my proposal, though I may be returning to make edits. <S> 100% - Pristine 90% - Unblemished <S> /Undamaged 80% <S> - Durable <S> 70% - Tested <S> 60% - Blemished <S> 50% - Worn <S> 40% - Damaged <S> 30% - Weakened <S> 20% <S> - Fragile <S> 10% - Compromised <S> 0% - Unusable <S> I'll admit, I want a better word for 90%, but I was happy to keep these concise and digestible, all at one word apiece. <S> Take what you will, ignore what you must. <S> EDIT <S> Also, courtesy of Easy Tiger's comment below, here are some meaty options that more than deserve to be considered: scuffed, tarnished, battered, worn-out <A> In the famous game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Item wear is expressed in 5 (not 10, too bad <S> ;) ) qualities: <S> Battle-Scarred, <S> Well-Worn, Field-Tested, Minimal Wear and Factory New. <S> You might want to use them as a template or add a few more to match your 10% steps. <S> You can draw some inspiration from other games which use item wear. <A> I have to agree with User2877 about using adjectives like slightly, mostly, completely, etc. <S> Perhaps you could also add descriptive example words after the category title to demonstrate what conditions are included in that group <S> New could be followed by shiny, polished, etc. <S> Highest quality would include strong, hard, durable, etc. <S> Poor or Very Used may be described with chipped, broken, rusty, etc. <S> If using categories like Hardest to Softest , you could include familiar examples of specific objects or materials that provide a good mental comparison to the object you are describing (ie diamond, rubber, steel, fur, etc)
| It's not too hard to come up with a few general adjectives, such as tattered, damaged, mended, mint, pristine, flawless or even just old and new.
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Is it annoying if you write a character getting in trouble often, even if it's not their fault? I have this girl in my story, who is around 12 years old, who is the main character of the story, or one of the main characters. She is captured by the bad guys very often, and I fear this might get annoying to the reader/viewer/player. The problem is, I kinda need her to be captured this often for the story. One way I thought about making it less annoying is making sure it's never her fault for being captured, it's usually by an outside force she had no control over. Also, sometimes she manages to escape on her own, or avoids being captured altogether, so it's not like she's completely incapable. Should I worry about this? Would this annoy people, even if it's not the character's fault? <Q> A narrative work creates promises and then fulfills them. <S> If the promises are not fulfilled this tends to frustrate the reader. <S> One of the major promises is forward motion in a work. <S> This is let's say unlike an 80s sitcom where every episode is expected to reset everything. <S> One of the most annoying things an author can do is unmake progress that a character makes. <S> It does not matter whose fault it is. <S> If we get to a castle, and the princess is in another castle, the reader is frustrated if that's not how your narrative clearly works. <S> If you have 8 castles then it's OK. <S> But if we ever have to redo castle 5, it's annoying. <S> Now to getting into trouble. <S> It's OK if it's moving the plot forward. <S> It is absolutely annoying if it constantly unmakes the hero's progress setting them back over and over. <S> Again think of the promise here. <S> If you are promising an adventure with a goal, then it's bad. <S> If you are promising a character that gets in trouble a lot, then it may be good. <A> The reader expects fictional characters to have much more "eventful" lives than real people. <S> I once read that the average real-life policeman fires his gun at a suspect approximately once every 30 years. <S> i.e. most policemen never shoot a criminal in their entire careers, maybe possibly once or twice. <S> But police officers on TV have two or three shootouts with the criminals every episode. <S> The average TV policemen kills dozens or hundreds of people every year. <S> And yet generally the audience accepts it, because we expect fiction to be extreme. <S> If your heroine is captured by the villains 20 times, this is fine if the reaction of the reader is, "Oh no! <S> She's been captured again! <S> How will she escape this time? <S> " If the story is entertaining, the reader should just accept this. <S> The problem is if the story is getting so boring and or strained that the reader thinks, "Oh, right. <S> She's just been kidnapped AGAIN? <S> Why do her friends even bother trying to rescue her? <S> She's probably used to it by now. <S> " <S> I've read plenty of stories where I think, "Wow, how exciting! <S> The hero defeats an entire army single-handed!! <S> " <S> But I've had others where I think, " <S> Yeah right, I'm supposed to believe that this one guy can defeat an entire army single-handed? <S> " It's all a matter of doing it effectively. <S> And if I had a simple formula for how to make a story engrossing, if I could say, "Just make your sentences this length and use these six words" ... <S> I suppose I'd be a famous novelist and not taking time off work to post on this forum. <A> I can see how this repetitive situation might get annoying to a reader. <S> If a reader is into your story, they get emotionally attached to characters. <S> I wouldn't want the character I'm rooting for to constantly get captured. <S> People have a tendency to victim-blame, even when the events are out of the victim's control.
| You might be fine, if as you said, she shows improvement over time (escaping, avoiding capture), but if she keeps making small mistakes that lead her to get captured for the fifth time, the reader may give up on this character and your story even if "it's not her fault".
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Using internal monologue for more than one or two characters It appears that most "rules" regarding internal monologue advise restricting its use to one or two POV characters. My novel, however, will have five or six major (POV) characters, and I would like to use interior monologue with perhaps four of them. I understand and agree that limiting internal monologue to one or two characters is normally advisable to achieve and maintain an intimate connection. But I feel that showing the internal monologue of four of my characters in this particular story makes it deeper, richer, and more involving. Just wondering how others feel about this. <Q> The key is to be clear at all times whose viewpoint we are in. <S> So when you change from one viewpoint to another, make sure you give enough indicators that the reader can follow. <S> This is easiest, of course, at chapter breaks and scene breaks. <S> But a skilled writer can help the reader follow viewpoint changes more often than that. <S> I think I've seen John Irving (pretty darned skilled) switch viewpoint twice in a single paragraph. <S> (I think the book was The Fourth Hand, which I don't recommend other than for studying how to switch viewpoints skillfully.) <S> That advice is very useful for writers who aren't yet able to guide the reader through viewpoint changes, but limiting for writers who have the appropriate skill. <S> If you aren't yet good at managing viewpoint changes, you'll confuse the heck out of readers. <S> So get good at it. <A> Maybe a third person omniscient narrator would serve you better. <S> This narrator knows the inner streams of thoughts of every character in the story, hence it can expose them in the narration as required by the story without really changing the POV. <S> This is likely less prone to generate confusion in the reader. <A> As long as the distinction is clear from the inner voice of each character this is perfectly fine. <S> Every character needs to feel different by using different voices , because otherwise it feels like the author just switched out the names. <S> Think about what each character's focus is. <S> Is one of them obsessed with shoes because he thinks it shows important characteristics about other people? <S> Is one of them obsessed with interpreting the gestures of people around him? <S> Is one of them always afraid of what might happen next or what others are thinking? <S> I am sure this is the right way. <S> My gut is never wrong! <S> Let's just hope Joe knows what he's doing <S> , I ain't gonna stick around anymore if he gets us into trouble again like with his grandma' a week ago... <S> The boys are awefully quite, though Joe seems confident as always. <S> I hope we are on track, I don't like the darkness and it should be getting dark in about half an hour if my watch is correct. <S> It won't be safe around these parts once the predators wake up. <S> Was there something? <S> I think I heard something. <S> But the others are talking. <S> And smiling. <S> Why are they smiling? <S> This is not funny! <S> I am afraid. <S> I want to go home. <S> I need to go home! <S> This is crazy. <S> I should have never come here! <S> It's all Joe's fault for draggin me into this mess! <S> As always... I just can' say 'No' to that guy. <S> God damn it <S> , how I hate that I can never say 'No'. <S> There! <S> Again! <S> Something is definitely behind us.
| If you can make every viewpoint change clear to the reader, feel free to ignore advice about "head hopping" or "one viewpoint per scene."
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Should I make my character suspect an upcoming twist or not? I have reached a point in my story in which the characters, who are in a sort of gang, will have to turn against each other. The specifics of it are not important; what is, is that capturing the main character presents an opportunity for them to gain more power, and they gather to capture the MC and bring them in for their prize. However, I am having trouble figuring out if the MC should anticipate this betrayal at some point, or for it to come as a complete surprise to them and thus the reader, making it a better twist. Note that before this the gang had a large period of mistrust and absence where they were almost starved with siege warfare, so they are now pretty much separated and desperate for power, which is why I am hesitant on just playing the MC off as clueless. So, what do you think I should do? <Q> Two issues: 1. <S> What do you need to make the story work? <S> And 2. <S> What would be plausible if this were real life? <S> Of course #1 can conflict with #2. <S> One of my pet peeves is when characters in a TV show or movie don't do the obvious thing to solve their problem, and you know that the reason they don't is because if they did the movie would be over in 5 minutes. <S> I often find myself saying to the TV, "Oh come on, why don't you just call the police?", etc. <S> The easy answer is, Don't make your characters behave unrealistically. <S> If there's something that any rational human would think or do, but doing this would not take the story in the direction you want to go, then give us a reason why the characters don't do it, or why they do it <S> but it doesn't work. <S> Like if the character would naturally be suspicious, tell us why he was so easily duped in this case. <S> The villain had saved his life once and he just couldn't imagine he would turn on him now. <S> He was so busy doing X that he just never noticed the obvious signs of trouble. <S> Whatever works. <A> If I were writing, they would have to be suspicious, no matter how this affected the story. <S> The only good reason to NOT be suspicious is some form of love, romantic, sibling, parental, etc. <S> For example, a son may not believe his own beloved father would betray him. <S> I have a best friend of forty years that might as well be my sibling, we have been through multiple family deaths together (in his family and mine), victimizations, a fire, car crashes, murders in our family. <S> I would not believe my friend could betray me. <S> For anybody else, a friend of a few years, a coworker or something like that, and especially anybody <S> I knew that had betrayed somebody else in the past, suspicion is raised whenever some "anomaly" or "strange coincidence" occurs. <S> If I were writing, I think the lack of suspicion would break suspension of disbelief, it would look like a deus ex machina, like the bad guy accidentally leaving an obvious gaping hole in their defenses. <S> One thing you could do, for the better twist, is come up with a better twist for the suspicion. <S> If you can do this under the covers so the reader doesn't realize who the true traitor is (or thinks the true traitor is an ally) <S> Then the MC is blind-sided when the true traitor is revealed, as you want. <A> An alternative answer: <S> You can leave it up to the reader to wonder whether the character knew. <S> This depends on your writing style, but it is actually possible to show everything the character actually physically does and much of the character's immediate reactions and responses to events, without describing anything at all of what the character knows, thinks, suspects, plans. <S> A mild form of this is in an action story of some sort when: He described in a few words what he wanted done. <S> The sentry nodded brightly and saluted, a sly grin spreading across his face. <S> 'You can count on me, sir,' he said, slapping his rifle butt for emphasis, and Daniel moved on, satisfied. <S> Then the reader learns the plan later by seeing it in action. <S> Likewise, you don't have to show suspicion; you can just show the result. <S> Someone suspecting an imminent betrayal is hardly likely to demonstrate the fact, which makes it difficult for an outsider to tell whether it is in fact suspected or not. <S> So show what actually happens. <S> Does the betrayal succeed? <S> It sounds like you want it to. <S> So, you could have it succeed, but have it be a near thing due to unexpected difficulty encountered by those betraying him. <S> Ultimately, it's your story, and what happens in it is up to you. <A> Short answer <S> YES. <S> You should make the member who is competing for power be suspicious of his friends. <S> Gangs have a specific hierarchy of ranks. <S> When you act beyond your rank you risk the consequences. <S> If the character was seeking power from other groups it could be even worse. <S> The main character (MC) would have to be suspicious of everything when he or she is playing high stakes. <S> There are many things you can do to keep it interesting for the reader. <S> anticipate and overcome betrayal: withhold the information from the reader that the MC knows he's going to be betrayed and let the MC have a secret plan. <S> When the MC is caught and the secret plan is executed you can opt to explain the plan or leave it as self-explanatory. <S> anticipate betrayal and lose out: the MC knows he's going to be betrayed <S> and it turns into a bloodbath. <S> The MC dies (i.e. false protagonist , and a new MC is introduced. <S> Also, you could have the MC live and replace the boss. <S> The MC would function more as a background character. <S> This way the reader can get more point of views from other characters. <S> clueless, but win: there's a fight, but the MC brutally wins becoming a powerful gangster. <S> Maybe the MC knows martial arts or has some super power. <S> Based on this event you can add a background story about how the talent and skills developed. <S> The environment and difficulties that the MC had to deal with. <S> clueless and lose: the MC is caught and was not prepared, even though he is "intelligent and curious" . <S> This wouldn't make much sense. <S> Take your pick. <S> If you know where you're going, all you need are the tools to get there.
| Make your traitor also realize the MC will suspect betrayal, so the traitor leaves behind clues or hints to the MC, so the MC suspect the wrong person of being the traitor. This can be surprising to the reader and can be very interesting.
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