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Is it a copyright violation to have the character share some characteristics with a known character? More specifically, consider the following examples:1) Say my protagonist is a boy who has a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, wears round glasses, and has dark hair and green eyes. His name is NOT Harry Potter, he is NOT a wizard, and he DOESN'T attend Hogwarts. Would this be considered copyright? After all, it's perfectly plausible that there could exist a person with these physical attributes. 2) Can my protagonist have a nickname like "Harry Potter" or "the muggle Harry Potter"? (again assuming he's not a wizard etc.) Edit: Thank you for your responses. I have one more question. When referring to pop culture in your work, say the Harry Potter series, are you allowed to refer to characters by their nicknames (e.g. the Boy Who Lived)? For example, I know something like "Hey, you look just like Harry Potter!" is allowed, but is "Hey, you look just like the Boy Who Lived!" allowed? <Q> <A> I am not a lawyer. <S> Copyright violation is often up to human interpretation (not yours) by a judge or jury. <S> They get to decide whether you are stealing a character or not. <S> Chances are, they will decide a lightning bolt scar, round glasses, etc is so unique it can't be anything BUT plagiarism, so they will find you guilty of copyright violation, perhaps trademark infringement, and theft of intellectual property. <S> Harry Potter's persona belongs to JK Rowling and her contractual partners. <S> The underlying issue is, broadly, that you cannot steal somebody else's imagination in order to make yourself money. <S> There are huge exceptions when it comes to generalities that you can show are present in multiple works over time. <S> Nobody can stop you from writing a murder mystery, or clever super-observant detectives, or space operas like Star Trek and Star Wars, or about a magic school for kids, or magic portals to a magical land. <S> You can write treasure-hunt adventures, similar to Indiana Jones but with different protagonists. <S> Those things have been done many times, in print and film, and thus no particular person or entity owns them. <S> You can follow plot points: Hundreds of romantic comedies follow the same broad plot, millions of novels adhere closely to the Hero's Journey. <S> But when it comes to specifics that exist in only ONE work, then you are in trouble. <S> It doesn't make a difference what might happen "In Real Life", what matters is, how many authors can you find with a male character of that age with a lightning bolt scar and round glasses, etc. <S> When you add enough characteristics of any kind to narrow the field to one, then you are in trouble. <S> I imagine just the lightning bolt scar on the forehead is sufficient in this case. <S> I will also note that if found guilty, the penalty can be greater than just all the money you made. <S> The offended party can claim your work has damaged their prospects by polluting and diluting their brand, and receive not only the money you made, but significant compensation for the damages as well. <S> But again, I am not a lawyer, you should consult one before you publish anything like this. <S> Or follow my advice: Use your own imagination, don't try to take shortcuts using anybody else's; it is stealing. <A> Can my protagonist have a nickname like "Harry Potter" or "the muggle Harry Potter"? <S> (again assuming he's not a wizard etc.) <S> Under "common law", which is the basis for most laws in English speaking countries, the concept of the reasonable man determines many things. <S> For plagiarism you have to ask whether a reasonable man would believe that it was copied? <S> Consider a story with a character called "Harry Potter Junior", who receives instruction on magic. <S> The plot involves wizards, trolls, goblins, elves, etc., and Harry's fight against evil. <S> Would a "reasonable man" think that was a case of plagiarism? <S> What if the story were actually published in 1986, 11 years before J. K. Rowling's novel? <S> What if I didn't make up this hypothetical situation and it actually happened? <S> See: Troll (film) - Wikipedia

But if the first thing readers think of after reading the character description is someone else's character... then you are in dangerous territory, and could absolutely be sued for infringement or get a Cease and Desist court order levied against you, among other things. Copyright law varies by country, so there is no simple answer.

Is it okay to put an inversion in a song lyrics? In the dark alley of my youth, light, it shone from the cloud-ladden sky . I've been listening to the chirping in the trees. Lately, I felt a bit more free. I am wondering if this is acceptable. I am not sure if this is just called an inversion or there's a more specific technique involved here, but I was wondering if this is an awkward phrasing. I am also wondering if it's ok to put 3 almost unrelated sentences in the same verse in a song. <Q> Reading it aloud like a monologue might sound a bit unnatural, but if it’s going to be put to music I would say it’s completely acceptable and even a good thing to split up a line it that way. <S> It holds tension, yet feels satisfying when we understand what’s being said. <S> But, if you eventually find you don’t like it, there is an alternative. <S> In the dark alley of my youth, light shone from the cloud-ladden sky. <S> When singing the lyrics, one would just skip a small amount of time before starting that line, to make up for the missing syllable where the word “it” would have been. <S> But ultimately, do whatever feels right, because it is art. <A> I think the name for what you want to do is Hyperbaton From a writing and English comprehension standpoint <S> , I don't see a problem with it. <S> The meaning of the sentence is perfectly clear, and unless you are working under some kind of constraint, there's really not much to stop you. <S> If you're worried about it being good, however, I would consider advice from anold professor <S> I had- <S> "All remarkable writing has form and function, and form always must always serve a function. <S> " <S> I can't say I completely agree, but it's something to consider. <S> What is the purpose of this structure? <A> In terms of meaning, emotional impact, etc. <S> how is: In the dark alley of my youth,light, it shone from the cloud-laden sky. <S> different from: In the dark alley of my youth,light shone from the cloud-laden sky. <S> ? <S> If the unusual wording isn't there to affect the audience in some specific way, it simply looks like awkward writing. <S> The same words could be used like this though: <S> In the dark alley of my youth: light. <S> It shone from the cloud-laden sky. <S> It makes sense and doesn't feel awkward. <S> If it no longer scans well with your music, well, handling that is what composing and writing are all about. <S> How about: <S> In the dark alley of my youth,a light shone from the cloud-laden sky.

As for putting in three unrelated sentences in the same verse, I would say that’s completely fine, as long as they are related to the subject of the song they don’t necessarily need to line up with each other.

Is it possible to write a short story in 500 words? There is a short story contest where the limit is five hundred (500) words and I want to know if that is a possible limit for a short story? <Q> Easily. <S> There are entire categories of "flash fiction" that are even shorter, even down to just six words (famous example allegedly by Hemingway : "For sale: Baby shoes. <S> Never worn."). <S> Common breakpoints are Twitter sized (280 characters), 50 words, 100 words, 300 words, 500 words, 750 words, and 1000 words. <S> These categories go by many names, and they aren't really standard, but common names are dribble, microfiction, micro-story, flash fiction, minisaga, sudden fiction, and so on. <S> Beyond 1000 words you start to get into established novelette territory and more traditional short stories. <A> In "150+ Short Two-Sentence Horror Stories To Freak You Out," Michael Koh compiled a list of two-sentence horror stories. <S> He started of by saying that "horror stories don’t need to be long in order to be scary. <S> A good horror concept can always be boiled down to its chilling core. <S> " <S> Here are a few examples: <S> I can’t move, breathe, speak or hear and it’s <S> so dark all the time. <S> If I knew it would be this lonely, I would have been cremated instead. <S> — <S> Graboid27 <S> I woke up to hear knocking on glass. <S> At first, I thought it was the window until I heard it come from the mirror again. <S> — therealhatman <S> There was a picture in my phone of me sleeping. <S> I live alone. <S> — guztaluz <S> My wife woke me up last night to tell me there was an intruder in our house. <S> She was murdered by an intruder 2 years ago. <S> — <S> The_D_String <S> The point is that you can express the core of an idea in a very short amount of space. <S> Writing more just expands on it. <A> There also a very popular writing competition run by the BBC every year for young writers called " 500 words ". <S> Some of the stories that have come out of that are very impressive, especially since the competition is only open to kids aged 5 to 13! <A> Somebody who used the (very) short form as a congenial tool is the German Marxist poet Bertolt Brecht, known for the Three Penny Opera. <S> He wrote a series of very short stories (link in German) about a fictional character Mr. Keuner. <S> Maybe a little background is in order to appreciate these stories. <S> In very short stories much must be left to the reader's imagination because there is no room to flesh it out. <S> This fit well with one of Brecht's political-poetic core principles. <S> His goal was to provoke his audience into thinking for themselves, instead of passively accepting given stories, in the news as well as in the arts. <S> His strategy was alienation: <S> A story would not provide closure; or contain other unusual elements which would interrupt any "reception trance" in the audience. <S> These stories are examples for his method. <S> I'll translate one of the more famous stories: The Reunion A man who hadn't seen Mr. K in a long time greeted him with the words: "You haven't change one bit!" – "Oh!" said Mr. K. and paled. <S> Generations of students have wondered in their interpretations why Mr. K was put off by this remark; Brecht achieved his goal. <A> Yes. . <A> Even shorter stories are possible. <S> Check out https://twitter.com/microsff for Micro Sci-Fi & Fantasy stories that fit in either a single tweet or occasionally a thread. <A> I think "yes", but it also depends on to what extent the author and the audience have shared experiences / thoughts, i.e. how much you can predict they assume / read between the lines. <S> Sometimes you could do with a lot less <S> that 500 Think of the Japanese haiku; while maybe not be a real short story, even a haiku can include some drama between the start, middle, and end. <A> Religion, mystery, love? <S> " <S> Oh my god <S> I'm pregnant! <S> Who could it be?" <S> (Forgot where I read it as a joke) <A> Certainly. <S> I have written short stories of length fifty (50) and even six (6) words. <S> So in my humble opinion, yes it most definitely can be done. <S> However, it takes practice and application to write stories successfully at any given length. <S> When I wrote stories of exactly fifty words, initially it was easy to overshot and lots of editing and re-editing was required to get them to the right length. <S> After a few attempts, it became moderately easy to write to required length. <S> If you are doing this for the first time, keep trying and do lots of editing, and eventually you find the stories fall out at the right length. <S> Good luck with the competition! <A> For an embarrassment of riches, look no further than the popular song from at least the middle ages to today. <S> I don't know what percentage of lyrics are stories, but it's high. <S> There's even a whole subcategory for them - ballads - although some of them are undoubtedly longer than 500 words. <S> My problem with giving examples is that there are way too many great ones! <S> I'll just mention a few favorites. <S> Canadian Railroad Trilogy and In the Morning Rain - Gordon Lightfoot For Free - Joni Mitchell <S> Mr. Bojangles - Jerry Jeff Walker Rocky Raccoon and Norwegian Wood - Lennon and McCartney <S> Caves of Altamira and Gaucho - Steely Dan

So, it's quite possible to write a short story in only 500 words; it just depends on how quickly you can say what you need to say.

Books in a trilogy are significantly different lengths. What to do? I’ve managed to write a fantasy book, Lord of the Rings -style. That is, a single story that would almost certainly be published as three separate books with multiple branching plotlines. Or at least, I’ve written the rough draft of one. Having more-or-less completed the rough draft, however, I’ve noticed a potential problem. My books are of dramatically different lengths. In particular, my first book is much longer than my second and almost twice the size of my third. The way I see it, I have seven options: 1) Polish up the story as-is , and hope a publisher/agent will accept a large debut novel (strike one) that doesn’t stand on its own (strike two) from an unknown author (strike three). This still doesn’t address the issue of the different book sizes, which I imagine might be annoying for a reader. 2) Split the first book into two smaller books. This makes all the books about the same size, but I’m not sure I can have good “stopping points” for the plot threads between books 1 and 2 if I do this. Maybe with enough rewriting. 3) Split the story into two parallel stories. Of my three-and-a-half or so plots, my A and B plots are more closely aligned, as are my C and D plots. There isn’t much (direct) interaction between the two stories, though both are reacting to the same outside events, and the events of one story does have some indirect effects on the other story; without this knowledge, some events might seem to be happening “out of the blue”. Rewriting could probably fix this, though I’m not sure the overall…theme, for lack of a better word, could be maintained without all four endings. 4) Cut, cut, cut from Book 1. Maybe a subplot or two could be removed. Perhaps Plot D could be cut in its entirety (I’ve thought about cutting it anyway, since it isn’t vital and is rather darker than the rest of the story, but I’ve held off thus far because of thematic consequences to removing it). But trying to cut out half the book seems…ambitious. 5) Further flesh out Books 2 and 3. Adding a subplot to Plot B could be a relatively easy and effective way to fill out Book 2 (I’ve thought about doing this as well, as Plot B is somewhat anemic in Book 2); and perhaps some more details in Plot C would be good in Book 3, though perhaps that would simply be a distraction. 6) Merge Books 2 and 3 into one. I’m not sure I can do this easily, since there’s a bit of a time-skip between Books 2 and 3 and the climax of Plot B really wants to go at the end of a book. Still, perhaps fixable with serious rewriting. This still leaves Book 1 fairly long, and I suspect that from a publisher’s perspective a trilogy is a more attractive proposition (i.e., more potential sales) than a duology. 7) Shelve the story for now. Write another book, try to get it published and make a name for myself. This might help get Book 1 published as-is, though the dramatically different book sizes would still be an issue. Plus, my next book will probably be science fiction, not quite hard science fiction but close, and a rather different style as well. I’d like advice on what to do, of course, but I’d also like advice on how to decide what to do. I’ve been stuck here for almost two months, unsure what to do. Each option requires a significant investment of time and effort, so there’s a huge incentive to get it right the first time. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Addendum: Thus far I’ve tried to keep the question fairly story-agnostic, in the hopes that a good answer will help in more than just my particular circumstances. Since the details of my work might affect the answer, however, I include a brief summary below, with approximate word counts. Before giving the breakdown of my plotlines, let me note one important point. Where Lord of the Rings has the characters start out together in the first book and then break apart into separate storylines in the second and third books, I go the reverse direction: characters start out separately in the first book and come together as the story progresses. Okay, so here’s the breakdown: Book 1 (255k words): Plot A – 65k words Plot B – 64k words Plot C – 87k words Plot D – 38k words In this book, all plot threads are effectively independent. Mostly the characters are reacting to common events over which they have no direct control (an assassination for Plots A and B and an invasion for Plots C and D). Plot A ends on a cliffhanger, Plot B reaches a significant milestone, Plot C is ongoing and Plot D attains its climax. Book 2 (144k words): Plot A – 77k words Plot B – 7k words Plot C – 53k words Other – 7k words In this book, Plots A and B get loosely merged into one combined plot, which is part of the reason that Plot B gets so few words, though B doesn’t get much play in this book anyway. Plot C is still separate, and “Other” is just a character bridging over from Plot C to Plot B. Plot A ends on a semi-cliffhanger, Plot B gets no real conclusion at all, and Plot C reaches its climax. Book 3 (128k words): Plot A – 66k words Plot B – 24k words Plot C – 39k words Here Plots A and B reach their respective climaxes, while Plot C is mostly a long denouement with a bit of interplay with Plot A. Some rewriting could alter the amount of interaction that Plot C has with Plots A and B. <Q> It seems to be a problem of packaging, and setting up expectations for readers. <S> If I read the "high level" of your comments correctly, you have two sets of characters who come together in book 3. <S> Book 1 is mainly about set 1, book 2 is mainly about set 2, and book is about set 1 plus set 2. <S> If this is more-or-less true, could books 1 and 2 be presented as independent books taking place in the same world? <S> They tease some shared names, events, and unresolved plot lines, but each stands on its own. <S> Book 3 comes along as the grand unifier, pulling the two groups of characters together, developing the unresolved story lines to a satisfying resolution. <S> I find trilogies to be profoundly disappointing. <S> I read the first book, and it doesn't really finish -- so much goes unresolved. <S> It is all tease. <S> I enjoy synergies between books, where it is almost like I am a detective finding resonance and alignment between books, where that alignment piques my interest in whatever might come next. <S> It creates the sense of a full world where more than one thing happens, and more than one story exists, until the payoff when they come together into a grander story. <S> So, just for me as a reader, I would like: Book 1, <S> major plot well resolved with some secondary plot questions left open. <S> Book 2, new characters, same world, another major plot well resolved with echos of book 1 secondary plots. <S> Book 3, unification, all characters coming together, discovery that sub-plots are actually big problems, resolution, and ... <S> By the time book 3 carries that load, it will probably be bigger. <A> First, I would always presume if you "put a book aside" to work on another book, your book is dead. <S> In my experience (with only myself and a few authors I have spoken with), putting a book in the drawer is a kiss of death. <S> It is far easier to come back to a book you think only needs to be marketed, than to try and get back into the mindset of actually fixing the stories. <S> Fix it while your mind is still filled with it, not after you have built all new stuff on that mental real estate. <S> To FIX your problem: Your plots are way unbalanced. <S> Figure out how to balance them. <S> Book 1: <S> 3 Big plots, one smallish plot (38K). <S> Book 2: 2 Big Plots, one short story (7K). <S> Book 3: 1 Big Plot, 2 smallish plots (39K, 24K). <S> You really need to move a big plot from Book 1 (or eliminate it) and put it in Book 3, even if that requires a time-translation or a new MC for that plot, or come up with a Big plot (>50K) for Book 3. <S> You also need more than a short story (7K) in Book 2. <S> You should try to invent something, or add complications and peril or difficulty to add 30K to the story. <S> And as far as publishers are concerned, a shorter first book may be preferable, they risk less on production, it lets you prove yourself, it builds an audience to whom they can sell more ~200K books for the 2nd and 3rd books in your trilogy. <A> I'll give another option: 8) <S> Split a major (sub)plot in half, and move the 2nd half into to a later book. <S> It will definitely take some re-writing, but your 1st book seems overloaded. <S> You don't mention your characters' development, but consider which character has the most change within Book 1. <S> This character's arc might be so big it's forcing more story to happen, to justify how much they change. <S> For example, a character who rises from foot soldier to general to king, or a servant girl who marries a prince and later loses her sons to war – a main character who is stretching the story to accommodate their full arc. <S> I realize you have overlapping chronological events <S> so you can't just cut-and-paste. <S> The idea is to keep the same events, but bring that character's arc to a mid point, and save the rest for another book where they return harder/wiser/embittered/broken, and readers get the resolution to their story. <S> If the chronology can't be fixed, consider splitting that character into a thwarted heroic ancestor who dies in Book 1, and descendant who picks up the sword to complete their arc in a later book. <S> Keep your timeline, but fulfill this character's destiny by someone who is available in a later story.

Work on until you think it is ready to publish, then try to publish it. I really think readers will be disappointed if every new book is significantly shorter than the previous book. The temptation is to drop the weakest subplot, but consider splitting one of your strongest storylines into a before and after , according to a main character's change arc.

Is it cliché to have two best friends fall in love? I am writing a detective novel and wanted to include two best friends who are working together. Eventually they fall in love but one of my readers said it's too boring and cliché. Is that true? Should I avoid this? <Q> Yes, it is a cliché. <S> I can list in my mind more than ten instances where work colleagues fall in love. <S> But if you are willing to avoid a cliché, I guess you are without luck. <S> If you have them not being a couple, this is another cliché. <S> If you have them in a platonic relationship, this is another one. <S> As TV Tropes clearly show, there are a lot of variations that would fall into one or other cliché (Warning! <S> Tvtrope link: <S> https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JustFriends ): <S> Official Couple <S> Just Friends <S> Like Brother and Sister Belligerent Sexual Tension <S> I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship Mistaken for Romance <S> Friends with Benefits <S> Platonic Life-Partners <S> Strictly Professional Relationship <S> And many more. <S> As a disclaimer, they do differentiate between a trope and a cliché. <S> You are the one to judge if the way you use it is boring or not. <S> So you need to decide what kind of story would you like to tell. <S> If your main goal is to avoid clichés, then you are in a tough position. <A> Of course it's a cliché, everything is! <S> But that doesn't mean clichés are always boring and to be avoided at all costs. <S> What makes a cliché boring is when an author copy-pastes it without bothering to make it their own. <S> That's the key. <S> There's a reason clichés are, well, cliché. <S> It's because they work . <S> If they didn't, no one would bother using them. <S> It's just that they've been used so often that people get tired of seeing the exact same story everywhere they look. <S> All you have to do is try to make it an original cliché. <S> So if the romance between your characters is an important part of the story, then you shouldn't try to avoid it. <S> So basically, don't follow the mold too closely. <S> Put your own spin on the cliché and make the characters well rounded and interesting, and people will hopefully enjoy it. <S> Obviously, though, you can't please everyone. <S> Some people will dislike the 'friends become lovers' cliché/trope <S> no matter how well or differently it's done, while some will like it no matter how derivative! <A> Even if you think it has happened in real life. <S> To make it happen they would have to already have the sexual attraction, and be prohibited from acting on it for some reason. <S> One is in a committed relationship, or perhaps their love is forbidden (homosexual, or crosses social or cultural boundaries; e.g. a workplace friendship, a military friendship between an officer and a non-officer). <S> In such cases, unrequited sexual attraction might be acted upon when the situation changes, due to a change of status, place, etc. <S> Fairly new friendships, say within a year, can develop into love; it is not unusual for sexual attraction to be not acted upon for that long, and sometimes sexual relationships begun in mutual lust can develop overtime into love. <S> But psychologically speaking, best friends that know each other well are unlikely to choose to change into lovers; if it was going to happen, it would have already happened, because they have had plenty of opportunity to find something they romantically love in the other person, and would have felt sexually attracted to them and likely broached the subject already. <S> Romantic love demands physical attraction. <S> Love for siblings, parents, friends, children does not, but that is not what we call "falling in love." <S> And physical attraction, although it does not have to be instantaneous, occurs fairly quickly after meeting and interacting with someone, and we expect it to either happen soon or never. <S> It is not the kind of thing that occurs years after you've known someone (unless those years were as children). <S> If you want them to fall in love, I'd make them more like classmates or coworkers that have previously had little contact with each other, and the detective story ties them together on an adventure, where they get to know each other and because of that fall in love.

In a way, it is implausible if they are BEST friends, that implies they have known each other a fairly long time, and therefore if they were sexually compatible in the first place, they probably would have explored that already. You should try to make it original enough not to be boring. Yes, it is a cliché and yes you should probably avoid it.

How to identify a (personal) Canon Sue? Sometimes (as an intelligent species, and therefore creative, speculative about reality and so on...) we want to experience some situations which aren't possible at all. Then as a writer you can create a character who "lives that cool stuff which I (the writer) WANTED but isn't possible." Well, this thought defines the notion of "A character who was born to fulfill an author's power fantasy [1]." But, again, as a writer you introduce a story. Then you have a character who has this "feature of a Canon Sue" but isn't. Considering a part of this video [1], how can I identify a Canon Sue? I mean, suppose that you want to fly by yourself. Are you really creating a Canon Sue by inventing a character who can "live your dream"/"do something that the author wants to do but is impossible in our reality" (fly by yourself), even though you have a proper story of this character to tell? [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcXVGIi1m28 (in time interval of 3:16 - 3:20) <Q> You can definitely have characters that fulfill your fantasies. <S> You can even have a character that represents you, the writer. <S> There is nothing inherently wrong with that. <S> The problem is that a lot of inexperienced writers can fall prey to making characters Canon Sues (or Mary Sues) if they happen to personally identify them, or see them as their own persona in one way or another. <S> That's why many people mistakingly tell you not to make characters that are you or fulfill your fantasy. <S> Because they think that this will automatically result in a Canon/Mary Sue character due to writers wanting readers to perceive them in the most positive light, wanting to live out their fantasies through those characters, not wanting bad things to happen to the characters who represent them, etc. <S> Just make sure your character is flawed, not overpowered, has bad things happen to them along with the good ones, etc. <S> No one will probably even know that character was made to let you live out your fantasy or just to be your persona in the novel if you write them well. <S> The reason why people hate Canon/ <S> Mary Sues is because they are awesome and everything in their lives is just awesome. <S> Always succeeding and being overpowered and having little to no conflicts with anyone or anything is boring . <S> Bad things happening, the character struggling, conflicts-- <S> those are what make for interesting characters/stories. <A> I agree with Klara . <S> The strategy I often use is to devise a character that has both a superpower AND a significant weakness, and devise a plot in which her superpower is of very limited help, and the only way she can truly prevail is to overcome her weakness. <S> She may be able to fly, but she is not a detective. <S> Superman can keep law and order among normal humans, but his arch villains tend to be aliens even stronger than him, or like Brainiac, way smarter than him. <S> Spiderman (in the comics) loses half his battles, the designers of Spiderman did that intentionally so the outcome of any given arc would have suspense. <S> In order for your superhero to not be boring, she needs setbacks to overcome, she has to fail. <S> Fulfill your wish of making her the best in the world at something, or having a unique power. <S> Do not fulfill your wish of making that solve everything. <S> In the story, it shouldn't solve most of the challenges she faces. <S> It's fine if it plays a role in the finale, if flying is, at last, critical to her victory, but it should be impossible for her to achieve victory without overcoming some deficit or weakness <S> she has <S> that truly seems to the reader to give the villain the upper hand. <A> Always maintain some distance between yourself and the character. <S> As in "I could not be that person". <S> It's a little bit like avoiding nepotism: If you hire a relative, or you're a judge deciding a relative's lawsuit, you can't help but be partial to them. <S> It doesn't matter how firmly you resolve to be objective. <S> It's not possible, you can't fake it. <S> So don't "hire a relative". <S> If you always find yourself asking "how does he feel about this" and never "how do I feel about this", you're on the right track. <S> The character should be perfectly comfortable doing some things you'd never do. <S> You should think of the character as a stranger you've met <S> and you're getting to know. <S> You may well be ambivalent about some things about the character. <S> All the better, so you don't feel bad about kicking them around. <S> Then you strive to represent this person fairly. <S> Representing a stranger fairly is doable. <S> You're not emotionally involved in their flaws and virtues. <S> It is what it is. <S> Sometimes you want to hold that jerk's feet to the fire.

But above all, no matter what, make sure your character is interesting to read about. Ensure that the character is somebody you can empathize with, but somebody who is fundamentally and emphatically not you.

Using footnotes in fiction: children's book which can be enjoyed by adults I would like to write a children's story which is appealing to both children and adults. However, the world in which the story takes place requires the use of higher vocabulary and slang (it is a real world, for example, the petroleum industry). Most adults know the words, but children don't. Can I use footnotes to define or describe the word so that children can follow along as well? Thanks. <Q> I don't think this is the right way to go about it. <S> I have to say I'm not a fan of explanatory footnotes in fiction <S> , it's far too much of an immersion breaker. <S> In fact I'd go so far as to say they are flat-out awful and should be avoided wherever possible. <S> It's a mental load having to go down to the foot of the page, read something that necessarily breaks the flow of what you were just reading and then scan back up the page to where you were and try and pick up mid-flow. <S> It's jarring and unpleasant as an adult who is used to doing <S> just that (I've read far too many scientific papers over the years not to have had lots of practice) - asking a child (who is likely to be a significantly less experienced reader than an adult) to do so, and to assimilate the new information at the same time <S> feels like a great way to suck all the fun out of reading your story for them. <S> If you are finding that your primary intended audience don't know the words you are using frequently then you either need to find a better way to introduce what those words mean in the story itself or you need to find alternative words. <S> Have a character that is going to have a similar knowledge level of the world to the reader and have those "in the know" explain what these terms mean. <S> The reader then learns alongside the surrogate character. <S> If you're trying to have the story appeal to both younger and more adult readers then you need to keep the accessibility of the story aimed at the younger end. <S> Adults can easily skim quickly through the explanations of any terms they already know with minimal disruption to the experience. <A> You don’t say what age of children you want to address <S> and I’m not sure whether your use of the young-adult tag indicates older children or if that is intended to cover your ’adult’ audience. <S> I loved glossaries in books when I was a child. <S> The opportunity to look a term up if I needed to without having to go and find a dictionary or other reference book was ideal to me. <S> I didn’t feel condescended to by an in-text explanation of stuff <S> I knew <S> and I didn’t have to break the flow to read a footnote only to discover that I already knew the term. <S> TBH, I still love glossaries and think a lot more publications should have them to minimise misunderstandings and confusion. <A> When I was a kid, I had the Walking With Dinosaurs and Walking With Beasts companion books, and I read them over and over. <S> I didn't know a lot of the more technical terms, but I could either look them up in the dictionary, or just guess what they meant based on context. <S> It didn't affect my enjoyment of, or engrossment in, the stories in the slightest. <S> I personally wouldn't worry about including footnotes or a glossary. <S> If a child reading your book doesn't know what a word means, they can always ask their parents/teacher/dictionary/Google what it means. <S> I would worry about making them do this too often, though: they will either get bored of having to look things up, or simply get confused. <S> Either way, they'll stop reading. <S> (Disclaimer: I was a fairly precocious child so my experience may not be true of all children, but that's also partly why I advise making sure you don't overuse technical language.) <A> It never hurts to be redundant, especially in children's books. <S> E.g. <S> Johnny was a roughneck. <S> He did whatever jobs the driller asked him to do. <S> But Bill was only a roustabout. <S> He had to do whatever work <S> anyone asked of him. <S> Having a glossary provides even more redundancy, and makes it easy to look up words whose definition one has already forgotten.

As for how to go about introducing the vocabulary of the "world" to the younger reader an audience surrogate can be extremely useful here. If you are talking about children who have a minimum 4-5 years of schooling, I’d suggest considering a glossary as a section either at the front of the back of the book. If you need footnotes, you're not doing it right.

Are there any free offline outlining tools? I'm looking for a tool, that lets me enter and rearrange plot points into an outline and link them to other events and storylines in a graphical way. Traditionally done with post-it's on a whiteboard. Also I want to be able to use it on the road, without access to the internet, so it shouldn't be web based. Is there a preferably free software that is able to do this? <Q> Not strictly for writing <S> but you could use ToDoist as a simple outlining tool, or else try something like Trello, Asana or even Evernote to write a bunch of notes inside a project file and then mobe them around as needed. <A> You might use Twine <S> This is an open source tool that is originally made to create interactive stories. <S> So, writing in blocks and visualize the structure of your story can be easily done. <S> If you use the "online" version (means only without installing), you can still use it offline (everything is inside your web browser).But remember to backup (archive) regularly or export your story, in case of crash of your browser. <S> https://twinery.org/2/#!/welcome <A> You could try WikidPad. <S> It is basically localised Wiki software with all the inter-linking features you may expect from such a tool. <S> I've been using it to organise all my writing and outlining for nearly a year now, and I've yet to doubt it. <S> The only downside, if I could name one, is that 'pages' can't have one-word or purely numerical titles. <S> I mainly solve this by prefixing my projects, but it has to be named. <A> You could also try Minder. <S> It's not for handling plots, but you could use it for a graphic overview and organizing of your plots and stories, and then one of the tools suggested in the answers above just for text-handling part of it. <S> But there are also similar software for windows, and some are even free. <S> And they are downloadable, so you can work offline.

You could use either YWriter or Shaxpir to move parts of a manuscript around and rearrange things. You can install Minder from the AppCenter (if you use a Linux-based OS).

Are competitions worth it in order to get published? I have recently finished my 25,000 word novella and contacted some publishers and agents about a month ago. I have only heard back from a couple rejecting me but considering the format of my book as well as the fact that it is highly experimental and does not fall into any specific genre, I do not find it highly probable to get published as it is despite its quality. I was thinking that a good way to get my name out there would be to take part in short story competitions but I am not sure if it is worth the time or if a better alternative would be finishing a longer book and trying to get that published first. Your opinions on the subject are greatly appreciated and if you think that I should apply some different strategy all together I would love to hear that. <Q> I have recently finished my 25,000 word novella and contacted some publishers and agents about a month ago. <S> I have only heard back from a couple rejecting me but considering the format of my book as well as the fact that it is highly experimental and does not fall into any specific genre, I do not find it highly probable to get published as it is despite its quality. <S> If you are in contact with those agents/publishers, I'd advise trying to get feedback on why they rejected your book, instead of assuming that it's due it being "highly experimental despite its quality". <S> Maybe you're overlooking something. <S> Anyway, you can always finish a longer book. <S> But it's also a good moment to hone your editing skill, getting beta readers, and understand what your target audience should be. <S> Maybe one of the problem of your book is that you didn't "pitch" it well enough. <S> If all of those options don't work out and you find that there is no more editing to be done on your 25000 words novel, joining competitions is surely better than leaving it in a folder. <A> I hate competitions. <S> In a competition, many people submit their work. <S> For the majority, there is no feedback, and no positive outcome. <S> It does not make you better, while creating stress. <S> Now say you can find some sort of a group, either a class or a group of writers. <S> It could be one other writer. <S> Each time you meet, you read something you have written, and you receive feedback. <S> You also give feedback. <S> It is a much better process. <S> You can achieve similar process online where you submit work, and read others comments about it. <S> I'm sorry that this is negative. <S> Publishing is a tough business. <A> It's a good idea to get feedback on your writing. <S> I don't know if you did that before sending it out, since you don't mention it one way or the other. <S> If you haven't, try looking for a critique group, use Scribophile, or find someone whose feedback you can trust to be a beta reader. <S> There may be useful information to help tell you what might be the reason for the rejections and to help improve overall. <S> You can definitely write short stories and send them to contests, but don't ignore the many journals that are out there (both print and online) as possible venues for your writing. <S> Also, many contests charge fees and most journals do not. <S> Gaining writing credits may help with getting agents and publishers to give you a chance, but by themselves likely won't grant your work acceptance. <S> It's a complicated mix of quality and exposure. <S> Good luck! <A> Mostly no. <S> They are just money makers for the people creating them. <S> If you want to sell a mss it is easier to sell what they want to buy than to convince them to buy what you want to sell.

More and more, as I understand it, publishers do look for the author to have a platform and followers (to make them confident there will be buyers) and a part of that platform will come from people reading your short stories.

In academic writing why do some recommend to avoid "announcing" the topic? In academic writing, several articles on the topic of writing papers denounce the practice of "announcing" the topic. As an example, if a paper were to read... The goal of this study is to not be a study at all but to be a fictional paper of only one paragraph included as an example on stack exchange to demonstrate how a paper announcing its topic reads. This goal of this sentence is to fit some more content in with the previous paragraph on how sentences announcing their topic come across to the audience. In conclusion, this third sentence reinforces the point of the first sentence. Why exactly is "announcing the topic" best avoided? What is a good way to explain it to others what "announcing the topic" does to a paper? Examples of articles denouncing the practice include: From Arkansas State University Composition Course Hind's Community College Roane Community College Guide to Grammar.org Red Rocks Community College Writing Center University of Wisconsin-Madison <Q> In this answer, I am going to explain to you why you shouldn't announce what you are about to write anyway. <S> It is boring and redundant and a waste of real estate on the page. <S> Start with a claim, or a key observation. <S> Those can be interesting. <S> A sentence saying "The goal of this work is XYZ." can be eliminated without any loss of information. <S> It has to be followed by an explanation of what the heck XYZ is, so beginning with that explanation is better. <S> Fewer words, same quantity of information. <S> Although such papers are not sales tools, the psychology of writing advertisements does still apply, to academic papers or novels: Readers want to be hooked by the first sentence, interested by the first sentence, and that is going to serve you well, if they are interested in the opening they will be happy to read some less interesting sentences to gain some context and lead them into the discussion or story or article or advertisement. <S> In advertising, we say that on every sentence the reader is looking for a reason to stop reading and throw it away. <S> The only reason they don't is because you have created a question in their mind, and they are reading to get an answer, or you are saying interesting things that they want to know. <S> Don't give them a reason to give up. <S> That is less true for academic articles, but the advice is sound. <S> Don't bore them from the first sentence. <S> They probably know what the article is about from your article title and the rest of the context; the journal it was in, the keywords you selected, etc. <A> There are reasons to repeat yourself, but they differ to what you imply. <S> Academic readers are usually skimming through hundreds of papers to find the results relevant to their current work, so <S> If that fails, try to tell them everything they need to know in the abstract, including results and conclusions. <S> (Some journals discourage this, IMO wrongly). <S> If that fails, still be careful not to withhold information early on. <S> i.e. in the introduction don't say "We test to see whether X predicts Y", say "We demonstrate that X predicts Y (R2=0.8, p=0.001 - or indeed better stats if your audience will understand them). <S> In a large paper on a complex topic it's easy to get lost, so do include signposting to help the reader remember their context. <S> E.g. "The link between X and Z is a relevant consideration for our study of X and Y, therefore in the following section we discuss existing literature discussing links between X and Z." <S> But don't use the rhetorical device of "tell someone what you're going to tell them, tell them the thing, tell them what you told them" for the sake of driving a point home, as you would in rhetoric, or delivering spoken material as a teacher, etc. <S> (Excepting the first sentence of the discussion/conclusions section where it is usual to summarize what you already told them, in shorter form). <S> You repeat to make it easy for readers to find the appropriate part and remember context. <A> If you think of yourself as reading a novel, rather than a scientific paper, it becomes very clear. <S> If a novel started with 'In this novel, you will read..' you might find it awkward, or at least old-fashioned - I think there are Victorian novels which take this approach, but it is not the way of modern fiction. <S> It removes the reader from being an active participant 'in the moment' to being a third-party observer, and it injects the voice of the author very load and clear. <S> In a scientific paper, you want the science to speak for itself, and as a reader, you don't want to be concerned with the authors in particular. <S> Another key message from novel-writing is to show people something, rather than telling them. <S> This can also apply to scientific writing, and is relevant here I think.

Don't talk about your paper in your paper, get to your paper! Try to tell them everything they need to know in the title

Is it illegal if I use religious material in my novel? I have a serious problem. I am going to start writing a novel which includes a character called Ravana, from the Hindu literary text called the Ramayana . Now, if I were to publish this, would it be illegal? I live in India, where the Ramayana originated. <Q> It may be illegal in some parts of the world if the material you're writing can be considered blasphemous or heretical . <S> However in most of the world it would be perfectly fine. <S> Pretty much all mainstream religious texts are old enough to be out of copyright or predate the concept of copyright altogether. <A> If by " material from another religion " you mean direct quotations from their texts or scriptures (e.g. a Jehovah's Witnesses tract, or a recent Bible translation), then you'll need to be aware of copyright laws. <S> Large quotations might need explicit permission, while short paragraphs will be allowed if a proper citation is given. <S> If you are simply taking historical or mythological events and retelling them in your own words, don't worry about it. <S> I doubt there were any copyright laws several thousand years ago, and even if there were, the content would have entered public domain by now. <S> If you are making significant changes to the events or characters, then you might need to be aware of blasphemy laws in whatever countries you are publishing in. <S> Depicting a religious figure as anything but what they are known as could be a serious offence. <S> And even if you aren't planning on publishing in such countries, be aware of what happened when Salman Rushdie - Wikipedia published his infamous book. <A> I am also live in India. <S> And India is the origin land of not only the Ramayana, But also Shiva trilogy, Ram Chandra Series. <S> Randamoozham (Malayalam) & a lot more. <S> All of this contains Hindu mythology characters , but none of them is a Hindu literary text . <S> And as I mentioned a lot people already done it. <S> So, break a pen, as long as your story is interesting we will love to read it. :) <A> It would help if you could give some Jurisidictions (I am assuming America, where most religious characters are considered Public Domain or Scientology). <S> Moses and Pharaoh (traditionally Ramses "The Great" aka Ramses II, though no historical evidence exists. <S> The historical Ramses had a much longer lifespan than the Biblical one.) <S> are certainly public Domain. <S> Certain elements from more recent depictions may be considered problematic (i.e. Try to distance from Prince of Egypt in characterization.) <S> but generally, it's nothing to be concerned about. <S> A good idea is to depict Moses as a stutter, which is detail that doesn't show up in adaptations of Exodus and has some biblical support. <S> Blasphamey might find some issues in Islamic Nations, due to the taboo of depicting Prophets of God, which I believe (but may be wrong) <S> Moses falls under (Jesus too, as Christianity is an older religion than Islam by 600 years give or take). <S> Islamic nations would be the only problem culture with this as Israel is the only nation with a majority Jewish population and it tends to be more Secular in it's laws regarding fictional works and depictions of Biblical characters is not a taboo (though God and Angels are often not given humanoid figures... in the Bible, Moses was nearly overwhelmed by seeing God from behind, let alone his face, and <S> the Angels were not usually creatures that were pleasant for humans to look at... there's a reason why "Fear Not <S> , I am an Angel of the Lord" is almost a catchphrase with the angels.). <S> In terms of Christianity, there are few taboos against depictions of biblical figures. <S> Eastern Orthodox sects tend to have the most taboos, but these are for statues of the biblical figures and saints. <S> 2D paintings are fine by them. <A> <A> Is it copyrighted? <S> Are you using it to defame or otherwise besmirch them? <S> Then absolutely not. <S> India may have other laws concerning usage.

Unless it is portrayed as blasphemous by the authors of the religious material and the ruling body of your area, it shouldn’t be illegal to use certain religious material in writing. As a rule, most majority Christian nations tend to no longer have blasphemy laws, so there shouldn't be any issues. So don't worry as long as your story is not intended to insulting the mythology it is completely legal to use mythology characters in your work under Indian law.

How can I abbreviate "Equations" and "Recommendations" in a text? When I want to abbreviate the words "Equations" and "Recommendations" in a text, how can I do this? for example Solving the above eqs. / eq's. is not possible unless by computers. After discussing on the research results, we are going to present our recomms. / recomm's. . Questions 1- Which one is correct? eqs. or eq's. ? recomms. or recomm's. ? 2- Is there a kind of freedom to abbreviate any word when it is needed? (For example when constructing a PowerPoint presentation, there may not be enough space to type the whole word in a text box and therefore I prefer to use abbreviations). <Q> Typically for any abbreviation or acronym, one should write the full word out the first time, followed by a parenthetical note as to the shortened form you will be doing, then use the shortened form for the remainder. <S> If it's someone's preferred name, then it would be done between the given name and the surname as it would appear in a legal document. <S> When we look at the following equations (eq.) <S> we find that eq. <S> 17 does not conform to the pattern... <S> The Federal Buera of Investigation (FBI) announced that they had arrested the vice President for murder of a giraffe. <S> A spokes person for Vice President Geoffrey "Giraffe-Killer" Jones said that the Vice President did nothing wrong and that his actions fell within the preview of his duties. <A> 3 <S> " and "Eqs. <S> 4-6". <S> I don't think abbreviating "recommendations" would ever be necessary in academic writing. <A> For ppt use EQ. <S> and REC. <S> to make them fit. <S> For formal writing spell them out. <A> In scientific papers, Eq. is pretty common.

"Equations" should not be abbreviated unless it is appearing with an equation number, in which case the standard abbreviation styles are "Eq.

When should I include a ''Note to The Reader'' section of my non-fiction book? Background I am writing a non-fiction book on epistemology. After my book's introduction I have included a note to my reader where I have briefly described my motivation for the layout of the book and my style of writing and my approach to research. I end it with an encouragement to the reader to join me in my research endeavors by joining my email list and ways to get in contact with me. Question When Is a "Note to The Reader" section important, inappropriate or abused by the author? Explanation I am not sure if these sections are always necessary or could be pedantic or belittling to the audience. I am a nobody in this field and I don't want to come across as an upstart, insulting the viewer's ability to comprehend my writing. Could notes to the reader be off-putting? I personally don't think so, as I will skip it if I don't care. But I often find authors that are commonly misunderstood to still never use these sections in their new works. <Q> To quote my high school biology teacher (and please understand, this was an all boys school <S> and we all know what biology topics are of particular interest to a teenage boy. <S> Excuse the crassness of the analogy), <S> "Writing should be like a girl's skirt: <S> Long enough to cover everything, short enough to keep it interesting." <S> Since your book is on a scientific topic, the bulk of the language needs to be clinical and speak to as objective of an analysis as possible (everyone is biased on everything... <S> but it should be checked against when analizing hard data and agreed facts). <S> I think that the "Note from the Author" is fine to speak on your personal opinions on the matter in a way that isn't as dry or as clinical (sometimes people need to hear moral support which can't be quantified by science... <S> other times, people need to hear a joke about the topics discussed (I tend to write a lot on literary topics or political or legal topics, and I find that sometimes mixing clinical terms with more vernacular terms can help get the point across. <S> But this tends to be included in the main text, which is about subjects that are not hard sciences but philosophical issues.). <S> In terms of a scientific paper, I would say it would be a good spot to point out what your research does not support and why (especially if the data presented doesn't support a specific part of the conclusion one way or another). <S> It may be a good place to speak about the personal reasons this is important to you or about the people in case studies who impressed you through their attitudes and outlooks, despite the data findings or dispense advise to people who are looking for some comfort that the numbers cannot give. <S> Another idea is to show arguments you disagree with (try to play the devils advocate when describing the argument, as people are more forgiving if you give it a fair shake but logically explain why you disagree). <S> Or some places to look into for further research and opinions. <S> If you can get someone to, perhaps have another respected person in your field or near it right a forward... or even allow someone to offer a rebuttal. <A> Cant comment. <S> Maybe @Weckar can move this. <S> I did provide THE ANSWER to the OP. <S> And answer to F1Krazy's follow up comment. <S> It is appropriate when it is needed to understand the book <S> and you cannot put it in the body for some reason. <A> The note to the reader should be after the story ends. <S> Like, you know how at the end of a book all the people are being thanked?

A note to the reader should be right before or right after this part.

Want to publish unpublished work found in an auction storage unit I started buying storage auctions in the middle of this year. In the third one I bought I ran across an unpublished manuscript for a fiction book U Boat treasure by Charles Hand. He has no published works besides a boar hunter magazine, he was not an author. But this is complete 250 pages, never published. Like everything else I purchased in the storage, I own. If I throw it away, his work is gone forever. It is dedicated to submariners as well as his father. I don't want to redo the contents or anything like that. Would I need to contact the family about it? It will need some going over make sure it's is grammatically correct but it is complete. I would begin the process of making this into an ebook right now if I know how to properly reference the author? He passed away this year and wife is deceased, does have children. <Q> It was copyrighted the moment it was written. <S> The fact that you 'purchased' the manuscript is no defence. <S> By that token I could 'publish' all the books I have purchased. <S> You need to purchase the copyright from the family. <A> For what it's worth <S> I think what you're trying to do is awesome! <S> As @Surtsey's answer (correctly) points out the work is still copyrighted regardless of the absence of an explicit copyright notice . <S> and it's them that you'd need to contact in order to gain permission to publish the manuscript. <S> The company that operates the storage units might be the best place to start in terms of tracking them down. <S> You mention that the author died in 2019 - which means that the work won't be in the public domain yet <S> (it will be in 2089 though). <S> Good luck! <A> This question addresses what I think you should do (not whether or not you can legally publish). <S> Make every effort you can to contact people who might care about the ms. <S> That would be his family first, if you can find them. <S> A google search finds several organizations devoted to submariners. <S> Here's one: http://www.isausa.org/ . <S> They might be interested in publishing this, or at least preserving it in their archives or sharing with their members.

You cannot publish the work without permission. Assuming US copyright law applies here (you don't mention a locale so apologies if that is incorrect) then, unless some other entity had acquired it, ownership of the copyright passes to the author's heirs on their death

My writing analysis came back with a report of "Straight forward writing style". What does this mean? I am curious if this is a positive, negative, or neither here nor there. The analysis was done by Wattpad and it also included that fact that I write more like a journalist above anything else. The analysis was done by taking the first 3,000 words from my YA/Teen fiction novel and analyzing it. It's a new Wattpad feature. <Q> There's a certain amount of subjectivity to this, but on the whole a straightforward style is viewed largely positively in current trend. <S> Especially where you are writing for a YA/Teen audience who may not have as fully-developed a comprehension ability as older audiences. <S> I'm not hugely familiar with Wattpad - <S> and I've never tried their analysis tools <S> so I can't comment on their efficacy or accuracy, but if your beta readers (if you've had any read it yet) are saying similar things then that would be an encouraging sign. <A> To find out what Straight forward writing style means in Wattpad <S> you might try asking its opinion on other books in the YA/Teen genre. <S> But "imaginative" may not be one of their categories. <A> IMHO <S> it is very good. <S> I hate <S> oblique confusing writing trying to be artsycraftsy but <S> which only slows me down and confuses me. <S> Some English profs may disagree which is their right. <A> Take it as a piece of positive feedback from whatever algorithms the Wattpad engineers have cooked up. <S> In today's hyper-competitive publishing world (especially in teen/YA genres) being "straight-forward" is a plus. <S> Most readers won't bother wading through confusing text when there is so much other content available to them. <S> If you're looking for another fun writing analysis tool, check out the Writing Style Comparison <S> -- it lets you submit a sample and will tell you what famous author you most resemble. <S> I just ran it against the text in this post ... and apparently George Bernard Shaw would have been a hit on StackExchange.

My first impression of "straight forward writing style" was that it'd be good for a report but that I might want something more imaginative for YA/Teen.

What is the requirements for a book be considered a 'Dystopian'? I have been trying for a long time to figure out if my story is just considered Dystopian or Fiction. It has things that are not in real life situations but it is also relating to an imagined society where there are great suffering and injustice. But yet it does not relate to any main futuristic points or into space adventures. Or would you just consider it a 'dystopian fiction' genre? <Q> Dystopian literature often overlaps with the post-apocalypse and science fiction genres. <S> However, your story doesn't need either of those elements to be classified as dystopian. <S> Consider the origin of the word: a dystopia is the opposite of a utopia, a place or society of perfection. <S> So dystopian fiction explores imaginary settings that create negative circumstances for the characters within them. <S> MasterClass cites five common themes in modern dystopian literature: <S> Government control Environmental destruction Technological control <S> Survival <S> Loss of individualism <S> If your story hits several of these themes, then the dystopian classification makes sense. <S> Otherwise it may be easiest to label it speculative fiction. <A> If the themes in your book are about an imagined society where there is great suffering and injustice, then yes, it's Dystopian. <S> From Dictionary : Definitions of dystopia (n) State in which the conditions of life are extremely bad as from deprivation or oppression or terror <S> (n) <S> a work of fiction describing an imaginary place where life is extremely bad because of deprivation or oppression or terror <A> "Dystopian" describes a speculative society which is suffering (at least in the eyes of the reader) due to human's own device. <S> This is different (but can be close) from: Post-apocalyptic , where though the apocalypse itself might be a result of human actions, but the society may be primitive, or humanely organized; Alt-history , where the society that we see as dystopian is a fictionalized replica of a real historical society; Alien invasion/robot uprising , where humans are suppressed by non-humans. <A> Think of it as a utopia that went wrong. <S> So, a nation that was supposed to be a great society that got corrupted and became evil. <S> (Although a bit of a loose metaphor, The Soviet Union could kind of be considered “dystopian.” <S> The Bolsheviks Planned on created a wonderful society free of poverty and suffering, and then Stalin turned it into one of the deadliest societies in history. <S> Nazi Germany could also be considered a dystopia.)

Dystopian is, by definition, a society that is as dehumanizing and unpleasant as possible.

How do I write romance if I've never been in love? I've been trying to write a good romance but it's falling a little flat. I think it might be because I've never been in love before. My favorite genre is romance (for reading and writing), but I'm kind of bad at writing it. I think it might be because I don't know how to write entertaining banter or deep conversation. Is this an unfixable problem? Should I just write another genre? <Q> While it's certainly easier to write about things you've had personal experience of ("write what you know" and all that) it's certainly not impossible <S> so I wouldn't call this an unfixable problem <S> , rather it's a difficult one. <S> You mention that romance is your favorite genre to read - so you've probably got a decent amount of experience as to what works in a romance story even if you don't realise it. <S> My advice would be to build on that strength and work on using it to improve your own writing, read as much romance as you can both good examples of the genre but just as cruicially bad examples. <S> Use the contrast to illustrate what works, what doesn't and why . <S> Take pivotal scenes of the sort you're looking to work on in a good example and break them down, take notes about what the author is doing to provoke emotional responses in the reader and then do the same analysis on a "bad" example, you should start to be able to see what's missing. <S> I'm not going to sugar coat it - <S> this isn't a particularly enjoyable process, and worse it can end up ruining your ability to enjoy consuming a genre. <S> Like when you understand how a magic trick is done it loses it's ability to impress you. <S> But put the work in and you will get better at it. <S> You're never going to have the same emotional responses to something as the author as a reader will as you know the work too well to be properly swept along in it. <A> You ask an interesting question. <S> However, you should consider the validity of the premise. <S> Apply the same logic to other scenarios. <S> How can I write a fight scene if I've never had a fight? <S> How can a write a male character's POV if I've never been a man? <S> How can a write a space opera if I've never been up in space? <S> If we get into the mechanics and technical aspects of story-telling, your lack of confidence means you cannot write romance from a first-person POV. <S> Third-person shouldn't be a problem because I'm sure you have observed people in love. <S> In accordance with mantra 'show don't tell' all you are required to do is show the actions of people who you believe are in love. <S> Not describing their feelings will probably make for a better piece of writing. <S> The truth is 'love' is not a 'standard' feeling. <S> It is personal to the individual. <S> You can't get the behaviour wrong. <S> On the one hand you can go with Shakespeare's well used trope. <S> " <S> The lady doth protest too much, methinks." <S> You should also consider that the answers aren't necessarily in a book or real life. <S> Millions have committed their feeling to song. <S> Joe: "I'm in love. <S> Round and round <S> I go, out of control - I'm in love." <S> Betty Hutton and Bjork couldn't control themselves. <S> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=horRWtbAJoI <S> Whitney Houston got all desperate: <S> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxYw0XPEoKE Meatloaf had his say: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X_ViIPA-Gc <S> The Proclaimers went big: <S> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNlMtqrYS0 <S> Over the centuries so many artists have written about their particular version of love - you don't actually need to redefine it. <A> Don't write about something you don't know about is a common advice. <S> The examples mentioned above are not very useful. <S> It's true that George Lukas never held a lightsaber, and that Tom Clancy never capitaned a submarine. <S> However, their works are not about that, these are just elements in a bigger plot, comprises of adventures, epic battle, intrigue and so on. <S> A successeful writer will definitively know something about the psychological aspects of these to impregnate them into words. <S> What about writing a romantic novel about someone who has never been in love? <A> Don't discount your life experiences just because you don't think that they fit into the realm that is most widely agreed-upon. <S> Just because you haven't fallen in love yet <S> doesn't mean that you haven't experienced love. <S> I would like to see more diversity in how people experience and perceive the world. <S> So that includes your love for things that you have done or experiences that you have loved. <S> Think about those things that get you excited and make you smile even when you are not experiencing them. <S> Then try to draw a parallel in your mind to the interaction you are trying to write. <S> If the interaction makes you smile there's a good chance that it will make the reader Smile as well. <A> Honestly, if you are writing a story, it can be anything. <S> If you want you can refer to other romances whether it be a book or movie-- however, you could also just make it yours. <S> Romance comes in hundreds of forms <S> so there's really no rights or wrongs. <S> I hope this helps.

Another key thing is that if you don't have them already you need some reliable beta readers - find some folks you trust to give you honest feedback and appreciate the genre and have them read your stuff.

Questions with flat tone in dialogue I'm sure we have all heard people say questions without putting the tone inflection on the end. I am writing a novel and I have a piece of dialogue where a character says: “Why are you here.” because he's exasperated with the person he is talking to. Is it acceptable to leave off the question mark at the end of a dialogue tag in order to indicate lack of tone change? <Q> For me the answer is no. <S> You're asking a question mark to perform a task for which it was not designed. <S> The context of the dialogue should provide the inflection. <S> Levininja sighed. <S> "Why are you here?" <S> Here's an exercise for you, to show why you can't do what you propose. <S> Write a transcript of this exchange. <S> "Who's on first. <S> What's on second." <S> Note the absence of question marks. <S> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShMA85pv8 <S> M <A> That might get corrected to a question mark by a copy editor, thinking it is a typo. <S> Readers might not realize it is intentional, either, and just think it is a typo. <S> It isn't the most effective way of conveying what you wish to convey. <S> I would reword the question so it is definitely a statement. <S> I hope you have a damn good reason for being here. <S> You keep coming here <S> I don't want you here. <S> Or anything along those lines. <S> The lack of a question will also make things a little more awkward for the character being addressed, there is no convenient request to respond to.(Although <S> my #1 suggestion above can relieve that if you want). <A> I am not a writer, but an avid reader. <S> Contrary to the other answers, I find it quite ok, and it would come over right as you wanted for me. <S> I'm also sure I have seen it being used that way in many books. <A> Of course you can. <S> Orthography serves you as the author in your efforts to accurately convey the narrative. <S> A question mark there would convey the wrong thing. <S> Not all sentences that start with question-words are questions, anyway. <S> Particularly when the dialogue should not be inflected as a question would, it’s doubly useful to avoid cuing the reader to read it wrong. <S> You’ll find such things in novels, often with additional narration to affirm what the punctuation is suggesting. <S> Things like: <S> “Why are you here.” <S> Every line in his body echoed his dead tone. <S> It wasn’t a question, she knew. <S> It was a warning. <S> (Note that I’m currently writing a novel in a close third POV, so my example is too. <S> Use less reported thought for other POVs.) <A> I've encountered the same issue myself while writing and here's how I've tried to deal with it (options): 1. <S> Quickly establish the mood beforehand: <S> Kyra's tone was flat. <S> " <S> God, why are you here?" <S> 2. <S> Describe the question's tone immediately after before continuing with dialogue: "Why are you here?" <S> she asked flatly. <S> "This is a bad time." <S> (I guess this one is kind of obvious). <S> 3. <S> If you play your cards right, italics might also help show your character's tone, too. <S> Side Idea: <S> In an attempt to make character voice more unique, I have referred to flat questions like the one you are describing like this: “Why couldn’t you sleep?” <S> she inquires. <S> It’s a question-statement hybrid. <S> Her voice doesn’t go up at the end. <S> Then I could just use that term from then on forward <S> and it would quickly communicate to the reader that the question isn't quite a question without stunting the flow of a scene: <S> “It’s remarkable <S> you haven’t caught this sickness yet. <S> You’re perfectly healthy, aren’t you?” <S> Question-statement hybrid. <S> Overall, it works for me either way, but the oddity of seeing a question without a question mark on the end can give me pause and potentially put a kink in the flow of a scene.

, my answer is no, it will always be no.

Why is sarcasm so hard to write? I'm prompted to ask this question because I was troubled by some answers to questions about punctuation in rhetorical questions. The solution also calls into question the notion that 'said' is the only acceptable dialogue tag. Maria folded her arms and raised a single eyebrow before turning away. "If I'd known you were coming I'd have baked a cake," she muttered, stepping aside to allow the visitor to pass. Does this read as sarcastic? What informs you the statement is sarcastic? <Q> These features are generally lost in writing. <S> "Bob, I thought I heard some crying in the well." <S> "Right." <S> Now, when Bob said "Right", did he mean "I don't believe you", "correct", or "thank you for reminding me? <S> " <S> I could communicate any and all of those sentiments with the word "right", using different intonations. <S> But when I just write the word "right", all of that is lost. <S> Tone is used as a strong indicator of sarcasm. <S> Without our ability to rely on it as an indicator, our ability to differentiate sarcasm is greatly diminished. <S> That said, there are ways to communicate tone in writing. <S> Punctuation marks are primative tonal indicators, and adjectives and adverbs (such as drawled, or even "said sarcastically") can help pinpoint a speaker's tone. <S> Descriptions of body language can also be used to get across what a character means. <S> In casual interpersonal communications, where adjectives and descriptions of body language are out of place, emojis have largely filled the gap and provide emotional context to otherwise indecipherable statements. <S> I have heard (although I cannot confirm), that native speakers of tonal languages (which use tone to distinguish different words and therefore cannot use it for sarcasm without changing the words themselves) are much better at recognizing written sarcasm than English speakers. <S> The flip side is that they themselves are less likely to intone their sarcasm even when speaking English, and they are more likely to get their sarcasm misinterpreted by their English audiences than other speakers would. <A> One thing that I have found that helps me is, <S> anytime I have dialogue, I say it out loud without any additional words like "he said" and "she said" to see if the dialogue alone feels real. <S> If the dialogue feels real and not silly when I say it out loud, then I can enhance the meaning and experience of the dialogue with things like "she muttered" and "folded arms". <A> If Maria systematically bakes cakes for him then it does not sound like sarcasm. <S> If she never does or cannot even imagine baking one <S> then it does.

English sarcasm is primarily conveyed through tone A great deal of vocal communication is done through tone and body language, rather than the words themselves.

What tense should the dialogues be in a first person singular write-ups? I am writing my novel in first person singular in the past tense as narrated by the protagonist. So obviously the narrative is in past tense, but I am confused about how to write dialogue, whether it is as was said or it will also be in the past tense. For e.g. I have written; “You don’t understand, Ella is my girlfriend. She knows everything about me, it's almost 2 years that we are together. We are in a relationship.” Or Should it be written like; “You don’t understand, Ella was my girlfriend. She knew everything about me, it's almost 2 years that we were together. We were in a relationship.” Thanks <Q> First of all, dialog is a bit looser than narrative language because people do not use perfect grammar when speaking, so there's no real "right way" to say it. <S> That said, all dialog in a story is a quote from someone, be they real or imagining. <S> The one rule with quotes is that it must be transcribed directly rather than parsed into your own words. <S> Thus, any grammar errors on the speaker's part are permissible because you are writing what someone who isn't you said. <S> Dialog should also be timely to the moment of speech, not the moment of writing which presumably your narrative voice is doing after the fact. <A> Too many newbies seem to be overthinking the grammar aspects of novel-writing way to soon. <S> As intimated by hszmv, anything within quote-marks is gospel - write what was said. <S> To write a novel in the English Language comprehension is the primary consideration. <S> Forget about writing tense. <S> Read what you have written, understand it. <S> The first example says: Ella is currently my girlfriend. <S> The second example says: Ella is no longer my girlfriend. <S> Write whatever the speaker meant. <A> As the others have already said, there is no right way to write dialogue. <S> The narrative voice is in past tense like you say, but with the dialogue, it comes down to how you want the character to say it. <S> So if you want your character to say: “You don’t understand, Ella is my girlfriend. <S> She knows everything about me, it's almost 2 years that we are together. <S> We are in a relationship.” <S> Then make them say that. <S> It's entirely up to you how your character says their sentences. <S> Hope this helped in some way.

I say you should write out the dialogue, the same one, a few times until you find the one that sounds right to you.

How can you insert more emotions in scenes? I have a scene where my character has to feel scared, sad and alone. I'm good at describing her surrounding but describing feeling are a bit harder for me. I also have scene where she has to be heartbroken but I feel like it sound stiff and simple. <Q> Hemmingway has some solid advice (tip 5). <S> It's probably very difficult to describe accurately what that feels like, but even if you succeeded, it wouldn't make the reader actually feel it. <S> If, however, you describe the sequence of events that caused the emotion: sudden stomach pains, the husband rushing to the hospital, waiting for hours to see the doctor, <S> all that tension will induce emotion in the reader without you ever describing what anything feels like. <S> It's events that make readers feel, not descriptions of emotions. <S> The further you trace the events back, the more you layer the emotion. <S> Contrast the shock of the miscarriage by showing the joy of a successful pregnancy. <S> Of course, don't describe the joy, show the difficulty in getting pregnant, and then release that tension. <S> Go back further, why does becoming a parent mean so much to both of them? <S> The further back you go, the bigger the payoff. <A> Well, to be honest, this is a perfect example where you want to show how the character is feeling. <S> So have a thinking about what your character is doing in response to this heartbreak and insert this into the scene. <S> Like, I have a character in my novel, in one part, she is nervous when she is ambushed (quite by accident) by another character at a quiet moment, so I relay this in her behaviour. <S> Fidgeting with her fingers, deliberately moving out of this person's way, hesitating to follow, walking but with distance. <S> So how does that heartbreak manifest? <S> Is she crying? <S> If so, what sort of crying is it - overwhelming, thick and fast tears? <S> Or is she feeling numb? <S> Can you show that by her not hearing what another character might say to her, or just aimless gazing out a window? <S> This isn't a comprehensive list of what you can do, but the emotions will show as you show what is going on. <A> If you are willing to be mean to yourself, maybe listen to sad songs, or read sad things, or tap into past memories of when you felt sad/heartbroken yourself (this applies to any emotion). <S> Remember how your body responded then. <S> Maybe, if you get involved enough, you'll feel reactions during the exercise (if you can even call it that). <S> Then you can incorporate those into your writing. <S> Also, we all know that cliches and very overused tropes sound stiff and simple. <S> They pull readers out of the story and make them go " <S> Aha! <S> There's that thing again! <S> The author is trying to display _____!" <S> So avoid using those kinds of things that you've seen a lot before, I guess.

Don't describe the emotion, describe the thing that caused the emotion. Imagine a young couple, expecting their first child, and suffering a miscarriage.

Thinking About Fantasy Names One of my favorite parts of writing is naming my people/places/systems. I look up synonyms of common words and add prefixes, or base things off of Latin roots, or just pull some cool letter combination out of my butt. For some reason, it is very enjoyable for me. But when others read my story, it seems like the names might go too far, crossing the line from creative to overly complicated, and they get confused in the person's head. If you read fantasy, or sci-fi, or any kind of fiction where there are creatures/places/systems with creative titles, which things are pros for you and which are cons? Are interesting, unique names cool and interesting, or too confusing to use in a story? Any suggestions on how to make names easier to follow? For example, some of my names have to do with the elements, so I took Latin roots (aero, geo, ect.) and incorporated those roots into deity names to differentiate between them. I found that idea okay, but I could still use work. Thanks for reading! <Q> I've had to do some research into this myself - especially for the fantasy/sci-fi genre <S> it's easy to want to create the most unique names possible. <S> But it's also easy to fall into the trap of creating names TOO unique or confusing to follow. <S> In my opinion, it's a great idea. <S> And can be a powerful tool if used in the right way. <S> But in naming characters, be it modern names, unique variants, or new words entirely, here are a few things to keep in mind: Simplicity. <S> The name has to be easy enough the remember, and straightforward enough to read without too much strain on the the reader. <S> Nobody likes fighting to understand the book they are reading, so something simple is all you need. <S> Take 'Ender' from "Ender's Game": it's simple, unique (even though I'm fairly sure it's a nickname) and easy enough to remember. <S> Meaning. <S> Name your characters with purpose - "Harry Potter" was named deliberately with two fairly common names at the time, this was deliberate as the entire point of the story was a 'common' boy being put through uncommon circumstances. <S> But it went even deeper than that (see https://www.wizardingworld.com/features/etymology-behind-harry-potter-character-names ). <S> To add more on to the purpose point: either the character can be who they are because/inspite of their name, or they have their name because/inspite of who they are. <S> Hope this helps! <A> I tend to go for names that can lend to more memorable pet names and a general combination. <S> I tend to model my alien societies loosely on earth cultures, so I look for common sounds and naming conventions in that language. <S> I will play with conventions, so a race with a more militant culture might have soft sounding names while a race that is pacifistic might have harsh sounding names. <S> For tech, I tend to try and make the device's function apparent in the name, though I will often name some of the more difficult to explain fluff tech after their in universe creators, which are typically human sir names that are highly uncommon and may be in combination (Modeling real life names for some high end science stuff such as Hawkings Radiation or Einstein-Rosen Bridge). <S> Typically, it boils down to this person (or two people) <S> made the discovery, but I'm acronym it. <S> I call it "Nerf Hearder Names" from the famous insult lobbed at Han Solo... <S> one doesn't need to know what a Nerf looks like to understand it's livestock, and the people who care for them are not pleasent to the senses to know Han took it way less serious than "Scruffy Looking", which is a very mild insult. <S> In one drop of a line, we know that whatever a Nerf is, it's a livestock that is often thought to be unclean and being likened to their handlers would have been the most serious insult in Leia's series of insults, but Han isn't that offended. <A> I started out like you, finding synonyms and working with them. <S> But also, I look at languages that have a unique set of vowels and find their word for a feeling, noun or anything that represents my characters. <S> Then I change them to roll easier when said out loud. <S> One of my peoples have names inspired from arabic, one from sanskrit, one from old norse and my own language, norwegian. <S> Personally, I'm hesitant to use words derived from latin and greek, because when I do that, they look nothing like the rest. <S> And that made quite a challenge when naming my tech. <S> But my world is not earth <S> and it doesn't make sense to me that my characters would use words like telephone, audio, aeroplane and so on in a galaxy where nobody had ever spoken greek or latin. <S> For instance, two sisters in my story have long names that looked okay at first. <S> But then I realized they were hard to remember, even for me. <S> I kept the names, but made a story of how they got their names. <S> The sisters insists on shortening it to Sam and Hana. <S> So that's what I as a narrator call them, too. <S> I tend to look for words that aren't used as much today, but readers will recognize them. <S> Tools from a hundred years ago are excellent even as curse words or insults. <S> And plants have thousands of names to choose from, whether you go for a less common used name or combine two. <S> Have fun writing :)

I love unique names, but they need to be easy to read.

How to write a good eulogy I'm writing a book centred on loss and heartbreak and I keep getting stuck at a point where the main character has to give an eulogy at a funeral. I'm hoping I can get some help or tips maybe? Thanks <Q> Keep in mind that writing a "good" eulogy is a different task than writing a eulogy that is "good for your book" . <S> As with any other element of your book, this particular piece of writing needs to serve the storyline, the character development, and all the other needs of the book. <S> Therefore, depending on the needs of the book, you might want a eulogy that is offensive, shocking, overly intimate, digressive, disquieting, or narcissistic, none of which are qualities that you would want in a real-life eulogy. <S> Should this eulogy create a conflict? <S> Reveal a secret? <S> Introduce hidden aspects of the main character? <S> If the eulogy is early in the book, it should be creating problems, not solving them. <S> Of course, this could take many different forms. <S> If the deceased was a good person, you could do a more standard eulogy, and the problem posed for the main character is living up to the deceased's shining example. <S> Conversely, if the deceased was not a good person, the main character might face the challenge of fixing the problems left behind --or the tension of lying to cover up a life that was not well lived. <A> A good approach is to start writing it as a significantly biased biography. <S> The history of life of the deceased, birth to death, in chronological order, but focusing on human interactions, events shaping character, displays of underlining traits, friends, relations, passions, big personal achievements, fulfilled dreams and contributions of the deceased. <S> Summarize as what of immaterial goods <S> they left us (taught, supported, guided, cheered) and what of such continued contributions we've lost with the passing of the person (left alone, without guidance...). <S> Optionally, make promises to continue the mission in their stead. <S> Thank, say good-bye. <S> Don't overdo the part about the speaker, the family, these "left behind" - mention, express feelings, but - it comes out as egocentric if you talk more about what you feel about the deceased than about the deceased. <S> It's not your funeral, you're not the focus, you're a narrator given a minor background role. <S> Don't try to steal the spotlight. <A> Before you even begin to write an entire eulogy from the perspective of the character, you have to make sure it doesn't sound phony when it counts. <S> As, a writer one should always be aware of what a character is thinking or going through at any particular moment. <S> Internalise a character's pain, pleasure, sadness or depression. <S> Any attempt to even describe what a character is feeling should always be preceded by a deep sense of understanding of a characters state of mind. <S> It can sometimes be a painful process but it's worth it when the words on the paper read real. <S> After internalisation comes the reaction. <S> Was the character close to the deceased? <S> If no then an over the top reaction will be awkward and phony. <S> The reaction must always be proportional to the closeness of a the relation. <S> Then, comes the third phase: nostalgia. <S> The character starts to think about his/her relation with the deceased. <S> All the sweet and sour moments comes to him/ <S> her in bits of agonising clarity or flashes of blurry images. <S> After all that is sorted out: the pain, the reaction to that pain and the nostalgic memories of a lost friend, then what an eulogy after all is, is simply a summation; an elucidation of all these complex feelings and emotions that the character has gone through after hearing the sad news. <S> And again, i can't stress it enough that for the above to work the writer must know the character like he <S> / <S> she knows him/herself.

I would start by deciding what you need for your character and plot at this point, and then build the eulogy around it.

would this be considered fantasy? I am wanting to write a short story in the fantasy genre maybe genre blending. but I'm not sure if my idea is still considered fantasy. an example of what I was kind of thinking is: a man is walking along late at night and sees a bright flash of light coming at him its moving around erratically but just when he thinks its about to hit him its gone. just when he starts to think he's gone crazy and imagined the while thing he catches some movement out of the corner of his eye. he then sees a mystical creature and has this whole interaction with it blah blah blah… then long story short it turns out it was kind of a dream? and he was actually hit by a car that was the bright light and the mystical creature represents the after life. and there will be things he sees in the "dream" that point to or symbolize what is really happening to him outside his mind so the reader isn't all confused by the switch to him being hit by a car but..... as long as the creature and things that happen while he's "dreaming" are fantasy fulfilling does the over all story count as fantasy or does it fall into a different genre? <Q> The whole idea idea of genre is to help reader have a quick idea of the book before reading/buying. <S> It's generally decided by publisher rather than writer. <S> I've seen books with multiple disconnected or sometimes even conflicting genres printed on their front page. <S> So, the real question is who are your target audience? <S> Will a fantasy reader be disappointed after reading your book? <S> P.S: You can always insert genre in other ways like horror with fantasy elements, etc. <A> For the lack of separate "afterlife" genre, I would say the following: <S> If your plot takes place in fictional afterlife world, then it's likely a Fantasy. <S> If it happens in the real world, while the protagonist becomes incorporeal, then it's Paranormal. <S> If you put real effort into scientific explanation of all of this, the genre becomes Sci-Fi. <A> It's not fantasy, it is a different genre. <S> In fantasy, the world and things in it are real, for the story, but not the same as actual Earth. <S> So there doesn't have to be magic (that is called Science Fantasy), but the world and its contents (creatures, magical or not) has to be the real thing. <S> Your magical creature is not real. <S> We might say the "afterlife" is a fantasy, but that is usually excluded. <S> That was not the case in the fantasy series "Dead Like Me", in which some select people, at death, become Grim Reapers; but nice ones: They are there to help dying people make the transition from living to dead and moving on. <S> So in that case the afterlife is real for the story, some of the dead have jobs to do. <S> I'm not sure what your genre is; probably literary contemporary fiction. <A> Although you might quibble with the categorization as fantasy, the fact remains, in the absence of any confirmed reportage from the "Other Side," any depiction of the afterlife must be speculative, and thus is necessarily in some category of speculative fiction (the larger supergenre including both fantasy and science fiction). <S> In addition, from a functional point of view, your story has recognizable, irreducible fantasy elements, and is therefore most likely to have fantasy fans as its core audience.

Contrary to the answers claiming the contrary, this is in fact a well-recognized subgenre of fantasy, known as posthumous fantasy , a narrative whose most prominent fantastic element is that it takes place in an imagined afterlife.

Limited 3rd Person: How to reveal character's black skin? I have a scene that I'm working on. The character in the scene is an actor who's black wearing a black face. At the end of the scene I have him wiping the makeup and resolving not to wear it again. Here is the closing paragraph. Things were bubbling inside of him. Bizarre feelings that he shouldn't have. Feelings that belonged to a figment of an imagination. The image staring back at him was studying him and he thought he caught a glimpse of an expression of contempt. He closed his eyes shut trying to squeeze out the copious amounts of tears that refused to oblige earlier and were now flowing unhindered. He heaved a breath in, trying to avoid deteriorating into a sobbing fit. He didn't know what was happening to him. This was not the pain from the cigarette burn. This emotion overtaking him now was something else. Something much deeper. He felt betrayal. Moses felt betrayal. The actor picked up a cleaning cloth, wiping the tarnish from his face, vowing not to hide his true face ever again. Notes: Moses is the name of the character the actor is playing. I wrote the last few sentences, shown in italic , are for the sake of this question. They may not be in the final piece. Clarification: It appears that my original question didn't clarify my intentions for the scene well enough. The time period is early 1900s. The place somewhere on the East Coast (I'm considering Philadelphia). The Actor (MC) is black. Wears a blackface makeup. This behavior is historically accurate. Black entertainers used to wear blackface to meet the expectations of the audience and requirements of the industry. Bert Williams , one of the most prominent black performers at the time wore blackface makeup often. The question is: how to reveal the fact that The Actor is black at the end? I hint at his true race to the reader by building up conflicting emotions within the MC. I hope I confirm their suspicions at the end in a surprising but "makes sense" kind of way. <Q> It's often clumsy and artificial for a character to make references to their own race in a first-person or limited-third-person narrative, because most people don't often actively think about the color of their own skins, unless some situation forces them to. <S> But you're depicting a situation in which almost anyone would be forced to ponder their own race , so it shouldn't actually be that difficult to reference here. <S> This gives you a range of options about how to do it . <S> He might rage at the fact that he can't "be seen" except behind the mask of the makeup, or that his culture can only be appreciated as appropriated and repackaged to meet racist expectations. <S> He might wonder how many people in the audience knew they were watching an actual black person instead of a white performer in blackface, and what they felt about it. <S> There is no one right answer here. <A> First, drop a line about actor's dark complexion. <S> This would serve as a hint, but not the actual plot twist yet. <S> I understand the complication here is that you have to write it from a limited 3rd person view. <S> Also (I assume) it should happen in a scene when your character is alone in his room, so there is no one else to point out his race. <S> Establishing the race descriptively (i.e. by skin color and other features) <S> I feel would not be concise - you would need several sentences to make sure that the reader would understand it. <S> So, the "bomb" must be the character's own thought. <S> I recommend two thoughts. <S> One, the actor thinks of the audience as a racially distinct one, referring to them as "whites". <S> Second, he reveals a memory or memento that quickly establishes himself as black - for example an old photograph of his grandparents, a freed slaves. <A> Putting the race of the Actor doesn't fit in the paragraph that you show us. <S> If you do put the race of the Actor, it would feel rushed and forced. <S> You could put it in a different paragraph or you could just put it at the beginning of your story. <S> (Sorry, that was vague. <S> Sorry, if this isn't helpful.) <A> You're sort of tricking the reader, inasmuch as you're subverting their assumption about the character. <S> Whether or not it works lies entirely in the reveal, which could be as simple as merely stating at the end that he is a black man working in a minstrel show, perhaps after saying "the black gave way to brown" (or similar phrasing) as he removed his makeup. <S> However, be sure of your historical context here. <S> Black actors did commonly perform in blackface minstrel shows without conflict. <S> And minstrel show performers (white and black) used burnt cork to color their faces until greasepaint makeup was popularized in the early 1900s. <S> A quick newspaper search turned up plenty of contemporary and later references. <S> A black former minstrel interviewed in old age described wearing blackface--for whites as well as blacks--as "pure showmanship" and compared it to circus clown makeup.

He might contrast the ugliness of the makeup with the beauty of his own skin, or ponder the irony of having to dress up as a stereotyped version of what he actually is. The direction you go should match your themes, message, and character development . Second, drop a "bomb" - a clear and unambiguous reveal of actor's race.

In fiction, what is meant by phrases such as "his eyes flashed anger for a moment"? I've read a lot of such phrases, but that one in particular doesn't make sense to me. Physically, what is supposed to be described here? How long is the moment? I've personally tried to make my eyes "flash" as quickly as possible and it's not nearly so quick. Perhaps I am unique in my lack of abilities, but most of the time when I read this in fiction I get the impression that the expression is so fast as to be just barely noticed. Perhaps a better question is: what is a more descriptive way to explain this act in fiction writing? <Q> “His eyes flashed with anger for a moment” simply means the character looked angry for a second. <S> Perhaps he immediately realized an interruption was important or he regained his composure in a tense situation. <S> It is NOT bad writing and is certainly not telling rather than showing. <S> “Show, don’t tell” is a reminder to avoid simply saying something exciting or interesting happened without describing it, like “John had a very difficult time making the dangerous crossing at the river and nearly drowned at one point.” <S> Or “Mary spoke very persuasively at the meeting and convinced the town council not to demolish the historic library.” <A> Writer At Work With the phrase... <S> "...his eyes flashed anger for a moment” ... <S> you've stumbled upon "The Writer at Work". <S> Which means that the writer has interrupted your reader's reverie by choosing a phrase that cannot be "seen". <S> It jars you from the story itself and is intrusive. <S> This is why writers often repeat the old adage, "Show don't tell." <S> This "eyes flashed with anger" has become a cliché, not a descriptive showing of what is actually happening. <S> It is a shortcut that a writer has used (and now many writers copy) to tell the reader that "The character was angry but is trying to hide it." <S> It is far better to show the action as if you saw it happen on a movie screen and then wrote it down. <S> The best way to do that is: 1) <S> determine what you want to show <S> - in this case we want to show a character becoming angry but attempting to hide it from one or more other characters. <S> 2) imagine how an actor might portray it on screen in a movie <S> Now, how about this. <S> His boss said, "Well, if you weren't so stupid, maybe you wouldn't have lost the sale." <S> Wesley turned his face away from his boss and stared at the cubicle wall. <S> He held his breath and gritted his teeth. <S> Then he turned slowly back around. <S> "I'll do better next time, boss." <S> This is showing the anger happen, not telling the reader what they should think is happening. <S> It is far more powerful because the viewer/reader gets to decide what is happening. <A> This is called a micro expression and lasts about 1/5th of a second: <S> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microexpression <S> In the case of anger, for this brief instance, you'd see one or more of would be the following facial muscle movements: <S> eyebrows lowered and drawn together (in a V shape) <S> vertical lines between the eyebrows lower eyelids tightened upper eyelids raised directly staring at the other person <S> You could try to come up with a more descriptive sentence based on these. <S> The "tightened eyelids" ("narrowed eyes") are probably understandable enough as well as the "lowered eyebrows" or the "vertical lines between the eyebrows". <S> Describing the quickness of the emotion might be trickier. <S> You could say something like "he put on a placid smile again" or " <S> but when I blinked, he looked as composed as ever". <A> I narrowed my eyes at someone once, and only once. <S> It was an unconscious reaction, but I was fully aware of doing it. <S> It was quite a strange experience and I left feeling embarrassed knowing that I am instinctively subject to the human condition. <S> The phrase alone means nothing. <S> I need to know what happened after. <S> Did their 'expression soften' (they repent) or did they 'regain their composure' <S> (resume tactically guarded body language) ? <A> Regarding intentionally trying to make your eyes "flash" an emotion, that's actually very challenging, as emotional indicators on our faces can be quite subtle and difficult to fake. <S> When we notice really subtle cues like this, it often is very quick and subconscious. <S> This is one of the cases where speaking more directly to emotional context rather than describing the physical actions makes a lot of sense, because what you perceive in a situation like this is directly the sensed emotional context. <S> In particular, in a case like this, the fact that you only see a flicker of anger gives the additional context that they are trying not to openly broadcast it. <S> Describing a more overt physical reaction that expresses being angry changes the scene significantly. <A> An image is worth more than a thousand words. <S> "Eyes flashing with anger" is the very last part of this sequence. <S> It is usually quicker and less dramatic than this, but this image is good to illustrate the concept.

Taking this phrase at face value, I'd assume that the area surrounding the character's eyes (and not just the eyes themselves) show a very brief sign of anger that the character then manages to get back under control.

What's An Acceptable Word Count for a Debut Novel? I decided to ask this question after finding no other similar questions to mine. But anyway, I have a portfolio of unpublished novels that have been thoroughly edited. One is a piece of Christian literary fiction + suspense, a literary suspense while the others are the following an adult speculative novel based in an afterlife, a coming-of-age novel based in an afterlife, and a YA fantasy based in a Jewish afterlife. The word counts for this novel are as follows: About 65k to 70k for that literary fiction piece, about 98k for that adult speculative piece, about 56k for that coming-of-age story, and 60k for that YA fantasy. Are these acceptable word counts for a debut novel? I plan on networking with acquisition editors and agents this year, but am worried that my novels are too short. <Q> 50k is generally considered the minimum viable length for an adults' novel, with 60 or 65k+ probably preferred. <S> But novels for younger audiences can be considerably shorter, so your coming of age novel is still right on target if the audience is young. <S> On the other end of things, don't go too far above 100 to 120k as a debut writer. <S> So all your book lengths are squarely within publishers' preferred ranges. <S> The logic behind these ranges, for what it's worth, is that readers tend to feel cheated by novels shorter than at least 50k, but over 120k becomes too expensive to print. <S> Also, not every reader wants huge tomes. <S> (I much prefer shorter novels, personally.) <A> The standard definition of a novel is based on word count, and your shortest work is barely under what I've long understood to be "novel length" -- <S> 56k words would be a "short novel," which is sold and marketed just like a "novel". <S> All the other works for which you gave word counts are within the standard definition of a novel, by word count. <A> There are no definitive ranges when it comes to word counts. <S> A smart approach is to use QueryTracker when building your agent list and reference the Manuscript Wordcount report to see what length books they typically acquire in each genre.

Your word counts all seem reasonable except perhaps the 56k for the coming-of-age story (might be too short depending on the target audience). It largely comes down to the preferences of the agent or editor based on their experience selling the genre.

Help! How do I transition from a character voice to a narrator? How do you successfully transition from a first-person narrator, who is present only for the first few chapters of a book, to a different narrative voice that will continue for the rest of the book? I start off my novel with a boy setting the stage and a few chapters in I have to leave him behind and narrate chapters that he is not a part of. How do I transition from him speaking to me (as the author) doing it? <Q> Plenty of books just switch narrators, no real transition, but I'm not a fan of that approach. <S> A more elegant solution, if it fits your plot, is to have the boy narrate his section to your primary narrator . <S> If your primary narration is 3rd Person Omniscient, and not tied to a character in the story, you can still present the first few chapters as being recounted by the boy to an actual character . <S> In this case, I would still recommend starting the book with at least a brief intro in the actual narrative voice. <S> That will prepare the readers for the impending loss of the boy-as-narrator, and keep them from being thrown off by it when it happens. <A> Another way is to transition the narrator from the boy to someone else (the teller of the tale) is by having the boy turn to the storyteller as a different character at the end of his narration. <S> That way we see how the storyteller found out about what the boy narrated. <S> Hope this helps. <A> If you're writing in 1st-person, then you can switch to 3rd-person for the duration of those few episodes. <S> This is how Brandon Sanderson did it in his Skyward book series. <S> Spensa, the protagonist, narrates her own chapters in 1st-person and when interludes happen, they are narrated in 3rd-person.

In other words you start with a brief intro featuring your narrator, explain how he meets the boy, offer a pretext for the boy telling the narrator his story, and then continue with the main narrator after the interruption.

The use of elipses in writing a novel I am a little confused and need some help in clearing things up. In writing dialogue and the speaker pauses how do you show this. Now, from my understanding you use ellipses(...). If this is true, how are they used? A space after the last word with the last word being "going" ("We are going ...but I think,") or no space after the last word but space before the next word ("We are going... but I think,") or no spaces before and after the last and first words? ("We are going...but I think,") <Q> To answer your question, it'll be something like this: "... <S> I said, but I wouldn't." <S> Then, the next person says, "Sure, but why?" It'll be best to use a comma unless you're trying to demonstrate that the person speaking is drawling out a specific word. <S> Only use ellipses when your speaker is drawling a certain word. <A> This is called aposiopesis . <S> And you can use either the em-dash — or ellipsis. <S> There seems to be no real agreement on the proper use. <S> I generally use ellipsis with space after but not before but having one both after and before is recommended by some. <S> That said, if you want to show someone paused, you usually should just say it. <S> Strictly speaking apart from few specific uses ellipsis simply means that the sentence was not completed, it does not specify if there was a pause in speech beyond the normal short one between sentences. <S> It is also misleading if the sentence is completed but after a pause. <S> The em-dash might fit you better since "self-interruption" is one of its uses, unlike with ellipsis. <S> "I believe I shall— <S> no, I'm going to do it. <S> " is example Wikipedia gives which sounds lot like what you want to me. <A> If you're writing for yourself , you can do whatever makes sense to you, as long as you're consistent with it. <S> Personally <S> I do this: <S> Ellipses are for when someone's speech trails off (for sudden interruptions, I use an em-dash). <S> I use the Unicode character "…", with no space before, and one space after. <S> I write everything in plaintext, then let the software (in my case, pandoc ) do the conversion to nice-looking Unicode characters. <S> Any WYSIWYG word processor worth their sal— I mean, bytes , can smarten punctuation on the fly, or let you insert special characters. <S> I've seen some old texts on Project Gutenberg that put spaces between dots, or even use more than three dots, such as (made-up example): <S> Yes, do that . <S> . <S> . . please. <S> Also, in Japanese media , using long runs of dots is common to indicate pauses. <S> If you're writing to get published , take a look at the style guide that your editor uses. <S> For example, the Chicago Manual Of Style prefers three dots, and requires non-breaking spaces to be put between them (but allows the single-character Unicode version too), while New Hart's Rules prefer the single-character (source: https://www.liminalpages.com/ellipsis-spaces-dots ). <S> But ultimately, (ibid.) <S> [B]oth are correct! <S> And, in regards to spacing before/after the ellipsis , (ibid.) <S> Should there be a space before and after the ellipsis, though … like this? <S> Or should there be no space…like this? <S> Again, it’s a style decision. <S> Being consistent is key, so that you make your editor's life easier, and they can replace all occurrences of ellipses with a single command. <S> And in regards to spacing <S> if you use separate dots (ibid.) <S> : Keep in mind, too, that it’s important the dots always appear on the same line, so make sure you’re either using a single glyph or non-breaking spaces. <S> Again, non-breaking spaces are a pain in WYSIWYG editors (it's not immediately apparent they're different than normal spaces) <S> , so I just prefer the single-character ellipsis.

I use no space before the ellipses, so that they don't get broken apart, and you end up with just ellipses at the beginning of the line -- you always have at least one word preceding them -- and one space after, for consistency with commas and periods. Either is fine, as long as you’re consistent.

How a character displays disdain for someone I am struggling trying to get one of my characters to display disdain for someone. I've tried him "snorting", "twisting his lips", "rolling his eyes" but it isn't coming across well. Can anyone give me better suggestions?Thanks much! <Q> In the right context, wincing or cringing can show disdain, as well as recoiling. <S> Maybe someone looks someone else up and down and glares, or squints/narrows their eyes at them. <S> Also, upon looking up the definition of disdain online, their sentence actually is: "her upper lip curled in disdain", so lip movement might be a good way to go here. <S> Observe what other people do when they feel this way, and what their body language is (and even yours). <S> You could have fun by grossing someone out and then pull the excuse, " <S> It's for a book I'm writing. <S> Thanks for your help. <S> " And if narrative isn't working, maybe the dialogue itself could be used to display the emotion? <S> Just an idea. <A> You might have better luck searching for " contempt " instead of "disdain". <S> The research of the Paul Ekman Group (on how humans express emotions) is particularly interesting in this context: https://www.paulekman.com/universal-emotions/what-is-contempt/ <S> However, when I recently did research on the same topic, I found the best description of the expression elsewhere: http://descriptivefaces.blogspot.com/2010/12/facial-expressions-contempt.html To summarize, apart from the ones you mentioned, you could also use the following tells: one side of the upper lip curling upwards looking down their nose at someone sneering exaggerated sigh (especially when combined with an eyeroll) <S> folded arms dismissive hand gesture <S> There are others that are less specific (such as narrowed eyes, or raising an eyebrow) but might work well in combination with the others. <A> Shutting down in an aggressive way can be disdainful too, holding in or actively growling around someone is another there has to be someone actor, singer, <S> that person who keeps showing up at Starbucks that you find the same when you feel that way take note what are you doing? <S> How are you behaving? <S> If you need a physical description heres what the book Writer's Guide to Character Traits (personally not a fan of this book) says: <S> brows down not drawn together, eyes have lower lids raised, lip upper may rise, tongue maybe visible. <S> Everyone shows contempt differently some try hard to hold it back <S> others let it fly <S> that's more definitive <S> then what the face is doing. <S> but really I don't think you need to have a play by play wiggling and squinting or crushing of features <S> just say they were or are in disdain for this person, thing, show,k event, ect or show it in manners <S> not facial movements <S> how do they avoid the person they hate? <S> Or how do they retaliate having to work with them? <S> To me the how are they behaving to this person each time they show up is more impactful then facial descriptions that might just take the reader out of your book as they try to imagine the way the face moves not actions the character it doing.

Contempt is also related to disgust , and someone feeling contemptuous of someone else might briefly show traces of disgust on their face (so-called "microexpressions"): wrinkled nose raised upper lip

Can the first book in a series have a sad ending? (The antagonist wins) I have an idea for a series, but I want the protagonist to die at the end of the first book, and make it seem like all hope is lost, and then in the second book others (one of his other relatives) rise up and finish what he started. I was wondering if this would be okay? And how could I make it work in such a way that all hope seems lost yet there's still space for a sequel? <Q> Game of Thrones did exactly that, so it can't be that bad right? <S> There is a lot of risk you are putting on your work with this approach. <S> Pretty much you are putting all your eggs in the basket of your writing being so good that people want to read the second book, even though the first one failed to to have a satisfying payoff. <S> Here are some bits of advice. <S> First make it 100% clear that this is the first book in the series. <S> People should probably even just going in know that they are not going to get the fill story from this one book. <S> This will set expectations and make readers much less frustrated. <S> It will for better, for worse, keep the kind of people that don't like series away from your wring. <S> Back to Game of Thrones, or Wheel of Time, some of these books get very frustrating as a 1000 pages later you feel like you have just consumed another part of the story. <S> I feel like series like Dresden Files are much more respectful to their readers, giving conclusions to at least some plot points in each book. <S> Maybe in your work the protagonist dies but the "relative" succeeds at something. <S> Maybe thy escape, maybe they kill the licentiate that killed the protagonist. <S> Past that go nuts. <S> Modern readers seem to love hard core writers who are not afraid to kill their precious characters. <A> This is acceptable, and sort of done before. <S> I don't know how familiar you are with games but the first 2 stories from the main StarCraft saga both end in a crushing defeat for the good guys (and the third one they had "won" the battle but were still losing the war). <S> (Note: The first 3 stories were released together) Only until the 7th out of 9 stories the good guys finally seem to be winning(barely). <S> With their victory eventually coming from multiple sides joining together. <S> Your description lacks a few details to give a proper answer so maybe add some more details on your situation? <S> (You can even hint at them as a form of foreshadowing). <S> For example the dying actions of your main character could inspire neutrals/hostiles to have a change of heart and slowly switch sides boosting the chances of the remaining good guys. <A> Okay for whom? <S> Everything that an author wants to write is acceptable for the author, as long it does not break the whatever laws in their jurisdiction. <S> What is acceptable for publishers or readers is a different story. <S> So edit your question and provide more information as to who you are asking about. <S> The way your question is currently worded suggests that you are asking whether such a book could sell well. <S> It may or may not, depending on a huge multitude of other factors, but the plot idea alone that you described cannot float or sink your book. <S> Just look at the piles of trash that line the shelves of bookstores, if you do not believe me.

Pass the torch in the first book, and give the reader some sort of win, no matter how small to keep reading forward. Give the reader closure on something. But generally speaking it is possible by just adding/revealing variables that were first unknown to the reader.

How do I ensure that my temper is not affecting my writing? Usually, when I read my old blog posts, one thing I evidently observe is that my posts are affected by my temper at that time. I feel like I could have written them in another way (maybe due to my current temper). This leads to my next question: how do I ensure that my current mood is not changing the blog post's plot and reducing its quality? <Q> The tried and true method of "Write an angry letter today but mail it tomorrow" is the best preventative measure. <S> Trust me when I say this, there is something stress relieving about writing down everything causing you to rage against the target of your ire. <S> As Anton Ego observed in the Pixar Film "Ratatouille": <S> We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. <S> But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. <S> Sometimes things are said in the heat of the moment that, when looked at with a calm tone, make you seem disproportionately the "wrong" person in the fight <S> and yes, it's often something you type to intentionally twist the knife. <S> It's also possible that the tone you convey in your mind isn't read (I've found so many people to be reasonable when I can talk over a voip <S> then they are when I type at them in a chat). <S> The advice allows you to "get it out of your system" but prevents you from committing it until you cool off and come to your senses and see if it's worth it. <A> For person to person interactions, there was a rule (old when I was young, in the 1960s) to "count to ten" before speaking. <S> Some folks (possibly those who've seen a game of Hide and Seek and watched how fast a child can count) suggest doing so in a foreign language, or using some other method to slow down the count. <S> The point, however, is to give yourself time to calm down and think about what you're about to do/say. <S> The same method can be applied to writing. <S> If you have something you're writing about because you're angry , don't publish it immediately. <S> Leave it sit for at least twenty-four hours, maybe even a week. <S> Sure, it may lose timeliness, but if it does, you might well be better off not publishing it at all, rather than releasing words to the world that might cause hurt or even get you sued. <A> Read, re-read and re-read again if the primary matter is what you will intend to publish. <S> Still again, have someone else do so for you for clarity. <S> If your message is on social media, then the best choice is to wait some period of time which seems to work for you. <S> What you will state at a later date will likely be more measured and informative. <S> You might embellish a thought or clarify a position simply by having more time to do so. <S> Thoughts marinate, and the end result is better for it.

The simple answer is, "don't write angry."

At What Point Does a Writer Need Validation to Confirm They've Done Something Right? I have been thoroughly editing four unpublished novels during the fourth quarter of 2019 and in January 2020. I think I finally got my books to where they need to be. I even decided to go on UpWork and pay for a thorough review of my work. I got this from script coverage sites common for screenwriters who want their work to be professionally evaluated. But anyway, I am so tired of editing my works at this point in time, and have accounted for everything I needed to account for, including for having more shorter, tighter sentences. But my question to you all is this, at what point does a writer need validation that they've done something right? When it's published, by a friend? When? <Q> You should seek feedback at whatever point that feedback is not going to interfere with your writing process . <S> It's quite possible to get feedback too early, and have it choke off your creativity. <S> It's also possible to seek feedback too frequently, and to burn out your beta readers. <S> But if your first experience of feedback is when you submit to a publisher, you're likely to get a rude awakening. <S> I've also wrestled frequently with this question, and I can report from experience, if you aren't getting feedback and responding to it, <S> you're really only writing for yourself . <S> I've had too many books that my first meaningful feedback on was the realization that no one wanted to publish them. <S> It's a bit of a red flag to me that you're phrasing this in terms of seeking validation . <S> I spent quite a lot of my writing career seeking validation through my writing, and it's a fool's errand. <S> If you want validation, find a different career. <A> My answer may seem to contradict some of the statements given. <S> So let me point out that feedback is invaluable. <S> But only as such that it doesn't inhibit you creatively. <S> I've worked for tv stations and book publishers <S> and I know how some ideas have changed dramatically from the first idea to the final product. <S> Sometimes so drastically that the writers finished it - but did not believe and support their own product anymore. <S> So my point of view as an author is to take feedback in, think about it, but also have clear idea about your vision. <S> In the end it's your product, your vision, your idea - and not somebody else's which you have written. <S> I'd rather not publish than to write something against my creative vision. <S> Another thing that might be helpful is to just put aside for a moment. <S> I have written six new novels. <S> And I've published five books last year, if I do not write something new but keep correcting the new books, I will starve creatively. <S> I need to have "fun" - <S> i.e. writing - so <S> my editing needs to wait. <S> Too much editing drains me and makes me nothing more than an editor, while I would love so much to dive into my stories and have fun. <S> And that is the ultimate gauge: Are you having fun and are you satisfied or have drowned out your own inner creativity through the voices of others? <A> I have a series of novels I am trying to get published. <S> If a traditional publisher won't take them, I will put them out there myself (for free because if someone else isn't prepared to pay, I shouldn't either. <S> They might not be good enough.) <S> I would never get a friend to pay for my work to be printed, even if they offered to. <S> You have to consider what you think 'something right' is. <S> Did you get satisfaction creating it? <S> Does a small audience like it? <S> Will you not be satisfied until you equal Ernest Hemingway in style?

If your goal is to write something that people will want to publish and read and enjoy, and find valuable, get feedback on it.

Current events may have ruined a name I was going to use In the middle-grade series I'm working on, there are two organizations: one led by the antagonist, and one that opposes them, which the protagonists join. In the setting of the series, a very small percentage of the population are born with genes that enable them to develop powers after exposure to a solar eclipse. Since eclipses are so important in the books, I decided to give the two organizations eclipse-themed names: the antagonists are in a group known as the Umbra, while the group the protagonists are in is called the Corona. I was all set. And then the Wuhan coronavirus broke out, even coming to the town where I live. I don't think naming an organization the Corona would be a good idea anymore. Do you guys have any ideas? I'm looking for a name that has something to do with a solar eclipse. Update: Thanks for answering! Most of you have reassured me that I'll be fine, so I'm going to keep the Corona as it is. However, when someone suggested the name Prominence, I found that I really liked that. I've decided to rename the Umbra the Prominence, as it fits with the solar theme while also fitting with their ideology of people with powers being put on this world to "fix" it. <Q> Worry about this later Names are easy. <S> A quick run of Find/Replace, and suddenly, every mention of Corona is replaced with Prominence, or Flare, or whatever you want. <S> Write your story using whatever name you are most comfortable with, and worry about the name once you get closer to publication. <S> You should make note of any instances of the name that won't be easily caught by find and replace (such as the name getting cut short, puns on the name, or symbols based on the name, etc) so that you remember to change them later. <S> That said, you probably don't have much to worry about. <S> It sounds like you have clear sun related imagery in the book, so unless Corona is the first sun-related name mentioned in the book readers should have no problem making the proper associations. <S> This is particularly true if your story is set in a secondary world, which will further isolate the readers from associations with real current events. <S> If your beta readers report that the name Corona is pulling them out of the story, then worry about changing it. <S> Not before. <A> Corona in Latin means halo or crown. <S> The coronavirus was first documented in the 1960's. <S> Toyota manufactured the Corona from 1957 to 2002 - for 45 years. <S> Corona has been used in botany for <S> oh, I don't know how many years. <S> As it comes from Latin, I would imagine hundreds. <S> By the time it's all said and done, I doubt that this coronavirus outbreak will seriously blacken the reputation of a word with that much history. <A> In your specific case you can probably ignore it. <S> It's about to be given a real one: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51371770 <S> The virus theme relates to a previous <S> "it will fade away" answer. <S> The story I heard mentioned previous news-making coronaviruses: SARS, MERS, N1H1. <S> I think today you could name a dog Mers or Ni-Hi, and no-one would think twice <A> Penumbra Totality Antumbra Chromosphere Diamond (like the diamond ring shape) <S> Prominence Saros (you'd have to get specific with some aspects for this one) <S> Shadow/Band(s) of Shadow <S> (This is a good website I found with some vocab: https://eclipse.aas.org/eclipse-america/eclipse-glossary ) <S> You could use the sciency words and go off of those, whether they are about the sun and moon specifically, or what happens to animal life, etc. <S> You could mix them together or with other words. <S> You could think about what feelings eclipses evoke and tap into those. <S> If the Umbra is the antagonist group (great name by the way), what's the opposite of Umbra for the protagonist group? <S> Is there one? <S> The Corona is a great name. <S> This current event stuff (tragic) will lose publicity once enough time passes, so maybe you shouldn't even worry about it. <S> Or you could modify the spelling to steer readers' brains away from the virus. <S> Not sure if this will help - but good luck and have fun. <A> I would never associate the Corona with the Corona virus, even though the media are going wall-to-wall with coverage of it right now, and I happen to be reading all of those publications in The Economist, Time, The Wall Street Journal etc, which never fail to have something on it. <S> So relax. <S> Also, consider this: by the time you actually have the book published, chances are, the virus will have been long forgotten.

Give yourself some time to wait until the current crisis is past and the media frenzy has died down, then give your book to beta readers and see if they comment on the name. "Coronavirus" is the temporary, generic name.

What do I do with this short story? I wrote a really, really, good short story recently, with an amazing main character. I want to use her again, but it doesn't feel right to put a character from a short story into a long series! should I write a series of short stories about her? <Q> If you're wanting to go with a longer story like a novel, I'd suggest either making your short story in the past (of the longer story) or announce that the short story isn't canon (doesn't effect or make anything different for the main story). <S> A series of short stories would also be cool, but that decision is entirely up to you! :) <A> The problem with short stories as compared to novels is that they usually just show an aspect of a person's life, without digging too deep into the backstory of the character. <S> Thus it would probably change the way we experience it. <S> It will be a more episodic story telling which might not go hand in hand with the (traditional) understanding of short stories. <S> (Of course, anything that one can think of is possible, do not let traditions stand in your way of your creativity, enjoy the process and have fun with it.) <A> Many short stories have been turned into novels Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes was a short story that was then adapted into a full novel. <S> M. R. Carey turned Iphigenia In Aulis into The Girl with All the Gifts. <S> Dragonflight, the first book of Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern began life as two novellas, Weyr Search and Dragonrider. <S> In all of these cases and more, the longer novel stands adjacent to the original stories. <S> The story told in the short story is repeated in the novels, although sometimes with details changed to better fit the longer form story being told. <S> A second form of adaptation can be seen in Seanan McGuire's novella Rolling in the Deep, which was followed by the novel Into the Drowning Deep, and Mary Robinette Kowal's The Lady Astronaut of Mars, which served as foundation for The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky. <S> This sounds a bit more like what you're interested in. <S> The original story is part of the canon of the world, and the novels are additional stories in that world. <S> Kowal's series even features the same character! <S> And there are also many novels that began life as short story collections. <S> Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson was a series of short stories collected together, as was I, Robot by Issac Asimov, and Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire. <S> Collecting stories together like this does leave a mark, though. <S> It is usually fairly easy to tell when a story began life as a short story collection. <S> (In particular it is educational to look at Sparrow Hill Road, which began as a short story collection, and its sequel The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, which did not). <S> That is not necessarily a bad thing. <S> Many people enjoy the episodic feel of a novel made of short stories, and some stories are best told in that manner. <S> It's like writing a TV show instead of a movie. <S> Both are excellent storytelling mediums, but they are also different storytelling mediums. <S> The path you choose is up to you. <S> All paths are equally valid, but the considerations you need to make for each one are different.

While it is absolutely possible to convert a character from a short story to a novel form, I do believe that it might be necessary to provide more backstory.

How to avoid being overwhelmed by your stories when you write them When I am writing a very intense and dramatic scene, I often become overwhelmed by it and have to stop writing. Any tips on avoiding this and on focusing on writing. <Q> If writing it is causing you to feel things, then it probably is translating to readers and <S> that's great <S> so take advantage of it. <S> so you do it when you really know you are up to the task. <A> For the most part, I don't stop, I use that emotion as motivation. <S> If I do have to stop, I talk to someone about it for a few minutes to process the emotion. <A> Feeling intensely while writing a scene is not a bad thing. <S> If you don't feel strongly about an emotional scene, why should your readers? <S> If anything, you should be asking if your writing does enough to evoke the feeling you hope your readers will share with you. <A> In two words, do not. <S> It is perfectly fine to be overwhelmed. <S> I laugh, cringe, and cry when I write, and then again when I read it out loud to my audiences. <S> Sometimes I have to stop for minutes, because what I wrote or about to read is just too funny or sad. <S> If you will try to rule your mind with an iron fist, you risk losing your inner self that makes you a writer. <S> PS: This should be considered one of the best questions on WSE.

Then, when you're in a good headspace, use that overwhelming feeling to your advantage to get neck-deep in the emotion. Get everything that could be weighing on you outside of your story out of the way (do everything you must do for that day, settle things, etc.). But if it's really overwhelming, like in a bad way, maybe just plan your writing carefully

Why would a someone desecrate a pharaoh's tomb? I'm trying to find a believable reason for someone to open a clearly cursed tomb for my short story. I'm finding myself between the silly-but-different and believable-but-boring spectrum. For example, a historian or researcher might open it just for scientific reasons. But that's not too exciting. On the other hand, a completely farfetched but cool reason wouldn't feel real, and this is supposed to be a mystery/horror story. Any ideas come to your mind? <Q> Wealth. <S> Digging up tombs to loot them is a time-honoured human activity. <S> In trying to explain any kind of stupid human behaviour, you can always count on the old reliables: ego, sex, wealth, and religion. <S> People will do all sorts of dumbass things for one or more of those reasons. <A> The person wants the valuables inside. <S> He believes he is the descendant of the pharaoh and therefor the rightful ruler and hopes to find some evidence of this inside the tomb. <S> He's an hopeless romantic who wants to get a engagement ring. <A> For something completely different, Crazy religions fanatic. <S> We already have Westboro Baptist Church that performs baptisms and conversions of the dead against their will, but at least from a distance, so for horror take it another step. <S> Have a religious organisation unhappy that someone was burred with Egyptian rituals instead of Christian ones. <S> This is particularly bad for them because of the importance of the individual, and perhaps this pharaoh's mention in the bible. <S> So they want to break in, desecrate the Egyptian gods, perform a baptism on the mummy, and then rebury him as a Christian.

He purely want's to desecrate it because his is a highly religious person of a other faith who thinks that Pharoahs who functioned as a bridge between the (in his eyes false) gods and the people is heresy. He is being chased and believes that entering the tomb would be the only safe spot (Because the chasers believe in the curse and won't follow him in)

Rules of Misdirection in Stories I am wondering if there are any rules for misdirection like how would you tell if a misdirection was done right or wrong in a story? Are there do's and don'ts or a point where you can over do it when misleading readers and if so why? <Q> This should follow the same rules as for making a good plot twist. <S> A story without a twist (or up to the twist point) should be also compelling and interesting to the reader. <S> Misdirection should not contradict "direction" - they both should look valid from different point of view. <S> Audience should be more satisfied with post-twist direction rather than original misdirection. <S> If you look at the classic examples of misdirection, like "Fight Club", or "Sixth Sense", you see that lot of the plot is lined out to develop "misdirection", but then switch to "main direction" feels rewarding rather than upsetting. <A> Kurt Vonnegut is famous for saying, <S> Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages. <S> Misdirections <S> can be helpful because the reader doesn't want it to be terribly obvious what's going to happen next. <S> However, the real direction the plot is heading should be more sensible/compelling than the misdirection, if the reader were to stop and think about what you've told them about the character(s) and plot. <A> Robert Heinlein said ‘the best way to lie is to tell the truth so no one believes you.‘ <S> I think this applies to foreshadowing in storytelling. <S> If you can foreshadow what is going to happen in your story, but the form and structure ensures that it will be taken out of context and misconstrued, then you have a wonderful misdirection that will hold up at the end of the story. <S> As far as rules of misdirection, Only unreliable narrators can lie so <S> by contrast your reliable narrator can never deliberately mislead the reader. <S> They can be wrong and make mistakes, but that means the narrators discovery of their error needs to coincide with the discovery of the truth. <S> I think this is difficult to do with out it feeling like a cheat. <S> You can as much misdirection in your story as you want as long as it doesn’t interfere with telling the story.

The best misdirects are the small aside events in a story that be confused with revealing character or establishing setting and scene.

I find it tough to write my fictional stories in anything other than past tense, why is this? I would like to venture out into present tense, but it is so hard for me to do. How can I work on this to be able to actually write a full book in the present tense? <Q> Just try to write in present tense, and then when you're done with your rough draft, go back over it and fix all the places where you accidentally wrote in past tense. <S> Besides that: practice makes perfect. <S> I recently did this endeavor. <S> I also wanted to study famous first-person present-tense narratie <S> so I read Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" to help. <A> Because past tense is the "natural" tense for stories. <S> You're retelling events that happened, be they real or fictional. <S> On the other hand, present tense has a sense of immediacy. <S> Telling events as they're happening is something that only very recently has become possible (motion pictures, live news reports/livestreaming, Twitter, etc...). <S> A middle ground between past tense and present tense is the historical present . <S> You're talking about past events in the present tense, which makes the narration more immersive. <S> Try doing this: picture the story in your head as you normally would in the past tense, but then, when it comes to writing, pretend you're a historian, and write it in present tense. <S> Alternatively, as JRosebrookMaye, pretend you're a screenwriter. <S> Rodriguez (a director) said that you should be able to picture the movie in your head (action, camera movement, composition, blocking, dialogue, lighting, sound...), cut by cut, before you even pick up the camera. <S> It should feel natural to use it since that story is happening right in front of you, at that very moment. <A> To answer your question, I would recommend that you envision yourself a screenwriter. <S> In screenwriting, you have to write your story in present tense. <S> You have to write your story in the now and in the moment. <S> This is just how the industry works. <S> Try this exercise, <S> Imagine yourself on the computer and searching the web. <S> How would you write yourself searching on the web? <S> Would you write it like this? <S> "I searched the web and did some bad things." <S> Or this, "I am searching the web right now and doing some bad things." <S> The second sentence is in present tense. <S> Did you notice it sounds more in the now? <S> This is what you need to do.

As such, picture the story in your head, and as it materializes before your eyes, write it on the page in present tense .

Searching for a word about a particular feeling I'm trying to find a very specific word for a very specific feeling, and have had zero luck other places on the Internet with finding even a reference to this. I'm hoping to invoke this particular emotion in a short story, the details of which I don't think are terribly important for the question itself. It is something I have experienced before and, despite my lack of results, I'm sure others have as well. It isn't excitement or anxiety, but it is something relatable...it's almost physical, like a sensation in the chest, most often, almost like a tightness or heaviness that sometimes almost seems to spread to the head as well...but it comes about when watching or listening or reading something fascinating, interesting, or something that grabs your attention in a very unique way and holds you and makes you feel...well, what I've said above is the best I can describe it. In my own life I've often felt this when watching captivating speeches, or scenes that seem almost...intimate, not sexual, but like watching a person observe something closely and intently, investigating...or while reading something particularly compelling. Often when someone with a captivating, maybe soothing, voice explains something too. It's very hard to describe, but I'm really hoping to emulate it through my writing in this piece...but I think to do so I need to know and understand what the feeling is. I hope you all can help! Thanks so much! <Q> I think your story will be more profound if you describe this feeling in more words. <S> Like you wrote , it might help the readers empathize more . <S> If you write “ she/he was excited “ or something in one word it isn’t quite just as profound . <S> Idk if it makes sense <A> I would probably focus on describing the phenomenon of feeling focused on one aspect to the exclusion of all other thoughts: our normal mental state is buzzing with different thoughts, and what you're describing is the state of feeling that one thing is so important that it excludes all else. <S> All definitions from Merriam Webster . <S> Focus: <S> 3b: a state or condition permitting clear perception or understanding <S> Entrance: 2.2: to carry away with delight, wonder, or rapture <S> Enthrall: <S> 1: to hold spellbound Compelling: <S> b: demanding attention <S> Captivate: 1: to influence and dominate by some special charm, art, or trait and with an irresistible appeal <S> Persuade: 1: to move by argument, entreaty, or expostulation to a belief, position, or course of action <S> Regarding the physical phenomena you are describing, I think these are specific to the individual, not universal. <S> (I personally have never felt those sensations in the chest you describe.) <S> Regardless, it will be good for your narrative to show your character reacting as a specific person, not a generic person. <A> Enthralled In a sentence: I was enthralled by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. <S> I couldn’t stop thinking about this play Or <S> Don Quixote was so enthralled by reading, that he was driven insane. <S> I’d say to avoid using other forms of the verb to enthrall , as they don’t sound natural, at least in the context of American literature.

It sounds to me like you're describing the phenomenon of being focused, entranced, enthralled, compelled, or captivated by something persuasive or compelling .

What makes something "anime"? I read the following question on WorldBuilding.SE last week: What early middle ages weapons would suit an extremely strong child? I thought the premise was interesting, but I noticed a comment that stated: First of all, this is the most anime thing I’ve ever read. (source) And then, scrolling through answer and comments, I noticed a few more references to how "anime" this was: Your anime tier seven year old still has short arms, so [...] (source) For real anime action she would take a 2 step runup, jump into the air, throw, and then be thrown backwards and land on her feet where she started. (source) I understand that they're saying that this situation reminds them of something that would be in an anime, but what traits define that? What traits of a story/scene/character make it "anime"? <Q> For example, in a traditional medieval fantasy setting it would probably be fair to settle for a bunch of younger men with exceptional sword fighting skills compared to regular humans with the same level of experience. <S> Anime would stereotypically ramp such a concept up to eleven and make it a story about a bunch of teenagers with beyond exceptional agility, speed, and skill compared to anyone alive despite these kids being ostensibly unexceptional by the world's standards. <S> Similarly, huge weaponry, extreme hair colours, ornate outfits that don't hamper agility, huge fauxlosophical diatribes by either side <S> , idealised looks/body types for everyone, and the stakes of the story at some point or another ascending to planetary/multiversal significance all fit into the aesthetic/extreme feeling that most anime and manga tries to evoke. <S> So I think their remarks regarding your character is just that the concept of a very young person being extremely strong and capable of wielding a massive, usually impractical weapon is evocative of the anime aesthetic. <S> Edit: It should be noted that yes, anime aesthetic and superhero/comic book aesthetic are very similar. <S> I would argue the core difference between anime and superhero/comic book style is that while anime's extremity and aesthetic appear to be a core part of the world <S> the characters inhabit (the world is simply this over the top), <S> with superheroes, they are an extreme, over-the-top facet of an otherwise grounded, mundane reality. <S> Anime style is about relishing in the extremity itself, superheroism is about relishing in the juxtaposition of the extraordinary against the ordinary. <A> We need to define what counts as Anime . <S> I am going to discard the literal definition of "animated motion picture from Japan" in favor of a cultural one. <S> Some scholars suggest defining anime as specifically or quintessentially Japanese may be related to a new form of Orientalism. <S> [...] Anime is a diverse art form with distinctive production methods and techniques that have been adapted over time in response to emergent technologies. <S> It combines graphic art, characterization, cinematography, and other forms of imaginative and individualistic techniques. <S> [ref] <S> Therefore, as an art style and cultural manifestation with dozens of sub-genres, we have the following points that can be considered as "anime" in the context of the references you supplied: Larger-than-life combat prowess (from shonen): <S> The weapons, combatants, and techniques used are over-the-top and disregard physics. <S> This keys with the oriental mysticism surrounding martial arts (as seen in the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). <S> Example: <S> DragonBall Goku's Kamehameha or the Genki-Dama. <S> It fits perfectly with the premise of the linked question: <S> [...]what dark age weapon would suit best for a 7 year old girl, which has the strength of a dozen strong men? <S> The imagery in the question also ties in with another popular anime trope, the badass little girl. <S> [ref 1] - [ref 2] . <A> Extremely strong child characters is a common anime trope. <S> For example Dragonball Z.

I would say when people use the word 'anime' as an adjective they're specifically referring to the extremity that anime and its tropes are associated with.

How to write about characters interacting with family? In regards specifically if you don't have any positive relationships with relatives yourself to draw from. I'm assuming writing only about characters who have negative familial experiences would become one-note rather quickly. <Q> Watch movies and read books that have positive family interactions. <S> Also note that family relationships don't have to be viewed as simply "good" or "bad." <S> Flanner O Connor's complete short stories is a great resource for complicated family relationships. <S> Her stories are in particular about Southern characters. <A> Always try to write from personal experience first, because it's your richest source of detail. <S> Obviously you'll need to eventually graduate from copying others, but when you're learning something new, imitating somebody who does it well is how you build good habits and learn the technique. <S> It might help to think more deeply about the subject, rather than reducing it to simple good/bad dichotomy. <S> Find specific qualities you think are positive about a family relationship (i.e. supportiveness, communicativeness, unconditional love, etc) and look at how different authors portray these. <S> You have bad experiences, so in other words, you know what a good relationship is not. <S> Think about a hypothetical family that was the opposite, or merely very different from your own experience. <S> Think in terms of specific examples to real life examples you have. <A> Think about how you interact with your family. <S> Often there is the some niggle between siblings, some lovey doveyness between the parents, and the annoying grandma <S> , (can't have a good story without the annoying grandma; she causes conflict within he family). <S> Depending on the relationship between the family, often means how they act towards each other. <S> I hope that answers your question. <S> (P.S don't change your whole book, just so there is the annoying grandma. <S> She is not compulsory. <S> I just find it fun the write about annoying grandma's).

Hang out with friends who have have positive relationships with their family. If your personal experiences aren't giving you what you need, copy authors that do what you think is a good example of it. Alternatively, you can use the inverse of your own experiences.

How do you deal with burnout? How do you break through writer's block? I've been working on a book for about four years now. Every time I reach the middle, I get stuck and I go back and edit and rewrite everything. I've probably rewritten the whole thing at least seven times now. At first it was just editing out parts I felt were extra or amateurish or inconsistent but each time I do so, I start to question the plot even though I've done years worth of research to assemble it. As of right now, I haven't written for months because I've had multiple ideas on how to entirely change the plot of my book and I don't know how to execute them. I have all of these ideas but piecing them together into a complex plot for the first time feels difficult. Being a full time pre-med student in university isn't exactly helping either. I don't know what to do to bring myself back to writing. Even if my fingers haven't touched the keypad for months, my brain is constantly working. The standard solution would be to read more, work on other things, go for walks or force the writing out but I've tried. <Q> I'm not going to say this because I'm great or anything. <S> It's to make a point: I've never had writer's block in the 20 years that I've been ghostwriting and writing for myself; this is after having written about 60 books. <S> People ask me all the time how that could be possible, never having writer's block with so many books under my belt. <S> About 12 years ago, I took a long, hard look at what I was doing differently than people who did experience this phenomenon, and this is what I found... <S> It came down to one simple fact: If there are one or more questions that haven't been adequately answered about your book or story, writer's block can and usually does show up. <S> This is not a simple solution as much as the why to writer's block. <S> knowing this can at least put anyone on track by looking to see what about a certain character or plot or even your readers... you haven't clarified. <S> I guarantee once you find and answer your question(s), you won't be able to type fast enough to keep up with your thoughts. <S> Regarding "editing out parts" and "start to question the plot even though I've done years worth of research to assemble it", you are mixing hats here! <S> This is a common mistake many writers make. <S> They try to be writer, editor, proofreader, cover designer...! <S> You should write and nothing else. <S> We as writers are our worst critics! <S> I dread even thinking of how many amazing stories have been deleted and scrunched and thrown into the wastebasket! <S> So don't mix hats. <S> Write your book. <S> Get it written and then call on a professional book editor or writer who can give a professional book critique to get the good, bad and ugly without any candy coating like you might get from your friends and family. <S> I back this up with the observation of so many individuals whom I've worked with over the years who no longer experience writer's block. <S> There's so much more I should say, but alas, I have to get back to work. <S> Hope <S> this is somewhat helpful, Nsim. <A> I'm not judging you for that, my projects have often suffered for it (and like you, I work full time, which limits my writing time). <S> Here are a few tips from my personal experience (may or may not work for you): <S> Do NOT follow the 'write every day' rule, but instead the 'think about what you're writing every day' rule. <S> This allows you to foster and refine ideas, and give you opportunities to spice up the saggy middle. <S> Also gives you some much needed rest and renewed passion for the story. <S> Second acts are setup, but that doesn't mean they can't be spontaneous. <S> Allow yourself to be a bit of a gardener instead of a plotter during this section and heck, you may even end up altering the payoff in the third act from what you initially planned. <S> Use your thinking time to address what exactly is making your saggy middle boring or hard to approach. <S> Is it lacking entirely and needs to go back to the drawing board, or can it be salvaged? <S> The answer to this should in turn make sure you use your actual writing time well. <S> Read other books with good second acts to see what they did right. <S> Remind yourself that the payoff is just around the corner, that once you get through the necessary setup, your final few chapters are gonna kick ass, and nothing will stop that. <S> I don't know if this will help you, per se, but it's what I've got. <A> Other usefull ways : Using <S> writing prompts Keeping a journal <S> NaNoWriMo <A> Give it a week or two. <S> Stop thinking about is all together. <S> Have a good week. <S> See some family and friends. <S> Have a holiday. <S> Extract yourself from the writer's world. <S> Forget about the book all together. <S> After a week, try again. <S> What ever do don't take a break for more than a week or two, other wise you will never start again. <S> When you come back, take the experience of the break you just had, and put it into writing. <S> Then write a bunch of good paragraphs about the topic your book is on. <S> By then I can almost guarantee you are over your writer's block.

What I do when I have a writers block is just stop. The second 'act' of a book is easily the hardest to get right, and when you feel like your efforts are going towards a part of the story that feels like it's just going through the motions until the climax, it can kill your motivation entirely, leading to burnout. It seems like, if reaching the middle of your story is sapping your motivation, that your stories may suffer from 'saggy middle' syndrome. Attend writers conference Collaboration with friends

How to Keep Your Novel Writing a Secret What is the best way of keeping your novel writing a secret, without making people concerned that you are a loner. Because writing requires you to have solitude and to be mindful (I actually imaging scenes in my head before writing) Also, if you tell someone you are writing, it may jinx the whole project, and cause you to abandon your project (especially if you are writing for the first time) Please give guidelines. <Q> Who gives a crap what others say? <S> I heard that JK Rowling was rejected around a dozen times before Harry Potter finally broke through, and that story is a reference point for authors now. <S> Don't let sharing your idea with someone else be enough to kick your story underground. <S> Lying is never a good idea, but maybe you can make it seem like you have another obligation (just something to reduce questioning on why you are alone so much). <S> Or when you're around your friends, make it clear <S> you aren't a loner, be extra engaged, just show them that you're totally good, if you are worried about them being concerned. <S> But I honestly wouldn't worry about it too much. <S> Just go for it while maintaining a balance. <S> And also - if you really want to take this somewhere, which I'm sure you have the capability to do, why hide from people? <S> You'll have to get it out sometime, right? <S> Good luck with your story. <A> If your friends ditch you for pursuing a possible second career in writing then you need to find better friends. <S> You don't have to become a loner to write a novel. <S> You can still be extroverted and pursue writing. <S> A matter of fact, being an extrovert can actually help when you seek feedback from your close friends. <S> I wish I had close friends who were willing to read my work. <S> You can collaborate with them or just use your friends as a focus group. <S> Don't give up. <A> What I say if some one asks me what I'm doing on the weekend <S> I be really vague.(unless <S> they are asking me out) <S> I say that I probably should work on a story, and act like you aren't too keen on it. <S> For me, it works every time.

If you're worried about jinxing your project, just find something steadfast to motivate you.

Repeated Use of Short Sentences I am confused about why the repeated use of short sentences is read quickly when there's a period at the end of every sentence that should make the reader stop for a second or two every time? <Q> Short sentences are short. <S> Simple. <S> They don't tend to be that complicated. <S> Yes, the period is something that makes people stop. <S> But when you have many separate phrases that are easily swallowed, the reader doesn't have to spend too much time trying to comprehend them. <S> They read easily and therefore quickly. <S> Personally, I would say that long sentences are a bit slower to read because they are more complicated, and the reader needs to track more words before completing one idea - if one sentence is considered one idea - like this sentence - especially when complicated punctuation is implemented and/or a lot of commas, so if I were reading this sentence without being the one to write it, I would have trouble following exactly what was being said and would need to take a bit more time to fix that. <S> Also, for me, my brain sort of skips over periods. <S> Not actually , <S> but I just register them as breakers between sentences. <S> You always need a period at the end of your sentence. <S> They're predictable. <S> I pause more in my mind when encountering a comma, because they're deliberate tools that authors can use with a reason, and their purpose is to give a pause. <S> I don't necessarily think periods slow readers down that much - but maybe I'm alone on this opinion. <S> No matter what, I've heard that it's not a good idea to have a bunch of short sentences in a row or a bunch of long ones. <S> You want variety, or else the writing becomes mechanical or super confusing. <S> Hope this helped at least a little bit, and good luck! <A> It's not short sentences per se that speed up reading, but simple grammatical (and logical) structure. <S> This can appear in long sentences, and it may in fact read a bit faster than short sentences. <S> (you don't actually stop for a few seconds at every period though, unless you failed to understand the previous sentence. <S> Either way, the same stopping will still occur when the sentence doesn't end, perhaps later, and by then it may take even longer to figure it out) <S> Anyway, grammatically complex sentences are long by default. <S> Whether you have to backtrack consciously what some pronoun refers to, which part of the sentence continues after a comma, or piece together the intended sequence of events <S> , it's a lot easier to write bad long sentences than short ones without trying. <S> Excessive filler words, and duplicated information, may actually speed up the pace at which you read, but in total they still take time to comprehend. <S> Simply by making the sentences they appear in longer, they too tend to be more common in long sentences. <S> For these reasons, longer sentences tend to read slower. <A> Usually people use shorter sentences to build tension. <S> People often read it out faster to make it even more tensiony (don't question my sources). <S> I can guarantee people will then read it slower after that. <A> I used mostly short sentences in a novel draft once. <S> It seemed right. <S> Mostly. <S> It was easy to read, but something seemed off. <S> I couldn't tell what it was in the first place. <S> But after a while I realized: part of the tension lingering above the whole story, above every scene and conversation came from the short sentences. <S> Because somehow I tended to synch my breath to the sentences. <S> Even with reading in my mind, it felt like taking a breath at every period. <S> It was an effect that really served the story, but now I tend to vary the length of my sentences more to avoid a feeling like in this Video . <A> Because it's not so much about how long it takes you to read the paragraph, nor the length of the pause between sentences that gives the impression of speed. <S> It's the burst. <S> The start and stop, the chop-and-change. <S> It jumps about; darting from place to place. <S> Your reach the finish, now . <S> Then it happens again. <S> Compare a car with a housefly: <S> You sit in your car, you drive along the road at 30mph / 50kmph, and you don't exactly feel like you're going particularly fast. <S> A housefly only moves at 5mph / 8kmph - but it jerks about, constantly changing direction, so it seems fast. <S> That's basically a light jog. <S> A football player running down the pitch doesn't give the same impression of speed as one jinking left-and-right, trying to trick their way past a defender - even though they are probably moving much faster.

If you want to use short sentences and not have it read aloud faster, put a really long sentence in the middle. They're easy to understand.

How do you write long, nonconvoluted sentences? Sometimes, when I show others a long sentence I have written, I am told it is convoluted due to the chaining of dependent clauses. Is there a way to keep tacking on modifiers and dependent clauses to a sentence without making it convoluted? In general, how do you write a really long sentence that is not convoluted? <Q> Sentence rewritten to be convoluted: "Self-absorbtion could be the real explanation, as I may have mentioned before, regarding certain people's perception of their personal quality in the area of empathy, specifically their supposed superiority in that regard." <S> Original sentence: <S> "I have probably mentioned this before, but if you think you are unusually empathetic, the chances are that you are actually fairly bad at empathy, but are too self-absorbed to notice." <S> Remarks: <S> It is not the length of a sentence (or paragraph, chapter, etc...) <S> which makes it convoluted. <S> Rather, it's in the flow of the ideas. <S> A sentence will be more difficult to understand if the reader must hold several supporting ideas, or even a conclusion, before the author has delivered the subject being commented on. <S> A logical, linear progression of remarks is easier to follow. <S> Or, to propose a metaphor, if you start building a building from the roof to the floor, you have to hold everything in suspension until the foundation is put in. <S> Some ideas, admittedly, are not linear concepts, and finding a logical order of presentation can be challenging, or even impossible. <S> But in most cases, it is possible. <A> Oh, wait. <S> That's too long and convoluted. <S> Break long sentences into smaller ones. <S> Keep a Thesaurus close by so you can check it. <S> There are words that can convey more meaning with less effort. <S> Examples online of very short stories showcase the power of choosing the right words. <S> You won't make them as dry and mechanic as I did here. <S> This is just a hapzardly assembled example. <S> It is more a matter of style and ease of conveying the message. <S> Unless you are being paid for keystroke and don't care about delivering your ideas across the bridge between minds that is the written word, you can always rephrase a long sentence. <S> My bet is that you are a non-English primary speaker, probably coming from a culture where long sentences are normal, like some Romance languages (pun intended). <S> If that's the case, reading a lot of works from good native authors is a good way to grasp how you should write. <S> Break down the key ideas the convoluted sentence should convey. <S> Structure them and then write each one into their own sentence. <S> Punctuation is your friend. <S> You might also be suffering from over-explanation. <S> If you are not writing a technical essay, you can leave some small details out for the reader to fill in. <S> P.S.: Here is the link to the short horror stories. <A> Solutions: <S> Write in a linear way, with causes mentioned before affects. <S> Example: <S> "As he was crossing the street, he turned his head because of a burst of light that caught his attention. <S> " Written more linearly, this would read: "He was crossing the street when a burst of light caught his attention. <S> He turned his head." <S> I changed two things. <S> A) <S> First, I put the burst of light before his attention being caught. <S> Explain the cause first, and then the affect. <S> B) <S> Second, I removed the word "as" from the beginning and instead put a "when" on the end of that dependent clause. <S> I find that clauses start with "as" tend to make the reader feel as if you have to hold onto that piece of information while trying to comprehend the rest of the sentence...think carefully about your prepositions. <S> Organize your clauses such that a modifying clause comes shortly after the thing <S> it's modifying. <S> Example <S> : "The subject did a verb; it was a pitiful subject. <S> " can be simplified to "The pitiful subject did the verb." <S> Same thing for verbs. <S> Have the verb be close to the subject. <S> Example: " <S> The fox, quick and brown, jumped..." can be made more clear as: "The quick brown fox jumped..." And also, of course, there's the solution of breaking up long sentences into small ones. <S> When I write I try to break up all sentences into short ones first, and then employ these other techniques on the remaining ones that simply must be long.

Break the really long sentence down into smaller sentences using punctuation and check the Thesaurus all the time for correlate words, they are powerful and choosing the right word that can imply more meaning with less keystrokes, like a site where I found short horror stories.

How to NOT get sad when writing I am writing historical fiction novel. Some parts are very sad. I am identifying with my characters to develop and write about them. How to move past the sadness and write about ill-fated characters. Remember, you cannot have rainbows without rain. <Q> Marium, As writers, we often find ourselves in the middle of someone else's pain, suffering or turmoil. <S> It comes with the territory. <S> But in any area of life — including writing — we never produce our best work when we're down in the depths of grief or despair. <S> As a professional, you have to remain upbeat and at your best. <S> But, as you know, detachment isn't an option because of the necessity to become mentally involved with the author, the character and the audience. <S> We have to BE all of them at on-demand. <S> So here is what I do: <S> One of the best, quickest ways to rise back up to a higher emotion like "cheerfulness" is to take a break and take a walk. <S> Don't think about the upsetting situation but rather just look around at whatever is there. <S> A squirrel, a car, a tree, the sky, a cloud, the grass, the snow... <S> whatever is there. <S> You will feel better within minutes whether 15 or 30. <S> However long it takes, come back to the keyboard once you're back to your normal self. <S> Take more frequent walks during the really rough patches. <S> Let me know how this works out for you, Marium. <A> If you know that some terrible things are going to happen to your characters from the get-go, you can prevent yourself from getting too attached to them so you can write whatever you need to and not really care. <S> But if it's too late for that <S> and/or you don't want to be that distant from your characters, I would say lean into it. <S> Take the sadness you feel and translate it to the page, taking full advantage of your response. <S> You'll probably write better. <S> Then just have something more fun to write about after (it doesn't even have to be writing - just plan something lighthearted and enjoyable to do after you work on a scene that will lift your spirits). <S> Remember that it's in the past, and in the pages of a book (or on a screen). <S> Plus, many horrific things have happened in history - but many good things have occurred as well. <S> It would do well to remember both sides. <S> Good luck! <A> I have felt that before. <S> I spent ages writing about a character, that just died. <S> My advice is to let the tears fall. <S> I know you must think yourself as lame, but I found it to be the best way to get over it. <S> What I also did was create another I would love. <S> Just use it for the purposes of having to love some one fictional character. <S> I was totally in the same situation. <S> I hope this helped you. <A> I think you need to accept it. <S> I have went through the same when one of my characters died, technically I killed her. <S> But cry for a while, then think about how you want to explore what you are going to write. <S> It might help <A> What I did in your situation, is let myself be sad. <S> I hope this short answer helped you (bit of a tight schedule today). <A> Learn how to move past sadness and grief—it will help you in all areas of life. <S> Devastating things happen to everyone (if they live long enough). <S> Nearly everyone is deeply affected by these things, but some people can acknowledge it, accept it and soon resume being happy and productive. <S> Others detach and move on, which is less healthy. <S> Then there are many who are consumed by it. <S> Just because fiction is <S> fiction doesn't mean we can't be sad or grieve as if the characters are real people, our friends. <S> Actually, reading fiction can help us prepare for what life throws at us—and writing maybe even moreso! <S> There are many ways to learn to respond in more healthy ways to sadness and grief. <S> These include our upbringing, friends, self-help books, counselors, and good ol' learning-the-hard-way. <S> What is a healthy response for one person is not the same for another person. <S> Some people need to "get it out of their system", some need to pay their respects over a long period, some need to find something new to fill the hole. <S> But remember that grieving is wired into us humans, and sometimes it can't be sped up. <S> Personally I feel that the most powerful thing is one's philosophical outlook. <S> In my case, "what do I prefer, a life of misery or a life of joy?" <S> This guides me to pay less attention to the pain and more attention to achieving, enjoying, and learning.

I found I got over it a lot quicker, if you just let yourself cry, be sad, and then you feel better.

How Much Can I Reasonably Expect To Earn in Royalties For My First Book? I recently sent a book proposal for one of my books, a Christian fantasy, to a publisher named SUNBURY PRESS, and I was wondering if they take me on. How much can I reasonably expect to earn off my first book? I have did some research about author earnings but most of the articles I've found is about those who decide to self-publish their books. If anybody has any experience with traditional publishing, please respond. Thanks. <Q> They answer that in their own website... <S> http://sunburypress.com/faq/ <S> We pay royalties four times a year. <S> The amount you receive can vary greatly depending on the price of your book, the number of units sold, and the channels they were sold in. <S> The average published book sells about 250 copies in its lifetime, grossing around $3000. <S> At Sunbury Press, we are motivated to sell books and expect all of our releases to perform above the industry average. <S> Following those numbers, if you get published, and if you get say 5% in royalties that would mean $150 ... <S> I know <S> that's really disappointing based on all the effort that went to the writing, but my understanding is that most self-published books fare even worse and don't earn anything <S> I have no quote, so consider this as opinion and not fact... <S> I seem to remember that in more standard publishing, a relatively successful author of a novel may get a $3000-$5000 book advance, though that can widely vary, but they rarely sell enough to cover that and earn more royalties later on (partly due to creative accounting and inane costs tagged on by the publisher, their business model is parasitic and they will fleece you however they can) <S> Above that are the bestsellers, where the sky is the limit, but those are unicorns <A> my first book published about 5 years ago, it was non-fiction and I Got $1000 up front ( <S> which is unusual) and 10% royalties based on sales after the initial payment was earned back. <S> To date I've received around $250 so basically you’re not going to retire on the proceeds, or even give up your day job, but it'll buy a nice meal at a decent restaurant. <S> Eventually. <A> The vast majority of books never outearn their advances, so it depends what they offer you. <S> Assume no more than that, and then be happy and grateful if you end up getting some royalties too :) but expect many years before that happens

A few authors manage to earn more, but only if the book is a success, has been republished a few times, has been translated in other languages...

Where can I find a beta reader for grammatical issues? I’m looking forward to finding a beta reader to help getting me past my grammatical inaccuracies during my attempts at writing short stories. I’m not a native English speaker, so I found myself lacking knowledge in regards to grammatical rules and usage of slang terms. I also have a rather limited vocabulary range. I don’t aim at becoming a professional writer; in fact, my major concern is my ability to become more and more proficient in English written communication. In order to try to improve my writing skills, I challenged myself to daily write short stories (kind of flash fiction pieces) 1,000 words tops. So does anyone know where can I search for such beta reader or critique fellow? <Q> Beta-readers are meant for close to final drafts and their purpose is to catch anything that you didn't catch before publication, as well as feedback on the story. <S> I'll recommend that you subscribe to Microsoft Office 365. <S> It's about 6.99 a month <S> and then you can select under PROOFING in the Options Menu, "GRAMMAR AND REFINEMENTS. <S> " Make sure <S> all the GRAMMAR choices are selected and you can select anything useful for the refinements. <S> Word does a great job at finding any grammatical errors, but you also need to read your work aloud to yourself to make sure things flow and make sense. <A> You could also try the free versions of Language Tool, Grammarly and ProWriting Aid. <S> I use these all the time because they pick up many more problems than Microsoft Office. <A> That said: I wouldn't say this is the absolute best way to become better in English. <S> Not when you don't enjoy writing (it sounds like that considering you have to force yourself everyday). <S> I'd suggest picking up a few books and reading them. <S> Not only do you learn a lot about English syntax, but you can expand your vocabulary. <S> The very best way to read if you have this goal is to buy a kindle and read there, as then you can on the same device, in the middle of your reading, check out word definitions and whatnot. <S> Also, Youtube is a great resource for learning grammar. <S> From one ESL writer to another ;)

Well, when it comes to people critiquing your work, any critique site will do (like Critique Circle), but you really should let them know you're interested in grammar checks, and not a substantive critique of your work. I'd suggest that you skip the beta-readers if you're going to give them a rough draft.

How many pages is a 90,000-word manuscript supposed to be? I use white space in my novel. Right now it's 5000 words in 30 pages in MS Word. Font is Times New Roman, 12 pt, double-spaced. At this rate, my 90K novel will be about 500 pages. How many pages should a 90,000 word novel be? Steven King's Carrie ( link ) is a 60K book in 100 pages, but it looks congested. Was Steven King's manuscript also 100 pages? <Q> so : <S> WordCount / 250 <S> = TotalPageCount or in your case 90,000 / 250 = 360 pages. <S> Of course if you want to calculate number of words from page count just flip it around: 250 * TotalPageCount = <S> WordCount http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=608972 <A> Common mass market paperbacks run between 250 and 400 words per page, so if you're aiming for the same density of type, 90,000 words would run to around 300 pages, give or take 20% or so. <S> Manuscripts today don't have to adhere to "standard manuscript format" as was the case for nearly a century, from the invention of the typewriter until e-publishing rose. <S> It's often more sensible to write in the final format <S> you expect your reader to see, if page layout, potential illustration, and <S> such things are important to you. <S> Carrie was almost certainly submitted to a traditional publisher, on paper, double spaced, Pica type, with minimum one inch margins and a half page white space on the title page and for each chapter break. <S> That formatting was intended to make slush readers' lives easier, by giving a very quick easy reason to reject a manuscript from a clueless new writer, as well as to leave space on the page for markup by an actual editor if it ever reached one. <S> With modern technology, you can potentially bypass all those steps and do everything yourself (or contract out things like copy editing, content editing, proofreader, etc.). <S> So, comparing to the manuscript for Carrie isn't really sensible -- <S> but if you want to see how your book will look in paperback, you can easily set up your word processor's page layout to match that in a trade or mass market paperback -- page size, proportional fonts, kerning, line justification, as much effort as you want to go through. <S> My own suggestion is to not worry about it while you're composing; save that part of the job for after the story is done and you're turning the completed story into a book (whether for print or e-publication). <A> It depends on the trim size but for a typical 6x9 Trade Paperback Book, this should translate to around 400 pages. <S> I just printed a book that was 98,000 words <S> and it was above 400 pages. <S> Now, on Microsoft Word with a trim size of 8.5 x 11, this translate to about 300 pages.

The generally accepted standard is to consider 250 words one page

how do I tell my main character’s backstory throughout the book? I'm loosely working on a trilogy. Book One and Two are supposed to contain the main character’s backstory, divided by two parts that will be exposed accordingly: on book One, the first half, on book Two, the remaining part. I have three "main characters", with one being more in display, as the epicenter of the story, than the other two. So character A, the really main one, has a very long, interesting backstory that will need to be exposed (both to the reader and the other characters eventually) to further the story. A, B and C grew up together. At some point, A goes missing. Book One starts ten years later, when B and C finally reunite with A. My main probably is, by choosing not to tell the story of their childhood and the subsequent years, how will the readers engage with the reunion, not having any attachments to this characters yet? My worst problem is: how do I tell, along with book One's story, the background of all the years A has been missing without losing pace of the main story? My initial idea was to introduce this characters childhood in the prologue, giving the reader something to work with, and just do flashbacks throughout the books, telling what I need to tell. But it doesn't sound very engaging, and the reunion of these characters has no actual payoff because the reader won't be really attached to them to care... Any advices are welcome :) <Q> For me, the key questions are: who is telling the story; when are they telling the story, and why are they telling the story. <S> If I know the answers to those questions, then I can work on what the narrator knows and when they know it. <S> This narrator is a stand in for the reader. <S> They control what we see and when we see it (and a lot more as well). <S> I think of the narrator as an experienced tour guide, showing me through a space, pointing out things that should be of interest to me. <S> An experienced tour guide does not dump the information about the cathedral in a long speech standing outside of the entrance. <S> Instead, they scatter the information as the tour proceeds through the various parts of the building. <S> Character A has gone away for ten years. <S> No doubt Character A has led a rich and varied life during that time, but not all of it needs to be presented to the reader and not all at once. <S> For example, the plot requires Character A to behave in a "strange" way. <S> One of the other characters challenges A, wanting to know why. <S> Character A then relates an experience during the lost ten years to explain it. <S> Rinse, repeat. <S> Only those pieces of backstory that directly support the front story should be presented to the reader. <S> If the immediate plot does not require it, do not bring it forward. <S> Then show the reader only when you need to. <S> An exception to this rule is the use of foreshadowing. <S> A hint of what is to come to prepare the reader for the anticipated future events. <A> Get us interested in the characters first. <S> We don't need to care about Character A or the reunion ourselves at this point. <S> We just need to care that Characters B & C care. <S> To take a couple of examples: Chapter 1 of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" does not begin with Harry waking up in the cupboard under the stairs, about to "reunite" with his wizarding heritage. <S> Chapter 1 of "The Lord of the Rings" does not start with Frodo marching resolutely off towards Rivendell. <S> Chapter 1 of "Murder on the Orient Express" does not start with a dead body. <S> So, give us a "hook", build up the characters - either all three directly, or Character A through anecdotes and musings given by Characters B & C as they approach the reunion - and rouse our curiosity to continue. <A> thanks for reaching out. <S> So. <S> My main concern is that the past events of A's life will directly reflect on the "major" plot. <S> A big death happening in book Two is related to someone <S> A has met in his past, so I'd need to tell that story more detailedly in order for the death to have impact. <S> Another major plot point also comes from A being associated with the bad guys in the story, and while the other characters don't know A has nothing to do with them, I want them readers to suffer with A, you know? <S> Like, the reader also knows that A has nothing to do with the bad guys, but "because reasons", A still gets shamed for it. <S> For that to happen, the readers will need to know more about A's life than just the average little snippets I could throw here and there. <S> A's past is the key to major plot points throughout the story, therefore I'd need to tell his story in more detail and light, give the reader perspective and understanding. <S> Seems to me the best way would be to interchange the "present" story with chapters containing the events from the past...

What I think that you need to do is to decide what the story is about, and eliminate or minimize everything that the story is not about. Your first chapter either needs to be a 'prologue' of sorts - either starting before Character A goes missing, or outlining how Character B and Character C meet up with Character A again, so that we feel their engagement in the reunion.

What is the best possible way to improve one's vocabulary? During my highschool days, the subject of vocabulary had not been enforced or rather most students were lazy about expanding their vocabulary not until in the final year when our school principal asked to see our vocabulary book.I'm putting this question out here: what is the best way one can improve ones vocabulary? <Q> "The best way" is subjective because what is best for me, might not be best for you. <S> Regardless, a generally good way to increase your vocabulary is to be a curious reader . <S> That means you should not skip over words you don't understand in new books that you read. <S> Instead, you stop, open a dictionary or google the word. <S> when you do that during reading, you suddenly understand the context better than you did before. <S> The story is making more sense now and you are more likely to remember the words you learn while reading. <A> Many e-Readers and tablets have an integrated dictionary as a feature. <S> As you read the book, you can highlight any word and immediately get a definition - which gives you the opportunity to broaden your vocabulary without disrupting your reading experience. <S> Of course, you might want to choose books that are outside of your comfort zone, such as literary classics with broadened vocabularies compared to more casual reading; another boon is that many of these books are available in the public domain. <A> When I was young, I developed an appetite for learning new things. <S> I began reading the dictionary (analog, not digital) in my spare time, just to discover new words. <S> As a result, I developed a healthy vocabulary. <S> The key word, as @Oren_C states, is curious . <S> In many ways, this is an antonym to lazy . <A> If you ever find yourself looking up a word (for definition, or synonyms, whatever the reason) just read all the synonyms. <S> I've found that when I actually click on the arrow provided when you look up a word's definition, there are often a crap-ton of synonyms to see. <S> Even just scanning them quickly constantly shows me words <S> I didn't know existed, and even if I don't use them, I can get a good laugh at some of them or have them on my radar screen for the future. <S> (Like did you know "hangdog" means having a guilty appearance? <S> Or that "nonplus" is another word for fluster? <S> Or "like a cat on a hot tin roof" is a an accepted way to say something is nervous? <S> I certainly didn't.)

Read often and invest an effort in searching the words you don't know.

How would I go about censoring adult language in my book? I have to present my book(s) to a Christian publisher and I was wondering, how would I go about censoring adult language or should I just put a warning label on the title page? <Q> I like the technique that TvTropes calls the " narrative profanity filter ". <S> The basic idea is that instead of including adult language in the dialog, you describe the language in the narration: <S> He speculated at length on the thief's parentage. <S> As a side benefit, by leaving things vague, you let the reader's imagination fill in the blanks, and you don't need to figure out what sequence of words would be involved in making a sailor blush. <A> You can do what authors like Robert Swindells do and substitute non-swear words for swear words. <S> This way the dialogue can still sound realistic while being inoffensive. <S> For example, use the word 'freaking'. <S> Alternatively, make up an alternative word. <S> Eoin Colfer has the fairies say 'D'Arvit'. <S> However, you need to consider whether it is appropriate to include actions or concepts that need adult language in a book for a Christian publisher. <S> Also, 'Christian publisher' is not one thing. <S> Some will only publish a very limited range of texts while others are more liberal. <A> In some circumstances, you could replace contemporary coarse language for a Christian audience with something like a calque of Σκύβαλον, say, 'skivalon', as this was the earthy term St. Paul used in Phil 3:8 (often rendered 'rubbish', but likely even stronger in force). <S> see also https://bible.org/article/brief-word-study-font-facegreekskuvbalonfont <A> It depends on the book. <S> If your book is non-fiction, any bad language should be as a result of direct quotes from people. <S> Ask them. <S> 100 years ago you would have always seen dashed lines representing swearing. <S> 50 years ago, perhaps not so much. <S> Today, I would normally expect not at all - but your publisher should have a policy. <S> If your book is fiction, consider your audience. <S> If your audience could include children, then your book should probably be edited anyway. <S> If your audience is adults though, and swearing is relatively common in your book, I suggest that a dedicated publisher of Christian literature is probably not the place to take your manuscript.

Your publisher should have guidelines about this.

How to keep yourself from writing the same story? I've been planning out the same story and revising it over and over since I was a child (that makes it 10 years now) and finally after so long I'm happy enough with it to consider finally writing the final script and I really, really like it. This is a darling that I don't want to slay, and this is definitely a story I want to tell to the world. However, being a neophyte, I've decided to first write another story and release that into the wild, so I have a bit more experience under my belt and I know what I'm doing a bit more when I get back to the first story. (The medium is (web)comic, so I'm doing this to improve my art/composition/dialogue/etc. skills first, so writing another story first is a bit of a must.) I have a few ideas that I really like and am passionate about, but when I develop them further they always turn into a weird variation of the first story (either in a different setting or with different characters) and even with a completely different setup it always seems that the characters' most plausible choice or the circumstances seem to push the plot in that specific direction. Is there any way to mitigate this dilemma? (For anyone wondering, the story has a whole "anti-hero rises up and takes over the world by effectively manipulating their surroundings" sort of plot to it. I'm pretty sure there are other ways for the hero to rise up against whatever they want to fix in the problem in their life, but it always seems to end up to be this ) <Q> Essentially what you've done is spent ten years practicing how to write one particular story archetype - you've trained long and hard in how to use a hammer and now everything looks like a nail. <S> This isn't necessarily a bad thing - there's been some pretty successful writers over the years who have essentially done just variations on a theme. <S> But if you want to broaden your range you need to start training those skills - I'd suggest seeking out some writing prompts and pick some that are as different premise as you can find from what you already have. <S> Aim to write short stories at first and if it starts turning into your "same" story then stop. <S> Analyse what choices you made that lead to that point and start again - with either the same prompt or a different one. <S> Practice, practice, practice! <A> A popular meme going around is that there are only five/seven/ten/whatever different stories. <S> For example, every love story is the same story. <S> The genders of the players will be different and the specifics of the obstacles that stand in the way of the lovers will be different, but they meet, they have a falling out, they prove their love for each other, and they live happily ever after. <S> What makes the story interesting to the romance reader is the cleverness of the variations on the theme. <S> Vary from that pattern and incur their wrath. <S> Pick another genre and another pattern is likely to appear. <S> I follow several best selling authors who keep telling me the same mystery or thriller tale. <S> I keep following them because I like the characters and because the authors decorate the story with different looks. <S> It is not mindless fluff <S> but it is also not mind-twisting-plot convolutions. <S> I do not want to read fluff every day <S> but when I need to be comforted, it is just the thing. <S> These story patterns work. <S> Whether it is a love story or the hero's journey or some other well-worn trope, readers (and other consumers of fiction) understand what they are getting. <S> A few facts about an unfamiliar topic, some innovative complications and resultant solutions, and a sprinkling of non-turgid dialogue make this version of the story (pattern) fresh and enjoyable (but not necessarily challenging). <S> Perhaps you are fretting over something that is not really a problem. <S> I would suggest that you spend your time on basics of the craft. <S> Create stories that work and that have clever decorations. <S> When that ground starts to get too familiar, add in some additional craft aspects: <S> multiple point of view, flashbacks, multiple story lines, different tenses, different characters, and so on. <S> Rinse, repeat! <S> I suspect that you can follow that path (along with faithful readers) for a long time. <A> Write the Story Out <S> Completely <S> It may be that you need to write the story and get it down and look at it on paper. <S> You may think that it would be a waste of time, but as in many things our brains lead us to what we need to see <S> and you are being pulled toward this theme so you should get the words down as fast as you can. <S> Most likely once you see it on paper you will be able to know that you've thought the theme all the way thru <S> and you'll be able to set it aside. <S> Could Lead to Great Things <S> but you'll never truly know until you get the words down and look at it. <S> After you follow this path, you'll be able to move on to other things. <A> Choose Different Conflict Fiction is about characters having conflict. <S> You said Story One was about: "anti-hero rises up and takes over the world". <S> Your character is an anti-hero and your conflict is between the character and the ruling system. <S> Make Story Two about fundamentally different characters and conflicts. <S> Maybe your character is law enforcement - part of the ruling system rather than against it. <S> And maybe the conflict is they have to cross powerful people to solve a case - they lose power as they burn bridges, rather than rising up as they manipulate the system. <S> End State Matters <S> To continue with the law enforcement example: maybe they end up solving the case, but step on so many toes that they get fired. <S> This is a victory - but not the kind of victory you used in your other story. <S> TLDR: <S> Choose different conflict, characters, and resolutions.

If you feel like you're writing the same fiction over and over, consciously pick different characters and different conflict. As Fast As You Can If you're worried about wasting time (this is the root of Writer's Block in many writers) then do a quick outline type of thing and then write it in pure stream-of-consciousness just to get it out. Accept the fact that you, especially when you are starting out, are going to tread familiar ground. Also, you may find that you have something far better than you hoped

Would it be bad taste or honoring to name a Starship after historical places, ex: Pompeii? In my book, Earth is gone and are all the counties and a majority of the population and cultures. A small population is left and they make a home on another planet. Now, just under 200 years later, they're a space-faring group but they like to name their starships ( both colony and military) after old places of historical meaning from their former homeworld. Like ICP/USS Pompeii. or ICP/USS Rome or ICP/USS Herculaneum or even ICP/USS Titanic. Now, my question is will this be seen as honoring the lost town for the readers or should this be seen as using famous names for the sake of it? I was going for the first one, because it could be that the remaining humans keeping their history alive using their ships, naming it after aspects of their culture to keep it going. <Q> Overall, there probably wouldn't be a problem with naming ships after geographical locations. <S> Looking at a list of active British Navy ships , there are ships named after rivers (H.M.S. Tyne), and dukedoms which are now more popularly known in modern culture as cities (H.M.S. Lancaster or (H.M.S. Richmond). <S> Sailing culture in general is very superstition, possibly due to being stuck aboard a tiny vessel where even a slight mistake can mean potential death for a long period of time, and its possible to assume for this reason the same might apply to starships. <S> This is the reason you don't see any ships today named Titanic , aside from those looking for shock value. <S> Such a name would be seen as tempting fate. <S> If the purpose is to honor the memories of Earth, it is likely they would choose names that have positive connotations as well. <S> From a writing perspective, such a name is also a massive red flag that something is going to go wrong, to the point that Doctor Who and Futurama used it for comedic irony because it would seem so obvious to the audience and the writers couldn't make the joke with a straight face. <S> Schlock Mercenary has its battleships (battleplates) named after meteor impacts ( Chicxulub , Manicougan , etc.), but in this case the name has a different purpose. <S> For one, it is basically advertising "our battleship is as strong as the meteor that did this massive impact" and also ties to the primary in-universe function of battleplates as deflecting meteor strikes rather than any truly military function <S> (prior to the plot they were mostly static defense because they couldn't fit through the gate network). <S> And on top of that the ships are named after the impac tor not the impac tee (contra something like ICP/USS Pompeii). <S> In other words, ICP/USS Rome or ICP/USS Vesuvius are likely, ICP/USS Pompeii or ICP/USS Herculaneum are not. <A> Why would it be in bad taste? <S> Allusions to real-world events have been a part of literature for as long as literature has existed. <S> Events such as the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius are so ancient as to be inoffensive. <S> Arguably the Titanic is there as well. <A> As a writer, you should be trying to manipulate the readers of your writing to achieve a specific emotional state. <S> Evocative language, twisty plots, rich characters, and snappy dialogue are all tools of the craft. <S> Names are especially useful. <S> A carefully chosen name can convey loads of information in a minimum of textual space. <S> Dr. Yucky Slime-Mold will find it difficult to be the hero. <S> Other names bring up memories of past events. <S> The writer's use of these names (with their positive and negative aspects) is a part of a conversation that started in the distant past. <S> An essential part of that conversation is the reaction that the characters in the story have to the names. <S> "I serve on the Spaceship Pompeii. <S> Our ship's official motto is to 'Be prepared for damn near anything.' <S> I have lived through more situations on this ship than I have the time to tell of or that you have the credence to believe in. <S> It is a terrible name for a ship <S> but it is all too fitting for a ship that flies in a universe that delights in serving up shit. <S> And, thus, our unofficial motto is 'Bring it on!'" <S> Bad name? <S> Yeah! <S> Badder ship and crew? <S> Oh, yeah! <S> But maybe a better story.

What they would probably not be named after, however, are places and events that have negative connotations. Chinese naval vessels are almost all named after cities or landmarks. Some names will have a sound or shape that conveys the intended message.

Would you advise against having a fictional continent as the setting for a Science Fiction story? Let me elaborate. In things such as Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings (so, high fantasy), fictional continents are quite often the setting. I don't recall ever seeing this in Science Fiction. My world does include both modern technology (cars, computers) as well as futuristic technology such as advanced aircrafts and exo-suits. The reason for wanting to set it on my own fictional continent is so I can create a unique world including a huge technologically advanced city to the North (technology is scarce in the rest of this world), deadly forests, and creatures that live in the wilds all on one land mass. I considered setting the story in a post-apocalyptic version of an existing country, but I don't think the world I envisioned would be quite as dynamic if I had to build it within a 'template'. <Q> There's nothing wrong with doing so, and I can think of several examples where a sci-fi setting has been humans on a fictional world (or worlds). <S> Typically but not always it's either explicit or implied that humanity has come to the world at some point from Earth <S> but it's not essential. <S> Often even where the Earthly origin of humanity is expressly stated it's little more than a footnote. <S> Bottom line is that if the story you want to tell is better told on not-Earth then set it there. <A> The examples cited by you of Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings are both set in what are usually called Secondary Worlds. <S> These are worlds essentially similar to our own, but with different yet still similar histories and geographies. <S> So they can have lands and continents that do not exist in our own world. <S> Historically we have imaginary lands such as Atlantis, Lemuria and Hyborea. <S> These fantasy lands were created at times when peoples understanding of geography and geological history was impoverished compared to the present era. <S> Fiction set in worlds which are ostensibly versions of ours can contain smaller imaginary bodies of land such as Treasure Island and Skull Island (as in King Kong ). <S> There is also the Soviet Union era novel set on the imaginary island of Crimea. <S> Alas, I don't remember the author's name or the title of the novel. <S> Closest equivalent to what you ask <S> is the British literary novel Continent by Jim Crace. <S> This is set on a purely fictional continent. <S> So what you want to do is not without precedent. <S> In principle there is nothing to stop an author from writing about a fictional continent. <S> It's about time we had the new genre of alternative geography top match the well-established one of alternative history. <S> Have fun with writing it. <A> Take a moment to consider the most famous Sci-Fi series that you can think of. <S> Is "Star Wars" one of them? <S> How about "Firefly"? <S> "Dragonriders of Pern"? <S> Even - to a lesser extent - "Star Trek". <S> Sci-Fi not only regularly has fictional continents , but also fictional planets and galaxies , all with associated geography/cartography and political landscapes. <S> Often these have semi-human inhabitants (to make it easier for the viewer or reader to comprehend), some of which have sometimes originated on Earth, but others haven't.

In secondary worlds inventing your own continents is simply par for the course.

Looking for a better word than "Yikes" I'm trying to find the right word to use in a (serious) comic I'm writing. The character is an eighteen year old American girl, talking to some older women who she's just met. Suddenly, in mid-sentence, she sees someone entering the room who surprises and scares her. What does she SAY? At the moment I've got her saying "Yikes!" But this doesn't sound to me like something any modern teenager would actually say, outside an episode of Scooby Doo. "Eek!" sounds equally implausible. Does anyone have any suggestion of a suitable interjection? I want her to stop short of actually screaming. <Q> From the context this person is entering without knocking or intentionally playing a joke? <S> In this case she is startled . <S> For that I like these: Eeep! <S> Ooph!, <S> Fuuhh! <S> For something truly frightening (like something actually scary like her brother with a bloody mask on): maybe turn the word she’s saying into a sound [“I’m juuUUUEEEAAAHHH!!], <A> While I think the answers provided here have some good input, I would instead focus on your actual character and use the situation for the reader to get to know her better. <S> Show character! <S> Make her unique - Make her use phrases that others don't (could be 'yikes', or 'holy!') <S> If I were to write such a scene, my character would most likely use a swear-word such as "Shit!" or even "fuck!" <S> along with some appropriate physical movement that signals being startled. <A> Why have her say anything at all? <S> A large part of human communication is also based on body language. <S> Maybe make her just stop mid-sentence and show a clear expression of alarm. <S> Big exclamation marks (!!!) can come in handy for this sort of thing in a comic format depending on art style. <S> You don't need her really say anything for it to be clear that there is an issue. <S> Alternatively, you could have her say something like, " <S> Oh God..." or a curse word depending on the audience. <A> In modern teenage parlance, and assuming you actually do need to provide an utterance that just comes out unbidden, you could try d'oh : <S> [Merriam-Webster] —used to express sudden recognition of a foolish blunder or an ironic turn of events <S> It's the second part of that definition that applies here: "an ironic turn of events. <S> " <S> In other words, "What? <S> I can't believe it's them. <S> That's typical …" <S> Any teenager, especially any teenager who's seen <S> The Simpsons , will be familiar with this: "D'oh!"

After the character's initial reaction, some characters would then go on to first apologize to the elderly for the use of foul language, and then ask "what the hell" that person was doing there / why they burst in, or tell them that they scared the "crap" out of them... To me, this shows character, and a scene like this is an obvious chance to do just that. Show how she's self-aware, concerning the situation she's in, with older people...

Which plot should I use while outlining my plot beats? I'm writing a crime/mystery fiction novel. The main plot involves a murder at the start, a case that my protagonist, a police detective, has to solve. He faces conflict and difficulties along the way, until solving who did it and making an arrest. At the inciting incident, he discovers that the homicide victim (who was a family friend) had in his possession an item that belonged to the detective's wife, who mysteriously died five years earlier. Running alongside this main plot is the subplot linked to his wife. This subplot influences his character arc through the story. His wife was presumed to have drowned five years earlier, and after several years missing, 'death in absentia' was declared for her. He refuses to accept her death, as a body was never found. Relations had been excellent between them, though, and he knows she wouldn't have voluntarily disappeared like that. With her case unsolved, it went cold. The last person with her on the day she disappeared was the family friend, the new homicide victim. The detective always believed the family friend had something to do with her disappearance, but there was no proof, no evidence linking him to her death. The item found on the new victim forces the detective to reinvestigate her case alongside that case. For the detective, solving his wife's disappearance (subplot?) has higher importance than the current case as it would allow him some closure and a chance to move on with his life. The homicide of family friend, however, is the main plot running from the beginning to the end and, I think I'm right in saying, would typically be assigned to the following plot points: Inciting Incident / First Plot Point / First Pinch Point / Mid-Point / Second Pinch Point / Third Plot Point / Climatic Moment / Resolution The hook at the beginning will be the homicide of the family friend. Although the events of his wife's death happened as backstory, with my Protagonist having such a strong connection to this subplot, I'm wondering if I should assign that to these plot beats/points instead and using that as the force driving him forward at each stage? Thank you in advance for your answers. <Q> Firstly, I think your concept sounds very intriguing. <S> In answer to your question, I would recommend the 'present' plot should be your main plot, and the missing wife should be the subplot. <S> Although the subplot might be more highly emotional, it's still in the past and the actions driving things forward will still be the recent murder, as that's what your detective is having to act on. <S> However, your subplot can still be very strong, 'sub' doesn't have to mean 'minor' or 'unimportant'. <S> It can be just a little step behind the main plot. <S> But for the purposes of deciding which one to focus your beats on, I would go with the recent murder. <S> There's a plot template here <S> you might find useful: https://www.novel-software.com/CMS/FILES/Plot%20Outlines/MysteryCrimeThrillerPlotOutline.pdf <S> Disclosure - we made this plot outline. <A> I think that the two plot lines must be related if the novel, taken as a unit, is to make sense to the reader. <S> But "related" could mean many different things. <S> The question does not provide much in the way of context about the disappearance of the detective's wife. <S> Was the marriage happy or not before the disappearance? <S> Was it possible that the wife's departure was voluntary? <S> Does the detective have feelings of guilt or failure regarding his behavior related to the disappearance? <S> To simplify my answer, I am going to assume that the couple fought repeatedly, her disappearance was messy (maybe it was voluntary and maybe it was not), and that the detective is conflicted about his role in all of this. <S> Given these assumptions, the most obvious way of relating the two plot lines is to have them be parallel. <S> In that case, the parallel case could have have a similar departure but one followed by the discovery of the murdered body of the genre plot. <S> The questions that the detective must answer in the genre plot could also be questions that could have (or should have) been answered for his wife's disappearance. <S> Step by step, he is forced to confront the issues which he has been avoiding about the disappearance. <S> The relationship between the two plots could also involve similar themes, locations, people who knew some or all of the players in the two plots, and so on. <S> It could also involve differences. <S> For example, the two crimes (or a specific aspect of them) are similar in almost all respects except for this little detail that should not matter <S> but we all know by the end of the book <S> will be the key clue. <S> Regardless of how you relate the two plots, the trick is to avoid being too on-the-nose with the comparisons. <S> Perhaps, the two plots are comparable only at specific points while most of the plots are noise to keep the readers (at least partially) in the dark. <S> Perhaps, the two plots take place in different cultures that mirror each other; where one is light the other is dark; where one gives power to this class/group/sect the other denies it. <S> Obviously, the two plots complicates the writing <S> but there can be rewards. <A> This a fun story. <S> The central conflict is "what did the murdered friend have to do with the wife's disappearance?" <S> and, really, the present murder is the subplot that is an obstacle to the resolution of that real central conflict. <S> Typically, these sorts of stories are resolved by the solution to the immediate crime producing the solution to the past crime, which is quite satisfying but can feel contrived. <S> Other times, the present case is resolved relatively quickly, but clues to the larger conflict lead the hero into uncharted territory (the wife's secret past or affair, for example). <S> Ideally, you would at least get the two plots out of sync so that progress in one produces or coincides with a new obstacle in the other. <S> One advantage to this approach is that neither plot needs to be perfect; they complement and complicate each other. <S> Good luck!

Regardless, plots and subplots normally feature all or nearly all the usual beats, otherwise the subplot is really just an obstacle in the main plot.

Are illogical comparisons permitted? "Clouds soared high into the sky like raging horses." Horses don't soar, but is it ok to use "like raging horses" after "soar high into the sky"? I am wondering if this kind of comparison is permitted. The direction is "wrong" and the verb is "wrong", so I am wondering if the use of like would be warranted and if another comparison should be used. <Q> (In fact, poetry tends to include "illogical" metaphors.) <S> However, you'll have to consider what you want to achieve. <S> An unclear metaphor might lead to the readers having a different image in mind than what you intended. <S> In the worst case, it could leave your readers confused and take them out of the story. <A> It would be crazy to expect people to understand weird metaphors (or similes) <S> The question is, would it be crazy like a limp, soggy rug - or crazy like the steel manacles I'm using to keep my old writing teacher chained to the wall in the basement? <S> The advantage of using unusual metaphorical language is that it can shake up your reader in an unexpected way, backing up the car of your narration onto their brain's foot. <S> Some readers will be pinned in place by the weight of your creativity. <S> However, others do not like this sort of thing at all, and may toss aside your car, er, book...and walk away. <S> Well, limp away. <S> If your objective is to be memorable, albeit controversial, then unusual comparisons are a great tool. <S> I balk at giving countenance to "illogical" metaphors, however. <S> When you draw some kind of comparison, or whatever, there's an expectation that it will mean something . <S> In pure poetry, the thing you intend to communicate may not be the direct, literal meaning of your words - so if your clouds are soaring in the sky like angry horses, you may be trying to lead your reader to think of the size and power of horses, of uncontained anger, or even of the violence you would expect from an angry horse. <S> Clouds rolling across the sky, given the right mood of the person observing them, may indeed soar overhead like angry horses. <S> Or maybe the thunder from the black storm on the horizon tramples on your eardrum like angry horses... <S> But if I'm to appreciate your creativity, I'd better not have to guess too hard at what exactly you're trying to evoke. <S> You've got to include enough cues that the connection is fairly clear, whether the connection is to a sound, an emotional state, or whatever. <S> "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle" is a famous example of an unexpected and arresting twist - but nobody is left scratching their heads about what the author meant. <S> (Maybe clawing at their eyes, but what can you do?) <S> *Note: <S> I don't have a basement. <S> And I have no idea what happened to my old writing teacher. <S> Cross my heart and hope to make a killing on the stock market. <A> Metaphors are two directional. <S> We often talk about how the writing describes the object, let's say clouds in your case. <S> But there is another direction, metaphors describe the writing itself. <S> They create a mood, and tell us things about the narrator of the work. <S> They often tell us how to feel about the story as a whole. <S> Let's take my favorite metaphor. <S> (this is a similes are a type of metaphor) <S> "They never met, like two hummingbirds that also never met" <S> This line was made popular on the internet showing kids doing their homework poorly. <S> In my opinion though this is hilarious, and a great bit of writing. <S> The question is when would you say something like that? <S> Well clearly when you are writing something fun and lighthearted. <S> Douglas Adams wrote metaphors like this all the time. <S> On the other hand if you were trying to express the loneliness of the human condition, in a serious, dark piece, this would be highly inappropriate. <S> So to answer your question, anything is permitted. <S> It's just about maintaining the mood of your work. <S> In your example comparing clouds to horses is very fantastical imagery. <S> If that is what you want to to achieve, great go for it. <S> If you want to instead describe something dark, cold, and oppressive, then this would be pretty inappropriate. <S> Let's say this another way. <S> People know what clouds look like. <S> You pretty much don't need imagery to tell people about clouds. <S> The only value of describing clouds to create a mood, and a feel for your work. <S> So use metaphors that accomplish those goals.

There's no law against it, so of course it's permitted .

How can I show time passing with no way to measure time? In the writing, I was doing recently, a character is locked up in a wagon and dragged across the country by rich slavers. How could I show the reader that time is passing when the character wakes up only occasionally, seeing very little of the outside world, and is drugged to unconsciousness whenever they are seen awake. The character is in a caravan with many slavers and three other prisoners - two girls unknown to him, and a childhood friend he was captured with. <Q> What sort of time period are we looking at? <S> Hours? <S> Days? <S> Weeks? <S> Months ? <S> Over a period of hours, it's going to be things like the angle of shadows <S> (how high in the sky the sun is), the temperature, et cetera. <S> At days, it comes down to water breaks: a dead slave is worth no money, so they need to be given something to drink occasionally. <S> Are the drugged slaves roused from their stupor just enough to manage this without drowning? <S> Once you reach weeks, you start to notice things like beards growing, or weight loss from not being fed properly. <S> Add food to the water breaks - <S> probably a gruel of some sort, not particularly nice or nutritious, but still an indication that time has passed. <S> Consider also the Slavers themselves - <S> the guards in the caravan will rotate through a shift schedule, they will (presumably) change clothes every so often. <S> And, finally, geography - different sounds and smells may indicate to the character that they must be at least such and such a distance from where they started. <S> Brine for sea ports, certain types of flowers or animals, the quality of the road or track that they are travelling on, the accents of people talking outside the caravan. <A> Changes of light, of temperature, of weather, of season. <S> Unremembered wear in clothing, the healing of wounds, loss of physical condition. <S> Hair longer than ever before. <S> Sudden brutal grooming from the captors and subsequent regrowth. <S> Being let out to push a wagon out of mud. <S> Sickness in the camp. <S> Raiders, fended off. <S> Capture by the raiders, and subsequent recapture by the slavers. <S> Events. <S> It's a wagon, not Schrodinger's Catbox. <A> I think George R. R. Martin does this quite well in his various novels. <S> A good few characters in A Song of Ice and Fire are locked up at some point, and GRRM always dedicated a good couple of pages at least to hammering home how long they've been in captivity. <S> These chapters often deal with the mental toll of being confined to a place with no brain stimulation, just as much as the physical toll of wasting away. <S> At the start of such a chapter, the character attempts to keep track of days by counting how often they're fed. <S> Inevitably they lose count as the days start to blend together. <S> They try to keep their mind occupied by playing games with themselves or by trying to recount old stories, but that inevitably stops after a while, and they find themselves sleeping most of the time. <S> At some point, their dreams and waking become indistinguishable and they feel like they've been in captivity for decades even if the actual time spent is only a couple of months. <S> Your character's captivity will take a toll on him, both physically and mentally. <A> In addition to @Chronocidal's answer, you can also use nature to show the passage of time. <S> Even within the confines of a wagon with no outside view, you could have mice that are breeding. <S> They can have up to 10 litters a year, so plenty of generations to be born, grow up and leave. <S> And if you can cast a glance outside through a slit in the wagon or something, you could see birds making nests, <S> spring/summer/autumn plants starting to flower, trees getting or loosing leaves, dry/rainy seasons etc. <S> And on even longer time scales, if the group passes the same place multiple times, you can use things like trees growing and falling over, abandoned pastures slowly getting covered by forest, fires clearing a grassland/savanna and subsequent new growth coming back, etc. <S> Basically at every time scale you can find things in nature to change, because nature has generational cycles ranging from days, to centuries. <S> Nature may not be the easiest to use for the shortest time scales though since they mostly cover small insects, fungi, etc that most people wouldn't normally notice. <A> They might get progressively more dirty and unkempt. <S> You might see this overlaid with the wagon constantly riding through the countryside. <S> In written medium you must convey this explicitly but you can. <S> The prisoner woke. <S> He slept. <S> He woke. <S> He slept. <S> Night followed day, day followed night. <S> At intervals the wagon stopped and he was roughly shaken awake to eat mouldy bread and drink rancid water. <S> Every 6 or 7 stoppages, a bucket of the same water was thrown over the prisoners to wash off the worst of their filth, and the other, unmentionably-filled buckets were removed and emptied. <A> Are you using first-person perspective or do just want to show instead of telling? <S> Do you want the character to be aware of the time passing or just the reader? <S> Do they need to notice time passing as it passes or would it be an option to have the character realize sometime after the arrival that the time has passed? <S> If it is first-person and you want to credibly convey that the captive is drugged, it might be more credible to only have them realize later how long they were in that waggon. <A> <A> You might like to use dialogue between the slavers to imply the passage of time. <S> They might reference how long the journey has been going, how long is left, meal-times, etc.

If it were a film, you might likely see a montage of the prisoner waking and each time either falling back into a stupor, being drugged, or beaten, or fed. Dialogue can be a natural way to push information you want the reader to have. If your character is a man (in the sense "not a boy anymore"), you could use his beard growing as an indication of time passing.

How can a portal be hidden for 5 years but found by children? I am writing a story in which two children, ages 12-14 years old, discover a portal to another dimension. The portal is roughly the size of an average door and has existed for five years prior to their discovery of it. The location of the portal must fit all of the following: It must not be in a private home It must not be in a remote location, must be somewhere near a small city/suburb The children can trespass into a location, but there must be a reason why they will do it (best bet is to ensure that it's accessible from a public place) It must not involve passwords or secret codes; it must be immediately usable once found It must not be disguised as another object (ex. a poster) So where could such a portal be? How could it be hidden for five years but suddenly found by two children? I would prefer the portal being found in an indoor setting, but you can suggest outdoor places as well. <Q> Possibly because it was used for storage for things that never got touched. <S> Virtually every public building has some storage space. <S> Why other children have not reached it will need some explanation, but perhaps it's unpleasant and the children are the first ones desperate enough, or they are playing hide and seek against an unusually good opponent, or there aren't usually children in a situation to move about freely (it's in the back of the town hall, where the public isn't supposed to go, or a store where the owner has no children of his own). <A> The children could find be the first to find the portal for a number of years for many reasons: <S> It is only accessible by kids (like @Mary's answer) and has not been found by others because it is hidden/in a dangerous place, but these rebellious kids went there anyway. <S> It is only accessible by climbing behind a washing machine (or another appliance) and looking around but before now the way behind was blocked by something. <S> It was in a scary park, behind a scary house... and <S> the kids only want in there now because the scary woman who lived there died and they were on a dare <A> Alternate entrance to a locked room. <S> The lolly shop has a back room, either the owner "lost the key years ago" (perhaps it was taken by the very person who created the portal) or the owner knows what is there and keeps it locked. <S> It has a tiny window onto a back-alley; one day during a storm the glass is cracked by hailstones, or there are bars but the kids bring a crowbar, stack some crates at night, and climb in. <S> What 12 year old wouldn't want to break into a candy store? <S> You can vary anything. <S> Maybe there is a chimney, coal chute, some animal dug under the wall. <S> Or... <S> The old man (store owner/postman/library keeper/lighthouse keeper) disappeared and the kids went to find/rescue him. <S> In this case the kids are trying to do good rather than mischief. <S> Depends how you want their characters to be developed. <S> Maybe his disappearance had nothing to do with the portal but they find it anyway.

Accessible through a crawl space that only the children can fit through.

How do you prevent a character from being a creator's pet? I have a character that I really like. They were originally intended to be the main villain for a particular story arc and then get killed off for good at the end, but I felt they were really interesting and had a lot of potential that wasn't being utilized and tried penciling in a redemption arc for them. The character was originally the best friend of the series' Big Good and a fellow hero before turning to evil, comes back posing as a mentor figure to the protagonist before they reveal their true colors and are defeated by the protagonist. They come off as a weird mix of Mr. Freeze (from Batman: The Animated Series ), Dark Willow (from Buffy ), Darth Vader, Nox (from Wakfu ) and Magneto, if that helps give an idea of their personality. I am worried about this character becoming a creator’s pet . For context, a creator’s pet is a character that the writer usually adores or relates to personally and devotes an ever-increasing proportion of the story to, often despite vocal dislike from the audience. These characters often become Mary Sues and gain increasing praise from other characters in the story, even if they don't deserve it. Wesley Crusher from Star Trek , Brian Griffin from Family Guy , and the Uchiha Clan as a whole from Naruto are prime examples of this. The actual context as to why I am worried that my character is in danger of falling into this role is described below. Be warned, this context is kind of long... I am worried this character is kind of "taking over" the narrative like a cancer. The overall arc of the series feels increasingly about being “the creator’s pet’s story” instead of the actual protagonists. For example, I was working on a prequel idea that was supposed to focus on the origin of the Big Good and their introduction to the hidden world, but I am finding it increasingly focusing on the problematic character's introduction to the hidden world with the future Big Good as their guide. There are reasons for this, the two have excellent chemistry and the problematic character makes an excellent foil and Watson for the future Big Good, and it's fun watching them bounce off each other. There are easily recognizable reasons why this character is so interesting. The character has an interesting backstory, personality, and worldview, is very memorable in visual design, they are a highly sympathetic Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds , and has a number of traits that are unusual for a protagonist. For example, one notable feature of theirs is their intelligence. Being highly intelligent is seen a common "villain" trait (which is why I gave it to them), but is rarer in heroes unless it is their primary gimmick (i.e., Odysseus, Batman, Sherlock Holmes). Their potential for kindness also feels natural given their history as a hero rather than duck-taped on as with many villains with redemption arcs. Honestly they feel like they work better as an anti-hero or anti-villain than a straight villain. In some ways they come off as more original and a better protagonist than the actual protagonists, who come off as reactive, self-hating everymen (the protagonists aren’t bad characters, but they do fall into the issue of being less proactive and more average). I'm fine with this character being the tritagonist but I don't want them to become a story tumor. My beta readers have told me they consider this character to be probably the most (or second-most) interesting character in the story, so at least there is some reason to believe it's not just me projecting my own interests onto the audience. I am self-aware enough to recognize some of my own failings in this character potentially becoming a creator's pet. I do feel like I relate to the character more than many of my others. I don't believe a single one of their villainous actions was justified, however, I understand their feelings of ostracism enough to recognize that the plot as currently stands comes off less like "defeating the horrible monster with the power of friendship" and more of "beating up on the misguided outsider who honestly needs a hug more than being ganged up on". They're also really easy to write for. One thing I have made sure to do is make sure the character has very well-defined flaws that are treated as such and that they are forced to deal with the consequences for them. What really made me realize there was a problem was when I wrote a short "what if" story showing what the world would be like if the character never turned to evil. Normally when there is a plot of "what if the villain was good" it comes off as shallow wish fulfillment, but in this case it turns out the character still had a lot to say and many of these things were never said in the main timeline. Their presence humanized the Big Good by giving them someone who they could talk to as an equal (and who talked back to them). They also provoked positive character development in the protagonists by acting as a mentor/parental figure, source of positive reinforcement, and positive role model (which one of the protagonists otherwise never gets and comes off as putting on a brave face for the sake of everyone else). Specifically, their comments to the protagonists on not being so shy, repressed, and self-hating come across as a lot more heartfelt because they were once in the exact same situation as them and they know how they feel (and they come off as an example of "you can take pride in who you are and not be evil"). A villain, even reformed villain, making those comments comes off as hollow because that's seen as a "villain" thing that got them into this mess in the first place. Or worse, makes the point that having self-confidence is evil. However, making this "what if" story the main timeline would mean eliminating a lot of important moments that evoke powerful emotions and define the characters (not to mention removing the source of conflict from the arc due to them no longer being an antagonist), as well as potentially damaging some of the themes (of course, the current plot is kind of hypocritical when it comes to intended themes because of this character anyway). Basically doing so means potentially erasing the moments that made the character sympathetic and myself and my beta readers like the characters in the first place, which sounds like a recipe for a creator's pet to me. For example, this character's story is supposed to be a reality check for the Big Good, as no matter how leaderly the Big Good appears they are only human, as demonstrated by the fact that they couldn't save their best friend from slipping into darkness. In particular, swapping the timelines completely destroys the characterization of the character that plays a large role in the initial idea for a redemption arc (who is the fourth most developed character after the problematic one and the two leads), specifically the two protagonists' daughter. This is the reason why it's difficult to just have the character ease into the role of the mentor figure after they stop being a villain. In the original plot the fact that the daughter is willing to give the villain a chance and treat them with kindness despite her parents refusing to recognize that they have changed and the daughter having her own problems to deal with is used to show the daughter has the potential to be altruistic and heroic despite being a bratty, confused teenager (and that for all the protagonists' concern they raised her right). On the other hand, the fact that the villain recognizes themselves in the daughter and goes out of their way to prevent them from going down the same path shows they really do regret their actions and have the chance to redeem themselves. The two have a really adorable platonic relationship that goes down the drain if things change. The daughter's character arc is really good and I'm afraid of ruining it. But by that point any chance the villain has to be a parental figure and mentor to the two leads and help them is long gone. At the same time, none of the interesting character traits that they exhibit in the alternate timeline (which they are supposed to have even in the main timeline) ever show up in the original redemption arc. Instead they come off as constantly depressed and having a case of perma-PTSD over what they have done and never manage to come to terms with it. They barely even talk with the protagonists or the Big Good during their redemption arc. Even though they have a redemption arc they never seem to take full advantage of it as a character. Honestly, the fact that I am even tempted to swap timelines in the first place to give this character a bigger role and more time to interact with the protagonists, even if it is to provoke character development, just screams "potential creator's pet" to me. I realize the best thing for me to do if I like the character is power through and give them the story they "deserve", telling the best story possible even if it's unhappy to make them more memorable, but I feel like I'm wasting potential and the story feels too depressing to write with little catharsis for the reader (which is bad). I have been trying to find a middle ground between the two plot ideas, but have had little success. Sorry for all the additional context, I've thought a lot about this issue before seeking external advice and there's a lot to unpack. The tl;dr: question I'm trying to ask here is how do I stop this character from becoming a creator's pet? <Q> This sounds like a great character! <S> One solution is simply accepting that this is the main character. <S> This is the person you want to write a book about. <S> The rest are bystanders. <S> This would solve the screen-time problem, but you would still have to look out for Mary-Sue-ness. <S> The other solution is to improve the other characters. <S> Find reasons that you want to write more about them. <S> Either way, I see that you give your story to beta readers. <S> That is good! <S> You might want to prepare them by telling them in advance about your concerns. <S> This will give you more advice about this, at the cost of getting less advice about other problems. <A> Try beta readers. <S> You are too close to the story to judge. <S> It's possible that your character is stealing the show by being the most interesting character in it, and interesting characters are the life blood of story. <A> You have 2 "issues" here, if you want to continue on your original story. <S> First, the issue that you have identified: making this character not take over. <S> Second, the (bigger) issue you've only briefly alluded to: <S> The interesting traits only show up in the "What-If?" <S> This tells us that the character's "interesting backstory, personality, and worldview" are all in the author's notes, and not in the story . <S> You need to weave them in, either through flashbacks, or breaks in their "what-have-I-done"-induced depression and PTSD: <S> the moments where they manage to forget all the evil they need to atone for, and be themselves again . <S> These can be happy distractions, raising their spirits, or situations where they are too busy to wallow: disasters and emergencies. <S> Either way, their redemption/recovery arc isn't truly over until they can come to terms with what they did, and return to some semblance of their true personality. <S> Going back to your first issue, not wanting them to overshadow your protagonist: you've picked some interesting characters for comparison there. <S> Now, here's a couple of counter-examples: Piccolo Jr and Prince Vegeta, from Dragon Ball. <S> Both have more interesting backstories, personalities and worldviews than the protagonists. <S> Both are (to differing extents) reformed villains. <S> But, neither "take over" the story. <S> This is, in part, because we only see aspects of their life, and (for the most part) only as it relates to the protagonist . <S> We rarely see what other hobbies and interests they have outside of their rivalry with Goku. <S> We don't see Vegeta romancing Bulma between world-ending threats. <S> We don't see Piccolo, well, doing anything on his own behalf, except train himself, train Gohan, and meditate in the wilderness (usually for info-dump purposes). <S> When they are on-screen, it is to help tell the Protagonists' story, not their own. <S> Not a fight to kill or injure, but a fight to restrain or stop them from carrying out an action (overly simplified, "keep them away from the big red button") <A> If you really don't want them to be the main character, you must think one or more characters are more deserving. <S> All right: <S> List them; Since you understand this one character so well, work out in as much detail as possible what they think of your listed characters and vice versa, and of relationships between those other characters; Make any necessary corrections to these apparent facts to account for the one character's biases, misconceptions etc. <S> ; Once you're happy with this rich understanding of all those other characters, make those, together with the aforementioned important moments, integral to a rewrite, ensuring you show these facts rather than telling them because, apart from all the other reasons we normally do that, it'll give you even more ideas for how to flesh out your preferred characters; Accept as you do this rewrite that that one character may still be a big deal, <S> so don't fight what happens.

I suspect one problem may be your other characters, they simply aren't equally interesting. As for your "beating up the outsider" problem: try refactoring it so that violence isn't the heroes' first resort: they are forced into it to make the villain stop, listen and realise.

TW: child abuse, Is it ethical for me to write a book centered on child abuse despite not experiencing it? It's my first attempt at trying to write a long length story of my own and so far what I've come up is a story that is to be centered around child abuse (sexual abuse) (the psychological and emotional impacts of it on the child's mental well being ). But I personally haven't experienced such an issue and it made me reflect on the fact that whether it would be considered as an insensitive work of literature by those who have been affected by such instances of abuse during childhood. Of course I intend to write about the issue in a genuine way and make it a purely fictional work where instances that seems to be related to another person's experiences are purely coincidental but I wanted to get an opinion before continuing on working on the story. (genre of the story so far is mystery and psychological) Thank you for advice in advance! <Q> You don't necessarily need to experience everything you write about. <S> But you owe it to your readers and to victims of sexual abuse that you do good research . <S> Do not rely on your intuition on what you think what people feel while and after experiencing sexual abuse. <S> Look for autobiographical records of people who actually experienced sexual abuse where they describe how they felt. <S> Also keep in mind that: Different people experience sexual abuse very differently. <S> So make sure that you get a wide variety of experiences. <S> Not all reports about sexual abuse you find on the internet are genuine. <S> Make sure you are actually reading verified reports of actual victims, not genuine-sounding fictional accounts. <S> Another source of good information might be to dive into professional literature for people who work with victims of sexual abuse (psychotherapists, social workers, pedagogues...). <S> This might also help you to better understand people in these situations. <S> Yes, it's a very dark subject which might not be a lot of fun to research. <S> But that's what you've chosen to write about. <A> It's not necessarily unethical, but it might be unwise. <S> Our literature would be far poorer if that was a prerequisite. <S> I would ask you to consider whether this really is a good subject for you to write about, if you don't have experience of it. <S> Good stories with these sorts of subjects are usually written by people who have experienced it, or who have worked or lived closely with people who have. <S> Do you know others who have suffered from child abuse? <S> Can you get first hand accounts and tell an insightful story, rather than just repeating things you've seen in fiction and embellishing it with details that may not ring true? <S> If not, you risk creating something with is inauthentic and could hold up false stereoptypes which cause anguish and frustration for those who these issues affect. <S> Write about something you can add value to <S> I would recommend you back off from this subject for your first full length work. <S> Completing a novel is hard enough without adding so many extra complications and risks. <S> Think about topics you do know about more in depth - where you might have insights others will find authentic and compelling. <S> You don't have to a fighter pilot or secret agent to make it interesting. <S> You could write about family relationships that you do have experience of - the nuances of support and frustration. <S> Or about friendships, their challenges and how they survive or collapse. <S> Whatever you decide, best of luck with your writing. <A> There's no need for you to have personally experienced this sort of abuse in order to write about it, so long as you're presenting it sensitively and not attempting to pass it off as something that happened to you. <S> There's always going to be the possibility that those who have experienced similar circumstances to that described in the story may find it unpleasant - but that's going to be exactly the same for any potentially traumatic event <S> , it's not a reason to avoid writing about such things.

It's not necessary for you to have experienced everything you write about. There is a risk of causing pain to those who have already suffered However, what you're talking about is a particularly sensitive subject, and if you don't want to cause pain and hurt, you need to think very carefully about what you're doing - which you clearly are, as you asked the question.

How do I write characters that aren't just a copy of myself? I am finding it difficult to create fictional characters with personalities that are not a copy of myself. I'm having trouble trying to understand what others a character would do in certain situations and why. Does anyone have any tips to help create realistic characters with distinct personalities different from my own? <Q> Think about memories that you have of things that have happened to them, and how they have acted. <S> Consider characters from movies and TV shows that you have watched, and jot down some notes on how they reacted to situations, and classify their personalities based on their separate characteristics. <S> For example, how did person X react when person Y broke up with them? <S> Were they understanding, explosive, devastated, etc. <S> Why do you think they reacted the way they did? <S> If they had a different personality, would they have reacted differently? <S> Also, perhaps you could visit a personality site such as www.16personalities.com . <S> It might help you to understand the different personality types, and how they act or react in everyday life. <S> If you want to create realistic characters, your readers should find themselves thinking "That sounds like something Joe would do/say. <S> " You do NOT want to have your characters do or say something that does not fit with how you have portrayed them elsewhere. <A> There are two steps here. <S> The first is ensuring that you have characters who do not think and act like you do. <S> Since it's not happening automatically, you may need to actively assign characters traits that are unlike yours. <S> When a new character is introduced, stop and think about it. <S> One thing that can help is trying to assign character types. <S> It doesn't matter which ones. <S> I have heard of people having success with Myers-Briggs character types, I have heard of people having success with the twelve Olympian gods. <S> Pick a character type and run with it. <S> Which leads to the second, which is remembering what the character is supposed to be like under that type. <S> You can think of it as a writing exercise. <S> You may even find it helpful to write unrelated short pieces, not full stories, simply to write about a character like that. <A> Read obscure texts. <S> I'm currently writing a novel where I'm blatantly stealing a character from a novel written in 1800. <S> I'm sure nobody has ever heard of the original character because this Chinese novel was never translated into English. <S> Ok, you don't have to go that obscure. <S> But pick your favourite character from a book you really like. <S> Just don't pick Harry Potter. <S> Change enough details to make them unrecognisable. <S> When writing your story, really get into their heads. <S> Remember that every character is the hero of his own story. <S> Did you (the author) not give Mr. Sneed enough action last chapter, leaving him stuck in the office all week? <S> Mr. Sneed is bitter about that. <S> He's angry about his fate. <S> After all, he's the true hero of this story! <S> Try to see the world from their POV. <S> When the "hero" captures Mr. Sneed and puts him behind bars, Mr. Sneed is filled with righteous indignation. <S> Is there no justice in this world? <S> Everyone thinks that the "hero" is some sort of godsend... but only Mr. Sneed knows the truth. <S> People are sheep. <A> I normally just make characters that combine people I know, and other characters I've written before. <S> For example, my character James in a book <S> I'm writing seems to be a combination of a boy named Daniel I know, and a character named Obvious Lee from a musical I wrote call Reflected Magic.

Another tip: Be consistent with personality types with your characters. Think about other people that you know, and how they would react in a certain situation. Slow, conscious reflection on the matter may be the only way to start out.

Alternative to "it is commonly said" I have a sentence I am trying to write that just doesn't feel right. It currently reads "It is commonly said that X, but the truth is that Y." The second part feels okay, but the first part feels like something you have to climb over to get to the point. I've tried a couple other approaches but I'm not quite happy with them: "It is popular to say that X, but in this case Y." "X under normal circumstances, but Y." Examples for X and Y can be: The world slept; nobody slept The citizens worked towards the betterment of society; everyone was out for themselves They were holding the reins; they were being led <Q> However, ____" <S> "It is a common misconception, that ____. <S> In reality ____. <S> " <S> "Many believe it to be true, that ____, when in fact ____." <S> "You'd be forgiven for believing that ____ was what happened, as that was what we were told. <S> The truth is that ____." <A> There are as many ways to say "here is an idea" as there are words. <S> The second part doesn't matter for now; it will naturally follow the first. <S> You are going to make a contrast, but first you are going to introduce an idea. <S> "People often say" is one brief way to introduce an idea that you are identifying as a common concept or belief. <S> But so is: "Among the philosophers and rulers of ancient Rome, the belief that the gods often directly intervened in human affairs was as certain as it was among the proletariat." <S> My point is that situation (plot), concept and character are everything. <S> Is your character (or narrator) <S> a scholar who would use academic phrasing, or a radio announcer who would use glib wordplay, or a teenager who uses slang to speak bluntly? <S> That's just one way of looking at the phrasing question. <A> If your emphasis is on the second part, you don't need to explain the first part. <S> You can use something like: "Really? <S> Today the roses are blue." <S> "Who knew that Valentine roses would be blue this year." <S> "ugg. <S> Another week of wearing a mask." <S> If you want to emphasize that there is a change from a prior state, the prior state must be clear. <S> If it can be clear from the earlier setting, it might not take much. <S> "Why is it raining in LA?" <S> "I came to Seattle for the gloom, but I get nothing but sunshine." <S> If there is something about the character you are trying to expose, it may take a little more work: <S> John looked in the mirror and positioned the grey hairs deeper into his luxurious waves. <S> A few insolent strands flew up again, but small drops of hair gel locked them in place. <S> John enjoyed his appearance -- the way his hair framed his black, carbon fiber glasses and the sharp outline <S> his sculpted beard gave his otherwise soft chin. <S> With his appearance optimized, he grunted as he pulled a face mask over his head. <S> Ruffled by the elastic, his hair locked into dishevelment. <S> His beard and chin were both obscured, visible only in his self-image. <S> "Everyone has to sacrifice something these days," he sighed to no one as he turned off light in the emergency hospital's single break room and prepared to enter the triage hall. <S> If what you place in a character's mouth doesn't feel right to the character, just let them say it the way the want to. <S> If you are saying more than you need, say less. <S> If questions remain, that is good if the questions drive the reader's curiosity for what happens next. <S> Remember that by inducing questions you have implicitly promised to answer them while they are still important. <S> If the questions aren't important to move the story, answer them before they are asked through setting, character, or backstory. <S> Confirmation builds belief. <S> Unanswered questions create disappointed readers. <A> I like " <S> It is received wisdom that …" though this can sound stuffy in many contexts. <S> But it does apply to both conditions (X and Y) <S> in that when used it connotes that the actual wisdom lies elsewhere. <A> In some cases it will work to simply negate X, and then state Y. <S> The world was awake; nobody slept <S> The citizens didn't work towards the betterment of society; everyone was out for themselves <S> They weren't holding the reigns; they were being led <S> These might not be the best examples though. <A> "Many will say that..." or "Many have said that..." <A> Try simply eliminating the first part of your sentences or eliminating the "It is commonly said": <S> Nobody slept. <S> The citizens were out for themselves. <S> They were not holding the reins; they were being led.

"It is commonly believed, that ____. What you write depends on what you want to say, and who is saying it.

What is the literary form or style of a story with no heroes? I have a piece of non-fiction to write that I'll be doing by telling a story. It's somewhere between a news report, op-ed, and historical lesson, but told as a short story. In this story there are no good guys, nobody who fell from grace, and nobody to save the day. It's just a bunch of bad guys doing a bunch of bad guy stuff. The story also spans several years including today, so there isn't a protagonist or central character to see through the eyes of. I'm having trouble finding is what genre or style this would be classified if it were being told as a fictitious story. It isn't a dilemma, maybe it's a tragedy, but is there some classification that better fits what I've described? <Q> It's relatively uncommon in fiction, but relatively common in documentaries, although those are often really a series of little mini-stories, each with their own protagonist. <S> At the cinema, Robert Altman and Richard Linklater are two directors often associated with slice-of-life style fiction movies. <S> You might call your work "slice-of-life, crime-documentary storytelling." <A> Is it similar to " <S> And then there are none"? <S> And Then There Are <S> None is classified under: <S> Mystery <S> Crime Psychological thriller <S> Horror <S> I think your book might fit under one of these (except mystery). <A> I believe the term you're looking for may be 'Creative Non-Fiction'.

This is slice of life , a storytelling technique that depicts a period of time without a conventional narrative or plotline, and potentially without an identifiable protagonist.

If you're writing a story where the location is based in the USA, should you adapt your spelling to the American way, rather than British? If an Australian writer writes a story based in America or another country that uses American English, should you change your spelling to American English, or continue using British English? Is this more of an editing technicality, or is this something that the writer needs to be mindful of? <Q> A lot of people mentioned this in the comments to your question, but the easiest answer to this question is to write in the style that your audience will understand it best. <S> If you are writing for Americans, you should write it in American English. <S> This includes yourself. <S> If you plan to be reading your story, you should write it in the English style <S> you are most comfortable with. <S> Especially if you do not fully understand the conventions of writing one way vs. another. <S> It could be more confusing for your readers and for yourself if you learned how to write in British English <S> and you try to write a whole story in American English because the story takes place in America. <A> Write your book that feels natural for you, and the differences between American and British English is really trivial, like the use of the "u" in certain words. <S> Just tell a really compelling story and your audience will forget that it's written in British English. <A> Your question had been answered already. <S> I just want to tell you that you focus on language that you and your targeted audience know. <S> Let say you want to write American English, and you know not much about it, so will you continue with it? <S> Let say you understand it very well what about your targeted audience? <S> You look around your audience and consider them first before you. <S> One of the Rules in the English language says Just Other first and yourself last{JOY}. <A> I think you should write in your voice. <S> If you write/speak Australian, the spelling should reflect that. <S> (Of course, if it is based in the US, you would not use Australian terminology foreign to the US.)By sticking to your native spelling you, a) identify yourself as having a specific origin. <S> The reader will register this, but it will not detract from the story. <S> And, b) you will avoid any mistakes that will definitely seem 'off' to the reader, thus exposing yourself as a fraud.

If you are writing for people who are reading British English, use British English.

How can I introduce a new POV late in my book? In the book I am writing, the first seven chapters are from the POV of one character. In chapter 8, I am planning to add a second POV character. I will probably also add a third POV character in chapters 15 through 20 (I hope for the book to be around fifty chapters). I will switch between the characters after I introduce them, exploring different subplots. However, the second subplot is only relevant after reading the first seven chapters, so I cannot bring in the new protagonist earlier. How can I make these new POVs less disorienting to a reader (who probably did not expect multiple POV's)? <Q> One way to make the transition easier is to have more Points of View - chapters or interludes where the main character is not the POV. <S> For example, if the main character tells someone that they are going to bed, and will see them in the morning, you can follow the other character overnight, and hand the POV back to the main character when they meet up again. <S> It needn't be long - just a paragraph or two at a time - but it will help the reader to expect POV changes. <S> This has 2 additional effects: first, the Primary Protagonist can carry out actions that the reader hasn't seen (be sure to add hints though, so that the reader can work out afterwards what they did when, and maybe even work it out before the reveal) and, secondly, it will initially obscure that the new character is going to be a Secondary Protagonist; the reader is used to diverting to different POVs, so won't realise the character's importance until they notice how lengthy or frequent their POV sections are. <S> As an example of this type of hand-off, you could consider the first chapter of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone" (Or, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", for Philistines Americans). <S> The chapter starts with Vernon Dursley's POV, swaps with a clear transition to Professor McGonagall's POV, and then blurs ambiguously into Professor Dumbledore's POV at some point for a brief moment, before jumping to Harry himself for the final paragraph. <A> <A> In Robert A. Heinlein's book, Podkayne of Mars , the narrative is from the viewpoint of Podkayne. <S> Late in the book, she is killed (or not killed, depending upon which version you read) and the narrative is taken over by her brother, Clark. <S> He simply states something along the lines of, "I am writing in the diary now." <S> So, you could have the character announce the change of viewpoint in the story, as Heinlein did.

One thing you could do is divide the book in Parts that encompass several chapters and possibly even label them by the point of view character.

How to make a weak character fight in major battle My character is about to fight someone that really strong but he believes that he is still weak. So how can i force him to fight. (For plus note: i make a fantasy story like magic and stuff) <Q> I think you might be focusing too much on a plot device and not enough on character development. <S> As Artichoke mentioned, your character doesn't need to fight. <S> If your character is so weak that he would never fight, there's no way to force him to do so. <S> You could make him run and hide. <S> Even though the enemy might pressure him to fight (such as endangeringl his family), if your character is really very weak, he might still hide and then live to regret his actions. <S> If you really want your character to fight, you have two choices: Change his character. <S> Don't make him so weak. <S> Give him an experience where he grows and becoemes capable of fighting. <S> For instance, maybe he fled and regrets it for the rest of his life. <S> Follow him for months (or years) after this incident, and make sure he has constant flashbacks. <S> Then, a long time later, something similar happens... and now he's finally ready to fight. <S> Don't rush the story. <A> If he's in a position where he has no choice but to fight or be killed, he will find that despair gives him a new type of courage. <A> As @colmde has commented a character may be forced to do something. <S> But what I feel you mean is that the character is strongest than he thinks. <S> So It could be a great chance to prove him wrong. <S> As many things in life you think you have some limitations that are not real. <S> An accident or stressful situation could make you grow or erase this mental blocks. <S> Or perhaps the threath is not as dangerous as It seems. <S> Many times people overestimate a lot of situations in Life. <S> Kind regards and good luck with your writting. <A> Everyone who fights must have a reason to fight. <S> For the bully, it is to maintain his/her dominance. <S> Your character, on the other hand, would need a strong reason to fight when he believes he is too weak to do so. <S> Strong reasons can include survival of self or loved one or tribe, extreme anger or betrayal, or a lack of other options--being cornered as @colmde has said previously.

A character may be forced to fight if he's cornered, i.e. he has nowhere to escape to.

How can I show a character's emotions through a phone call? When writing face-to-face dialogue, I like to give clues as to what the non-POV character is thinking and feeling through their actions. Not all the time, but whenever it feels appropriate. They might be pacing or go completely still. Maybe they're scratching their chin, sipping at a drink, or tugging at a frayed thread. It's much harder to employ "Show, don't tell" in a phone call . In this particular scene, the character on the other end of the line is reacting to the POV character's news with varying emotions, ranging from cautious and upset to relieved and hopeful. Due to his personality, he's unlikely to voice any of that out loud. So far I've been using the following techniques: raised/lowered voice audible sigh/gasp/chuckle rushed/chopped speech pauses/trailing off But I'd still like to convey more information, so I've resorted to the POV character commenting (in her head) on what she thinks he (or his voice) sounds like (nervous, hostile, accusatory, hopeful), but that's much closer to telling than I'd like. How can I show a character's thoughts and emotions if the POV character only hears them? The story is written entirely in first-person from a single character's viewpoint , but though the secondary character (the one being called) appears less often on page, he's extremely important for the plot. The main character has previously interacted with the secondary character, but she doesn't know him well. However, I can sort of assume that my audience remembers him from other stories, so hopefully they'll be able to work out what's going through his head as he's receiving the news. (That said, I would prefer not to rely on that too hard, as I myself sometimes read series out of order, and would assume others do the same.) EDIT: As pointed out in the comments, changing it to a video call is an option. However, I would prefer not to do that because it would greatly reduce the tension of the scene, and I also don't think the main character would trust the other character enough. Still... it's an option I hadn't considered. <Q> You've already solved part of the problem by having the first-person limited POV character tell us what they hear, think, and feel about the second character. <S> You can also use the following techniques to show your audience a whole lot more about both characters than the POV character is telling them: <S> Psychological insight : As an author, you can rely on your audience's knowledge of people and life to understand things the POV character is not aware of. <S> For example, when we read Catcher in the Rye , we don't take Holden Caulfield's commentaries about Stradlater and Sally Hayes at face value; we read between the lines because we know he's a runaway prep schooler with issues. <S> We empathize with him AND see beyond his limited perspective. <S> Multiple perspectives <S> : You can write preceding chapters from various POVs to give your audience information and insights that neither the POV character nor the secondary character possesses. <S> I hope this helps. <A> What I ended up doing was to add detail to the characters' earlier meeting to establish the secondary character's personality and mannerisms, not only for the reader but also the main (POV) character. <S> This allowed me to let up a bit in the phone call (the initial number of sighs was ridiculous) and let the dialogue do the heavy lifting . <S> But it also meant that I could now explicitly reference the earlier scene . <S> For example, I can now indirectly show the secondary character's agitation because the main character pictures him pacing, presumably due to his tone. <S> I also made pauses in the phone call more explicit (e.g. by having the main character check if the other character's still on the line). <S> I think that's something that occurs more naturally in face-to-face dialogue (every physical action or description adds a tiny pause), but making that clearer helps convey the non-POV character's uncertainty. <S> And finally, I moved one critical piece of information into a later scene (which I had planned anyway) where they meet in person again, which allows for a better description of his reaction. <A> You also have the reaction scene from the POV to process that phone call to make their hidden feelings clear. <S> but yes pitch and what they're hands are or aren't doing <S> is also another.

You can use body language of the POV you're following

How to refer to a crowd of many different species? How could I say the equivalent of "A pouring wave of humanity," when there are more than one species in the scene being described? <Q> Use a general word that includes them all. " <S> A wave of creatures", "a wave of beings", etc. <S> If it's necessary to identify the creatures, be more specific. <S> " <S> A wave of creatures from almost every species of land animal on Earth ..." Or "A wave of beings from every planet in the Orion arm of the galaxy ..." or whatever. <A> <A> How important is the sentence is your narrative? <S> If not very important, then "everyone poured into the streets." <S> Bad on you if you haven't set up the reader to understand that "everyone" refers to those of all species. <S> If it is important, and this is perhaps the first time you are showing eqivalence amongst the species, then maybe something longer, like: <S> It was as if a fire has been set in the center of the city, andeveryone began to flee. <S> Those in the center fled first, and beingmostly populated by XXXXXXians, they came quietly by the thousands,their cries unheard by the humans whose hearing did not reach to thatpart of the spectrum. <S> But, the fire grew and first tickled, thenengulfed the other neighborhoods. <S> Humans of course, but also thosewith denser skins, and even the FIREites who struggled constantly withthe cold. <S> Standing on the outskirts, where the density of buildingsgrew sparse and the fire was finally controlled, Biggees, Littlees,XXXXXXian, humans, and FIREites milled around, finding their friends,calling for family, and trying not to think about what was lost, orhow life was so quickly changed. <S> Few words <S> if not important, many words if important. <S> Don't use too few words that are overloaded with connotations. <S> Don't say the obvious. <S> Use the words as an opportunity to push the story forward. <A> You'll have to answer some questions. <S> What species are there? <S> How many? <S> What do they look like? <S> If the species look similar, you can use similar words. <S> It also depends on the species' name. <S> For example, "humanity" comes from "human. <S> " If you named a species "Roax" (I just made that up, it's not from a certain place), than you could call it "Roanity," or "Roanix" or something. <S> Try to make them unique. <S> One <S> you answer these questions and give them each their own form of "humanity," you'll have it. <S> Also, in the sentence "A pouring wave of humanity," you could say something like "A pouring wave of humanity, roanix, and [whatever else]."

how about "a horde of people of many different species", or "A dense crowd with members of all six species who lived in the city".

How do I create a mysterious character? What personality traits and ways does he need to be mysterious? What attitudes must he have to be so? How do I create a mysterious character? What personality traits and ways does he need to be mysterious? What attitudes must he have to be so? <Q> You'd be surprised by how many people think you are mysterious if you: do more listening than talking <S> Don't talk about yourself (not because you have something to hide orfear <S> , you just don't think it's necessary, or you think you will borepeople or you don't like being the center of attention) Ignoring/not fully answering a question about your oddities <S> I've seen humble men, hippy men, moody men, or brooding men, called "mysterious." <S> Mostly men actually.... <S> but as a woman, I've experienced this comment about me a lot. <S> Not in an antisocial or aggressively protective way. <S> Being an introvert is also part of it as I have never seen a mysterious extrovert depicted. <S> This character isn't fitting into the standard world view of acceptableness either in looks, music taste, clothing choice, bragging about one's self or things, or profession, etc.. <S> Still, it is not talked about, and when people do talk about, the character doesn't elaborate. <S> The paragon of this trait is the loner antisocial person who not only doesn't speak much on anything, but they fail at basic communication, which I think is a poor way to portray this trait. <S> This character is guarded but noticeably so in a way that repels others rather then helps them by inviting them. <S> Empaths get this label by allowing others to come to them, listening, keeping or forgetting secrets confided to them. <S> They speak little or not at all about themselves but not to push others away. <S> They just don't believe they are interesting enough. <A> Do not tell the story from this character's point of view. <S> Do not have the character talk about his motives. <S> Avoid having characters who are familiar with the mysterious one and are at all willing to talk. <S> Know what the character is after, but this should be a relatively complex matter, or possibly even several purposes being pursued at the same time. <S> This do not have to be major purposes, but the character's actions must not fit a simple pattern -- though this may be less important if you want to hide his motives for his actions, but not his purpose for it. <S> For instance, if a man asks when another will be arriving, scouts out his path, buys a weapon that will allow him to make a ranged attack, and goes to a point from which he will be able to see the path, we know that his purpose is to kill the man, but not why he wants to. <A> I suggest a definition for "mysteriousness": Character's implied ability to substantially affect the plot without explicitly revealing their motives, values or specific ways to produce this effect.

A key trait for being mysterious is just simply not being open about yourself to others or your hobbies.

How can I indicate time passing? There is a scene in which my main character is hiding from the villain while they are both in the same room. I want this to be a suspenseful and agonizing stretch of time, but I’m not sure how to show how long it feels for the character without it becoming boring or using cliche phrases like “every second felt like an hour.” <Q> What does the time spend hiding <S> do to your character? <S> Pick things that start off easy to manage, but becomes hard to maintain (especially under stress or pressure), and talk about those. <S> For example, if they are squeezed into a wardrobe, staying as still as possible: As the villain paced the room, she shivered in her hiding spot. <S> Every time he walked out of view of the thin gap between the doors, her heart jumped with the fear that he would approach the wardrobe, fling it wide open, and catch her. <S> The effort to keep her breathing slow and quiet began to feel like Sisyphus pushing a boulder uphill, straining to keep it from rolling back down, picking up speed and sound on its way to the bottom in a crushing defeat. <S> Her arms and legs started to tremble, the exertion of staying in one place for so long gradually building up in a slow burn, the urge to move, to scratch, to do anything but stay safely hidden growing with every passing moment. <S> The beating of the blood in her veins seemed to boom out, and she was sure he would hear it, the agonising torment of "what if"s playing through her mind in an unending saga of paranoia. <S> And then, mercifully, he left. <S> At first, she remained frozen - almost expecting him to burst back in the moment she moved. <S> Gradually, she let out a long, deep breath, tension draining from her frame as she slid down the wall and sank to the floor with a faint scrawp of cloth on wood. <S> That was close. <A> One possibility is to just say that time has passed. <S> "The two men sat staring at each other, neither saying a word, for fifteen minutes." <S> If the point is that it was a tense standoff, "action" here probably doesn't mean people running and fighting, but events appropriate to the situation. <S> "Bob locked the door behind him. <S> He leaned against the wall and breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath. <S> He listened carefully for signs of pursuit. <S> He strained to hear any sound coming from outside. <S> All he could hear were the noises of traffic in the street. <S> At one point he heard a voice. <S> He was afraid that it was THEM in the hall, but as he strained to make out the words he realized <S> it was just two people talking about being late for some social event. <S> " Etc. <A> What was that? <S> A floorboard creeking? <S> It must just be a mouse. <S> At least Jim hoped it was. <S> It wasn't supposed to end this way... <S> ever since he sold the doughnuts to Sally, she had begun to suspect that they were running an underground operation. <S> Doughnuts. <S> How could he have known that such a simple action would end up betraying them? <S> But it was too late to be filled with regret now. <S> Continue along these lines for several paragraphs. <S> Think about what your characters are doing during the long periods of hiding. <S> Are they thinking? <S> Playing cards? <S> Planning their escape? <S> Show the reader how slow time is passing. <S> Another way is to make the characters confused about the passing of time. <S> Everything was quiet. <S> Was it safe to come out? <S> Jim cracked the door open. <S> Light from the opposing window flooded the closet. <S> How could it still be daylight? <S> Jim closed the door again and continued to wait for night to fall. <A> There are some great answers to this question already. <S> I could see many scenarios where one could use a mix of the suggestions in the answers. <S> Another idea is to use visual cues, such as sunlight, to suggest that time has passed; Tom pulled the door from inside the cabinet, leaving it just openenough to see the table in the room across the hall, where thesunlight beamed in and bathed the wooden tabletop in a deep amberglow. <S> [Insert character's thoughts here like in the other answers] <S> Tom took his hand from his mouth and drew what felt like the firstnatural breath in hours. <S> He peeked through the opening and once againsaw the wooden table in the room across the hall. <S> He could tell thatthe room was still lit from the daylight, but the sunlight no longerhit any part of the table directly. <S> How long had he been hiding in the closet? <S> A similar observation could be made about the sun going down or no longer shining into the cabinet, the streets falling quiet post-rush-hour, the construction worker's radio no longer playing, his watch beeping to remind him of taking his insulin, the battery of ___ running out, etc. <S> Use the knowledge of your character(s) to find something that makes sense for that character to notice and experience. <A> Is your villain searching for the main character? <S> Or is it a standoff? <S> You could perhaps briefly elaborate on what the villain is doing in the room and <S> how the main character (if hidden) can see the villain's every move. <S> Possibly explain what the main character is going through at that moment(elevated heart rate, sweaty palms, fast breaths, and so on) or what the main character is doing if the villain is close to discovering the main character's hideout. <S> This should, in my opinion, give a sense of extended time to the reader while keeping them occupied in the storyline. <A> 1: <S> "Every second was one second too much." <S> 2: <S> "Every second was passed in agony." <A> The MC glanced at his watch/mobile phone. <S> A whole hour had passed already and he was beginning to get ...

My favorite way to pass time to to make the characters get lost in their thoughts. Another possibility is to fill the time with action.

How to show a character with multiple personalitites? To preface this, I have seen the question multiple personalities characters speech in text and I feel that my question is different enough, to warrant a separate question. In my book, a character has multiple personalities. In one, personality defining scene, whilst she is playing a game. her normal personality (Niar), is overtaken by the gaming personality (Suoti). I have thought about changing the name straight away - but I feel that it is really disorienting for the reader. Right now I have written: "My name is Eben - who are you?" inquired the old man. "I'm Suoti," replied Niar, using her pseudonym. Suoti was much better at games than she was. My problem is now - how do I carry on, in a way that doesn't disorient the reader. At the moment the reader doesn't know that Niar has multiple personalities (she only recently entered the storyline). The book is written in the third person omniscient, so anything goes. Should I continue using Niar, or Suoti, or another option, in the rest of the scene, and how can I do this whilst not disorienting the reader? EDIT Due to some misunderstandings, I would like to say that this is not a case of dissociative identity disorder, rather a byproduct of a magical accident, so any points over the reality of the personalities interaction, whilst helpful and very much appreciated is not applicable to the question. <Q> I would write... <S> "My name is Eben - who are you?" <S> inquired the old man. <S> "I'm <S> Suoti," the younger girl replied. <S> You can dodge the question of identity by referring to the body's physical characteristics until it's apparent that the one body hosts multiple personalities. <A> Write the switch-over, and then refer to the individual by the name of the active personality. <S> That, or assign a group noun that all the personalities will respond to (e.g. if they treat each other as sisters, then the surname may be a common factor, "Miss Watevachezcauwd") <S> If this is a Third Person narrative (either omniscient or limited but with access to this character's mental state) then you use metaphor for the handoff <S> "My name is Eben - who are you?" inquired the old man. <S> Mentally, Niar stepped back. <S> She wasn't the best at games, so it was time to bow out. <S> "I'm Souti," her replacement replied. <A> I'm writing a similar story, and I deal with it by giving the two personalities the same last name. <S> When transitioning, it's always "Ms. Smith." <A> You could imply that some of her appearance changes; for example: "My name is Eben - who are you?" <S> Inquired the older man. <S> A mystic gloom surrounded Nair. <S> Her smile was vicious, and her eyes became serious. <S> "I am Suoti." <S> You could also imply a change of scenery, like: <S> The light dimmed, and a mystical aurora gleamed from Niar. <S> "I'm <S> Suoti. <S> " <S> This could, however, become a bit confusing, but the reader will eventually understand this change of scenery and personality. <A> I feel drop hints, like when you write a scene imagine how both characters will act and make note of the difference between them. <S> As you said Suoti is a gaming personality so I am assuming they are more of the teasing type I would say not have Niar/Suoti give a name, but be ambiguous for example- <S> > <S> "My name is Eben - who are you?" <S> inquired the old man. <S> > <S> > <S> "Who am I, that depends who do you think I am, am I really that> person <S> , sometimes I could be me, maybe I'm someone whose to say you <S> > are really who you say they are a name is just label, but doesn't mean> <S> it matches the person. <S> " The girl replied playfully with a teasing look as she giggles at the old mans expense. <S> See there <S> you don't exactly state who she is, but you express a personality instead <S> , readers won't know if she is just being playful or if her words mean somthing more. <S> Give the reply based on which ever personality is in control and how they would express themselves, consider if the personality treats themselves as an I or we? <S> Do they consider themselves the same person or two different people. <S> How would one's answer be different then the other. <S> Another way is to add a shift at some point for example. <S> > <S> "My name is Eben - who are you?" <S> inquired the old man. <S> > <S> A shift seemed to appeared in Niar's eyes as she considered a reply. <S> Your not stating it clearly, but your implying somthing changed, you can get the same effects with different ways like a pause or blank look before they answer. <S> You can even add personal quirks like maybe Suoti plays with her hair as where Niar doesn't and Suoti tends to do that whenever she switches in. <S> Either show the sign in the narrative, dialogue or personality. <S> You don't need to out right say, but do somthing that the read may find odd or can be seen as foreshadowing for it.

If for example a character switches part way then show a distinct difference based on their personalities. Furthermore, you could have Niar talk about Suoti in 3rd person to make sure the reader understands the change of personality.

How can I write a hand-to-hand combat scene that is not too brief or detailed? When I describe hand-to-hand combat, I include EVERYTHING that's going on, EVERY action and motion the characters make. I know this is exhausting for readers. However, if I'm not descriptive, the result is too brief and lifeless. How can I solve this dilemma? <Q> The way I've heard it said is as follows... <S> Only show blows that are important. <S> Gloss over unimportant parts of the fight with generalized dialogue because it doesn't provide any useful information to the reader. <S> Focus on events which show reversal of the situation. <S> One party or another gets the upper hand, the fight escalates, there is a significant change in the nature of the fight (think Anakin and Obi-Wan on Mustafar going from the relatively safe starport to the more dangerous lava). <S> Focus on a three-act structure. <S> Don't overstay your fight's welcome, keep it short. <S> Most straight-up fights in fiction are only a couple of pages long. <S> If you're playing a cat-and-mouse game beforehand or have a chase scene or strategy you can space it out longer, but the actual physical confrontation is typically a few pages long. <S> Individual motions are rarely described unless they have character meaning (e.g., a martial arts movie where a character has learned a technique and is demonstrating that they know what they are doing now). <S> Focus on your character's reactions to what is going on in the fight scene. <S> What are they thinking? <S> Dialogue. <S> Be warned, though, this can help resolve the problem but it can't outright fix everything, it more just helps cover up rough patches. <S> Treat the fight like a conversation, not a fight. <S> The appeal of fights in live-action and animation is spectacle, with character development as the topping. <S> The appeal of written fiction is dialogue, psychology, and the ability to see internalized thought processes. <S> Fights in prose are primarily designed to drive character growth and character development. <S> Fights in written fiction are basically a conversation played out with fists and feet. <S> You can see into the head of a written character <S> but you can't see the spectacle, be sure to play to strenghts and weaknesses of the medium. <A> Description is always a game of point of view. <S> Even if you are doing 3rd person narration, you want to pick a point of view character for this action. <S> Then, don't describe this like a sports announcer sitting on the sidelines. <S> Instead, try to see it as your character would. <S> They wouldn't take in everything, so give us what they would actually notice, and make sure it's colored by their emotions. <A> Consider the pace of the fight, and compare with the pace of the reading. <S> In a slow, lumbering slug-fest, you might have time to describe every blow. <S> By contrast, I can punch you 3 times and kick you twice, all in less than 2 seconds. <S> And, by the standards of international Martial Arts tournaments, that's slow <S> (hence why I've never taken better than bronze). <S> There is literally no way to write out the action at that pace - especially if you're trying to include my opponent's actions too - unless you're using some form of pictographic illustration where each image represents the type of attack and the target. <S> For example, a film. <S> So, take a moment to understand something: writing a book <S> is very different to writing a screenplay , a radio script , or choreography . <S> Currently, it sounds like you are trying to do the second and fourth; you are 'seeing' the scene in your head, and attempting to get it down on paper exactly . <S> That is, unfortunately, not how books work. <S> The main things to convey are the Shape and Highlights of the fight. <S> If you were trying to describe a car, you wouldn't detail every bolt and weld, each individual panel and scuff-mark. <S> You'd give us the colour; perhaps the make or age; whether it looked smooth/streamlined or square & boxy; and if it was sparkling clean, dirty and worn, or slightly smudged with mud from the recent rain. <S> So, perhaps describe the opening move in more detail, then 'zoom out'. <S> Who is pushing back whom, where does the fight take you, what obstacles have to be avoided, what tactics are employed (are the fighters using mostly arms? <S> Lots of kicks? <S> Is one of them keeping the other at a distance?), with snapshots to show important or outstanding moves. <S> As the fight winds to a close, consider adding detail in for that final gambit, the finishing move. <S> In short, you need to turn the whole fight into an Elliptical Paragraph - lots of detail stripped out, but still implied , and treated by the reader as though they were there. <S> Point it in the right direction, provide a couple of course-corrections or sudden twists in the path, and let it go wild.

Dialogue can break up a clunky fight scene and make it a little more interesting. The most powerful tool you have as a writer is the reader's imagination : all you need to do is prime it.

Inhibitions when writing personal experiences I write for myself and have no intention of publishing anything. However, I still become uncomfortable writing about events in my life because I think about how people who are involved or who know me would react if they ever got the chance to read it. I also feel bad for recording the flaws of myself and others on paper. My eventual goal is to move into more creative writing, and I hope I can obscure (not remove) the autobiographical elements of my writing to have some more anonymity and creativity. I try to think of a story with invented characters and settings that I can use as a vehicle to talk about some personal event, for example, but I struggle to do this right now. In the mean time, I find it easiest to write directly about my own experiences, and I believe that it is productive and perhaps therapeutic to do so, but I can't get around the mental block I describe above. Any tips for getting over this hurdle and either skipping over autobiographical writing or making it mentally/emotionally easier? Or I need to change my approach to all of this? <Q> Any tips for getting over this hurdle and either skipping over autobiographical writing or making it mentally/emotionally easier? <S> If writing about your life is therapeutic, do it. <S> Buy a small notebook, write with a pencil and keep an eraser nearby in case you need to walk back your words. <S> Keep it locked away in a safe or drawer when you're not writing so nobody will find your book by accident. <S> Overcoming what others might think is, ultimately, your own psychological mountain to climb . <S> Or I need to change my approach to all of this? <S> To write is to bleed emotion. <S> But bleeding emotion is not the same as writing. <S> What you put on the page has to ring true; a reader must intuit why a character feels the way he or she does and why these feelings and resulting actions are believable and appropriate to the character's personality. <S> People have probably hurt you before. <S> You may have hurt others, intentionally or by accident. <S> Yes, you can write about those experiences. <S> Change names, locations and dates. <S> Or, you could change the events which transpired entirely but keep the emotions intact. <S> I've never been a wizard's apprentice. <S> I've never accidentally blown a hole in the wall of my mentor's study while practicing magic. <S> But as a kid I once scratched the door of a lady's car when I lost control of the shopping cart <S> I was pushing too fast. <S> My father was disappointed in me and I was ashamed. <S> The actual events differ, but if I were a wizard's apprentice, that's how I'd probably feel after the magic mishap. <S> Different events, same emotions. <S> Life experiences and emotions are like clay; the stories you craft are vases. <S> From one batch of clay you can make two completely different vases, or even a vase and a statue. <A> I think about how people who are involved or who know me would react if they ever got the chance to read it. <S> There is one easy way past this block - write <S> so you would be happy with the writing if they read it. <S> If someone made a terrible decision, e.g. robbing a bank, and you want to portray this nicely, then do so. <S> Explain the hunger they feel, the need for recognition, the suicidal depression - so that that person would read it and say "That's me" and someone else reading it would say "I feel bad for him." <S> I also feel bad for recording the flaws of myself and others on paper. <S> Recording flaws is pretty much the basis for many stories. <S> Understand that everyone has flaws, and as long as you can portray them accurately and sympathetically, there is no reason to feel bad about it. <A> Ah, the dilemma: How to get in touch with your private thoughts and feelings without hurting others or exposing yourself to hurt? <S> Your knowledge of this limits you from being honest and expressive while you're writing. <S> The simple solution, and one practiced by many writers, is to immediately tear up, shred, flush, burn, or delete their writings. <S> Try it, it's liberating. <A> Everyone has regrets. <S> Would your life be happier, or you could even try what if I did this and my life got messed up. <S> So while you are still writing about yourself, you are not writing what really happened. <A> I have a similar / the same problem, and won’t pretend I got over it, but it got better. <S> What helped me was to keep telling myself, that no one would ever read what I wrote, unless I gave it to them. <S> Even though I knew this from the start, the act of repeating it helped. <S> If I got stuck on a part I was hesitant to write, I would tell myself again ‘This will only be read by me. <S> Even I don’t have to read it if I don’t want to. <S> ’To get into the habit of writing these things down, you could even get rid of your text, after it is done. <S> I imagine the difficult part is writing it. <S> So you might make that easier on you, by knowing no one CAN read it. <S> Than you work up to keeping the text. <S> (This is something I have not done myself, but I think it could have helped.) <S> Something else that was/is important for me, is to keep writing. <S> If I don’t write and reinforce the idea that it is not a problem, it gets harder and harder to start again. <S> If you have something to write, but don’t want to, try to write it anyways. <S> It won’t get easier than it is right now. <A> Remember that the center of every story is a person who needs to change. <S> Don't let your desire for anonymity bother you, either. <S> You can still publish your work, as long as you change the names of the characters, and publish under a pseudonym if you don't want to answer awkward questions.

Try writing how your life would have changed if you had taken a different choice, such as telling someone you had a crush on them. It's likely that, if you keep private writings around, someone will eventually read them. The knowledge your notebook is nothing more than a collection of pages bound between two covers and cannot talk or draw attention to itself might help. Don't feel bad about recording the flaws of anyone, whether yourself or someone else.

What to do with a story fragment? What should I do when I write an idea, for example a fight scene, but then I find it difficult to write a solution or way to switch from that idea? Should I cancel the whole idea or what, knowing that I have no outline before for that story but I just started writing it. It's kind of a weird question but I hope that there is a solution and an answer for it <Q> Don't toss them out; collect them! <S> What you've got there is a story fragment. <S> You can start a collection of story fragments. <S> Chances are, your fragments are a constellation of related ideas. <S> As you write and collect them, you might start seeing connections between them. <S> Then you can write those in-between connecting parts and assemble them into a larger story. <A> What I do is write the idea itself. <S> By the time I have done that a solution or the next idea usually suggests itself. <S> If it doesn't, I go for a walk and try putting random ideas or words together to find a solution. <S> In the rare case that these don't work, I revise something else I have written and then come back to the piece. <S> At this point I sit there until I have something sensible to write, or, very rarely, decide that the idea can't be progressed. <A> Do not worry, give it some time. <S> Eventually you will either build a story around it, or, while working on some other story, you'll discover that the new story and old idea would actually go pretty well together. <S> Don't settle for a bad story around a good idea. <S> Let it work through. <A> Use a structural template to fit it in <S> If you're into some structure in your writing, I'd suggest using a structural template like a Story Circle, and then using that to find a natural spot for your bit of conflict in some broader narrative. <S> The Story Circle is a simplification of the Hero's Journey as specified by Joseph Campbell, further developed by Dan Harmon (of Community/Rick and Morty fame): it splits stories into 8 themed chunks that when put together make for a narrative that is easy to follow and satisfying to read or see or hear. <S> It's a simple template for telling any kind of story in a way that is immediately familiar to most people. <S> The parts of the circle are shown here: <S> Each part of the circle can also be subdivided into a smaller, "nested" story circle, if your target length demands more content for the overarching story. <S> For example, sections 3, 4 and 6 often contain conflict (especially the hero getting defeated in some way in 4 or 6) so those could be good spots to try to fit in a fight scene. <S> For more information, there is also a simple video on YouTube from adult swim where he summarizes it. <A> When I come to a problem like this I usually write a list of all the characters, ideas, scenes and other things I want to include in my story. <S> Like this: Include a battle scene between _____ and _____. <S> Add a character called ______. <S> And so on... <S> Anyway, after I've done that I try and piece them together like a puzzle as Rolfedh said before. <S> If I can't think of a good way to piece together some ideas I would: <S> Look at how other authors use the idea. <S> Take a break. <S> Get input from a family member or a friend (two brains are better than one!). <S> I hope this helps <S> but if in the end none of this works out <S> I suggest slightly altering the idea/scene/character <S> so it's still slightly like the first idea but different. <S> Example: A fight scene with magic becomes a fight scene without magic, a physical war between two enemies becomes a verbal one.

I've had success fitting similar fragments of narrative into larger projects by looking at what part of the circle the particular story fragment naturally fits into. Use a twist were _________. If you have what seems to be a good idea, your mind won't let it go.

Will people always compare a magic school idea to Harry Potter? My story includes a magic school wherein students aged 12 learn magic. The sorting Is based on abilities, Meaning that if a student has thirst for dark arts, there most concentrated subject becomes dark arts and so.The students learn wand and hand magic. The mc and his friends discover the school secrets in book 1.My main question is that will people always compare a magic school idea to Harry Potter despite of changes?Will people read a book on Magic School? <Q> Yes Like it or not, there are some stories that have popularized a trope to such a degree that you can't escape from them. <S> Like 1984 or Brave New World did for dystopias. <S> Or Harry Potter did for magic schools. <S> Vampire Academy, Rosario + Vampire, and House of Night are about schools for supernatural creatures, with little of the trappings unique to Harry Potter like actually learning magic. <S> They still get called "Harry Potter but with vampires" anyway. <S> Other magic school stories like The Worst Witch, The Magicians, and Little Witch Academia are also frequently compared to Harry Potter, despite The Worst Witch predating Harry Potter by decades. <S> There are some stories that, if writing in a certain subgenre, you just can't escape the shadow of. <A> There may come a time when people no longer think "Harry Potter" when they see a magical school story. <S> But this probably isn't helpful to you. <S> Over a hundred years ago, Oliver Wendel Holmes Sr., poet, lecturer, essayist, doctor (and eventually the father of the famous supreme court justice) wrote a book called "Elsie Venner", with the titular character having a dangerous, snakelike personality because her mother had been bitten by a rattlesnake while pregnant with her. <S> This conceit was introduced as a way to discuss original sin, but there's something very evocative about the idea of someone gaining the attributes of an animal from a "magic" bite. <S> This was once a well-known book. <S> I'll give about fifty-fifty odds that you already thought of Spiderman. <S> Now everyone knows about Spiderman, and basically no one has heard of Elsie Venner. <S> Do you want Magical School stories to not be compared to Harry Potter anymore? <S> Just write the "Spiderman" of the magical school genre, and if people haven't already forgotten Elsie Venner, er, Harry Potter, they just might. <S> Or rather, more likely, someone else will write " <S> Clavius Melodram Finds His Way", or whatever, and you'll go from your stories being compared to Harry Potter to being compared to Clavius Melodram. <A> Depends on how long they've been reading. <S> When I first saw the Harry Potter books and movies, I compared them to Ursula K. LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea , a significant fraction of which centered around Ged's time in the School of Wizards on Roke ("at the center of the world"). <S> In today's world, however, there are probably <S> a hundred times as many people who have read the Potter books or seen the movies, as who have read the excellent Earthsea books. <S> Others might think of the correspondence course from Bedknob and Broomstick either the two books, or the Disney movie that combined them. <S> Or Diana Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle , though the school was very much a minor side note in that. <S> Brakebill's, the college in The Magicians , was billed as "Harry Potter but for adults". <S> And never mind that the only similarity was a school dedicated to teaching magic. <S> But with a series that went above and beyond those (including the ones that were decades earlier -- Earthsea dates to the 1960s and Bedknob and Broomstick to the 1950s) to become a multi-billion dollar franchise <S> , there's no way to avoid the comparison. <S> If you want to distinguish yourself from Potter and Hogwarts, you need a more different world -- not just Hogwarts with twelve houses and more elective coursework.

Indeed, you can't even write a school for supernatural beings book series in general without being compared to Harry Potter.

My protagonist being needed for my story is a life changing event, does that mean the event needs to be in my story? My protagonist is a first-generation native on a colony world. The general culture of the colony makes it clear that everyone must contribute to the colony in a meaningful way. But instead of following everyone else's lead and finding a conventional role in town, he just starts exploring, causing him to be labeled an outcast. The colony is going to need his singular knowledge of the world when story problems develop. For him, this means finally being accepted, which is a life-changing experience for him. The bulk of the story will be about six months from that point when the impending sh!t hits the proverbial fan. Should I leave it out because it's so long before my story, have it as a prologue or make it a flashback? I can't move the story much closer to this event because the colony would definitely see the problem (spaceships) coming for quite a while before they arrived (no FTL). <Q> Because it's such a dramatic moment, it feels like a wasted opportunity to leave it entirely "off-camera. <S> " But it doesn't necessarily make sense to start your story there if the main action is going to take place after a gap in time. <S> I'd suggest that you start your story right before the action begins, and then bring in the backstory as needed and as feels natural within the scope of the story. <S> Maybe that will turn into a full flashback, and perhaps it will just be little glimpses. <S> It might be a good idea to write out the full backstory for yourself, but NOT to try to shoehorn it into the narrative just because you have it. <A> I've read a couple of stories where there are two storylines in roughly alternate chapters, from different time sections of the same narrative - I think 'Holes' by Louis Sachar did this to a certain extent (although it's ages since I read it) - the 'main' story is about a boy dealing with a curse of some kind, while the secondary 'earlier' story is about his grandfather and how he managed to get the curse laid on the family, culminating in the reader figuring out how the curse has to be lifted (shortly before the main character in the later storyline actually manages that). <S> You want the 'earlier' climax / revealing point to be reached sometime before the 'later' / main one, so that all the later events make sense and slot into place in the reader's head. <S> It's essentially a much less obvious way of setting the scene, I think. <A> This might be completely personal preference, but I would definitely start with the whole exploring thing. <S> It's a great way to establish your MC, and can act as a good contrast to the more compelling segment that comes later as things start to get serious. <S> It can give your story a kind of scary shift, making your reader comfortable in the setting of the MC peacefully exploring the planet, with the occasional minor conflict here and there, before suddenly slamming the reader with a looming threat. <S> The whole shift in treatment, the MC being an unproductive outcast at first and then suddenly becoming essential, that is gold. <S> You want to harvest the goods of that aspect, and to maximize the impact of that shift, you can't just include it as flashbacks. <S> Though, this is probably mostly my opinion and not the objectively better way to structure your narrative.

In my experience, when your backstory is really solid, it will find its way into the story without being forced. The reader needs to experience this gloomy state of being an outcast, and then experience the thrill of finally being accepted again, as well as the thrill of proving everybody wrong by the MC showing their worth.

Is there a way I can print a book only for myself? As selfish as this sounds, I’m really interested in having my own book printed physically for myself. I don’t intend to sell it or distribute it, and I’m primarily interested in having my book that I’ve been writing printed. I’ve started off with writing my stories on Wattpad, and while they do have ways to get your book published, it’s kind of a long shot for me. Especially since it’s a fanfiction, is there a way I could get my online fanfiction printed? I know it is possible to get a fanfiction published, but for me, I do not plan to distribute or sell the book, and I just want it printed solely for me. That’s all. Is there a way I could do this? <Q> 'Publish' is a word with specific meaning and from the context of your question I can tell you're not looking to publish. <S> You're looking to have your work printed. <S> That can be done quite easily, if you have $39 to spare and live in the US . <S> (I'm not affiliated with BookBaby and have never had them print a book. <S> I can't say anything about the quality of their work and this answer is not an endorsement. <S> Other printing services are available.) <A> One that I've personally used in the past is Lulu.com . <S> Their user interface is easy, and their POD books are of comparable quality to what you would see from a traditional publisher. <S> The price per book is also comparable to what you would pay retail for a standard book. <S> They do both hardcover and softcover. <S> Amazon.com has a similar service called "CreateSpace" , with ties to the main Amazon site. <S> When I did POD, those two were the industry leaders. <S> However, that was a decade ago, so my information may be stale. <S> A quick search for POD (Print on Demand) should help you find out. <S> The caveat with all this is that you will either need to do all formatting, layout, cover design, and so forth yourself. <S> Otherwise, you'll pay a premium for someone else to do it for you. <S> As with many industries, a lot of how POD makes money is through upselling high-priced optional extras. <A> Yeah, there's lots of services which can print on demand these days, but when I printed a book for a friend, they were not around. <S> Whether you want to go through the effort to print and bind it yourself is really a matter of how you feel about the physical object you end up with. <S> Obviously doing the work yourself will put more significance on the physical object. <S> Whether it is worth the effort is up to you. <S> I still smile when I see it on my shelf. <S> The process I went through was: <S> I typeset the document using LaTeX. LaTeX gives superior text layout to any other tool you might use like Word. <S> It's got a learning curve that's pretty brutal, but I already had experience with it. <S> I used MikTEX , which was an easy to use packaged version of LaTeX. <S> I used this to get all of the details like page numbers and chapter titles right. <S> I typeset it for a half page (5.5"x8.5"), which matters for the binding process, and had to spend some time getting the margins right. <S> I printed the pages on a duplex-capable printer. <S> I have one at home, but you could go to any print place and get them. <S> There is a correct order to print the pages so that, if you take 4 sheets of paper, and fold them in half, the result is 8 half sheets in the correct order (double sided, so 16 pages of your manuscript printed on those 4 sheets), called a "signature" Print and fold all of these. <S> Bind the book together using a saddle stitch. <S> This takes much more time than having a publishing house print it for you, but the memory does last better. <S> I smile when I look at the book, even though the work is amateurish at best! <S> Here's pictures of the one I kept. <S> I chose not to finish the covers on this copy, so that you can see what it looks like on the inside of a hardcover book. <S> Book contents photographed with author's permission. <A> I agree with the warning about Lulu.com. <S> If you ever want a second copy because yours was damaged, they charge an arm and a leg, making it pricey to reprint. <S> You would be better off going directly to a book printer and asking them. <S> Or someplace like 48 Hr. <S> Books where you keep all the books and all your rights. <A> Of course you can have one copy of a book printed… <S> The only problem will be the cost, which will be vastly greater per copy - here, simply vastly great. <S> Depending on the size of your book it might be worth printing it yourself, and then you'll need both a suitable press - modern or ancient - and suitable skills. <A> I print very small scale print runs (like 5 copies of a thesis) at my local Copyshop in A4 and then have them use a binding machine on that stack.

Just to offer an old-school solution, you could always print and bind it yourself! Yes, this is relatively easy to do these days through Print On Demand services.

Can I have a non-living thing with its own perspective? We typically have third person or first person narratives in literature. I have a requirement - to unveil the suspense, I want a non-living thing to share its perspective in the final chapter. Is this permissible, justified and/or sensible? <Q> Permitted by whom? <S> The Big Book of Writing Laws was abolished in 1849. <S> Ask yourself why you want to switch to a hitherto unseen POV. <S> Do you have a compelling reason? <S> As a reader, I've spent the story inside the head of a character I've either come to love or love to hate. <S> A sudden switch at the climax to a non-character <S> I possibly can't care about by virtue of there not being any pages left in the book <S> might leave me cold. <S> Or, perhaps that's exactly what you're going for. <S> If in the penultimate chapter the heroes decide they have to leave the zombie-infested mall and the final chapter is from the distant and emotionless view of a security camera taping the approach of a zombie horde thousands strong, that tells me the story probably doesn't have a happy ending. <S> In which case, the POV switch is devastatingly powerful. <S> In short, the answer depends on both intent and your ability to convey said intent. <A> This is a scattershot answer because I'm a washed up literature student. <S> I just finished reading Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower , which is entirely narrated by a rock. <S> The fact that a rock is narrating the story is gradually revealed, and its unusual perspective builds some anticipation. <S> I also recall a chapter of Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow is narrated from the perspective of Byron the Bulb, a sentient lightbulb. <S> Actually, the novel includes many unusual perspectives such as an octopus and an escaped dog subjected to Pavlovian experiments. <A> There are two potential problems with having a non-living thing share its perspective in the last chapter. <S> The first is that you are switching your point-of-view scheme at the last moment. <S> This is often jarring even with ordinary characters. <S> If the entire story is told from John's point of view until the last chapter is Jack's, readers often are disoriented. <S> The second is ensuring that your readers are aware that the object is, indeed, non-living. <S> If a security camera shares its point of view, the readers might think that the entire story was master-minded by AIs that have not been revealed to the readers. <A> It sounds perverse, but of course you can! <S> The main problem is Asking the Question but either way, please first consider what Rudyard Kipling wrote so long ago… google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=science+fiction+of+rudyard+kipling&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

You can use any POV you feel comfortable with for any reason or none at all.

Misspelling and punctuation how to improve? Love telling/writing stories except I am the absolute worst at both spelling along with punctuation. Normally I care less about these things because I can still read them although many people get extremely angry and dislike that I do this. I currently use the free version of Grammarly for it to fix my writing/texting and I feel embarrassed about it. Is there a way to fix these naturally or is it something all writers go through every day fixing their mistakes? <Q> I don't think you should feel ashamed of using Grammarly to correct mistakes. <S> You should, however, take it with a grain of salt. <S> Not because it makes a lot of mistakes, but because you wish to learn correct spelling, punctuation and grammar it suggests. <S> So, instead of blindly clicking on the red line try to fix the mistakes on your own before going for its solutions. <S> Secondly, there is a lot of advice to be found by googling your question. <S> I didn't try any of it so instead, I will recommend a book by William Strunk Jr. called The Elements of Style. <S> It focuses on creative writing and covers punctuation, using active voice and formating dialogue. <S> The last piece of advice I would share is to read as much as you can. <S> Go through the sentences and ask yourself why did the writer do certain things. <S> Why did he put a comma there, how did he format dialogue, etc? <A> The purpose of writing is not for you to be perfect, it is for your prose to be (close to) perfect. <S> No writer ever spits out perfect prose on the first go. <S> It just isn't possible. <S> That is why the writing gods created the act of revising to move the imperfect closer to perfect. <S> Grammarly is a useful tool in this process. <S> So are dictionaries. <S> So are beta readers. <S> So are spreadsheets, and checklists, and a dozen other things. <S> Each of these, properly used, will improve the quality of the writing. <S> Rejoice in the savory sausages that come out of the process rather than the less savory input to the process. <A> Good grammar was created to help us communicate our ideas accurately and effectively. <S> In general, though, the perfect grammar community is just another religion designed to create a club from which they can exclude others to make themselves feel included. <S> (Other such clubs are etiquette, Ivy League schools, etc.) <S> Always be aware that sometimes the rules will interfere with communicating your ideas. <S> ("This is the type of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.") <S> In those cases, don't worry about it. <S> There will always be someone who will point out flaws in your work. <S> Writing is about heart. <S> Use Grammarly if you wish, but anyone can follow the rules. <S> Create your prose and hire a proofreader to fix it later. <A> Don't feel bad. <S> Few people, if any, are perfect writers. <S> As an editor, I'd rather fix spelling and grammar and other technical aspects of writing for someone who can tell a story well than struggle with a poor storyteller who is technically a good writer. <S> For example, I'm a competent writer with a good handle on PUGS (punctuation, usage, grammar, and spelling) <S> but I dearly wish storytelling came to me as readily as writing mechanics do. <S> The reality is, you write the best stuff you can and then work with editors and proofreaders to help make it the best it can be. <A> Partial answer about punctuation. <S> The most "natural" way to improve would be to read a lot of books that interest you (as in, books that definitely went through editing) until you get intuitive understanding of the most commonly used punctuation points. <S> This really is a long process though, and if you want to learn faster <S> you need to combine it with reading about punctuation and applying what you learned to your own text. <S> Don't try to remember everything in one go, just start with the rules that concern you the most and don't be discouraged if you have to look up a rule more than once. <A> If you want to learn how to do something, learn from those who know how to do it well, and practice doing it well. <S> This used to be called "copywriting", and it's a good way to really internalize the language you're trying to express. <S> https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/want-to-become-a-better-writer-copy-the-work-of-others/ <S> Mine <S> the vast expanses of literary treasure for building blocks to create your own masterpiece.

In general, using good grammar will improve your writing. Not only to read but to take it slow. For example, if you are concerned about using commas, read about commas and try to find places in your text where commas should be.

What is the problem with starting a sentence with “and”? Few months ago, in my school, someone checked my writing, and said, “I’m not a big fan of starting a sentence with ‘and’,” and I don’t see a problem with it. Can anyone answer why some people dislike starting a sentence with ‘and’? <Q> I agree with the first comment. <S> You can start a sentence with anything you like. <S> In writing a story, sometimes it makes more sense or looks better if you break a few writing guidelines . <S> You'll only piss off certain strict english majors. <S> And in dialogue <S> that's just how people talk. <S> We use sentence fragments all the time, proper English syntax is so laborious we only keep it in formal meetings or when speaking to non-native speakers for clarity reasons. <A> Why is starting sentences with "And" a problem? <S> "And" is a conjunction. <S> Conjunctions are meant to join thoughts, ideas, phrases, actions. <S> Placing "and" at the start of a sentence means it is joining nothing -- exactly opposite of its intended usage. <S> Sentences that start with "And" are often "sentence fragments. <S> " <S> Sentence fragments are a no-no in formal writing. <S> Starting a sentence with "and" can be a sign of lazy writing. <S> In creative writing -- song lyrics, poetry, essays, dialogue -- there's nothing wrong with starting a sentence or two with "and. <S> " <S> In school papers, business writing, and similar situations in which formal grammar is expected, it's bad. <A> There are two parts to this question. <S> One is about starting a sentence with 'and' and the second is about school. <S> To take the second part first: at least in primary school, teachers try to get you to write what is considered to be Standard English. <S> Standard English is what any English reader in any country could understand. <S> There are certain 'rules' to Standard English, like you start sentences with capital letters. <S> Starting a sentence with 'and' isn't Standard English. <S> When you do an English exam, the examiner expects you to write in Standard English. <S> In fact, in England, there are marks allocated to using correct language in many subjects. <S> Therefore, your teacher doesn't want you to start sentences with 'and'. <S> The other part of the question is why you want to start with 'and'. <S> It is a coordinating conjunction and so is used to join two main clauses, usually. <S> What purpose is served by placing it at the beginning of sentence? <S> Personally, I very rarely start a sentence with 'and' unless it is part of dialogue. <A> General wisdom says starting sentences with conjunctions, conjunctive adverb, etc. <S> can weaken your sentences, especially if done frequently in the same text. <S> Plenty of good writers start sentences in this way. <S> As with all general rules, you should understand why people say don't do it before you decide to break it. <S> "Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively." <S> -- The Dalai Lama

Starting several sentences with "and" can be a sign of very lazy writing, or a compulsion.

How can I overcome that paralyzing fear that my writing isn’t good enough I've written a large section of my book. The questions that keep haunting me are: Is this story unique? Will people like it? I think it's becoming repetitive. Will the characters be loved? And a lot of questions. <Q> Author critique groups are valuable. <S> I have hosted one for years. <S> And certainly don't limit yourself to feedback from other writers. <S> Consider anyone you think can be thoughtful. <S> Feedback from others is helpful, but don't be a slave to it. <S> When someone objects to something you wrote, do your best to figure out the "real" objection. <S> If someone disagrees about a character you killed, for example, it may be a sign that you didn't communicate what you meant to through the death but that the death itself was still the right choice. <S> And always remember that criticisms of your writing are not criticisms of you personally. <A> Then you will know answers to at least some of your questions. <S> You can't answer them yourself, someone else has to answer them for you. <S> Regardless of what the outcome is, it will be liberating, because then you can move on to acting on their feedback. <S> Continuing forward, or fixing things that aren't working. <A> Happens A LOT. <S> To many writers. <S> A writer's opinion of a work when it's being written is very unreliable. <S> Just write on. <S> In the immortal words of James Thurber, "Don't get it right, get it written." <S> If it turns out that your book is as bad as you think it is now, nevertheless you will have learned something in the process that will enable you to write better books in the future. <S> After you finish it and put it aside for a month or two, you may find it's better than you thought. <S> You may also need to show it to beta readers to get a clearer view on it. <A> This video of Ira Glass (from This American Life) gets me through that problem every time. <S> By the time you first begin writing, you've already developed good taste, being able to tell good work from bad. <S> So in your early work you can see clearly how far it falls from the best stuff you've seen. <S> You have to recognize that gap, but also recognize that everybody has one of their own. <S> And know that you'll improve and narrow that gap with practice. <A> As with anything in life, you just do. <S> If you're not good at it, you'll get where you want to be, with time. <S> Write, write, write. <S> The fastest way to learn is to fail. <S> I started out writing very, very short stories <S> -300 words were a lot for me- that then turned into 10-pagers, and some day stories that I actually enjoyed. <S> The important thing here is the mindset. <S> It's not going to be perfect, nor are you going to write a phenomenal book in your first year of writing. <S> Be realistic, but also do what you like to do, don't force yourself to be perfect with the first try. <S> Write ahead, don't spend your time on going back and revising, rearranging and correcting your text, nobody needs it to be perfect if you don't expect it to be. <S> Everybody writes a lot of nonsense, poorly written characters, stories that lack depth. <S> But that's how they get to write amazingly interesting characters, witty jokes and mind-blowing plot twists later on. <S> I'm no man to say my writing is perfect, but again, I don't care. <S> I enjoy writing a lot and that's what matters to me. <S> I love it and am never going to stop. <S> Sometimes I show something to my friends that I'm particularly proud of - <S> but I don't get too discouraged if they say they don't like it.

Hearing what other writers have to say about your writing is useful because writers, in my experience, tend to be able to give a little more explanation of the reasons for their opinions than readers at large can. It doesn't matter if what you write is terrifically bad, short, if it has lots of errors in it; because that's the only way you'll learn. You have to enjoy the process, not necessarily the result. At the very least, you need practice writing. By showing it to someone and getting feedback on it.

How do I write less like a screenplay? I've come to notice I have a very specific manner of writing. Specifically, I've noticed that while I'm writing a book, I tend to pace and set up things more like I'm writing a screenplay than a novel. The way I've often described it to myself is it's like I'm watching an episode of a television show or movie and I'm frantically struggling to write down what is going on as the scene happens in real-time. This causes problems for me. I can picture what is going on very vividly in my head, but when I try to put it into words I kind of flounder. I can put in screenplay-esque descriptions of "character X gets up from their seat and does this", but when it comes to putting it into less dry terms to make it prose instead of stage directions I draw a complete blank. I also have an issue where I have things going on in very visual terms that make sense in a visual medium, but don't work as well when translated to the written word. For example, I have a character that's described as very large because they are supposed to visually take up a lot of space to look imposing due to their plot role as The Big Guy , but my beta readers have told me it comes off like I am fat-shaming them. However, I am good at taking advantage of internal monologues and thought processes that written fiction excels at but visual fiction like movies do not. However, I am writing a written story, not a screenplay, and my tendency to write like a screenplay has basically given me writer's block because I can't figure out how to translate what I am thinking onto the page for someone else to read, at least outside of very rough scene-setting notes describing what is happening like it is a script fanfiction (which is obviously not a good look for a written story). As as result, I am wondering how can I write less like a screenplay, and more like a novel ? I've seen other people on other sites say they've had similar problems, but I've never seen anyone discus how they solved it. The best I can think of is try to take those "stage guides" and flesh them out line-by-line until they resemble prose, but it just doesn't seem to click easily. <Q> I had a friend a few years back who had a very similar issue. <S> The advice I gave him was to focus less on what is happening, and more on how it is happening and the feelings around that. <S> Perspective changes are a huge help with this. <S> The issue you are having is really prevalent with a third-person, omniscient or semi omniscient perspective. <S> You are telling the audience what is happening from a very technically analysed viewpoint. <S> To counter this something I have done is change to the view of an onlooker or another character (possibly minor or insignificant). <S> Personally I am fond of putting this especially to use with deaths, having the character either describe their own feelings as they die to make it more personal, or by switching to an omniscient view to downplay a tragedy as a small part of a larger disaster. <S> So, instead of saying exactly what something looks like, describe what it resembles. <A> Read more and watch fewer things in visual media. <S> Writing pastiches may help. <S> Take a very uncinematic writer and try to write a scene the way that writer would have written it. <A> It's a perception and a vocabulary problem: it appears flat because you are describing what the characters are doing <S> but there's no emotions or sensation involved. <S> Describes actions that tell something about who your characters are, put aside the everyday tasks that you characters do, if you can. <S> Make the characters react to their environment and stimulus: if a guy is walking in the rain, don't just write that it's pouring and he's walking in the rain, but have him wiping his face, try to cover his head with a jacket too small, maybe trembling because of the freezing wind, etc... <S> The reader must feel it through your character's senses, and that means mixing not only what the character sees but what he feels or smells. <S> Refrain from using too much adjectives or adverbs (Things like "he answered angrily"), try to convey the emotion to your reader through indirect means (Maybe he can answer while pounding on the table instead). <S> Short sentences tends to quicken the pace of the action, while long sentences do the opposite, use that to your advantage. <S> Hope it helps. <A> In my opinion, there is no problem with using a screenplay- esque style. <S> I have used a more visually descriptive style for some chapters in my books; it is quite helpful at times in building suspense. <S> Whatever helps you best unravel the story is okay. <S> There's no dos and don'ts in writing. <S> It is okay if you want to take a more visual perspective to what is going on instead of delving into the psychology of characters - if you want the actions to speak for you rather than words. <S> Believe me <S> , it is not a problem at all. <A> I had this exact problem, and advice from here was instrumental in helping me solve it. <S> It all comes down to point of view. <S> In a movie, things are external, the viewer sees them on a screen. <S> In a book, we see everything through the eyes of either a character or the narrator. <S> For that reason, flat descriptions just sit lifelessly on the page. <S> They need to be colored by the character's emotions, experiences, biases and desires. <S> One great way to do this is with metaphors and "mini-stories." <S> For instance, "the forest was an army of soldiers in green uniforms," is a great description for a story about war <S> Or, if you want to be less on the nose, use it in a story where you want to build a subconscious mood of tension. <S> For comparison, contrast that with "the forest was a troupe of dancers in green costumes. <S> " It's the same forest, but a completely different mood. "His eyebrows were woolly caterpillars, fattening themselves up before winter." <S> "Her office was a secret garden, dark and full of mystery." <S> You can also use descriptions as a way to bring in backstory: "His face contorted the same way my father's did, just before he hit one of us." <S> "Her white hair cascaded down like the frozen waterfall behind my childhood house." <S> The reason your description of "the Big Guy" in your story turned off your readers is they couldn't help but take the description as representative of how the narrator or the characters viewed this person, and all they saw was a listing of his physical size. <S> If you want, instead, to give them a sense of the respect he commands, you need to find a way to weave this into the physical descriptions . <S> How about "He was a tank, and I was a scooter." <S> Or, "He took up all the space in the room. <S> It wasn't so much his size, it was the size of the shadow that he cast." <S> Or, "He reminded me of the giant sequoia trees I had seen while driving out west --ageless and imposing."

Using similes and metaphors may also be really helpful in this situation, but that does need to be carefully managed as it can be easily over done. Among the things that I humbly suggest to correct it: Enlarge your vocabulary to describe your character's actions ("dart" instead of "run", or "he flopped on the chair" instead of "he sat down") Try to pick works that are not very screenplay-like in style. You must use whatever narrative style you think fits your plot.

How do you make a complex but unlikable character? I'm at the point in my story planning where I need to develop all of the characters. I want this character to be just be a complete asshole, but have more than that one trait. I'm not sure how to write her out. You know what I mean? She's not the protagonist but I still want her to have less of a 2D personality. How should I go about doing this, any tips? <Q> It is highly likely, that you either end up with a 2d character <S> OR a character that people do <S> not actually hate (or dislike). <S> Look at it this way: <S> If we (the readers) understand a character's motives and background, we are way more likely to relate to or at least understand (maybe even defend) that character's actions - Even if these actions are perceived as 'bad'... <S> So, if we do not get insight into what lies behind the character's actions, we are more likely to simply perceive that character as bad/evil... <S> Therefore, when you talk about this character being 'an asshole', have you yourself worked out why ? <S> Of course, every person/character is unique, but if they do not 'suffer from' some disorder that makes you lack empathy, you most likely try to be a good person or treat people well - UNLESS they've been treated in a certain way, or have experienced some traumas. <S> In reality, there are close to infinite reasons why someone becomes an asshole... <S> If you want your character to be authentic, they should have a reason for being it. <A> Motivation <S> Why is this person an asshole? <S> Do they get a feeling of power from hurting other people? <S> Did they decide that bullying people into submission was just faster than trying to win them over <S> be reason? <S> How did they come to those realizations or develop those behaviors? <S> You get characters that feel real when you keep asking "why?". <S> You don't necessarily need to show all of those "whys" to the reader, but you will have to show some. <S> I like to use the seven deadly sins as a starting point. <S> Pride can be the esprit de corps of a soldier, in which case it may be positive, or it can be the towering arrogance of a supervillain, in which case it's obviously not. <S> Likewise Greed, Sloth, etc, can all explain various - positive or negative - character traits. <A> Ways to Make an Multidimensional Character <S> Backstory : It doesn't have to go on the page, but, it helps you, the writer, if you know where this character came from, and how she got this way. <S> Strengths : As the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi said, you can't be an effective villain without a lot of strengths and virtues. <S> A villain can be brutal-but-charismatic, or heartless-but-intelligent, for instance. <S> Hacker-Delany Traits : <S> Poet Marilyn Hacker and writer Samuel Delany came up with a simple metric for multidimensional characters: <S> They should a) play a functional role in the story (make things important to the plot happen), b) have personal, habitual traits that identify them AND c) <S> do things that are neither habitual nor functional. <S> Characters that only do one or two of these things within the story are not multidimensional. <S> Ways to Make an Unlikable Character Multidimensional characters are appealing, so you might have to work hard to keep the reader from being sympathetic to your multidimensional villain. <S> Kick <S> the Dog - Movies have a limited amount of time to build memorable characters, so screenwriters often use a "kick the dog" scene to establish a villain. <S> The person might seem like a good person, but once you see them kick a dog --or hit a child, or shove an old lady, or steal from the communion plate <S> --you know they aren't someone to sympathize with. <S> Kick the Protagonist <S> - It doesn't matter how great your villain is in other ways, if it's her mission in life to torture your protagonist, the readers' natural empathy with the protagonist will keep them from embracing the villain (usually). <S> Just Roll With It <S> - People love great villains.

Many a book, series or movie has built its popularity off a villain that people love, despite [he/she] being [a cannibal, a murderer, a mean girl, a serial cheater, a dark wizard, etc.]

How to write a character with an accent One of my characters is Russian and speaks English as a second language. I know that people with Russian accents tend to leave out words like “the” and “a” because they don’t exist in Russian. My question is, would it be annoying for a character to always speak like that? Would it come off as stereotypical or seem mocking? If so, what other technique can I use to portray this accent? <Q> It's not annoying, no. <S> Like Ram Pillai said in the comments, a Russian should talk like a Russian. <S> However, don't try to convey the accent phonetically. <S> That will get annoying pretty quickly and may come across as hurtful or mocking to some readers. <S> I suggest you look into common issues faced by Russian ESL students. <S> This web site covers some common grammatical issues. <S> I won't copy the website's contents as a whole, but other than dropping articles Russian students tend to struggle with tenses and auxiliary verbs (which they often drop), and also with prepositions. <S> As for qualities of voice, see point ten on this web site . <S> Russian intonation tends to be flat with sudden jumps in pitch, which may carry over when the character speaks English. <S> English has vastly more vovel sounds than Russian does. <S> If the character is self-conscious about his or her pronunciation, he/she may (not necessarily as a deliberate action) avoid words with difficult vowel sounds and replace them with words with more natural vowel sounds. <S> Perhaps even choose words which are a suboptimal fit for the sentence (example: "I stroke kitty" instead of "I pet the kitty" -- 'pet' tends to come out as 'pat' whereas the 'o' in stroke sounds the same in both Russian and English.) <A> How about she says it sometimes, but not all the time, because, say, she's taking classes to speak like an american. <S> I am writing a book with a british girl that says Mum sometimes. <A> There are many levels of having an accent. <S> And I know people who have such a light accent that you need to know about the language they speak and be familiar with the local accent where they live to detect the accent at all. <S> Most are somewhere in the middle, speaking with some accent but not all the time and not always to the same level. <S> Something I have noticed that when getting tired, my accent and mistakes become stronger and happen more often. <S> The same I have noticed in others who speak a foreign language much of the time. <S> And one more thing, when people have spoken their first language, they tend to struggle a bit more with their second language, often just for a moment. <S> (And that is not just a second language but also when talking with someone who speaks their home dialect or local accent, while usually they speak in an other dialect or other local accent.) <S> So you can have your Russian speak with a very light accent, only noticed when someone mentions it, and only when tired, stressed or after talking with others in Russian <S> you adjust the language he speaks with the mistakes you mention in the question or those mentioned in the link in the other answer. <S> That is the way to avoid the irritating 'wrong' language in your text. <S> On the other hand, if you have them speak only rarely, it can be that you want a strong accent all the time, again by reducing the occasions they speak <S> , you reduce the level of 'accent wrong language' mistakes in your text. <S> I find it annoying to read texts where I have to puzzle out every line written because it does not follow the normal language rules. <S> Best work it out to the level you are happy with. <S> Your acceptance level may well be much higher than mine, and it is your book, not my acceptance you need to cater for. <A> I think that you should make the accent the way you would like to. <S> It would be cool to base it off of actual Russian speech in the best way you can, but you could try something else, that's not very realistic. <S> I think that making special forms of speech using text is always interesting. <S> I think you should make a russian accent. <A> In writing there is no hard rule for how to convey an accent so much as is a matter of preference. <S> It's okay to use phonetics to convey an accent <S> but I would say don't lay it on so heavy that it interrupts the flow of your story. <S> For example a German might pronounce the "Th" sound as a "Za" sound, so you could throw in a slight tweak in the dialog every few words. <S> Za Winter vas cold. <S> It's still readable but conveys the meaning without over-complicating the sentence. <S> You can also tweak the sentence structure the characters uses in their dialog. <S> People who don't have English as a primary language will speak in an awkward manner. <S> They may be understandable but their grammar might be out of sequence. <S> They might stumble over idioms and miss the context of things that others who naturally speak will get. <S> The point is to convey the idea more then be exact.

You can achieve the affect of an accent by slightly tweaking words. I know people who always speak with such a heavy accent that they are hard to understand.

How to make "new apprentice" type info-dump less boring I'm writing a story wherein a teenager X gets suddenly and involuntarily enlisted in an sci-fi army. I need to explain certain technology to the reader, and the army needs to explain certain information to X, like how their FTL communication device works, why they don't have AI combatants and the like. How can I do it so that the reader does not have to vicariously sit through a lecture, and if that's unavoidable, how can I make it less boring? <Q> There are a few things you can do: Consider if it is absolutely necessary - if not omit it. <A> In reality, a new apprentice is not given a big infodump either, because they would be unable to retain most of it. <S> Since this is an army, they will have regulations on which information to present, in what order, and how to verify it has been understood before letting the new enlist even near anything that is more complicated to operate than a light switch. <S> If an army ever needs to improvise or rely on any skills they have not previously taught, things have gone sideways quite a bit already and there will be an inquiry as soon as possible. <S> So, the character will be given information only piecewise, and according to the same plan that their instructor was taught under: "do not go near device <S> X" "here are the necessary safety precautions you need to understand so you can go near the device <S> " "here are the necessary checklists you need to know by heart to bring the device into a safe state if you are ever not 100% sure that device X is operating as intended" step-by-step instructions of common tasks, with error paths ("if this gauge goes into the red, run that checklist") Details on <S> how it works come a lot later than that. <S> If the instructor deviates from that "safety first" order, that is already a moment of tension, and will be recognized as such by any character who understands that this is not how things are done. <S> Since your character is new to this environment, they can still break that mold and simply ask questions, but the answers will be short and try to move the conversation back to the task at hand. <A> Just to add to Jos and Simon's excellent answers. <S> Good knowledge of all the rules and systems is essential for you, the author, but it's often NOT necessary for either the character or the reader. <S> The experience of a confusing and unfamiliar world can be very compelling in fiction --if <S> the reader trusts that there are real answers to all the questions, and that the details aren't just being randomly generated. <S> If he's about to be tossed into battle, and it's vital <S> he know his opponents aren't AI, then have someone tell him just before he gets pushed out of a plane, or whatever. <S> The reader will be pulled in by the character's relatable experience of being forced to move forward without full info or understanding. <S> My favorite example of a book that conveys a tremendous amount of complex, rule-based exposition, without it feeling clumsy or dumpy, is Hardy's Master of the 5 Magics . <S> The main character needs to master five complex and very different magic systems in a short period of time, in the face of intense opposition, in order to win a consequential war. <S> The plot itself demands that the main character master a lot of the backstory, but nothing that isn't absolutely essential to his goals and his progress is shoehorned in. <A> Show, don't tell: These are all good answers, so this is really just my take on the same theme. <S> If you are writing a sci fi story, I'm often surprised how many stock details outsiders don't get. <S> Someone in the field will understand the difference between a light year and a parsec, and has a basic understanding of what a stunner or plasma gun does. <S> So consider your target audience. <S> If you're trying to get a sci fi audience, they know sci fi. <S> cross-genre stuff may be harder. <S> Integrate anything you do feel the need to explain. <S> DON'T INFODUMP. <S> As long as a fact is covered before the critical point in the story, it's good. <S> Sci fi/fantasy is more tolerant of separate sections explaining minute details than other genresi've seen, so if the technical stuff adds a lot to the story, split it out into a guide at the beginning or end <S> (avoid it unless it really does add quality). <S> The character is frustrated at getting the comm working, so you can have someone angrily explain it to them while berating them. <S> Facets of the device that will affect the story need to be explained somewhere, but anything else can be ignored once the character has the obligatory moviesque training montage <S> - they just know how to flip the knobs.

To avoid that info-dump, only tell the reader what the character absolutely needs to know , and only at the point he needs it. Use action - instead of a lecture, have your character figure it out for themselves or through discussion with other characters. Spread the information out, intersperse it amongst the narrative as much as possible. Or you can have the helpful person on the other end who will be a major character quietly explain to calm the panicked main character.

How should I write two huge evil reveals in one climax? I am only plotting my story as of right now, and I'm trying to put together a good climax. So far, A's parents were murdered by C. A is best friends with B, who actually works for C. Evil reveal #1 : B is finally admits to A that she's a traitor. Then C goes through with her evil plan, but it fails. Evil reveal #2 : B says she never cared for either side of the "war" and tries to kill A and C before fleeing the scene. Is that all too much? I might save the reveal #2 for the second book or something. Thanks in advance! <Q> Very subjective answer: <S> This is pretty much an opinion. <S> If we are breaking any character loyalty to B, then it doesn't matter if he is revealed as a traitor AND betrays A again with attempted murder. <S> B better have a good plan B (again, pun intended) if B is going to betray BOTH faction A and C at the same time. <S> B is pretty much set up as the villain in the sequel (?) <S> because no one likes someone who betrays everyone (unless they are wildly successful; people will forgive almost anything if a person succeeds. <S> Does A die? <S> Guessing not). <S> If you want people to care about B, then betray C, but don't actively betray A unless A is trying to STOP B from betraying/killing C. <A> As outlined, I see three major problems with this: <S> It's undermotivated - B <S> "has never cared for" either side? <S> That's pretty weak motivation for double-crossing betrayal. <S> It doesn't make much sense - Why wouldn't B have killed A or C before, given that she had both of their trust? <S> One betrayal undercuts the emotional impact of the other , and without much gain. <S> However, I see a solution that would improve all of these issues: <S> Give B a solid, very good reason for hating C, and then make her betrayal of A the price she has paid to win C's trust. <S> I wouldn't have her actually target A --again <S> , it strains credibility she would have held off so long if that was her aim. <S> Instead, her betrayal of A opens the door for her to strike at C. <A> Why is B revealing the treachery to A before the attack on C? <S> Unless there is a good reason why, to do it then, you could have C's attack fail, B attack C, A express shock and horror, and B <S> laugh and say, Ha, you didn't really think I was on your side? <S> before bolting. <S> (Perhaps in the belief that A's shock will give an opening.)

If you want people to sympathize with B afterwards, two betrayals at once pretty much kills that (pun intended).

Authenticity and writing under a pen name My question is about marketing and using a pen name. Ofc I want to connect to readers, but I wonder if it's possible to be authentic if you're not revealing your 'true' identity. Is this a matter of 'do what feels right to you'? Edit: I'm not asking about why authors use pen names, or who (known or unknown) or how. An unknown author who is working to market their own work can go to e-conferences, tell friends and family about their work, share it across all of their social media profiles. An unknown author who is publishing under a pen name has to build connections from scratch. My question is about building those connections under a "fake" identity. How do you authentically connect to readers using a pen name, outside of your work? Or is that not a question, do writers who publish under a pen name just focus on the work and not bother with trying to connect with readers on social or via email marketing? <Q> Names are only one aspect of "identity" - much like writing is only one aspect of your life, and writing under a pen name is nothing more than giving "NJM-as-author" a convenient label, so long as you aren't actually pretending to be someone else to cash in on their fame or ride their proverbial coattails <S> it's completely authentic. <A> Are people that go by a nickname hiding there true identity? <S> If so, I have several Bobs that will be very unhappy about this. <S> A pen name is just that, a professional nickname you've chosen to go by. <S> There is one big upside to a pen name - privacy. <S> You may wish to keep your writing and "day job" separate. <S> On a more serious note, Tim Ferriss, who wrote the "4 hour work week" talked about his life after the book . <S> He's had to deal with stalkers and death threats and has to be much more guarded in public. <S> Pen names are common enough <S> I doubt any sane reader would see it as inauthentic. <A> Whether a pseudonym subtly pushes you, specifically, towards glibness is a question only you can answer. <S> Writers who are known for their work in a specific genre and want to switch to a different one sometimes write under a different name. <S> Does that mean they're less proud of their work? <S> No. <S> If anything, they do it not to disappoint existing fans. <S> It's a valid reason, and plenty more exist. <S> Sincerely, Somebody writing this post under a pen name

Authors use pen-names for all sorts of reasons, marketing, because they think it sounds cool, because they want to separate the different styles and genres of their works.

How to call a paper or book holding charms/incantation/magic formula? Hope the title is clear enough. I'm also looking for any vocabulary related to the act of writing magic ( 'runes' as a magical writing system for example). <Q> To answer your main question. <S> A book containing spells and rituals is a Grimoire . <S> The term is widely used in modern Wicca and other areas. <A> "Runes" such as the Elder Futhark are alphabets which we tend to think of as used for magic, although that wasn't their only purpose. " <S> Rune" has been used more generically of late. <S> But that is an alphabet or set of symbols - but it sounds like you are looking for a term for the act of writing? <S> Like "inscribing"? <A> Fantasy Junkie: <S> Okay, this isn't a writing answer as much as a fantasy/D&D geek answer. <S> This is only a sampling, and looking up synonyms should get you more. <S> Fantasy literature is rich with this stuff, as are <S> games like D&D. just start digging and there's no end to the material. <S> A lot of religious terminology can be applied to magical writing, so this is also a good place to look. <S> Any old words can give things a magical feel. <S> Magic is old, so <S> scrolls are often described. <S> They aren't printed, so " inscribed " would be how they are written. <S> For example, the Egyptians would inscribe magic spells onto silver scrolls that they wore as amulets. <S> Use ink or pigments , and apply them with a quill or stylus ."Runes <S> " are good as magical symbols, as are glyphs , sigils , seals or even hieroglyph s. <S> I agree that a "grimoire" is a good magic book, as is a spell book or tome and could also be referred to as a codex , libram , manual or folio . <S> Specific spell books may have special names, like the Necronomicon (anything "-nomicon" sounds magical). <S> Many magical things have magical writing on them, like amulets , charms , periapts , phylacteries , talismans or fetishes . <A> If this is just a single paper holding your incantation, I would call it a scroll. <S> A collection of scrolls could be then joined into a spell book or, if written as a single work, a Grimoire as noted by Chenmunka.

I second @chenmunka that the term is "grimoire" for a book of spells and rituals.