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Q&A

General Q&A about the craft of professional writing, editing, and publishing. Questions about all types of writing are welcome -- fiction, technical documentation, scholarly articles, poetry, scriptwriting, blogs, and more.

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How can I highlight changes in HTML output from Flare, based on branch diff?

We use Madcap Flare for a large documentation set, with HTML output. (Flare source is a very HTML-y XML with some Flare-specific additions.) We use git for source control and new work is done on ...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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Including disabled characters without "inspiration porn"

We all have seen the headlines: "Touching Moment Where Autistic Boy is Asked to Prom", "Watch This Child With Downs Win Her Heat During a Swim Competition", etc., that are touching at first glance,...

6 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by weakdna says reinstate monica‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Can I write a book of my D&D game?

I am a long time Dungeon Master of Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder. My games run in a custom world of my own making. However, I utilise a lot of the traditional lore and races of D&D. I'm ...

4 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by linksassin‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Is it possible to narrate a novel in a faux-historical style without alienating the reader?

One thing that often annoys me in historical fiction or fantasy books is the dissonance between the writing style and the events and historical period described in the book. The writing is usually ...

6 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by PoorYorick‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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How do I stop using 'the' to start sentences so much?

Something that always bothers me in my writing is how often I start sentences with the word "the". A terrible nonsensical example: The dog ran through the rain-swept streets, chasing a ball he...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by linksassin‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Using real words from a foreign culture feels like 'Calling a rabbit a "smeerp"'

I'm working on a novel, that's set in pre-Islamic Persia, in the same general way that The Lord of the Rings is set in Britain. (Meaning, it's set in a world all its own, but there's this source of...

5 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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How do I write transitions between thinking and speaking?

I've just downloaded an open-source script-writing program, and have started converting the scripts for an anime I've been writing into industry-standard formatting. There are a few points in the ...

0 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by F1Krazy‭  ·  last activity 11d ago by Mithical‭

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How to avoid info dumps in fan fiction?

I was wondering what kind of advice do you have to avoid info dumps in fan fiction? Granted this can usually be avoided in fan fiction by sticking to what is known. But when you work with au's or o...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by meg_carroll‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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How can I make my 'first draft' good enough to be published?

One of my bugbears about writing is the editing process. I'd much rather get it right first time, rather than chop this and change that afterwards. Other industries would not tolerate the rather c...

5 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by robertcday‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Kevin‭

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Should creativity or eloquence in a technical document be removed during review?

I am working on churning out some technical documents, which are similar to a colleague's. I've copied some sections of his document as appropriate, and there are no concerns of plagiarism. His doc...

3 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by zr00‭  ·  edited 4y ago by System‭

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Linking documentation to Git commit comments

Using git to track modifications to the project allows contributors to include comments with each commit. If the project's guidelines, and managers' control, keeps those comments limited to a forma...

1 answer  ·  posted 6y ago by Gypsy Spellweaver‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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What is the difference between limited third-person narrative and free indirect discourse?

Free indirect discourse is a writing technique that makes the writing display the character's thoughts whilst still remaining in third-person narrative, with 'he' or 'she' as pronouns. As an exampl...

2 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Fabjaja‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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How to describe an everyday routine?

I have a character who is living through a very regular everyday routine for a longer time, let's say a couple of months. How do I describe this routine and give the impression of time passing by i...

5 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Lukas‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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How do you communicate to people that writing is a job and prevent interruptions?

I’ve been a writer for fifteen years, five as a full-time writer, and still haven’t figured out how to get the people in my life to view it as a job. Right now, I’m editing a novel to a very tight ...

4 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by GGx - Reinstate Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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How to write a scientific journal?

For a long time I've been searching for some reference on how to write a scientific journal but failed to find one. I specifically want to write a scientific journal to be used as my personal jou...

1 answer  ·  posted 6y ago by antonyjr‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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How should I start to write a flash fiction story?

I recently saw a contest for writing flash fiction - the contest rules were that it had to be under 100 words long. I thought "Hey, that's cool! I'll give it a shot." So I sat down, and tried to s...

2 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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How to be mindful of the reader when handling disturbing/distressing subjects?

I’m attempting to write some ‘difficult to read’ scenes such as violence, rape, trauma, etc. And I’m not talking about ‘good’ violence such as in Game of Thrones or a Quentin Tarantino film. The no...

6 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by sudowoodo‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Are more or less details better for details that do not play a role in the story but describe where part of the story takes place?

I'm testreading a novel for somebody I know. It's an adventure novel targeted at teens, with ~60k words. At one point in the first quarter, one of our protagonists comes across some huts. The huts ...

2 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Mithical‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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About the Scope of Sections and Paragraphs

Consider a document structure like this: 1. First-Level-Heading Some text to give an overview about what I want to tell in this chapter. In LaTeX, this heading would be produced using the \sectio...

1 answer  ·  posted 6y ago by pasbi‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Acronyms in Technical Writing

I can't find a standard, is the most common use to have the abbreviation followed by the defintion? Example NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization

4 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Rachel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Resurrecting a story: Rewrite or Edit?

I started a book about 2 years ago, got about halfway through, and then got sidetracked. I know this is a typically bad habit of novelists... Fortunately, the book idea that distracted me made it t...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by Stu W‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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How much detail is too much?

I've read a few amateur stories online and sometimes the author will include so much detail that the reader gets a little bored or distracted and forgets what the actual story is talking about. How...

5 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by M. McGarry‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Canina‭

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Recommend binding for book to stay open

I would like to self-publish a book with a binding that allows for the book to stay open if you put it down on a desk. What would be an affordable way of accomplishing this? Perhaps you need to k...

0 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by aparente001‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Why is there such strong objection to the use of said-bookisms?

I am surprised by the vehemence of many writers' objection to said-bookisms -- the practice of using a verb other than "said" or "asked" in order to convey dialog. Writers are told you can't hiss a...

2 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Richard Stanzak‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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How to structure a sentence containing long code examples?

In the context of a technical manual, I need to write instructions guiding users through several standard manipulations. When providing examples of these manipulations, I have written a short sente...

4 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Dave Jones‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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Using LaTeX with publishers?

Background: Im working on a rather long instructional book, and have just started trying to use LaTeX. The book doesn't have any scientific notation in it, and most of the diagrams I made in other ...

0 answers  ·  posted 10y ago by elburzs‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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In end user documentation, should screenshots come before or after the text that references them?

The end user documentation I'm writing makes use of screenshots (and partial screenshots) to show the user what I'm referring to in procedural instructions or conceptual explanations of the softwar...

2 answers  ·  posted 11y ago by Matthew Rodatus‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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Getting details of a past century right

I have been gathering ideas for a novel. The basic idea is in place; the story combines two different eras but the same place. How do I get the little details about the place, the people, their lif...

4 answers  ·  posted 11y ago by Kuchiki Byakuya‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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How do you track dependencies for your co-authors?

I and one or more co-authors, sometimes geographically distributed, are working on a set of related documents. Sometimes I will make a change in my part that affects someone else's part; this coul...

4 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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Will my readers feel like they are reading a children's storybook if there are illustrations in my novel?

I'm writing a novel. I also have good drawing skills. I would like to add illustrations of the setting, locations, and characters. I may include 8 or 10 illustrations (the novel is approximately 20...

5 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Editors: Edit on first read, or read and edit on second round?

I edit novels (among other works). I was having a discussion with someone (not an editor) who didn't understand my technique. What I do is read through the document, and the moment something occu...

1 answer  ·  posted 13y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Pantsing a story?

I heard a writer talking about pantsing a story. What does that mean?

2 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Elizabeth Schechter‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Amadeus‭

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Dumping an entire world for dramatic effect?

About 1/3 of the way through my story the main antagonist "wins" and is able to completely remake the world of the story into his notion of an ideal world. The "new" world shares some elements wit...

6 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Mephistopheles‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

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I want to make two of my characters fall in love

My story is about two gang leaders. The female is the leader of the largest gang in the country. The guy is the leader of the 2nd-largest. They meet at a café where the guy instantly falls in love...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Hail‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by DPT‭

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For starting a blog, is a niche blog or general/misc content better?

I am thinking of starting a blog and wondering how I should approach it. Is it better to have a niche blog or is general/miscellaneous content fine?

5 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by yashikaissrani‭  ·  last activity 4mo ago by Mithical‭

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In 2021, which publishers distribute novellas?

The Hugo awards are prominent fan awards in the SF&F genre. In 2021, I noticed that all of the finalists in the Novella category are from a single publisher, Tor.com. Novellas have, I underst...

2 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Mark Baker‭

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How do we prevent Madcap Flare from injecting non-breaking spaces in our documentation?

We use Madcap Flare for our documentation, and it has an annoying property: if you happen to have the shift key down when you type a space, it inserts a non-breaking space (&#160;). Our docume...

2 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 2mo ago by Mithical‭

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How would you pop the reference to a minor case into the ‘Application' section of an essay?

I don't understand the example emboldened below. Can't you add just a superscript number in the text, then in the footnotes cite that "minor case"? Unquestionably one superscript cannot "detract fr...

0 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by TextKit‭

law
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How do we get Flare to stop modifying .gitignore?

We use Madcap Flare for our documentation, and the project is checked into git. (In case this matters, this is a locally-hosted git server, not GitHub.) The project uses a .gitignore file to aver...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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block-quotation narrative with dialogue

Over on the Judaism site, I summarized a narrative text in a block quotation. Because the narrative is well-known, I expected many people to skip the block quotation; therefore, I did not want it t...

2 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by msh210‭  ·  last activity 2y ago by Mark Baker‭

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How much does Amazon make on Royalties earned but not paid?

A recent answer here indicates Amazon has a pretty restrictive payment policy. So minor authors selling books in multiple countries could have hundreds of dollars due them that have not yet hit the...

1 answer  ·  posted 9y ago by James Jenkins‭  ·  last activity 9y ago by James Jenkins‭

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What text format is least likely to clash with ebook formats?

There are several different software products for collecting and formatting the electronic written word. Microsoft & Google, are two big names offering products, there are also many others. Lo...

4 answers  ·  posted 10y ago by James Jenkins‭  ·  last activity 10y ago by James Jenkins‭

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How to convert .epub to .pdb for testing

I've seen some conversion sites that can convert .epub files to .pdb files but I was unaware of a source library or a way to convert a file locally for testing on the Nook. So my question is: Do y...

1 answer  ·  posted 10y ago by DᴀʀᴛʜVᴀᴅᴇʀ‭  ·  last activity 10y ago by DᴀʀᴛʜVᴀᴅᴇʀ‭

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How do I publish a book permanently free on Amazon

I have tried to publish a book permanently free on Amazon but I couldn't. I have seen many books on Kindle that seems to be permanently free. How do I publish a book on Kindle and keep it free fore...

1 answer  ·  posted 10y ago by Alexandre Marcondes‭  ·  last activity 10y ago by Alexandre Marcondes‭

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Are there studies on the optimal amount of rows/columns per page?

Are there studies on the optimal amount of rows/columns per page as far as usability ease of reading of large ebooks (e.g. hundred+ pages)? I can see at least three distinct factors playing into t...

1 answer  ·  posted 10y ago by DVK‭  ·  last activity 10y ago by DVK‭

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How can I make a character sound condescending?

In one chapter, the PoV character meets up with her sister. Her sister is supposed to be fairly stuck-up and thinks she's a complete lowlife, so she talks down to her the whole time. I have the Po...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Evil Sparrow‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Canina‭

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What topics can be used when meeting my readers?

I understand that I need not to be anxiety about any meetup - just come there and the conversation will flow to itself. However, after two meetups with two of my readers, I realize that I was quite...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by Ooker‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by levininja‭

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How do I deliver a historical plot reveal?

This question was asked elsewhere by geneaux and is copied here in accordance with the CC BY-SA 4.0 license there. Right before the climax of my SciFi novel, there's a big reveal about who the b...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

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How to prove that my blog is just not average?

In the question What can I ask my readers to help me and how?, a skeptical answer is provided: my blog which is about challenging existing dogmas is just an average. There are many cranky blog of s...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Ooker‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

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Does a point of view need to be introduced when or right after the character is introduced?

In the novel I'm trying to write, I probably will have to introduce a second point of view because my initial main protagonist will be mostly unable to act after some point. Now I'm considering to ...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by celtschk‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mark Baker‭