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.
Filters (None)
Frequently, at least in the software world, it seems that terms get assigned a meaning over time that is more general than the original definition. REST is a good example of this. While REST refe...
In technical translation (e.g. of manuals), the quality of the source text often is not very high. This concerns not only the language used, but also the structure of the whole document. Should te...
I was asked to prepare an overview of an existing IT architechture and provide a document that consists of weaknesses analysis and suggestions on how each of the weak spots can be improved. How to...
My novel is developed in an East Asian environment (specifically Japan) and my main character is not Asian, she is from Central América and is Mixed Race. Now, my main character is going to refer t...
My story is a little bit weird because it starts in a Spanish speaking country and then moves to Japan where everybody speaks japanese and I don't know how to introduce this new language that will ...
I am going through a difficult time in my life and, as a keen amateur writer I’m seriously considering writing about my experience. My motivation is two fold, firstly I believe it will help me, but...
Background: I'm working on a game that has multiple paths for players to choose from. The choices the players make can lead them to very different endings. There are many bad endings but only one t...
Must writing always be done in the tone/style of ordinary contemporary speech? For example, some people might say that the conjunction "for" is archaic and should not be used in modern prose, but ...
Apologies for the difficulties I've been having, and leaning for help here. Every step seems to be its own stumbling block. Question: All else being equal, is a positive desire/goal/motivation (of...
I have an idea for the beginning of a story. I have the setting, the protagonist, and the events that set the story in motion, including the inciting incident and the first plot point. I have, in s...
I have characters who have to use false names. Should the narrator use their real name or false name? For example, if person A was being called Adam when their real name was Archie, person B would ...
I want to have an underlying message in my writing but I really don't want it to come across as annoying or too preachy. Thanks!
I'm writing a story written in third-person limited, and the main character has no real name. They simply go by the nickname they're given by the people they hang around at the time, resulting in m...
How much dialogue to use when novel writing? I find it so boring and unimaginative to write, but yet when I read I appreciate that it often provides key information for the story. How much is too ...
I'm citing several podcasts in an MLA 8 bibliography for a PhD student. Many have authors/hosts with names such as "FriedPapita and Myte" (2 authors), or just "Jaime" (first name only). I've don...
Just a short question, but is there a term for eras or ages being mixed together in a story? To be more specific, I'm writing a story which is primarily set during the Middle Age. However, some o...
Is directly showing a characters inner thoughts and conversations with themselves too telly or cheesy?
Imagine you're a protagonist in a story and you find a dead body, you go up to the corpse and find it's bloody face to be beautiful. How would you describe the corpse's face? Is there a specific wo...
If I have a long scene in a cafe with a couple arguing (comedy) can I split the scene up by changing the camera angle to a couple in another corner? It is technically the same scene, but it could b...
Re: editing a cookbook Other than trademarked names, should ingredients in the recipe lists be capitalized? Thank you in advance.
I know this question has been asked a few times, and I’ve read all the helpful answers, but can’t implement them in my situation. So, would love some further assistance. I’ve written a psych thril...
I have this sentence: Rebecca lived in the building and was one of my wife's closest friends. One of mine too, I supposed. With "I supposed", I'm trying to convey that if you had asked the ...
I feel I've got a huge obstacle, whenever I'm pretending" to be a character and trying to make out how he/she would react. I feel strongly that the mentality of the creator is reflected in his wor...
I have three protagonists working towards the same goal but with different motives. They are co-protagonists each with their own character arc and resolution. Circumstances bring them together but ...
I have a story which has some controversial social problems, and my intention is to just show these issues (for drama) realistically and impartially (i.e. just showing the facts, without imposing a...
I know we need to show and not tell, but is it still okay to sometimes tell instead of having to show it? For example, I wanna let the reader know that humans in my story are actually the same spec...
Summary Starting from the position that -- with modern web delivery -- the line between technical communication and marketing content is fading (as all the content is available to business and tec...
In my writing there are eight groups of people, each with their own language that they speak. Do I put large amounts of writing into their language or english? Do I write it first in theirs, then i...
The deadline is looming and someone realizes the product can't be shipped without documentation. Once the product leaves the remit of the software engineers (who obviously only ever write wonderful...
As I begin to write a narrative (I haven't decided yet how long it should be), and as I develop the plot, I was wondering whether or not I should give the narrator a name. It was one of those rando...
I am in the process of developing an online profile for my writing. Something marketable to future employers. I'm hung, though, on whether to use a domain name like "mynamewriter.com" or something ...
It's commonly said, mainly here on Writing SE and mainly by Mark Baker's answers, that "a story is a promise". The beginning of the story sets the promise and the ending fulfills it. A story that d...
I have been working on a book for a while, and I probably will be done with it soon. My work is very original in my mind and in the end, this book will be very high quality. But I have been wonderi...
Typically, the voice of marketing content doesn't match the voice of technical content -- marketing is trying to persuade you that you need something; technical writing is generally instructing you...
I have a Wordpress where I post short stories I write. It's not popular, mostly just family and a few random people follow it. Occasionally, I want decide I want to further work on something I post...
I'm not talking about if it's right to go like: "See you later, Mom!" Sierra grabbed an apple and ran out of the front door. I'm more concerned with something I remember seeing but can't remember ...
I think I've written a pretty good chapter one, but now the question is: where do I go from there? I mean: should I introduce a new POV character? Can I jump ahead in time a little to somewhat af...
I have recently undertaken a personal project to translate my WIP novel into Japanese in parallel with writing it. I am managing both in LaTeX and editing them in vim, but the topic itself is too ...
I completed my first fiction novel a short while ago (heist/romance). I've been trying to get a literary agent by viewing their websites and following their submission requirements. However, it has...
I have a problem with the protagonist of one of my stories. In the story he's in, he dies at the end (self-sacrifice), so I readily made sure to flesh him out the most possible, because, at least i...
I am trying to create a game that has a small plot (maybe more of a theme). The plot just describes why the characters are fighting each other. Other than that I have not fleshed out the story. Ho...
Just a general question, but would anyone actually read a side story to my main novel about a side character? He plays a big role in the story actually, but he doesn't get much recognition in the ...
I'm working through my chapter 1 for about the 5th time. As a generality, I love my story and characters, all of them, even the psychotic ones. But, it is becoming more and more of a slog to make...
I'm writing a descriptive essay about a bird, which is a metaphor of my cell phone. So far, I have been using the pronoun "it" when describing the bird/cell phone; however, it feels awkward as th...
I am going to publish an article on this website. I was going through author guidelines section and I found this piece of information: By sharing any contribution you agree to grant 90min.in...
So, I knew my Chapter 1 would be tedious last night, but i was still surprised that everyone asked that it be, instead of a Chris McCandless-style solo exodus to the wilderness (which is how the th...
The title explains it. I'm looking for a place to post my writing and easily share it onto Facebook or Twitter. I know there are A LOT of websites, but it seems like there are too many. I'm look...
I write something between fantasy and sci-fi. But if someone would ask me what age group, target group I'm writing for I wouldn't know how to reply. I feel that if a six year old couldn't be all...
A poem I am scanning has the word "in" stressed at one point in the poem, but just a few lines below it the "in" is not stressed. Is this because the poet sees it as said differently, with differen...
My character is a female hive mind, She is a powerful witch that steals the bodies of young women and uses them as puppets. She can communicate with their bodies with a psychic link similar to the...
