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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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What determines genre?

Is the "genre" a piece of fiction belongs to determined by the author, or by the editor and publishing house? Is there an established definition for each genre, or is it largely ad hoc? I ask bec...

6 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Zayne S Halsall‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

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What techniques are used to plot long (multi-novel) story arcs?

As a very visual person, I have always considered plotting a story to be somewhat like knitting or macrame. How do series authors handle multi novel story arcs? Do they just keep throwing out lin...

0 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Larry Smithmier‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Fan Fiction: a crutch or a good start?

Writing is writing, but I am not confident enough to take on creating a whole world from scratch. Will writing fanfic or writing in other shared world spaces be beneficial, or will it simply allow...

8 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Larry Smithmier‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Jumping on the Zombie bandwagon

Is it too late to jump on the zombie bandwagon? There are loads of stories about the possible popular outcome of an apocalypse, is it possible to squeeze anything more out of it? Or, maybe it wou...

0 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Axarydax‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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How do I write a synopsis?

I have to write a synopsis to submit to an agent. Are there any guidelines for writing a good synopsis?

3 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Elizabeth Schechter‭  ·  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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What is Literary Fiction?

I keep hearing about literary fiction, and how it is so much better than genre fiction. What exactly is literary fiction?

6 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Elizabeth Schechter‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Decide on a theme/overarching meaning before writing a short story?

I want my short story to have a specific point, to highlight a certain truth. But I wonder in which order I should proceed: make the plot, characters etc. first and worry about fitting my theme int...

3 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Qcom‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭