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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In the story I am writing, the main character is not in control of the events of the story, I did this to create a strong sense of powerlessness, but I have found a problem. I am having difficultie...
I feel like I'm using too many commas. I'm a pretty young writer and I didn't exactly pay attention in English class very often (I was too busy reading a shit load of books and passing with C+'s) a...
Say there is a small detail in the beginning of the book that has a big effect later on. The reader might've forgotten about that by the time they get to that part. How should I remind the reader a...
I'm not sure about how many words I should have in my chapters. My books genre is fantasy, and my target audience is 10-14 year olds. Does anyone know how many words a normal chapter in a book has?
I am looking for any type of oral literature (folktale, poem whatever), that would include an inserted story, however minor, that is in its content foreign to the primary poem, folktale... Let me ...
I would like to know how to write in accordance with the Oxbridge tradition. I would like to know more about their writing style and if possible get a book that teaches it, or something similar to ...
I'm a freelance writer. Sometimes people ask me to write samples as a test. I notice that sometimes the test itself takes too long and makes me suspicious. I've had a lot of disappointing engagemen...
Think of all the millions of dollars actors are paid, and all the thousands of people who scroll by in the credits. Surely the cost of a printed book can't be translated to an audio book. The conce...
So I've come across this little (but very annoying) problem when writing my first novel in the present tense: I'm second guessing my choice of tenses all the time, very much afraid to end up being ...
I myself do not have panic attacks, but I do know a few people who have had them. A few even while I'm around-- so I know what I'm doing for the most part, but.. There is a certain scene in the st...
I love writing, but I can never truly get past the first few pages of a story that I am attempting. Even if it is well planned out. I always get stuck on what should happen next or I get bored with...
Imagine a story in which the criminal is, from the very beginning, already known to the protagonist. Now the task is to find the criminal, but the target evades capture easily. This is clearly dif...
I've just recently finished building the setting and plot of a fantasy coming-of-age story. I'm happy with the way it turned out; the character arcs feel compelling and the setting supports the plo...
Does there exist an abstract system that can help plan overviews or approximations of a creative writing piece, by way of symbols, conceptual abstract components, etc? I want a system that can hel...
I'm writing an action/adventure in the same genre as Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider. I've reached the climax, where the heroes have saved their friend from death at the last moment, and the cave/tomb...
I'm thinking of somewhat of a poetic way to describe how time flows, via an hourglass. Does sand simply 'flow' through an hourglass? Drip doesn't sound applicable, and 'stream' is just basically fl...
I am planning to write a book about an open source software product. Should I contact the creator of that software and get their explicit permission for writing the book? Or can I continue without ...
I'm working on a plot-driven novel. The plot stands, and the changes the characters undergo, that is, the character arcs have been devised. What I need now is the lack or fault that makes my chara...
So a little while ago someone said that I'll never be able to write on a native level because I wasn't born in the UK or America. I did, however, go to elementary school in the US at the ages of 5-...
I'm writing a story and it is really hard to avoid putting my own speech patterns into my stories. Especially for the mean and dark types. My character is a deceiving, mischievous leader. He plays ...
I should start by saying that this question is not this question, How to decide if a plot twist worth doing despite how similar they sound. And, the answer I'm looking for was not at this question ...
I am writing a novel called "Kimberly Rose," but the thing is, I'm 12. I'm not sure if there is an age cap when it comes to publishing books. Please tell me if you know.
I'm writing a story in first person. There's a point in the story where two characters are having a dialogue, while the narrator is listening. The problem is that the narrator is also in pain while...
I've been meaning to write this for a while, nevertheless there some points that I would love to have clear before doing so.
Is there a singular form for the ideas behind the words 'them' and 'they'? You have 'he', 'she', and 'they' (which often implies more than one person, but can imply one). In another tense you have,...
In genre fiction, the antagonist is usually either known throughout the book or revealed before the end, so that protagonist and antagonist can battle it out during climax. What I am wondering is,...
At the time period of the story, certain names are different from the modern day language. An example of the "Japan" word in Portuguese: Portuguese 2016: Japão Portuguese 1506: Iapam The que...
The culture I have created needs some unifying phrases but I'm having trouble thinking of some that spur emotion but do not sound silly or too technical. Are there there any techniques for generat...
What is important to keep in mind when planning a book? Is it important to create every character and it's abilities before you start to write the actual book? How hard is it to start writing if yo...
Servus, I once again started wondering what might be the problem that keeps me from finishing most of my novels. To compare, there are two novels about 400 pages; one of these was really liked by...
I'm having trouble deciding if the manner I have decided to narrate my story is too complicated or not. I have a story set in a completely foreign and alien world (fiction story). I then uproot my...
In the novel (3rd person omniscient) that I'm writing, there is one character that has an overbearing presence all through the story but is never seen and no one interacts with him. What I'm trying...
It's a first person novel, and the main character has just overcome some emotional and mental barriers in order to unlock his telekinetic potential, under the training of his mentor. “Do it, A...
I have an older source that has no pagination. My question concerns the correct mode of multiple parenthetical in-text reference to the source according to MLA style. In the works cited section: ...
I have a scene where two identical people talking to each other. There is no difference in terms of their physical appearance. The only difference is that one is standing while the other one is lea...
In a works cited page in MLA format, when citing a book part of the citation is, for example, Stewart, James. Calculus: Early Transcendentals. [EDITION] ed. Belmont: Brooks/Cole, 2009. Print. ...
What are the pros and cons of basing the world on the characters found in it and conversely what are the pros and cons of basing the characters on the world in which they live?
I am writing a series and need help creating a name for them. An example of what I am looking for would be something like Cassandra Claire's Mortal Instruments or Christopher Paolini's Inheritance ...
I am a 12 year old aspiring writer who would love to enter writing contests. I'd like to find some writing contests that are free to enter, are for people my age, and preferably, have prizes. Ho...
Is it better to fill your first draft with excessive detail and edit the unneeded parts out after or if it is better to write simply and go back and add in the details after it is done?
I have always been poor at writing things without including excessive detail, but I managed to rewrite my synopsis with very little detail and with personal detailed side notes not included within ...
I have a decently big online following (~40,000). This includes a blog, YouTube channel, Etsy, and other social media. My biggest thing is writing articles and blog posts, among some other content ...
I've recently started writing, but hit a wall during a certain scene. In the story, the characters have an open debate on discrimination in an attempt to raise awareness for their issues and pass n...
I am asking this question because I think we need a precise definition of what Show Don't Tell means if we are to decide if it is good advice or bad, or if it is a valid suggestion for certain pass...
I am new to APA style and have noticed that web search results for specific APA style questions (e.g. "apa style p-values") tend to yield results from Q/A sites or of people's personal blogs summar...
I'm working on a novel that is told from a single narrator in third person. A number of subplots detail the stories of secondary characters. My problem: From their point of view, I could easily w...
Sometimes authors invent regions, which are very similar to real ones, e. g. Gabriel García Márquez's Macondo (which is similar to real city of Aracataca) or William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha Cou...
I am aware that there are lots of different ways to do this. I'm being subtle about it thus far. Our standards of beauty are skinny but with an ample bosom here in the US for the most part. The wom...
I used to write poems in Hindi but i don't know the way to publish them in India. Many times i tried on google or my local publisher but they do ask me to give them content.
I was wondering about the use of separating fiction into "parts", similar to chapters but larger and spanning more text and using these to divide up books within a series. If I am unclear, refer to...
