Posts tagged technique
Someone told me that the way I write is almost like I'm writing from a template, how do I break away from this? I always end up with this: Saying what the person is doing in the present tense, ment...
For example, in Skype conversations you use emoticons. I might use (headbang) after a phrase to express frustration, or I can have a (facepalm) moment, or I can write a joke and add (rofl), etc. B...
I am writing about a person who is transported 10 years into the past, and has the chance to relive their life (actually being able to: 'knowing what I know now I would...') The trouble is I keep ...
Each and every time I read my stories to people, only one comment is usually made, albeit in different ways... I'm just not sure if they're being honest, or if I am actually doing something right. ...
I have observed that I often address the reader in my essays to lay down a point. To give you an example, I'll write: You can utilize every productivity hack that's out there, and still be b...
Occasionally, it feels easier to write individual scenes of a prose and later connect them somehow. Does this method have any significant benefit and/or throwback over the regular "perpetual" way?
Is 'creative writing' simply a synonym for 'fiction'?
I have read Steven Pinker's Sense of Style, which is a great book. In chapter 4, he talks about how to form lucid coherent sentences, and in chapter 5, called "Arcs of Coherence", he extends his ...
My question is rather simple. In fact, it's in the title and requires almost no explanation. We can see throughout literature the use of names and title. For example in Of Mice and Men we can obse...
I've always struggled with this. I like to write at the top of my knowledge without leaving those not having the benefit my experience behind. It may sound arrogant but if I write for the lowest c...
Im writing a fictional dieselpunk story based on the WW2 era in a world of my own. The protagonists are two squads (one from the "Axis" and the other from the "Allies") with the characters within t...
If I want a character to respond with anger, I want the reader to understand why the character is angry. I want the reader to be caught up in the the events that lead to that anger and be given rea...
In movies and TV shows and the like, there are often details that the writers work in that are hard to catch at first sight, but can be found if you happen to look for those details. For example, C...
I am drafting a novel outline. The interesting part (and thus the part I should be writing) would come with several characters with preexisting romantic relationships. The choices they make will ha...
In the current draft of my book, the evil dictator whose body is encased in a silver alloy talks basically by allowing magic to move to seep into the silver shell, dispelling it and causing vibrati...
I know this sounds like an oxymoron, but these do exist. I have some examples here, and some of them include movies. Feel Good Tragedies Empire Strikes Back The Prestige Order of the Phoenix. De...
I'm not an author, but I often wonder if I was to write a novel would it be best in third person or first person? I like being able to delve into the main character's thoughts in first person, but ...
Background I've had this question for a really long time. A lot of my work seems quite 'floaty' and 'old style' because I describe things in a very metaphorical and surreal way. For example: H...
I'm writing a somewhat depressive story that has no comic reliefs and no happy scenes/moments (except the ending and one or two in the beginning). The only scenes that aren't sad or negative are th...
I have seen this in visual media, but not really in written media so I am sort of at a loss as to how to proceed. I am writing a first person narrative where the main character is almost constantl...
I have a similar question as the one asked in 'How to write montages in prose? (fantasy novel)' however, there has been no answer in this and it is far too general. The question I wish to ask is;...
I am currently writing a story that alternates perspectives between the hero and heroine every other chapter. I have gotten a lot of work done with the heroine's chapters, but I have been trouble w...
Are alliteration and dissonance considered mutually exclusive? My understanding is that alliteration means repetition of consonant sounds to make text flow more harmoniously, while dissonance means...
In this question about creating subtext, Where in the writing process do you work in subtext?, the question of what the word subtext means was raised. This question is to address this issue. Of co...
I am writing a persuasive argument in rebuttal of a specific document. I'm tired of the word "distortion," and this time I want to say it with a simile. Please help me find a good simile for this...
I have previously mentioned in other posts that I was a molecular biologist and ICU nurse. Sadly, that means I am bedeviled with a double dose of bad writing habits: academese and medicalese. Just ...
I have written both professionally and on an amateur level for several years. A lot of it basically fell into my lap, and it hasn't been my primary profession for a couple of years now. I have some...
I am trying to use more action tags to supplement the 'He said. He asked.' dialog tags. But, now I have read several blogs suggesting although 'said' is invisible and can be sprinkled as liberally ...
I struggle with writing an awful lot and would like to improve. One of my main problems (and the reason why writing seems to take me a very long time) is that I seem to be unable to write in shorte...
I'm working on one of the final scenes of my novel. The President is a kind, intelligent, fatherly man. Sara is a high-ranking NSA official and has been through months of intense pressure that has ...
I'm working on a revision of my novel and noticed that I mark the passage of a very brief time, of a hesitation, using a small number of descriptions that become repetitive, e.g. variations of ...
I have the following sentence that I am thinking of using as headline ` Shop online. Locally. ` However, I am not sure if this headline connects well with it sub-headline. Pick up the g...
How can a protagonist, being a writer himself, share a full short story he has written with the readers within a short story? What are the techniques he can use to separate the frame story from th...
I needed some help with feedback with my writing. I am new to writing and would really appreciate if someone can read it and provide feedback. Any kind of tips and tricks or suggestion are welcome....
I have a main character, I'm attempting to disguise this fact. But it is tricky. Out of nowhere, the character rises up as a successful military leader. The events that lead up to that are plausibl...
I've had a story developing inside my head for years (literally about 5 or 6 years now) but every time I try to put that story onto paper it never turns out how I wanted it. It feels like this is m...
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...
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 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 writing a novel of historical fiction containing a short scene in which the city of Kiev is bombed on the first day of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Twenty-two people were k...
I'm looking for several suggestions for techniques to handle 2 similar cases ... While writing my current non-fiction book, there are a few times where a section ends with somewhat of a teaser of ...
I've written a scene in a short story where the character and her party are suddenly attacked in the night. It's written in first-person and the character had just been shaken awake from a nightmar...
A story I’m trying to write have several characters who have been raised in foster families. None of them have been physically or emotionally abused, but I still felt like their childhood sould hav...
Please, before flagging this question as subjective or generic, take a moment to read it through. IMO this is a valid, specific question, albeit a bit complex. To try and unpack the admittedly obs...
So, the character is an anti hero, he loses all his morals, and becomes the very thing he fights against. How can I make the downfall of this character more emotionally moving/impactful without m...
cue Team America song Okay, now that you know I like to have fun with my writing... I'd like to write a montage in prose fiction. It would be a sort of a wizard training sequence, or something t...
For a character that whistles when pronouncing the "s" sound, how can I write in the lisp effectively? I tried using multiple "S"s, but it reads as a snake-like sound, which I don't want since the...
How can one organically develop a strong relationship (father-son, to be precise) between 2 strangers over the course of a novel without making it seem contrived?
I am about to apply to a grad school, and I have prepare the SOP for it (think it like a cover letter to apply to a job). I know the rule: show what I've got, not tell how I think I'm cool. I've tr...
The main problem for someone moving from non-fiction to fiction is the development of a plot. It is especially frustrating to someone who already knows how to string words together and "write well"...
