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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I built and sold a business during my first decade of adulthood. During that period, I read a lot of business books published by the popular press. However, I didn't begin to succeed until I appreh...
I am trying to do research on a "military" character for a novel I am writing. I want him to have a great deal of combat experience, and in and out of many tours and wars. I am hoping I can have a...
When you are directly quoting a source who also has a cited source in the sentence or sentences you are using what is the best course of action?
I'm trying to write a story based in medieval times. Some of my characters are kings and nobles so I'm trying to make their conversations more... "regal"... or "elegant". But I'm unable to create ...
I'm getting into non-fiction technical writing (a blog, but potentially ebook or otherwise). Often the best technical advice come from dissecting and synthesising good and bad examples from the ind...
Many young (and adult) people like the idea of being an author. Many even write short stories, or novels, or movie scripts, in their spare time, sometimes publishing them online or in amateur publi...
It seems that a lot of authors want their heroes to be marked in a special way. It is not enough that these protagonists are going to be heroes, no; they seem to require having a mark that makes t...
So two days before my character is thinking about something and she is in her room. How do I show that two days later her friend is talking to her? Here are my rough sentences: She relaxed whe...
What are the criteria an acquisitions editor uses to judge whether or not s/he accepts a manuscript for publication?
I just read a story on the news that made me go: Oh my, this would make a great short story. I've never written a story based on a news article before. So I'm wondering, will someone sue me? Am I i...
In an e-mail similar to this, where is it correct to add a post script? Before or after the signature? Dear Professor X, I am John Smith.... Sincerely yours, John Smith ...
I have to write a character sketch, and I have to pick an object (example: vase, key, dress, ect.) to base the character on. So the object has to be important, but my professor doesn't want it to b...
Are there any good books or Web sites to help get started? I've always had a desire to write and would like to try it out, in this age of the Internet is that the best way to go or are magazines an...
I finished writing my essay about Sam Selvons "The Lonely Londoners" which is written in creolized English. The use of creolized English comes with many grammatical as well as spelling errors. Now ...
I'm an amateur writer who's never been published. I think my stuff is good, I've had others tell me it's good, but I truly don't know where I stand. I love the fiction that get published in popular...
I must write a book for the university and I am looking for software. The style that I want is like the books of O'Reilly, Apress or Packt. I need: Insert a table of contents (automatic). Divide...
I am trying to describe this character: Source Her attire is pretty easy to describe, Purple and Gold (while it looks yellow she addresses herself with majestic plural, so gold would be more fi...
I have been asked to write various technical and non-technical articles about computer usage, Windows usage (perhaps some Mac and *nix as well if they let me), Windows repair, and various other tec...
I am writing a book which includes a review of old software and I would like to add a couple of screenshots for some of them. How do I go about this legally or, alternatively, does this qualify as ...
I'm currently writing a little book which explains all equations that first year students will use. There is a law that requires many assumptions and I have referred the student to the page in the ...
In a story I am writing an insane character speaks to another. Unfortunately, I don't know how I can convey a person's insanity through their speech. What in their verbal behaviour makes a person a...
In a novel I am currently writing, characters frequently express thoughts. Following the advice I found here, which states: "Never use quotation marks for thoughts, even if those thoughts are inner...
As a person trying to write poetry, I always have a problem trying to get subject material(especially for the past six months) and formatting it, or trying to put it to specific forms like a verse....
Not sure if this is on topic here: I remember back when I was a kid, I read a story about a US president. When he was a kid, he was stupid and fooled by people. They often gave him a choice of a ...
I just volunteered to produce the concert program booklets for a recital series starting in October and I'm wondering what is the best way to go about creating a multi-page booklet that would inclu...
I am trying to achieve a collection of books by the same author that I can give to my grandchildren. I have collected first editions and mostly first prints. But I am not clear that if I collect th...
I would like to know where to reference what true or real names and events can be used in fiction novel. Example: Can you use words such as NFL or names of awards? I understand you cannot use ly...
I always find myself using CTRL + F to remove the words/phrases I think I'm repeating too much (most of the time they are metaphors). In the following passage, however, I'm not very sure whether t...
I can plan all sorts of specific aspects in a novel such as characters, locations, and the plot in general, but I struggle to actually write it the way it is in my head. How do I learn to write rat...
I am writing my thesis report and I am doubt which one is acceptable and correct? 1- Section 1 1-2- Subsection 2 Or this way? 1 Section 1 1-2 Subsection 2 Please indicate if using a das...
I'm writing my first serious novel and I have 155 pages with 60,000 words. I'm wondering whether this is normal. I still want to write at least another 100 pages or more, but I don't want to write ...
I'm very confused in regards of copyrighted names, some say you can copy right names, and then I read that you can only trademark names and copyright them ONLY if the book/movie is named after them...
Is there a difference in quality between a hardcover book offered at WalMart (I have heard these described as "mass" hardcovers) and the same book sold through a bookstore?
I have made several stories, not short, but not long. They might make a small book. But im new and dont know anything, Where should i publish it, i mean, safely , as they could rip off the idea ...
I am formatting a document as a novel using OpenOffice Writer. I have a paragraph style for the main body, and another style derived from it that is the first paragraph in a chapter. I've set up t...
I currently earn a little extra money by doing freelance journalism on the side, in addition to working a day job. This is professional, paid work from more than one outlet so I would hope I could ...
I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of what to use flash/micro fiction for. I've had several flash fiction works published, and the process was quite illuminating. I'm ready to start ex...
Okay, there are like a billion outliners out there but I'm not sure if there is one that does what I want. Maybe you can help. I want to write chunks of text without headline, numbering, bullets....
What's the general approach to using parenthesis (the grammatical construct, not the punctuation mark) in fiction? I have an internal "ranking" of them: Comma-delineated parenthesis, like this, ...
I am an artist and want to illustrate a poem and self publish it for my family. The poem was written in the early 1900's and is on LibraVox as a work in the public domain. Can I do this legally? I ...
If two characters have a conversation one in a foreign tongue the other in english should there ba an asterisk and a translation of foreign language some where else or from the english speaking cha...
I was taught to leave a blank line between two paragraphs but not indent the first line of the next paragraph. I noticed that many people seem to not leave the line and choose to indent instead. I...
I am currently writing a FICTION-FANTASY-HORROR novel, and I have only written some pages. I have published the first part of the novel especially for this question. How can I make my first lines ...
This is printed on very nice paper. The letters are detailed, elegant and pitch black with slightly blurred edges. You can feel the ink soaking gently in the fibres, right after it was punched by m...
I have a question, essentially about how to best format and make a PoD-appropriate version of a large manuscript. In this case it is a Bible version, but other people might have other large volumes...
I'm currently working on my thesis and need to cite a specific section of the C# Language Specification Version 5.0. The specification is available here, but I can't find the authors and the pub...
Do UK or US based literary agents accept (unpublished) manuscripts in a foreign language? For example the author could provide a rough translation of the whole text and himself pay for a literary ...
I've been writing a work of non-fiction, specifically a motivational/psychology piece. It's my first book. The book is written primarily in second and third person, but also first when I feel the ...
If both the author's name and the pen name are known, should one cite by one name or both names? If one, which?
I saw this in another answer there are considered to be only seven or so actual plots anyway Is this true? Is it like plots are generalized into a couple of types or forms? Where can I read m...
