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've been advised to sharpen my sidekick from an "intriguing second tier" character to the delegate for the readers. Is there a tried and tested formula succinctly captured somewhere? I'm looking t...
Although I like reading fantasy / adventure I am finding it too complex for me to write. I also like watching murder mysteries and I have read a few too. I find this type of genre a lot of fun. Th...
By definition, melodrama is a clearly exaggerated drama, in which the characters' actions, reactions and speeches are intentionally very exaggerated. However, through my readings here on Writers SE...
It's commonly known that the news reports female casualties separately. As in "four people were shot, including one woman". What is the reasoning behind this? Is anyone who knows about the news rep...
Unless a better writer can dissuade me I am minded to say no. The 'essential' 'conflict' is cultural. It is part of the western 'Human Condition' - Eastern cultures have stories without conflict. ...
I just started to plot out my scenes like this in bullet points Tess runs away Tess fights the bad guy Tess gets injured and so it goes on. So far I got 30. I know that I need a lot more. I am...
It's been a year now since I have this. I can't write and think. Any suggestions, advice and tips?
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...
In my work, my goal is to show that the hero is a better fit for the heroine, than the two men she married (or agreed to marry) before him. The first husband uses his influence to get the woman a ...
I'm looking for a literary agent. I've never published before. 1) What's to keep an agent from taking my manuscript and publishing it themselves, or handing it off to one of their writer friends?...
Let's say a piece of writing is being composed. That piece of writing can, of course, be crafted with a slew of different techniques and artistic choices, but, one of those is the language used. Ho...
I've asked a couple of questions on this site over the past year or two about publishing. I've been thinking about going the self-publishing route. It still seems like the quickest and easiest wa...
Example: I shook my head unbelieving. Could someone I barely knew know so much about me? No, impossible. Could someone I barely knew know so much about me? The first example uses externa...
I am having a hard time with adding detail, I feel it may leave a good chunk of the story out, but I don't know for sure if I should really add it or not. If I do end up with too much detail, my re...
I have a ton of ideas I think are great. I wish I could finish them all at the same time. I feel as if I don't finish them they will all be taken or used. Question 1: How much writing should I try...
My writings tend to be a blend of multiple genre's. I know some can work well together, like sci-fi and fantasy, but are there genre's that should not be blended? Also, is it confusing to reader...
In my first big novel-kind-of-thing I'm currently working on, I have a run-of-the-mill, super-non-special "Hero" - the Antagonist. A Jon Doe, someone, who knows how to handle everyday stuff and can...
I have a story I'm writing, and since when I started, it changed many times the route and focus, and in some of these changes, I found two possible paths for the story to advance on, and I already ...
I have been blogging for 6 months now. I have a general theme of the month but I find it very hard to organize my writing, as these themes are all very broad. I want to ask fellow bloggers how do ...
I mean, what exactly defines a flaw for a character? I know that the character's flaws should have at least some impact in the story, instead of being just a mere detail, but what makes flaw X bett...
Does a physical description have to be specific to make a character feel real, or can the physical description be general and the details be left to the reader's imagination?
I was thinking about a translation of a book that is in the public domain. The author is Adam Smith. There is already a French translation of some of his works. Does this mean that I cannot publish...
I'm writing a novel with a fictional world in it. I've already planned many events and the history of its nations, but I feel that there is missing something for it as I write the chapters. In my...
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...
The question grammar for describing plots had a few comments that touched upon the differences between literary novels and entertainment novel which made me think. So I searched the SE for any prev...
This is a bit hard to explain so here's are are two examples: She let out a sigh of relief. He arched an amused eyebrow. My theory is this: you only need to directly state the emotion wh...
Many writers find that mastering a genre of writing, such as the novel, requires that at some point they break down other writers' pieces of work in the genre in order to study their structure: to ...
I have a sci-fi technology concept in the work I'm currently writing, and its potential implications for society and for individual characters are quite far-reaching. I want to systematically explo...
I am writing a story for publication that has one of it's key features is these other worlds/universes being the basis of the videos games we see in real life. As such I was hoping to have 2 books ...
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 have two characters near the beginning of my story, who are brother and sister. I want the reader to know right away, as the two are talking (they are alone), that they are brother and sister, bu...
Are there specific tricks, mechanisms or devices to offer a shortcut to a level of civilisation without confusing the reader? I'm using a Ancient Rome-like country but don't want to base the plot i...
I need to to reference the report What leads developers towards the choice of a JavaScript framework?. The authors are A. Pano, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano D. Graziotin, University of St...
I am considering to write a handbook on a certain subject. I will use concepts and methods used in other books to write this. So, nearly 80% content will come from other books which are bestseller...
I've just received the written feedback from an editor in a large publishing house. On the whole it's very critical, with the occassional "could be good" thrown in at the end of sections with a lis...
You guys may have heard this term before. I often see critics talking about it in some Studio Ghibli's movies where the reviewers say that the antagonist is the force of nature itself. But I also ...
How best can I re-write this paragraph to make it more family friendly? There had been a time, barely a month or two ago, when he had sat his face to the storm and grinned with glee as the wind an...
I always see good critics about Kingskiller Chronicles realistic magic system. But I cant stop wondering... "Why do people like it? Is it because its more human and more close to reality?" Strange...
I have just completed my first manuscript for a children's book. It is a long traditional bedtime story to be read over several days or weeks even! I don't really understand why I must limit the nu...
In the story I am trying to write, I have a question about character point of view. I'm writing in what I believe is omniscient style, and I've read that changing POV within the same paragraph is n...
I'm in the process of writing an essay on Othello, and am using the Folger Shakespeare Library's annotated Othello. As far as I can tell, the correct MLA citation for the book is Shakespeare, ...
I'm writing a novel where I imagined two or three subplots (or storylines). Now I found that one of the subplots has evolved and grown so big that It can be an independant plot itself and could (or...
After reading up on flashbacks, both on this site and others, I learned that flashbacks should be used sparingly since most readers enjoy a story from A to Z. I feel very strongly about having a fo...
So basically my novel consists of the following genres: Urban fantasy New Adult (somewhat; it's a high school setting but with details that exceed the boundaries of young adult) Romance (somewha...
In the publishing industry, is it usual for authors to have a complete prescriptive non-fiction manuscript before seeking an agent, or after seeking an agent? I am a professor interested in writin...
If I write a section of terminology and definitions in academic writing, which is the correct unicode character for the "-"? Is it the dash or is it a hyphen? For example: CPU - Central Process...
I was looking at the sales rankings on Amazon today with my publisher and he pointed out that all of the self-published best sellers have a short title then a semi-colon followed by a pitch line (s...
I'm working on a short story that has two characters debating a philosophical view. Other than the inherent conflict built into the two opposing stances taken by the characters on the topic, it av...
Friends. I am female, and have recently decided that my first book's titular character is going to be a boy of an age between nineteen and twenty. I would like some help as to how to go about wri...
