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16.1k posts
 
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Q&A At what point does a POV character noting their surroundings go from showing/telling to an infodump?

In a story I'm working on, at one point one of the main characters (also the POV character in this case) arrives at a new location which he has never been in before. This is the first mention of th...

7 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Canina‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

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Q&A How can we make reviewing HTML documentation easier?

Summary: I'm looking for a way for reviewers to comment collaboratively as close to "inline" as possible on a large HTML project. The problem in detail I work on a team that documents a large pro...

2 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  edited 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Why do ebooks often mimic the layout of the printed page?

I was recently editing a novel destined to be published primarily in e-book form, and made a list of pre-press instructions, to be followed when the final text is agreed upon. Some of these instruc...

4 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Neil‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How can I catch more errors when I proofread?

I have a problem where I often proof my own writing and I don't catch all the errors while I am reading through it. I often miss entire words out of sentences or find myself repeating words. I can ...

11 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Joel Rodgers‭  ·  last activity 22d ago by Monica Cellio‭

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Q&A How I should handle gender-neutral pronouns in technical writing?

I am writing API documentation for a mobile loyalty program and I am not sure which of the following is better wording: 1) When the user requests for their visit and order to be registered in thei...

3 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Manmohan Singh‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Amadeus‭

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Q&A How to convey that the POV character *does not understand* what's said in dialogue?

The general advice is often to focus on the content of what's said in dialogue and just write it in the reader's language, largely whether the characters would use that language or not in-universe....

4 answers  ·  posted 11y ago by Canina‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Amadeus‭

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Q&A What to do with cliched metaphors?

Example from my own writing: "Please take care of yourself," she replied. "Health is the most important thing in life, remember that." "I know, Mom." I had already lost count of the numb...

5 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

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Q&A How do I know when I should rewrite vs. editing my first chapter

A little context for my question... A long time a go, I started writing little vignettes for a character I was playing in an RPG group. The vignettes ended up joining up and becoming sort of a ba...

3 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by pureferret ‭  ·  last activity 9mo ago by Michael‭

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Q&A How do I brainstorm for writing positively about myself?

I've always struggled writing about myself, but I need to apply for a program and the application has a lot of very broad but personal questions like, Tell us why you would be a good leader Exp...

2 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Sigma‭  ·  last activity 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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Q&A Do readers primarily identify with or judge heroes in a novel?

In this article about different categories of heroes, Matt Bird states that sensitive and unlucky heroes are hard to write because audiences have a hard time caring about them. He says: American...

2 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by icanfathom‭  ·  last activity 3mo ago by Antares‭

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Q&A How can we integrate a lightweight public ticketing system into our documentation feedback form?

We publish a substantial documentation set online. Each page has a place at the bottom that asks "was this helpful? (Y/N)", and if the person chooses "no" we offer a textbox. We collect all this ...

3 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 8mo ago by Monica Cellio‭

Question software tools
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Q&A Will too many characters be overwhelming? [closed]

So I have multiple stories running in the same universe, and I want a Arc that includes all the main people from each of the stories my worry is that this will become to confusing and may overload ...

0 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Kizzy05‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question characters
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Q&A APA In text citations, with the same first author and one other author with the same surname

This seems to be a bit of a corner case. I have two articles, with the same first author, B. G. Cook. The first article has a second author, S. C. Cook. The other article has two other authors (G. ...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by damned truths‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Secespitus‭

Question citations apa
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Q&A Should a scene break always be put in place when there is change in location, times, and dates?

I have read many books where the character is in one place at a certain time and, without a scene break being utilised, they are all of a sudden in a different place at a different time, but it wo...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by N.Houghton‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by DPT‭

Question fiction scene
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Q&A Is the genre 'fantasy' still fantasy without magic?

Is writing fantasy novel with no mages, witches, wizards or anything remotely magical a waste of time? Can it still be classified as fantasy?

10 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Chagat Nahn‭  ·  last activity 1mo ago by paulscreationids‭

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Q&A Are there any websites that show you the popularity and regional use of words?

There are some words and phrases in my manuscript that I think are used in America. However, a beta reader tells me my character sounds British. Are there any online sources I can use to check the ...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by writersam‭  ·  edited 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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Q&A In academic writing why do some recommend to avoid "announcing" the topic?

In academic writing, several articles on the topic of writing papers denounce the practice of "announcing" the topic. As an example, if a paper were to read... The goal of this study is to not...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Agriculturist‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is it illegal if I use religious material in writing my novel?

I have a serious problem. I am going to start writing a novel and it contains material from another religion. Something like this: my book involves Moses vs Pharaoh. Moses is only a mentor and not ...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Mudbrains‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭

Question legal
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Q&A How can I make a transition from third person omniscient to first person less jarring for the reader?

I'm working on a longish short story (I expect to hit somewhere around 5,000 - 6,000 words by the time I'm through) that starts out in third person omniscient POV, mostly because that allows me to ...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Canina‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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Q&A Are speaker tags always necessary when multiple people are in the conversation?

I understand that if you’ve got two people speaking, you often don’t need speaker tags because it’s assumed that both people take it in turns unless otherwise specified. This keeps the conversation...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Mousentrude‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mark Baker‭

Question dialogue
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Q&A Could a 13-year-old have morality to disagree with their family's unethical business practices, while those are the norm in their society?

I am very bad at writing children characters in my stories, I always make them either too "dumb" or too developed. Currently I am in need of believable child +- 13, boy or girl. Requirements: My de...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Prahara‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭

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Q&A Dealing with Audience's expectations

Over the years I gained small audience and I love them. My last work quite disappoint them in regard of one character and I feel bad about it. I felt like character's struggle she went through woul...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Prahara‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Liquid‭

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Q&A Syntax summaries use brackets for optional elements; how do I represent literal brackets in a way readers will understand?

In our documentation of SQL functions and statements, we include a BNF-style syntax summary. As is conventional, we indicate optional elements in square brackets, like this: CREATE [IF NOT EXISTS]...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Derek Elkins‭

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Q&A Is a sequel allowed to start before the end of the first book?

I'm writing 2 stories simultaneously. The first one spans 17 years. The second picks up where the first left off... but only about 25% of the way in. The sequel seems to work best if I introduce ...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Evil Sparrow‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A What are the indentation rules for the paragraph introducing a bulleted list?

I'm writing a formal document for my company where it'll be shared and used by a number of teams. Unfortunately, we don't have any official standard style guide to follow, so I've attempted to be a...

0 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Troyen‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭