Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »

Search

Advanced Search Options

To further refine your search, you can use additional qualifiers such as score:>0.5. For example, the search score:>=0.5 created:<1y grammar would return only posts mentioning "grammar" that have a score >= 0.5 and were created less than a year ago.

Further help with searching is available in the help center.

Quick hints: tag:tagname, user:xxx, "exact phrase", post_type:xxx, created:<N{d,w,mo,y}, score:>=0.5

Filters
16.1k posts
 
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Very long sentences: personal style or just bad writing?

I'm writing a story targeted towards children in which the protagonist is a young girl. I find that in writing her dialog and the narrative, I'm producing a lot of very long sentences, to the point...

6 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by brianmearns‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Must every piece of speech get its own paragraph?

I've had a few people read pieces of narrative writing I've done, and they seem to take issue with the fact that I sometimes put a piece of speech inline with the rest of a non-dialogue paragraph, ...

2 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Joe Z.‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question style dialogue
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Very simple markup language for writing fiction

I'm using a plain text editor (Vim) to write a fiction piece (chapter book), and I'm wondering what markup languages others use for such a task? I'm looking for something exceedingly simple, it doe...

2 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by brianmearns‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Resource for generic plot hooks?

I'm in a long and painful recovery from many years of writer's block. Coming up with even quite simple story ideas costs me unreasonable amount of effort. Sometimes inspiration is generous and I'm ...

1 answer  ·  posted 12y ago by SF.‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Is it worth reading book to learn more about topic of my story

The story I am writing involves the 10 steps of turning a democracy into a police state. And to make it more real, I thught the people who are doing it should explain it to the main character relai...

2 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Chris Okyen‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question resources book
50%
+0 −0
Q&A What is the difference between "creative writing" and "fiction writing"?

My college offers many writing courses. I notice, one course is called "Creative Writing" and another is called "Fiction Writing". What is the difference between creative writing and fiction writing?

1 answer  ·  posted 12y ago by Village‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A How to tell a story with the least amount of writing?

I love to invent stories and come up with ideas, but I don't have the patience to fill out all the details that is usually a part of a novel. (For those of you familiar with Myers-Briggs or Jungian...

1 answer  ·  posted 12y ago by erikric‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A How do authors gain strong familiarity with archaic and extremely rare words?

I keep thinking about this because I've lately been reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, and it's just ridiculous. I have to look up 1-2 words per sentence sometimes, something I'm only used ...

4 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by temporary_user_name‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question vocabulary
50%
+0 −0
Q&A It is a sign of bad writing to have many scenes that are disconnected with the main plot?

So my novel look like this (I took this diagram idea from this site, but I'm not sure exactly from whom): The beginning and end focuses on the mystery that the heroine is trying to solve (main p...

3 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Should dull dialogue be removed completely?

The following dialogue is from a novel I'm writing (first draft): "You're quiet tonight," Erin said to Benjamin, who seemed to be lost in thoughts. He looked up and took a sip of his dri...

4 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Should paragraphs split over pages in thesis?

I am writing a technical thesis with quite a few figures, tables and equations. These items break up the "flow" of the document. To mitigate this some journals suggest placing such items at the top...

1 answer  ·  posted 12y ago by Toby‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Putting a dialogue a tag before a quote

Sometimes I see stuff like this: X said, "..." "..." X did this, and then said, "..." Is it used to just vary sentence structure? Or to make dialogue more readable or smoother in certain...

2 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Describe all corrections as clearly and unambiguously as possible

I have a paper that will be published. The editor sent me an email to return corrections. The requirement: Please follow one of the following two options for returning proof corrections: 1) ...

1 answer  ·  posted 12y ago by Love‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Tracing dependencies and emergent plotholes during edits

The fiction I write currently hit a major snag and needs a big overhaul of a major part of the story. A whole, large thread is being injected, a second conflict running in parallel with the main on...

2 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by SF.‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A What is the role of editors in news media today?

Back when rocks were soft and the world wide web hadn't yet been invented, I worked on a college newspaper that, I was told, followed the same patterns as professional papers. (That is, the skills...

0 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question editing journalism
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Multiple authors in MLA header

I'm writing a group paper and I was wondering whether there's a correct way to list multiple authors at the top of the first page in MLA format. Normally the header would look something like: My N...

2 answers  ·  posted 12y ago by Tyler Harangozo‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A How to have a character be nameless for the first few paragraphs of a book?

Let me first explain what is going in in the beginning of the story: My main character belongs to a tribal culture that requires their children pass a rite of passage to earn their name. So I'm ki...

1 answer  ·  posted 12y ago by Lokiie1984‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A How can I express this fragment more clearly and concisely?

For the 'who is this application for' section of an application user guide, I have the following alternatives, I'm not happy with either one. How can I convey both elements more clearly and consis...

1 answer  ·  posted 12y ago by marfarma‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Attributives in dialogue

I normally stick with "he said" and "she said" to keep things simple and transparent to the reader but wondering about questions. Is "she asked" and "he asked" appropriate when a character asks a q...

3 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Slick23‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question dialogue
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How to improve my skill at writing a question?

I'm a member of some SE sites, like SO and CSTheory. In those sites I'm an active member, I'm reading Q&A and also answering some questions or asking questions, but I think my writing is poor....

3 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Saeed Amiri‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Question academic-writing
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How do I appreciate a subject matter expert's expertise?

Situation -A subject matter expert is helping me with something that, well, matters. (to me) I want to send a quick one liner thank you and let her know that I fully appreciate the time that she w...

1 answer  ·  posted 13y ago by amol‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Adding more characters as the story moves forwards

I'm 20 and have been writing a lot of fiction since I was 11, and there is a story that I keep rewriting as I get older and learn more about writing and storytelling. Strangely I haven't done that...

1 answer  ·  posted 13y ago by Anton‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A How does one include sign language in a dialogue?

If one character is using sign language and lip reading while the other is speaking normally, how do you represent the lines of the former? Quotations with "he signed" attribution or italics? E.g. ...

3 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by HNL‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

50%
+0 −0
Q&A How to write about things which depend on each other

I am writing a technical documentation about a product. Now problem is there are many interrelated and interdependent concepts. I am just confused how to put them in order. I mean if I talk about f...

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

50%
+0 −0
Q&A What content parts should a technical (IT) CV have?

I've been struggling for a while with my CV and I need help on deciding which sections should I include in it? I lack the formatting skill, I remember studying in school how to prepare my CV - ther...

1 answer  ·  posted 13y ago by karla‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Canina‭