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Rewriting a scifi story to fit with actual science, should I do it as I go, or just write first and make the needed changes while editing? My world exists in my mind, clear and palpable. but I am ...
I am a little puzzled. I want to set my story in a real era that happened; like say, the American civil wars during Lincoln's time, and involve the then prominent figures like Lincoln and McClellan...
It's easy to show hesitance, fear or angst, you can have a character smoking 5-10 cigarettes in a row, linger for way too long, act out, or something like that. But how can you show a character tha...
In my story there are some words in there that even Grammarly couldn't understand, but they make sense in the story. They're slang, or things teenagers might say. Here is an example of what I am t...
I want to achieve the following: To produce a work that is well-organized and full of substance. To produce a work in which each thought flows smoothly to the next. To produce a work that is perf...
So I'm writing a story that features an alien character, who happens to be a really "internet troll"-ish type with a somewhat godlike tech and a personal army of robots. He/She (?) is fond of Eart...
Is there such a thing as an online repository for rejected novel manuscripts? I think it would be a useful and educational resource -- especially to finally see examples of the so-called 'mistake...
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 ...
I know several sites that provide plenty of example sentences for a given word, but they are usually rather colloquial. I also have one dictionary that provides example sentences from classic Eng...
In a story that I am writing, due to some time travel issues, the protagonists will have to wait a number of years before the next stage of the story happens. Things that happen between then and no...
We write the best way, not when trying to perfect every sentence as we write our first draft, but when writing down our thoughts and not revising them till we finish that draft. Now in some books I...
I notice in a lot of media there is a strong emphasis on the greatness of evil characters. They can often end up more popular than the good guys in the book or on the show, and overshadow everyone ...
In general, how long does it take a traditional publisher to approve/disapprove your manuscript from the time you submit it to them? The literary work is fiction and is about 330 pages. Also, is ...
“Check this out, Daichi.” Kiyoshi waved the letter at me. “From a girl.” [I looked at it.] A rabbit sticker sealed the manila envelope. Graceful handwritten words read: To Kiyoshi. Th...
I have this weird problem: I know my characters, I know what they're like, and I know how they would act in any given situation and in the plot I use them in, but I don't know how to describe their...
In my current novel, I'm dealing with very scary creatures that never fail to fill my protagonist with fear, but I always have her doing the same thing. My character always seems to simply widen he...
Example from my writing: Not everything was rainbow and roses, of course. Sometimes rain would fall on my head or a thorn prickle my finger. Of course, not everything was rainbow and ros...
When is it appropriate to switch between past tense and historical present tense when telling a story in first person? Should we try to keep the same tense throughout, or can narration be in histor...
Is it possible to interleave a story with some context and with the first persons thoughts and feelings without distracting, confusing or boring the reader? Content wise, i think the essay-ish pie...
TL;DR: How much time and development is necessary for a character I intend to kill off and replace with a second character so that both feel important to the narrative? I've looked over this a bit...
I'm working on a matriarchal setting in which sex is viewed less stringently than our world. It is more acceptable, even expected, for women to be experienced in these matters. I am going for an in...
Warning: long question. To start it off lightheartedly, here is the topic as doggerel. There are plenty of questions with titles like these: "What is this form?" — "Can I do this in poems?" — "How...
Is it legally OK that my character's name by coincidence matches someone's in real life, famous or not? (For example I am naming a character Aaron Hale.) The character's appearance and everything e...
I recently re-read a story I did from 2012, and reading it cold made me realize how much I liked it. There was just one problem: the narrator mentions real athletes. Writing from an alter ego, in a...
I've just approved my typeset manuscript and re-reading the book, I'm aware that it sounds very far away from my internal voice. Whilst it has all of the elements in practice, the colour and fluenc...
