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Q&A How ordinary must my protagonist be if the book is written from his/her point of view?

I don't think your protagonist has to be ordinary to be relatable. While I haven't read the series, isn't the point of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid that the protagonist isn't the "healthy good guy h...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to write a conversation

Generally accepted structures, which are used for clarity: Each time the speaker changes, you start a new paragraph. The speaker may start and stop, and you can have narration and action tags, bu...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A What are the correct terms regarding (this literary) technique?

They're called speech bubbles and thought bubbles, respectively. Speech bubbles usually have clean edges and a kind of triangle pointing to the speaker's mouth; thought bubbles have puffy, cloud-li...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How can I have my characters do bad things, without sending the wrong message?

Consequences. A strikes B. Even if B provoked A, A still gets arrested, processed, tried, convicted, and serves time. A gets grief from family and friends. A feels mixed anger, resentment, and gui...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A What exactly is a copywriter?

Copywriting Persuades People to Take Action in the Real World. The action may be buying something, or contributing to a charity, or calling or writing their congressman, or going out to vote for s...

posted 5y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Ending a PhD thesis by saying "there is more to do"

(I know this is an old question; and this answer will be no help to the OP.) Speaking as an academic (with a PhD), it is not unusual for a research paper to end with a section called Future Work, ...

posted 6y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How can clarity and flow of long sentences be improved?

I will second CLockeWork's comment. I will also add that while parentheses work, I think commas are more readable. John said it was constructed in 1664, during the Dutch occupation in Taiwan...

posted 10y ago by Thomas Myron‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A What exactly is a copywriter?

"Copy" is one of the elements of an ad, along with the visuals, the headline, etc. The copywriter is the person who writes the copy. The word has largely given way to the equally generic "content" ...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A On using InDesign or Scribus

Book layout is a very specialized field. If I were writing a book of my own, I'd save up the extra money for a layout person, particularly if the book had a lot of tables or illustrations, or if it...

posted 10y ago by Neil‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is the following "...noun, adjective..." structure allowed in fiction?

The first one is correct, because it's a two-word clause modifying cloud. The second one would need some kind of verb in the last sentence, and the modifier is perilously close to dangling regardle...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Editing: Those darn comma splices

That's not a comma splice; that's a statement followed by an elaboration.1 The second does not stand alone, so a semicolon there would be incorrect. This would be a comma splice: It had been ...

posted 10y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Plot idea to make the murderer (involuntarily) reveal himself

Exposure to a chemical (or radiation, or some other toxin). All the suspects are in a particular area, or do a particular task, but only the murderer gets exposed to the MacGuffinium. The suspect...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is the following "shortening" allowed in fiction?

The middle one is fine, and the third one is okay. The first feels a little dodgy because you're veering close to a dangling participle, where you have a phrase which doesn't have a clear subject. ...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is it OK to use "I guess" in fiction?

You're right, it does sound a bit weird. That's only because of the tense of course. If you were writing in the present tense, it would be just fine. While no professional, my suggestion would be...

posted 10y ago by Thomas Myron‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Use of realism in a fictional setting

Realism has several components. Different ones dominate in different genres/settings and among individual readers. (Real) setting accuracy: If you're describing a real place or a time in history...

posted 10y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Use of realism in a fictional setting

I think you will still have a sense of realism. As long as you explain the physics laws/magic laws/whatever differs before they take effect, the reader will know why/how things are happening. As lo...

posted 10y ago by Thomas Myron‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Unofficial Fan Fictions - How can I Secure Them?

You are worrying about the wrong thing. No one wants to steal your stuff. Unpublished fiction on the web is of zero commercial value. There are far more people writing it than there are reading it....

posted 9y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A What are ways to "Show, don't tell" without simply listing bodily actions?

The question is a good example of why show don't tell is bad advice. It results in all sorts of silly overblown and tedious writing. Give them evidence, let them infer is getting a little closer ...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A What are ways to "Show, don't tell" without simply listing bodily actions?

I consider the author's job to assist the imagination of the reader, so they can sense the scene and feelings of the characters. The difference between showing and telling is that showing describ...

posted 7y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Punctuation in a list

This is a stylistic choice. I would never use a comma or semicolon at the end of a list item. I would use a period/full stop only if the item is a full sentence. To wit: Star Trek is known for ...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A "That's when" vs "That was when."

I would always use "that was," because to my ear, "that's" always implies "that is," and your sentence is in the past tense.

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A "That's when" vs "That was when."

From a strictly grammatical point Lauren's answer is right -- you're talking about something that happened in the past, so "that was" is correct. However, dialogue is often more colloquial and a f...

posted 10y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Creative writing exercises for engineers

Your goal is to get your students to think about using standard skills in non-standard ways. Anyone can build a house; not everyone can build Fallingwater. Dig up classic engineering conundrums f...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Naming my character

Yes. You can very easily start a story without naming your character. An example off the top of my head would be the Hunger Games. The name of the main character isn't introduced until page 5, if m...

posted 10y ago by Thomas Myron‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Originality of Writing

Have you ever read a few words, or heard a description of a plot twist, and thought, "that sounds like something thus-and-so would have come up with"? We all have, and that's because the writers we...

posted 10y ago by Neil‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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