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Q&A When writing down a huge amounts of detail is inevitable

This is a great example of when to show instead of telling. Infodumping is the act of telling a lot of information in a short amount of time. Sometimes it works, but usually, as you have noted, the...

posted 7y ago by Thomas Myron‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How can I get into the mindset to write?

One solution that usually works is to write when you wake up, when nothing has happened in the day. I write for two hours every morning. My alarm is set for 4:30 AM, I am at the keyboard by 5:00 AM...

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

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Q&A How to tactfully inform readers of differences in the book world to the real world?

You can also tell about such features by having a walk-on character with a deformity or amputation. I have met at least four people missing one or more fingers, or with a half finger. Check out thi...

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

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Q&A In fiction writing, how can one make the passage of time seem shorter?

Stories are asynchronous. There is no particular connection between story time and calendar time. The length of a story is determined by the complexity of its action and the depth of its detail, no...

posted 7y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How should I start to write a flash fiction story?

Flash fiction gives you very little leeway. 100 words won't allow for extended plot, character development, scene-setting... really, it's enough for one scene. I've seen people pull off more in t...

posted 7y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A What are the dangers of self publishing?

Although I have heard a few success stories, I think self-publishing is a mistake. The obvious benefits of a professional editor are lost, that includes your work not straying into copyright infri...

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

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Q&A How do readers/writers alike feel about too much narration in a story?

I don't think this balance matters terribly much. The more critical measure is whether there is tension due to conflict. If your narration is describing a battle, for example, it can go on for pa...

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

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Q&A Writer's Block For Years...?

First, what happened two to three years ago? What happened in the months after the last story you wrote? You don't have to tell me, this is for yourself to contemplate, and I am not soliciting any...

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

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Q&A How can you utilize taboo themes in a setting without alienating a modern audience?

Lean into it. Don't treat it as shocking -- a reader too scandalized by your subject matter probably shouldn't be reading this book to begin with. Instead, use all the tools of worldbuilding and ...

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

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Q&A How do I format dialogue for an AI chatbot in a screenplay?

I would write it as dialogue, but avoid (as the narrator and writer) attributing any emotions, humor, or subtlety to the character's text messages. Annie does not say things cautiously, angrily, or...

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

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Q&A Is it okay to sum up unimportant dialogue in the description? Let me explain

If a character speaks, you must have it as dialogue. The normal course of action in scripts is to omit "nicety" dialogue and leave that up to the director. We typically eliminate greetings and "how...

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

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Q&A How to write repeated actions

Describe them once, as that character's standard approach, or usual caution, or something similar to that, a specific word or few words that identifies this whole thing that will be repeated often....

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

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Q&A How to properly format a post update on a company blog?

There is no universal convention for this, and thus no "proper" way to do it. But I would question is editing an existing blog post is the right way to do this at all. A blog is a "web log". That i...

posted 7y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A In-universe swear, curses, similies and sayings, how to make them less cringeworthy

I do want to practice swearing like a 1950s scifi hero. "By all the moons of Jupiter!" "Lunar Landings, Pop! It looks like you need some help!" "What the space is going on here?" Real words, si...

posted 5y ago by April Salutes Monica C.‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How do I write someone reading a document?

In one of my stories, I have a letter written by a girl's adoptive father. She loves him, he is pushing 80, but he tells her he is dying, along with other information he thinks she should know abou...

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

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Q&A How do I write someone reading a document?

I don't think I seen a closeup on a document in any movie made since the 40s. It simply isn't done that way. The way it is done if for the character to be handed the document, open it, and immediat...

posted 7y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Using the Voice wisely

It does not sound to me like you are trying to be an entertaining author, it sounds to me like you want to blog and have decided the only way you can be heard and get paid for expressing your opini...

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

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Q&A Retelling old stories

Google "how long does copyright last", you will get the terms for most countries in the results. In the USA, here is a link that summarizes it: https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/faqs/copyright...

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

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Q&A Should I, and how should I develop a "filler character"?

Any character present throughout the story should have some sort of good reason to be there, especially a character like you describe that will clearly be risking their life and conscience in escal...

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

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Q&A Housing fictional characters

Find the city, neighborhood, and street you want. Make up a number that is not ON that street. For example, pick an address that is between two existing addresses: On each side of my street, numeri...

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

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Q&A How to create this scenario

I'd suggest a prank gone wrong. In real life, literally playing with matches or starting a prank fire has caused apartment buildings to burn down and kill several people. Maya can know Bob was pr...

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

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Q&A How to make stock death speech great again?

As you said yourself, that kind of cliched dying monologue just isn't taken seriously anymore. I can't even take the big dramatic slow-motion "NOOOOOOO"s seriously anymore (see: Wonder Woman). So i...

posted 7y ago by F1Krazy‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to express sarcasm in non-dialogue text?

This is one of those instances where figuring out how to show is simply too tedious and detracts too much. It is far easier and far better to simply tell. The first thing to realize is that there...

posted 7y ago by Thomas Myron‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Moving between a narrator's memories of the past and the "literary present"

"Use the present tenses when discussing events in literary works" I don't know where you got this from, but it is not true. The default for stories is to tell them in the past tense, or to be more ...

posted 7y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A The Good, the Bad, and the Semicolon

Bollocks. (That's a technical term.) The semicolon is the correct punctuation for a particular kind of sentence structure. So on the face of it, if you want to outlaw something, it should be that s...

posted 7y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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