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The principles you must rely on are plausibility and connectedness. For example, in the space of 30 minutes I can have ten bad things happen to somebody, if they are connected to each other. A wa...
So, does visualization form intuitions, or do intuitions lead to visualization, and which is better? Yes! From my study of biologically informed AI and neurology, I actually think the answer ...
Evil-happenings-in-childhood and similar "extenuating circumstances" are a trope referred to as a Freudian Excuse (TV Tropes link). The main problem with this trope is what it implies: because char...
I start on Page 1, Line 1, Word 1: The main character's name. If you know this much about the characters, the first scene introduces the main character and her status-quo world. You have 5% to 10%...
In a way, all characters are disposable; you are their god, you are free to kill characters or keep them alive, as suits your Grand Plan. The question is rather what suits your grand plan - what ki...
The Story Comes First. I think you are worrying too much about trivial points, and this can only make your story more difficult. When you want to portray a stereotype without seeming to do that, y...
Have you considered having the act of time-travel be your decision-locking event? Under normal conditions, while all of us are riding along with the current of time, it doesn't matter whether rece...
Publishers certainly don't always remove brands. Two example from Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: "I'm hungry," he said, his voice a low growl. "We can hit a McDonald's or something on the way h...
I take the advice of Stephen King and Orson Scott Card; write every day. I have read of other professionals that, even with another job have treated writing as a job, writing for a specified amount...
I have a friend who for various reasons does not have access to the Internet. We communicate by snail mail. He has written a paper about a scientific topic. His paper claims that the mainstream vi...
Yes, agnostics and atheists can do anything they want with religious language! I am another atheist, and a practicing scientist at a university. I don't regard any entity in any religion as real o...
There are two ways religious concepts appear in speech. First, there are common expressions: "Oh my god", "go to hell", etc. Those are a natural part of our speech, we hear them all the times and ...
Two things: There is a term in Philosophy called Fallacy Philosophers and Creative Writers don't always see eye to eye. To address the first matter: I'm not a professional philosopher, but I'm ...
Don't steal the plot, Don't steal their made-up words or made-up references, don't steal their (imaginative) tech, don't steal their characters or their unique combination of characteristics that m...
I haven't read "Blood on the Stars", but I don't think the details of that story matter here, so I'll plunge ahead. Maybe I should distinguish the legal issue of copyright from the artistic issue ...
I've been writing fan fiction for several years. It's been a great platform to build my writing skills, and I feel ready to publish soon. The website I've been posting my fan fiction on is in fact ...
You can make your tale less similar by changing the characters, plot, location and/or theme but please don't. The world needs more Harry Potter (HP) type books where good triumphs over evil over a ...
You can manage four goals, but they must be useful to the plot. So your overall arc is "growing up", selfish kid to mature adult, along with "coming of age" (sexual maturity). The examples you ha...
I will presume you mean that you can write and get paid for it, and could actually choose a life as a professional writer, without starving. If that is the case (and this answer is tailored to you...
There are free academic studies to help you learn about the *diffusion of science into common use, both for scientific communities and the public. See, for example, The Diffusion of Scientific Inno...
My Question How can I avoid using I repetitively in a resume/about me, should it be avoided or is it to be expected in that kind of writing? Are there any substitutes that can be used in place of ...
This site here says that the copyright for a translation of a work that is in the public domain belongs to the translator. It makes sense, if you think about it. Consider: if I translate, for exam...
I had to do the same thing for my novel only instead of a doctor, I needed a vet. It was only one scene but it was very detailed so I needed to get the information bang on. I think the key to con...
Welcome to Possibility Paralysis Anonymous! My name is Henry and I suffer from having too many ideas... You are correct in identifying that this is more than a writing issue but perhaps a little ...
A character study is a character portrayal, it shows the life and concerns of one (or a few) characters, why they do what they do, so you get to know them. They can be entertaining, immersing the r...
